Canon 100-400 II/7D II Morro Bay Incredible Versatility...

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Sunday was a relaxing day. This blog post was published at 9:50pm on Sunday night from my hotel room in Morro Bay, CA–just after midnight on Monday.

This image was created at Morro Bay on the morning of March 14, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 234mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6. AI Servo/Rear Focus/Zone AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The AF system selected two points one of which fell on the ground squirrel’s nose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: California Ground Squirrel

Canon 100-400 II/7D II Morro Bay Incredible Versatility…

I borrowed a 100-400 from a friend for a few minutes on Saturday morning to create the ground squirrel image above. That afternoon I left the 500 II in the car and used only the hand held 1-4 with the 7D II. I had a ton of fun and made more than a few good images….

This image was created at Morro Bay on the cloudy afternoon of March 14, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/5.3. Cloudy WB. Three AF points up from the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: California Poppy

This image was created at Morro Bay with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3. Color Temperature 9000K. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The center AF point was on the edge of the center of the bird’s breast where AF would have some nice contrast to work with. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Long-billed Curlew striding at sunset

This image was created at Morro Bay on the evening of March 14, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 100mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/100 sec. at f/5.6. Color Temperature: 9000K. Six AF points below and one to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). I put the active AF point on the sand in front of the bird as it was easier for the AF system to hold focus. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #4: Long-billed Curlew in pink sunset

This image was created at Morro Bay on the evening of March 14, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 227mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 250. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/8 sec. at f/11. Color Temperature: 9000K. AI Servo/Zone/Rear Focus AF activated a block of four AF points below and to the right of the central AF point were active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #5: Soft ocean wave pan blur at sunset

This image was created at Morro Bay on the evening of March 14, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 312mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/80 sec. at f/9; please don’t ask me why f/9. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the ducks and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Color Temperature: 9000K. Image #6: Intense sunset with flock of ducks

Your Fave?

Please take a moment to let us know which of today’s 6 images was your favorite and why you liked it.

Morro Bay offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects in a variety of attractive settings. Do consider joining me there on the March 20-22, 2015 Canon Destination Workshop. Complete info and register here

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

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