Migrators

[dukhnt]

Here are a few pics from the last week or so. Sure wish that sun would cooperate. Sick of the grey days. C & C Welcome.

[finnbay]

I am SO jealous! We're under another winter storm warning right now. I like the single bluebill the best!

[mmeyer]

Hey Buddy, I like that last Bluebill the best too.

As far as C&C, I can see you had the same problem as I did that day we went out. On the high contrast birds like the common mergansers and the goldeneyes I had the whites blown out on most of them when we first started shooting. When I checked my blinkies I noticed it and dialed down my exposure comp. I had to dial down -2.0 to get the whites exposed properly.

Great shots, I like them all. Can't wait to get out again, if spring ever gets here!!

[Steve Foss]

Me three for the lone scaup. Cool with the grass in its beak. Good job.

If you're using a program with a shadows/highlights option, you should be able to bring out more detail in both the bright whites and the blacks.

[Dbl]

Nice variety, but it does look like the whites are gone, not sure you can bring any detail back there, at least in #2 and #3.

[MN Shutterbug]

Other than the blinding whites, very nice shots. Very tough subjects to expose properly.

[dukhnt]

Will have to dial the exposure down a ton next time and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

[Steve Foss]

dukhnt, sometimes even the two stops available through exposure compensation isn't enough to get where you need to go in harsh sunlight on a contrasty subject.

In consistent light, either sunny or cloudy, manual settings are your best option. You can use your histogram on some test shots to expose so the whites are just at the right edge of the histogram without being blown out, which will ensure the dark portions are exposed as brightly as possible to preserve shadow detail shadow detail, and you can retain those settings as long as the light stays consistent, occasionally checking the histogram as you shoot to verify they are doing OK.

By using manual exposure settings, changing backgrounds won't throw off the metering like they do in auto modes using EC, and that's usually a bigger reason to use manual if the light's right. Even if you are dialed in just right in EC, if a duck swims in front of a different background and you're on an auto metering mode, the settings will change and your EC may have to be adjusted again, with rarely enough time to do that on the fly and still capture the moment.

Manual exposure settings cure all those ills, as long as you have time right at the start to fiddle with them and the histogram, and as long as the light remains constant.

One more tool in the toolbox, man.