Snowy Egret with exposure quiz

[Doug Brown]

I like the way this preening egret is set off against the blue water. If you look at my tech specs, you'll notice that I shot this image at +1 1/3 EC. For the less experienced forum members, why would I do that with a bright white bird? Why aren't the whites blown?

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/photos/362730015_XfhiX-O.jpg

Canon 1D Mark III, 840mm, f/8, 1/4000, ISO 640, +1 1/3 EC, no flash, tripod

[Ramon M. Casares]

Great exposure and BG, light is good and the perfect profile makes it work for me. Congratulations!

[Maxis Gamez]

Interesting Doug. Let's see what we get!! :)

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hey Doug, this is a good test! My guess is that since you want to get more details you are using f/8, and at the same time you want to make sure to use a very fast shutter speed of 4000, I keep thinking, be good and let us know the reason why the whites are not blown.

[Tony Whitehead]

Hint - same reason you have to underexpose black to stop it turning grey :D

[Doug Brown]

Surely there are a few brave souls willing to venture a guess!!!!

[John Hawkins]

you used your favorite filter? sunny f/22 rule?

[Matthew Pontiff]

You spot metered the brilliant whites in the sun in the Snowy's plumage and added 1 1/3 EC.

Matt

[Doug Brown]

That's correct. But it doesn't answer the questions I posed.

[Matthew Pontiff]

By spot metering and adding the +1 1/3 comp, you are still underexposing the whites by about a stop since they reflect so much light. That prevents them from being blown out. If you spot meter the whites and shoot at the suggested exposure, the whites will be gray and not white.

As for the why, it's how I learned from Artie's book and makes for a great starting point.

Matt

[Doug Brown]

Nice work Matt! And nice plug for Artie! ;)

[Raymond Barlow]

I found I had to do the same thing with snowys in the bright white snow., well done Doug.

[James Salywoda]

Awesome shot Doug excellent preening pose and handling of the exposure. Perfect!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the pose and eye contact!

[Doug Brown]

Here's a link that fleshes out the explanation. I posted the same image and question in Eager to Learn.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=138351#poststop