Posted by Brian Murphy on January 9, 2018 at 6:59 PM
I have been working with on in flight with bald eagles and I sure could use a few pointers.
How do I meter for exposure? I used a shutter speed of 1/1250 with auto ISO. My subject was in focus but the photo is grainy due to an ISO of 2500. The back ground could change from light to dark depending on the bird position.
I was hand holding a Canon T5i with the Sigma 150-600C with overcast conditions. My aperture was 7.1.
Any help sure is appreciated.
Brian
Posted by Keith Bauer on January 10, 2018 at 9:29 AM
Brian:
For birds in flight I STRONGLY recommend shooting in manual exposure mode. That solves all of the issues about what background the bird flies in front of. Turn off Auto ISO. Auto ISO is going to play with your ISO when you don't want it to and there's very few situation I can think of where shooting with it for birds in flight does anything positive. I just finished my 4th trip to Bosque Del Apache since mid November teaching birds in flight. The topic of Auto ISO comes up in every one of them and within the first day, the people using it have turned it off after seeing the issues that it creates.
Metering: You need to understand how the reflected light meter in your camera works. It measures the light being reflected back from the scene. It assumes a neutral tone (18% relfectance). Take a meter reading of the scene using the scale in the viewfinder to set the parameters (shutter, aperture, ISO). You need to understand what your camera meter sees because the metered suggestion will all depend on the reflectance of the scene you point it at. Take a test exposure and evaluate and adjust. Shutter speed is the one that is the most important so try to get it high enough to stop the action (assuming you are going for stop action images). That will force the other parameters to values to enable you to achieve the desired shutter speed. Of course if there isn't enough light to pull off the desired shutter speed, then you either have to crank the ISO way up, or call it a day.
Take a flight photography workshop. You'll be shocked at how much you can learn in a few days.
Posted by John Neukirch on January 10, 2018 at 10:08 AM
Brian,
I second Keith's advice, I cannot remember the last time I shot birds in any mode other then manual. It basically comes down to I want the camera to do what I want it to do and not what it thinks should be done. I normally use spot metering and meter on my subject because if I can get a decent exposure on the bird I figure I can always deal with the BG in post. Also depending on the dynamic range capabilities of the body (I'm using a D500) I tend to underexpose a stop or two to guard against over exposing the subject. It's also rare that I will set my ISO above 2000, if the light is that low I usually will call it a day. On an overcast day the light conditions won't change drastically so you shouldn't have to check your meter too often. Partly cloudy days when you might be shooting in full sun one minute and deep shadows the next can be more challenging. After a while of shooting in manual checking meter readings and adjusting AP/SS/ISO become second nature.
Posted by Keith Bauer on January 10, 2018 at 5:06 PM
I normally use spot metering and meter on my subject because if I can get a decent exposure on the bird I figure I can always deal with the BG in post.
While spot metering may work on some subjects, spot metering on a subject does not mean it will be the right exposure. Spot meter off of a white show goose and you'll get a nice gray looking goose. Spot meter off of a dark Bald Eagle, and you'll get an overexposed eagle. Also, the size the spot covers clearly depends on how long the lens is and how close the subject is. In general, if you aren't really good at reading the scene and choosing a tone that you understand what the meter is going to do, spot metering doesn't help and in many cases makes it worse.
Posted by Nate Chappell on January 16, 2018 at 8:32 PM
I agree that you should be shooting in manual and I do not use auto iso. As far as metering, I generally use evaluative (matrix/pattern) metering and test meter off of something which is mostly neutral tone. I select an iso and F-stop that I think will give me a fast enough shutter speed for my subject (for birds in flight generally 1/1000 or higher). Then take some shots of your subject and adjust the manual exposure as necessary for the next set of flight shots with that species. In this image which I posted today, I set the exposure by metering off of the blue water in the background. http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=248178&CGISESSID=76bd2d844ff6cb9c34a66f450c04d20a&u=25529&title_action=
One question I would have is was your iso changing depending on the background? If no, then you may have just been shooting on a very dark day which is not generally going to be productive for flight photography. Your settings of shutter speed and F-stop are good for that lens and if the camera was selecting an iso of 2500 and it was a generally good exposure, this just means that you were photographing on a day that was quite dark and the result is noisy images because the iso is too high for that camera and lens combo. Because the Sigma 150-600 is wide open at F6.3 at the longer ends of the lens it's not very conducive to photographing birds in flight on dark days. Pick a nice sunny morning or afternoon or a bright overcast day instead.
Discussion
4 repliesHow do I meter for exposure? I used a shutter speed of 1/1250 with auto ISO. My subject was in focus but the photo is grainy due to an ISO of 2500. The back ground could change from light to dark depending on the bird position.
I was hand holding a Canon T5i with the Sigma 150-600C with overcast conditions. My aperture was 7.1.
Any help sure is appreciated.
Brian
For birds in flight I STRONGLY recommend shooting in manual exposure mode. That solves all of the issues about what background the bird flies in front of. Turn off Auto ISO. Auto ISO is going to play with your ISO when you don't want it to and there's very few situation I can think of where shooting with it for birds in flight does anything positive. I just finished my 4th trip to Bosque Del Apache since mid November teaching birds in flight. The topic of Auto ISO comes up in every one of them and within the first day, the people using it have turned it off after seeing the issues that it creates.
Metering: You need to understand how the reflected light meter in your camera works. It measures the light being reflected back from the scene. It assumes a neutral tone (18% relfectance). Take a meter reading of the scene using the scale in the viewfinder to set the parameters (shutter, aperture, ISO). You need to understand what your camera meter sees because the metered suggestion will all depend on the reflectance of the scene you point it at. Take a test exposure and evaluate and adjust. Shutter speed is the one that is the most important so try to get it high enough to stop the action (assuming you are going for stop action images). That will force the other parameters to values to enable you to achieve the desired shutter speed. Of course if there isn't enough light to pull off the desired shutter speed, then you either have to crank the ISO way up, or call it a day.
Take a flight photography workshop. You'll be shocked at how much you can learn in a few days.
I second Keith's advice, I cannot remember the last time I shot birds in any mode other then manual. It basically comes down to I want the camera to do what I want it to do and not what it thinks should be done. I normally use spot metering and meter on my subject because if I can get a decent exposure on the bird I figure I can always deal with the BG in post. Also depending on the dynamic range capabilities of the body (I'm using a D500) I tend to underexpose a stop or two to guard against over exposing the subject. It's also rare that I will set my ISO above 2000, if the light is that low I usually will call it a day. On an overcast day the light conditions won't change drastically so you shouldn't have to check your meter too often. Partly cloudy days when you might be shooting in full sun one minute and deep shadows the next can be more challenging. After a while of shooting in manual checking meter readings and adjusting AP/SS/ISO become second nature.
While spot metering may work on some subjects, spot metering on a subject does not mean it will be the right exposure. Spot meter off of a white show goose and you'll get a nice gray looking goose. Spot meter off of a dark Bald Eagle, and you'll get an overexposed eagle. Also, the size the spot covers clearly depends on how long the lens is and how close the subject is. In general, if you aren't really good at reading the scene and choosing a tone that you understand what the meter is going to do, spot metering doesn't help and in many cases makes it worse.
One question I would have is was your iso changing depending on the background? If no, then you may have just been shooting on a very dark day which is not generally going to be productive for flight photography. Your settings of shutter speed and F-stop are good for that lens and if the camera was selecting an iso of 2500 and it was a generally good exposure, this just means that you were photographing on a day that was quite dark and the result is noisy images because the iso is too high for that camera and lens combo. Because the Sigma 150-600 is wide open at F6.3 at the longer ends of the lens it's not very conducive to photographing birds in flight on dark days. Pick a nice sunny morning or afternoon or a bright overcast day instead.