Exposure advice please

[The Black Rabbit]

Firstly, my camera is an FZ20 bridge. F2.8-8.0

I have a woodpecker post set up in the garden, with a hide 8 ' below it and approx 8' away.
Our resident male woodie has been visiting recently, and I know the garden birds are completely ok with the hide now.

When I point the camera to the post, most of the frame is filled with bright sky, (apart from the post and woodpecker of course).

It seems to me that a photo taken on any metering setting has the sky overexposed, and the post (and woodpecker) under exposed.
NB. I should point out here, that the camera is pointing N, ie away from the sun - in case you think I'm after a silhouette shot - I'm not!

Anybody help me with regards to the best type of in camera metering setting here, and/or exposure compensation?

Many thanks for any help in advance.

Doug

[mh68]

If you`d had an external flash i`d have suggested underexposing for the sky/white areas on the bird,and using some fill-flash to light the bird itself, but as youre restricted to the cameras onboard flash, it may not have sufficient power to do this. You could still try though, expose for the sky and see if the flash has sufficient power to light the post correctly.If it works then thats probably your best bet, but it`ll take a few attempts for the birds to get used to the flash, especially the woodpecker as i`ve found theyre easily spooked.
If the flash doesnt have sufficient power to allow you to do this, then personally I would expose so as not to blow the highlights, by either using spot metering or negative exposure compensation, and use the shadow/highlight tool in Elements to bring out the dark(shadow) detail of the bird etc. Doing this may bring out some noise too, but at least you`ll get a well-exposed shot, and there`s always neatimage to reduce noise in the background.It`s easier to recover detail in dark areas than try to recover blown highlights.

Mark H

[thwick in 'ead]

Take one photo with the exposure correct for the sky, then use the over/under exposure compensation to get a correct exposure for the tree and use this setting for the woodpecker. You can then copy in the correctly exposed sky into the pics of your woodpecker.

[The Black Rabbit]

Many thanks!

[Tormentil]

I'd try moving closer to the post, so the post almost fills the frame; check the exposure and use that in your normal position.