Technique Assessment

Having looked at his settings, Ben advised Paul to make a few adjustments on his 7D Mk II

White Balance

PAUL noticed that his images, shooting side by side, weren’t quite as rich as Ben’s. The wildlife pro took a quick look at Paul’s screen and immediately suggested a pro tweak. “Try changing your white balance to Cloudy,” says Ben. “This works well with colourful birds and backgrounds. The Cloudy setting warms things up and makes the colours pop.” The image above was taken using Auto White Balance, while Hot Shot #1 has been shot using Cloudy.

is modes

When Paul asked which image stabilization mode to set his Canon 100-400mm lens to, the answer was “It depends.” Mode 1 provides stabilization in all directions, making it suitable for general movement such as in bird portraits. Mode 2 only stabilizes in the direction of camera movement, which makes it ideal for panning shots. However, at speeds over 1/1000 sec, IS can be turned off as the shutter speed is fast enough to eliminate movement.