Badly lit BIF

Lucky Hack

I'm slowly getting better at catching these guys. I kinda liked the light under the wing, but I think next time I'll stand between him and the sun.:dunno

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

devbobo

Nice shot Ian

But you should have put a better spin on the title... "sweet light BIF"

Cheers,

David

MuskyDude

devbobo wrote:

Nice shot Ian

But you should have put a better spin on the title... "sweet light BIF"

Cheers,

David

Sweet light indeed...


AJ

Lucky Hack

devbobo wrote:

Nice shot Ian

But you should have put a better spin on the title... "sweet light BIF"

Cheers,

David

Thanks David, yeah sunset makes some great light if you can catch it bouncing off of something.

Lucky Hack

MuskyDude wrote:

Sweet light indeed...


AJ

Thanks Musky.

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

ginger_55

I like that shot. There are lots of "conventional" shots of BIF around. You will have those, plus this one. I would like to have that one. And you were smart to let it go dark. Took me at least 3 months or more to discover that could be good.

I am getting worse at catching them, can't even see them. If they are in the air, my camera/lens will not focus. If they are not in the air yet, I can usually keep them. But if I lose them, bye bye birdie.

When I first got my Rebel, over a year ago, with the terrible 70-300 lens, I picked an Osprey out of the air, no problem.

Now I know the bird is there, 300 prime with 1.4 extender, I can see a bit of blur, but the damn thing won't focus. I try focusing on something big about the same type of distance, get that focus, come back, well, if it is a very slow circling bird, there is a chance.

Extenders slow the AF just read that. Golly darn. the 2Xs extender stops my AF, I knew that.

I hate getting worse with better equipment.

ginger: very good shot, Ian, and thanks for sharing. I like that title: Sweet light BIF.

I am going out today, in the daylight, to see my egret babies.

Harryb

Lucky Hack wrote:

I'm slowly getting better at catching these guys. I kinda liked the light under the wing, but I think next time I'll stand between him and the sun.

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

Hi Ian,

Good capture and I like the light on the wings. Still the rest of the pelican's body is a bit too under exposed for my taste. I would have done a positive EV adjsutment on the shot or ,if you're using Capture for your post work, would have use the D-Light filter on it.

Lucky Hack

ginger_55 wrote:

I like that shot. There are lots of "conventional" shots of BIF around. You will have those, plus this one. I would like to have that one. And you were smart to let it go dark. Took me at least 3 months or more to discover that could be good.

I am getting worse at catching them, can't even see them. If they are in the air, my camera/lens will not focus. If they are not in the air yet, I can usually keep them. But if I lose them, bye bye birdie.

When I first got my Rebel, over a year ago, with the terrible 70-300 lens, I picked an Osprey out of the air, no problem.

Now I know the bird is there, 300 prime with 1.4 extender, I can see a bit of blur, but the damn thing won't focus. I try focusing on something big about the same type of distance, get that focus, come back, well, if it is a very slow circling bird, there is a chance.

I hate getting worse with better equipment.

Don't worry, you should have seen how many opportunities I missed trying to get this shot, If anybody has any other tips, please share, but so far, the only way I can get the camera to focus on these guys is to see them coming in the distance, the camera seems to focus very easily and quickly on subjects in the distance, then I just follow it until the bird fills up the frame and pow! I kinda cheat though, I shot this guy on the cliffs where you know their approximate flight path, so I know where to look.

best of luck with your egret babies, if I figure anything else out, I'll be sure to share...

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

Lucky Hack

Harryb wrote:

Hi Ian,

Good capture and I like the light on the wings. Still the rest of the pelican's body is a bit too under exposed for my taste. I would have done a positive EV adjsutment on the shot or ,if you're using Capture for your post work, would have use the D-Light filter on it.

Thanks for the tip Harry, I'm not familiar with the D-Light filter but I'm sure I'll figure it out, I hope it works better than curves cause I tried to bring him out of the shadows and the info is there, but it destroys the subtlety of the light under his wings. I'm going back this weekend and I'll use the EV tip then.

Does EV adjustment in camera do the same thing as software exposure compensation?

I was just looking at your pelican gallery, great shots, the full size version of your avatar is really stunning!

hoping this message finds you and yours well -Ian

Harryb

Lucky Hack wrote:

Thanks for the tip Harry, I'm not familiar with the D-Light filter but I'm sure I'll figure it out, I hope it works better than curves cause I tried to bring him out of the shadows and the info is there, but it destroys the subtlety of the light under his wings. I'm going back this weekend and I'll use the EV tip then.

Does EV adjustment in camera do the same thing as software exposure compensation?

I was just looking at your pelican gallery, great shots, the full size version of your avatar is really stunning!

hoping this message finds you and yours well -Ian

Hey Ian,

Give D-Light a try, it can do some good stuff w/o blowing the highlights. It will bring out some noise but with adjustments that can be handled. You will get noise any time you bring out detail in an under exposed area of a shot.

The EV adjustment on the camera is necessary when you are not spot metering. Matix or center weighted metering averages areas in the shot and then makes a compromise setting between the extremes. Now this usually is effective until your main subject is darker or lighter than the average of the areas being metered. With a light subject (i.e. an egret) you would want to do a negative EV adjustment. With a darker or shadowed subject you want to do a positive EV adjustment.

Adjusting the exposure in your post will do the same but will introduce a lot of noise at the same time. Making EV adjustments when you shoot will give you proper exposure w/o the noise or loss of shadow or highlight details.

Angelo

devbobo wrote:

Nice shot Ian

But you should have put a better spin on the title... "sweet light BIF"

Cheers,

David

sweet light indeed. nice

Lucky Hack

Harryb wrote:

Hey Ian,

Give D-Light a try, it can do some good stuff w/o blowing the highlights. It will bring out some noise but with adjustments that can be handled. You will get noise any time you bring out detail in an under exposed area of a shot.

The EV adjustment on the camera is necessary when you are not spot metering. Matix or center weighted metering averages areas in the shot and then makes a compromise setting between the extremes. Now this usually is effective until your main subject is darker or lighter than the average of the areas being metered. With a light subject (i.e. an egret) you would want to do a negative EV adjustment. With a darker or shadowed subject you want to do a positive EV adjustment.

Adjusting the exposure in your post will do the same but will introduce a lot of noise at the same time. Making EV adjustments when you shoot will give you proper exposure w/o the noise or loss of shadow or highlight details.

AWESOME! Thanks for the advice Harry, I'm excited to put your tips into practice this weekend. Have a good one.


hoping this message finds you well -Ian