Exposure - White Birds in Bright Sun!!!

On a recent trip to the Florida Everglades I was presented with great opportunities to photograph wading birds.  There was a great variety of birds including Roseate Spoonbills, Herons of all types, Cranes, Pelicans, and the list goes on....  One of the most fun to photograph was the Snowy Egret.  They are very active feeders, dancing in the shallows in pursuit of fish and putting on a grand show for any photographer lucky enough to be in the area.

I returned from my first day of shooting and was surprised and disappointed with the number of images that were overexposed.  The most noticeable overexposure was the plumage of white birds in direct sunlight.  Many of my Snowy Egrets were solid white with no detail in the feathers even though the water and background was acceptable.  I shoot with a modern camera (Nikon D300s) that has thousands of images to reference against and a very sophisticated metering system.  WHY were so many of my exposures off the mark??

Lets start by thinking about how the meter in your camera works.  Cameras have reflective meters that read the light that is reflected off of objects that we photograph.  These meters are based on 18% reflectance, they see the world in shades of light intensities from black to white, and they attempt to place the exposure for your scene at middle (18%) gray.  This system works beautifully most of the time but what happens when the subject is not 18% reflectance as is the case with a white Snowy Egret?  Even worse, what happens when the scene is very high contrast with a dark background that makes up a large part of the scene while the white bird is in direct sun?  Even with the best camera meter, what happens is often overexposure of the highlights.  Here is a look at the varied conditions that you encounter when shooting Florida's wading birds.

This is a white Wood Stork in bright sunlight against a dark shadowed background.  The bird is really a very small part of the image and your built-in camera meter will often get the exposure wrong.

In this scene the water is reflecting some light but is much darker than the bird.  This is another situation where it is very easy to blow out the highlights of sunlight on the bird.

In this situation the water has a range of reflected light from very light to very dark.  The bird is in direct sun but also has a shadowed side to the camera.  Very difficult light for the meter to get a correct exposure without your intervention.

So what can you do to get the best possible exposures?  You have a range of options.  Lets look first at the tools you have to work with and then at the options and the pros and cons of each.

Histogram - Almost all modern digital cameras have a histogram that graphs the range of tones in an image.  With this tool you can spot blown highlights and adjust exposure.  While there is no correct shape for the graph, you can see when highlights are being clipped when the graph spikes on the right side.  Check your exposures and if you see clipping adjust the exposure using exposure compensation until the graph snugs up to the right without touching the right side.

Highlights Warning - Many modern digital cameras have a highlights warning feature that causes the preview to blink in areas that are overexposed.  Turn this warning on and check it frequently when shooting in difficult light.  When I am in changing light this is my preferred method of setting exposure.  I shoot in aperture priority mode and check the highlights warning anytime the light changes or my subject moves into different light.  I adjust exposure using exposure compensation.

Incident Light Meter - An incident light meter reads light directly so it is not fooled by the reflectance of a subject.  If you are in the same light as the subject you can use this type of meter to take an accurate reading of the light.  Measure the light with your handheld incident meter, put your camera on manual, set the exposure and start shooting.  As long as the light doesn't change and your subject stays in the same light your exposures should be good.  When using this method on white birds I usually shoot at 1/3rd to 2/3rds stops under the recommended meter reading to preserve details in the highlights.  When I am in consistent light this is my preferred method of setting exposure.

Bracketing - Almost all cameras can be set up to auto-bracket and this is an option when working in difficult light.  I consider this a last resort approach for photographing birds or any other type of action subject.  I always shoot action in high speed shutter mode in an effort to catch the best moment of action.  If I am bracketing, the camera will capture three images as quickly as possible but probably only 1 will be a good exposure.  I lose 2 out of 3 chances to capture the moment.  It is much better to get the right exposure and then have 3 out of 3 chances to get the best moment of action.

OK, you are in a good location and the birds are active.  You have a plan to nail the exposure even though the light is difficult and you are getting consistently good exposures.  How do you take your photography to the next level?  We will talk about light and backgrounds in my next post......