Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

[Nathaniel]

I am still trying to convince myself about my "new long lens"-Canon 6D with the 70-200mm f4L + 1.4 TC. TV 2000; auto ISO,autoWB,auto AV.

(i)



(ii)

[tesarver]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Nat

Tom

[Bill53]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

2nd one for me Nat, looks sharper and you've caught the full reflection.

Bill.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Thank you Tom & Bill.

[Les McLean]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Second for me Nat, difficult light-well controlled.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Thanks Les. Yes, I had difficulty handling the "kick back" from the water and I am now wondering whether the use of a" Poloriser filter" would make my life easier?

[the black fox]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

sorry nat neither of them ,the whites are totally blown out .IMHO you have used entirely the wrong settings for these

[Nathaniel]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Thanks Black fox. I think the whites look Ok on my monitor- had a very careful look again. I have not used PSE other than to crop the picture a bit.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

I can't remember, I use Photoshop as I got it cheap, but does PSE have an option to show hot and cold areas?

[Hereford_EOS]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

I had difficulty handling the "kick back" from the water and I am now wondering whether the use of a" Poloriser filter" would make my life easier?

I was thinking along similar lines.

sorry nat neither of them ,the whites are totally blown out .IMHO you have used entirely the wrong settings for these

Must agree with black fox [1/2000, f/6.3m ISO 1000, AI-Servo], but I guess many of us have been there (I certainly have), set the camera for BIF and forget to reset.

#2 is my pic choice.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Thanks Andy and Stephen for looking in. Re PSE, I am not an expert at all & I have made my desire to enrol on an Autumn course NOW via one of the lecturers @ the local college. I am sure the more experienced members will come in on that. I have looked that Egret's white body on my monitor again, an they do look OK to me- not bleached or over blown. Anyway, I am leaving mine as they are.

[the black fox]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

hmmm thanks for taking it as intended nat ,i can't access your exif data as you have used image shack to upload ,this could possibly account for the weirdness of the pics as well .
white birds in bright conditions and over water are a nightmare to get right TBF .logically the right way to do it is to increase your exp compensation ,but this tends on canon to blow out the highlights as in the case of yours it might have been better in the case of these to go into negative compensation and lose some plant details to retain detail in the whites .

whatever you do it must be right in camera before interpreting it with p/p .as i have said before nat i,m only down the road if you need some help

[Stan]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Having downloaded the shot and checked in photoshop, the whites are not blown but there still is no detail in the feathers.

If I were shooting this, in reasonable lighting conditions, I would put the camera in Av mode, aperture at f8 and ISO 400 and then dial in between -1/3 and -1 exposure compensation and check the results on the histogram. Doing it this way the background is likely to be dark but you will retain detail in the bird.

Using all these "auto" settings is really not the way to go

stan

[Les McLean]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

sorry nat neither of them ,the whites are totally blown out .IMHO you have used entirely the wrong settings for these

The whites look fine on my monitor, a bit hot, but definitely not blown, I pulled both images up in PS, and neither are showing any blown areas when you bring the threshold tool at 255?

Agree about settings, they are your 'BIF" settings I imagine, Stan's recommended settings are way to go for stationary bird, esp the ability to dial EC to manage the light.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Little Egret in it's natural habitat- RSPB Conwy

Thanks black fox, Stan and Les for your comments. I never take offence on negative comments as it is always for my "betterment". I have been thinking on what you have all said and I am wondering whether I should have used spot, centre metering etc for such pics. The camera has got so many built in, sophisticated metering systems. I actually forgot to use these as my camera was set for BIF.

Black fox, I am more than happy to pick your brains and wonder whether we can meet up at say my favourite haunt- the Conwy RSPB. There is always a chance to spot birds there, although I haven't seen many recently. If you are not a member of the RSPB, I can always get you in, as I have a few friends working as volunteers there, most of the week. The forecast for this week is good- "flaming march" they say.
If Conwy is not convenient let me know another venue which is OK by you. Send me a PM.