How to Photograph Birds in Flight Against the Sky - Exposure Compensation and Manual Exposure

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Download this helpful Guide to Birds in Flight: koji.to/k/9vbf

[@dblejax]

I love your videos Paul. Thank you so much!

[@garyanderson5609]

On my Canon 1Dx I use do a burst of 3 one what the camera says then one over and one under

[@theWZZA]

Well, I should have watched your video before I went out today. Live and learn, I guess.

[@ashstubbings2603]

Love that shot of the Shoveller Paul! WOW!

[@steveparent8788]

Hi Miguel, using a R5 gives me an edge regarding the use of histogram. I use Manual + Auto ISO and evaluative or spot metering. It works well with the settings. Doing a test shot is always useful to help adjusting exposure compensation properly. Have a great day!

[@fritsskontorp6621]

Super - very useful tips -thanks.!

[@johndeblaquiere5218]

Great video Paul,as usual easy to understand and follow keep ‘em coming cheers

[@kateplater1340]

Thank you for this video I go to a hide a lot early in the morning with the sun on my right and always unexposed my photos will be trying these tips tomorrow.

[@chandramohan5467]

Very good information to shoot in all conditions

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks for sharing another wonderful video like always 🐦❤️

[@jonathanmurphy2065]

I tend to use S mode with spot metering and exposure compensation for birds in flight. If I don't fill the frame I can usually track it well enough to keep the metering consistent.

[@paulbaldwin2290]

Great info as usual Paul 👌a good lesson from Great teacher 😉keep us learning 👏👏and some great shots 👌

[@stevemartin239]

Great tube Paul. Very useful.

[@marksouthwell4490]

Very well explained and easy to understand 🙂

[@DrewLocost]

Great video as always. Just a note about Evaluative metering. It does a bit more than simply averaging the metering for the entire scene. It biases the metering towards the active focus point. This is what makes it one of the more useful metering modes. You can test this easily by pointing the camera at a static scene, and moving the focus point around and see how the exposure changes.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

I honestly didn't know that. I learnt something new.. and very useful too! Thank you.

[@malaustwick5364]

Hi Paul, Some great advice there. I will deffo be using them to try and improve my Red Kite in flight images from my garden as they circle over head 😉

[@brianthomas6500]

Fully manual and center weighted metering, just how things were when I got my first proper camera around 1973/4. I have tried other ways but never for long. Another good vid. The new R6 Mk2 looks good.

[@chriscorbin9565]

If you lock the exposure from something, the metering mode is irrelevant...i strongly suggest you do lock it so altering backgrounds don't dictate the exposure.

[@stevedirector4644]

Very helpful - thank you.

[@paulkirk5760]

Very useful tips Paul. I always start with manual with auto iso and some overexposure dialed in. Your tip about taking a light reading for a neutral background is useful and I’ll try that. I’m usually in matrix metering and as you’ve said spot metering is tricky for birds in flight. I might give center weighted another try. I think the best tip is learn the choices you’d camera give you and play around with them!

[@stuart1970]

Great video with good tips.. I'm having problems tracking lets say a crow or pigeon. I point the camera at the bird press the shutter half way down but the camera doesn't track the bird? Using canon R7 with rf 100- 500mm. Please advise witch setting to find the bird with the first attempt thank you..

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

It's very difficult to say. Tracking systems can be problematic at times. You might need to look into the R7's 'Subject Tracking' and see how it's set up.

[@davidnelson6199]

I don't photograph birds very often, but I do shoot aircraft. I can use your lesson your lesson to help with aircraft in flight against bright blue sky. Thank you

[@mikebrownhill4662]

I've used manual exposure with auto ISO for most of my bird in flight images for years and it worked pretty well on my DSLR (5DIV). I recently bought an R7 mirrorless camera as a back-up crop sensor body which I'm also using to get familiar with the mirrorless system before moving my full frame set up over to mirrorless. The R7 has a mode called Fv, which I initially didn't pay any attention to. Now that I've played around with it, I love it and find it really useful for birds in flight combined with the live histogram in the viewfinder. It's basically the same as manual mode but it allows you to use the two wheels on the R7 (yep - only two on this camera) to quickly access and adjust shutter, aperture and ISO. At the start of my session, I set shutter speed and aperture roughly where I want them and then "ride" the ISO setting according to whatever the live histogram is showing me. I find this gives me more good images than manual plus auto ISO because I'm in full control of the exposure and I can "see" what is happening by keeping a close eye on the histogram and adjust ISO (exposure) according to the scene. It takes a bit of practice but when you get used to keeping watch on the histogram as well as the bird (it sounds harder than it is) then it works pretty well. If I find my ISO is going a bit too high to get my exposure, it's a simple two-wheel operation to drop one of the other parameters (shutter/ISO) and then carry on as before...

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

You have a very good understanding of the exposure Mike. Sounds like you have your technique nailed. Thanks for sharing as this will be useful to other viewers too. Great stuff.

[@m.sabir21]

Thanks Paul, excellent video on the topic.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Many thanks Muhammad

[@clivewelch1025]

Hi Paul all good info for someone like me ( old ) who finds this photography lark a bit complicated at times. Bloody typical booked a family day out at a wildlife country park in advance and after all the sun we've had it rained all day which made photography some what difficult so maybe a video of photography in the rain just for me lol. Until next time take care and stay safe my friend

[@werewolfdonkey1043]

Which AF area selection mode do you use for this kind of photography? (I have a Canon 1Dx M2). Thank you

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

With my DX I would use either one single focus point or the next one, the expanded points.

[@Pigeonmaniacom]

Great tips from a professional, thank you. Are there any chances of you starting some tutorials about filming birds? There is so little info on the web about filming wildlife, compared to photography. My struggle is filming peregrine falcons and hawks hunting (my) pigeons, usually high in the sky, far from you.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Maybe in the future. It's all,pretty basic what i do really.

[@lkaufman719]

I use a Canon R5 in FV mode, which is basically manual, but is allows me to control exposure compensation. the ISO is in auto mode. Very good video. Thanks.

[@AlanHunt73]

Great video Paul. I'm a fairly new photographer and I tend to use spot metering I don't know why but I'm not getting pin sharp images so I will definitely be trying evaluative metering and see how I go

[@davidlawrence7540]

Hi, the metering mode will have no effect on how sharp the images are! More likely, motion blur caused by not a fast enough shutter speed. Can be a few other things as well, but definitely not meter mode! Good luck

[@AlanHunt73]

@@davidlawrence7540 thanks for your advice. David

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

David is correct. Metering mode will not affect sharpness, just exposure.

[@kevinwade3985]

I use evaluative metering with manual mode and auto iso. The thumb wheel is the used to give the usuallly +3/4 to 2 stops over exposure. With birds banking with a low sun a -1/3 is usually used - up to -2 for white birds. Great video!

[@terryroth2855]

For birds inflight, I tend to use manual mode. Makes it easier for me to control the shutter speed and the aperture. Nice video.👍👍

[@paulgibbings9553]

I use evaluative metering, and manual with auto iso. Since changing to a mirrorless camera, it does help that i can see what effect altering the exposure compensation has in the viewfinder. That has definitely helped. I tend to use 2 to 3 stops of compensation and find that, although the underside of the bird is exposed well, I can end up with blown out skies and even sometimes the top of the birds head. Maybe I need to experiment with a little less compensation. Thanks, your videos always give me something to think about.

[@sue.Hoo123]

Excellent explanation, well presented 👍 I tend to use Center Weighted metering in Shutter Priority and auto ISO, capped at 1600, using a Mirrorless camera. I use exposure compensation + for darker birds, - for white birds.

[@julioamaral4391]

Very useful video, thanks Paul! I had a bit of issues shooting penguins against the icy floor in a sunny day (evaluative metering). Fixed it just removing a bit of the high lights in Canon DPP4. I like their software. I could recuperate beautiful details from the icy floor keeping the penguins just perfect. Please, keep talking about it. Best!!

[@acjones225]

Hi Paul, I use my trusty 1d iv , and as far as I am aware , and I’ve tried , it won’t auto iso in manual mode. In one of your videos , you mentioned you have had a 1d iv in the past - could you get it to Manual + auto iso ? Great videos by the way 👍🏼

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

I thought it does but cannot remember for sure.

[@57sapke]

Thanks for the tips. What would you do when the bird flies from background trees into the bright sky. Will you metering trees and sky separately and take the average.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

A great question. There is not perfect answer. Ideally you need to make some exposure compensation if in AV/TV. Often the best way here is to set completely manual so the exposure stays the same regardless of background.

[@57sapke]

@@PaulMiguelPhotography Ok, and if you use spot metering and lock the exposure.

[@KnorpelDelux]

I just had a slittle "shooting" with a beautiful male honey buzzard in southern Germany. I usually go for auto ISO in manual mode and go for +1 to 2 in exposure compensation. It was very interesting to see how even a slight change in sky brightness (changed from blue to slightly grey because of a very big but thin cloud) can still cause your pictures to go wrong under the changing conditions if you don't pay attention constantly

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Absolutely. The background sky can change considerably. Honey Buzzard - beautiful bird... never seen one.

[@KnorpelDelux]

@@PaulMiguelPhotography They should start migrating soon and can be seen in huge flocks then. A collegue of mine saw over 50 in the same place on the island Rügen a couple of years ago. But yeah, when I saw my first hovering above my town I was blown away...they are beauties :D

[@jon_green_photography]

I'd love to use manual mode with auto iso however my ancient 50d seems to always default to IS0 400 and won't go higher and also doesn't allow exposure compensation.... forcing me to either set it manually or switch to shutter/aperature priority where bizarrley it does go higher and does allow compensation!

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

I think these are the problems with older cameras.

[@mrhlindvall]

Thank you for the lesson, well needed! I prefer evaluated metering for birds in flight! Sometimes i use spot metering! 😀

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Thank you for sharing Henric.

[@alexandermckown1409]

Instead of using Exposure Compensation, can I just change the exposure slider of the photo? The the affect the same? Thanks for your channel,: I learn a lot. Alex

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

You can do this to an extent afterwards but it will always degrade the image. A little is ok, but a lot and it will really reduce the quality.

[@floridasuburbannature]

The one good thing about having a cheap entry level DSLR is that it limits the settings I can change to get a proper photo. I shoot manual with auto-ISO and exp comp semi-permanently at +1 or +2 because sunny Florida makes most backgrounds too bright. I'll have to test the metering modes more. Thanks for the tip!

[@ontariowildlifeobservation3095]

Awesome video as usual, very well explained. I prefer full manual shooting for birds in flight. I've got The Sony A7r IV and the Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3, so you know what I'm working with. In general Aperture wise I always shoot wide open unless the light allows for me to stop down to f/8 for a slight increase in sharpness. Shutter speed I like at 1/1600 minimum for birds in flight or the higher the better while keeping the ISO reasonably low, unless going for a blurry effect or panning with the subject where shutter speeds can be lower. I prefer manually controlling ISO because I can see the effect it has directly in the EVF and in general I have learned over time what ISO to use for a given situation. Also I always wear a hat so I can see the EVF more clearly. I like to either turn off stabilization or use mode 2 on the lens (panning). For the autofocus mode: focus area wide or focus tracking wide.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Great technique all round . And thank you for sharing these tips with us.

[@BirdingWithDan]

I use evaluative metering all the time. However, after watching your video, I think I should experiment with spot metering for BIF with my Sony A1. But I must add I've gotten great shots with evaluative metering just by working the exposure dial. But it's often guesswork. I shoot in Aperture Priority mode all the time...also thanks to your great video on that mode. Always look forward to your videos! Thank you, Paul

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Hi Dan. Glad the videos help. Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I'd give that spot metering a try.

[@ED-on8to]

Like for the effort! 👍

[@captinktm]

This is always a tricky subject. I love the fact you didn't mention (maybe you did) leaving the compensation on, and only realising at the end of the day! I use manual with auto iso, which to be honest is, if you're paying attention to the iso setting is fully manual in my book. Why? Because I am controlling all the settings but don't have to physically change the iso. I constantly watch the iso and then balance it with my shutter speed. I don't know about you Paul but I think high iso is the enemy of a sharp image? I use a d500 so use matrix metering all the time, spot is too unreliable. The only time I use manual iso is in a makeshift hide where I am controlling ( yeh rite ) the situation. I made the wife watch your video, and I do believe she got it! Thanks for posting a great video with info we must all know and understand if we are to get better images.

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

Yep, I always tell clients I work with to put the compensation back to zero! I actually agree that high ISOs affect sharpness, something I hardly every see mentioned. You made the wife watch the video... Lol....!

[@VABrowneMDPhD]

I prefer Manual mode best. I set shutter speed to minimize motion blur and camera shake, and set aperture for the desired depth of field, which depends on the size of the bird. Smaller birds in flight can be shot between an aperture of f/4 to f/6.3. However, larger birds like the great blue heron, need more depth of field, and I typically use an aperture of f/8. I manually change ISO to accomplish the exposure compensation using the histogram as a guide. Using mirrorless cameras that have in-body stabilization and optically stabilized lenses, I can decrease shutter speed to achieve a lower ISO.

[@pathfinder9774]

I am having a hard time photographing hummingbirds. Of course, they’re a tricky subject to photograph anyway because of the speed of the wing beats. However, my biggest problem in photographing them is getting the camera to be able to recognize what the focus on. I photograph through a patio window, sometimes I try to keep it open. But I have a garden outback and a lot of green foliage and small, red flowers that they come to. Obviously, I have to have a lot of light to help the focus. But even at that, using single point, focus on and a high shutter speed my camera struggles because of all the green leaves everywhere. It basically doesn’t know what the focus on even though I have my center focus pointed directly at the hummingbird. Any suggestions?

[@TommeeKnocker]

If the bird gets brighter then won't the sky then be over exposed, how to fix?

[@TommeeKnocker]

@@erikpeterffy7552 Thanks, I have yet to dabble in post.

[@erikpeterffy7552]

@@TommeeKnocker You are welcome. Photoshop is the easiest way to start. You just launch it, and if you drag a RAW file format into it, it throws up a whole repository of sliders right on import. In just over 10 minutes, without any tutorial, you can do wonders with your photos just by dragging sliders left and right.

[@marknongkhlaw1674]

Download link is broken 😢

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

If you email me: [e-mail] I can send files to you to download.

[@marknongkhlaw1674]

@PaulMiguelPhotography thanks, I'll do that

[@ianpawson1356]

I just need to get out with the camera, lost inspiration at moment

[@PaulMiguelPhotography]

I hope it comes back soon Ian.

[@kalinmir]

Canon might be perfect for wildlife but those cameras are so incredibly ugly I wouldn't lean my bike against them...its like most of it cant decide if it wants to be a brick or a blob and the back end is a combination of ticket machine and first gen oddball digital camera...nice video tho :)

[@dvwildlife2625]

Auto iso on birds in flights is a waste.