The Concept:
More and more of us are discovering the fun of photographing whatever animals we can find around our homes or nearby during this time. Key to getting sharp images of any wildlife is having the appropriate minimum shutter speed. If the picture is blurry because of either subject movement or more likely, camera movement; your image might be a loss. Therefore, below are some helpful guidelines for what the minimum shutter speed should be for certain scenarios.
General wildlife telephoto images – When photographing any animal, most photographers are concerned about the shutter speed they need to stop the animals motion. While this can be an issue, the great majority of our images, are not sharp because the shutter speed was not fast enough to stop our motion (of trying to hold our lens and camera steady). This becomes even more critical when using a lens that is heavier than we are familiar with in terms of weight and bulk (100-400mm, 150-600mm, etc.). However, the more common problem is that because the telephoto lens is magnifying our subject (a 300mm lens is about 10X power) it is also magnifying our shake. Even with image stabilization turned on (see our other post on this feature), a little movement while we are hand-holding our camera lens is a ton of movement in the actual photo; resulting in image blur. Therefore, the general rule is that the minimum shutter speed for any situation should be one over the focal length (1/focal length) of the lens. So, if you were using a 300mm focal length, the lowest shutter speed you should even consider is 1/320th. The reality is there are a lot of variables here including the weight of the lens, your strength, the skill to be steady, etc. So while this is our absolute minimum, we often suggest that most photographers try to do one over 2X the focal length (1/focal length x 2). In the case of the same 300mm example, this would be a minimum shutter speed of 1/640. Here are a few examples below to illustrate this.
Moderately moving subjects – In a situation where you have a bird chirping, a squirrel moving, or a deer running, the above guidelines may not be quite fast enough to stop the motion. In these situations, you may want to create a panning effect where you move the camera at the same speed as the animal to show some move of the wings or legs, etc. and give some background blur. It is very challenging to do panning in any type of photography but wildlife panning is even more unpredictable. However, a shutter speed of 1/500th or so if you can keep the camera at the same speed as the animal, may be a starting place (see the deer photo below). It is more likely that you do want to freeze all the motion and in this case 1/640th is bare minimum and being closer to 1/1000th or faster is ideal. Just from experience, do not underestimate how much shutter speed it takes to freeze even a moderately moving subject.
Birds in flight – Stopping the motion of a bird flying is another whole layer of difficulty. However, for the average song bird, duck or hawk, 1/2000th usually is sufficient. See the image below of the hawk who was really moving fast but where I was able to stop the motion.
Hummingbirds in flight – Many of us are already seeing hummingbirds at our feeders and so the real excitement of wildlife action photography is gearing up. There are lots of ways to shoot hummingbirds in flight including using high speed sync and flashes, etc. However, in general, if you want to really have a chance at freezing the wings of these little guys, I would be look at 1/3200th or faster. It takes some really fast shutter speeds to do this and so often the best chance is when the feeder is in the sun so you have enough light to get those shutter speeds without maxing out your ISO.
The Assignment:
Beyond getting out and trying all of this while gaining more wildlife experience, I would also take a look back at some of your telephoto animal photos (this could be backyard shots or ones you have done at the zoo, on a wildlife trip, etc.). Really look at the sharpness of these images while referring to the camera information for each photo in terms of the shutter speed that was used. If you can perceive any motion blur, than this is an important indicator that given another opportunity (like the ones you are hopefully having now) a faster shutter speed than what you used is likely called for. As a final note, keep in mind, to get a faster shutter speed under the same lighting condition (from our lesson on ISO) you will often be using much higher ISO values even in the bright sun or shade than you would have expected. Have fun and stop that motion!