nemesis bird finally captured!

[Kristin Brown]

I am posting on the "big board" for the first time but would love comments and critiques. This Belted Kingfisher was a very willing subject at Blue Springs, FL last weekend. :)

Canon 1D MKIII with Canon 500 f4
aperture priority
ISO 500, 1/640 sec @ f5.0
handheld

[jfranciskay]

Well its a worthy candidate indeed! Congrats on the capture! Its a really great shot. I think I would have cropped a bit off the top as I think it would add a touch more impact. Nice background and color. Exposure is good, but it looks like you have blown some highlights in the white neck band. Head angle looks very good, although maybe a degree or two more towards camera would be perfect. Keep them coming!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

These guys/gals really are not the most cooperative birds around. I like the raised crest, perch and BG. It is a good idea to dial in some negative EC, -0.67 or so to get some details in the whites.

[allanrube]

I agree on the crop. WHen I saw the title I just knew I would see a kingfisher shot. I am on the same quest as you.

It is looking right at you - did it take off soon after you took this shot?

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the pose and perch and to crop from the top as suggested would strengthen this image. Tough birds to photograph and you did well to have such a pretty composition. Thanks for sharing.

[Katie Rupp]

Krisitin, congrats! great eye contact and nice details, including the raised crest. I like the bg with the oof greenery and agree with taking some off the top. The whites do look a little over but you'll get them next time (the quest never ends). Good job with HH.
Katie

[Melvin Grey]

Most birds in Florida are much more approachable than our birds in the UK. However when I came to Fla. this was one bird I still did not manage to get to grips with! This is a lovely image, well composed, interesting pose and perch and nicely varied BG. He even gave you the benefit of the raised crest! Yes, the white collar is 'blown' and Axel's advice on negative exposure compensation in this situation is well founded, but it was a great opportunity well taken.

[Doug Brown]

Kristin gave me a chance to process the RAW file. The whites were just barely there, but I think I was able to save them. I went with a slightly different crop and worked on the BG a little. A very nice image; I wish I could get that close to a Kingfisher!

[Mike Lentz]

Very nice rework! Congrats on getting a tough species.

[Kristin Brown]

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. -EC will certainly be in the cards when I get the next opportunity. Doug, I really like the repost. Thank you.
:D

[Melvin Grey]

I have already said that Kristin's image of the Kingfisher is superb, but Doug's re-post has certainly saved that 'blown' collar. I would also be interested to know what method of selection Doug used for working on the BG. Well done both of you.

[James Salywoda]

I like the title it sounds familiar:) Great job getting the shot nice setting and composition well done Krisitin.
Doug you did an excellent job on the repost did you clone out the blown whites in the collar with some of the chest feathers? Whatever you did it worked extremely well in saving this.

[Jay Gould]

These guys/gals really are not the most cooperative birds around. I like the raised crest, perch and BG. It is a good idea to dial in some negative EC, -0.67 or so to get some details in the whites.

Axel, pardon me for pushing this exposure thing; however, it is my nemesis!

This is shot in Av which means that the camera is making the final decision regarding exposure.

I thought we were taught that a camera's meter tries to make everything 18% grey: blacks become grey and whites become grey.

I thought we were also taught that to make whites white you add EC; to make blacks black you subtract EC.

Had you said to make the darks more "real" it is a good idea to dial in some -EC I would have understood.

Having said that, the white necks appears to be blown (sorry Kristin for these coments!!); the whites of the body appear better exposed.

Perhaps rather than -EC, should the ISO have been reduced to make the sensor less sensitive, or either the f/stop or SS increased to reduce the light?

Kristin/Doug to assist in this requested teaching lesson, could the original histogram be provided?

Thanks in advance for furthering my understanding of exposure. :D

[Doug Brown]

Hi Jay. I'll tackle this question. Here's the histogram of the original RAW file before LR processing. When you're talking about metering, you need to specify the metering mode. In this case, evaluative metering was used; this metering method factors in the entire scene when trying to determine proper exposure.

In a predominantly dark scene such as Kristin's original exposure, the camera meters and decides to let more light in, regardless of whether there are a few patches of white. The result is a properly exposed BG and blown whites. Dialing in negative EC in this situation will protect the whites by underexposing the image relative to what the camera is trying to do.

In a scene where your camera's meter is seeing all white (a polar bear on ice) or all black, what you said regarding adding and subtracting EC is correct (add exposure to make whites white and subtract exposure to make blacks black). Not so when only a small area of the frame is filled with the problematic color, as I explained above. The only exception would be if you could fill the camera's spot meter area with the challenging color.

Your suggestion about altering the ISO, aperture, or SS would only work if you were using manual exposure (she wasn't). Altering any of those values while shooting in a priority mode will produce identical exposures, because you're still allowing the camera to determine the proper exposure (you're just altering the balance of ISO, aperture, and SS that produce a given exposure). Exposure compensation is designed to override the exposure that the camera is suggesting; you're telling it that you know better how to properly expose the scene.

In summary:
1. As I look through the viewfinder I do my own evaluation of the scene, while factoring in the camera's metering mode. Are there whites that need protecting (as in the above example) or are there darks that need additional exposure (dark bird against a bright sky)?
2. If I'm shooting in a priority mode and the answer to either of those questions is yes, I'm going to use either positive or negative exposure compensation as outlined above.

Hope this helps.

[Jay Gould]

Doug, that helps very much!

Your explanation caused me to Google Canon Metering Modes and that opened a very informative article: http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2666

Thank you for taking the time to respond - your response is what BPN is all about. :D