I regret every egret....

[john hannah]

...I ever tried to digitize. I'm new to digital, so try not to sigh, but how do I shoot a snowy white bird in bright sunlight without it turning into a fuzzy glary ghost on a perfectly exposed rock? Shooting the buggers in flight is even worse.

I use an Xti with an EF 300 lens, usually handheld. Any suggestions for best settings to reduce glare and enhance crispness?

Thank you.

[BradM]

There was some fairly recent discussion on this same topic here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=590818

And welcome to the forum!

[gymell]

First, you probably shouldn't be shooting in harsh sunlight. But, whenever shooting anything white, overexpose it by 1 to 1 1/2 stops. Forget about perfectly exposing the rock - it's not your subject, the bird is. So expose the bird properly. I use spot metering and manual exposure mode. and usually that works pretty well as long as the subject is in consistent light.

[john hannah]

Thanks gentlemen, and thanks for the welcome. Unfortunately bright sunlight is the prevailing ambience around here (So.Cal). I've started going out before the dogs wake up in the hopes of surprizing egrets and herons in the softer light.

FWIW. I've found that shooting flying birds with a camera is harder than with a gun. I spent too many years training my reflexes to swinging with the bird and shooting a foot or too ahead. Retraining at my age is a sod.

[gymell]

"gentlemen"!!!!!!!

[Bill Boehme]

First, you probably shouldn't be shooting in harsh sunlight. But, whenever shooting anything white, overexpose it by 1 to 1 1/2 stops. Forget about perfectly exposing the rock - it's not your subject, the bird is. So expose the bird properly. I use spot metering and manual exposure mode. and usually that works pretty well as long as the subject is in consistent light.

Don't you mean "underexpose"? Or, am I missing something. :confused:

IIRC, the advice that Arthur Morris gives on photographing white birds in his book on bird photography is to underexpose them. But, then I don't have spot metering which makes a difference. I suspect that the OP doesn't have spot metering either since the birds are being blown out and not underexposed.

[gymell]

Don't you mean "underexpose"? Or, am I missing something. :confused:

IIRC, the advice that Arthur Morris gives on photographing white birds in his book on bird photography is to underexpose them. But, then I don't have spot metering which makes a difference. I suspect that the OP doesn't have spot metering either since the birds are being blown out and not underexposed.

No, you need to overexpose when metering from something white.

If point your meter at something white, and adjust so the reading is 0, the camera will be underexposing it because it only understands "middle gray." Then the white will actually have a grayish tint to it. Since white is not middle gray, so you have to adjust for that in order for the camera to expose it properly .

What Art Morris is saying is to underexpose the whites so the highlights aren't blown out. That's not the same concept of what I'm saying, but I can understand why you'd be confused. I usually underexpose the whites a little bit too for the same reason. So instead of adjusting the camera for the meter to read 1 1/2 stops above 0, I usually just go 1 stop above.

The same concept is true no matter what exposure or metering mode you're using. The camera always reads a scene as if it were middle gray. If most of the scene is medium toned, then what the camera reads will work fine as-is. If not, for example a snowy scene, or a white bird which takes up most of the frame, then an adjustment needs to be made upward. For a non-manual mode, this would involve exposure compensation such that the white part of the scene is overexposed 1 or 1 1/2 stops according to the meter reading.

If the OP is shooting under harsh light, the exposure should be taken from the bird, using spot metering or as close to it as possible. Since the bird is the subject of the photograph, that's the most important thing to expose properly in the scene.

[DDCSD]

How about posting up some examples of the results you're getting. The folks here will be able to diagnose your specific weaknesses and get you pointed in the right direction.

[Bill Boehme]

No, you need to overexpose when metering from something white.

If point your meter at something white, and adjust so the reading is 0, the camera will be underexposing it because it only understands "middle gray." Then the white will actually have a grayish tint to it. Since white is not middle gray, so you have to adjust for that in order for the camera to expose it properly .

What Art Morris is saying is to underexpose the whites so the highlights aren't blown out. That's not the same concept of what I'm saying, but I can understand why you'd be confused. I usually underexpose the whites a little bit too for the same reason. So instead of adjusting the camera for the meter to read 1 1/2 stops above 0, I usually just go 1 stop above.

The same concept is true no matter what exposure or metering mode you're using. The camera always reads a scene as if it were middle gray. If most of the scene is medium toned, then what the camera reads will work fine as-is. If not, for example a snowy scene, or a white bird which takes up most of the frame, then an adjustment needs to be made upward. For a non-manual mode, this would involve exposure compensation such that the white part of the scene is overexposed 1 or 1 1/2 stops according to the meter reading.

If the OP is shooting under harsh light, the exposure should be taken from the bird, using spot metering or as close to it as possible. Since the bird is the subject of the photograph, that's the most important thing to expose properly in the scene.

OK, thanks -- we are on the same page, but since my camera doesn't have the capability to do spot metering, and I do not have a really long lens that can fill the frame with the bird, I find that when shooting great egrets, I must underexpose by about 1.33 stops using one of the other metering modes that essentially average most of the frame (in which the white bird is only a small part) to get the desired exposure. I strive to get the exposure right for the bird at the expense of the background exposure and hopefully can achieve a good compromise that allows details to be seen in the bird's feathers while not looking like a dingy gray bird. If the background comes out nice enough to fix in Photoshop, then that is icing on the cake.

If I were able to zoom in really tight on a white bird (or white anything) and spot meter it, then I am in full agreement about what you say regarding exposure.