Found these guys hanging out at a bar northeast of Jacksonville FL

[John Myers]

I'm a newb this! It was a dreary day about 45 minutes before sundown. Canon 7D2 and a 70-200mm 2.8 lens. My 400mm 5.6 would not give me enough light it was so overcast and dark :(

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi John,
welcome to BPN. We post one image per thread here so I kept your first photo. you caught the pelican landing nice but it looks like it was just too dark for photography. You didn't list your shutter speed and ISO so we could see if there was a way to get the right exposure here. I am not sure how you can make it work, perhaps turning into some kind of silhouette might do. I am forwarding this to the ETL forum for more ideas about processing.

welcome!

[John Myers]

It was really dark, I have a few more with a better exposure. The entire day was very, very overcast and this was 45 minutes or so before sunset. This one was at 1/1000th/2.8/ISO3200 (auto). I was just happy to find birds since I was here for business ;)

Hi John,
welcome to BPN. We post one image per thread here so I kept your first photo. you caught the pelican landing nice but it looks like it was just too dark for photography. You didn't list your shutter speed and ISO so we could see if there was a way to get the right exposure here. I am not sure how you can make it work, perhaps turning into some kind of silhouette might do. I am forwarding this to the ETL forum for more ideas about processing.

welcome!

[Diane Miller]

Hi John,

Difficult circumstances here, with light so low. ISO 3200 can be a challenge for the 7D2, especially if exposure needs to brought up in post even a little bit. Given what you had to work with, you didn't do badly. But compared to the ideal we all strive for, here are a few thoughts.

The composition has cut into the parked birds. A little less zoom would have included more of a base to the image, assuming there wasn't something really ugly just below the frame (which is too often the case).

While the post is vertical, the horizon slopes off toward the left. A rotation to find a compromise might be good -- or a distortion correction, pulling up the upper right corner. And most people would clone out the two lights. The color balance might be improved a little -- the camera's color balance is not necessarily the best one -- either an "estimate" or a preset, neither of which is always ideal.

What was your processing? That's as important as the shooting specs.

[Jim Keener]

Hey, John. Welcome to ETL. As fine a place to learn as I know. What Diane wrote about the 7D II is spot on. She's one of the experts with that camera. I've failed — dramatically — with the 7D II in low light at the Bosque del Apache. Great images EXCEPT nothing could be done with them. Anyway. I needed to learn that lesson. I just read Arthur Morris' report of the day's shooting he and his students had in San Diego. One of his comments is about using the 7D II only in good light.

I thought about using it at the Bernardo Wildlife Area a few days ago, but with ISOs in the 3200-4000 area, I knew it wouldn't work.

Again, welcome. Learning can be fun here.

[John Myers]

Hi Diane,

You are spot on with your observations. I was using AWB, so that may have been an opportunity. I did make minor tweaks in Lightroom, not sure the easiest way to post those settings. Slight increases to exposure, contrast, highlights and whites. Slight decreases to shadows and blacks. Seemed to work well for the birds, but not for everything else. There we are actually more pelicans to the right, so that is a lesson learned as well.

I am really struggling to think through my next lens purchase. Other than this 70-200mm 2.8 II, I have the 400mm 5.6 prime. Nice lens but this situation seems to emphasize the needs for a faster lens if I am to keep the ISO at reasonable levels.

Hi John,

Difficult circumstances here, with light so low. ISO 3200 can be a challenge or the 7D2, especially if exposure needs to brought up in post even a little bit. Given what you had to work with, you didn't do badly. But compared to the ideal we all strive for, here are a few thoughts.

The composition has cut into the parked birds. A little less zoom would have included more of a base to the image, assuming there wasn't something really ugly just below the frame (which is too often the case).

While the post is vertical, the horizon slopes off toward the left. A rotation to find a compromise might be good -- or a distortion correction, pulling up the upper right corner. And most people would clone out the two lights. The color balance might be improved a little -- the camera's color balance is not necessarily the best one -- either an "estimate" or a preset, neither of which is always ideal.

What was your processing? That's as important as the shooting specs.

[John Myers]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Jim. I really like the camera, definitely blazing fast but the amount of noise at ISO 3200 is definitely a bummer. I don't think my 5DS-R is that much better in terms of noise. I tried the 5DS-R with the same lens and a 2X teleconverter, but that combo was worse because of the effect on the aperture (and fps).

Hey, John. Welcome to ETL. As fine a place to learn as I know. What Diane wrote about the 7D II is spot on. She's one of the experts with that camera. I've failed — dramatically — with the 7D II in low light at the Bosque del Apache. Great images EXCEPT nothing could be done with them. Anyway. I needed to learn that lesson. I just read Arthur Morris' report of the day's shooting he and his students had in San Diego. One of his comments is about using the 7D II only in good light.

I thought about using it at the Bernardo Wildlife Area a few days ago, but with ISOs in the 3200-4000 area, I knew it wouldn't work.

Again, welcome. Learning can be fun here.

[Diane Miller]

Hi John,

I neglected to say welcome!

Interesting that the noise is about the same for the two bodies. Noise is the next big thing that needs to be conquered. (Maybe after a Mars colony...) Till then, we can only rely on exposure, and underexposure is not good. On some occasions I've gotten good results at IO 3200 with the 7D2 but that's with slight overexposure and a very even-toned subject such as a small child's face in very soft light. It's frustrating because we need light but harsh, direct light (the brightest kind) isn't usually good.


I know it's not an uncommon name, but you wouldn't by any crazy chance be Kathy, Beth and Phyllis's little brother, would you??