One of the more compelling wildlife portraits I’ve taken is this timber wolf, black phase, in minus 25 degree weather in Montana. Photographing a black subject on a white, wintry background and retaining detail and texture throughout the photograph is a challenge. I shot this with film in the 90s, and I had two options to determine the precise exposure. First, I could use a handheld incident light meter. This reads the light falling on the scene, not the light being reflected from it. It is extremely accurate. Second, I could take a reflected light reading on a middle-toned area of the scene, such as the out of focus forest in the background. This works perfectly as well as long as you can identify middle toned areas.
In the digital realm, the best technique is to determine the exposure first, before the animal becomes the subject and milliseconds can mean the difference between getting the shot and missing it. Check the LCD monitor and tweak the settings until they are just right. Use manual mode so the f/stop and shutter speed don’t change as the composition changes. Then, as long as the light doesn’t change, all of the exposures will be correct.
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