I am a big fan of contrast properly used in a photo. An example is this photo of a Great Egret. The image was made in late afternoon when winter days can be dark in the shadows. And to assure proper proper exposure I chose manual exposure settings. That way I could be sure that the egret was not over-exposed. A white egret against a background in the shadows created the contrast I wanted. I was using a manual focus 500mm mirror lens, which made the shot more challenging for my old eyes, so used the 'focus peaking' feature to assist me.

Another great feature I used was BBAF (back button autofocus). What is great about it is that it combines both AF-S and AF-C autofocus modes with this button. Press the button in and release it for locking focus on a still subject, but all you have to do with moving subjects, like this egret, is continue to hold the button in and it will follow focus, staying with the subject as it moves. To get this, you simply set the camera to AF-C mode and focusing with the AF-ON button only. Works like a charm for me.