Need help (Newbie)

[SQWIB]

Did not know where to post this, was a little afraid to post in this section.
I know these pictures are horrid in many ways, but I need to start somewhere lol
Been taking pictures most of my life, family mostly, nothing pro-worthy, after my Power Shot pro 1 died, I decided to go with an EOS 7D.
My supportive wife wants me take some classes and hopefully I will be able to do so next year.


Sorry about the more Than 1 picture rule, using webshots and not sure how to link to it


On to my questions.
Lens used Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM.

I have been trying to capture some critters in flight.
I was shooting as the sun was low, around 5pm eastern time.
Using Full Manual, spot AF, AI Servo,High Speed continuous shooting.
Photos were only cropped, don't shoot RAW yet.


F-stop f/1.4
Exposure - 1/1600
ISO - 100
Exposure Bias - 0 Step
Focal Length - 50mm
Metering Mode - Spot
Flash Mode - No Flash, Compulsory
Exposure Program - Manual
White Balance - Manual






Now onto the next picture, what is the bluish hue around the butterfly? Is this a white balance issue?


F-stop f/1.4
Exposure - 1/1000
ISO - 100
Exposure Bias - 0 Step
Focal Length - 50mm
Metering Mode - Spot
Flash Mode - No Flash, Compulsory
Exposure Program - Manual
White Balance - Manual



cropped more


cropped again



What do I need to do to get better/ sharper photos, I know I need to learn a ton more.
Other lenses in my arsenal.


EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Lens
Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 EF IS USM Lens

[salome1789]

Just a suggestion, not critique: use auto mode for a while and get familiar with this awesome gear, experiment, just try to focus well and if you shoot an insect, get closer instead of cropping.

[Doug Sundseth]

First, insects in flight are very hard. They move quickly, making composition a random thing and they're small, making it quite likely that your camera will pick a different subject to focus on and making long zooms necessary (which exacerbates the other problems).

For the first photo:

1) Your white balance is quite blue. If you were to switch to a cloudy preset (or manually push to a higher color temperature), that's easy to fix. Note that it can be fixed in post with some loss of image quality.

2) Your camera autofocused on the leaves rather than the bee (?). Assuming a distance to subject of around 2', your total depth of field (per Online Depth of Field Calculator) is 0.02', or about 1/4". Very wide apertures make focusing very tricky. For a flying subject, you'll either need a smaller aperture (which means a slower shutter speed) or lots of patience.

3) Your picture is underexposed by around a stop. Since you probably don't want to slow down the shutter speed (I can't see the wings now, and slower will certainly not help with that), you'll either need more light or a higher ISO. The first takes gear and the second will increase noise.

For the second photo, the haloing looks to me like a significant overexposure of the subject, with the possible addition of some JPG artifacts and chromatic aberration (a lens artifact). You'll need to watch your exposure and shoot as tightly as you can get away with. and possibly fix the lens issue in post.

Birds and bugs are hard.

[corvus2606]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

For the second photo, the haloing looks to me like a significant overexposure of the subject, with the possible addition of some JPG artifacts and chromatic aberration (a lens artifact). You'll need to watch your exposure and shoot as tightly as you can get away with. and possibly fix the lens issue in post...

on top of all that, lenses aren't at their best at their widest aperture, you lose some sharpness and risk some other lense artifacts as you push it out to it's limit. I'd suggest trying this at f/2 or even tighter so you have the greater depth of field.

[SQWIB]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

First, insects in flight are very hard. They move quickly, making composition a random thing and they're small, making it quite likely that your camera will pick a different subject to focus on and making long zooms necessary (which exacerbates the other problems).

For the first photo:

1) Your white balance is quite blue. If you were to switch to a cloudy preset (or manually push to a higher color temperature), that's easy to fix. Note that it can be fixed in post with some loss of image quality.
The area was slightly shaded for that photo, I will try that

2) Your camera autofocused on the leaves rather than the bee (?). Assuming a distance to subject of around 2', your total depth of field (per Online Depth of Field Calculator) is 0.02', or about 1/4". Very wide apertures make focusing very tricky. For a flying subject, you'll either need a smaller aperture (which means a slower shutter speed) or lots of patience.

I'll play around with the aperture to see what I can do.

3) Your picture is underexposed by around a stop. Since you probably don't want to slow down the shutter speed (I can't see the wings now, and slower will certainly not help with that), you'll either need more light or a higher ISO. The first takes gear and the second will increase noise.

Not sure what you mean by Gear, do you mean some external flash or something?
I'll try higher ISO setting as well.

For the second photo, the haloing looks to me like a significant overexposure of the subject, with the possible addition of some JPG artifacts and chromatic aberration (a lens artifact). You'll need to watch your exposure and shoot as tightly as you can get away with. and possibly fix the lens issue in post.

If shooting in manual any suggestions for reducing the overexposure.
Dont shoot RAW just yet, but promise I will eventually, So fixing photos is not an option at this time
Birds and bugs are hard.

Originally Posted by corvus2606

on top of all that, lenses aren't at their best at their widest aperture, you lose some sharpness and risk some other lense artifacts as you push it out to it's limit. I'd suggest trying this at f/2 or even tighter so you have the greater depth of field.

Noted, will shoot a few stops higher

[Doug Sundseth]

Yeah, external flash or continuous lighting. Stuff that you have to haul with you to give you more options, more exercise, and more things to think about as you're trying to track flying things.

[SQWIB]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

Yeah, external flash or continuous lighting. Stuff that you have to haul with you to give you more options, more exercise, and more things to think about as you're trying to track flying things.

Yeah I know what you mean, my camera bag is heavier than my tool bag.

Would a canon speedlite 430ex work?

[Doug Sundseth]

That should be fine. I'd carry along some way of triggering it off of the camera as well, so your light isn't so flat. I shoot Nikon, so I use an SC-17 cable if I'm not bringing my radio triggers; I'm sure Canon has something similar.

[SQWIB]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

That should be fine. I'd carry along some way of triggering it off of the camera as well, so your light isn't so flat. I shoot Nikon, so I use an SC-17 cable if I'm not bringing my radio triggers; I'm sure Canon has something similar.

I use the flash as a slave when taking family photos, the eos 7d has a transmiter in the flash, I will try that. Thanks

[inkista]

Originally Posted by SQWIB

... what is the bluish hue around the butterfly? Is this a white balance issue?

No. This is the infamous "purple fringe" effect. It happens when you blow highlights (i.e., your whites are overexposed), and you're shooting with a very fast lens wide open (i.e., using f/1.4).

What do I need to do to get better/ sharper photos...

Right now? I'd say one thing: do not fear the high iso.

All of your shots are taken at iso 100, with your lens wide open at f/1.4.

Shooting wide open a) makes your lens softer, b) increases your chances of chromatic aberration and fringing, and c) creates a very thin DoF, which can make for a tough time achieving accurate focus, particularly on a fast-moving subject.

If you increase your iso to 800, that gives you three more stops to work with. A stop is a doubling of the light to the exposure. With iso, doubling your iso doubles the light, and is going up a stop. So, 100 -> 200 -> 400 -> 800 is an increase in three stops.

With f-numbers, the full-stop scale goes f/1.4 -> f/2 -> f/2.8 -> f/4.

So you could achieve the same shutter speeds and exposures, at iso 800 with your aperture set to f/4. You'd also eliminate the color fringe, and give yourself more working room, depth-of-field wise to get your subject in focus.

You bought this great big dSLR with its great big sensor because the high iso performance is far better than you had with your tiny little P&S's tiny little sensor and pixels. Might as well use it. You can, if you expose properly, still get great images without a ton of horrendous noise with iso 800. You are not limited to iso 200 and below like you were with your P&S camera.