Guys I need your help, shooting White Birds

Froggy · January 23, 2006

In brite sunlight is there anyway to get a good exposure on say a Snowy Egret, Man I had some beauties from the weekend all with highlites so badly blown that there was no way to fix them.

As I was shooting these birds I kept looking at my histogram, it didn't matter what I did the highlites were blown, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I kept thinking that Maybe exposing for the highlites then fixing the underexposed white later would be the way to go, I know dust and dawn are the best times to shoot these birds but when that opportunity presents itself in brite sunlight I sure would like to know how to cope.

Regards

Steve

Andy · January 23, 2006

Froggy wrote:

In brite sunlight is there anyway to get a good exposure on say a Snowy Egret, Man I had some beauties from the weekend all with highlites so badly blown that there was no way to fix them.

As I was shooting these birds I kept looking at my histogram, it didn't matter what I did the highlites were blown, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I kept thinking that Maybe exposing for the highlites then fixing the underexposed white later would be the way to go, I know dust and dawn are the best times to shoot these birds but when that opportunity presents itself in brite sunlight I sure would like to know how to cope.

Regards

Steve

Hi Froggy,

On your 20D, shoot RAW or RAW + JPG. Set your EC to -1/3 or -2/3s. Evaluative Metering will be just fine. Center point AI Servo focusing. This will help!

Don't forget to share the results.

Rohirrim · January 23, 2006

Dont be afraid to push your exposure compensation to -1 or more though. Especially on bright days. If possible shoot earlier or later in the day to have softer light.

Try this

Shoot in Av mode, ISO 100-200
Set your Aperature wide open (Lowest #). Some lenses are a little sharper when they aren't wide open so you might need to experiment a tad.
Dial your exposure compensation to -2/3 to start and check your histogram.
If the highlights are still blown go to -1 and check your histogram again.

Share your photos with us

SteveF · January 23, 2006

Hello,

As per above.

Only thing I'd add is to look at the "blinking" parts of your preview and not the histogram. If anything is blinking then lower the EC another 1/3 and try again.

With white birds if you have any significant blown parts it really detracts from the picture quality.

Froggy · January 23, 2006

Thanks For the responses
Nt.

bfjr · January 23, 2006

It has already been said.
May I add that I see your a Local, if you want Jeff & I would be happy to give hands on help. If you'd like to meet up with us one day, let me know.

Froggy · January 23, 2006

bfjr wrote:

It has already been said.
May I add that I see your a Local, if you want Jeff & I would be happy to give hands on help. If you'd like to meet up with us one day, let me know.

That would be awsome, I'll never turn down a hands on lesson, Saturdays and Sundays are the only open days form me.

I took a look at your Galleries, you have some great captures, I especially like the hummingbird catching the fly, nice, I bet that surprised you when you downloaded it.

Let me know.

Steve

Desert Rat · January 24, 2006

Hey Froggy I see you are looking for help? I am a local yokal as well out here in LALA land..

Eric the Desert Rat

Fusion_UK · August 12, 2006

Good info
Some good information here, very informative and useful. Thanks. Ian

JohnDC · August 13, 2006

This is a common problem, expecially for black and white birds, where you either blow out the whites, or make the blacks too dark to see detail. Here's how I fix the problem.
1. Shoot RAW.
2. If there will be darker background influencing your metering (exposure), under expose by up to -1.
3. If you have a hard time balancing your exposure in your RAW processing, make two exposures of the same image in the RAW processing: a dark one just to manage the blown-out highlights, and a regular one for the rest of the bird. In Photoshop, superimpose both versions and use the brush tool to get the good parts of each exposure into the same final image. If this doesn't ring any bells, check the various websites with Photoshop info. This method is often used for landscapes--to get a good sky with a good land portion. Good luck.

Froggy wrote:

In brite sunlight is there anyway to get a good exposure on say a Snowy Egret, Man I had some beauties from the weekend all with highlites so badly blown that there was no way to fix them.

As I was shooting these birds I kept looking at my histogram, it didn't matter what I did the highlites were blown, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I kept thinking that Maybe exposing for the highlites then fixing the underexposed white later would be the way to go, I know dust and dawn are the best times to shoot these birds but when that opportunity presents itself in brite sunlight I sure would like to know how to cope.

Regards

Steve

Dick on Aruba · August 13, 2006

Help from all sides!

I think that all the above advices are very valid. I struggled and still struggeling also with strong highlights because I life on Aruba which is a sub-tropical Caribbean Island.

A couple of tips that may help:

* Try to avoid strong light hours (after 10am, before 3pm)
* Learn to read and understand your histogram
* Look for scenes where the overal background luminosity compared with the bird luminosity don't exceed the Dynamic Range of your camera. In other words, try to look for bright background scenes.
* Try to get your hands on a copy of Ron Reznick "SureShot, easy learning system"

Dick.

Harryb · August 13, 2006

Dick on Aruba wrote:

Help from all sides!

I think that all the above advices are very valid. I struggled and still struggeling also with strong highlights because I life on Aruba which is a sub-tropical Caribbean Island.

A couple of tips that may help:

* Try to avoid strong light hours (after 10am, before 3pm)
* Learn to read and understand your histogram
* Look for scenes where the overal background luminosity compared with the bird luminosity don't exceed the Dynamic Range of your camera. In other words, try to look for bright background scenes.
* Try to get your hands on a copy of Ron Reznick "SureShot, easy learning system"

Dick.

Guys I need your help, shooting White Birds

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