Climbing the learning curve!

I'm still on a steep learning curve with the Canon 7D and Mk 2 70-200 'L' lens. Any helpful comments will be appreciated.

Hi Chris,
#1 - Is ok, but does the bottom half of the photo seem dark or is it just me? Did you use a flash for this one?
#2 - Really sharp!
#3 - Not liking this one at all. There seems to be something, bar maybe, in the foreground on the left and right. The fountain water looks little underexposed and flat to me. I don't like taking pictures of people turned away unless I have a good reason.

#1 looks good
#2 looks like it could be sharper - did you sharpen in post?
#3 I agree with Lonnie.

Qbx wrote in post #15244225
#1 looks good
#2 looks like it could be sharper - did you sharpen in post?
#3 I agree with Lonnie.

Thanks Qbx and Lonnie. I wish I hadn't posted the third pic as I agree with both of you! I did sharpen the robin in PP. I was using the 2x extender which affected picture quality.

Lonnie wrote in post #15244145
Hi Chris,
#1 - Is ok, but does the bottom half of the photo seem dark or is it just me? Did you use a flash for this one?
#2 - Really sharp!
#3 - Not liking this one at all. There seems to be something, bar maybe, in the foreground on the left and right. The fountain water looks little underexposed and flat to me. I don't like taking pictures of people turned away unless I have a good reason.

Thanks Lonnie. No flash used for any of these.

Focus seems soft on all for me. Was it a high ISO you used?

Flo wrote in post #15244774
Focus seems soft on all for me. Was it a high ISO you used?

ISO was 400 on the cat and the robin and 800 on the other photo. I probably should have lowered it. Thanks for your help.

Chris Hall wrote in post #15245225
ISO was 400 on the cat and the robin and 800 on the other photo. I probably should have lowered it. Thanks for your help.

The cat just shows to be oddly soft in areas.it may be motion blur.I am seeing quite alot of noise as well in these?Are they large crops?

Flo wrote in post #15245498
The cat just shows to be oddly soft in areas.it may be motion blur.I am seeing quite alot of noise as well in these?Are they large crops?

Yes, they are quite large crops. I guess I just need to get closer to the subjects and crop less.

Flo wrote in post #15245498
The cat just shows to be oddly soft in areas.it may be motion blur.I am seeing quite alot of noise as well in these?Are they large crops?

+1 - something just not quite right with the cat photo.

The bird looks a bit odd too. I shoot a 7D, 70-200, and quite often a 2X. It will soften the images but that's not what I see here. Not sure what it is.

Can you post the exif? And does the 70-200 have IS?

Titus213 wrote in post #15245837
+1 - something just not quite right with the cat photo.

The bird looks a bit odd too. I shoot a 7D, 70-200, and quite often a 2X. It will soften the images but that's not what I see here. Not sure what it is.

Can you post the exif? And does the 70-200 have IS?

Hi Dave. The lens does have IS and it was active. I'm new to all this but will try to find the exif data when I get home.

Titus213 wrote in post #15245837
+1 - something just not quite right with the cat photo.

The bird looks a bit odd too. I shoot a 7D, 70-200, and quite often a 2X. It will soften the images but that's not what I see here. Not sure what it is.

Can you post the exif? And does the 70-200 have IS?

Here's the exif data

Well, the exif isn't helping me. You were shooting wide open and appear to have had plenty of light. Shutter speed was sufficient to stop both camera shake and subject movement.

The only thing you might do is check the DOF at http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html. If you were 10 feet from the cat you had <2 inches of DOF, <1 inch in front and one behind focus point. That camera and lens combination does provide some amazing bokeh though.

Are you using single, user selected AF point, and single shot AF?

Titus213 wrote in post #15246795
Are you using single, user selected AF point, and single shot AF?

Yes to both.