Canon EOS 5D Mark II Sample Pictures

This picture of the fishing pier in Kure Beach, North Carolina was taken at 5:53 AM. The rising sun provided just the right amount of light on the clouds to balance the warm glow of the lights on the fishing pier shining onto the surf. A long exposure allows the surf to become a smooth blur.

The round rock beach near Otter Point is a classic sunrise location for photographing Acadia National Park. The TS-E lens was tilted forward a slight amount to keep both the foreground and background sharp. A 2-Stop B+W Neutral Density Filter along with ISO 50 was used to lengthen the exposure time - allowing the Atlantic Ocean to blur.

A bee works a pink Cosmo flower in the early morning sun. Unfortunately, tilt-shift lens settings are not stored in the EXIF information for digital pictures. My recollection is that I used some forward tilt to keep the entire flower sharp and some shift to allow my position to be such that a shadow was not cast on the flower.

The sun rises over Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island. This shooting location is a short hike from the top of Cadillac Mountain. A note: I rarely shoot at f/14 (especially with a tilt-shift lens) and did not need to go this narrow for this photograph. I was bracketing exposures and mistakenly went to f/14.

Upper Antelope Canyon is a spectacular slot canyon on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. While the image appears serene, my back is against the canyon wall and I am elbow-to-elbow with fellow photographers. And just around the corner is another guide blocking access to the scene.
 
Upper Antelope Canyon is the most visited and most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. A guide is required for this slot canyon. And to get decent photos here, book a photo tour. The native guides will take you where you need to go when you need to be there.
 
You need to know what you are doing when shooting here - you do not have much time to capture your image.

Layers of strong lines run through this Winter landscape picture. A narrow aperture is standard fare for the deep depth of field needed by a typical landscape photo.

The unbroken, curving lines of this Golden Retriever lead the viewers eye to the two fresh rawhide bones she is guarding.

A young lady plays the violin at her recital. The lighting at this venue is quite good relatively speaking. Good indoor lighting (almost an oxymoron) combined with a fast lens results in a lower ISO setting being able to capture the image.

Hoar frost adds another color to this fall Cadillac Mountain scene.
 
Cadillac Mountain was closed early this morning. I returned later to find hoar frost melting in the early morning sun.
 
I typically shoot landscape photography with ISO 100 and an f/11 aperture with this lens/camera/tripod combination. Because of very high winds this day, I shot this picture at ISO 200 and f/8 to get a shutter speed fast enough to stop all of the motion. A slight forward tilt was used to keep both the foreground and background sharp.

While Fall waterfall pictures tend to have more color, Spring is a good time to photograph waterfalls at their fullest. In this photo, Swift Run carves through the valley of the Tall Timbers Natural Area near the Snyder-Middlesworth State Forest Picnic Area in Pennsylvania.

A little girl in her Christmas hat poses with her Christmas present horse. Lighting is ambient from windows and skylights. The wide aperture and shallow DOF helps eliminate the background clutter.

This naturally-lit fall crocus was captured handheld. For macro shots, a narrow aperture is needed to keep a significant portion of the subject in focus.

This vantage point is at the top of Cadillac Mountain. And this scene was as fun to watch as it was to photograph.
 
Champlain Mountain forms the base for this photo. Heavy but not solid clouds passing over the ocean allowed rays of sunlight to move across the ocean.

I shot this monster White-tailed deer buck picture for a breeder. The deer was in a large enclosure, but still a great challenge to photograph as it was far more intolerant of humans than any deer I've come across in a national park. The original background was not acceptable, so, just over 1 year later, after the folliage turned fall-like again, I recreated a new background using the same camera, lens and focus distance. After painstakingly removing the original background in Photoshop, I tried various options for the replacement. This is the one I settled on.

The wall this young subject is standing beside subtracts some light from her right side. The cloudy day's broad, flat light then has a little more direction - showing facial features better. The tunnel-like entrance in the background creates a frame for her head and the various walls add lines runing through the image.

The Somesville Arched Bridge is a favorite stop for photographers in the Acadia National Park/Mt Dessert Island, Maine area. Even lighting of this scene is the biggest challenge for bringing home a great shot. This picture was taken in perfect near-raining conditions. Fall color in the trees enhance the shot.

The warm setting sun lights the wind-tattered Maiden Grass from behind, giving it a warm glow. The shallow DOF from the short telephoto lens set to its widest aperture thows much of the image OOF (Out of Focus).

A large rock works on melting the small amount of snow remaining on its surface. I framed the image to include the little area of snow in the top left corner.

This photo is destined for the "How NOT to Ice Skate" manual. A wide angle lens allows shooting down on your subject - which often allows a less-cluttered background and a different-from-usual perspective.

One type of sunset photo I like is the silhouette. I found this unique landscape in Devils Garden, Arches National Park to be a great sunset foreground. Sometimes the sky performs so well that getting good shots almost feels like cheating.

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens is a great event and concert lens. This focal length allows reaching through the group to focus on specific subjects. The wide aperture allows shooting in poorly-lit venues and IS allows handholding at very low shutter speeds. Decent light at this venue allowed me some lattitude to stop down a little for greater DOF while allowing a shutter speed fast enough to stop (mostly) the violin bow motion.

A White-Breasted Nuthatch clings to a dead tree in a classic upside-down pose. The dead tree was planted by me near a feeder. the birds perch on the tree on their way to grab a seed.

Because keeping the site going consumes such a huge amount of time, I'm very frequently including work with family - and family outings. On this day, we were going "mountain biking" (testing the Zeiss 21mm ZE Distagon Lens actually) on the Rails-to-Trails near Weikert, PA.
 
As we pulled into the parking area, I suggested we hike a short distance into the open woods to scout photo ops - I mean ... to scout Penn's Creek for swimming opportunities. As we entered the woods, I reminded the kids that they HAD to be able to see where they were walking as rattlesnakes were known to be in the area. Within 3 minutes, my middle daughter let out an excited/panic "RATTLESNAKE".
 
Of course, I had the 70-200mm f/4 L IS nearby in the SUV and quickly went to work. The pit viper was high on my list of wanted photographs and this one was very cooperative.
 
The snake was initially under a large tree branch, so I took a set of shots prior to potentially disrupting the situation. I then carefully removed the branch and took some more shots (more insurance shots). I then (using a stick) removed a leaf partly blocking the snake near its head. More good news - the 4' Timber Rattlesnake posed very nicely.
 
Acting fast (didn't know how long the snake would remain in a good photo position), I opted to shoot handheld in this full shade location. Image stabilization allowed me to shoot at a still-high-quality ISO 400 while having a decent f/8 aperture (for DOF) - while standing on unstable rocks.
 
Once again, the kids had a great experience learning about nature (yes, they know what a rattlesnake sounds like now) and I got my shot. And we had a great bike ride through a beautiful part of this state. A win/win day as usual.

No, this huge stump is not that of a Sequioa - it is the remains of a very old evergreen in the Tall Timbers Natural Area in Central Pennsylvania. It makes a great playhouse. Wait, everything seems to make a great playhouse at this age.

This subject was lit by a setting Winter sun. The DOF delivered from the 85mm focal length and f/1.2 aperture combo is very shallow.

Sumac trees are one of the most-reliable fall-foliage performers in the area. They rarely disappoint. Isolate a leaf or small group of leaves against a pleasing background for a picture that also will not disappoint.

A girl, wearing number 9, performs on stage. The 300mm f/2.8 L IS is a great lens for this photographic purpose.

A horizontally oriented version of another sample photo on this site. Shooting in different orientations is just one of many methods of gaining a different image from the same scene.

This fall-colored leaf is covered in hoar frost. The frost creates a sharp contrast with the dark red leaf and the very dark background.
 
An f/2.8 aperture yields a very thin DOF at this short focus distance. Careful alignment of the leaf is necessary to keep an adequate portion of the subject in focus. The benefits of the narrow aperture are a faster shutter speed (it was extremely windy at the time of this shot) and a completely-blurred background.
 
This shot was taken handheld at 1/25 and near 1:1 / 1x magnification thanks to IS.

Of course, one girl has an extra set of legs. Positioning three energetic kids is hard enough without throwing a dog into the mix. Of course, the dog helps keep the smiles going strong. Obviously, this image was shot in the studio.

A flagstone-topped brick wall curves through the bottom of the frame, creating a solid base for both this image and the young girl standing on it. The 24mm perspective is one that adds depth to the subject while the wide f/1.4 aperture's shallow DOF (Depth of Field) softly blurs the background.

A cold stream winds its way through the frame while a rock lives up to its motionless reputation.

The sunrise as seen from a Cadillac Mountain vantage point.

A late-day Acadia National Park landscape that includes the Parkman Mountain peak as seen from Bald Peak. Warm light from the setting sun touches the mountaintops while dramatic clouds take care of the top portion of this frame.

The lines formed by this young, fallen ice skater's brightly clothed appendages lead through an uncluttered background of scratched ice in this frame. BTW - Its easier to shoot ice skaters when they are down. :)

Lighting is from studio monolights in large softboxes. The main light is high enough to avoid most of the reflection in their eyeglasses. A little clone stamping could remove the remaining reflection. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM Lens is a very good studio portrait lens.

For a young horse-loving girl, everything is a horse. That includes the small tree trunk growing beside this very large evergreen in the Tall Timbers Natural Area near Beaver Springs, PA.

A Mourning Dove sits on a large, dead tree limb. The 800mm focal length completely blurs the distant background. The Ameristep Stackhouse Ground Blind I frequently use for my bird photography was employed for this shot.

A little girl swings on a large grape vine that snakes through the frame. Her face shows the fun that this is.

Bryce Canyon National Park is a photographer's dream location. Once finished shooting the hoodoos (rock spires), streams, and other details, move on to the wildlife including Pronghorn, Mule Deer and Prairie Dogs.
 
This image was shot at sunrise from Sunset Point. The reflected light creates a great color on the backlit spires.

While upright is assumed to be the proper orientation for ice skating, this beginner understands that other orientations are often employed. This shot was framed so that the valley would form a "V" behind this young skater's head - drawing the viewer's eye to the subject. The ice forms the base for the image.

A stream flows through rocks while a somewhat-melted snow blankets the landscape.

While Lower Antelope Slot Canyon is not quite as spectacular as Upper Antelope Slot Canyon, it is definitely worth visiting (photographing) - and it offeres some advantages of its own. The first major advantage is the lack of people.
 
Perhaps the second advantage to this slot canyon is the 4 hours of unattended exploration provided by the photographer pass. Simply drive up to the entrance to the slot canyon and ask for this pass. You will be escorted to the slot entrance and then have up to 4 hours to shoot as desired. The slower pace of shooting in this canyon was especially appreciated. And the landscape down there is incredible.

A 600mm soccer photo of a girl moving the ball toward the goal.

A tired girl rests against a tree in the Winter woods.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is located in southern Utah, 12 miles southwest of U.S. Hwy 89 near Kanab. It features large coral-colored sand dunes amidst green evergreens and sage along with red sandstone.
 
A circular polarizer filter was used to increase saturation and a short telephoto focal length was used to compress the scene slightly. The sand dune and blue sky provide a clean canvas.

This is a near-to 1x magnification photo of an orange Zinnia flower in the early morning sunlight.

This particular Eagle Lake is in Acadia National Park, Maine. The sun shines on the brilliantly-colored fall foliage while the calm lake reflects its brilliance.
 
Macro lenses usually work very well for non-macro purposes.

Running down sand dunes is great fun for kids - and makes for great photos. This sand dune is located in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah. I used AI Servo AF mode and burst drive mode to capture this shot.

The crew of a lobster boat works their traps just off the shoreline between Otter Point and Sand Beach in Acadia National Park. A small amount of tilt was used to keep the foreground and background sharp.

This custom sleigh bed product photo was taken for a small custom furniture maker.
 
This shoot presented several big challenges. One was the over-powering light from the large windows. To resolve this problem, a late-in-the-day time was chosen for the shoot. Blinds were pulled to eliminate outdoor distractions. Interior light was from a Canon Speedlite 580EX II fired into a large umbrella.
 
The next big challenge was the small amount of space available to work in - about 14'x14'. I used the widest rectilinear lens available - the Canon EF 14mm L II. To keep the lines running parallel to the image frame border, a level camera position was used.
 
Position in the room was such that the headboard background would be as clean as possible - to show the curve of the headboard.

Well, more like crawling over each other. These starfish are in a shallow tidal pool on the Maine coast. Macro lenses are fun to explore with.

A white and yellow Chrysanthemum shows various stages of bloom in this photo. This shot was taken handheld in available light.

The hardest part about capturing a great Atlantic Ocean Sunrise photo from the US coast is getting up early enough to do so. Make sure your camera is level any time the ocean meets the sky in the frame as it is unforgiving.

When shooting small birds like the Black-Capped Chickadee, the longest focal length you can afford is usually the best choice. In this case, 800mm of focal length nicely separated the Chickadee from the not-too-distant background.

This Sunrise at Grand Canyon National Park was taken from near/below Yavapai Point. This image is a composite of two shots - one exposed for the ground and one exposed for the sky.
 
This particular May morning was very cold (light snow can be seen in the distance) and windy. Having arrived very early in the morning I was disappointed to find cloud cover. But, as so often happens when the cloud cover is not solid, light rays began to stream through the openings in the clouds - and in this case, into the canyon, creating a constantly and rapidly changing landscape to capture.

You have to get up early to beat the fishermen - and to get a balance of warm tungsten light and cool daylight colors. I need to find someone to change that light bulb.

Studies have shown that the curled tongue improves speed and agility by 10%. More seriously, images shot from a fixed position with a fixed focal length/prime lens will require cropping much more frequently than those shot with zoom lenses - as long as the zoom lens has long enough focal lengths. Another tip is that longer telephoto lenses, with their narrower angle of view, will properly frame a subject over a longer range of distances than shorter telephoto lenses.

A laser-like beam of sunlight reaches 130' below the ground to the floor of Upper Antelope Canyon. I highly recommend a wide angle zoom lens when shooting at this popular location. There is a lot of sand blowing into this slot canyon (and the 4 other slot canyons I was in during this trip), so any lens changing should be done inside a protective bag. A towel or other protection for the camera and lens would also be a good idea.

Hoar frost coats this low growing mountaintop plant. This approximately 1:1 / 1x magnification macro photo was shot handheld.

A girl runs with her dog in the late day sun. They are moving, so AI Servo AF mode was engaged.

Asticou Azalea Garden, located in Northeast Harbor, Maine (near Acadia National Park) is an incredibly-well maintained garden surrounding a sizable pond. Once again, this macro lens shows its versatility.

These very unique, silhouetted rock formations in Devils Garden, Arches National Park, provide a solid base for this sunset picture. The image is framed so that the most unique rock structure, 1/3 of the distance into the frame, has the most contrast - which tends to captures the viewer's eye. Taller rock formations near the image borders help frame the shot.

Shadows play with a coconut in Trunk Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands.

A little girl braves the Bald Peak wind at sunset. The light at this hour of the day defines the highest points on the mountain.

Cottonwood trees and various colored rock characterize Capitol Reef National Park. A circular polarizer filter was used to create more saturated colors in this picture.

Though not nearly as dramatic as Upper Antelope canyon, Sheep's Head Slot Canyon is far less visited. Along with the guide, we had the canyon to ourselves this morning. Reflected light from the red canyon walls create a very warm light on this piece of driftwood and the worn rock around it.
 
When shooting in dark slot canyons, it is important to avoid getting directly-sunlit areas in the frame as they will result in unattractive blown highlights.

A settings sun and clouds combine to create and unusual light on the Zion National Park valley. A foreground rock characterizes the sandstone landscape. This shot was taken near the Zion National Park visitor's center.
 
What I didn't know when taking this shot was that the seeds from the grass I utilized in my foreground (and was sitting in) needled their way (one direction only) through clothing (socks, shoes ...) and into skin. I'm still getting them out of my hiking boots.

It is not hard to find rock and arches at Arches National Park, but finding interesting foreground subjects requires more exploring. I liked this dead tree and worked it against the blue sky over the arch in this picture.
 
I shot this picture with and without the circular polarizer filter - the difference is dramatic - I didn't keep the light-colored sky shot taken sans filter.

Looking down into a fall crocus flower under the soft lighting of a cloudy sky.

Light from a setting sun shines under the clouds overhead and over the mountains behind. This vantage point is near the Bald Peak Summit, Acadia National Park, Maine.

This grove of trees leans significantly away from this camera position. Lens shift was used to change the appearance to be more upright.

Reflected sunlight illuminates the striated bottom side of Double Arch in Arches National Park. Being a very popular location in the park, this image required many people to be cloned out.

The view of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park from near the visitor's center (very easily accessible) begs for a panorama shot. This nearly-80-megapixel panorama is composed of 7 images stitched together in Photoshop. The western sky is still brightened from the setting sun while a full moon rises over the east.

A Southern Stingray swims through a dense school of small fish in Maho Bay, St. John, Virgins Island National Park.

The setting sun lights the Bald Peak summit marker and a little hiker in the background.

Harrison Wright Falls is one of my favorites out of the 22 named Ricketts Glen State Park waterfalls. This shots was taken very late in the day during an especially high waterflow.

Paria Rimrocks Toadstool Hoodoos in Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, Utah was not high on my Grand Tour to-do list, but it was one of my favorite locations on this trip. My only regret was not spending more time there. White and red sandstone - and rock hats on rock columns - characterize this location.

Dry grasses on top of Cadillac Mountain hold the night's hoar frost.

Nature provides great patterns for photographing. The orange background is a Nasturtium flower.

Sumac Tree leaves in their reliable full fall color hang in the late day sun. A direct side-on camera position allows the subject leaves to remain in good focus while the background is strongly blurred due to the telephoto focal length and wide aperture.

Early morning sun lights the beautiful orange flower of a Zinnia.

Open the macro lens aperture wide and move in close. DOF will become very shallow. Use this fact to your artistic advantage.

Carved rock walls lead to brighter light in Lower Antelope Slot Canyon.

Beautifully-colored trees stand in their fall glory along the coast of Maine. A circular polarizer was used for this handheld photo.

Wahweap Marina and Lake Powell as seen from the Lake Powell Resort. The deep colors are the results of a circular polarizer filter.
 
One of the photography concepts I like to utilize is reducing the number of lines intersecting the edges of the frame. Especially the bottom of the frame.

The North Window Arch, Arches National Park provides a unique frame of some similarly unique rock structures behind it. A circular polarizer filter was used to darken the sky and saturate the rock color.

The blue, the white and the various-colored sandstone are signatures to a Lake Powell photo. This photo was shot near sunset from a location near the Lake Powell Resort.

Sandstone, sand, sage, blue sky and interesting clouds compose this Arizona landscape picture. This location is near Page, Arizona.

No, I was not driving. Just wanted to get that straight
 
This yacht was torn from its mooring during the fall 2010 tropical storm that hit St. John with an exceptional amount of rain. The 18mm focal length gives the shipwrecked yacht a pleasing (to me at least) perspective.

This eagle-shaped rock formation hangs out over the Lower Antelope Canyon slot. Careful composition is required when shooting in slot canyons - primarily to avoid any directly-lit rock - which results in hot spots.

Using a wide angle lens and moving in close to the foreground rocks results in a pleasing perspective of Shawnee Falls, Ricketts Glen State Park. To keep everything in focus, a narrow aperture is needed. A narrow aperture used in the shade results in a long exposure. And an exposure this long means a tripod is necessary.

The Westin Resort is the place to shoot iguanas in St. John. A daily feeding brings them in by the dozens. Finding an attractive composition is a much more difficult task than finding the subjects.

Shadows (and a coconut) create a great foreground for early-mid-morning photography at Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands National Park. Clouds of course are key to great skies - and clouds also interfere with shadows. I spent a lot of time waiting for the right cloud setup for this picture. Keeping my own shadow out of the frame was another challenge for this shot.