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by Larry Shuman on Fri Jul 21, 2017 1:02 pm
Larry Shuman
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Back in January I changed how I shoot. I set my meter to spot using auto iso. I've noticed that the bird is very well exposed while the backgrounds are blown out such that I cannot do anything with them. If they are noisy define 2 does not work, Noise Ninja will not work.
Its even worse if the background is dark (shooting in marsh). The image is good while background is noisy.
Is this a function of the spot metering? Would changing to matrix meter make a difference?

I am using a D800 with a Nikkor 300mmF:4 w/ 1.4EII and a SB-900. Yesterday I used my D3 instead of the D800.

Thanks for anyone's ideas
Larry Shuman
 

by aolander on Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:50 pm
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The exposure chosen, by whatever metering mode, may cause the highlights to be blown or the shadows clipped especially if the contrast range of the scene is high. Underexposed shadows will be noisy as will high ISO images. Matrix will usually produce a more "balanced" exposure because it evaluates the entire scene. Spot won't necessarily produce a perfect exposure of the subject. If it's a white bird, it will be underexposed. A black bird will be overexposed. Watch the histogram when shooting and adjust exposure to eliminate or at least minimize clipping on either end, if possible, and keep the ISO in check.
Alan Olander
Minnesota
 

by DavidSutton on Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:19 pm
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For birds in flight it may be easier to switch to manual exposure, take a reading off the sky and add maybe a third to half a stop. That should give you detail in the feathers and enough leeway in the raw file to recover highlights.
For dark backgrounds I don't mind some noise if the subject is well exposed. The only way I know to minimise noise there is to expose to the right and balance the raw file out in post. Or exposure bracket and blend in post.
David
David Sutton
Website: http://davidsutton.co.nz/
 

by Kim on Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:11 pm
Kim
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Location: Victoria, Australia
Hi Larry. In the last 2 years I have been teaching myself the art of bird photography, but I have been shooting digital since 1997. I did a lot of experimenting with camera settings on my Nikon D750 and my D7200.I had a D800 but did not like it. I now use the following settings and find they give me consistent looking images and the most keepers. I use a 150-600 Tamron lens handheld. I did have a Nikon 500 lens briefly but it was too heavy for me. I mostly use the D7200 for my bird photography.

I use Auto ISO with a top ISO set to 2000.

For metering I use Centre weighted.

For exposure I use manual, usually set at 1/500 & F8. I don't do BIF's yet. I use Vibration control on my lens and found !/500 works well handheld.

I use continuous focus set to focus priority.

Any noise is easily cleaned up if required and I have found exposures to be pretty even across the backgrounds.
 

by Larry Shuman on Sat Jul 22, 2017 11:22 am
Larry Shuman
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Since I've been using the spot meter and I've made the spot the smallest I can in the menus When I'm shooting a Blue-fronted Dancer damselfly I am about 4 to 4 1/2 feet away from it at 420mm. My shot meter covers the damselfly face. So all the exposure is on the little guys face and the background receives no exposure at all. In this shot the background went into grain. Nik Filters Define 2 was unable to do anything, Noise Ninja also couldn't do anything, neither would levels. Would switching to the matrix meter help with this situation?
When I shoot birds in the woods I'm using the spot meter and have experienced the same problem with backgrounds. Would the matrix meter be the save all for these conditions? .
 

by aolander on Sat Jul 22, 2017 5:49 pm
aolander
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No.  A different metering mode may make the background lighter, but it will then also make the subject lighter, i.e make the background lighter and the subject will be lighter, too.  A particular scene has a range of brightness values.  You can't change that by changing the metering mode.  Choose a different background that's not so dark.  A black background will be noisy especially if you're using a high ISO.
Alan Olander
Minnesota
 

by Kim on Sat Jul 22, 2017 5:50 pm
Kim
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Location: Victoria, Australia
Larry just try centre weighted metering, I use it for all my macro shots and my backgrounds are fine.

Digital is so easy to try new things on, just put it in centre weighted and go out and see, then try matrix after that and go back inside and look on your computer to see which gives you the best results.
 

by stevenmajor on Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:10 am
stevenmajor
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I lost many of the technical issues when I stopped shooting in high contrast situations. It's become all about the light.
 

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