Hi Guys,
I'm very new to Birds In Flight photography and every outing this year I have had to try and get my head around one singular problem;GLARE. Doesn't matter if it's a lovely sunny day or an overcast day with the sun behind it, it has always been there for me to try and get my head around. What I am, and everyone else of course, dealing with is a singular subject with the rest of the frame being and extremely bright, or glarey day and I can't get my head around the correct settings for an excitable, usable outcome. What I usually end up with is a very dark subject, almost silhouette and the skies are always very nearly blown out highlights on the Histogram. The Histogram gives me one singular column of color and that is right over near the right hand side, close to being blown out. When the picture is put into Lightroom it is unsaveable because the bird, when adjusted through the Highlights and Exposure settings is very streaky and grainy. Now I'm not talking about a bird that was 50-60 meters away either, I had one Whistling Kite that kept coming back each time I called it in and at one stage tried to land on the end of my lens while it was pointed skywards trying to get it in the frame!!!
Firstly, I started out with Aperture priority, Auto ISO and Matrix metering, trying to adjust for Exposure Compensation and then I switched to Manual, S/S 3200, Ap at 6.3 and auto iso running to 4000, after continued sadness I tried 2500 S/S I think and F7.1 and also Matrix. Am I wrong in thinking that Matrix metering is a joke, that it's alright under P mode for kids at parties and the rest of the time it's pathetic or what am I screwing up? I know that it's me, because there are so many great BIF photos everywhere you look, taken under the exact same conditions that are doing my head in, so help please?
Thanks for taking the time guys,
Bruce