Posted by Barry Southon on November 28, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Still working on the Flight shot Techniques and I have a number of questions which I'd like to seek opinions.
Black and white subjects I have always found difficult to handle either losing definition in one or the other.
Should I try to handle the light in the camera as shot and if so how would you suggest or use the PP workflow later to rescue the image?
This image is really one such shot.
Canon 1D3 800mm HH f/8.0 1/160sec. Full Frame. RAW to Lightroom then PS4 resized to post.
Critique, Advice and Comments most welcome.
Thanks for looking.
Posted by John Robinson on November 28, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Hi Barry
I,m not the one to give advice on camera techies but for what its worth. -
But - Any bird with blackwhite on it in quantity like a magpie for example, and I drop my exposure value (ev) by about one stop.
The trouble is choosing the exposure mode on the camera. If you use spot metering and the centre is on a white spot you will be way under and if the spot is on a black section you will be over.
So matrix or average is better in that respect.
I don't shoot raw but you can still get some blown bits back in CS with JPEGS in the shadow highlights tool. Don't over do it though.
Not much help and others will have much more technical advice but thats what I do.
If the subject is stationary of course - then take several shots at differing appertures or bracket the exposure.
Cheers
JohnR
Nice Cranes by the way but the extreme left one drags my eye a bit.
Posted by Barry Southon on November 28, 2010 at 9:54 PM
John
Many thanks for taking the time to comment it's always useful to glean info from those that know. I'm somewhat long in the tooth and only came to photography as the result of the digital age. Prior to that it was just out of my price bracket so my knowledge is very limited in the extreme.
My questions may be basic but thats the way I learn.
Nice image, just a shame about the trailing Crane... It is not so much about the exposure but the light... Early Morning/ Late Afternoon/Early Evening, when the sun is low in the sky will provide directional but soft light due to the extra atmosphere the light has to penetrate... soft light is always preferable for the two extremes of B/W...
For your exposure I believe the answer is to go manual, metering from a neutral subject, in fact I keep a light meter for this very purpose, I can then take an incident reading... the other excellent way to judge exposure is the sunny 16 rule, Phil Shaw is your man here..
HTH
Phil
Posted by Phil Shaw on November 29, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Barry, the cranes look correctly exposed to me. I'm not sure what more you hope to get out this image. Obviously you could brighten up the shadows a bit, but as it stands, the exposure looks fine. In order to get the birds more evenly lit you would have needed to have the sun behind you (as you have) and the wind behind you, since birds generally take off into the wind. In this instance the wind was probably coming from camera right.
With digital, as it was with slide film, you should generally be aiming to ensure that the exposure chosen will not clip the highlights (i.e. your camera histogram should not be registering hard up to the right hand side). In some instances therefore you have to accept that in order to preserve the highlights, the darkest tones within the image are not going to record any details. The way around this is, as Phil Hurst has already indicated, to take your photographs in the early morning or later on in the afternoon when the sun is low in the sky and the tonal range is somewhat compressed by the lower levels of light. The other way to open up the shadows is to use supplementary lighting - fill flash, but the effective range is pretty restricted.
As for being "somewhat long in the tooth": well what the **** are you doing hand holding an 800? Seriously though, what counts is that you are enjoying yourself. If think the tecnical aspects of photography are limiting how much you are getting out it, then you should consider doing a workshop focusing on the areas where you think you need greater understanding.
Posted by Barry Southon on November 29, 2010 at 9:36 AM
Thanks guy's advice taken on board. Now to implement it.
Posted by Paul Rosser on November 29, 2010 at 3:06 PM
The exposure looks fine to me, and the light is nice. You've done really well here to get this Handheld with an 800mm!!
Paul.
Discussion
6 repliesBlack and white subjects I have always found difficult to handle either losing definition in one or the other.
Should I try to handle the light in the camera as shot and if so how would you suggest or use the PP workflow later to rescue the image?
This image is really one such shot.
Canon 1D3 800mm HH f/8.0 1/160sec. Full Frame. RAW to Lightroom then PS4 resized to post.
Critique, Advice and Comments most welcome.
Thanks for looking.
I,m not the one to give advice on camera techies but for what its worth. -
But - Any bird with blackwhite on it in quantity like a magpie for example, and I drop my exposure value (ev) by about one stop.
The trouble is choosing the exposure mode on the camera. If you use spot metering and the centre is on a white spot you will be way under and if the spot is on a black section you will be over.
So matrix or average is better in that respect.
I don't shoot raw but you can still get some blown bits back in CS with JPEGS in the shadow highlights tool. Don't over do it though.
Not much help and others will have much more technical advice but thats what I do.
If the subject is stationary of course - then take several shots at differing appertures or bracket the exposure.
Cheers
JohnR
Nice Cranes by the way but the extreme left one drags my eye a bit.
Many thanks for taking the time to comment it's always useful to glean info from those that know. I'm somewhat long in the tooth and only came to photography as the result of the digital age. Prior to that it was just out of my price bracket so my knowledge is very limited in the extreme.
My questions may be basic but thats the way I learn.
Nice image, just a shame about the trailing Crane... It is not so much about the exposure but the light... Early Morning/ Late Afternoon/Early Evening, when the sun is low in the sky will provide directional but soft light due to the extra atmosphere the light has to penetrate... soft light is always preferable for the two extremes of B/W...
For your exposure I believe the answer is to go manual, metering from a neutral subject, in fact I keep a light meter for this very purpose, I can then take an incident reading... the other excellent way to judge exposure is the sunny 16 rule, Phil Shaw is your man here..
HTH
Phil
With digital, as it was with slide film, you should generally be aiming to ensure that the exposure chosen will not clip the highlights (i.e. your camera histogram should not be registering hard up to the right hand side). In some instances therefore you have to accept that in order to preserve the highlights, the darkest tones within the image are not going to record any details. The way around this is, as Phil Hurst has already indicated, to take your photographs in the early morning or later on in the afternoon when the sun is low in the sky and the tonal range is somewhat compressed by the lower levels of light. The other way to open up the shadows is to use supplementary lighting - fill flash, but the effective range is pretty restricted.
As for being "somewhat long in the tooth": well what the **** are you doing hand holding an 800?
Paul.