How to get detail in white feathers?

[acherontia]

Originally Posted by squishy

just wanted to post this link, I found it useful. shows the value of checking histograms.

Juza photo: exposure and histograms

It's a good guide - excellent. But if you want to print it's a totally different kettle of fish. You want to look at a right hand bias.

Acher

[squishy]

I think Juza has also written an article on printing .

I'll just link to his site.

The articles page is a gold mine of photographic tips and knowledge.

Juzaphoto.com

There are many sites like that if you do some googling .

[momji1971]

I agree you definately want to bias on the right for print. Trying to increase exposure after underexposure will 100% bring noise into the shadows.

This is why:-
first F Stop, bright tone 2048 levels available
second F Stop bright tone 1024 levels available
third F Stop Mid tone 512 levels available
fourth F Stop Dark tone 256 levels available
and finally fifth F Stop Darkest Tones 128 levels available

So by underexposing you throw away ALOT of information. Increase these figures if yuo shoot 14bit!

Have a look again at my tip at the top of the page. Remember to feather the selection by a few pixels and when done reduce opacity down to around 15-20%.

regards.
Stu.

[killwilly]

Sorry for my late post to this thread, just found it. I have learned a lot from 30/40 minutes reading using the links provided by you guys, many thanks.

I shall be using the histogram on my camera far more in the future.

Alan.

[Hobjob]

With birds that have that annoying habit of flying away, try bracketing your shots so that you have three to play with. Its good for learning too.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

With birds that have that annoying habit of flying away, try bracketing your shots so that you have three to play with. Its good for learning too.

Thats often what I do

Although actually....... sometimes I really like the 'glow' of white.

[paulthomas]

Getting the exposure bang on with a back and white bird is not easy and bright sunlight makes it even harder. You'll get better results on a slightly overcast day. Alternatively, try just after dawn or just before sunset, both of which can produce that magical light which really lifts an image.