I struggle with these guys - trying not to blow out the highlights, yet capture detail in the wings. I try to get as close as I can the right side of the histogram - in this case, I had highlights that were blown in the head, but able to knock them out with the recovery slider.
It seems if I don't do this, and go safe on the highlights, I loose detail in the wings and it's just "muddy". Should I not be pushing the highlights so far?
All comments and critiques most welcome!
500mm w/ 1.4x @ f/6.3, 1/1,000th, ISO 640 and 1.33ev
Very nice image indeed! I might darken the darker plummage a bit in ACR's curves. I personally do exactly do the same thing, not with eagles since they are pretty uncommon here, but with other dark/light colored birds; expose for the dark plummage and realize that clipping, if not too much, can be recovered in ACR. Taking the conservative approach and avoiding highlight clipping completely, when it can often be recovered, often still leaves the darker plummage not as detailed as it could be. This is a case where the dynamic range of the camera can come into play, and the 7D holds up pretty well in that respect. regards~Bill
I photograph a lot of Eagles and I do exactly what you do trying not to blow out the whites on the head. I try to recover as much detail in the darks/shadows in processing the RAW file.
I agree with Williams suggestion about darkening the body feathers with curves or something I've been doing for a while is going into the selective color menu and increasing the neutral color by moving the black slider up to your taste. This is an excellent in-flight though with great eye contact.
You did what you have to in this case exposure-wise. Clipping a few highlights was easily recoverable as you saw, and gave you the most out of the darks. Since the image you view on the camera's LCD is a jpg version make sure your camera's parameters are set to not add any saturation or contrast to the images...this way you will get a histogram reflecting your raw data more accurately and you will be able to push the exposure even more before seeing any clipping.
I like the far wing behind the eagle's face, but wish for a better position on the near one, specifically the tip.
I photograph a lot of eagles so I know that they are definitely tough to expose properly. You did a pretty good job and captured a nice pose.
I usually try to stay at 1/1600s or higher to keep the wings sharp. Yours actually look good for 1/1000s and convey a sense of movement. Also try to use manual exposure if you can. Makes it a lot easier to set the exposure once and forget it.
As for the highlights, the bird looks a bit washed out. I do think you probably overexposed this a bit. If you had cranked the shutter speed up to 1/1250s or 1/1600s I think you would have saved the highlights on the very top of the head.
I played with the levels in PS real quick and posted below - was able to bring back some of the contrast by moving the middle slider to the right, but I do believe that the head is just about on the verge for highlight recovery. You could probably do a much better job than I did by adjusting the exposure during raw conversion. Also did a little selective sharpening on the eye and wings, reduced saturation slightly, and burned in the top of the head just a tiny bit.
I was not sure about the wing position , when I saw it in the thumbnail, but the contrast looks good even with this wing position . The repost looks much better .
Lovely image !!
I normally use manual exposure while shooting such tricky subjects . Meter off grass in similar lighting and crank up the ISO to get the desired shutter .
Eagle in Flight
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