Exposure of birds in flight

snj979s

Senior Member
Here's how I've been doing it. Any feedback on improving my strategy is appreciated. I set to manual. Set shutter at 1/1600 if I have plenty of light 1/2000. Aperture I have set at f8 for maximum sharpness on my lens, 5.6 if I need more light. Nikon 70-300mm VR. When I'm coming to an area where a bird is identified or expected I have ISO set to auto limited to 3200. I get a few shots like this and then check exposure. Also I don't want to miss the bird if it flies immediately. Then I shut auto-ISO off and increase ISO if needed to expose properly for the bird often over-exposing the image a few stops depending on the type of light available. I've been using matrix metering for this. I could switch to spot but this would change my strategy. Thoughts?
 

snj979s

Senior Member
Why shut off auto iso? Probably why you are "often over-exposing". I recommend using exposure compensation.
You have to at times over-expose the scene in order to properly expose the subject, seems to me anyway. I can't use exposure compensation in manual mode. I could try that in another mode but I find it difficult to give up control.
 

snj979s

Senior Member
I don't consider a photo over exposed if the subject is properly exposed. I can use exposure comp in manual mode?
Ya it might be better to say that my camera shows it overexposed but the bird looks better. lol. I don't think I can use exposure comp in manual. I've tried, but didn't work.
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
For BIF shots, the less you have to fiddle with your camera the better you're off.

I've been shooting BIF for a while now (a few years) and for me this is the best setup that I have found.

Aperture priority, with AUTO ISO. Minimum shutterspeed set at 1/1600th with maximum ISO at 6400 (D750)
Most of the time I keep the lens wide open (Nikon 200-500mm at f/5.6)

I always shoot birds/BIF with spot metering. I always want the bird to be properly exposed. Everything else I shoot ie... landscapes, I use either matrix or highlight metering.

Just remember this is my way of shooting BIF and it may not work for you. Experiment with different settings and see what helps you the best.
When I was shooting with the D7100 and the 70-300mm lens, I would never go over 3200 ISO and my shutter speed was a little lower as well. The lens was a lot lighter than my 200-500 so I could get away with a 1/1000th or a 1/1250th SS handholding.

Edit to add more info. (why do I shoot BIF in Aperture priority)It also depends on what kind of birds you are shooting in flight. Larger birds that are slower, closer and fill the frame (that doesn't happen much, lol) dont need as high a SS, but might need a smaller aperture.
You may want to use a smaller aperture if you have more than one bird in your shot, (one behind the other) and want both of them to be in focus.

This is why I like to control the aperture myself and let the camera take care of the ISO and the minimum shutterspeed.
 
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snj979s

Senior Member
TY Blacktop, I need to try that. I wouldn't mind giving up control of shutter if I set to limit it. And spot metering may prevent my previous struggle with manual exposure adjustments.
 

snj979s

Senior Member
That's why I love Flickr! Btw, I set auto-iso on, Aperture priority, with a minimum shutter and the camera is going under the minimum shutter like it normally would. Any idea why it might not be working?
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
That's why I love Flickr! Btw, I set auto-iso on, Aperture priority, with a minimum shutter and the camera is going under the minimum shutter like it normally would. Any idea why it might not be working?

You don't have enough light to maintain minimum SS, so the cam will lower the SS so as not go over the maximum ISO. This happens to me as well on overcast days. Sometimes there just isn't enough light. When this happens I breakout the landscape lens and my tripod and give the birds a rest.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Just to add... if you use exposure compensation with auto iso, it will adjust iso to give you the requested compensation in manual mode (if possible). I avoid exposure comp, I always forget to change it back on my d7200. I have one of my front buttons programmed to give me spot metering on demand. Whatever works for you.
 

Stoshowicz

Senior Member
To a degree you will always be dealing with some 'unknowns' shooting wild birds in flight. Which makes me conclude that there is certainly no 'best' technique that fits all situations.
You Will be making trade-offs , the sum of which should be that you're satisfied with the degree of wing blur , ISO noise , depth of field , price of gear , and so forth.
That being said, one should understand that auto iso is aiming at a goal of appx 18 % gray for a portion of the image or overall.
If your bird is not of that brightness ,, for ex a crow is nearly black,, then a brightness of 18% gray is actually inappropriate for a target crow.
It is NOT an ideal exposure to satisfy auto ISO standards. Your camera will indeed expose a gray card well with auto iso , you just dont want to look at images of gray cards :)
Depending on your camera gear , the very bright light you may end up with (as background trying to expose the subject to 18% gray brightness),
tends to overwhelm the pixels and sky starts overflow into adjacent pixels ,,
try doing this intentionally and extremely , You'll see the sky begins to soften the edges of the crow.
To combat this loss of detail , a result of too much light, you might aim to underexpose a bit , and in post processing, lighten up the dark areas instead of trying to darken the sky.
If you do take this angle, do not rely on 'lighten shadows' sliders heavily, because this magnifies the look of graininess in the dark areas.
What you Do do is lighten the 'blacks' slider and simultaneously Darken! the shadows,, (just not as much as you lighten the blacks)
your dark areas will be much smoother and you will end up with much less or no halo of lightness around the perimeter of the bird.
Taking this approach , you can have marginally faster shutter speed ,and better detail , and not blow out the sky making it look like white paper.
If you Do end up lightening the blacks considerably , you will see a drop in the color contrast, and this is countered by a small increase in vibrance ( not saturation) .
 
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snj979s

Senior Member
You don't have enough light to maintain minimum SS, so the cam will lower the SS so as not go over the maximum ISO. This happens to me as well on overcast days. Sometimes there just isn't enough light. When this happens I breakout the landscape lens and my tripod and give the birds a rest.
That should be perfectly fine then. I was testing inside in a fairly dark room. Shooting outside daylight should be fine. May watch it closer right at dawn and dusk. It's so nice not to have to worry about ISO so much.
 

Friggs

Senior Member
I do it like Blacktop does it. Aperture priority and auto ISO. One time I did manual and I did not respond quick enough to brighter light and overexposed what would have been a awesome series of eagles fighting in the air. Now they are just a reminder of when I used manual instead of aperture priority. Went back to what I used before and have not missed a shot since. I guess it is what you are used to. The thing that matters is the final image. And there are different roads to get to the same ending. Just use the one you prefer and become proficient with it.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
snj979s, exposure compensation should work fine in manual mode with auto ISO. This is what I use all the time. For BIF I like 1/1600 at a minimum,although I go slower sometimes if the light is bad. I like 1/2000 or higher for fast or small birds. Aperture is usually wide open or close to it. This is what works for me.
 

snj979s

Senior Member
So I tried shooting in aperture priority in auto ISO maxed at 4000 with shutter bottomed at 1/1600. I quickly went back to my previous strategy because the camera favored a faster shutter (1/6400 etc) and kept the ISO max at 4000. I would have preferred it to have favored a slower shutter at or around 1/1600 and kept the ISO lower.
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
So I tried shooting in aperture priority in auto ISO maxed at 4000 with shutter bottomed at 1/1600. I quickly went back to my previous strategy because the camera favored a faster shutter (1/6400 etc) and kept the ISO max at 4000. I would have preferred it to have favored a slower shutter at or around 1/1600 and kept the ISO lower.

That should not have happened unless there is another setting on your cam that is not on the D750 or vica versa.
 
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