How to Stop Blowing the Whites

Hi Dave :)

Aperture priority and spot metering would be my starting point. Maybe exposure lock in some cases too, but that of course depends on shooting conditions.

Noteworthy fact, if your camera reaches minimum shutter speed, you might want to decrease your aperture.
 
Major said:
Hi Dave :)

Aperture priority and spot metering would be my starting point. Maybe exposure lock in some cases too, but that of course depends on shooting conditions.

Noteworthy fact, if your camera reaches minimum shutter speed, you might want to decrease your aperture.
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Thank you Tom, I don`t why but I kept trying in full manual last time, so will give Aperture a go (y)
 
White v sunshine is tricky and I have variable success ... I use centre-weighted metering mainly, shooting in RAW allows the greatest degree of manipulation in controlling highlights and whites. I like a lot of this guy's information and it's a good but not too extensive a read, US centred but still applicable :)

http://www.firstlighttours.com/photographing-white-birds.html
 
gramps said:
White v sunshine is tricky and I have variable success ... I use centre-weighted metering mainly, shooting in RAW allows the greatest degree of manipulation in controlling highlights and whites. I like a lot of this guy's information and it's a good but not too extensive a read, US centred but still applicable :)

http://www.firstlighttours.com/photographing-white-birds.html
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Thank you Gramps, just clicked when I read down to when he says Exposure Compensation, I wonder if that`s where I have been doing it wrong, as never used it before.
 
Dave70D said:
Thank you Gramps, just clicked when I read down to when he says Exposure Compensation, I wonder if that`s where I have been doing it wrong, as never used it before.
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Yes it's often necessary but best to check the Highlights (blinkies), which can be difficult with birds as they often don't hang around ... however the Swans should give you a good opportunity to practice. :)
 
gramps said:
Yes it's often necessary but best to check the Highlights (blinkies), which can be difficult with birds as they often don't hang around ... however the Swans should give you a good opportunity to practice. :)
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I think my best was the one I called The Family in the bird thread, on the river bank with sun right on them. Thank you again (y)
 
Dave,

Whites birds and bright sunshine are not good bedfellows but if you're going out then manual is the way to go.

Set your rear screen to show the histogram and the blinkies. You're going to want the histogram to have detail towards the right edge but it may not be able to clearly show small patches of blown details.

This is where the blinkies come in. Ideally you shouldn't have any but a couple of small patches MAY be recoverable in pp.

Take plenty of test shots before your serious shots to get the exposure right. Use RAW to get the most information available and I'd recommend evaluative metering as the starting point.

Mike
 
I'd definitely continue to use Manual, if you have been already. Though if you use Manual with Auto-ISO, then you can just use the exposure compensation to dial in a negative value. Try -1 or -2 to start with and also try out the 3rd of a stop values too (y)
 
pooley said:
Dave,

Whites birds and bright sunshine are not good bedfellows but if you're going out then manual is the way to go.

Set your rear screen to show the histogram and the blinkies. You're going to want the histogram to have detail towards the right edge but it may not be able to clearly show small patches of blown details.

This is where the blinkies come in. Ideally you shouldn't have any but a couple of small patches MAY be recoverable in pp.

Take plenty of test shots before your serious shots to get the exposure right. Use RAW to get the most information available and I'd recommend evaluative metering as the starting point.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thank you Mike for that advice, I will update once I get back tomorrow :)

wezza13 said:
I'd definitely continue to use Manual, if you have been already. Though if you use Manual with Auto-ISO, then you can just use the exposure compensation to dial in a negative value. Try -1 or -2 to start with and also try out the 3rd of a stop values too (y)
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Thank you too Wez for the advice, think I will stick to Manual :)
 
wezza13 said:
I'd definitely continue to use Manual, if you have been already. Though if you use Manual with Auto-ISO, then you can just use the exposure compensation to dial in a negative value. Try -1 or -2 to start with and also try out the 3rd of a stop values too (y)
Click to expand...

Wez,

I'd say in a situation like this full manual is the best bet. Auto ISO has its place but in this case exposure control is critical and whilst I accept it's the more difficult option, taking test shots really is the best option here - IMHO of course!

Mike
 
If I had time I would try to set the centre weighted metering size to the most appropriate or turn up with it already at its smallest setting if there was no time.

Then overexpose the bird on purpose but only a little so I can recover it easily.

If you overexpose the bird too much you cant recover it.

if you expose the bird correctly then likely the darks / shadows will be considerably underexposed.
 
pooley said:
Wez,

I'd say in a situation like this full manual is the best bet. Auto ISO has its place but in this case exposure control is critical and whilst I accept it's the more difficult option, taking test shots really is the best option here - IMHO of course!

Mike
Click to expand...

Thank you Mike too for the advice :)
 
GTG said:
If I had time I would try to set the centre weighted metering size to the most appropriate or turn up with it already at its smallest setting if there was no time.

Then overexpose the bird on purpose but only a little so I can recover it easily.

If you overexpose the bird too much you cant recover it.

if you expose the bird correctly then likely the darks / shadows will be considerably underexposed.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will be there for a couple of hours, so I can try different settings :)
 
pooley said:
Dave,
Set your rear screen to show the histogram and the blinkies.
Mike
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Blinkies really helped me today. Luckily my subject stayed still for some time, so I was able to review my shots to see if i had blown anything out. I had to adjust the metering reshoot, adjust, reshoot. In the end I had to adjust downwards considerably to get the blinkies to disappear completely from the subject on the shots.
 
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Gil Bev said:
In the end I had to adjust downwards considerably to get the blinkies to disappear completely from the subject on the shots.
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Gil, just to add to this, hopefully might help Dave too.

If you shoot raw as well as jpeg, having a very small amount of blinkies in the whitest/brightest highlights is fine because they're showing on the cameras jpeg.

When you open the raw file, what showed as blinkies on the jpeg should still hold detail (y)
 
Phil-D said:
Gil, just to add to this, hopefully might help Dave too.

If you shoot raw as well as jpeg, having a very small amount of blinkies in the whitest/brightest highlights is fine because they're showing on the cameras jpeg.

When you open the raw file, what showed as blinkies on the jpeg should still hold detail (y)
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Cheers Phil, it is all a learning curve for me this, but with all the advice I have been kindly given I hope to put up a good shot tomorrow :)
 
wezza13 said:
I'd definitely continue to use Manual, if you have been already. Though if you use Manual with Auto-ISO, then you can just use the exposure compensation to dial in a negative value. Try -1 or -2 to start with and also try out the 3rd of a stop values too (y)
Click to expand...
Not sure you can dial in exposure compensation in manual mode with auto iso set, doesn't exposure comp just modify one of the variables but keep "correct" exposure based on meter reading, pretty sure that is how my 5d3 works.
Matt
 
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MatBin said:
Not sure you can dial in exposure compensation in manual mode with auto iso set, doesn't exposure comp just modify one of the variables but keep "correct" exposure based on meter reading, pretty sure that is how my 5d3 works.
Matt
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Ahh yes, I use a Nikon. I was kind of replying to Dave and Gil but didn't realise that Dave was a Canon user.

Sure I've heard before that it doesn't work on Canon's (y)
 
wezza13 said:
Ahh yes, I use a Nikon. I was kind of replying to Dave and Gil but didn't realise that Dave was a Canon user.

Sure I've heard before that it doesn't work on Canon's (y)
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Must admit no EC in manual with auto iso is rubbish, could have used it many times at airshows, later bodies might have it, 7d2?
 
MatBin said:
Not sure you can dial in exposure compensation in manual mode with auto iso set, doesn't exposure comp just modify one of the variables but keep "correct" exposure based on meter reading, pretty sure that is how my 5d3 works.
Matt
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wezza13 said:
Ahh yes, I use a Nikon. I was kind of replying to Dave and Gil but didn't realise that Dave was a Canon user.

Sure I've heard before that it doesn't work on Canon's (y)
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MatBin said:
Must admit no EC in manual with auto iso is rubbish, could have used it many times at airshows, later bodies might have it, 7d2?
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Thank you folks, I have just tried EC and it does not work in Full Manual mode. At the moment the light is horrible but will still go, as it will be good practice.

What is this word Nikon you use too :D:canon:
 
Dave70D said:
Thank you folks, I have just tried EC and it does not work in Full Manual mode. At the moment the light is horrible but will still go, as it will be good practice.

What is this word Nikon you use too :D:canon:
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The EC won't work in Manual mode as that's where you can just purposefully under/over expose for the desired effect of increasing the exposure (y)
 
Dave70D said:
Cheers Phil, it is all a learning curve for me this, but with all the advice I have been kindly given I hope to put up a good shot tomorrow :)
Click to expand...

Good points from Phil, one other point is if you set your picture mode on the 5d3 to neutral (or custom profile neutral with reduced contrast) will give you a more accurate JPEG preview with respect to available highlight latitude. Pictures will look more washed out on back if camera though.

Easiest way with situations like this is just to expose fully to the right with auto white balance without blowing any highlights on the rgb histogram. That may put a lot of tones to the left even with a separate little peak just inside the right hand edge, just so long as it's not touching the edge it's fine. This is still ettr or correct canon exposure.

MatBin said:
Must admit no EC in manual with auto iso is rubbish, could have used it many times at airshows, later bodies might have it, 7d2?
Click to expand...

Correct some newer canons including the 7d2 have auto iso in manual with ec.
 
This is a situation where an incident light meter would help as it pegs the highlights.
However you can do much the same thing by taking a spot reading from a grey card or the palm of your hand, provided it is being illuminated in the same light as the swan.
You can use those settings to set the camera manually. Then just fire away. Provided the light remains the same the highlights on the swan will remain pegged.

The shots may look a little dark on the screen, but they will have all the tones preserved.
 
wezza13 said:
The EC won't work in Manual mode as that's where you can just purposefully under/over expose for the desired effect of increasing the exposure (y)
Click to expand...

Craig_85 said:
Good points from Phil, one other point is if you set your picture mode on the 5d3 to neutral (or custom profile neutral with reduced contrast) will give you a more accurate JPEG preview with respect to available highlight latitude. Pictures will look more washed out on back if camera though.

Easiest way with situations like this is just to expose fully to the right with auto white balance without blowing any highlights on the rgb histogram. That may put a lot of tones to the left even with a separate little peak just inside the right hand edge, just so long as it's not touching the edge it's fine. This is still ettr or correct canon exposure.



Correct some newer canons including the 7d2 have auto iso in manual with ec.
Click to expand...

Terrywoodenpic said:
This is a situation where an incident light meter would help as it pegs the highlights.
However you can do much the same thing by taking a spot reading from a grey card or the palm of your hand, provided it is being illuminated in the same light as the swan.
You can use those settings to set the camera manually. Then just fire away. Provided the light remains the same the highlights on the swan will remain pegged.

The shots may look a little dark on the screen, but they will have all the tones preserved.
Click to expand...

Just waiting for the battery to charge. Thank you too for the help folks (y)
 
I wonder if you can set it on M with auto iso then use aeb to bracket shots around the settings to get exposure compensation?
Might give that a try later.
Matt
 
Worked a treat on a static object. 5 shots from -2 to +2 on high speed drive.
Matt
 
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MatBin said:
I wonder if you can set it on M with auto iso then use aeb to bracket shots around the settings to get exposure compensation?
Might give that a try later.
Matt
Click to expand...
if you try that with swans the odds are that the swan will move during the takes and the vest frame will not be the best exposure.
Though I would certainly take a series of shots at 3 fps. as one is always better than the others subject wise.
 
Had a bit of an experiment, the Iso used remains as per the first shot as defined by initial exposure value, then the shutter speed is adjusted to compensate, so you may need to select the initial shutter speed based on what it will be after a stop over exposure e.g. if you want 1/500 as a minimum you would need to select 1/2000 as the base speed as the aperture remains constant.
Matt
 
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