Canon 1D MK IV AV evaluative metering exposure comp +1-1/3 SS 1600 at F/5.6 1600 ISO Lens canon 300mm I with 2x MK III conditions were very bright overcast sky.
Ok, this picture is straight out of the camera. I know the framing is not good but this picture is only for a example. I need help with exposure comp in AV mode.
This picture and most of the other 1000 i took at Meritt Island FL. last week has blown out background or very bright background. Most of my birds have great color and or not blown out.
On this example the whites are a little too hot but not by much. Most of the images are exposed to the right and as hot as you can get without no blinkies or over exposure on the birds yet the backgrounds are blown out. My question
is i am exposing for the bird and not worried about the background is this correct? Most of my pictures have a bright white background and I think that looks like you know what. No blue water or clouds ect.
Question two in EV metering when the camera sees a lot of bright and your subject is darker you bump up the EC to get the bird exposed correctly?? My BIF are the same way. I bump the comp up to the point that the bird is not blown out
but with good color and the backgrounds are crap. What am I doing wrong or is the lighting that day? In this example I think I could have went down on the ss and up to about f/8 and down on the iso but I would still have to add EC???
Help...
John D
Personally, I think you did a pretty darn good job exposing for the duck under dreadful light conditions. Hazy bright overcast is a very challenging lighting situation.
You lament the lack of BG color, but it just doesn't exist under these conditions, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Looking at the duck, you seem to have exposed well for the situation. The yellow in the eye is perfect, and the iridescent green on the neck holds up well. The wing browns are good, and the blacks have detail.
With the glare from bright overcast, there's not much you can do regarding white details, without under-exposing everything else. If the image were mine, I'd recover detail in the whites in Photoshop.
I see the sun is to the bird's front-left. Perhaps you would have had better experience if it had been turned broadside to the left.
I'm curious about the 1600 ISO and why you thought to shoot at that setting.
Now if I had personally encountered this scenario, I would have tried spot metering off the duck. If you hit the brown feathers with the spot, the exposure result may have been more balanced overall.
For excellent tutorials on exposure I highly recommend Arthur Morris' 'The Art of Bird Photography' (the print edition, if you can find it) as well as his "The Art of Bird Photography II" digital edition.
That said, I'm sure others with respond here with advice on how they would deal with this challenging situation.
Thanks Bill.
The 1600 ISO was for need of SS. I am new to the lens combo and everything else for that matter and its heavy for HH. I left one part out I was at 600mm. I will get better but for now I need a hi SS to not be OOF. The reason I don't use spot metering is that I don't want to confuse myself with too much too soon. I will try this
in practice though. I thought it was just light but I wanted to as the pros about my technique? Also I think it would have helped if I Had more F stop, maybe f/8??? I read several hours everyday to get better.
Thanks,
John D
John- Sky reflecting in the water makes for difficult circumstances and you are pretty well left with exposing for the subject and letting the BG fall where it may. In these situations I try to look for something that darkens up the water like trees on the far shore. You are on the right track with the exposure comp. For a situation like this I would normally set to evaluative metering and add 1.5-2 stops of light to start with, look at the histogram and subject and adjust if necessary. Shovelers are not easy subjects as well (very high dynamic range). Not an exposure issue but I would try to get a lot lower than you were here. It just makes such a difference to get down into the world of the subject.
Thanks John for the help. I have read and seen pictures here that are on the same level with the subject and I will work on that. Here in this case I would have needed waders, which I don't have a problem with. I have over 2000 pictures from two days last week and this post was out of camera no PP. I have not worked on composure yet but it will come later.
Thanks,
John D
(Please Help) Spoon Bill Duck
