Good Morning

[RSL]

Missed a couple wing shots with this guy, but this one looked okay.

[John R]

Missed a couple wing shots with this guy, but this one looked okay.

I like this one. Curious. Given the black background and white subject, how did you expose for this one, Russ?

JR

[RSL]

Thanks, John. I cranked exposure compensation down a full stop. I learned long ago to do that with egrets.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Another fine shot.
Doesn't look like George. Martha, maybe?

[rabanito]

I like this one. Curious. Given the black background and white subject, how did you expose for this one, Russ?

JR

I know I wasn't asked but my two cents are:
I would take a spot measurement of a white bird (egret, swan, spoonbill...) (or the palm of my hand) and set the values manually in the good old ZoneVI or VII (one or two stops plus). And let it there as long as the light doesn't change.
I wouldn't care much for the rest, if some detail in the plumage is important. The rest should fall in place or will be postprocessed.

[rabanito]

Another fine shot.
Doesn't look like George. Martha, maybe?

Hahahaha.
If you call this guy "Martha" you could get a pick in the eye...

[RSL]

I know I wasn't asked but my two cents are:
I would take a spot measurement of a white bird (egret, swan, spoonbill...) (or the palm of my hand) and set the values manually in the good old ZoneVI or VII (one or two stops plus). And let it there as long as the light doesn't change.
I wouldn't care much for the rest, if some detail in the plumage is important. The rest should fall in place or will be postprocessed.

Absolutely, Rab. As the bird flies by, get a spot measurement and then set aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Then you’re ready to shoot him. Oops.

[rabanito]

Absolutely, Rab. As the bird flies by, get a spot measurement and then set aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Then you’re ready to shoot him. Oops.

Hahaha. Making fun of  poor rabanito…

Actually what I mean is not exactly like how you describe it
Even if I’m preparing to do landscapes or anything static, if I know that maybe I’m going to meet flying birds I prepare for that. Something like “f/11 and be there” 😊
So when the bird takes off or passes by, I am ready.
Landscapes and flowers allow for lots more time to change settings than all the way around.
The problem is usually with well illuminated white birds. Grey herons are not but egrets or swans could be partly overexposed in a way where there is no detail in the highligts and no PP is going to bring it back.
So if I expect to meet or am approaching them, I try to be ready. If taking a spot measurement is not possible (they are maybe far away or still invisible), I meter my hand and add one or two stops so  that that white will fall where there is still detail. If the illumination is the same, the white bird will fall more or less in zone VI/VII. Of course this is a rule of thumb but it usually works.
For shooting flying birds I need a fast shutter speed and a good autofocus and some “f/11 and be there”. And a tracking ability I do not posess    This means probably a (much) higher ISO than that which I use for static subjects.
So, if I suddenly meet a wonderful landscape, I’d need, say, some 30 seconds to change to a lower ISO and put the camera from Manual to Automatic Mode (I use aperture) Landscapes don’t fly away.
Conversely, if a bird takes off, I’m ready. In these 30 seconds the bird can be far away. Not the right time to make changes, as you rightly point out 😊
Not that I am very successful, don’t take me wrong. But that’s the theory.

[RSL]

I shouldn't make fun of Rab. Your great blue shows that whatever you're doing works.

My D750 normally is set at aperture mode, f/8 by default, and with ISO floating. Of course, shutter speed is floating too when I'm in aperture mode, so the only manual control I have over brightness is exposure compensation. With egrets I have to make a split-second decision and set the appropriate compensation. With great blues I don't worry about it. My D3 did, and especially my D750 does a better job of making exposure decisions than I could. There's also DxO's PhotoLab and after that, Photoshop if there are problems. The worst problem is blowing out the highlights, which is why I'm quick to crank down exposure compensation if I'm approaching an egret.

Here are a couple I'm proud of, both from the D3. The guy with his wings spread is from 16 years ago with a D100. Same basic approach.

[rabanito]

Your great blue shows that whatever you're doing works.

Praying? Wel yes, that sometimes works 
A lucky punch.

I used the same method with the Blue but I set SS to manual as well. Only ISO floats.
No need for motion blur. My biggest problem is focusing.
My camera has a way for eluding flying subjects and getting sharp backgrounds.
Needs practice.

BTW your birds are great.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Here are a couple I'm proud of, both from the D3. The guy with his wings spread is from 16 years ago with a D100. Same basic approach.

Three is technically a trio, not a couple, but given the quality I'll waive my usual pedantry. The first is superbly caught and impressively crisp.

Jeremy

[John R]

Hey guys thanks for the feedback. Lovely bird images Russ! But I can't get over that they are not people...ha ha. I kind of thought Rab meant something different, but fortunately Russ came back to clear things up ahem...

Anyway, to my mind I thought the original post included a lot of black and was sure that would sway the meter into overexposure, even if it is multipattern metering. But perhaps the newer algorithm senses the main subject and ensures the main subject is correctly exposed. I was taught that if I encountered a subject with mostly dark to black background, expose for the dark and then set compensation one to two stops under to retain the dark areas. Of course, this was landscape, and for wildlife you have to preset exposures as you guys explained.

Thanks again.

JR

[John R]

Three is technically a trio, not a couple, but given the quality I'll waive my usual pedantry. The first is superbly caught and impressively crisp.

Jeremy

If I may, I do think the images appear oversharpened on my screen. It appears the highlights have been sharpened and that is what is likely causing the halo like look around the highlights. But this an aside viewing issue. All is fixable in this superb set of images.

JR

[RSL]

Right, Jeremy. I should have gone back and corrected the thing. I posted the first two but then came back, edited, and added the third. Mea culpa.

And, John: I really do wish I were shooting people instead of birds. They’re infinitely more interesting. And yes, cameras have gotten a lot smarter since I was working with film and a Weston light meter. I’m not sure what equipment you’re using, but if it’s a fairly recent Nikon, set the aperture at f/8, let the ISO float, and go out and do some shooting just to see what results. If you’re going to shoot something really white, like an egret in sunlight, crank exposure compensation down a bit – you usually don’t have to go more than a stop, but the situation can vary and you learn by doing. With post-processing tools like Camera Raw, Photoshop and PhotoLab you can bring some pretty far out problems back within bounds, though it’s always better to nail it right from the start. You always need to do some post-processing. The camera never will nail what you saw exactly as you saw it.

Regarding what you see as over-sharpening, sometimes I do that. But in this case, if you look carefully at the first bird you’ll realize that the sun is directly behind and slightly above him. It’s shining through his spread wing feathers, and it’s bouncing off his head. Any time you have the sun directly behind a subject you can depend on this kind of effect. Is your monitor calibrated?