Impressive, But …
Everyone loved the tight square that came as a result of skillful processing and a relatively huge crop. Check out the reactions
here on the new Bird Photographers.Net.
It is strange that I am participating a lot more on BPN since I sold the site to Group Builders than I had been for several years; you might call it the proud grandpa effect. They have skillfully injected new life into the forum since they took the reins about two weeks ago.
It is important to remember that the tight square crop above was created from the horizontal raw file below, Image #3.
Questions from Eugen Dolan Via Mail
ED: I love the image of the Osprey and the fish – but I have a question about using the histogram to guide the exposure. I had similar exposure issues at an air show recently – The Canadian Snowbirds, and the US F16 – with their mostly white paint schemes.
Obviously the histogram in cases like this are NO HELP at all! For me, it is a difficult exposure problem.
AM/BAA: Good question, Eugen. The short answer is that with Sony’s Zebra technology, there are no difficult exposures. Keep reading for the long answer.
ED: You frequently mention Sony’s Zebra technology — blinkies live in the viewfinder.
AM/BAA: That is correct. With Zebras there is no need to take a test exposure. Not to mention that I hate having a live histogram in the viewfinder. I need to be able to see the whole frame. And the bird!
ED: Am I correct in thinking that Zebras are a major factor when deciding on a given exposure (modulated of course by 41 years of practical experience)?
AM/BAA: You are pretty much correct. In nearly all situations, I simply set my shutter speed and aperture as needed and then raise the ISO until I see some Zebras on the highlights. But with fishing and catching Ospreys, you need to go a step further. I will explain why in a moment.
ED: Did you go for Zebras on the Osprey’s head? Were they helpful in this situation?
AM/BAA: Yes, I raised the ISO until I saw some Zebras on the tops of the heads of the Ospreys flying by. Doing that got me to a good starting point. But there are several more things to consider here.
1- Birds in flight will not be sitting in one place. As they fly, their position in relative to the light is ever changing. By the time a bird gets 30° off sun angle, the perfect exposure would be 1/3-stop less than when it was right on sun angle.
2- Even relatively static birds move often. On Thursday morning, I was photographing an adult Sandhill Crane calling pretty much right down sun angle. — today’s featured image. When the bird was perfectly square to the light, there were some Zebras on the white cheek. When the bird turned its head slightly, the Zebras disappeared. I stayed with the original settings as we never want to over-expose the highlights, in this case, the bird’s white cheek.
3- This was the main point of the post: if it is sunny, and you are sure that you have a perfect exposure for the Osprey but are hoping that the bird will dive and catch a fish,
it is better to shoot at least 1/3-stop darker as the silver sides of many of the fish are much brighter than the white feathers on the Osprey’s head. That is why we need to shoot the fish darker than the perfect exposure for the Osprey. In the same series as the image I shared in the previous post, there were other frames where the sides of the Yellowfin Menhaden were terribly over-exposed because of the way that the fish was wriggling at that instant. As the angle of any subject to the light changes, the reflectance of the highlights change as well.
4- Another fine point to share as to the degree of Zebras: when it is sunny and I have a choice between a few Zebras at one setting and lots of Zebras at the next highest ISO, I will go with the lower ISO. Why? I do not want to risk toasting the whites.
On a cloudy day, however, if I have a choice between a smattering of Zebras and lots of Zebras, I will always go with the more Zebras setting.
ED: What were the Zebras like on the Osprey’s head?
AM/BAA: As above, because it was sunny, I went for a smattering of Zebras on the top of the Osprey’s head.
ED: With some Zebras on the top of the bird’s head, I would have used that as my exposure.
AM/BAA: That would have been correct as a base exposure. But then you would have had to go 1/3-stop darker to avoid burning out the specular highlights on the fish, those depending on exactly how it was wriggling at a given instant. Our #1 exposure rule is to avoid over-exposing the highlights. Anything else, we can work with.
ED: And how many zebras on the brightest part, the area of the head and especially, the tail?
AM/BAA: I rarely if ever check for Zebras on the fish in the heat of the action. On occasion, however, I should note that when I frame a flight image and see too many Zebras, I will often reduce the exposure while tracking the bird and continuing to shoot. I have two options:
1- Use my thumb (on the rear dial) to lower the ISO.
2- Or, use my index finger to increase the shutter speed.
Though that seems difficult, with practice, pretty much anyone can do it.
Again, see the stuff above on the wriggling and the reflectance. And the same is true with the crane turning its head, you set your best exposure and go with it. If you consistently see too many Zebras on the highlights as you are shooting, you can go 1/3-stop darker.