Problem with taking Photos of birds in Sky

Gishy

Senior Member
Hello to all,
I use Nikon D500 and Nikkor 200-500 lens.
I have a problem with taking photos of birds in the sky. The birds that i get in the pictures are too dark.
I work in M mode, WD auto1 and Iso auto.
What i do wrong? If i taking the photo of that birds in trees or on the ground i get an excellent pictures.

Thanks in advance.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
You will need exposure compensation in for most birds in the sky,it can vary as to how much depending on, size of bird, direction of light,dark or light bird and metering mode.



We all have our own idea but to give you a starting point give it +1 stop and the smallest center weighted metering point,this will not cover everything but it will start to get you semi decent results which you can refine.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Sometimes i grab a quick shot without adjustments and then you have to try to save it with PP.

MIK_2296b.jpg


MIK_2296.jpg
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
The sky is so bright that the camera meter under exposes the image to compensate. When the majority of your scene is bright, go brighter (meaning over expose). When the majority of your scene is dark, go darker (under expose).

If the camera is aimed near the sun, you will need to compensate (over expose) even higher. Start with +0.67 then see if you need to increase it. If the camera is faced away from the sun, it won't require quite as much over exposure.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Thank you all.
If the sky are very gray and the bird is black which Exposure Compensation should i set?

There's no single, one-size-fits-all answer. You're just going to have to try various settings in each situation and see what the results are.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Thank you all.
If the sky are very gray and the bird is black which Exposure Compensation should i set?

You will still want to over expose, but by how much calls for trial and error. Black birds more difficult to expose properly. You want enough detail to appear rather than just seeing black to show detail in the feathers. A lot of it depends entirely on the brightness of the background. I'd suggest switching to spot metering which won't take as much of the sky into consideration when the camera meters. With spot metering, you might not need to over expose by as much as you do if using matrix metering and quite possibly not even need to over expose.

In general, matrix metering will meter the corners of your images when shooting the sky. So you might want to try center-weighted metering for some of your bird shots, too, and also spot metering. Practice with center weighted and spot metering to see if one works better for you.
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
The main secret to great photography is practice, practice, practice. You don't become a master chef by following someone else's recipe, otherwise, we could all could become an Ansel Adams in a few minutes. At least with digital photography we don't have to spend a ton of money on film and processing (or chemicals and a well equipped dark room).
 
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