My method to photographing anything is control. I'm the pilot and I'm in Manual control with spot metering and using my own digital zone system. I spot meter one thing and calculate and adjust my exposure then either check live view RGB Histogram or fire a test shot and physically check RGB Histogram. Adjust if needed. Spot Metering is the best because unlike all other metering modes which have set algorithms baked in. My spot meter does one thing and only one thing takes anything it meters and converts it to 18% grey. And all I need do is plus or minus by a given amount for a perfect exposure. Spot Metering Right on your Target area - Cloudy or Sunny (This is the most reliable method when possible) Subject Tonality/Compensation in stops Total white/+3 stops White with detail / + 2-2.5 stops Light grey / + 1 stop Midtone grey / 0 stops Dark grey / - 1 stop Black with detail / - 2- 2.5 stops Total black-3 stops. And as long as my subject remains in that light my exposure of my subject is spot on. If my subject moves in front of a light or dark background it doesn't matter my subject being lit by the same light as before is perfectly exposed. In any auto mode with any other metering mode I would need to adjust my exposure to compensate ...for what I already new as the correct exposure. And if you're in anything auto you'll have to apply compensation while I'm getting perfect photos all this time. The problem with auto modes and evaluative metering is always having to re-adjust after constantly changing backgrounds or tonal changes from zooming in and out. For instance this occurred once in Florida while shooting for Nationai Audubon. I was photographing a Great White Egret standing in front of a Mangrove. The sunlight was coming from my camera right at about a twenty degree angle. The background was dark so I spot metered for the white Egret in manual mode. Opening up seven clicks with my shutter speed a +2 1/3 stops from the recommended setting. Fired my test shot then added one more click a +1/3 stop. I ETTR exposed as far to the right as possible to get as much light on my sensor. The Exposure was spot on, as I began to shoot the Egret took flight I pressed my back button to switch from one shot to ai-servo and continued to follow the Egret As it flew in front of the sky and being locked in manual mode the Egret remained perfectly exposed regardless of the Tonal changes in the background. I then noticed an Alligator in the same spot the Egret occupied just moments ago, I quickly focused on the Gator and got perfectly exposed shots of the Gator. In Auto mode whether I would've been in shutter/aperture preferred or Auto I.S.O. the camera would have adjusted the exposure automatically and all exposures would have been off. Because of TONAL CHANGES... notice I said " Tonal" and not light changes. The background can foul up your exposures just as quick as light changes. Even a slight camera position change or zooming in or out can affect Auto Modes. In Manual once exposure is set and your subject or subjects...in this case, remain in the same light the exposure is golden. Getting consistent results is especially important when shooting professionally. It can look awful if a sequence of photos in an album, or gallery are inconsistent in brightness. Some of this can be corrected with editing (especially if you’re shooting in raw), but really it’s a waste of your time to be trying to correct mistakes in editing that you could have easily gotten right in camera.
Another winner Ron! I shoot manual most of the time, but the R5 and R6 both have FV mode or manual/auto. It can be used to quickly change one of the settings to adjust the exposure. It is just another option I thought I would throw into the mix of comments. Your bird tour trips are amazing!
Thanks so much, Tom. I agree FV mode is an interesting option. I have messed around with it a bit, but fall back to full manual as that is what I have used for so many years now. As far as I am concerned it is always good to have options and to explore all those options to see which method fits your shooting style the best. Cheers.
Hi. New subscriber. Loving your videos. My question is how do you set all 3 values for the bird if it’s not there? If you’re waiting for the bird and have the best lit area for where you want to photograph the bird in flight, you can only set up exposure for the back ground and not the exposure for the bird. I’m guessing there’s some guess work here that comes with experience. I’ve always shot manual shutter and aperture but auto iso.
Hey, thanks so much for subscribing. I am glad you are finding my videos of some use. Yep, there is some guesswork, but almost always you have something around you that is of similar brightness as your bird will be in the light you want the bird in. However, there is a general way of setting your initial exposure that I have used for many years and it works well for me. I call it the Halve and Double method. For example: if you are shooting a bird that is what you would call mid-tonal in brightness (mid-browns and buffs), setting that initial exposure is easy, because just about any mid-green vegetation (such as grass or bushes) is mid-tonal. So, set your exposure to get the grass exposed correctly and your bird will be exposed correctly. If you are shooting birds with a lot of bright colors or white, then take the initial mid-tonal exposure and double the shutter speed, this will give you a "workable" exposure for a white bird in the light you are looking to shoot in. If you are shooting a dark bird, then instead of doubling the shutter speed, halve the shutter speed from the mid-tonal setting. Now, you don't have to use shutter speed to alter your exposure, you can use aperture or ISO as well. Use whichever exposure parameter you find best fits the scenario. For me, for BIF, I most often find myself changing the shutter speed. I hope this helps.
: ) You just described my afternoon shooting chickadees or trying to LOL the sun was coming in and out the camera meter was all over the place. I am going to start trying full manual and just try and get them flying through target area I think. Good stuff! I think I need to watch the 2/3 video I missed. Are you better off going with LARGER APERTURE and lower ISO for ideal light or the other way around? SMALLER APERTURE AND HIGHER ISO? i KNOW THE SHUTTER SPEED TO KEEP HIGH.
Hey, thanks for the comment. I would go with larger aperture and lower ISO. I hardly ever prioritize aperture (DOF) over ISO or Shutter speed for birds unless there is something in the composition that is offset that I really want in the plane of focus. This thing about the long focal lengths we use for birds is, it takes a lot of stopping down to get any great gain in DOF.
The only time I have tried a polarizer is when I was shooting ospreys diving into some clear water. I as hoping to get some really unique looks with the stones and pebbles on the bottom of a river. It did not work out, but it was worth the try. Otherwise, the polarizer does reduce the amount of light and at times that can be a problem. Also, if the polarizer is not orientated correctly it can result in some very weird looking images. So, the long answer is, I really do not work with polarizers when shooting BIF. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.
Thank you Ron for the helpful video! I look at the background of the bird flight route and apply exposure compensation. Also, when the weather is good and the difference between light and dark is large, I use the highlight tone priority mode and make a negative correction with -2/3 as a guide to prevent the highlights from skipping. By the way, do you buy R3?
Thanks again for another great video Ron. I've been shooting full manual as per your advice from earlier videos, however you say that if you need to quickly adjust the exposure you change the shutter speed wheras I have been using iso adjustment, can you tell me why you prefer to change shutter speed?
Unfortunately, the Canon R5 does not allow you to assigned ISO adjustment to the main wheel behind the shutter button, and that is the wheel I can use quickly while shooting. So, given the amount of adjustment that is sometimes needed and not having that much latitude with aperture, I set it to shutter speed. You way of doing it with ISO is the best way to go. I wish the Canon R5 would allow me to do it the way I would like; using ISO for the adjustment on the main wheel.
@@whistlingwingsphotography I set the multi function button to increase the iso in steps in manual mode so I can cycle through the iso setting very quickly. I don't rely on any of the wheel switches at all. This works for me.
@@stevemurnan1702 interesting. I will have to play around with that. I think I would still prefer the mail dial as you can increase and decrease the setting versus having to cycle through in one direction. But, I will look into this. Cheers.
You can use the wheel behind the shutter button to adjust ISO if you go to customize buttons in the menu, scroll down to SET and press the ISO setting. But it does require you to hold the SET button down as you rotate the wheel.
Thanks for the comment. I do not use auto ISO as that will allow the cameras meter to change the exposure based on the background brightness so exposure of the bird may not be correct.
I went to St. Marks NWR today and tried putting your recommendations to work. I have no doubt that using said recommendations saved many shots that I otherwise would have messed up! On a side note, do you ever use a filter (such as UV) on your lenses? If so, have they ever affected the auto-focus ability of the R5? Perhaps another suggestion for a video?
Thanks so much for the feedback. Always appreciated. I never use UV/daylight filers on my lenses. The way I look at it is, I have paid thousands of dollars for quality lenses made of the best glass and other materials that exist. There is no way the glass in a relatively cheap UV filter is going to do anything but degrade the image quality coming from a lens. Some will say that the filter will protect the front element from scratches and the like. Knock on wood, but I have never scratched a front element of a lens. So, the long answer is no I don't use UV filters and yes they can cause issues with AF and the light because they can change how the light is routed through the lens.
@@whistlingwingsphotography thank you for your response and insight! I asked this because I suspected some of my image quality issues could be related to the use of the filter. I removed it before my excursion yesterday and my images are much clearer than I’ve experienced to date with my camera.
Well, sorry. The video title did not indicate it had anything to do with Canon R5 setup. It is in fact meant to be an introduction to exposure for birds in flight. So yep, "Camera 101" if you want to call it that. There are a lot of beginners out there. I guess you are not one of them. If you want R5 set up you can go here if you like: ua-cam.com/video/JFZ0J27zSI4/v-deo.html
Great video Ron.. Speaking of the metering, I was wondering if you can put together some test using spot metering in R5/R6 .. I am feeling it is not living up to the name.. thanks
Yes, absolutely. Spot metering on the R5 does not work well. First, the "Spot" is too large. Second, it does not adjust exposure quickly enough given the trials I have made with that setting.
@@whistlingwingsphotography 👍🏼 will be on the lookout. Exactly, I am getting it mostly useless while coming from 5DMK4 .. just wanted to see your detailed testing around this.. and any work around that would help in those situations.. appreciate it
I have been shooting with mostly Manual but using AWBW on the Canon R5. It seems to adjust nicely to changes in image lightness. Would it be better to set for Daylight or cloudy for BIF.
I set a Kelvin value of 6100 or so. I do this so all my images have the same "look" to them. I have had AWB make some bad adjustments in the past, so I know set a Kelvin value. You can always make adjustments to WB in post but it is an additional step that I basically eliminate by setting a K value.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My method to photographing anything is control. I'm the pilot and I'm in Manual control with spot metering and using my own digital zone system. I spot meter one thing and calculate and adjust my exposure then either check live view RGB Histogram or fire a test shot and physically check RGB Histogram. Adjust if needed. Spot Metering is the best because unlike all other metering modes which have set algorithms baked in. My spot meter does one thing and only one thing takes anything it meters and converts it to 18% grey.
And all I need do is plus or minus by a given amount for a perfect exposure.
Spot Metering Right on your Target area - Cloudy or Sunny
(This is the most reliable method when possible)
Subject Tonality/Compensation in stops
Total white/+3 stops
White with detail / + 2-2.5 stops
Light grey / + 1 stop
Midtone grey / 0 stops
Dark grey / - 1 stop
Black with detail / - 2- 2.5 stops
Total black-3 stops.
And as long as my subject remains in that light my exposure of my subject is spot on.
If my subject moves in front of a light or dark background it doesn't matter my subject being lit by the same light as before is perfectly exposed.
In any auto mode with any other metering mode I would need to adjust my exposure to compensate ...for what I already new as the correct exposure. And if you're in anything auto you'll have to apply compensation while I'm getting perfect photos all this time.
The problem with auto modes and evaluative metering is always having to re-adjust after constantly changing backgrounds or tonal changes from zooming in and out.
For instance this occurred once in Florida while shooting for Nationai Audubon.
I was photographing a Great White Egret standing in front of a Mangrove. The sunlight was coming from my camera right at about a twenty degree angle. The background was dark so I spot metered for the white Egret in manual mode. Opening up seven clicks with my shutter speed a +2 1/3 stops from the recommended setting. Fired my test shot then added one more click a +1/3 stop. I ETTR exposed as far to the right as possible to get as much light on my sensor.
The Exposure was spot on, as I began to shoot the Egret took flight I pressed my back button to switch from one shot to ai-servo and continued to follow the Egret
As it flew in front of the sky and being locked in manual mode the Egret remained perfectly exposed regardless of the Tonal changes in the background. I then noticed an Alligator in the same spot the Egret occupied just moments ago, I quickly focused on the Gator and got perfectly exposed shots of the Gator.
In Auto mode whether I would've been in shutter/aperture preferred or Auto I.S.O. the camera would have adjusted the exposure automatically and all exposures would have been off. Because of TONAL CHANGES... notice I said " Tonal" and not light changes. The background can foul up your exposures just as quick as light changes. Even a slight camera position change or zooming in or out can affect Auto Modes.
In Manual once exposure is set and your subject or subjects...in this case, remain in the same light the exposure is golden.
Getting consistent results is especially important when shooting professionally. It can look awful if a sequence of photos in an album, or gallery are inconsistent in brightness. Some of this can be corrected with editing (especially if you’re shooting in raw), but really it’s a waste of your time to be trying to correct mistakes in editing that you could have easily gotten right in camera.
Great topic and awesome advice! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
Another winner Ron! I shoot manual most of the time, but the R5 and R6 both have FV mode or manual/auto. It can be used to quickly change one of the settings to adjust the exposure. It is just another option I thought I would throw into the mix of comments. Your bird tour trips are amazing!
Thanks so much, Tom. I agree FV mode is an interesting option. I have messed around with it a bit, but fall back to full manual as that is what I have used for so many years now. As far as I am concerned it is always good to have options and to explore all those options to see which method fits your shooting style the best. Cheers.
Thanks. Good explanation of when to shoot manual.
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment.
So helpful!!! Thank you!
Another informative video Ron...many thx...
You bet
All your videos are just exceptional; thank you again, subscribed!
Awesome, thank you so much for subscribing and taking the time to comment.
Thank you - another great video. Love your work
Thanks Ron for another excellent tutorial. Much appreciated, please keep up the great work 👍
Thanks so much JL, always good to hear from you.
Hej, Strong argument for ful manual control, will you be doing a video on how
to actually that?
Hi. New subscriber. Loving your videos. My question is how do you set all 3 values for the bird if it’s not there? If you’re waiting for the bird and have the best lit area for where you want to photograph the bird in flight, you can only set up exposure for the back ground and not the exposure for the bird. I’m guessing there’s some guess work here that comes with experience. I’ve always shot manual shutter and aperture but auto iso.
Hey, thanks so much for subscribing. I am glad you are finding my videos of some use. Yep, there is some guesswork, but almost always you have something around you that is of similar brightness as your bird will be in the light you want the bird in. However, there is a general way of setting your initial exposure that I have used for many years and it works well for me. I call it the Halve and Double method. For example: if you are shooting a bird that is what you would call mid-tonal in brightness (mid-browns and buffs), setting that initial exposure is easy, because just about any mid-green vegetation (such as grass or bushes) is mid-tonal. So, set your exposure to get the grass exposed correctly and your bird will be exposed correctly. If you are shooting birds with a lot of bright colors or white, then take the initial mid-tonal exposure and double the shutter speed, this will give you a "workable" exposure for a white bird in the light you are looking to shoot in. If you are shooting a dark bird, then instead of doubling the shutter speed, halve the shutter speed from the mid-tonal setting. Now, you don't have to use shutter speed to alter your exposure, you can use aperture or ISO as well. Use whichever exposure parameter you find best fits the scenario. For me, for BIF, I most often find myself changing the shutter speed. I hope this helps.
@@whistlingwingsphotography Great explanation. Thank you 👍😁
: ) You just described my afternoon shooting chickadees or trying to LOL the sun was coming in and out the camera meter was all
over the place. I am going to start trying full manual and just try and get them flying through target area I think. Good stuff! I think I need
to watch the 2/3 video I missed. Are you better off going with LARGER APERTURE and lower ISO for ideal light or the other way around? SMALLER APERTURE AND HIGHER ISO?
i KNOW THE SHUTTER SPEED TO KEEP HIGH.
Hey, thanks for the comment. I would go with larger aperture and lower ISO. I hardly ever prioritize aperture (DOF) over ISO or Shutter speed for birds unless there is something in the composition that is offset that I really want in the plane of focus. This thing about the long focal lengths we use for birds is, it takes a lot of stopping down to get any great gain in DOF.
@@whistlingwingsphotography OK that's the game plan then : ) Today's the day Thank you!
Great tutorial, Ron! I have a question that is a bit off topic: Do you ever use a polarizer on the RF 100-500 mm for bird photography? Thanks!
The only time I have tried a polarizer is when I was shooting ospreys diving into some clear water. I as hoping to get some really unique looks with the stones and pebbles on the bottom of a river. It did not work out, but it was worth the try. Otherwise, the polarizer does reduce the amount of light and at times that can be a problem. Also, if the polarizer is not orientated correctly it can result in some very weird looking images. So, the long answer is, I really do not work with polarizers when shooting BIF. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.
Thank you Ron for the helpful video!
I look at the background of the bird flight route and apply exposure compensation.
Also, when the weather is good and the difference between light and dark is large, I use the highlight tone priority mode and make a negative correction with -2/3 as a guide to prevent the highlights from skipping.
By the way, do you buy R3?
I will be getting an R3, yes.
EXCELLENT! Thank you
You are very welcome. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thanks again for another great video Ron.
I've been shooting full manual as per your advice from earlier videos, however you say that if you need to quickly adjust the exposure you change the shutter speed wheras I have been using iso adjustment, can you tell me why you prefer to change shutter speed?
I use ISO adjustment also
Unfortunately, the Canon R5 does not allow you to assigned ISO adjustment to the main wheel behind the shutter button, and that is the wheel I can use quickly while shooting. So, given the amount of adjustment that is sometimes needed and not having that much latitude with aperture, I set it to shutter speed. You way of doing it with ISO is the best way to go. I wish the Canon R5 would allow me to do it the way I would like; using ISO for the adjustment on the main wheel.
@@whistlingwingsphotography I set the multi function button to increase the iso in steps in manual mode so I can cycle through the iso setting very quickly. I don't rely on any of the wheel switches at all. This works for me.
@@stevemurnan1702 interesting. I will have to play around with that. I think I would still prefer the mail dial as you can increase and decrease the setting versus having to cycle through in one direction. But, I will look into this. Cheers.
You can use the wheel behind the shutter button to adjust ISO if you go to customize buttons in the menu, scroll down to SET and press the ISO setting. But it does require you to hold the SET button down as you rotate the wheel.
Thanks for the video. I have been using AV. In full manual do you use auto ISO?
Thanks for the comment. I do not use auto ISO as that will allow the cameras meter to change the exposure based on the background brightness so exposure of the bird may not be correct.
I went to St. Marks NWR today and tried putting your recommendations to work. I have no doubt that using said recommendations saved many shots that I otherwise would have messed up! On a side note, do you ever use a filter (such as UV) on your lenses? If so, have they ever affected the auto-focus ability of the R5? Perhaps another suggestion for a video?
Thanks so much for the feedback. Always appreciated. I never use UV/daylight filers on my lenses. The way I look at it is, I have paid thousands of dollars for quality lenses made of the best glass and other materials that exist. There is no way the glass in a relatively cheap UV filter is going to do anything but degrade the image quality coming from a lens. Some will say that the filter will protect the front element from scratches and the like. Knock on wood, but I have never scratched a front element of a lens. So, the long answer is no I don't use UV filters and yes they can cause issues with AF and the light because they can change how the light is routed through the lens.
@@whistlingwingsphotography thank you for your response and insight! I asked this because I suspected some of my image quality issues could be related to the use of the filter. I removed it before my excursion yesterday and my images are much clearer than I’ve experienced to date with my camera.
brilliant, thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks so much for the comment.
I already use M exposure, & hoped for best R5 initial "setup,( Centered meter on neutral gray target with DSLR's.), This was 10 minutes of Camera 101.
Well, sorry. The video title did not indicate it had anything to do with Canon R5 setup. It is in fact meant to be an introduction to exposure for birds in flight. So yep, "Camera 101" if you want to call it that. There are a lot of beginners out there. I guess you are not one of them. If you want R5 set up you can go here if you like: ua-cam.com/video/JFZ0J27zSI4/v-deo.html
Great video Ron.. Speaking of the metering, I was wondering if you can put together some test using spot metering in R5/R6 .. I am feeling it is not living up to the name.. thanks
Yes, absolutely. Spot metering on the R5 does not work well. First, the "Spot" is too large. Second, it does not adjust exposure quickly enough given the trials I have made with that setting.
@@whistlingwingsphotography 👍🏼 will be on the lookout. Exactly, I am getting it mostly useless while coming from 5DMK4 .. just wanted to see your detailed testing around this.. and any work around that would help in those situations.. appreciate it
Thanks
Welcome
I have been shooting with mostly Manual but using AWBW on the Canon R5. It seems to adjust nicely to changes in image lightness. Would it be better to set for Daylight or cloudy for BIF.
I set a Kelvin value of 6100 or so. I do this so all my images have the same "look" to them. I have had AWB make some bad adjustments in the past, so I know set a Kelvin value. You can always make adjustments to WB in post but it is an additional step that I basically eliminate by setting a K value.
@@whistlingwingsphotography This would make another great tutorial, please!
@@hawgbreath Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it to my list of needed videos to make.
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