R good pics of birds with strong back-sun feasable?

WildWally

I have a really good spot for some birds that I visit . 1 of the only times/spots to photograph is with direct sunlight right behind the birds . I am haveing problems getting fine detail on the dark Commorants especially . Does anyone have any tips , or do I really need clouds/overcast/different time of day/location for betr results ??? Should I be spot mtering the bird , matrix-metering with + 1 to 1-1/3 exposure to get detail on the birds , or wait for better lighting ???
Any tips would be appreciated . I also have some examples ...

WildWally

here is 2 examples ..
first ...


And this would have been a great capture IMO had not been blown out .

pathfinder

Wally,

Trying to capture dark birds that are strongly backlit by the sun is going to be difficult. You must set your exposure for the birds, and just let the sky be fried and blown - you will not be able to capture both in one exposure.

You can meter any one of several ways, but they will all need to be interpreted and not just used without some serious contemplation.

I suspect the easiest way for you to set your exposure, is via the Sunny 16 rule, which says for deep shade, you need three stops more light than in bright sunshine where the rule says for ISO 100 f16 1/ISO for shutter speed. SO for ISO 100 in shade, the birds being backlit are in shade of course, f5.6 at 1/100th should be a good place to start. If you hold up your hand against the sun, and meter off the shaded side, you should be within 1 stop of this exposure, I would bet. This is not that different from shooting birds in flight really - unless the sun is behind you, most birds in flight are in shade - the shade they themselves have created.

You can try to use evaluative metering, but that will vary quite a bit depending on how much of the frame is filled by the bird. You will also need to dial in + or - Exposure Compensation depending on whether the bird is white or black. +EC for white birds - EC for black birds.

Spot metering might be helpful, but will never work for BIFs - trying to keep that central spot on a BIF will be very entertaining.

I rec you shoot Av or Manual.

Your histogram can be helpful, but be aware that you WILL NEED to have a very large bright spike at the far right of your histogram which everyone will tell you to avoid at all costs - but in this special situation, of a small, dark bird, backlit by the sun, you NEED to have a big bright spike on the right due to the large area of sky that is being blown to allow you to capture the exposure of the backlit dark birds...

If you do not understand any of this, ask away, and I will try to find another way to explain.

My first suggestion would be to move your camera to an area that offers better lighting. Seriously. Find the light - then find a subject!

When I shoot birds, I go out and look for where the sun will rise and try to situate myself 90 degrees to the axis of the sun, thus, letting me see the birds in nice side lighting, or let the sun rise right behind me so that my shadow points at the bird. The absolute last place I want to be is shooting into the sun..

You are right that some overcast or clouds on the horizon to diffuse the sunight is very helpful.

If you are intent on shooting backlit birds, you need to get much closer to limit the amount of white areound the bird in your images. Way too much white in those you have posted.