Hi all. I just discovered this forum and am excited to learn how to improve my photography. I have a Canon 70D with the 100-400 4.5-5.6 L lens. I have been learning on my own and changing my photography as I learn. I don't typically use an extender (though I do have one) just because I'm the kind of birder that goes out seeking them on foot and typically am hand holding my camera or using just a monopod. I started photographing the birds just to help me with ID as I still consider myself to be a newbie birder, though I have been doing it pretty avidly now for a couple years. I still rely on photos to help me ID the birds I just am unsure of. A natural result is my interest in getting better photos. I find myself cropping a lot, just because I still don't have the reach with the 400 and birds just won't let you get close enough. My biggest problem right now is in low light conditions. This pic is an example of that. I took this photo a week ago just after sunrise on a foggy day, so very low light conditions. I was excited to have found these ducks. In low light, this camera body just does not do well. I try to keep the ISO down, but have to have it up enough to capture the image at a reasonable shutter speed. I am thinking about a new camera body because of this.
This pic was taken at ISO 5000, f 5.6 1/500. I removed the luminance reduction to show how much noise I am getting in these situations. I hate having to use luminance reduction too much because of the loss of detail, but am constantly having to do it anyway to get a photo that is half way decent. Not sure if I am doing something wrong here, or it is just an equipment issue. This photo was cropped to about 15% of original. Oh yeah, this was hand held.