Roseate Spoonbill In Flight...

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Originally Posted by andrewaxford

Great shots Joe. No 1 looks so sleek and with a balanced symentry and 4 captures the amazing structure of a birds wings so well.
How do you get the exposure right against the bright sky?

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Hello Andrew, thank you for viewing and commenting on my images. To answer your question... I set the camera to get the correct exposure of the bird, the sky I deal with in post processing.

Hello Dave, yes... experience is a large part shooting quality images. Here is what I do. Nikon cameras have a menu for ISO Sensitivity. In that menu I set the minimum ISO to the minimum the camera allows, in the D7000 that is 100. I set the maximum ISO to about half of what I think is reasonable, I use 3200 for a maximum. Nikon also allows a minimum shutter speed to be set, I use 1/400 because I shoot exclusively with the 55-300mm and want a fast enough shutter speed to overcome camera shake from hand holding. If the bird is stationary I use Aperature Priority and select a f-stop as required by the depth of field necessary. I let the camera set the shutter speed (knowing that it will be 1/400 or higher) and ISO required for exposure. I change the exposure if not correct (such as the LCD showing blown highlights) by using the +/- EV control. I shoot flying birds using Shutter Priority, I have that set at 1/2000 for sharp images. You noted that all the images were shot at 1/2000 at 5.6, I do not notice any diminished sharpness at 5.6 so I let the camera do that. On cloudy, overcast days I may go to a slower shutter speed depending on what IS0 is being selected. Having the camera set this way allows an easy change from one to the other depending if the bird is stationary or flying. For Autofocus I have the center point selected but allowing the camera to select another autofocus point if necessary. The mode is use almost exclusively is AF-A. In this mode the camera determines if the subject is stationary or moving, the camera selecting single focus mode if stationary or continous focus mode if the subject is moving. Now here is where experience can be a teacher. Most birds have some white which blows out very easily, so I pretty much set a -1EV and adjust from there in post processing. If the bird is black I will change to a +EV as needed. Andrew asked how do I get the sky and bird in correct exposure, I do that in post processing. The bird is my main focus then I work on the sky. The Adjustment Brush in Lightroom 4 can be used to auto-mask just the sky and change the exposure of that. The exposure of the sky can also be changed using a Tone/Color Curve but sometimes that also changes the tone/color of the bird. I also look to the Saturation and Luminance of the colors, and basically just keep trying things until it looks right to my eye. One cannot say do this or do that because no two images are alike. That being said if I have a series of images that are shot in the same light only minutes apart I will post process getting the first one to my liking then in Lightroom 4 copy the settings and in the following images paste the settings so all will look the same for the series. Experience also come into play in being very familar with how to make changes to the camera on the fly, without looking at it. Kind of long winded but I hope this helps others who may be learning. It works for me so I stick with it.

Great images, Joe, and equally great instruction. Thanks, it's very helpful.

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Originally Posted by unmerited

Great images, Joe, and equally great instruction. Thanks, it's very helpful.

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Thanks Sergio, I appreciate you taking time to view and comment.