help on my clipped whites in birds..

[Nancy Moran G]

Hi all,
I found a spot with @ 6 of these white Herons. There is a fence around the pond about shoulder high for me.
Besides needing help on getting sharper images, my whites on all of the photos are too white. this was around 5;00 - sunset.
Nikon 7000. 55-300 4.5-6.3 (?), ISO 640, 1/200, F 5.6.



The little I do know ....my lens isn't great at the full 300mm (per you guys, I am not that techno)
and I should try for a higher shutter speed. i guess I am not used to trying such high ISO.
My exposure comp is needed but any help there is appreciated.

I could scrape up the $ for the Tamron 150-600 but I want to know I would be able to use it!
Nancy

[Shadowman]

It's a risky endeavor (bird might fly away) but you could spot meter off the bird to get optimal exposure setting. If you are getting blinkies you can either use exposure compensation or increase shutter speed to control highlights. At the distance photographed, you won't get much detail in the feathers, if there were additional colors perhaps; so just shoot to get the whites under control without any color casts. Looks like the bird wasn't the sole subject, that tree really adds to the image. Nicely captured.

[FrankMi]

Hi Nancy, it doesn't look 'too' white to me as much is you may have lost detail in the whites. If you shot in RAW mode, you may have a chance of recovering some of the detail without having to muddy the whites.

I wouldn't be to concerned about the lens for this image.

Based on the reflection it appears that image needs a bit of CCW rotation to get it level. The top of the Heron's head should be directly over it's reflection.

Very nice composition by the way!

[GBO25]

Spot metering on the white bird is a good thing if the bird is large enough in the frame for the camera to discern it and meter off it. When shooting white birds I invariably use Aperture priority and set exposure compensation to at least -0.5 and up to -1 if the light is quite bright. In this case probably -0.5 would have done and if you have the time -ie the bird stays still, you can experiment and check the image on your camera's screen.
As Frank says shooting in raw gives you the chance to get some detail back in post and even with the exposure as it is this shot has great potential.

The colours and composition are very nice, I can see why you wanted the shot. Nice one.

[Geoff F]

Always a tricky shot, Nancy. White birds, or those with white patches will always tend to over expose in sunlight, and the alternative can mean getting excessively dark shadows. Lightly overcast skies produce the best results for me.

However, when shooting in conditions which aren't ideal all you can really do is to use a little negative exposure compensation but how much is a matter of experience which has been gained from experimentation. If you have the chance, take several shots with varying amounts.

Yes, spot metering off the bird can be helpful if you are able to do it. But I find that so many shots like this are a case of 'Look at that, pick up camera and shoot' before the scene has changed.

I would say that scene is level. Water never flows uphill and it looks to be level at the base of that tree.

[Nancy Moran G]

Boy, it's a good thing I don't have to pay $1 for every thank you I say on the forum
Geez, all these responses are great.
I did try to meter for the head, but I guess it was't enough for camera.
I do shoot RAW, in case I ever learn PP ! So yes, maybe I can fool with it.
I tend to shoot Manual, altho I started out in Aperture...
I will go back and try -. 5 on the EC.
OH, and I may have read here that EC performs differently if I am in Manual/Aperture? (Not in auto mode, just M)
Thanks all, it is a pretty spot.
Nancy

[Brownbear]

Hi Nancy,

Gorgeous composition! You've received great advice so I can't add too much just reminders... When photographing white birds I just try to think in advance that if the bird doesn't fill the frame the meter will want to overexpose the bird, and if it fills the frame it will want to underexpose, and set my exposure accordingly.

In Manual mode on your Nikon if you know you're going to be photographing white birds that don't fill the frame, you can set the EC to -1 (say +1 for a white bird filling the frame)... So that when you read your camera's exposure in the viewfinder it will read as you wish compensating for your subject, sometimes easier than remembering but you have to remember to reset this to zero afterwards. Or if that is confusing simply just know that when you photograph a white or black bird you have to set your exposure differently, and check your exposure immediately after the 1st shot, and adjust. Sometimes it means underexposing a little bit, ie; when bright sunlight is falling on parts of the bird. In Aperture priority exposure compensation adjusts the shutter speed to increase or decrease the exposure.

The one thing that has been drummed into my little head by members of this forum is to always check my histogram for blinkies (I know it is sometimes hard/impossible to do if you only have a moment with a bird), and also after post processing. Lowering the highlights often helps bring out detail if the image isn't clipped. If you suspect it is your post processing - if you wish - post the raw image here, or send me the raw file via a PM I will give post processing the image a try.

[Nancy Moran G]

Hi Christina,
Long time no chat...
Earlier in the year, we were pretty much on same page with our cameras, tech help...then you went and got SOOO much better!
I fell off the grid this year but hopefully a better 2015.
Thank you for you advice, I know it is as solid as others.

Yes, at first, I was switching the EC without knowing my camera well enough. Now, I realize the icon so I know to
change it.
But, silly question of the day...does my 7000 have 'blinkies' one the screen or only when I upload it? I have to learn my histogram, so is that where I would see blinkies? Thought that was just Canon?
Thanks,
Nancy

[Brownbear]

Hi Nancy,

Indeed. Nice to see you posting again. Just last week I was photographing a swan which I had difficulties exposing but I simply persisted, adjusting my exposure and my position with respect to where the light was falling on the swan. So I also had a few clipped exposures, but hung in there until I managed. I'm still learning and my terminology and explanations often fall short but hopefully the general idea is conveyed well enough.

My camera is not exactly the same as yours but yes, I believe you just need to go into the set up menu to set it up so you can see the blinkies. After that is done you should be able to press the preview button to see highlight clipping, and also the histogram so you can see clipping in the shadows or highlights, in the RGB channel, and also in all three colour channels. (just press the preview button repeatedly to cycle through the views)

I Googled your camera... See the 3rd paragraph titled Nikon D7000 playback mode

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7000/D7000A3.HTM

Try it... It is immensely helpful!

Hi Christina,
Long time no chat...
Earlier in the year, we were pretty much on same page with our cameras, tech help...then you went and got SOOO much better!
I fell off the grid this year but hopefully a better 2015.
Thank you for you advice, I know it is as solid as others.

Yes, at first, I was switching the EC without knowing my camera well enough. Now, I realize the icon so I know to
change it.
But, silly question of the day...does my 7000 have 'blinkies' one the screen or only when I upload it? I have to learn my histogram, so is that where I would see blinkies? Thought that was just Canon?
Thanks,
Nancy

[george013]

Download the user manual in pdf. http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manu...2/D7000_EN.pdf page 165.
I don't know if you can choose the screens you want to be able to see, on the D700 you can.
For some reason if you go via the nikon-site, you have to log-in first. If you google, on "D7000 manual" it seems you bypass that screen.
George


edit.
You can choose the screens.

[Nancy Moran G]

Thanks again Christina and George. I have gone back and read sections of my manual over the past 18 months, and always learn something new.guess it's time to finally look at histogram section!
Will look up your info and try it out.
Thanks,
Nancy

[Dave Humphries]

To clarify for Nancy ...

In Manual mode (with fixed ISO, not Auto-ISO), adjusting EC does not alter the exposure, it only adjusts the meter reading* - you then have to follow up and adjust the exposure controls manually to adjust the exposure - e.g. by putting the exposure back in the middle of the meter (which now includes the EC offset required). That seems a good way to 'lose the plot', so in 'full' Manual mode, I ignore EC and just iteratively adjust the exposure (with ss, aperture and/or ISO) until the blinkies disappear (and there's no channel clipping) on the post-last-shot RGB histogram.

If it is any consolation, I recall catching myself out with this a while back, kept taking shots, adjusting EC and wondering why the bird and picture wasn't getting any dimmer (doh!).

* Canon's behaviour is different again.

However, with Auto-ISO, I believe it may behave differently - also beware that the D7000 and D7100 do not always behave the same way, so I can't really check for you. From memory, I think last time I tried, if Auto-ISO is on, EC does work, obviously affecting the ISO used, but as I say, that might not be the case for Nancy's D7000 (or George's D700).

Cheers, Dave

[Brownbear]

For the D7100 in manual mode with Auto ISO, Exposure compensation is just like Aperture priority where the camera changes the shutter speed, except it changes the ISO to change the exposure.

Positive compensation = lighter exposure by choosing a higher ISO... Negative compensation (dialing a negative number in) and the camera chooses a lower ISO... So a little different but the same concept - ie; it is simply changing the ISO instead of the shutter speed (or aperture if you were using shutter priority). Manual with Auto ISO is a little different because it is limited by the max ISO you set your camera to use.

[NorthernFocus]

Nancy that is really a lovely scene. If it is local near you it is definately worth frequent visits at differents seasons, times of day, etc.

Others have comented plenty on the exposure compensation so I won't further complicate the discusson on that. My only comment is in regards to your statement in the original post about shooting at high ISO. But you were only at 640. The D7000 should produce pretty clean images up to ISO1600. In my experience you're better off increasing ISO and properly exposing than "pushing" lower ISO and ending up under exposed. Under exposure produces the worst noise.