Great Spotted Woodpecker

[Robert Kattanek]

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1487/26118637584_730b34bc49_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FN1QZE)

Since I got the 7D Mark II in February, I have tried to not only get photos of birds sitting somewhere, but actually put the great autofocus (compared to our 6D) to use and get some flight photography.
In addition, I never seemed to catch a great spotted woodpecker ("Buntspecht" in Germany) nice and open enough for a good photo.

A few days ago, I not only managed to find one distracted enough by its lunch so he didn't really notice me. But also one of the flight shots turned out (to my eye) sharp.

Time of day was early afternoon, so more than enough light for the 7D. The woodpecker was in a park, hopping around a few freshly planted trees in plain sight, with nothing between him and me but a small stream.
Of course, I was quite excited and took around 200 photos…of which I kept four.

Camera settings:
ƒ/5.6
400.0 mm
1/1250s
ISO 250

One thing apparent to me is that I probably should have used a quicker shutter speed. I don't mind the wings a bit blurry, I think, but here they may be a bit too much.

Camera used as mentioned the Canon 7D Mark II with the equally Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Post processing in Adobe Lightroom CC, bit more saturation and contrast, darkened the bright parts and brought up some detail from the dark parts.
Cropping was required, in the end about 50% of the original pixels remained. Cropping mainly to get closer to the bird on the final image, as well as remove a protective fence that was set around the newly planted tree.


Kind regards,

Robert

[Diane Miller]

You got a great pose and a lovely background! It looks like you held focus on the head very nicely. That isn't easy! But the wing blur is more than what I would want. For this much action, I would go to ISO 800 with that camera (and 1600 when I need to) as noise can be dealt with very nicely with Gogle/Nik Dfine (the suite is now free). I'd probably also go to a slightly smaller aperture, but I'd want a fast SS first.

The image is underexposed, though -- have a look at the histogram. Bringing it up will give you less contrast and more shadow detail, and I think both those things would help the image. If you go to higher ISOs be sure not to underexpose as bringing it up in post will bring out noise.

If it were mine, I would make the tree vertical. Having it angled gives a look of action, but if it's just a little off it can look like a mistake or a correction that was overlooked. A "crazy" horizon is more suited to street photography than nature, in my way of thinking.

Looking forward to more posts -- you have a great camera and lens combination!

[Robert Kattanek]

Hello Diane, thank you very much for your critique.

I definitely see your point regarding the wing blur, I have probably become too accustomed to photographing action with that magic 1/1250s number. For small, quick birds (which I couldn't photograph until a few months ago with the 6D), apparently not so magic. I am absolutely going to try and be more mindful of that in future. As a beginner, it's a lot of experimentation of course, finding out what works when.

The histogram indeed shows an exposure well biased to the left, it's interesting why the camera would do that in this situation. I shot it in Manual mode but with auto ISO. Since nothing in the scene seems particularly bright or dark to me, I would have thought the metering would have no issues here.
I have to say, however, that I am quite fond of photos which show a bit more contrast, though I definitely aim a bit high at times in that regard.

I have altered the photo a bit using your suggestions. Naturally, can't help with the wing blur, but I lowered the contrast a bit, lifted the shadows somewhat, and fixed that tree (easy, since some cropping was required anyways). I think it's interesting to see the two versions side by side, and I know now what to look for when shooting similar scenes in future.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/26829209275_8bd2ed5c1b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GSNHcH)

Thank you again!

Robert

[Diane Miller]

I really like the repost, but everyone is permitted to have different opinions for contrast. I like to see more shadow detail, others may not.

You might want to remove the white dot in the lower left.

Auto ISO is not true manual mode -- the camera is still making auto-exposure decisions, just changing ISO instead of aperture or shutter speed. I would think for this scene that the middle exposure setting would have put the histogram peak more in the center. If you are consistently getting underexposure, you should consider +1 (or whatever seems best) exposure compensation to be your base exposure. You can test it by shooting an evenly-toned gray or white card, with exposure compensation set to the middle of the scale. That should give a histogram that is centered.

But after establishing your normal exposure, consider the expose to the right strategy -- which means as far as you can go without blowing out whites. Then when you bring exposure down in post you have less noise and more tonal steps to minimize posterization. For the 7D2, you do bring up noise in the shadows when you lighten them, so I consider exposing to the right important. Different cameras are variable in shadow noise and it varies with ISO so it pays to experiment. The newest ones are getting better all the time.

But be careful for shots in which there are areas with white that you don't want to blow out. You may need less compensation in that case.

[Robert Kattanek]

You might want to remove the white dot in the lower left.

Done! :S3:


Auto ISO is not true manual mode
Ah yes, I am aware of that, may not have come across in my prior post. :S3: I use manual mode mainly to have the camera stick to both a specific shutter speed and aperture, but am (so far) happy to let it handle ISO.
What I was referring to was, that with Auto ISO and no exposure compensation, I would have thought the camera didn't have any reason to auto-expose too low in that scene. So it was actually the middle exposure setting, but the peak in the histogram is clearly to the left.
I may have to test that as you suggested, and in general try more exposure to the right.

Thank you very much again for your helpful hints, I am aware there are limitations to the 7D2 and its sensor, but it's good to know ways to work around them.

[Glennie Passier]

Late to the party Robert. Welcome. You will learn so much here. Good, honest comments and critiques.

I love the BG of your image and the cute bird, with an unusual pose. I have a lot of these sort of images myself. The repost is great. I think the vertical tree has made a difference as does the lowered contrast. Before I had any idea of what I was doing, I only used Auto ISO. Now, I like to be in control. I still get more duds than keepers, but the keepers are getting better!

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Robert Kattanek]

Glennie,

thank you very much for your kind words. I sometimes try to use manual ISO as well, already found a setting to change it really quickly, which helps.
It is still a bit much at times to go full manual at my stage of learning, though, but I plan to get there! :)

Kind regards,

Robert


Late to the party Robert. Welcome. You will learn so much here. Good, honest comments and critiques.

I love the BG of your image and the cute bird, with an unusual pose. I have a lot of these sort of images myself. The repost is great. I think the vertical tree has made a difference as does the lowered contrast. Before I had any idea of what I was doing, I only used Auto ISO. Now, I like to be in control. I still get more duds than keepers, but the keepers are getting better!

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Diane Miller]

Regarding AE modes vs full M, there are situations where one is better than the other, and situations where it doesn't matter. I'll use an incident light meter when conditions permit, to establish a M exposure. If that isn't possible (I'm in the shade and the subject is in the sun) I'll start in Av and try to quickly find the best exposure, with reliance on the hisotgram, blinkies and ESP. It can be frustrating to pin down, though. And if the light on the subject is changing -- the sun is in and out of clouds -- I'll use an auto mode.

[Robert Kattanek]

It can be frustrating to pin down, though. And if the light on the subject is changing -- the sun is in and out of clouds -- I'll use an auto mode.
I think that has been one of my main issues so far - trying to use full M with (broken, not completely overcast) clouds. Especially with flying birds, it seems a bit of a futile exercise compared to Auto ISO, since they change from shadow to bright light all the time.
What I found helpful however with the 7D2, is the option to use exposure compensation when in M mode using Auto ISO.

In general, I think that's really a large part of my learning curve - getting to know the ins and out of my camera and lens, and knowing when to use what setting. And then remembering to correctly change a setting!

[Diane Miller]

It's a large club. Don't feel special!! :w3

[Robert Kattanek]

It's a large club. Don't feel special!! :w3
Of course! I won't. :S3:

[Stuart Philpott]

Wow Robert,that is no easy picture to capture !! I know this bird they visit us at home can be very skitish and also that bounce to their flight has as of yet beaten me. I think Diane's once again given so great help,which I'll also learn from. I hope to see more from you Robert especially of this guy a bird I really love
good luck

Take care

Stu

[Robert Kattanek]

Wow Robert,that is no easy picture to capture !! I know this bird they visit us at home can be very skitish and also that bounce to their flight has as of yet beaten me. I think Diane's once again given so great help,which I'll also learn from. I hope to see more from you Robert especially of this guy a bird I really love
good luck

Take care

Stu
Thank you for your kind words, Stu, I am indeed very happy I got this bird on camera at all. Usually they are kinda shy and in a forest, which means they will be far away and with a lot of twigs and leaves all around them.
This one was an exception, thankfully I was there at the right time with my camera. :S3:

Diane indeed helped a lot, not only for this photo, but for those I take in future as well.

Cheers,

Robert