Press shutter nothing happens on 70D

[Plwysong18]

Camera is a Canon 70D. I was in my boat taking photos of birds along the river. There was a bright sun and I would press the shutter halfway down and nothing. Then sometimes out of the blue it would take a picture. I was in auto one shot mode. I'm still learning and I don't know what I'm doing completely. I just didn't understand why the picture would not take. I have read online low light causes that but there was bright sun.

[diverhank]

Usually when the camera fails to focus on something, it won't take a picture.  The camera has problem focusing when there is no contrast at the focus point, not because of low light.  Usually you have problem with low light is because there is little contrast in that situation.  In your case, aiming at the sky, even though it's bright, there is no contrast (everything is equally bright).

[Plwysong18]

But I took dozens of other pictures of the water with the sky in the background and they were beautiful. In these photos I was aiming at trees and large birds that were sitting in trees. A lot of times it wouldn't even take the picture or it took the picture in the trees were perfectly and focus but the bird was blurry .

[Tim]

Hello Plwysong18, 

As another member has suggested, this sounds like a focus issue.  This explains why sometimes it took the photo without the bird being in focus- it caught focus on something else instead.  From your description, it doesn't sound like the camera is malfunctioning per se, but simply didn't lock focus at the time and therefore didn't shoot.  You mention being a beginner and I think this type of issue will lessen as you become well versed with the camera.  You'll know when it runs into a focusing issue and you'll be better prepared to compensate for it. 

[Plwysong18]

I don’t disagree. But how do I get the camera to focus on the bird instead of everything else? In other words, how do I compensate?

[lly3988]

Set the focus to a mode you can control focusing. Start with focusing with the center focus point.

Go to the manual and read the part regarding focusing.

[Waddizzle]

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@Plwysong18 wrote:
I don’t disagree. But how do I get the camera to focus on the bird instead of everything else? In other words, how do I compensate?

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That is where the fun begins.  Using a camera support like a monopod, or tripod, is a big help.  DSLRs have different focusing modes.  The behavior of the AF points can change with the selected shooting and focusing mode.  Study the instruction manual, and experiment.  Repeat, as needed.

Practice.  You won’t get the hang of it overnight.  Shoot all of photos as RAW, and examine where the AF point locked focus in your shots.  Shooting action photography is a practiced skill.  

Don’t give up on it.  Learn how to control when and how the camera focuses.  Some action photographers like to use BBF, back button focus.  Google that phrase.  Some do not like BBF.  Learning to use AI Servo well tracking takes practice and intimate knowledge of how the camera behaves.  Newer models both lower and shorten the learning curve, though.