Hi ,

Two weekends ago, I was in Tucson, enjoying the 100 degree sunshine, as well as the windy, 80 degree afternoon storms, and teaching photographers and fellow Fujifilm shooters about autofocus. 

Since we were at the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, I geared my talk and field session around tips for photographing capturing birds and other fast moving subjects, like dragonflies, which proved to be a good challenge for all of us. 

As we shot, I noticed that dragonflies behave in a similar manner to red wing blackbirds: they like to land on a perch, hang out for a minute or two, and then take off again. 

So, I was able to teach everyone my "red wing blackbird" shooting technique, which uses a combination of AF-C autofocus, continuous high shooting and the powerful PRE-SHOT ES setting. It was really satisfying to see people's excitement when they were able to nail their own photos of dragonflies taking off, which would otherwise be an extremely difficult scene to capture.

It basically involves focusing on the subject, and then, with PRE-SHOT ES enabled, you hold the shutter at "half press," which allows the camera to continually write images into the buffer. Then, as soon as you see the subject jump, you fully press and hold the shutter as you try and follow the movement. 

With a very fast subject you'll miss some frames, but with practice you can nail at least one or more incredible moments of action. Once you see what you can do with it, you'll realize that this setting is a real game changer!

(I talk in depth about this technique in my highly acclaimed online course, MASTERING THE FUJIFILM AUTOFOCUS SYSTEM.)

During my second evening in Tucson, we did a short sunset photo walk, where we encountered a number of intriguing animals and scenics. This also gave me another chance to play with the X-H2S body and the amazing XF150-600mm lens, which offers an incredible range for shooting distant scenes and capturing moving subjects. 

Even though I'm an X-T5 shooter at heart, I'm extremely impressed with this combo for shooting any kind of action and distant landscapes.

Up Your Photography Game with a 1:1 Coaching Session!

As we speed towards autumn and fall foliage season, why not treat yourself to a personal 1:1 coaching session with me? 

I guarantee that I can help you become more proficient with your camera. We can focus on specific settings or techniques you may have questions about, I can help you set up your camera for specific styles of shooting, or I can help guide you towards a more efficient and enjoyable shooting approach that will simplify your method and allow your creativity to shine. 

See what others have said about my coaching sessions here, and then let me know if you'd like to schedule a session!

That's all for today! I hope you're enjoying the final third of Summer 2024, and are having fun with your photography these days. Be sure and tag me @danbaileyphoto on Twitter and Instagram if you've got something special you'd like me to see!

Take care, thanks for your support and have a great week!