How would you photograph (white colored) egrets?

[Headshotzx]

Hey guys, was in my dad's car while he drove around me home from school, and I noticed that there were so many egrets near my estate. One was about 5m away from the car! They were migratory birds, possibly moving to australia via south east asia. Of course, all these great photographic opportunities happen when I'm without my camera =( missed the shots. A few hours later, the whole flock (20-30 of them) were gone.

Anyway, I want to ask about how you would nail the exposure when shooting them? I would prefer not to use fill-flash because it would kill some awesome side-lighting at times, and would probably make them scared.

Suppose the egret is on a wide open green field on a cloudy day (no exact directional light). How would you shoot them?

Cheers,
Zexun

[hollis_f]

I'd take a meter reading from the green field and use manual.

Set the camera to Av mode with your desired aperture, point it at the grass and half-depress the shutter. Then make a mental note of the shutter speed the camera chooses. Now go to manual mode and dial in your chosen aperture and the shutter speed that's correct for the grass.

This should give you an exposure where the egrets will be their proper white colour. You may need to check to see of you've got any blown highlights. If so, make the shutter speed a little bit faster.

If the shutter speed is too low then up the ISO. You can partially correct for noise, you can't correct for blur.

[gasrocks]

Learn about the sunny f/16 rule.

[Larry Weinman]

Getting a reading off the bird itself is sometimes very difficult so I usually take a general reading and then go - 1 to -2 stops off of that reading with exposure compensation for egrets on a sunny day. I know of no other white bird that will blow out whites more then an egret.

[chauncey]

I have trouble with that metering thing so, I spot meter (manual) on the Egret>center that needle thingamagig in the viewfinder and not worry much about the background.

[scrumpy]

Here you go:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/bp/white_birds

[hollis_f]

I have trouble with that metering thing so, I spot meter (manual) on the Egret>center that needle thingamagig in the viewfinder and not worry much about the background.

The problem with spot metering on the Egret is that you'll unerexpose the whole image. The metering system assumes that your target is 18% grey and exposes appropriately. Yes, it can be fixed somewhat in post-processing (especially if shot in Raw) but it's always better to get things right in the camera.You'll probably manage to get your Egret looking white again, but any shadows will be more at risk of showing unaccetable noise.

[BradM]

White birds can be a problem but if one understands how the camera is metering as already discussed then it isn't tough to shoot them. You probably don't see a lot of snow but the if the bird is filling the frame the technique is the same as shooting in the snow. You often have to bring the exposure up to capture the subject as white and not gray.

The recommendations of dialing in some under exposure to keep from blowing the whites and letting the background go usually will result in a usable image but rarely a good shot.

Know your metering, understand how the light is playing on the subject and you will capture shots that have both the bird and background well exposed.

In the below images (all shot as jpeg) only one shot is at a minus exposure compensation, two are at a plus and the fourth in as the camera decided what the metering should be.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/egretperch.jpg


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/egretupclose.jpg


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/egretvole10.jpg


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/egretcloseup3.jpg

[Bill Boehme]

I recently read in Arthur Morris' book on bird photography that he suggests underexposing by 1 1/3 stop for white birds like great egrets.

[trops]

Hollis has got it right in both his/her posts. It does get confusing admittedly. If you're using matrix or evaluative metering mode, and the egret occupies a relatively small proportion of the frame, your camera's metering is going to expose more for the background than for the bird. So, if the background is medium or dark your meter is going to increase the exposure....but because the bird is so light, it becomes overexposed because the camera is metering accurately for the background. And the correct way to spot meter the bird is to first recognize what Hollis said - ie, that the meter is always going to give you a medium tone. But a white bird is not medium toned, so you need to increase the exposure -- again, only if you are spot metering -- by 1 to 2 stops. Does make you appreciate the people who can nail it most of the time. Takes practice and lots of shooting.

[marjnap]

It is very difficult to get perfect whites on bright sunny days. Your right in your thinking about getting better results when overcast, cloudy, early mourning or late afternoon/early evening. I spot meter on the white and put it +1 to 1 1/2 on manual. I still haven't achieved a perfect white, but when I do the above it gets close to perfect.

[Rich S]

In Raw for one thing and spot meter-1/3 f/ at least. They are PURE white to the camera. With RAW you can adjust...Rich http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc150/blackies_owner/_MG_9877_edited-3.jpg

[BradM]

I would repeat that if you fill the frame or more importantly the metering area with the white, the camera is not seeing it as white but as gray and will expose it as such.

If one is shooting raw then correcting isn't that big of a deal but why shoot to only correct it later? In my swan shot it looks like a perfect time to blow out the whites with sun almost straight into the wings doesn't it? But there is still fine detail in both wings with only a couple of small over hot areas.

This was shot as a jpeg using partial metering which at the distance shot the bird all but filled the metering area, the exif reflects 1/8000th @ f/5.6 with PLUS 2/3rd's of a stop to bring the whites up to white. The exif is in embedded. Just like shooting a scene in the snow.

But there is no base setting, some situations will require an under exposure (minus), others an over exposure to pull the whites up to the right. The important thing to know or ask is how does the different metering look at the world and how one can use this to get the shot they want.


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/swanfluff.jpg