St. Louis Zoo - New Cypress Swamp Birds - 56K Warning

For those of you who know about the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage it has been turned into a cypress swamp. They put lot's of nice birds in there such as Black-Crowned Night Herons, Blue-Winged Teal, Bufflehead Ducks, Canvasback's, Cattle Egrets, Double-Crested Cormorants, Great Egrets, Green Heron, Hooded Merganser, American Wood Ducks, Northern Bobwhite Quail, Northern Pintail Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, White Ibis and some Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Wow was it a wonderful day, I've never been that close to all these birds so if you ever get the chance to hit the St. Louis Zoo for a trip I would highly recommend see the new Cypress Swamp!!!!!
Here are some birds photos from my trip... I know the "whites" are hot but I just have not figured out how to fix that yet, anybody got some pointers?

All photos were taken with the Sigma "bigma" 50-500. If you need to know the EXIF of a specific photo do not hesitate to ask.

Oh, and here is the link to all the photos from my trip. Let me know if you like one a lot! http://missouricamerag​uy.zenfolio.com/p10019​22186

C & C are welcome, please enjoy!

1. Snowy Egret

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14 views so far and no comments?

I like the shot of the Canvasback the best. All the others are good as well, but the whites are blown out. Maybe try to meter off the bird, and underexpose -1/3 or -2/3 of a stop, to get the detail back in the white feathers.

Trips to the zoo are fun, but usually happen in mid-day, which is why the harsh effects of the sun play tricks with the in-camera meter, and screw things up...trust me, I know.

You will get the hand of it...but keep practicing. I'm still learning all there is to learn, about metering for highlights...and even though it's not rocket science, it's pretty difficult.

Hope you had a fun time at the zoo. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, the canvasback just sat there and said please please take my picture, I promise I will not move! I had an absolute blast there, going back in a month in the early morning to try a different light. Thanks for the suggestion of the trying to underexpose -1/3 of a stop. Not sure how but I will look it up and see how to do it. I'm still such a young pup at all this, thanks for the comments and help!

This post must have been pushed to 3rd of 4th page down before i had a chance to view it. Glad it was brought back up.
Nice shots of the herons and ducks, Jamie. That's a lof of species in one place! Wish i had a chance to get that close to these birds.
The light seems a little harsh. Perhaps an early morning trip or late afternoon would be better? Regardless, nice job capturing them my friend.

cfcRebel wrote in post #3090355
This post must have been pushed to 3rd of 4th page down before i had a chance to view it. Glad it was brought back up.
Nice shots of the herons and ducks, Jamie. That's a lof of species in one place! Wish i had a chance to get that close to these birds.
The light seems a little harsh. Perhaps an early morning trip or late afternoon would be better? Regardless, nice job capturing them my friend.

It's what a 11 1/2 hour drive from Austin to St. Louis? Make a nice vaction, hit the St. Louis Zoo then three blocks away is the science center and three blocks from that is a Botanical Garden ( BIG ONE ).

Thanks for the comments Fee, I know those whites are hot but so I need to figure out how to read my histogram or something. These blown out whites drive me nuts.

Linuxboy00 wrote in post #3090345
Thanks for the suggestion of the trying to underexpose -1/3 of a stop. Not sure how but I will look it up and see how to do it.

To do this, set the AF point in your camera to the center point, and change settings to manual (just to try it). Take a picture of something white (like a lawn chair) in bright sunlight. Take the picture with the exposure the camera states is correct (i.e. when you look in the viewfinder, the | is at the '0' position). Check the 'histogram' when the shot comes up on the cameras LCD.

Then, take another shot, same everything else, but now, make sure the | in the viewfinder is 1 tick (-1/3) or 2 ticks (-2/3) to the left (pending you have 1/3 Exposure Compensation points turned on (check the manual as to how to do that in the menu's)). Take the shot...and check the histogram, again. Do this with many clicks to the left and right...and you will see how underexposure, and overexposure are guided by the little ticker.

Compare the shots...and you will notice that there are differences in the histogram, first off, as well as the actual chair, sitting in bright sunlight. I am sure you will get the hang of it...after a few tries...and will now be able to figure out whether to expose to the right, or the left of your histogram, based on the actual picture.

Sometimes, though, it's not so easy...and a book by Bryan Peterson, "Understanding Exposure" is a great material to learn with.

Good luck...and hope that helps a little.

inthedeck wrote in post #3090414
To do this, set the AF point in your camera to the center point, and change settings to manual (just to try it). Take a picture of something white (like a lawn chair) in bright sunlight. Take the picture with the exposure the camera states is correct (i.e. when you look in the viewfinder, the | is at the '0' position). Check the 'histogram' when the shot comes up on the cameras LCD.

Then, take another shot, same everything else, but now, make sure the | in the viewfinder is 1 tick (-1/3) or 2 ticks (-2/3) to the left (pending you have 1/3 Exposure Compensation points turned on (check the manual as to how to do that in the menu's)). Take the shot...and check the histogram, again. Do this with many clicks to the left and right...and you will see how underexposure, and overexposure are guided by the little ticker.

Compare the shots...and you will notice that there are differences in the histogram, first off, as well as the actual chair, sitting in bright sunlight. I am sure you will get the hang of it...after a few tries...and will now be able to figure out whether to expose to the right, or the left of your histogram, based on the actual picture.

Sometimes, though, it's not so easy...and a book by Bryan Peterson, "Understanding Exposure" is a great material to learn with.

Good luck...and hope that helps a little.

Yes it does help, I will try what you suggested this weekend and see what I can figure out!

The spoonbill looks like it is too tired to lift its beak up...lol. Wow-lots of diff.species to photograph. Hey I overexpose the whites a lot also...for one thing there are few white birds around here to practice on. Like the guys above said, just gotta practice.
Karen

pttenn wrote in post #3090807
The spoonbill looks like it is too tired to lift its beak up...lol. Wow-lots of diff.species to photograph. Hey I overexpose the whites a lot also...for one thing there are few white birds around here to practice on. Like the guys above said, just gotta practice.
Karen

Well how about you send me some of those Osprey to practice on, and I will send lots of ducks and egrets.. Deal?