100% not colourful...

[Bobobird]

Everyone is posting wonderfully colourful birds. So what can a poor (true) guy do but present you some with only 1 colour.....

BLACK

Possibly the most difficult shots I have taken. Backlit black is really really hard.

Please tell me if anything is off. Better still how to get it done properly.

Thanks.

Black Heron (what was this one doing so far from Africa, I have not a clue).

1.


2.

[Mike Buckley]

I don't know that you did anything wrong but in the first photo the bird sure as heck looks as if you did. Did you not obtain its permission to photograph it?

[Bobobird]

I did say please.... he still glared.

[NorthernFocus]

Looks pretty good to me Bobo. There's not a lot of detail visible in the first one but frankly if there was it wouldn't look natural. And I don't know how you could pull it out without blowing the BG out. Yeah, weird bird for your area. Escapee from somewhere?

[Wavelength]

I especially like image 2

[Stagecoach]

As already said Bobo it was difficult lighting and for me you have captured them well.

Grahame

[jcuknz]

Darkening the water makes him stand out like in the second shot though the second looks a bit soft to me [ not focus soft ]

[Bobobird]

Thanks Dan. I forgot to mention this were taken during my last trip to Hong Kong. Still far from home. Probably not an escapee as there is no zoo as such there and egrets/herons are too plentiful to even bother putting into the few managed aviaries.

Thanks Nandakumar, Grahame.

Thanks jc - the entire sequence was like that but don't know why. The parts that got some light from reflection or the backlight look ok. But the darker areas look slightly mushy. Sun was about the 10-11 o'clock position.

[deetheturk]

Love that look no.1 is giving you,superb!

David

[Otavio]

Hi, Bobo.

As Dan mentioned, there are not a lot of details on #1, but considering the extreme difficulty level of the shot (backlit black!!), I think you've done a great job.

#2 is a lot better, IMHO. I consider it (#2) a wonderful image, due to the higher level of details and the animals expressions (both heron and the "about to be former" fish)!

Well done, mate. Cheers,

[Bobobird]

Thanks David, Otavio.

IMHO, #2 is the better image. He was turning around which spread the light a bit and that helped of course. Little did I know that he was going to take flight right after so missed that sequence.

The simple reason for post #1 was THE GLARE. Herons/egrets all do that but the look is particularly piercing in the darker birds. In the white birds it is much less obvious due to the surrounding light feather colours.

The first time I saw him was about 7 months ago and was only able to get iffy shots due to distance. Decided to return this visit, better but lighting really not helpful. Will most certainly go back next spring and not in the mornings so hopefully will catch him in more ideal conditions.

In the meantime will brush up on getting detail out of black. Appreciate any and all advice on that.

[Shadowman]

I'm sure the color suits his purpose. Nice image.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Great shots. The look in #1 is awesome. Pose in #2 is dynamic. Cool bird!

[jcuknz]

Thanks jc - the entire sequence was like that but don't know why. The parts that got some light from reflection or the backlight look ok. But the darker areas look slightly mushy. Sun was about the 10-11 o'clock position.

I did it in editing by selecting the bird and rocks and then inverting the selection before knocking back the level of the water. It is possible a CPL could darken the water but by the time you adjusted it the bird would have done something to spoil the shot so editing is what I look for.

[Mike Buckley]

getting detail out of black. Appreciate any and all advice on that.

I had a revelation about that a few days ago and was told about something that doesn't apply to my software. You probably already know about them. Just in case not, check out this thread.

[Bobobird]

Thanks John, Matt.

Thanks jc - that is an option that did not cross my mind. I have CPLs but this lens uses only the drop-in type which I did even think of getting. Now I will. Thanks for the reminder. I will try the pp thing as well.

Thanks Mike - you mean the curves adjustment and the screen blend? I have tried to lighten up the whole bird and there is detail there especially the feather strands. But doing so made him grey which he is not. I will try your approach. It will probably work but will be trying out getting a correct exposure just the same to improve camera skills.

[Mike Buckley]

you mean the curves adjustment and the screen blend?

Yes. I was also referring to Grahame's suggestion to use the Shadows/Highlight tool in Photoshop (which I don't license).

[Colin Southern]

Hi Bobo,

It's not really a capture problem per se; same rules as always apply there (don't blow areas with important detail) -- it's really just a processing & display issue. The camera (assuming a reasonably low ISO) will capture around 11 or 12 stops of dynamic range (if exposed correctly) - the problem is that low tones in shadow can sit a good 7 stops below (ie in shadow of) the active light source -- and both prints and monitors are going to struggle to display that (or put more bluntly, they're NOT going to display that well at all).

Technically, displaying that detail is trivial -- just crank up the fill light / shadows slide to compress the dynamic range into something we can see; practically, it's more of a challenge though because doing that offers lots of opportunity for the image to look unbelievable. In many ways it's exactly the same issues as processing an HDR image and having that look believable.

All I can suggest is (a) don't blow the highlights, and (b) use the fill light control to reveal just enough detail; don't be tempted to over-do it. After that, be prepared to push/pull other tonal ranges (carefully) to improve the image. Fundamentally, the degree of success you'll have is proportional to how well you can manage local contrast.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Colin, I have "some" understanding of all that but..... that much work takes away the fun! But, I get to learn something. So that is good.

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin, I have "some" understanding of all that but..... that much work takes away the fun! But, I get to learn something. So that is good.

You're welcome.

Sorry, I'm probably talking too technical - I'll try again.

Monitor only displays around 5 stops - backlit black bird requires 7 - camera captures 12, so camera isn't the problem, and monitor can't be changed - so all you can do is either expose so you can see the bits you want (and blow the background) or compress the 7 stops into 5 (but not in a linear way) by using the fill light control.

3rd option is to use a flash to fight the backlighting.