Dialing in Proper Exposure on Birds - Testing My Skill.

I have always had this fascination with birds, (especially raptors) and I have been figuring out a way of shooting them which doesn't turn them to grey featureless blobs while leaving in the details of their feathers and features, while also giving the background a little bit of color. I'm still not sure if I can do that, as any form of +1/3-2/3 compensation on the Exposure Value (EV) meter in-camera tends to bleach out the background.

This was a chance shot of a great blue heron back in 2007 when I was using the Nikon D50.



Note that the white on the feathers aren't blown out and the water reflection is still crisp and clear. Yet, duplicating that feat on smaller birds has been a trial and a half.

This shot of a white crowned sparrow is one of my other shots that came out well. Yet...if I'm to succeed at raptor photography, I will have to do much better at my rate of consistency of the properly exposed shots.



Also I've managed to get a shot of a raptor that I was able to shoot on June 12th, 2010, which came out properly exposed.



But have I been able to duplicate that with any of the in-flight or current static shots of birds?

My recent attempts have been falling abysmally short of the shots that I know I can do.


Red Winged Blackbird


Red-Tailed Hawk

Now most people in the know would tell me to "get in close", go to Aperture Priority, take a reading off a neutral background and dial in +2/3-1 EV to make the bird stand out. But I also don't want the background completely washed out. Hmmm, that is the question.

So here are my test shots based on a light subject (a tree branch) based on +2/3EV(Manual) +1/3EV (Manual), 0EV (Manual), 1/1250 Shutter Speed (Manual), and 1/1600 Shutter Speed (Manual) based on ISO 200 at f/2.8 full wide-open on my D300s/70-200mm VRII.


+2/3 EV at Manual, f/2.8, 1/1000 at 200mm


+1/3 EV at Manual f/2.8, 1/1000 at 200mm


0EV at Manual f/2.8, 1/1000 at 200mm


OEV at Manual, f/2.8, 1/1250 at 200mm


0EV at Manual f/2.8, 1/1600 at 200mm

Considering it's wide open, I figure that is what is bleaching out the background, but wide open is what is allowing me to get the speeds at ISO 200.

Now I've also experimented with dialing down 1 stop to f/4 and seeing what this causes. Here's the results of shooting at the above settings with f/4.


+2/3 EV at Manual, f/4, 1/1000 at 200mm


+1/3 EV at Manual, f/4, 1/1000 at 200mm


0 EV at Manual, f/4, 1/1000 at 200mm


1/1250 Shutterspeed at 200mm


1/1600 Shutterspeed at 200mm

Now at AP (Aperture Priority); I have set the exposure compensation at +2/3 EV and +1/3 EV respectively on the next four shots.


Shutterspeed: 1/800th sec, f/2.8, Aperture Priority at 200mm, +2/3 EV


Shutterspeed: 1/500th sec, f/2.8, Aperture Priority at 200mm, +2/3 EV


Shutterspeed: 1/1000th sec, f/4, Aperture Priority at 200mm, +1/3 EV


Shutterspeed: 1/500th sec, f/4, Aperture Priority at 200mm, +1/3 EV

I still find the meter readings from the AP settings at f/4 to be bled out more than trying to set the exposure manually. However I think more shooting and tinkering with the settings is what is going to solve this problem. Will update more and let y'all know what's going on, on this matter.