Outdoor Ontario

Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 05:50:52 PM

Title: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 05:50:52 PM
Taking advantage of the last few warm days. Some Hooded Mergansers were relatively close and boy, are they good at catching fish!
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 05:52:39 PM
I said to my friend, nobody fought. and she said, of course, everyone is good at catching
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 05:54:57 PM
By the time there was slightly more favourable light, they all had enough to eat. so I took some group photo
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 05:57:38 PM
Seagulls can be fun when there are nothing else interesting to take, and I finally discovered what I mistook as snow from Shortsighted's pic. And also a good advice, do not talk when you take photo of that stuff.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Shortsighted on November 12, 2020, 06:20:19 PM
 Have you been at Rattray before?
Where were you shooting from to catch shots of those merganser? I can’t quite make out your location considering you were shooting partially into the sun and did not compensate. I did that today, shooting to the south against the sun. Of course, I was only shooting into the backyard.
 
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 06:32:10 PM
Have you been at Rattray before?
Where were you shooting from to catch shots of those merganser? I can’t quite make out your location considering you were shooting partially into the sun and did not compensate. I did that today, shooting to the south against the sun. Of course, I was only shooting into the backyard.
I went there before, and I was on one of the platforms, some swam relatively close, with the sun behind them. I was facing the lake generally.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 12, 2020, 06:59:58 PM
Have you been at Rattray before?
Where were you shooting from to catch shots of those merganser? I can’t quite make out your location considering you were shooting partially into the sun and did not compensate. I did that today, shooting to the south against the sun. Of course, I was only shooting into the backyard.
When you say compensate, what does that mean? Or what do I do?
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Shortsighted on November 13, 2020, 07:37:23 AM
 
In order to compensate you must stand at the very edge of the platform (there are platforms?) and curl your toes around the very lip of the last plank and then with absolute conviction shout that you repent for all your sins, and then pay $30 compensation, to me, and I will absolve you of those sins. Dinu may be the “king” but I am the Eminence Gris. You may now kiss my ring.
All fantasy aside, in order to compensate for a very bright background that dictates what your camera’s built-in light meter registers and then commands the camera’s settings in an attempt to provide a well-exposed water surface, you must deliberately re-set the f-stop to the right of what the meter proclaimed to be correct, thereby opening the iris to let in more light (despite the bright background) so that your precious subject (the merganser) gets enough exposure. This shift to the right can be done by pushing and holding down the back button that says “Av” while turning the front dial so that the exposure scale at the bottom of your viewfinder shows a shift to the right side of about a full f-stop, sometimes slightly less, sometimes slightly more. You can find tune the compensation shift by checking the image on your live-view screen by pressing the preview button. If the merganser is still under-exposed then press the Av again and dial in more light. The water, or sky will be over-exposed but there are mitigating technique in photoshop to offset some of that blow-out. Don’t forget to re-set the setting back to normal, or better yet, for most shooting conditions … 1/3 stop, or 2/3 stop to the left (other side of the middle). This helps mitigate highlight blow-out that often happens when the iris has not been compensated at all (center position on the sliding scale).


Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 13, 2020, 08:32:24 AM
 
In order to compensate you must stand at the very edge of the platform (there are platforms?) and curl your toes around the very lip of the last plank and then with absolute conviction shout that you repent for all your sins, and then pay $30 compensation, to me, and I will absolve you of those sins. Dinu may be the “king” but I am the Eminence Gris. You may now kiss my ring.
All fantasy aside, in order to compensate for a very bright background that dictates what your camera’s built-in light meter registers and then commands the camera’s settings in an attempt to provide a well-exposed water surface, you must deliberately re-set the f-stop to the right of what the meter proclaimed to be correct, thereby opening the iris to let in more light (despite the bright background) so that your precious subject (the merganser) gets enough exposure. This shift to the right can be done by pushing and holding down the back button that says “Av” while turning the front dial so that the exposure scale at the bottom of your viewfinder shows a shift to the right side of about a full f-stop, sometimes slightly less, sometimes slightly more. You can find tune the compensation shift by checking the image on your live-view screen by pressing the preview button. If the merganser is still under-exposed then press the Av again and dial in more light. The water, or sky will be over-exposed but there are mitigating technique in photoshop to offset some of that blow-out. Don’t forget to re-set the setting back to normal, or better yet, for most shooting conditions … 1/3 stop, or 2/3 stop to the left (other side of the middle). This helps mitigate highlight blow-out that often happens when the iris has not been compensated at all (center position on the sliding scale).
Thanks. Not platform, the board walk. But I can repent on board walk too. Thanks again. So compensate means dial right.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: TransAtlanticGoose on November 13, 2020, 10:14:24 AM
Different cameras sometimes call the compensation dial different things, and they can be located in different places too. So for most Canon dslr's, Shortsighted's decription is bang-on ("pushing and holding down the back button that says %u201CAv%u201D while turning the front dial"), whereas on my Fuji, I have a physical dial on top that has no name, but has markings ranging from -3 to +3, in 1/3rd-stop increments (a stop being the term for a doubling or halving of light the light getting through to the sensor). So you may have to explore you camera a bit if the compensation 'dial' isn't obvious.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Shortsighted on November 13, 2020, 10:21:01 AM
 Now that we have distinguished between dispensation and compensation, yes, you dial to the right for a subject that is being recorded as under-exposed. You dial to the left for a subject that has highlights and when those highlights are reflecting sunlight and blowing-out the sensor to pure white. The darker parts can be somewhat retrieved in post-processing, especially if you are shooting in RAW and even to a degree if you are shooting as a jpg file.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 13, 2020, 11:18:20 AM
Now that we have distinguished between dispensation and compensation, yes, you dial to the right for a subject that is being recorded as under-exposed. You dial to the left for a subject that has highlights and when those highlights are reflecting sunlight and blowing-out the sensor to pure white. The darker parts can be somewhat retrieved in post-processing, especially if you are shooting in RAW and even to a degree if you are shooting as a jpg file.
I knew I needed to do that when it was dark, but I didn't realize I could do it when the sun is against me. What about the other number. It was not the bigger the better, right? I would look at the pic, it did't seem to be clearer. Is it fun to teach me? I mean, you have to translate all the tech term to kids' language. Hope you are enjoying it too ;D ;D
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Shortsighted on November 13, 2020, 11:40:59 AM
 OK, it’s my turn not to understand the question. What number?
It is not exactly fun to teach but it is satisfying nonetheless. Fun is having a 500mm, or 600mm lens and is therefore something I wouldn’t know much about, even back in the days of film. You remember film? Perhaps not.
It is my duty to inform the eager and enthusiastic. After all, you hold all the power. I only have 4x and therefore need to go to great lengths to minimize the length between me and the bird. Your majesty has the effervescence and energy of a champagne supernova and are therefore deserving of any assistance that I can muster, even when that may occasionally be misguided or unpalatable.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 13, 2020, 12:14:31 PM
OK, it’s my turn not to understand the question. What number?
It is not exactly fun to teach but it is satisfying nonetheless. Fun is having a 500mm, or 600mm lens and is therefore something I wouldn’t know much about, even back in the days of film. You remember film? Perhaps not.
It is my duty to inform the eager and enthusiastic. After all, you hold all the power. I only have 4x and therefore need to go to great lengths to minimize the length between me and the bird. Your majesty has the effervescence and energy of a champagne supernova and are therefore deserving of any assistance that I can muster, even when that may occasionally be misguided or unpalatable.
I'm not fun to teach?  Feeling hurt slightly, but I know you didn't mean it. So here is my camera screen. When you talk about compensate, you mean the 3 2 10 1 2 3, right? I dial up when it's dark.
The number I then asked was F18. Do I increase when there is enough light?
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 13, 2020, 12:35:16 PM
Different cameras sometimes call the compensation dial different things, and they can be located in different places too. So for most Canon dslr's, Shortsighted's decription is bang-on ("pushing and holding down the back button that says %u201CAv%u201D while turning the front dial"), whereas on my Fuji, I have a physical dial on top that has no name, but has markings ranging from -3 to +3, in 1/3rd-stop increments (a stop being the term for a doubling or halving of light the light getting through to the sensor). So you may have to explore you camera a bit if the compensation 'dial' isn't obvious.
He tried to ask me to read a small section of my manual every day two years back... I know, I'm a bad student.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Shortsighted on November 13, 2020, 12:56:57 PM
 The numbers on the scale represent adjustments to the f-stop, either wider open than normal (smaller number), or close down the iris (higher number). The higher the number the deeper your “apparent” depth-of-field. The actual plane-of-focus remains a definitive distance from the lens but the higher the f-stop (the more closed the iris) the more of your subject appears to be in acceptable focus both in front of the actual plane-of-focus and also behind the plane-if-focus. F18 is a very closed-down iris and offers more DOF than you would normally need. You choose an f-stop that gives you adequate DOF for the situation but still gives you a fast enough shutter speed. With “OS” on-board you would still quite possible need at least 1/400 sec to get the subject sharp (once focused correctly) without camera wiggle blur. I need to shoot much faster than that, even at only 200mm, because I have no lens stabilization.
Your auto lighting optimizer is not set at maximum. Icon on the screen on the right side at middle height. You do not display all three vertical bars on maximum. Not a big deal.
OK, sure, helping someone is fun, but not as much fun as having a 600mm lens. What can I say, I’m self-absorbed. At this stage of the game, even if I had a 500mm lens I couldn’t do anything with it except stroke it with puerile affection. There, there …. nice lens.
Title: Re: Rattray Marsh Nov 12
Post by: Ally on November 13, 2020, 01:02:35 PM
Thanks, truly!