Long-Eared Owl with a bad exposure

[Cristobal]

I submit to you this photo taken a couple of weeks ago; the owl was in a shadow environment; waiting for a better light, the sun ended up lighting the bird during a short period during which I took some photos; I was very disappointed by the result and this photo received no post processing; my goal is to improve my technic in such situations with a sunlit bird and foreground and heavy shade behind it. I ask myself if I used the good exposure metering (Matrix metering); the photo was taken in manual mode with auto iso and no exposure compensation. Thank you for your advices and recommandations; they will be appreciated!

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[Butlerkid]

The owl does seem over exposed. Next time perhaps shift to center weighted or spot metering.

Here is a very quick attempt at editing the photo..... Using minus exposure compensation would have similar results in camera.

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[DripDryMcFleye]

Spot metering might have been a better choice but I want to add that, based on my own results, that the "spot" in spot metering seems to be a good bit larger than I thought. Spot metering combined with exposure compensation might have been the way to go.

 

[Butlerkid]

Spot metering might have been a better choice but I want to add that, based on my own results, that the "spot" in spot metering seems to be a good bit larger than I thought. Spot metering combined with exposure compensation might have been the way to go.

You can adjust, to some extent, the size of the spot, in the menu. You really just want to find a spot on the subject or near by that should be 18% gray.....so it doesn't need to be all that large.

Yes, I use exposure compensation a LOT when photographing.

 

[Krümelkraft]

I'd try exposure compensation in such situations. Spot metering can help in some situations, but can lead to wrong exposures either.
I have had the same experience with my first kingfisher (sunlit with dark water in the background).

You have to train your eye for these situations. The more you are experienced, the better your results will get in terms of exposure compensation.
A well-trained eye together with exposure compensation works better than switching between metering modes.

I think that's one of the things that makes a good photographer (at least from the technical point of view).

 

[Cristobal]

The owl does seem over exposed. Next time perhaps shift to center weighted or spot metering.

Here is a very quick attempt at editing the photo..... Using minus exposure compensation would have similar results in camera.
View attachment 50433

Thank you very much for your help! I have to admit I am not familiar with spot metering even If it's on my Fn button. Next time, I will be more attentive to such a situation. I know I have yet to practice a lot!

 

[thedesertratz]

I would agree with the other comments that using center weighted metering or exposure compensation are two effective ways to reduce the bright area of the owl. You could also reduce the exposure slightly and or reduce highlights in post processing, both are pretty quick and easy to do.

 

[Cristobal]

I would agree with the other comments that using center weighted metering or exposure compensation are two effective ways to reduce the bright area of the owl. You could also reduce the exposure slightly and or reduce highlights in post processing, both are pretty quick and easy to do.

Thank you for your help! I do have some homework with those metering modes other than matrix.

 

[Calson]

Best bet is to take an exposure reading and then make exposure adjustment in manual mode. Center weighted is often the most reliable if shooting in an auto mode and it works the best with super telephoto or macro situations where the view angle is small.

Your camera does allow for exposure bracketing and is using CW metering having a -1EV, 0.0 EV, and +1 EV provides a better chance of nailing the exposure. When I have done this with older cameras I would find that the color rendition was best in the correctly exposed images followed by the 1 EV overexposed images and the underexposed provided too little information in the source file.

 

[bleirer]

I believe your exposure in camera was good in that it looks like you exposed to the right but I don't think you have blown out the bright pixels. You didn't say what software you used but assuming you shot raw and have access to a program like lightroom that gives you some control you might have a quite nice image there. Assuming lightroom and a raw file, I would go back and reset to original, then first adjust the exposure slider to get the body reasonable close, then slide the highlight slider to the right a little to open up the midtones but also move the whites slider to the left to recover those really bright areas until they look natural. You may have to go back and forth to the exposure and/or highlight and whites slider to get a nice balance. Then move the shadows to the left to open up the midtones on that side, but move the black to the right to claw back some shadows. go back and adjust shadows and blacks back and forth until you like it. Beyond that if you have some ability to mask or do selective adjustments you might play with the shadows a little more. But my message is maybe you didn't overexpose, you just exposed to to right and that is fixable.

 

[Cristobal]

Best bet is to take an exposure reading and then make exposure adjustment in manual mode. Center weighted is often the most reliable if shooting in an auto mode and it works the best with super telephoto or macro situations where the view angle is small.

Your camera does allow for exposure bracketing and is using CW metering having a -1EV, 0.0 EV, and +1 EV provides a better chance of nailing the exposure. When I have done this with older cameras I would find that the color rendition was best in the correctly exposed images followed by the 1 EV overexposed images and the underexposed provided too little information in the source file.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[ricardo00]

I submit to you this photo taken a couple of weeks ago; the owl was in a shadow environment; waiting for a better light, the sun ended up lighting the bird during a short period during which I took some photos; I was very disappointed by the result and this photo received no post processing; my goal is to improve my technic in such situations with a sunlit bird and foreground and heavy shade behind it. I ask myself if I used the good exposure metering (Matrix metering); the photo was taken in manual mode with auto iso and no exposure compensation. Thank you for your advices and recommandations; they will be appreciated!

I am a bit confused. Did you see in the view finder that the owl was going to be overexposed? If so, why not decrease the exposure? Or were you trying to test the exposure metering mode (ie. matrix metering)?

 

[Cristobal]

I believe your exposure in camera was good in that it looks like you exposed to the right but I don't think you have blown out the bright pixels. You didn't say what software you used but assuming you shot raw and have access to a program like lightroom that gives you some control you might have a quite nice image there. Assuming lightroom and a raw file, I would go back and reset to original, then first adjust the exposure slider to get the body reasonable close, then slide the highlight slider to the right a little to open up the midtones but also move the whites slider to the left to recover those really bright areas until they look natural. You may have to go back and forth to the exposure and/or highlight and whites slider to get a nice balance. Then move the shadows to the left to open up the midtones on that side, but move the black to the right to claw back some shadows. go back and adjust shadows and blacks back and forth until you like it. Beyond that if you have some ability to mask or do selective adjustments you might play with the shadows a little more. But my message is maybe you didn't overexpose, you just exposed to to right and that is fixable.

Thank you so much for your feedback! I have followed your recommandations; I do some post processing in Lightroom classic; I reduced the exposure by one stop and a half ; then working with the highlight slider and the whites slider , finishing with the shadows and blacks sliders; the result is certainly better!

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[Cristobal]

I am a bit confused. Did you see in the view finder that the owl was going to be overexposed? If so, why not decrease the exposure? Or were you trying to test the exposure metering mode (ie. matrix metering)?

I am always using Metrix metering and I certainly took it for granted; I realized that in this case, it was a mistake and probably using a center weighted or spot metering would have been the solution; I must admit that I was so captivated by the owl that I probably forgot to watch if an exposure compensation was necessary.