Soaring in the Sky

[Dvir Barkay]

142264

Wasn't sure about this one. I liked the pose and the catchlight in the eye. As well as the posture of the eagle with the black vulture also flying. The vulture is a bit tight next to the frame edge, but that is the corner of the image. I have have been able to catch both species together, so a first time for me.

Canon 1dmrkIII, Canon 300/2.8 L IS with x2TC, F/8, ISO 800, 1/1600s, 65-70% of original, Conowingo Dam, 2014

[arash_hazeghi]

It is always difficult to make an appealing bird photograph from under the belly against the sky. Here the shooting angle is way too steep, the underwings are underexposed and dark while there is a halo around the head area. The OOF bird doesn't add much here.

Try to photograph at a location where you can be at eye level with the eagles.

TFS

[Dvir Barkay]

They are slightly dark, wouldn't say underexposed, that is how an eagles wing looks from underneath in the middle of the day. Also I don't see much of a halo, I specifically sharpen manually and in steps in bird photos with masks to try not to get too much of a halo. Can you point out which point has the halo? What I liked about the image is the depth of field of the eagle compared to the vulture. Thanks for the commentary and critique Arash!

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Dvir,

it is underexposed as the meter went for the sky clearly. If you look at histogram you will see it. Halo is around the head area...


this file is not a keeper so I would delete it and try again in the field to get a better one. Avoid photographing in such harsh light.


BTW, we have ETL forum with a lot of good resources and information.


good luck

[Dvir Barkay]

Agree its not a keeper, but its not too bad. Histogram wise almost nothing is clipped on the left, so its not truly underexposed, its just how those eagles look in the middle of the day. Problem is I tried at sunset, but again either the body is underexposed or that white head of theirs is over exposed, maybe I should try on overcastish days with more diffused light. Yeah you might be right with the ETL forum, I might have won some awards with my landscape photography, but my bird photography has a ways to go. Thanks for the help.

[arash_hazeghi]

Agree its not a keeper, but its not too bad. Histogram wise almost nothing is clipped on the left, so its not truly underexposed, its just how those eagles look in the middle of the day. Problem is I tried at sunset, but again either the body is underexposed or that white head of theirs is over exposed, maybe I should try on overcastish days with more diffused light. Yeah you might be right with the ETL forum, I might have won some awards with my landscape photography, but my bird photography has a ways to go. Thanks for the help.

Dvir,

This shot is clearly underexposed. Underexposed does not mean that the histogram has to be clipped on the left edge. If this image was exposed properly-that is for the birds and not the sky-the sky should have be almost blown up to place the birds at the right 1/3 of the histogram.

Bird photography and landscape are not the same. For bird photography your subject is the bird not the BG. In order to expose the bird properly you may need to over expose or under expose the BG at times.

I hope this helps


Good luck

[Dvir Barkay]

Dvir,

This shot is clearly underexposed. Underexposed does not mean that the histogram has to be clipped on the left edge. If this image was exposed properly-that is for the birds and not the sky-the sky should have be almost blown up to place the birds at the right 1/3 of the histogram.

Bird photography and landscape are not the same. For bird photography your subject is the bird not the BG. In order to expose the bird properly you may need to over expose or under expose the BG at times.

I hope this helps


Good luck

I do know that, after all, I have been in photography for almost two years now. Landscapes are a different beast obviously, more challenging creatively speaking, less so technically. I recently got the 300/2.8 for the reason of helping advance my work in wildlife photography. Do you use manual or aperture priority when shooting? With all your help recently (my lens questions) I feel guilty, you should do some landscapes sometime, then I could be the one helping you out ;) !

[arash_hazeghi]

I do know that, after all, I have been in photography for almost two years now. Landscapes are a different beast obviously, more challenging creatively speaking, less so technically. I recently got the 300/2.8 for the reason of helping advance my work in wildlife photography. Do you use manual or aperture priority when shooting? With all your help recently (my lens questions) I feel guilty, you should do some landscapes sometime, then I could be the one helping you out ;) !

Hi Dvir,

For birds in flight manual is the only method that would give you reliable exposure results. The reason behind it is the fact that bird usually occupies a smaller portion of the frame compared to the BG. The camera's meter will be fooled by the BG. e.g. bird against snow or sky will be underexposed while bird against dark foliage will be blown up. Worse than that, when the bird flies against varied BG, meter will constantly change its mind giving you inconsistent results. with manual you set your exposure for the bird and lock it until the light changes. This way you don't have to worry about BG

hope this helps

[Dvir Barkay]

Ok thanks, so for example, here since the eagle is dark, I would change (either lower the SS, raise the ISO, or lower the aperture) the metering to plus 1 or 1 1/3, so that the eagle is better exposed. This was shoot in aperture priority, (I shoot in manual with my A77 because of the EVF), but its harder with the Canon. I did tell the camera to overexpose +2/3 in this shot, but I guess I needed more.

[arash_hazeghi]

Ok thanks, so for example, here since the eagle is dark, I would change (either lower the SS, raise the ISO, or lower the aperture) the metering to plus 1 or 1 1/3, so that the eagle is better exposed. This was shoot in aperture priority, (I shoot in manual with my A77 because of the EVF), but its harder with the Canon. I did tell the camera to overexpose +2/3 in this shot, but I guess I needed more.

yes it needs more than +2/3, my guess is +1.5 would be closer here since the eagle had dark feather.

[Dvir Barkay]

Ok. Do you use auto ISO with manual? I believe that the 1DmrkIII doesn't have that feature, the Safety shift feature is rather useless because the shutter speed range limiter min is maxed at 1/60s. I am sure on bodies like the 1Dx that has been greatly improved, but in a case of the 1DmrkIII what would you recommend. And also would you leave the VR on while doing BIF?

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Dvir,
Seems that you did the best with what was available....really hard to compensate for the angle and the sun here. Arash's recs are excellent. I shot an Eagle the other day at about the same angle... AND... it was an immediate delete. But did get ONE "ok shot" at a decent angle but with harsh light, that I posted here on ETL. Don't worry about it... there will be lots more ops. I'm certainly still in the ETL group.... but keep your settings simple so (JIMHO) you can remember what you did, and when you did it. Oh, and have fun!