Backyard birds.... need advice

Joemess

Hello Guys


I am looking for a little advice... I have recently purchased a 7D and I am having trouble getting the sharpness that I would prefer. I want to prefce this by saying that I do not for an instant think it is the lens or the camera as I do (on occasion) get tack sharp images. However, these tend to be few and far between. Below I will provide a sample of images taken with the 7D using a 100-400L from atop a tripod with a remote shutter release. I try to use the lowest ISO as possible to avoid noise. The only handheld shot in the bunch is the vulture that I will place last. I am currently doing all post in DPP, however I may move to elements soon.

Feel free to C&C, I have thick skin and do not mind a bit.

Example of what I am not thrilled with

#1



this is cropped at 100% with no sharp added.
#2


This one also seems to be missing something....
#3


However I do get great results on occasion... such as
#4



and

#5




just for kicks here is a handheld shot
#6




So, am I just being to hard on myself? if not, am I making the mistakes in the camera or in post?

Thanks all!

Andrew

Ric Grupe

Try using "spot AF".

Here is some excellent info.

zoomer

Your results look pretty typical of what people get with your setup.
Are you using unsharp mask to sharpen your shots. Shooting at F8 in good light from the tripod will help a lot.
In poor light at low iso's you will run into shutter speed problems.
Focus on the birds eye, don't over crop.

Ric Grupe

zoomer wrote: »

Your results look pretty typical of what people get with your setup.

Heavy crop:



Camera Model: Canon EOS 7D
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 400
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal length: 400mm
Subject distance: 6.6 m

You do have to learn how to edit 7D files.

Small birds are only the hardest thing you could pick for a subject.

Joemess

Ric Grupe wrote: »

Heavy crop:


Small birds are only the hardest thing you could pick for a subject.

Yeah, I know.... only problem is there are so many of them coming in right now. This is why I am insisting its no the lens or the camera... I ahve been suprised at the learning curve on the 7D when compared to my 30D that it replaced.

Thanks,

JSPhotography

I'm thinking it's your shutter speed. at 1/40 to 1/60 your going to have to catch them perfectly still, pretty good trick with a twitchy bird. Notice Ric is at 1/500.

Joemess

JSPhotography wrote: »

I'm thinking it's your shutter speed. at 1/40 to 1/60 your going to have to catch them perfectly still, pretty good trick with a twitchy bird. Notice Ric is at 1/500.

Yep, I just tried a few frames at a higher speed and I am getting much better results... I will post a few up later.

Ric Grupe

JSPhotography wrote: »

I'm thinking it's your shutter speed. at 1/40 to 1/60 your going to have to catch them perfectly still, pretty good trick with a twitchy bird. Notice Ric is at 1/500.

Yep...1/500 is even a little slow for 400mm.

Allen

I wouldn't worry about the ISO with the 7D, just don't underexpose. Shooting
birds the more speed the better. I had major improvements with speeds
above 1/800. Even in a slight breeze the fine feathers on a bird
can move/vibrate.

I have found with my 100-400 and 500L it almost always needs the focus tweaked.
The DOF is shallow and spot rarely picks out the eye on small birds. So I
almost always manual tweak the focus slightly after AF. Look for the eye
glint.

Joemess

Allen wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about the ISO with the 7D, just don't underexpose. Shooting
birds the more speed the better. I had major improvements with speeds
above 1/800. Even in a slight breeze the fine feathers on a bird
can move/vibrate.

I have found with my 100-400 and 500L it almost always needs the focus tweaked.
The DOF is shallow and spot rarely picks out the eye on small birds. So I
almost always manual tweak the focus slightly after AF. Look for the eye
glint.

When you say do not worry about ISO, how high are we talking. I did notice last night that underexsposure was giving me massive amounts of noise that was killing the photos. Today my self imposed assignment was to set up a target and shoot it at a variety of settings. I was going to play with ISO today, but if you could give me a ballpark it would be cool.

BTW, thanks for all of your help guys....