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Well due to ill health and ill finances we cancelled our day trip to New York... definitely disappointing but for the cost you want to be fit and able to enjoy the trip up there..

So instead I got up at 5:30am (your early birds should be proud) And spent the morning before work freezing my butt off (literally it's got frost bite) taking some photos..


Anyways I feel I have finally started to capture a few good shots but I'd like more time to sort through them... I did however get a little disappointed with my animal photos.. I don't usually shoot animals but I've obviously doing something wrong.. here are my *best* shots from this morning.

THe early bird gets the worm
Nice to see you getting out and about even on a work related trip!

Craig was it your intention to get slightly blurry images, what mode were you shooting in shutter/aperture priority? Programmed auto mode?

post exif data please

On a different PC (still at work... trying to get away), will come back and post the EXIF data... and no, I certainly wasn't going for blurry photos.. but I definetly suceeded in that... next time I've got the laptop on the network I'll post the EXIF data...

Wendell here is the EXIF data..... I think looking at this the most obvious thing is that I'm shooting in landscape mode.. (as none of these are landscapes... I think the reason behind the bad images in my own stupidity.) 1.
File: - boston_wildlife.jpg

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D70
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/80 seconds
ApertureValue - F 5.00
ExposureTime - 1/80 seconds
FNumber - 5.00
ExposureProgram - Not defined
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:10:21 21:20:44
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:21 21:20:44
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 4.76
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 210.00 mm
SubsecTime - 02
SubsecTimeOriginal - 02
SubsecTimeDigitized - 02
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 315 mm
SceneCaptureType - Landscape
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Hard
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown



2.
File: - boston_wildlife2.jpg

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D70
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/100 seconds
ApertureValue - F 5.60
ExposureTime - 1/100 seconds
FNumber - 5.60
ExposureProgram - Not defined
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:10:21 21:20:32
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:21 21:20:32
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 5.66
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 300.00 mm
SubsecTime - 09
SubsecTimeOriginal - 09
SubsecTimeDigitized - 09
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 450 mm
SceneCaptureType - Landscape
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Hard
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown


3.
File: - boston_wildlife3.jpg

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D70
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/40 seconds
ApertureValue - F 4.50
ExposureTime - 1/40 seconds
FNumber - 4.50
ExposureProgram - Not defined
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:10:21 20:55:27
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:21 20:55:27
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 4.44
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 55.00 mm
SubsecTime - 01
SubsecTimeOriginal - 01
SubsecTimeDigitized - 01
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 82 mm
SceneCaptureType - Landscape
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Hard
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown


4.File: - boston_wildlife4.jpg

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D70
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/60 seconds
ApertureValue - F 5.60
ExposureTime - 1/60 seconds
FNumber - 5.60
ExposureProgram - Not defined
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:10:21 21:25:10
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:21 21:25:10
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 5.66
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash fired, auto mode, return light detected
FocalLength - 300.00 mm
SubsecTime - 01
SubsecTimeOriginal - 01
SubsecTimeDigitized - 01
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 450 mm
SceneCaptureType - Standard
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown



5.
File: - boston_wildlife5.jpg

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D70
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/15 seconds
ApertureValue - F 5.60
ExposureTime - 1/15 seconds
FNumber - 5.60
ExposureProgram - Not defined
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:10:21 21:16:35
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:21 21:16:35
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 5.66
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 300.00 mm
SubsecTime - 09
SubsecTimeOriginal - 09
SubsecTimeDigitized - 09
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 450 mm
SceneCaptureType - Landscape
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Hard
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown

craig there is no exif data posted, may be a tech or sleep issue?

If you are shooting in landscape mode that is an suto settign optimised for shooting static images with little or no movement, in this series of shots you are trying to freeze a moment of subtle movement

It's great to start of with the automatic shooting modes because you can see what situations work with them well and which ones do not work, pay special attention to what the automatic modes produce then learn when to use them and when not to use them

quick tip is for moving subjects or even yourself moving while taking static subjects use shuter priority 'S' mode this way you can experiment with shutterspeed, start of with the reciprocal number of your focal length i.e if your shooting at 70mm then set the shutter to 1/70 this should give you a stable shoit in theory, test this rule out again and again and study the results, then set the shutter to a lower setting like 1/50 and see what that does, then set the shutter to 1/250 see what that does learn from these various setings then you will bell on your way to getting better pictures, that should help you for now.

Just rememebr there is nothing wrong with blur sometimes it can be a powerful element for the overall image but in this case it looks like you were trying to get a reasonable image.