Florida Birds

[jcdeboever]

#1: f/4 1/320s iso100

#2: f/4 1/640s iso100

#3: f/4 1/400s iso100

 

[Donde]

Wow. I especially like the second photo of the Great Egret.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Wonderful detail in the first one! The other two are a wonderful subject that is tricky to shoot, white or black critters come with their own special issues because they either blow out (white) or block up (black) especially in high dynamic range situations (bright sunny days) These suffer a little from shooting the "wrong side of the bird" making the majority of the critter being in the "shade" and flat. Whenever possible shoot the lit side of the critter, spot meter on the bird so your exposure is proper for the critter which is the most important part of the image

 

[jcdeboever]

Wonderful detail in the first one! The other two are a wonderful subject that is tricky to shoot, white or black critters come with their own special issues because they either blow out (white) or block up (black) especially in high dynamic range situations (bright sunny days) These suffer a little from shooting the "wrong side of the bird" making the majority of the critter being in the "shade" and flat. Whenever possible shoot the lit side of the critter, spot meter on the bird so your exposure is proper for the critter which is the most important part of the image

Thank-you very much for the direction. I would have been wet [emoji13] . I had no idea. Got lucky on the first one...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[PixelRabbit]

You are quite welcome, when I started shooting I took many many many many many pictures of the wrong side of the bird before I got frustrated with how flat they were and learned to look for good light it was a painful lesson because the south side of our house is all windows and the birds hang out in the gardens etc... all the time juuust outside the windows. Unfortunately facing south means I'm always shooting the shaded side unless I shoot at an angle at the right time of day shooting out those windows doesn't work

 

[JacaRanda]

Bingo on #1. Very nice.

Agree with P.R. I have blown many many shots on Egrets for exactly the reason PixelRabbit mentions. One thing I try to remember when shooting Egrets (or all white or black subjects) is make use of exposure compensation. Without over thinking it in the heat of the moment; if the Egret for example is surrounded by majority darker area/background, then I quickly negative compensate and if mostly surrounded by light background, I quickly positive compensate. In my mind I simply think,/ move the exposure compensation toward the majority bright or dark in my scene. The amount of exposure compensation also depends on the metering mode I am using.

Both your Egret images are surrounded mostly by darker water (at least darker than the bird). In that case, I would automatically move my exposure compensation towards the dark or negative. That will help in not blowing the highlights on the bird. To compensate in post, I would lift the shadows on the subject.