Gull BIF

[stevehill]

I continue to work on my BIF photography that I started 3 months ago. Cropped slightly. Reading various books as recommended and trying to put things into gear. I've got a long way to go. Back of neck has some blown whites that I tried to recover.
Cannon 7D, 400mm, f5.6, 1/2,000 sec, ISO 400

[Joel Eade]

Looks like you got good sharpness and a nice wing position....have you studied the Sunny 16 Rule? It gives you a good staring point for exposure settings on sunny days, I would guess you would have been pretty close if you had stopped down to f/8 or just a little more.

I would change the crop on this to be more horizontal....add some space on the left for the bird to "fly" in to and the bird will be less centered in the frame.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Steve,

Lots to like here the open wings and muted background, well done. The histogram is the key here, shot, look and adjust. What mode are you using (e.g., AV, M TV or P). When shooting wide open like this and photographing a bright subject remember the sun can reflect off the whites and blow out the meter. In this case notice how the whites on the body for the most part are fine but where the sun reflects off the neck it is too hot. As Joel mentions the sunny 16 rule is a great place to start, so is taking a few shots,..looking at the histogram,..adjust and shoot. Often folks use AV-Mode and add or subtract exposure compensation. Moreover, keep aperture the same and bump up the shutter. Another option would be to use a smaller aperture which would reduce the light and add DoF. Anyway, practice is the key here and you are on the right track. The settings were close probably 1/3 to 1/2 stop too slow on the shutter or too wide on the aperture. When I have issues with reflective light I add a 1/3 to the exposure to compensate for not just the whites but reflections as well. Did you see the Chickadee I posted several weeks ago. I had the light correct but when the sun reflected off the whites on the head it clipped the histogram. Hence, I had to all 1/3 of a stop to compensate. Without looking at the histogram I would have over exposed several images.

Image is a bit soft too, where was focus sensor located and was the crop over 50%. BIF are so beautiful and when they work it feels good. They take practice and post after post, keep it up you are looking good.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Steve, you did a good job on the capture! Your panning technique is sound, just need to catch the bird before it is going by you and out of the frame. The whites on the back are toasty and you could have gone a full stop less light with the shutter speed at 1/4000. I have shot literally thousands of pictures of white birds with the same gear you are using, and my starting point for this situation is f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 400. Give these settings a try next time and see what you think. If the sun is really bright, like at a lake or in the desert, I will go to f/8 and 1/2500. Even if the bird is not all white, you still have to expose for the white parts of any bird and the rule remains the same. If the whites are blown, the whole image is blown, so this is important. The quality of light is also critical when the bird has both white and black plumage, as you simply can't capture that dynamic range when lit with bright light. Good job with the BIF, keep them coming!