Canadian Wildlife Federation

 
 
  CWF Photo Club  
  Want to help wildlife?
Donate to the Canadian Wildlife Federation.
 
  winner  
 
March's Winning Photo: Wonderful Wildlife

Congratulations to Dennis Swayze of Winnipeg, MB for receiving the most votes in the “By Popular Vote” monthly photo contest! “As I sat and watched this fellow for close to an hour in hopes of a possible lift off from his perch...with tired arms, I dropped the camera down for mere seconds only to have him come off the perch when I wasn't ready. Definitely and exciting moment as he glided in towards his prey.” Thank you Dennis for your story and this amazing moment.

 
  Honourable Mentions  
 


"Robins in the bird bath" By Kelly Ball

Download »



"Being in the right place at the right time" by Dave Radowitts

Download »



"Racoons on Mount Royal" By Frederic Ansermoz

Download »

 
 

What inspires you to get outside? Take our 2013 photo challenge to show us Canada’s naturally wondrous creations and inspirations.

 
 

Kevin Adeli, CWF Photo Club Member
April: Perfect Pathways

Which paths do you wander when you’re outside? In April CWF Walks for Wildlife so share the trails, parks and sidewalks that get you excited about being outside. Including family, friends and pets in your shot is a great addition!

Vote » or Enter »

 
Tips and Tricks: Why Back Button Focus?

By: Bill Maynard of coolwildlife.com

A new section we’re adding featuring tips, comments and questions from members. Got something to say? Send us a message

To answer that question we first have to define what back button focus is. In simple terms the autofocus (AF) feature that is normally performed by pressing the shutter button half way is stripped away and relegated to a button on the back of the camera.

Below are a few reasons why I think every photographer should consider back button focus, especially wildlife photographers:

  • Much easier to lock focus. Let’s say you are out shooting an osprey in its nest and the focal plane remains constant. With back button focus you lock down the focus on your subject by pressing the rear button (AF ON for Nikon) and once in focus you simply take your thumb off the rear button. Now you may shoot as many pictures as you like and the focus will not change until you press the back button again to refocus. The camera now makes no effort to re-focus when you press the shutter button half-way down again.
  • No override of your manual focus. Ever found yourself out shooting a bird in a busy setting and you needed to manually focus the lens on the bird? So you focus manually on the bird but the moment you press the shutter button down half way the AF kicks in and focuses on the trees again, very frustrating. With back button focus activated the shutter no longer controls the focus, only the shutter release, so your manual focus point is not interrupted.
  • Timing your shots. By using back button focus to pre-focus on the spot where the subject is expected to appear you only need to be concerned with activating the shutter to capture the moment not focus and capture.
  • Close up focusing is much easier. With back button focus you can use the AF to get the focus close enough for a first pass by pressing the rear button with your thumb and then taking your thumb off the button again. Now you are free to move a little in one direction or another to get the image sharp.

So if you’re ready to give it a try here’s the magic setting to disable half-pressed shutter focus per the screen shots below:

For Nikon:
Function a5: AF Activation. Default is Shutter/AF-ON, change to AF-ON only

For Canon:
Custom function C.Fn IV-1 Shutter button/AF-ON button. Default is 0, Metering and AF start. Use 2, Metering start for the shutter button and AF for the button.

Give it about a week to get used to as it will take a bit of practice, but once you’re on to it you may just wonder how you ever did without it.

 


Photo of the Day

Photo: Aryn Robidoux,
Location: Binscarth, MB

Sign up to get CWF Photo of the Day! CWF has just launched an opt-in Photo of the Day service. Each photo is selected from the fabulous CWF Photo Club member entries. Sign up to get this photo each morning or visit the page online.

Sign up now »

Canadian Wildlife magazine goes digital!

We are thrilled to announce our digital edition of Canadian Wildlife magazine is now live! Subscribe to your digital edition today or check out the preview!

Preview or subscribe »

 
 
   GET SOCIAL WITH US:
Facebook Twitter YouTube RSS Feed
Canadian Wildlife Federation | Fédération canadienne de la faune
350, promenade Michael Cowpland Drive, Kanata, ON K2M 2W1
t 1.800.563.9453 f 613.599.4428
CanadianWildlifeFederation.ca
FederationCanadienneDeLafaune.ca
 

Forward to a friend
© 2024 Canadian Wildlife Federation 10686 8755 RR0001 | Preferences/Unsubscribe