Chris R-UK
Forum Pro
I would like some advice on how to photograph birds such as swans with white plumage. I am having problems getting the right exposure and controlling noise.
I have been trying to improve my BIF shots for about two years now, firstly with a 20D and since September with a 7D. I have adopted the practice of using manual exposure, taking an exposure reading from a patch of grass, adjusting it to get the correct exposure for the birds and checking against the grass at frequent intervals. I find that this gives good results when the birds are sometimes against the sky and sometimes against the ground.
One of my favourite locations is a wetlands sanctuary at Slimbridge in the UK near where I live. Of particular interest are the 200-300 Bewick Swans that spend the winter there before migrating back to northern Russia. In two recent visits the Bewick swans were flying around in small flocks 150-300 yards away giving opportunities for shots such as this one (uncropped):
(All shots processed in Lightroom 2.6 with no adjustments except cropping. This shot and one other were taken as JPEGs with standard NR. All the others were raw.)
This was taken in quite good light and I had previously set the exposure for the many ducks and geese that were also flying around. The result was that the white plumage was overexposed with almost all of the detail lost. Here is a 100% crop:
I then started adjusting the exposure for the swans. Taking spot readings from the plumage of the ducks and swans close by on the ground, I found that I needed to underexpose by 1 stop in overcast conditions and 1.5-2 stops in sunlight. Here are two 100% crops of swans on a subsequent visit exposed in this way to show plumage and shot as raw (so no NR):
As you can see, there is now some detail in the plumage but a lot of visible noise. Brightening up the backgrounds to a more accetable level only makes the noise worse.
Finally here is a shot of a mute swan taken on the same day but much closer to the camera and at a lower ISO in slightly better light (uncropped):
This has what I consider to be acceptable plumage detail.
I would like any advice on how to handle these kind of shots, especially on cloudy days when I need ISO 400. Do I accept less plumage details in return for less noise, do I shoot for the plumage detail and use noise reduction software or do I only shoot on bright days - not easy in a British winter!
Thanks for any feedback.
--
Chris R
I have been trying to improve my BIF shots for about two years now, firstly with a 20D and since September with a 7D. I have adopted the practice of using manual exposure, taking an exposure reading from a patch of grass, adjusting it to get the correct exposure for the birds and checking against the grass at frequent intervals. I find that this gives good results when the birds are sometimes against the sky and sometimes against the ground.
One of my favourite locations is a wetlands sanctuary at Slimbridge in the UK near where I live. Of particular interest are the 200-300 Bewick Swans that spend the winter there before migrating back to northern Russia. In two recent visits the Bewick swans were flying around in small flocks 150-300 yards away giving opportunities for shots such as this one (uncropped):
(All shots processed in Lightroom 2.6 with no adjustments except cropping. This shot and one other were taken as JPEGs with standard NR. All the others were raw.)
This was taken in quite good light and I had previously set the exposure for the many ducks and geese that were also flying around. The result was that the white plumage was overexposed with almost all of the detail lost. Here is a 100% crop:
I then started adjusting the exposure for the swans. Taking spot readings from the plumage of the ducks and swans close by on the ground, I found that I needed to underexpose by 1 stop in overcast conditions and 1.5-2 stops in sunlight. Here are two 100% crops of swans on a subsequent visit exposed in this way to show plumage and shot as raw (so no NR):
As you can see, there is now some detail in the plumage but a lot of visible noise. Brightening up the backgrounds to a more accetable level only makes the noise worse.
Finally here is a shot of a mute swan taken on the same day but much closer to the camera and at a lower ISO in slightly better light (uncropped):
This has what I consider to be acceptable plumage detail.
I would like any advice on how to handle these kind of shots, especially on cloudy days when I need ISO 400. Do I accept less plumage details in return for less noise, do I shoot for the plumage detail and use noise reduction software or do I only shoot on bright days - not easy in a British winter!
Thanks for any feedback.
--
Chris R
