Golden eye and a tip about exposure

[arash_hazeghi]

Golden eye at a local pond. I wrote a quick tip on how to get the exposure right for bird photos you can read it here, it's simple but helpful http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/how-to-set-exposure-in-bird-photography/


167575

1DX II 400 DO II + 2X III. ISO 800. f/8 at 1/2500sec hand held. Processed with DPP4.5. Hope you like it

[Isaac Grant]

Fantastic image as usual Arash. Exposure and sharpness are just perfect. And the pose is as well. Thanks for the tutorial Always a help. I have read so many times that the sharpness drops off when using a 2x, but clearly that is a not true. Just people without the skill necessary to do so.

[William Dickson]

Captured perfectly during courtship display. Fantastic pose, details and colours throughout. Love it.

Will

[Ian McLachlan]

As usual Arash, excellent. The tutorial is a great help and simple . I like those dark backgrounds you have so often. Makes the bird stand out. Was this in total shadow?
Ian

[Kirk Benson]

Super eye-level POV Arash, great color reflected on the water in FG and BG. The whites are perfect, and the color is rich and natural... cool pose and composition. Excellent work as always.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Awesome image the head throw really does it. Enjoyed the read as well thanks for putting it together!

[Juan Tolentino]

Great picture and advice...Thank you for sharing Arash


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[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone,

Ian there was no shade, the dark green was created in the BG by the reflection from the trees

[Tim Foltz]

Arash, comedic pose adds interest to the shot, nice exposure and details, sure wish we had these here.

-Tim

[Geoff Newhouse]

Great shot Arash....love when they do that pose/behaviour. I know you have already read my comments on FM but I will repeat some things here.

The shot is excellent with the pose, the low angle and the perfect exposure. If it were mine I'd move the GE down in the frame and eliminated half of that messy reflection. May add a little to the upper left and consider removing the blue horizontal bands in upper left water although I don't mind them all that much. I just don't like how centred the GE is in the vertical plane of the frame.

Also thanks for the article on getting the whites right. I've been trying to explain this same technique to people on FM for the past year....some get it, some don't....goes along with me trying to explain why using M mode is usually the best in most situations and I always link people back to Artie's post on that subject.

As I mentioned on FM, I did find I could overexpose the whites on the 1DX2 by 1 2/3 stops and have a fully blinking white eagle head and still recover everything. But traditionally I'd done exactly as you suggest and leave just a few tiny blinking patches on the rear LCD jpeg in Neutral Picture Style. Still my recent testing does show you can go a bit higher and therefore darker backgrounds will show less noise as I showed here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1472541/0#13899420. I hope it is okay I linked to another forum...if not please let me know and I will remove the link.

Anyways, TFS
Geoff

Posted my crop suggestion...obviously crops are a very personal taste...

[David Salem]

I have always liked seeing this cool display from these little beauties. The water color, pose , exposure and details all add up to a really nice frame. As you know, this is how I have learned to expose birds properly and I try to teach this to all my clients and friends. I like Geoff's repost with less water below too. Well done

[Ryan von Linden]

Excellent shot Arash, great pose and perfect exposure. I'll add one thing about blinkies. If you aren't seeing any blinkies at all and are shooting under conditions where you would at least occasionally expect too (such as very early morning where the light is rapidly getting more and more intense), don't assume that it's because you're so good at reading the light that your adjustments have all been spot on. Make sure you didn't somehow turn the blinkies off by accident like an idiot. Don't ask me how I know this.:t3

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone, Geoff thanks for the repost, I do like your repost reducing the distracting reflection but I feel the bird is too close to the btm of the frame now. I do wish the reflection was cleaner.

As for exposure, I wouldn't try to push the whites that much.With the 1DXII and if you use Canon DPP the shadows are really clean with no visible noise. I'd expose for the whites to protect them and then raise exposure on the dark tones as needed. If I were shooting with a 7D2 or a 5DSR on the other hand I would try to have small patches of blinkies to make sure darker tones get more light....

best