Birds in Flight

markyboy.1967

markyboy.1967

Suspended / Banned
Messages
8,171
Name
Mark Molloy
Edit My Images
Yes
Im having trouble with capturing images of birds in flight.Basically what i think is happening is the camera is metering for the sky as when the birds are against a tree/bush background they look fine( feather detail and colour ).When shot against a blue sky the bird itself comes out as black all over where the sky looks fine.

Im shooting usually in shutter priority on my D50, somewhere around 1/250--1/500sec. Im about to use a Nikon 300 f4 AFD which i just got today( will be using it this weekend if all goes well )

Could one of you guys give a sort of starter tutoral/points to start with and i can then make any minor adjustment that may be needed on the day. Im very new to this so the more basic you make it the better.Thanks.
 
Best way I have found when having issues with the sky, is to meter on the grass then note the setting, go to manual and use those setting you metered, just need to keep an eye on changing light.

markyboy.1967 said:
Im having trouble with capturing images of birds in flight.Basically what i think is happening is the camera is metering for the sky as when the birds are against a tree/bush background they look fine( feather detail and colour ).When shot against a blue sky the bird itself comes out as black all over where the sky looks fine.

Im shooting usually in shutter priority on my D50, somewhere around 1/250--1/500sec. Im about to use a Nikon 300 f4 AFD which i just got today( will be using it this weekend if all goes well )

Could one of you guys give a sort of starter tutoral/points to start with and i can then make any minor adjustment that may be needed on the day. Im very new to this so the more basic you make it the better.Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
If you can do spot metering then go with that...or you can just add a stop or so of exposure compensation, dependant on available light!!

I know nothing about Nikons but they should be mentioned in the manual :)
 
cosmix3 said:
Best way I have found when having issues with the sky, is to meter on the grass then note the setting, go to manual and use those setting you metered, just need to keep an eye on changing light.
Click to expand...
:agree:

You don't want your camera's meter being fooled by all the sky in the fraame. Therefore, spot meter - except that's very difficult with moving objects. So decide on your exposure by other means, and dial it in.
 
I suffered with similar problems over the last 2 days, so thanks for the tip on the metering from the ground I'll have to give that a try.

Also Markboy, I have had a lot of success using aperture priority mode on the camera. Should be something similar on the nikon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top