Exposure for Birds that have black and white plumage: I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct...

prcb1949 Loc: Ex Zimbabwe - Now UK

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I have that problem when people wear a white shirt and a black hat. HDR would work if they weren't moving. Sometimes I resort to post processing where I artificially darken just the white and brighten the whole result.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

Consider your white balance. Also consider using EC. Can help with keeping lights and darks in balance-try it! I'm talking about out in the rough not at home in your studio.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

First, you should be shooting RAW in those circumstances for more dynamic range. Blown whites are impossible to recover, but it's usually possible to recover detail in dark areas, so I make sure I have detail in the whites, unless there isn't much detail in the whites, and then I can recover detail in the darks in post.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Just remember that both Black and white receive the same amount of incident light.

Expose for that light. Use a grey card to set manually.

If you use reflective as most camera do you run into issues.

Shooting raw is a good idea, but palliative. It will help to recover some highlight.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

Three shot in camera HDR on static subject from tripod.

Lower your ISO expose for the whites - do not blow them ...

Wait for a cloud to lower the contrast .....
.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Try not to shoot in bright / full sunlight, this will help with the extreme contrast of the black and white. Then, expose for the highlights / whites, using an exposure that does not over-expose this section, but pushes the 'whites' right up to the edge of being over-exposed. A RAW file might give almost 1-stop of detail to recover from what seems over-exposed from blinking highlights. When setting / developing your exposure parameters, look at your blinking highlight warnings on the histogram view of your camera. Given the white will be a smaller percentage of the over all scene metered by the camera, you probably don't want them blinking in the warnings, if possible. When looking through your view finder, you'll expect the meter to read 'to the right' of the 0-mark from +1/3 to as high as +1, up until the highlights are blinking as warnings. Use the Matrix / Evaluative metering, or the mode that considers the entire frame, as explained in your model's camera manual.

In your digital editor, using the 'highlights' slider to move this to the left to bring out details of the white areas (assuming these are not blown / over-exposed). Also in your digital editor, use your 'whites' slider and move slightly to the right to make these areas more exactly white.

Use your aperture and shutterspeed as your primary exposure tools, and then the lowest ISO possible to still achieve the 'to the right' metering. Example, don't use 1/2000 sec and ISO-1000 when you probably only need 1/1000 sec and ISO-500 to 'freeze' a bird walking around on the ground.

The shadows slider, moved to the right, will help reveal details in the shadows area. These exposure approach settings during image capture and then the digital editing techniques are more effective than attempting a multi-image HDR of a live / moving subject.

prcb1949 Loc: Ex Zimbabwe - Now UK

Thanks! to you each of you for your inputs I have never shot in Raw and so will need to understand my photo editing software. But that will be something to be getting on with.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Rongnongno wrote:

Just remember that both Black and white receive the same amount of incident light.

Expose for that light. Use a grey card to set manually.

If you use reflective as most camera do you run into issues.

Shooting raw is a good idea, but palliative. It will help to recover some highlight.

agillot

same issue , it does help on a cloudy day , no bright light to bleach out details .

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

Shoot in RAW. Or get a newer camera, the newer ones have more dynamic range. I get by with Photoshop skills with my older, <2013 cameras. And as others suggested, shoot under flatter light, say haze or clouds. Try manual exposures, metering off a grey card. A handheld incident meter might help too. But to master manual metering exposures you probably should learn the zone system. A lot of new work and learning for high contrast subjects. Shooting under flatter light would be the easiest and cheapest course of action. Good luck.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

The brightness range of the scene exceeds the range of the JPEG format.

The solution is raw capture and post processing in a parametric editor such as Lightroom Classic… use the highlight and shadow recovery sliders (and all the others to taste).

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

In broad daylight, expose them using Sunny 16 - 1/ISO seconds at f/16 or equivalent at other aperture settings. For example, ISO 400 1/1600s @ f/8.

That will ensure that the white feathers aren't blown out.

If you are shooting raw you can do anything you want with the dark feathers.

P-J Loc: UK

Same as if you were shooting a bride & groom.

In other words take an 'incident' light reading.

Something you camera may not be able to do?

Solution - a handheld light meter reading with 'incident' dome fitted or shoot raw & post process, as is the norm these days.

photoman43

prcb1949 wrote:

I am finding that birds Birds like the Magpie which have both black and white coloured plumage are very difficult to get a correct exposure balance, for instance if one underexposes for the white plumage, the black pards of the bird end up as a dark impenetrable mass and if one does it the other way around the white areas are blown out and lack detail. Birds that are either black or white seem to be easier to get close to to correct exposure. What is the the solution??

Since you do not shoot in RAW right now, the first thing to do is to prevent overexposure of the whites. I set minus exposure compensation of around -.7 to-1.3 depending on light present, lens focal length, camera metering system, etc. Then experiment and look at the results. You can practice on a stuffed animal to improve your camera settings. Just get one or two that have the "problems" you are experiencing. You want to avoid blown out highlights on the whites.

The same issue may occur when you are photographing birds with grey to light grey feathers especially if they are on the top of the head or across the breast. This happens when I am photographing Mississippi Kites and Scissor-Tailed flycatchers.