This week the Show Me A Photo Contest is all about bird silhouettes. Many thanks to @nelinoeva and the Feather Friends team for running this awesome contest!
We all remember the old photography adage about keeping the sun at your back so that your subject is well illuminated. This is very important in bird and wildlife photography but sometimes you just can't make it happen.
(Fuji X-T4, 200mm, f/4.8, 1/2000, ISO 2500)
claim this photo was done on purpose because I love silhouettes. This will be my entry for the contest.So what are you going to do with a photo like this? You either go with the silhouette and claim you made this for the artistry of it all, or you try to "fix" it in post-processing. As @nelinoeva discusses in her post, attempts to lift the shadows often make things worse. I'm going to
Birds in-flight captured against a white or blue sky often look weird and it's very difficult to correct. I have a lot of photos of herons flying high overhead and they usually come out like this...
Above: I think a hard silhouette against a blue sky looks better than a white sky but I'm still tempted to try to repair this.
I like silhouettes, but can you "fix" this?
You should always try to get the exposure right in-camera and avoid the problem but with birds flying all over the sky, you don't have a lot of time to make adjustments... Now and then I have been able to make fairly convincing corrections in post-processing. See the next two gif files for before and after shots of a crow and an eagle:
I pulled up the shadows on this crow enough to reveal a lot of details, but does it look right? I think I pushed it too far... the crow is supposed to look black.
Here's a better example... If I leave this bird in full silhouette it's not easy to identify, but after pulling up the shadows you can see that this is a juvenile bald eagle.
So what's your opinion? Do you enjoy silhouettes or do you post-process and try to reveal details in the shadows? I'd love to hear your opinion.
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BEER.It is so hard to switch the settings with the birds. I have failed to make a single shot just because I rushed to turn around the tree and leave the sun behind and the bird was gone. ☺
I tnink the best is to make the photo and after that to try to post-process to id. It may work or not, but at least you can have a nice silhouette.
Wonderful post with very good examples!
Thank you, @nelinoeva... it can be tricky but fortunately, I think silhouettes look good. I think it's best to make only minimal edits because it's too easy to ruin a shot when you try to fix those deep shadows.
Wonderful reportage
Thanks so much, @apnigrich!
You did it nicely good luck mate
Thank you very much, @bendany!
Great entry 👍🏽 I like the "Light Switching Gifs" 😁 Gotta see if i have some shots where i can switch the lights off in post 😉 Good luck for the contest 🖖🏼😎🤙🏼
Thank you, @moretea! It's a fun effect to play around with. I make my gifs at the free site, ezgif.com
I love silhouettes! I think you did a great job of capturing them. What is the secret to them?
Thanks, @dswigle! If you want to create a silhouette, look for back-lit subjects. With birds, I have normally tried to avoid silhouettes, but they can look very attractive so maybe you want to make one on purpose :-)
very interesting post. i have often tried to correct poor lighting on birds but with very little success. my experience is it is better just to move on and find new opportunities. i still have too many photos even after i delete the flops. by now i should have learned not to bother taking photos that i know have poor lighting yet they still seem to appear regardless
Having too many photos.... yes, I sure know what you mean! Deleting bad photos could be a full time job for me!
I enjoy both!!! And I love how your main entry turned out. Gorgeous! (I'm not just saying that because it's a crow.)