Spoonbill contrasting colors (1 Viewer)

It's very hard to shoot spoonbills without overexposing the white. The contrast between the pink and white is drastic. This is the best photo I can get of a spoonbill. Tripod was used. It was underexposed -1. The weather was cloudy and if I underexposed anymore they were too dark. Any suggestions on how to shoot them better. The reflection from the water plays a part as well. Any help greatly appreciated. Regards from Marilyn in Florida

Spoonbill contrasting colours

blueyezz said:

It's very hard to shoot spoonbills without overexposing the white. The contrast between the pink and white is drastic. This is the best photo I can get of a spoonbill. Tripod was used. It was underexposed -1. The weather was cloudy and if I underexposed anymore they were too dark. Any suggestions on how to shoot them better. The reflection from the water plays a part as well. Any help greatly appreciated. Regards from Marilyn in Florida

Click to expand...

Hello Marilyn,

You could try underexposing yet another stop and then bring up the shadows only in photoshop or similar. I like the picture anyway.

Best wishes

John

Becareful of underexposing too much as this brings up the noise levels and you lose too much shadow detail. If this was taken with a Canon they tend to compress the Hi-lights on the jpegs or make it look over exposed. If you can shot raw format for this type of shot it gives you more latitude for adjustment.

The peak whites are near the limit but not completely blown away. I find Photoshop 8 adjust shawdows and Highlights tool useful to increase contrast in the high-lights. See if the attached looks closer.

Robert