Washed out wings (Page 3): On the D7200 you can set if for, say, 3 shots at +/-1ev then rotate the main command dial to increase or decrease exposure by 1/3 stop per click on all 3...

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

CamB wrote:

I wonder if you ever use the + bracket in this scenario. I would probably shoot normal, then minus 1, minus 2. Really though, I just shoot one shot with a minus exposure. When the birds are flying around I don't want to wait for bracketed shots.
...Cam

On the D7200 you can set if for, say, 3 shots at +/-1ev then rotate the main command dial to increase or decrease exposure by 1/3 stop per click on all 3 shots, so you can get what you suggest with 3 clicks. Could also set it up for 5 shots of 1 ev each shot. To give you +/-2, +/-1, and 0 ev. Now you have to take 5 shots.

old poet

More great advice! Thanks all.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Les Brown wrote:

Please, a bit of advice. I love shooting shore birds, both still and in flight. Many are snowy white. I shoot with a D7200 and a Nikon 200- 500 lens, that I love. But regardless of lens, I still have trouble capturing wing and feather texture without a white wash out. I try to keep the light behind me as much ss possible. I can do a good bit with PP, but more advice, sources, appreciated. Thanks in advance great UHHers.

RAW is better than JPEG as it carries more color information. Focus on the whitest/lightest part of the image, i.e., the white bird. I use exposure compensation, minus 1 or 2, depending. White is a difficult tone to get. Low to the horizon sidelight provides more texture than backlight if you can get that position. I've shot a lot of white birds, and other color birds, too, and white animals and blowing out whites is not normally a problem for me using the things I've mentioned.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Les Brown wrote:

Please, a bit of advice. I love shooting shore birds, both still and in flight. Many are snowy white. I shoot with a D7200 and a Nikon 200- 500 lens, that I love. But regardless of lens, I still have trouble capturing wing and feather texture without a white wash out. I try to keep the light behind me as much ss possible. I can do a good bit with PP, but more advice, sources, appreciated. Thanks in advance great UHHers.

I do a bit of birding and when I come across egrets that I want to shoot I change the camera settings to compensate for the white bird being lighter than its surroundings. If you are shooting aperture priority or even shutter priority do an EV adjustment to compensate for the fact that your camera is going to not just meter the bird but the background also and you need to set a negative EV setting to compensate. How much? That would depend on the background, a light blue sky would require less of an adjustment than would a lake or seashore.

old poet

Great advice! Thanks!

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

You don't want to be taking all these shots when the birds are flying by. Just under expose a stop or two and check your histogram. Once you've figured it out you're good to go. Bracketing is not really for quick moving subjects.
...Cam

Strodav wrote:

On the D7200 you can set if for, say, 3 shots at +/-1ev then rotate the main command dial to increase or decrease exposure by 1/3 stop per click on all 3 shots, so you can get what you suggest with 3 clicks. Could also set it up for 5 shots of 1 ev each shot. To give you +/-2, +/-1, and 0 ev. Now you have to take 5 shots.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Although a few commented on metering mode I’m not sure if it has been given enough emphasis. Since the OP says he is overexposing then I suspect he is using matrix metering against a darker background. In those cases setting a negative EV with autoexposure, or metering to minus value with manual exposure, is right.

But if spot metering on a bright white subject you need to go positive EV on exposure or you’ll get a gray bird, as shown in the examples above. Just like metering for snow or wedding dresses.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Les Brown wrote:

Please, a bit of advice. I love shooting shore birds, both still and in flight. Many are snowy white. I shoot with a D7200 and a Nikon 200- 500 lens, that I love. But regardless of lens, I still have trouble capturing wing and feather texture without a white wash out. I try to keep the light behind me as much ss possible. I can do a good bit with PP, but more advice, sources, appreciated. Thanks in advance great UHHers.

Your first mistake is to trust your meter. If you turn on your highlight warnings (blinkies) they will tell you if you are overexposing.

In broad daylight, Sunny 16 works fine (f/16 @ 1/ISO seconds) but for egrets you might want to modify this slightly - 1/3 stop darker. With my full frame camera I normally use ISO 400 and 1/1000 @ f/11 (to avoid diffraction). If I were using a crop sensor I would use 1/2000 @ f/8. See Exposure Value - No metering used. This works fine for Egrets and just about any bright white subject like clouds or sea foam. If you open the aperture more you are going to end up with blown highlights.

Active D-Lighting also helps with the highlights and shadows of the camera's JPEG. The advantage of developing from raw is that you can recover more of the shadow detail.

You can read more about this in Manual Exposure without a Meter.

ISO 400 1/800 @ f/11 (Sunny 16)

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PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Les Brown wrote:

Photography 101....now why didn't I think of that? Stopping down.... now why didn't I think of that?

I would know what you are talking about if you had clicked "Quote Reply" as I did here.

10MPlayer Loc: California

Les Brown wrote:

Please, a bit of advice. I love shooting shore birds, both still and in flight. Many are snowy white. I shoot with a D7200 and a Nikon 200- 500 lens, that I love. But regardless of lens, I still have trouble capturing wing and feather texture without a white wash out. I try to keep the light behind me as much ss possible. I can do a good bit with PP, but more advice, sources, appreciated. Thanks in advance great UHHers.

Try to underexpose 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop and shoot RAW. You can adjust the brightness then without losing the details in the highlights.