This article discusses the metering and composition choices at Bird Kingdom that were utilized to create the images featured in this posting. As photographers we sometimes get caught up in new technologies and the ‘latest and greatest’ gear that is being promoted… and as a result we can overlook some fundamental decisions when creating images.
To strip away many of those technology and ‘new gear’ distractions I purposely captured all of the images in this article with the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II zoom lens and an E-M1X. This zoom lens is often panned in photography blogs, and is significantly under-rated by many people.
Rather than use any of the computational photography technologies resident in my E-M1X, all of the photographs in this article were created with an “old school” approach.
I shot handheld in Manual mode, using a single, small AF point. I only made basic adjustments that are available with virtually any camera: aperture… shutter speed… ISO value… exposure compensation, and metering mode. As you view the featured images it may be instructive to view the EXIF data. There is accompanying commentary for each image.
This tortoise, and a few other specimen, are found when first entering the Base Camp at Bird Kingdom. I wanted to get in tight on the head of the tortoise so I used a focal length of 270 mm (efov 540 mm) and shot with my lens wide open at f/6.7, using a modest shutter speed of 1/100. Since the tortoise was in balanced light I used matrix metering. This image illustrates how quickly the depth-of-field can drop off when using a longer focal length with a subject that is in quite close. Equidistant composition was used on the top, bottom and left sides of the head of the tortoise to create balance.
If you frequent some photo blogs you may have read that it is “impossible to get shallow depth-of-field with a small sensor camera.” Or… the M.Zuiko 75-300 II is not sharp above 200 mm. Or… a M4/3 camera cannot be used at higher ISO values. I think the image above demonstrates that all of that thinking is inaccurate.
The image above was shot through a wire mesh cage. I placed my camera lens right up against the mesh so I could shoot past it without having the wires be in focus. My shooting angle was away from the bright sunlight coming through the windows behind this enclosure, and as a result was more balanced. This allowed for matrix metering to be used.
Since I was in close to the Laughing Kookaburra I was able to use a focal length of 75 mm, with an aperture of f/5. This wider focal length provides more depth-of-field than a longer focal length at the same aperture and the same distance to subject, so I did not need to stop down my lens to get the bird in focus. The wide open aperture and comparatively slow shutter speed allowed for a lower ISO value of ISO-320 to be used.
I waited for the Kookaburra to turn its head to its left. This head angle helped ensure that its beak would still be in focus at f/5. I left some open space on the right hand side of the composition to add some eye flow. This free space on the right hand side also allows for a subtle corner exit, with the Kookaburra’s beak pointed towards the bottom right corner. Equidistant composition was used at the top and left hand side of the Kookaburra. This adds balance to the composition.
I moved to the Small Bird Aviary to capture a few images.
You can see from the eye of this bird that it was in a very calm, almost dozing state. This indicated a low risk of movement so I was able to use a slower shutter speed of 1/20 when capturing this handheld image at 300 mm (efov 600 mm). I shot my lens wide open at f/6.7 since I would get sufficient depth-of-field to get the entire bird in focus, given its small size.
The lighting was reasonably balanced, but I underexposed this image slightly by -0.7 EV. This helped to ensure that the lighter toned feathers would have sufficient colour depth so the details would be visible. You can see that I used a corner exit with the branch on which it is perched. There is also a second branch that runs parallel to its perch. This helps to create left to right eye flow with this image. Equidistant composition was used on the top and right sides of the subject bird.
This photograph illustrates the importance of selecting monochromatic, calm backgrounds when possible. These types of backgrounds really help to separate a subject bird from the background and focus a viewer’s eye on the subject bird.
As you review the EXIF data for the above image you’ll see that I switched to spot metering for this photograph. There was very harsh, bright light entering this composition from the right hand side. I used spot metering to help ensure that I would get a good exposure on the subject bird and reduce the impact of the harsh light.
I used equidistant composition on the left and bottom edges of the photograph to help create balance. The branch on which the bird is perched is used as a leading line and as a corner exit, to create eye flow with the composition. The monochromatic background helps to achieve good subject separation.
I had an opportunity to photograph another bird in the same area where harsh, bright light was streaming in from the right side. In this instance I used Centre Weighted Average metering. I chose this approach as the subject bird had high contrast plumage. Centre weighted average metering would help me get the best balanced exposure on the bird, while still minimizing the impact from the harsh side light.
I lowered my shooting angle slightly so I could place the bird’s tail equidistantly against a light area in the background. This also allowed me to have the dark section in the background act as a corner exit in the upper right. This shooting angle helped create a left to right eye flow.
I moved on the Main Aviary which is three stories tall and has a wide range of lighting conditions.
Sometimes a bird will stay in the same small area for a few minutes which gives us an opportunity to work the scene a bit more. Since the bird in the above image was in nicely balanced light, I used matrix metering. From a composition standpoint I positioned the bird roughly following rule of thirds guidelines, and used the branch on which it was perched as a leading line.
I moved in slightly and captured a profile pose. Equidistant composition was used from the top of the bird’s head and from the top of its shoulder on the left side. If the bird would have been facing me I may have needed to stop down my lens to get more depth-of-field and help ensure that all of its beak was in focus.
This Pied African Crow was semi-buried in tree foliage and was in dark shade. I changed to Spot Metering to get a good exposure on the bird, but also dialed in -0.7 EV exposure compensation. I did this to help preserve the white highlights on the crow’s body as well as hold the beige wall in the background.
The Von der Decken’s Hornbill in the above photograph was fairly close to the walkway on the top floor of the Main Aviary. It was somewhat active on its perch so I increased my shutter speed to 1/500.
There was a stream of bright light hitting the side of its head and neck so I used Spot Metering on its neck, along with -0.7 EV exposure compensation to help ensure its white neck plumage would not get blown out by the harsh light. Shooting through some branches in front of the bird severely limited by composition options… so I just did the best I could with the cramped situation.
While concealing myself behind a stone wall I was able to get the full frame capture above of a Silvery-Cheeked Hornbill. I used Spot Metering on the bird’s large beak to help ensure a good exposure on this signature feature of this species.
I used Equidistant Composition on the top left and bottom right corners. I tried to position the slightly downward angle of the bird’s beak as a subtle corner exit, pointing towards the bottom right corner of the composition. You can see that I was able to choose a clean shooting angle with nothing directly behind the Silvery-Cheeked Hornbill which resulted in very good subject separation.
I haven’t done that much photography with my wife’s M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II zoom lens, so I looked for opportunities to use slow shutter speeds with this lens.
The bird above was in very dark shade, so I used Spot Metering to get a good exposure on the bird. Using a focal length of 200 mm (efov 400 mm) and an aperture of f/6.1, I captured the photograph above using a shutter speed of 1/8. This represents almost 6 stops of IBIS performance. I was quite pleased with the quality of the resulting image.
Just before leaving Bird Kingdom I spotted this Blue-Crowned Pigeon on the bottom floor of the Main Aviary. This area is typically in very dark shadow. This bird was up against a very dark background and just happened to be lit up by a strong ray of sunlight from the upper level of the building. This high contrast, dramatic lighting was a good opportunity to use Spot Metering on the subject bird.
There were some obstructions in the foreground so I tried to position the bird’s head in centre frame… with its beak pointing toward the bottom right corner and thus acting as a subtle corner exit.
I decided to try another photograph using the same composition approach, but with a much slower shutter speed. For the image above I used a handheld shutter speed of 1/8. You can see that I did a better job with Equidistant Composition with the feathers on the Blue-Crowned Pigeon’s head on the top and left edges of the composition.
Using a much slower shutter speed enabled me to use a much lower ISO value with the second image. ISO-500 compared to ISO-4000 with the first image. Sometimes we get hung up about ISO-values in our images without realizing that there can be subject matter (like the Blue-Crowned Pigeon in the two images above) where shooting at a higher ISO value doesn’t hurt the image very much at all.
I did spend a bit of extra time in post doing some some hue adjustments (i.e. blue and red) with the ISO-4000 image to get it closer in appearance to the ISO-500 version. Many photographers would find very little difference between the two versions, even though they were shot at dramatically different ISO values.
The important point here is to use a shutter speed that is fast enough to get a good, sharp image. There is no point shooting at a shutter speed that is beyond our handheld capability in an attempt to maintain a lower ISO value. There’s not much we can do with a very poor, out-of-focus, blurry image… even with programs like Topaz Sharpening AI.
One of favourite images from my recent Bird Kingdom visit is the American Crow illustrated above. This bird was moving around a bit so I chose a slightly faster shutter speed of 1/250. You can see from the composition that it is basically a black bird against a black background. I timed my shutter release with the bird looking slightly to its left as this head and body position created some additional, subtle feather highlights.
If you check the EXIF data you’ll see that I used Spot Metering along with -0.7 EV of exposure compensation. A question that may be in your mind is why would I purposely underexpose a black bird against a black background?
I used -0.7 EV exposure compensation to help force the background to go darker and eliminate any shapes or uneven shading. Since I was photographing a black bird against a dark background, doing some additional burning in post to darken the background would have been a waste of my time and effort. A much easier solution was to use exposure compensation to further darken the background in my original RAW file capture.
I used Spot Metering on the crow as I wanted my exposure to pick up some of the subtle highlights in the crow’s dark feathers. I knew that I could use the DxO Smart Lighting Spot Weighted tool to help pull out more detail from those subtle feather highlights in post, while still leaving the background basically black.
It is fundamental that we consider our post processing software as an integral part of our photographic system. It is just as important as the cameras and lenses that we use for our photography. It is critical to think about our post processing as we are in the process of determining how we are going to capture a specific image. If we wait until after the image is created to think about post processing… it is often too late.
I hope that this article about my metering and composition choices at Bird Kingdom has been of some value for you. This recent Bird Kingdom outing confirmed for me that there are specific bird photography situations where my first choice of lens will be the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II zoom lens.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld with the camera equipment noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,410 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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