outdoor photography

Northern Mockingbird #1 (2200 x 1385 crop) Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (ISO 250 | f5/6 | 1/500sec) Lightroom Adjustments: Vibrance +62 Sharpening: +25 | Luminance Noise Reduction: +10 I acquired a Canon EOS 7D in September, and now that I've been using it extensively for a few months I thought it would be good to write reviews of its various features.  This camera has been on the market for a while and there are many reviews already available, but I thought it would be helpful to review the features of this camera that make it hands down the best Canon APS-C DSLR for wildlife photography.  In the past I've used the Canon Rebel 2000 and Elan 7 (film) and the 10D, 40D and 50D (digital), and all of these cameras have been wonderful cameras that have served me well.  But the 7D easily out shines them all. In this review, I'd like to examine the ISO performance of the camera. Before I begin, though, it may be useful for me to make a cou...

Bald Eagle This morning at Central Winds Park I had a pretty good morning. I saw my first Blackburnian Warbler, but was unable to get a sharp image of it.  A Bald Eagle was more cooperative; it flew not too far away from me, so I could photograph it.  I also found a couple Yellow Warblers by the shore of Lake Jesup.  The Yellow Warblers were somewhat uncooperative.  They teased me from fairly high up in the trees, and they never came low enough for a very nice look. But they're such beautiful birds, I can't help but show the photos I was able to get. Yellow Warbler My camera also disappointed me this morning.  These photos were taken at ISO 400, and on my older 40D my photos probably would have been fine.  But with the newer 50D, there's a fair amount of visible noise.  I did a little work to minimize it in the leaves and sky, but I remain somewhat unimpressed with this camera's performance even at moderate ISOs.  The higher resolution ...

Eastern Towhee I haven't had as many opportunities to test out my new camera as I would like in recent days, but I did get out to Econ River Wilderness Area for about an hour.  I'm looking for ways to set my exposure improve my camera's performance in higher ISOs (really, 400 and higher). I've found that I have the most problems in the shadows, so I've tried over exposing a little more than I would otherwise, to see if this would allow me to retain more detail in the shadows.  I'm pretty happy with the results so far.  I was worried that my 50D was not going to handle ISO 400 and higher as well as my 40D, but now I think it is just as capable, even if it's less forgiving in the shadows. Eastern Towhee Eastern Towhee Brown-headed Nuthatch Brown-headed Nuthatch Other than this, I had a pretty good evening.  The Econ River WA is always beautiful, and being able to get up close and personal with Brown-headed Nuthatches and Eastern Towhees i...

Sandhill Crane in Flight Shooting moving subjects in low light situations can be quite challenging.  The only way to get a sharp image of a moving subject is to have a fast enough shutter speed to "stop" the motion of the moving subject.  Now with the ability we have to shoot at high ISO s, it's common today for people to crank up the ISO to 1600 or faster and have at it.  Hurray for technology, and I think it's fantastic that we can do this now.  But there's another way to handle the problem. When your subject is moving roughly perpendicular to the direction of your lens, consider panning your camera during the exposure to track with the motion of the subject.  If you do this successfully, you can effectively "stop" the motion of the bird relative to the position of your camera.  The subject will be sharp, and all stationary objects will display motion blur.  It's a very nice effect if you get it right, though it takes some practice.  You ...

Guitarist Michael Raitzyk If you haven't already gathered from my other posts on the three exposure elements : aperture , shutter speed and ISO , photography is an art of compromise.  You can't always get what you want most without giving up something you want less.  This is a dance we all must learn.  Let me explain the need for compromise with a couple examples. Bright Light Situations. Suppose you want to get that nice, silky effect on a waterfall on a bright, sunny day mid-afternoon.  The sun is shining directly on the the falls, and it looks so pretty you have to get the picture.  Here's the problem.  On a bright, sunny day, there's so much light that can be impossible to make your ISO slow enough and your aperture small enough to get your shutter speed in the 2-3 sec. range.  If, on top of that you want a narrow depth of field (large aperture), well, you may as well ask for the moon. This situation forces a compromise--the best solution...

Trees at Sunrise As we discussed in a previous post on exposure, you have proper exposure for your photograph when you have set your three   exposure  factors ( shutter speed , aperture , and ISO ) to give you the results you want--that is, you've let in just the right amount of light to give you the image you were hoping to capture.  But that's just the beginning of the creative process in photography.  You can change the balance of these factors to allow you to take control of the look of your photographs.  Let's review a little of what I mean by this: You can use a slow shutter speed to create a pleasing motion blur--such as the silky effect on a waterfall .   You can use a fast shutter speed to freeze motion, like a kayaker on rapids .   You can use a large aperture (small f/stop) to create photographs with a shallow depth of field , like a butterfly with a blurry background. You can use a small aperture (large f/stop) to to cre...

ISO is a setting on digital cameras that controls the speed that light entering the lens is recorded on your camera sensor.  The faster your ISO, the quicker your sensor can gather the light it needs to achieve proper exposure .  Changes in ISO are measured in " stops ," so if you change from 100 ISO to 400 ISO you've increased your exposure by 2 stops. Raising your ISO is a great way to handle low light situations.  In darker areas, you generally need longer shutter speeds to allow enough light to fall on the sensor.  If you increase your ISO, though, the sensor will record light faster, and you can maintain faster shutter speeds.  This can help you keep your images nice and sharp even in low light.  The downside to raising your ISO is that your images will become more "noisy."  In photographs, a noisy image will appear grainy, so you want to use the lowest ISO that will give you the shutter speed you need. Digital SLRs today often allow you to g...