I got a few of this little cutie on my side of the reeds, but he was very busy and didn't pose long. This one isn't the ideal head angle -- another one was much better but his beak is in front of the reed. No chance I could move enough to separate them without moving a lot farther away, and by then he would have been gone after the next bug.
Canon 7D2, 100-400 II at 400, ISO 1600, f/6.3, 1/5000 because I was trying to catch him flying. He would make quick sorties after bugs and then dive back in the reeds, usually on the water side, away from me. I did get him in the frame on one flight, with only 3 shots at 10 fps. The two end ones are sharp for the size, but the wings are tucked against his sides. The middle one is the classic topside with wings outstretched and tail fanned out, but it's soft. But I was surprised to get that much focus on a small bird. Cropped to 40% of full frame.
In LR5 I increased exposure 1 stop and lightened shadows a little. I was set to +1 EV but that wasn't enough with the heavy fog. I made the same adjustments as in the previous post, moving the Luminance noise reduction slider up to 35 from its default of 0, and Sharpening up to 50 from the default 25. I have rarely used this strategy before, preferring to do both in PS, but the grain with the 7D2 is so fine and tightly-structured that it's worked here, in this rather extreme case of high ISO and having to bring up a dark subject. (The difference is minuscule and only shows at 100% or 200% view.) So this one hasn't been into PS at all -- just LR.
Normally I'd want to be at ISO 800 or below. But with handholding, I'd rather risk some noise than blur. I'll get it dialed in soon. I'm used to being on a tripod with time to think, but with this rig I'm tying for things that are much more spontaneous in my ability to position myself -- and loving it!
Hi Diane,
I did not look at your comments until I had a good look at this without influence or bias.
I like the triangles that can be seen within the image. And it is always nice to see the yellow rump so clearly. Good DOF on the bird and nice details in the feathers.
I have to admit that this image has a few problems.
The main one for me is the head angle but I suspect you know that! The other issue is the brown broken reed on the LHS of the frame. I find it pulls my eye away from the warbler.
If this isn't a big crop, I would crop it out and go for a vertical and add a bit more room up top for the bird to look into.
Gail
Thanks, guys! Although I love classic portraits, I'm fairly tolerant of different head angles if the bird is looking at something. At least there's a good eye here.
I debated about the reed but felt it balanced the bird somewhat, especially since the color matched the bird fairly well. Here's a different crop with the reed removed but this is getting toward a lot of negative space. Maybe I could clone in a bug.
A very nice image Dianne. I like the details you got despite the high ISO. I don't mind the HA. How does the 7D II perform at ISO 400-1600? I have just sold my 7D and am planning to buy the 7D II. Thanks.
Sanjeev, I think you'll love it. I have only done a few test shots with the original 7D. There is a little more noise at ISO 800-1600 than with my 5D3, but only a little. And it's apparently less than the original 7D. I find the noise very tight (small grains) and even. With careful exposure it's very good for my standards -- not a 1DX, but for 1/3 the price I think it's excellent. And I've been digging out some underexposures because I've been too excited to chase down subjects with it and the new 100-400 before I got the right settings figured out, and because I hate where they put the exposure indication in M mode, along the right edge in the viewfinder. If my eye isn't in exactly the right spot and tight against the viewfinder, I can't even see it -- and I don't wear glasses. So I've been in A mode quite a bit.
The warbler here and in the previous post was a stop underexposed and this is 30% of the original frame.
Hi Diane, The ButterButt is beautiful! We only see them in breeding plumage in May around here.... and then they are usually scavenging underneath leaves for bugs/caterpillars! Great job showing the butter of the butt! Your quality is great.... the only "if" I have is that the big bent reed in front of him competes with the delicacies of this pretty warbler.
Very nice shot Diane. Seems like you're getting use to that 100-400 II, and liking it. I really like the last post with the vertical crop, it works well for the pose. I love the yellow highlights on the bird and feather details, especially considering you've cropped down to 30%.
These little guys are fast and I agree with you on keeping higher ISO's for a sharper shot. I'm finding with my 7D II that ISO 1600 is just fine. As you mentioned, the noise grains are much nicer and easily managed in post-processing. Indoors I'm casually using 3200 and 6400 without even thinking twice. You just need to make sure your exposure is bang on, or slightly over exposed. I'm loving the AF on this camera, totally beats out my old 7D. And hopefully Canon will issue a firmware update to fix the exposure indicator when using M mode. I wear glasses sometimes and it can be a pain.
Another shot of the Yellow-rumped Warbler
Reply With Quote
