Metering for birds against a bright sky

Having not shot birds in flight before, I came across a problem I might incur on my Puffin Watching Trip in the next few weeks. I shot some Herons in a nest atop a tall tree and due to the very bright sky behind, I got a lot of underexposed feathers.

Can anyone offer any metering advice? Am I right in thinking that Partial Metering on my 20D is the correct setting for birds against a bright sky?

I've had the best luck with Evaluative, and I set the Ev a couple stops to the right, the plus side. This will blow out the background some, but the near side of the bird will be lighter. Shoot in RAW and use a flash for fill if at all possible, if your close enough. I have the 550ex and a Better Beamer and it works pretty good out to about 30 feet. Maybe a little more.

Never shoot in mid-day sun now that being easier said then done...

turnt he camera to M mode... set desired aperture... point the camera at something white, grey etc and set the shutter accordingly. Bird will expose correct but the sky 99% of the time will be blown out (if you are shooting at high sun). Also bring a flash with you as a bit of fill goes a long way when you have black/white colored birds.

canonloader wrote in post #3296916
I've had the best luck with Evaluative, and I set the Ev a couple stops to the right, the plus side. This will blow out the background some, but the near side of the bird will be lighter. Shoot in RAW and use a flash for fill if at all possible, if your close enough. I have the 550ex and a Better Beamer and it works pretty good out to about 30 feet. Maybe a little more.

Interesting. I was actually setting the EV to the left to try and retain detail in the sky and recover later in LR. I'll try that out thanks.

yes to get the subject exposed correctly in this situation you need +ive EC probably a stop maybe more. It will blow out the sky though. Long lens and getting the bird more in the frame will help with partial metering.

A flash won't be of much help the windows you will be shooting out of are pretty small. I was using a 400mm DO and had to take the hood off so it would fit through the window. Eventually swapped lenses as the focal length was much too long. I'm afraid all a flash would do is light up the inside of the blind. You'll have a chance of some flight shots arriving at the island and leaving. Not much while on the island.

I've found when shooting birds towards the sky it also depends on the conditions. If it's cloudy I've found EV +1 or 1 1/3 to be effective, if it's bright sunshine then I tend to use EV +1 2/3 or EV + 2 (can also depend on if the sun's hitting the part of the bird nearest you/in shot). Although if you can use manual (i.e. the conditions are fairly constant) then going to AV mode and setting you aperture and metering off something neutral like grass and setting those values in manual mode can give some very useful results.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Ben

Expose for the background and use fill. Usually works well. Av mode will do this automatically for you, no need to dial in EC if you use a flash.

canonloader wrote in post #3296916
I've had the best luck with Evaluative, and I set the Ev a couple stops to the right, the plus side. This will blow out the background some, but the near side of the bird will be lighter. Shoot in RAW and use a flash for fill if at all possible, if your close enough. I have the 550ex and a Better Beamer and it works pretty good out to about 30 feet. Maybe a little more.

That's pretty much what I do push the Ev up a stop or so. I've not used flash with birds yet.

KAC

Thanks everyone, I'm going to practice these techniques before my big Puffin expedition

I've used all metering modes in the past, and now, I only shoot with either center-weighted average (on high contrast subjects as Ospreys & Eagles) and partial metering on others such as Hawks. Good luck Anke.

Thanks Reyno!!

If its in the sky be it a bird or plane it gets 1 full stop over for me.

You should check the Arthur Morris website and/or book.... he talks about metering off the sky some degrees above the horizon and setting manual exposure. I forget the details, but if anyone should know how to do it, it's him.

LazyPhotographer wrote in post #3305430
You should check the Arthur Morris website and/or book.... he talks about metering off the sky some degrees above the horizon and setting manual exposure. I forget the details, but if anyone should know how to do it, it's him.

Thanks Lazy, here is the linkin case anyone can't be bothered to google it