HELP!! Airborne birds against the blue sky???

I have searched and searched this site and I guess I don't have the right key words or something so I thought I'd just ask. I was at my parents house and there was a huge hawk flying around. It was partly cloudy with blue skies. This situation has been the one that has all but killed me. I started taking pictures (DRebel and 70-300 USM), trying to get one to come out right. It wasn't close enough to fill the view finder completely, I had planned on cropping about 50% of the picture away. Started on "P" mode, the camera idnored the bird and metered the sky WAY too much... bird is a black spot in the middle of the picture. I metered a few things, trees, woods, people around me and got a few numbers to work with. So I went to "M" mode and started playing around with these numbers, got a pretty good shot of the Hawk but it's ghosted bad by the extremely white sky. No matter what I did I couldn't find a happy medium to get the color and detail in the hawk and sky to be blue in the picture. If someone can help me or give me links to figure this out I would appreciate it!!!

Thanks

Jason

It is extremely difficult taking pictures of objects in the sky under certain conditions. Overcast, white sky is a nightmare. If the sky is blue, take a meter reading off the blue sky, use FEL and recompose, or use M mode.
There are some examples Here
The pictures at the end show how troublesome a white sky is.
Regards,
Scott

When you run out of Dynamic range.. you have no choice but to let the sky blow out over exposed if you want to get the bird in detail..

Meter off the bird.. (I think you have the "partial 9% metering circle availble on the DRebel) and give your self 2/3 to 1&1/3 stop exosure compensation to let in more light..

Yes.. you may well blow out the sky.. but it's the bird you want.

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
When you run out of Dynamic range.. you have no choice but to let the sky blow out over exposed if you want to get the bird in detail..

Meter off the bird.. (I think you have the "partial 9% metering circle availble on the DRebel) and give your self 2/3 to 1&1/3 stop exosure compensation to let in more light..

Yes.. you may well blow out the sky.. but it's the bird you want.

I remember when I first joined this forum, I posted some motorcycle pictures on an overcast day. I had to blow out the sky to get the bikes to look good. I got hammered by some people for blowing out the sky. It would have been nice to have a split ND filter. Thanks for a refreshing view on making sure you get the intended subject.
Scott

I agree - blow out the sky a bit and get the bird. I have a tendency to do it differently than CDS though, because I can't track a bird as well as he can. I do evaluative mode and add 1/3 or 2/3 exposure. So now if the bird slips out of the center circle (which it always does for me) then the exposure stays exactly the same.

Doing it my way takes a shot or two to get it right - I'll usually check the histogram after a shot or two and set the exposure compensation to a point just before the sky completely blows out, even if it means getting the bird a bit dark.

Oh, and use RAW mode.

Blow the bird ot of the sky with a 12 gauge, then pose it's lifeless body on some contrasty dirt or grass. Then eat it.

Sponsered by P.E.T.A. & Canon (boom boom)

I have had success shooting aircraft this last time against a wonderful blue sky! This time I used a UV filter on the 24-70 F2.8L and a CPL on the Sigma 120-300 F2.8EX. I found this was usually overkill but the 70-200 range woulda been great! (For all that don't live over here, this is amazing and I got sunburned too!!) I usually went between 1/3 and 1 stop over or under what was recommended by the camera and evaluated on the fly. Now to stick a few examples on the site...that will take some time. I think some of them even had some cool clouds in the pic! It takes some practise, but will be worth it in the end. I am getting the hang of it. Something also I have learned, that it wasn't always the techniques I was using, but haze can really mess with otherwise great pics! I think most of these last pics were shot at like F8-F11 ISO 200. I have some 650-ish pics to sort now!

take a guess on this image

Here I got the undercarriage with complete detail and the blue sky with no problem. Want to guess how? (scroll down or look below for answer)

http://www.pbase.com/i​mage/27485495.jpg
If that doesn't show up inline, the URL is simply
http://www.pbase.com/i​mage/27485495

(Canon 70-200 2.8 IS with 1.4 converter, hand held. 10D body)

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this shot was taken as the jet was landing and it was winter in Alaska which means the ground was entirely covered with snow, making for a huge white reflector. Recently I tried a similar shot this spring with not snow and there is no comparison. Biggest white reflector card ever used.