My next Project

[rtbaum]

Last Weekend, I drove at least 60 miles to photograph white pelicans........no luck!!!

Tonight, I drove 3 miles



There must be a lesson in this somewhere. I'm not entirely satisfied with this shot, I had to adjust heavily for exposure.......a bit heavy with the ETTR.....and the crop is pretty extreme. On the other hand, it is my best pelican thus far. And no, Joe, you can't have your Pelicans back just yet!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Randy,

Well, it is much sharper than a lot of my 'first spot' shots - perhaps I get too excited

The trouble with lone white birds at great distance is the meter needs a lot of compensation to make up for the overall drabness of the scene, which is what it sets exposure on, unless spot metering - I know how easy it is to blow the highlights like this - and if any consolation; I still do it sometimes.

I'm not sure the foreground smooth surface water actually contributes much, have you tried a crop without it (i.e. thinner aspect ratio)?

HTH,

[rtbaum]

The real problem was that I gone from shooting hummingbirds in the shady backyard and forgot the exposure compensation was set for +1.7. I'm surprised that I actually was able to pull out any detail in LR. Will I ever learn? I really should start paying closer attention to the meter.

[pinakibaidya]

Randy this a very common mistake. I have suffered time to time due to this. I usually get so much excited when i find a new bird that i forget to check the settings. Looking at the LCD display i happily return home and sit at the laptop only to find that images are either over or underexposed. A small tip is always return to 0 EV after each shooting episode. Considering the overexposed shot of Pelican the shot is not so bad either.