Egrets in flight

These are my best to date. Comments and criticism appreciated.

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You got some terrific poses but you can't see detail in the wings because it is too white. I think you can fix this in photoshop--a lot of mine turn out this way also (or used to) It is soooo hard not to blow out the white wings on a bright sunny day!
Karen

Rock Nice series

I have looked at your EXIF attached to the pictures. I would recommend some setting changes for these conditions White Birds and sun light.

Your settings were:

ISO 400
Exp= 0.0
F 5.6
Shutter 1/2500 to 1/2000

400mm lens

I believe a bird this size would be better at F8 to give more DOF
The blown whites could be reduced or eliminated with EXP = -2/3 or -1.0
ISO 400 looks about right
Shutter speed would drop to about 1/1250 or 1/1000 which would still freeze the wing these are only suggestions

Thanks Gary, I will try that tomorrow. Can you tell me what I do to set the Exp at -1? (showing my ignorance again)

Karen, thanks for the comments. I am not much good with photoshop yet but I will keep learning.

rocklyons wrote in post #3217616
Thanks Gary, I will try that tomorrow. Can you tell me what I do to set the Exp at -1? (showing my ignorance again)

Karen, thanks for the comments. I am not much good with photoshop yet but I will keep learning.

I'm not sure about the 30D but on the 20D you shoot Av turn the to full on postion, hit the shot button half way down and move the big wheel to the right or left to adjust Exp on the graph at the bottom of the view finder.

I find it hard to explain you should find it in your book under setting exposure.

I tried a little PS on #4. Does it help?

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rocklyons wrote in post #3217713
I tried a little PS on #4. Does it help?

Yes, Much better

I can tell you how I try to fix mine. Go under Enhance to Adjust color; under Hue/saturation, decrease the Lightness quite a bit. The whole pic will get too dark but then you go under Brightness/Contranst and play with the Brightness to make the picture brighter but not glaring. Then up/down the contrast to get depth and detail. Usually when you turn the lightness down, you see feather detail appear. Hope this helps you.
Karen

I like that first shot of the great egret flying. Really beautiful BIF.

White birds can be tough to expose correctly during bright daylight. I agree with the prior suggestions about adjusting the exposure compensation. One other thing I would add would be to switch your camera's metering mode to Partial Metering. What that will do is your camera will meter the shot based upon a smaller area in the center of your viewfinder. What this does is that it will protect the white highlights of the bird from blowing out and it will darken the surroundings to compensate. Then at home when you post process, you can adjust the brightness, contrast to your taste. Once the whites have been blown out, its tough to get them back. Nice work and I look forward to see more!

- Hung

One other thing I would add would be to switch your camera's metering mode to Partial Metering. What that will do is your camera will meter the shot based upon a smaller area in the center of your viewfinder. What this does is that it will protect the white highlights of the bird from blowing out and it will darken the surroundings to compensate. Then at home when you post process, you can adjust the brightness, contrast to your taste. Once the whites have been blown out, its tough to get them back. Nice work and I look forward to see more!

- Hung[/QUOTE]

You're right, how do you do that partial metering? Is that in the menu? (no clue as you can tell...)
Karen

hTr wrote in post #3217662
I'm not sure about the 30D but on the 20D you shoot Av turn the to full on postion, hit the shot button half way down and move the big wheel to the right or left to adjust Exp on the graph at the bottom of the view finder.

I find it hard to explain you should find it in your book under setting exposure.

Same for the 30D.

Very nice series Rock. I never would have suspected to find egrets in that kind of terrain though. I thought they were a calm water bird.

You've gotten some great captures of a bird I only have seen from a distance. With the tips the others have given, you will surely improve on what is already quite nice. Good job!