Photographing birds in manual exposure mode.


When photographing most wildlife, especially birds, I keep my exposure mode set to manual.  The reason is simple enough.  If the light falling on the subject does not change, then neither should the exposure.  Backgrounds may change frequently; this is particularly true when flight angles are low or if the subject is in water.  

As you can see in the above photos, the bird crosses in front of backgrounds with various amounts of lighting.  The camera's meter was jumping all over the place.  An auto-exposure mode would have rendered different outcomes for each of the three shots.  Manual mode, once properly set up (and assuming there is no change in the light falling on the subject), maintains the correct exposure.

Water presents a similar challenge except that the background is often reflections from any nearby shorelines.  My favourite time to photograph birds is early in the morning when light is low, shadows are mild, and the water's surface is calm.  Shooting in ponds and small lakes means that you are likely to get reflections of whatever lies on the opposite shore.  Small changes in position from either shooter or subject can dramatically alter that light.

Another reason to choose manual exposure mode has to do with post-image-processing.  If there are 50 shots and an automatic exposure mode was used it is conceivable that the subject will vary from being underexposed, properly exposed, or overexposed.  Although RAW file formats allow for considerable latitude, the fact is that each frame may need to be adjusted.  If everything is exposed with the same settings you can just make adjustments for one and then apply the same corrections to the other 49 images.  Easy-peasy.

The trick is choosing the correct exposure settings.  That is an entirely different manner.  I will discuss that in another blog.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com




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