A challenge to myself: Photography101 - Exposure :p

I have seen many many great works here at the forum where shooters exposed the back & white perfectly. It's always been a challenge for me. I normally adjust the EC but still hit & miss.
Hence, a couple of weekends ago, i went out and found some male Lesser Scaups to practice. I think there are still some hotspots and dark areas that need more balance. What's worse, is that i don't know how to use Curves in Photoshop. Pointers are greatly appreciated.

Uncropped, only resized and pp'ed.

266mm, f8, 1/500s, ISO400

Both look nicely exposed to me for no PP. There is a few cheap DVDs out there that might help with your shoppin, Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks and Vitalskills with Suzette Allen. I know there is many more but I have viewed these two and found them to be a big help.

Zip
Wild66.com

Great thread subject Fee. This is something I need to work on also. Those Chickadee shots I been getting, black caps and white breast are driving me nuts. The problem is seeing the black eye in black feathers. Maybe I'll learn something here.

These ducks look excellent though. But, you need to leave the EXIF data in the images. When your ready to save in PS, do a "Save AS" instead of a Save or Save for Web. That keeps the EXIF intact so we can see it.

You did well with the exposure on these Fee. I should really be practicing this as well.

By the way I like the shots too.

Thanks Zip, Mitch, Stephen for the feedback.
Zip, I will definitely check out those DVDs. Mitch, I have enclosed the basic exif with the photos. I'll include more detail info next time. The reason i use "Save for Web" is because it gives me a better control of the file size.

Good job! I think you've got good detail in both the black and white areas - nicely composed, too.

I know how difficult taking pics of things like this is - my dog is black and white and its so tough!

So how did you get the exposure on these?? I might add they are fantastic!

Thanks

Brandon

Fee, those are excellent shots. With my limited experience shooting waterfowl, I know that getting correct exposure can be a great challenge when the scene includes light reflecting from water.

I would only add that when you have a subject that contains both sunlit white and shaded black, it is very likely to exceed the dynamic range of today's cameras, leaving the photographer with the decision of what part of the image to clip off which end of the histogram.

Nicely done. I love the clarity and reflections.

red hot sheep wrote in post #2514017
Good job! I think you've got good detail in both the black and white areas - nicely composed, too.

I know how difficult taking pics of things like this is - my dog is black and white and its so tough!

Thanks red hot sheep. It's just like photographing a tuxedo and a wedding gown. Well, at least that one i know the gown's exposure is far more important than the tux.

canonshooter4life wrote in post #2514209
So how did you get the exposure on these?? I might add they are fantastic!

Thanks

Brandon

Thanks for the comment, Brandon. I used center-weighted metering(or some calls it Partial metering). Sometimes it does a good job of balancing the darks and the whites but sometimes it misses (or should i say, i miss). I guess i just need to practice more and hope the experience helps in the future.

Curtis N wrote in post #2514249
Fee, those are excellent shots. With my limited experience shooting waterfowl, I know that getting correct exposure can be a great challenge when the scene includes light reflecting from water.

I would only add that when you have a subject that contains both sunlit white and shaded black, it is very likely to exceed the dynamic range of today's cameras, leaving the photographer with the decision of what part of the image to clip off which end of the histogram.

Thanks Curtis. I totally agree. If majority of the subject is dark with some white stripes, or vice versa, i'll just have to pray when i snap.

MDoc wrote in post #2514261
Nicely done. I love the clarity and reflections.

Thanks MDoc. Glad you like the photos.

Lighting is key to getting the shot right first out of the camera. Ie diffused light helps here.

These look really good, Fee.

Shooting RAW gives you about a stop more latitude for dealing with highlight recovery, and as MoreHTML suggests, the right kind of lighting is the key (I get that last bit wrong all the time because my little 100-400mm likes to play out in the sunshine).

I butt up against difficult exposure problems nearly every time I'm out at the moment - white sanderlings in sunshine on a beach that's more or less black because of coal dust for example - but Rawshooter Essentials does a great job of keeping on top of highlights for me.

[Added: the second shot was actually converted with Bibble Lite, but the point about RAW still stands]

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These look great to me eyes Fee.....Alex

Those are very nice captures Fee but I see what you're trying to do. I'm new to pp myself but what I do is, at the raw conversion, I adjust the exposure and brightness levels to capture as much detail then use the clone tool to makeup for what's missing. I have yet to use the Curves in CS2 but I do adjust for levels and highlights & shadows to finish.

Fee, these are wonderful photos, and, as Mitch points out, a "great thread subject." I'd like to read more discussion on this, and see more results from your personal challenge. As far as I can tell, these examples are flawless ~except maybe for that dust bunny in the upper-right, which could easily be swept away.

If we want to get both the black and white, we want to get the gray, and center-weighted metering in your camera is obviously capable of that. But what difference would there be if you used spot metering, say, on the duck's bill?

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I really just jumped on here to read what everyone else has to say, and so be notified. Only that's what I would want to try next if I were there.
~marty