Canon 100-400II/1.4XIII/7DII (Part II) Patriotic Toe Photography & Related Exposure and White Balance Lessons

What’s Up?

This blog post took well more than three hours to prepare. There is lots of learning below so be sure to read carefully. I enjoyed a nice swim, my core exercises, and an ice bath on Saturday and began work on the next Digital Basics update. It should be finished soon as I have not added much to my Photoshop repertoire in quite a while.

After losing 9- and 8-point leads, the Wisconsin Badgers gutted out a victory over previously unbeaten Kentucky. At 38-1, the Wildcats get to go home while the Badgers meet Duke for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Monday night. Kentucky coach John Calipari lost with class. I am not sure who I will be rooting for on Monday night but I am glad that Kentucky lost. Sports fans can enjoy some good writing here.

This, the 87th consecutive educational blog post, is scheduled to be published very early on Sunday morning.

Digital Basics Update Help Needed

If you are aware of a topic or technique that I have mentioned on the blog that you are sure is not is not covered in Digital Basics please shoot me an e-mail. Before you do, however, please search the PDF (Control F) to make sure. Many thanks.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

B&H

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Happy Holidays

Happy Easter and Azizen Pesach as applicable 🙂 Good luck finding the eggs and the afikomen.

This image was created at Morro Bay (while standing) with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm), and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400: Evaluative metering at zero: 1/640 sec. at f/11 in Av mode. Auto WB. Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The center AF point fell on a spot at the upper right center of the painted toe. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Painted toenail in sun.

Thanks Chris!

Thanks a stack to multiple IPT veteran Chris Billman (US Air Force retired MEDEVAC technician) for posing his toe for me on the beach at Morro Bay.

Exposure Lesson

If I have said it once, I have said it 1,000 times, “When the sun is fully out, the camera’s meter is pretty darn smart. When the sun is not out at full strength, when it is cloudy, or when the subject is in the shade, the camera’s meter is pretty dumb….”

Image #1 was created in the sun at the metered exposure, 1/640 sec. at f/11. When I brought the image into DPP to convert it the highest WHITE RGB values were in the mid-230s, just where I prefer them. The meter was perfectly smart.

To create Image #2, I shaded Chris’s toe with my body. Working in Av mode still at f/11 I added 2/3 stop of light to the metered exposure and wound up at 1/100 sec. at f/11. What a difference? When I brought the image into DPP to convert it the highest WHITE RGB values were also in the mid-230s, just where I prefer them. In this case the meter was not as smart as it had been when the sun was out; I needed to add 2/3 stop of light to wind up with (pretty much) the same exposure.

A: How is your exposure math?

Same toe. Same lens. Same day. Same beach. How many stops difference in the two exposures, the one in the sun and the one in the shade?

This image was created at Morro Bay (while standing) with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm), and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400: Evaluative metering at zero: 1/100 sec. at f/11 in Av mode. Auto WB. (Should have been Shade or at least Cloudy). Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The center AF point fell on a spot at the upper right center right near the edge of the painted nail. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Painted toenail in shade.

100-400 II/1.4X III/7D II Close Focus

With its minimum focusing distance pretty much unaffected by the addition of the 1.4X II TC, the 100-400II/7D II offers amazing close focus of less than one meter, 3.2 feet. Even considering the focus breathing focal length issues, the magnification is quite amazing. Who would have ever though that we could photograph our (or a friend’s) single toe with an intermediate telephoto lens while standing? Not me for sure. This combo should kill with a variety of medium and large sized flowers, bugs, butterflies, and the like.

Lens Chart

Be sure to bookmark our Canon Lens Chart here.

B: Easy Question

If the recorded focal length (560mm) is the same for both images above, why is the toe considerably larger in the shaded version?

C: Another Easy Question

Why was it vitally important that AF be active at the moment of exposure for both images?

Image #3: this JPEG represents the much cooler (more BLUE) RAW file of the shaded toe image.

White Balance Issues

For image #1, created in the sun, AWB was fine. As noted above, using either Shade or Cloudy White Balance for image #2, the one where I shaded the toe with my body, would have been a good choice. (Note to flower photographers: shading the subject with your body or with a large card or diffuser on a sunny day is often an excellent strategy.) As you can see by looking at Image #3 immediately above, the RAW file has a BLUE cast as expected. Rather than deal with that in Photoshop I opted to to try the click White Balance dropper in DPP 4. When I did, I was amazed that the color now matched the color in Image #1 pretty much exactly. As I wanted it too look as if it were taken in the shade while eliminating most of the BLUE cast I used the Color Temperature slider. I was equally amazed that I needed to set 7500 K to come up with the cooler color that you see in Image #2.

The Lesson

As you can see there are lots of ways to deal with White Balance, with color temperature settings, and with color cast issues; they can be dealt with in the field, during conversion, or after conversion in Photoshop (the latter using one of many techniques). What is the best approach? Any of the above that give you color that pleases you; I call it matching the color space in my head. As is usual with digital, there are many ways to skin the same cat.

D: Which is Your Favorite Toe Color?

Which color rendition to you prefer, that of Image #1, Image #2, or Image #3.

E: Which of the three images do you like best?

Which of the three images do you like best, Image #1, Image #2, or Image #3? Be sure to let us know why.

Note: I like one of the three images best for color but I feel that one of the other two is the strongest image. I will share my thoughts with y’all in a future blog post.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

Just One Slot Left!

The 2015 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT: June 29 through July 5, 2015: $5499: Limit 10 photographers/One opening due to a recent cancellation. Two great leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris.

Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on 28 June arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday 29 June (or simply meet us then either at the Edinburgh Airport (EDI) or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe. Stay 7 nights in two gorgeous modern country cottages.

There are 5 days of planned puffin/seabird trips—weather permitting, and 1 full day of gannet photography with 2 sessions on the boat.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The Details

We will be staying in upscale country-side cottages that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for image sharing and Photoshop lessons. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with two roomy single beds and a private bathroom. See the single supplement info below.

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day and a farewell fine dining thank you dinner. The cost of your National Heritage Trust is also included; that covers the twice a day landing fees.

Plan to fly home on the early morning of Monday 6 July or to continue your stay or travels.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2015.

Single Supplement Info

The single supplement is $1475. As we will be renting a third cottage the $1475 is due with your deposit and is also non-refundable.

If you are good to go please send your $2,000 deposit check now to save a spot. The balance will be due on March 29, 2015. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Whether or not your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

We do hope that you can join us.

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