Technically not pets but..................

[Barbara Ponder]

Found these two feral cats at the park. The black one is missing part of his ear They seem happy together. I am sure someone dumped them when the cat they didn't spay had a litter of kittens. Why do people do that?

[cuilin]

they're adorable. although the grey one looks pretty grumpy. the black one probably lost his ear crossing the grumpy grey cat.

[revi]

Again, way too much noise That's a pity, because otherwise, your images are good .

I noticed you are at ISO 400 with a -3EV exposure compensation. Are you trying to keep ISO low, and then get the shutter speed where you want it with the exposure compensation? That would translate to a lot of compensation in post-processing (brightening and contrast), which in turn will make the noise much, much more visible than when you had shot with a higher ISO with no compensation. And a Canon 7DII should be able to handle ISO 3200...
(Note the noise under the chin of the black cat: that's the effect you get from PP correction for underexposure, where the black looks gray due to the noise)

[Shadowman]

The gray one looks well fed, nice effort.

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I have inadvertently messed with camera settings and was unaware. A new camera for me and still trying to learn it. I do often hesitate to up my ISO and guess that needs to stop when called for. I need to look at all the settings and figure out what happened. I noticed that my photos were all shooting very dark and although overcast they should have been lighter than what they were. With your info I hope I can solve it.

[Barbara Ponder]

Remco, Thanks so much! I had no idea I had set the exposure compensation. I could not figure out why all the photos were so dark because although overcast it was not that dark and I have shot in worse light with better outcome. I have now adjusted it and hope that will help.

[ashcroft]

I'm not sure what's going on here. You used a 7DM2 and a 300mm L lens. Yet the noise and colour artifacts are quite bad (see screen shot below). It's on the grey cat and on the foliage. Your EXIF is

1/400s
f/18
Exposure Program Shutter priority
ISO Speed Ratings 400

The shutter priority has pushed the aperture to f/18 because you had exposure compensation set (it needed less light). But there still seems to be a lot of general noise there. Why not take a shot outdoors in good even light using something like iso200 f/8 and see what that looks like - just to make sure there's nothing wrong with camera or lens. You could post it here.

[Barbara Ponder]

Rob, here is a photo taken 3 days prior to this set almost the exact same weather conditions. I think perhaps the combo of compensation and crop may have caused the issue. However, I am going out to shoot today and will post so I can make sure it is not the camera or lens. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me, it's truly appreciated!

[ashcroft]

Rob, here is a photo taken 3 days prior to this set almost the exact same weather conditions. I think perhaps the combo of compensation and crop may have caused the issue. However, I am going out to shoot today and will post so I can make sure it is not the camera or lens. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me, it's truly appreciated!

That one is underexposed too - see edit attached. Post some more when you take them.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Barbara The cats make a good composition, I like the image. It needs some noise reduction, sharpening , brightening and may be some contrast but you can fix them with PP anyway. When you are in more control of your new camera's settings , I'm sure things will be easier

[rpcrowe]

Hi Barbara...

I strongly suspect that the reason for the excess noise in this image is not that you were using ISO 400, but that an exposure of 1/400 second @ f/18 is under exposed for overcast conditions and that you needed to bring up the image in PP. An exposure of f/16 @ 1/400 second would be (as per the Rule of Sunny 16) just about right for bright sunny conditions and underexposed under overcast conditions. The underexposure would be the primary culprit in the excess noise, not using ISO 400. My 7D Mark-1, is perfectly capable of getting very decent imagery using ISO 400, so I expect that the 7D Mark-2, might be even better. This shot was done at ISO 800, hand held in the falling evening light at 1/400 @ f/5.6 noise doesn't factor into this image...



Note, I had a 20x24 inch canvas print done of the above image of my daughter's Labrador and gave it to her for her birthday. The image was fine even at that enlargement.

I have been using the 300mm f/4L IS lens on my Canon 7D Mark-1 for years and, although the Image Stabilization allows hand holding of that rig, I will most often use that combination with the aid of a monopod to increase stability while shooting.

I have looked back at my images shot with the 300mm f/4L IS lens on my 7D Mark-1 and it seems that I will usually be shooting around the f/4-f/5.6 range because I usually want a thin DOF when using that lens. The fact that a wider aperture allows a faster shutter speed is also a reason to use a wide aperture.

You did not need an f/stop as small as f/18. Although the 300mm f/4L IS lens has rather narrow DOF when shot wide open, the image quality is good enough to use the lens at f/4 or f/5.6. I shot this polo match wide open at f/4 using aperture priority at ISO 200. I wanted the fastest shutter speed possible at a relatively low ISO. The AV at f/4 allowed 1/2500 second...

[luvaneezer]

I'm not sure what's going on here. You used a 7DM2 and a 300mm L lens. Yet the noise and colour artifacts are quite bad (see screen shot below). It's on the grey cat and on the foliage. Your EXIF is

1/400s
f/18
Exposure Program Shutter priority
ISO Speed Ratings 400

The shutter priority has pushed the aperture to f/18 because you had exposure compensation set (it needed less light). But there still seems to be a lot of general noise there. Why not take a shot outdoors in good even light using something like iso200 f/8 and see what that looks like - just to make sure there's nothing wrong with camera or lens. You could post it here.

Barbara - I like this shot - and like you am learning about camera settings. Thanks for posting and helping us both learn!

Rob - As I am learning a new camera and photography skills as well - I wanted to say thanks for your comments. Do you mind if I ask how you got the EXIF data for this shot? I can't seem to figure out how to include that with photos I post, nor find it on posted photos. Many thanks!
Diane

[Shadowman]

Rob, here is a photo taken 3 days prior to this set almost the exact same weather conditions. I think perhaps the combo of compensation and crop may have caused the issue. However, I am going out to shoot today and will post so I can make sure it is not the camera or lens. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me, it's truly appreciated!

Nice capture.