Posted by Nolan Rowell on July 6, 2016 at 12:20 AM
I have the absolute hardest time trying to get a great shot of these birds because of their white bills and black bodies. I either overexpose the white or under expose the black. Any suggestions?
Blacks and whites are usually the hardest to expose correctly. Photoshop is essential, imo. A camera will never "see" and process the way the human eye does. Starting with Photoshop Elements in fine. Safe to say that every image you will see posted here has at least the basics corrected- levels and curves, brightness and shadows, color saturation, contras, etc.
The program "PERFECT EXPOSURE" IS (or was) free last week and, i believe, has a free trial still offered.
I am afraid, if you are serious about photography, you will need a good editing program. You might ask here what more basic but adequate programs people use, for some suggestions and free trials.
Nolan, I photographed this coot on a day when the light was very flat, overcast, no strong sun. Taken with a Canon PS X60 some adjustment of the white bill in PSE. I like this type of light for subjects with strong contrasting colors or overall dark bodies.
Posted by Dennis Plank on July 6, 2016 at 12:54 PM
Nolan. I agree with John. Overcast is your friend for shots like this. Soft and warm early morning or late evening light can also work well for this type of image (within about 1/2 hour of sunrise or sunset at your latitude). Other than that, shoot in camera RAW if you aren't already, set up your camera so the image review shows "blinkies" for overexposure, and adjust your exposure so the brightest part of the beak is just starting to show the blinkies. You'll be able to bring the highlights down in whatever RAW editor you use, and you should be able to boost the blacks to a reasonable level also.
Also, since you said you're new at this, most of the time for birds you'll probably want to use aperture priority to get the dof what you want. Set your iso as high as your camera will give you good image quality and use exposure compensation for adjustments. Manual exposure also works well and is great once you get the feel for it. If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you join a local camera club and/or check your local community colleges for introductory photography and photoshop classes. Your posts to date show that you have a great eye for photography, so you just have to get comfortable with the techniques.
Discussion
3 repliesThe program "PERFECT EXPOSURE" IS (or was) free last week and, i believe, has a free trial still offered.
I am afraid, if you are serious about photography, you will need a good editing program. You might ask here what more basic but adequate programs people use, for some suggestions and free trials.
Sandy
Also, since you said you're new at this, most of the time for birds you'll probably want to use aperture priority to get the dof what you want. Set your iso as high as your camera will give you good image quality and use exposure compensation for adjustments. Manual exposure also works well and is great once you get the feel for it. If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you join a local camera club and/or check your local community colleges for introductory photography and photoshop classes. Your posts to date show that you have a great eye for photography, so you just have to get comfortable with the techniques.
I hope this helps,