Silhouette Trouble...Advice Needed

[wmc1117]

So, I just got back from a camping trip in upstate NY and took a bunch of photos. These three were of a family of geese and ducks just as the sun was setting I took my meter reading off the reflecting water but as you can see I got some flare at the bottom and the picture just seems missing something. Any advice would be appreciated.

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[wmc1117]

bump....sorry

 

[musicaleCA]

I'm confused. What's it missing? I like the first one especially; the low-key effect is nice. If you wanted to expose the geese, then you could've thrown a strong fill flash at them, but I don't think geese would be quite as forgiving when it comes to bright flashes of light; those birds can be pretty darn aggressive. >.<

 

[Josh66]

This is a tough situation.

You can see that the water (what you metered on) is properly exposed (maybe slightly under exposed). If you had metered on the shore and went from there, the water would probably have been completely blown out with no (or very little) detail.


You could have metered both, noted the settings, then chose something that was OK for both - but neither would have been perfect.

If you could have moved somewhere that didn't include the reflection of the sun on the water, you would have gotten a much more even exposure.

As far as silhouettes go - these aren't bad. Some detail in the blacks, but not too much.
If a silhouette is what you were going for - you succeded.

Without knowing the meter readings for both the water and the shore, I can't really give a firm answer on what would have been best. It's possible (likely...probably) that the dynamic range of the scene would have exceeded the range of your sensor (impossible to get detail in all areas). If that was the case, you would have to choose which areas to loose detail in (blacks, or highlights).


EDIT
This is where a good understanding of the zone system helps a lot.

Meter the shore.
Meter the water.

Decide which zone you want them to be in, then adjust your settings to make that happen.

 

[paulk_68]

There is nothing wrong with having sun flare in some photos, I know of many professionals who desire it. If you have Photoshop, the default settings in "Shadows and Highlights" will bring out enough detail in the dark areas of these pictures.

 

[wmc1117]

Thanks for all the help guys...I guess I just wanted more sharpness I liked the first two. It was cool finding both a Duck with her young and two Geese with their young. Oh, musicaleCA the two geese were actually getting pretty angry and kept hissing and sticking their tongues out at us.