Trogon Photo Tours

April 2017 - This month's newsletter discusses exposure of difficult to expose birds such as those that are black and red/orange or black and yellow.  It includes mostly birds from the oriole/icterid family and is focused on exposure compensation when shooting in program modes such as aperture priority.  

Scarlet-headed Blackbird photographed August 2007 in the Ibera Marshes, Argentina.  Canon 7D, 500F4 1.4x, 1/1000 F8, iso 500, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3, handheld from boat.  This image was taken soon after sunrise on a sunny day and the exposure was just about right, I did add back the 1/3 of a stop so effectively I was at 0 exposure compensation after processing this shot.  Even when photographing difficult birds with black and red tones if you have great lighting, the challenges and amount of compensation you have to use are minimal. 

Scarlet-headed Blackbird photographed August 2011, Ibera Marshes, Argentina.  Canon 7D 500F4 1.4x 1/640 F8, iso 320, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, handheld from boat.  To get to the image you see posted here I had to reduce the exposure a full stop in Adobe Camera Raw (-1.0) as the red channel was completely blown out. It should be noted that this was taken in bright sunlight a couple of hours after sunrise so not ideal shooting conditions particulary for a bird with both black and red colors.  Normally with a red and black bird on a sunny day I would automatically dial in some negative exposure compensation but I simply forgot to in this case.  As a result there was no detail in the reds before that negative exposure adjustment in processing.  This is a mistake I often see in posted images of birds with red, I think part of the reason is that the blown reds will not show up as a "blinky" in the highlight alert preview that shows up on the back of the Canon cameras. 

Scarlet-headed Blackbird photographed in the Ibera Marshes, Argentina, September 2007.  Canon 20D, 500F4 1.4x 1/1600 F5.6, iso 400, Av mode, evaluative metering +0.7.  In this image the exposure has not been adjusted out of the camera, so the +0.7 exposure compensation was correct.  So there is a big difference - about 2 stops between these 2 images.  Why was it necessary to dial in positive as opposed to negative compensation on this shot?  The answer was the lighting conditions.  When this image was taken it was a dreary overcast day, those conditions generally lend themselves to having to add compensation rather than subtract it, in addtion the gray sky background lends itself to having to add compensation.  So paying attention to the lighting conditions caused by the weather, the background and the tones of the bird are all necessary to get the correct exposure. 

Vermillion Flycatcher photographed December 2007, Manabi, Ecuador.  Canon 1D Mk III, 500F4 1.4x 1/2000 F7.1, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3.  This image was taken on a bright overcast day which are typically very good for bird photography.  I made no adjustments to the exposure of this shot in processing.  It turns out that bit of negative compensation even on a bright cloudy day was perfect for keeping detail in the reds and not blowing the red channel.  On a bright sunny day an hour or two after sunrise it would be necessary to dial in something like -1.0 with this bird and background.  It is this species that I see perhaps the most images posted on sites where the reds are completely blown out and lacking detail. 

Hooded Oriole photographed May 2016 at the Pond at Elephant Head, Amado, AZ.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x 1/1000 at F8, iso 1250, Av mode, evaluative metering -0.7, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley head.  Orange and black birds are not quite as difficult to expose as black and red birds but you can run into some of the same problems.  This image which was taken just before sunset was exposed well in camera with no blown channels and no oversaturation problems. 

Hooded Oriole photographed May 2016 at the Pond at Elephant Head, Amado, AZ.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x 1/4000 at F8, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3, 580ex fill flash at -1.0, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley head.  This was taken a couple of hours after sunrise, to try and deal with any shadows that may have been caused by the sunshine and to soften the light I used some fill flash.  The white and red channels were fine but on the blacks side the raw file was showing some oversatuation of the yellows, which is a common problem with orioles.  To deal with that I reduced the overall saturation of the raw file on the slider by 5 points. 

Scott's Oriole with bee photographed May 2015, Madera Canyon, AZ.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x 1/2500 F8, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley head.  I didn't need to make any exposure adjustments with this image, in the late afternoon about an hour before sunset dialing in just a bit of negative exposure compensation held detail in the yellows well while getting a nice exposure on the blacks.  The honeybee was an added bonus, but was not eaten by the oriole.  

Scott's Oriole photographed May 2016 at Madera Canyon, Arizona.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1/3200 F8, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley head.  This was a more difficult exposure as it was taken a few hours after sunrise in fairly harsh lighting.  I didn't need to adjust the exposure but the details in the yellows were way oversaturated when I measured them by looking at the blacks in ACR.  I reduced the overall saturation in processing a full 13 points to get them back in check.  Note that in these last 3 photos I am keeping my shutter speed pretty high in order to capture images like this take off shot.

In conclusion when photographing birds with a lot of red, the reds need to be treated more like whites or you will blow the red channel and lose a lot of detail.  Rather than "exposing to the right" I treat these birds with caution and typically dial in negative exposure compensation to retain detail in the reds.  Birds with a lot of orange and yellow are not quite as difficult as birds with red but still need a bit of underexposure in direct sunlight.  In addition you may often need to reduce the saturation in processing with birds with both of these colors to retain good detail.