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The 7D II and 100-400 L II Rocked in SW Florida by Bryan Carnathan

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I took my own advice (www.the-digital-picture.com/Pictures/Picture.aspx?Picture...) and left the crazy cold N 40° latitude (-4° F/-20° C) for the warmer weather of Florida and just over a week of (primarily) bird photography. Although I had a 5D Mark III and 1D X along, the Canon EOS 7D Mark II was glued to my hand for most of this trip and the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens was glued to the camera most of that time. As noted in the title, this combination rocked and with relatively-cooperative birds, my take-home is a bit voluminous.

The subject shown here is a Great Blue Heron in breeding plumage. To capture this image, my first priority was to get in line between the sun and the bird with the low, late-day sun creating good subject lighting. By maneuvering to a slightly lower vantage point than the bird, I was able to create a background composed completely of blue sky. No distractions there.

A big challenge remaining was to get the bird properly aligned for a pleasing composition. A side-on angle to the bird with the head straight or turned slightly towards the camera usually works great. The challenge in getting that angle was that the bird, especially its head and neck, was constantly moving. I selected the top-right AF point in the center block of AF points (closely aligned with the bird's eye) and when the bird was in a position that worked for me, I quickly captured the image.

I was shooting handheld for maneuverability and setup speed reasons. The 7D II and 100-400 L II combo's size and weight are especially nice for this type of shooting.

Some are asking if the 7D II images are sharp enough for serious work and I can assure you that the answer is "Yes." EOS 7D II images are very sharp. Because ultimate image sharpness capabilities are not completely discernible from reduced-size images, I have made the full-size version of this image available for download. Get more information here: www.the-digital-picture.com/Pictures/Picture.aspx?Picture...

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens

Camera and Lens Settings:

182mm f/8.0 1/500s ISO 100 5472 x 3648px

Click on the image to view large. Get more camera gear and photo information at www.the-digital-picture.com/

#canon #canonphotographers #canon7dmarkii #telephoto

#bird #birds #birdphotography #birdphoto #birdsunlimited #beautifulbeautifulbirds #birdsinfocus #birds4all #birdsgallery #hqspbirds #heron #greatblueheron

#usa #florida #southwestflorida #swflorida #captiva #sanibel #sanibelisland #photo #photography #showyourbestwork

The 7D II, 100-400 L II and a Great Egret by Bryan Carnathan

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The Canon EOS 7D Mark II (www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II....), EF 100-400mm L IS II Lens (www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-100-400mm-f-...) and a great egret make a great combination. With the egret perched above me and the setting sun behind me, the remaining challenge was to catch the constantly moving bird in ideal positions with AF locked on the eye. The camera and lens performed really well on the latter requirement and my own performance on the former was good enough to land me a pile of shots that I like.

What are the ideal subject positions for bird photography? There are many, but side-on to the bird with its head straight forward or turned slightly toward the camera is a basic ideal position. While this bird was directly facing me, that long neck could position the head in a variety of positions and the sideways but turned slightly toward me position worked well in this situation. The gust of wind ruffling the egret's feathers added the extra interest I'm always watching for.

Compositionally, I like the two black legs (leading lines) coming up into the frame, positioning the bird at about 1/3 of the way into the frame. The bird looking into the frame adds the needed balance to the image. Cropping the legs (vs. including the entire legs and feet) in-camera allowed the bird's beautiful body to be larger in the frame and allowed me to avoid the background distractions that lower framing would have included. With the wide zoom range available in this lens, I had a large variety of framing options available and I used many.

The 7D II's top-center AF point was selected and placed on the on the bird's eye. That the 7D II's AF system covers an area that close to the edge of the frame made capturing this particular image very easy relative to the focus and recompose technique most other DSLRs require in this situation. The great egret's long neck was constantly moving the head to new positions and I had only an instant to catch any of these positions. By the time I would have recomposed after focusing, the bird would have been in a new position most of the time.

Though an f/10 aperture used with the 7D II will show some softening due to the effects of diffraction, I wanted as much of the close bird to be in focus as possible. A low sharpness setting of "2" was used in DPP with very light/fine sharpening added in Photoshop CC for a very sharp end result. Even with f/10 selected, I had enough light to use a 1/320 sec shutter speed (though marginal for the moving bird) at ISO 100.

My "great" image is basically straight out of the camera with a small amount of bill cleanup done and white balance cooled slightly as the light was extremely warm at the moment of this capture.

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens

Camera and Lens Settings:

200mm f/10.0 1/320s, ISO 100, 3648 x 5472px

Click on the image to view large. Get more camera gear and photo information at www.the-digital-picture.com/

#Canon #CanonPhotographers #Canon7DMarkII #Telephoto #Nature #NaturePhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhoto #WildlifePhotography #Bird #Birds #BirdPhotography #BirdPhoto #BirdsUnlimited #BeautifulBeautifulBirds #BirdsInFocus #birds4all #BirdsGallery #hqspbirds #SeaBirds #Shorebirds #Birding #BirdWatching #BirdLoversWorldwide #USA #UnitedStates #Florida #Captiva #White #Blue

Royal Tern by Bryan Carnathan

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The Canon 7D II and 100-400 L II Get Close to a Royal Tern

There was a small flock of royal terns on the Captiva, Florida beach just north of Blind Pass and Sanibel Island. It would have been easy to stand and capture distant photos of the flock resting in the sand, but I was looking for something better. By lying down in the sand and moving forward slowly, the beautiful birds allowed me to get quite close without showing any signs of stress. So close that I had to zoom out somewhat to get the framing I selected for the bird in this photo.

That the 100-400 L II focuses so closely is a big benefit when the subject is small and you want to fill the frame with it or a portion of it. The close focusing is also useful in situations such as this one – when I got too close. As I said, there was a flock of birds and I was photographing various birds as their positions and behaviors warranted my attention.

A low shooting position often has the benefit of a clean background (the sky in this case) and provides a nice angle on most small birds and animals located on the ground. To make shooting while lying flat in the sand easier, I utilized a NatureScapes Skimmer Ground Pod II. To help darken the sky in the background, I used a circular polarizer filter.

Early and late in the day sunlight often provides the best lighting for bird photography, but nice images can be made at other times of the day. This royal tern photo was taken at 11:44 AM. At this time of the day, the sun is near its highest point, making shadows harsh and the color temperature of the light cool. By carefully timing the shutter release, I was able to catch bird positions that minimized shadows (especially on its head) and that included a catchlight in the eye. Sunlight reflecting on sand also helps minimize shadows (though not as well as the snow that was on the ground at home on that date does).

With a white bird in full sunlight and under a cloudless sky, the exposure decision was easy. Lock in manual mode settings that included a shutter speed fast enough to stop any movement present (there was lots of action happening), an aperture that provided adequate depth of field and an ISO setting that caused the brightest areas of the photo to be *just* below blown (pure white) in brightness.

The 7D Mark II (www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II....) and 100-400 L II (www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-100-400mm-f-...) performed extremely well on this trip. The alert among you will notice that the reported full size pixel dimensions for this image are larger than those native from the 7D Mark II. I framed this bird tight to the top of the frame and used Photoshop's content aware fill to extend the canvas, creating more sky in the final image. This tactic created a modestly higher resolution image overall. Another option for increasing resolution would have been to capture a similarly-focused second frame with more upward angle, taking in much more sky for later stitching to the bird image.

I spent hours focusing on these birds and will try to share some additional images when I get time.

Gear Used

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens

NatureScapes Skimmer Ground Pod II

Circular Polarizer Filter

Camera and Lens Settings

360mm f/8.0 1/1250s ISO 160 5472 x 3932px

Get more gear and photo information at www.the-digital-picture.com/

#royaltern #tern #canon #canonphotographers #canon7dmarkii #telephoto #nature #naturephotography #wildlife #wildlifephoto #wildlifephotography

#bird #birds #birdphotography #birdphoto #birdsunlimited #beautifulbeautifulbirds #birdsinfocus #birds4all #birdsgallery #hqspbirds #birdsinflight

#usa #unitedstates #florida #sanibel #sanibelisland #captiva