Testing out the new camera

Yesterday morning I took a trip to Belle Isle with my new Canon 7D. My location to shoot was the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, being that it is free to enter, and a nice location for shooting color in a time between seasons. I had been there to photograph in March once before and remembered that they had a large amount of Easter Lilies on display at that time, so that was a draw too.

Luckily, as I arrived right at opening time, the sun was shining nicely, and I got some very cool B&W images of the glass structure of the conservatory. Now, I know many photogs say to always shoot in color and then just drop it out in post production, but I like to switch it up and shoot in monochrome mode sometimes. I feel like I get better B&W exposures that way. The shades and shadows on the glass panes of the conservatory made for some beautiful B&W tones.

Once inside, I had to wait about 20 minutes before my lens adjusted to the temperature and humidity changes. Then I got to experimenting. I noticed right away that this camera didn’t have the classic portrait, landscape, macro, dial modes as my 40D used to have. So, no cheating easily for me. It was time to work on those exposure levels. The light in the conservatory seemed a bit dim, and had a funny blue-gray cast it seemed. I think next time I will need a tri pod to capture the best details on the orchids, it was very dark in the tropical room. Overall, I am happy with the images I got, and am going to keep working on learning the best use for this camera.