I photographed this crowned crane taking flight in Kenya. I love the shot, but the white feathers on the cheek and along the top edge of the lower wing were blown out due to the relatively bright light from a mostly clear sky. This can happen even though the exposure throughout most of the frame is correct. That's why I typically underexpose my shots by 2/3 f/stop so I can protect the highlights, but even that wasn't enough to prevent the highlights from losing important detail. So, I looked for another shot of cranes from the same trip in which the exposure on the white feathers showed detail, and I found one. I was able to copy and paste the white feathers into the solid white areas of this image, and although the difference is subtle, it's now correct. The last thing you want in a photograph are blown highlights. There are exceptions, like sun and the sun's reflection, which will always be solid white, but the exceptions are few. My settings for this shot were 1/2500, f/8, and 640 ISO, and I shot this at 200mm because my Land Rover was so close to the birds.
0 Comments