Auto exposure for BIF's ?

[Promapper]

I use manual exposure almost exclusively for BIFs. The main reason is that I find the background has to much influence on the metering and the images tend to be way underexposed especially with blue skies. One would think a spot metering would be good if only you could keep the spot on the bird and not loose that spot to a bright background. I have had my most succfessful images shot on manual everything, Shutter, aperture and ISO.

But then I see where steve not only uses shutter priority but also auto ISO. I do like auto ISO for macro and sports and street photography but it has just not worked for me for BIF's

What am I missing?

 

[DRwyoming]

What am I missing?

Lot's of ways to skin this cat and I don't think you're missing anything but just taking another valid approach. If you run full manual and pre-meter the scene then as you say you're in great shape when moving subjects cross different kinds of backgrounds as long as the light stays constant. But when the light changes you have to repeat the metering. If you run Manual Mode/Auto ISO or an Auto Mode your camera adjusts to the changing light but you may have to dial in exposure compensation for certain subject and background brightness combinations.

So either can work and neither can 100% account for both changing backgrounds on challenging subjects (e.g. white birds, dark backgrounds, dark birds bright backgrounds) AND rapidly changing light levels. So with either approach there are times you'll have to recognize the changes as they're happening and make corresponding changes to your camera settings.

For instance, If the light is relatively constant but the shooting scene is one where your subjects are frequently moving across varying backgrounds then the full manual with pre-metering approach you describe makes a ton of sense. But if the backgrounds are relatively mid tone, especially with relatively mid tone subjects but the light is changing a lot (e.g. clouds coming and going, early morning or late evening) then a Manual Mode/Auto ISO approach may do a better job of reacting in real time.

The great thing is both approaches as well as others are available on all high end camera bodies so you don't have to chose one for all situations. The even better thing looking at the two choices outlined above is that at least on Nikons all you have to do is press the ISO button and roll the sub selector control to jump back and forth between those two options and then perhaps make a quick metered ISO adjustment with the rear control dial when in full Manual so it's super simple to use both with no menu diving.

 

[Steve]

Actually, I never use shutter priority (I suggested it in another thread for a specific approach).

For BIF, I use M + Auto ISO or full manual. I'm not a huge fan of birds against the sky pics, so I usually have some terrestrial background behind the bird. This allows Matrix to work really well and I can use M + Auto ISO, often with just a bit of exposure comp, depending on the scene. However, if I'm in a situation where the meter is getting fooled by the background, I don't hesitate to switch to full manual mode. Sometimes it really is the best way to go

As DR says, there's lots of ways to get there and, depending on the scene, they may all work perfectly.

 

[Warren D]

If lighting is constant, I use full manual. If it's in and out of clouds, I'll switch to auto ISO with either some negative exp comp for tree'd BGs or some positive exp comp for sky BGs.

 

[Promapper]

Old school so I guess I will always fall back to full manual.
thanks a lot for all the details guys.

 

[Andy Work]

I have the best luck with full manual. I tried auto ISO but had poor results.

 

[Ed Erkes]

I generally use aperture priority and engage the autoexposure lock when I want to lock in the settings (it is my usual alternative to full manual control). You can still tweak the exposure after engaging the lock by using the exposure compensation dial. I have an article that describes the technique here. I think it offers some advantages over the full manual approach. I use full maual for certain situations, such as night photography or manual multi-flash photography for hummingbirds, other birds or insects. I only use shutter priority when I know that I want to stick to a particular shutter speed. I need to try manual with auto iso.

 

[Commodorefirst]

Whereas I run for BIF mostly Aperture priority, some manual, and adjust iso manually or auto with a limit. I also am a half press to activate VR and AF, as opposed to back button focus.

I also shoot a lot of center weighted metering too with my older bodies, Matrix is rarely used because of the sky. When I borrowed a D5 body, matrix was better than My D3s. I refuse to talk about the AF difference....... sheesh.... was amazing. I do shoot manual a fair amount too.