More 7D Flight

[Arthur Morris]

Surprisingly, in the editorial markets, Turkey Vulture is one of our best selling species :)

This image was created with hand held Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop off the sky: 1/2000 sec. at f.4 set manually.

The bird was flying over a big sand pit near the lake (it is supposed to be a "beach...). The reflected light lit the undersides beautifully. Image created at 8:19 am on a clear morning. Canvas was added and three primary tips were repaired. (I'd be glad to post the original upon request.)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

You have to love those big natural soft boxes, sand, snow, etc. Some of my favorite BIF images come from the winter here with the big snow fill light from below.

Interesting comment about the editorial use of turkey vulture images. I wonder why?

Great wing display here, sharp, well exposed. I wonder if it would be possible to tease out a bit more detail in the darker areas on the breast and underwings? Could you go 1/2 stop brighter without overdoing the lighter areas(maybe a little recovery on the highlights after the increased exposure)?

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

I think I am one of the few who gets off on photographing them :)

I darkened this one a bit just before posting :)

[Todd Frost]

A face only mom could love, but nice soaring pose. Looks like remnants of some ps work on the rhs of image showing up on my monitor.
TFS
Todd

[Mark Young]

Nice composition. I like the wingspread and pose here.

How do you find the 7D for BIF shots? I have a hard time of it with the shorebirds moving so fast all the time. I use AI servo mode, with usually the center af point, but I have tried using the zones but found it didn't really help me keep track of the birds, but find that as soon as the bird moves off that center point it focuses on the bg and the shot is lost by the time I get the focus back on the bird. Sorry if that's a bit off topic for this thread.

[Jeroen Stel]

Gorgeous light on the bird and perfect pose...what more could you ask for..
Great job Arthur!

greetings,

Jeroen Stel

[Arthur Morris]

Nice composition. I like the wingspread and pose here.

How do you find the 7D for BIF shots? I have a hard time of it with the shorebirds moving so fast all the time. I use AI servo mode, with usually the center af point, but I have tried using the zones but found it didn't really help me keep track of the birds, but find that as soon as the bird moves off that center point it focuses on the bg and the shot is lost by the time I get the focus back on the bird. Sorry if that's a bit off topic for this thread.

I love my 7D for flight both for single birds and for groups, especially for groups coming right at you where I believe that 7D is superb, likely out-performing the MIV.

I have found that using rear focus increases my keeper rate. I believe that Doug Brown likes AF Point Expansion (Manual selection). I rarely use that one and I rarely use central sensor only (Single Point AF/Manual selection). That leaves only three :) My preferred AF Area Selection Mode is one of the many killer tips in my 7D User's Guide (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=285). If you check out the various blog posts and Bulletin features on the 7D it is not too hard to figure out which one I use 95% of the time.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Artie, good underwing detail, sharp, and I like the full wingspread from the banking angle. Let me be the first to ask to see your original to see how you repaired the wing tips.:)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Stu, I knew that I could count on there being a sucked in every crowd :)

As usual, all described in Digital Basics and APTATS I.

[Arthur Morris]

A face only mom could love, but nice soaring pose. Looks like remnants of some ps work on the rhs of image showing up on my monitor. TFS
Todd

As you can see, I did add a bit of canvas right. I look at the right side of the TIF at 400% and did not see an odd pixel. But sometimes I don't see such good :)

Any specific directions?

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack Artie. Very neat job on the repair. Well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Stu. Robert O'Toole is a good teacher.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great PP work Guru... very nicely done...

[Michael Wolf]

Nice image and thanks for sharing.

The second image - original - has better detail on the head & eye than your original post, at least on my monitor?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Michael. Not sure on the face detail; my eye for fine detail is not very good.

[Mark Young]

I love my 7D for flight both for single birds and for groups, especially for groups coming right at you where I believe that 7D is superb, likely out-performing the MIV.

I have found that using rear focus increases my keeper rate. I believe that Doug Brown likes AF Point Expansion (Manual selection). I rarely use that one and I rarely use central sensor only (Single Point AF/Manual selection). That leaves only three :) My preferred AF Area Selection Mode is one of the many killer tips in my 7D User's Guide (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=285). If you check out the various blog posts and Bulletin features on the 7D it is not too hard to figure out which one I use 95% of the time.

Thanks Arthur,

I've found some good stuff on your blog, and I headed out the last 2 evenings to practice taking BIF shots on the Gulls and Cormorants coming it to roost for the night using your methods.
I got some shots and noticed an improvement when the birds are flying parrellel to me, but not when they are coming directly at me. It seems I've still got a lot to learn about AF modes in the 7D but I knew when I upgraded from the 400D to the 7D a few months ago that the learning curve would be really steep.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW Mark. My preferred AF Area Selection Mode works great for both singles and flocks coming right at you.