One of the first for the 2010 season.
Taken July 3 in Nova Scotia Canada during one of the dog fights between males.
My reflexes are just to slow ......
Hummer feeders in the vicinity.
Nikon D300, Sigma 300mm 2.8, ISO 400, f4, 1/1600s, ambient afternoon light, manual exposure spot metered, AF continuous singel point.
Processed in LR: croped, sharpened, minor color and exposure adjustments
Last edited by Ulli Hoeger; 07-08-2010 at 09:09 PM.
Reason: info added
Hi Ulli ... no complaint about reflexes here :) If the crop is not a lot might go a little tighter LIke the lighting and pose .. sure nice to have the clearly visible eye and lost of detail !! .... exposure is right on but not sure what are you metering on!!
For most photographs, especially BIF I use manual exposure.
To determine exposure I spot meter beforehand on subjects in the anticipated shooting vector that have similar brightness as the bird of interest.
In this particular situation I had a fixed position and picked some plant matter in the anticipated shooting direction that was hit by sun light to evaluate exposure by spot metering. The aperture time combination was then manually set.
I found this works best for me, because in most situations the diverse lighting in the background caused false exposure when using aperture priority. It works perfect as long as lighting remains stable (no clouds moving in or out), and under other conditions I know now from experience in which direction and by how much I have to adjust.
Ulli
P.S. You would understand my complaining about my reflexes if I would show all the frames that are plain empty or where I just managed to catch a few tail feathers....
Last edited by Ulli Hoeger; 07-09-2010 at 12:56 PM.
Hi - I agree with the use of manual exposure when you have a situation were the BG changes - BUT would still use matrix metering!!
IF the light changes - will not matter how you meter or what exposure mode you use - UNLESS you make compensation for the changed light conditions - your exposure will be either over or under!!
Sharp as a tack - light looks good - might just run some NR on the background!!
VROOOOM!
