Very nicely done. Simple language that we can all understand and relate too. Very natural presentation style. I will certainly be trying to get the hang of this.
Jan, thank you! You are the only one on youtube that explains bird photography so extensively. Please keep it up !! I learn a lot! I'm from belgium and I'm 18 years old but want to learn everything of bird photography via the Internet and because of you it's more than possible. So thanks a lot!
Hi Jan - another great video. It’s worth noting that your workflow is specific to DSLRs. The principal would be the same for mirrorless, but you obviously have access to live histograms with EVFs. One of the dangers of EVFs, in my personal experience, is that they are set by default to show a brighter image than what will be captured - helpful for visibility in brighter conditions but you have to be really mindful of your histogram (as you say) rather than relying on what you see in the EVF. I am sure this is a rookie mistake that experienced photographers would not make, but it is human nature to believe the eye (the EVF) and easy to get caught out...
Craig B hey. That’s the perfect example of never believing anything else than the histogram. Screens are nice, but as you say hab either purposes than evaluating exposure
Hey Jan my name is Gary Temor I really impressed with your videos beautiful work and beautiful teaching I’m learning from you the way you take pictures of the birds and I’m impressed I’m watching every video you produce at TH-cam I hope I’m going to learn how to take pictures of birds I love it thank you
Using your all manual guidelines really improved my images at such an important moment today! Several kestrels were hunting and taking off and landing from branches up above me with a bright sky behind them. If I had been using auto ISO even with exposure compensation I think most of the images would have been under exposed for the birds. Presetting an ISO that properly exposed the shadowed backlit branches and perched Kestrel ahead of time allowed me to catch some great takeoffs and landings and not worry about my spot metering or any metering at all. 1600 shutter speed and around f8 was perfect with about 800 ISO in bright sunlight. Thanks for the heads up Jan and best of luck to you, be safe!
Mr Jan, am new to your channel, and I've been a serious photographer for abt 3+ yrs, and am confident to say that this is the only video out of hundreds ive watched that has made me understand on how to read the histogram correctly. Thank you
Hey Jan ....the way you explained and demonstrated the usefulness of the histogram was fantastic. Best ever explanation. So uplifting to watch you tutor us mere mortals. Keep it up please. Rob
I am glad I found you randomly on google looking at bird images. I followed the link and found your TH-cam. Brilliant explanations I am going to try and put some of this to use myself.
you can never please anyone. It's probably people who don't like what I say or how I made the video. As long as I can help people and share good information it doesn't really matter anyhow.
@@jan_wegener My philosophy as well. I just finished up Bald Eagle season here and I've been trying different shooting methods. I take a little info here and there and apply to what works for me. Thanks again :)
Jan - your explanation of exposure and use of histogram is superior to anything that I have watched so far. Keep up the great work! I am a subscriber! :)
Thank you :) I try to explain these topics as simple as possible. No need to get caught up in all the technical aspects if we just wanna use it to take photos.
in the end whatever works for you is best. But you are relying on the screen, which can be off at times. Underexposing will introduce more noise once brightened
Hi Jan, thank you so much for the great explanation of exposure and use of histogram. I subscribed to you, will be watching all your valuable videos soon. You are very straight forward and easy to follow your methods. Thanks. I am Dunstan from Sri Lanka.
Excellent Jan. But what about about blackbird you have to go negative compensation to get the perfect black composure but also your background will get dark.
SRC Wild and Adventure dark birds always photograph best in soft light and with lighter coloured backgrounds. If the conditions aren’t right. It’s very tricky to photograph them. This is also where a flash comes in really handy to balance things out and add more light and details on to the dark bird. Like I said in the video, exposure is always a compromise.
@@jan_wegener I agree with you thanks for your videos really enjoying. Btw I am going to the mountains for photographing songbirds and Himalayan birds in the middle of this month. Love from India
Jan, you explain everything so well and I thank you for that..love your work so much..when I'm taking pictures I hear your voice all the time..thank you from Acworth, Georgia USA
Fantastic, this video helped me a lot as I always red articles saying everything in the histogram should be in the middle. Anyway thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it and also I like your presentation in general. 👌
I have been photographing birds for some years now, but not until now I have understood the idea of keeping the histogram to the right. I have always been "protecting" my highlights and underexposed my images slightly, which have caused my problems with noice in shadows. I feel a little bit stupid that not figured that part out. Thanks for really good explanations.
Hi Jan, can u make a video of basic editing to go with this video. One more question what is the best metering mode matrix or spot for wildlife photography. Thanks... Love u style & photos.👍👍👍
There will be a big editing project launching soon followed by a few YT videos on the topic. Stay tuned! I shoot manual, so the metering mode is irrelevant. When I shot AV I always used Evaluative
Awesome you liked it! You can check out my video "How to attract amazing birds" for a little insight. But it's a nice idea for another video, too th-cam.com/video/P8eHbkjxYGo/w-d-xo.html
Love these videos Jan. Your work is fantastic and I enjoy seeing your images as well as learning so much! Thank you for the great explanations...I can't wait to put these tips to practice.
Good solid advice Jan, thank you . We regularly have poor light in England and yet using flash is frowned on.. which is a shame as it just lifts the subject. Ted.
A great well explain video, always shot in aperture priority but recently tried manual a few times but always concerned that I'd miss the shot. After watching this I'll give it more off a go .
That's good to hear. Let me know how you go. It certainly takes a little bit to get used to. But I think a lot of people stay away from manual because they don't know how to use the histogram and without it, it's like driving blindfolded.
Excellent channel Jan, just subscribed. I got here from your IG account. I think you should promote it more on IG because your material and pictures are wonderful and your channel should have more views! I have a question, other photographers recommend using auto ISO and limiting to a range, what do you think?
Desi Baba it does and that’s probably the main reason why it’s always tempting to underexpose your images, but as you can see that has a bunch of negative effects, too
Hi Jan, at around 6.30 you say you will cover flash in the next video but I can't find it. Have you done this video? If you have, which one is it it. If not, I would really love to see one. Thanks
thanks so much, hope i can do better this time with the migrating wheatears, who pass by Jeddah in March. still not have nice shots of the pied wheatear or the black eared one. wish me luck Jan, and thanks again.
Thank you, Jan for your brilliant videos you bring to us, after watching this I will definitely be using my histogram more. Before watching your videos I used to ETTL but are creating much better, well exposed, brighter images now and it’s all down to your help and Photography knowledge. You explain things so well.........Thanks again.
Great video Jan. I learnt the most when you spoke about the histogram and preventing clipping and reducing ISO noise. What do you do when you have changing light conditions like cloudy or overcast days? We see here that you use manual and set the ISO, so if the light changes quickly one way or the other will you be constantly changing the ISO to match the conditions and taking test photos to view the histogram?
thethreeislands I would usually just adjust my shutter speed and only when the light looks like it’s more constant adjust the iso. When it changes all the time I pick one that’s not too high for the sun and not too low for the shade and then adjust the shutter speed when the light changes. It’s much easier that way and noise is not really that important in my opinion at least. It does depend on your camera as well though. Mainly using shutter speed to adjust exposure gives me ease of use and fast handling
Good day Jan. Fantastic explanation of flash usage. Thank you very much, it was really a tutorial for me. May I ask if you could send me a link with possible flash options as yours i.e. with the 'extender' set to be higher than the camera avoiding the silver eye? Regards.
Thanks, this video helped me a lot and this is a problem i have a lot! I underexpose some times and when i lighten my images i get a lot of noise, so i can do nothing about it. I'm going to try and shoot nice and bright and darken my images in post processing.
Which camera are you using? On my Sony A7ii mirrorless camera, I can see the histogram along with the zebra pattern change as I dial A/S/ISO parameters. Once I think it looks good I take the shot. There's no need for trial and error.
Jan, have you ever heard the phrase "the lying histogram"? If you expose just short of the wall to the right, often you will blow out a small patch of white feathers on the subject. The small patches (like under the throat) on some birds are too small to appear on the histogram. I try to avoid this by exposing to the middle of the 5th box. Your videos are excellent. Thank you.
Yes, you will miss small spots, but I often find it easier to fix them when I edit than underexposing too much. All depends on the bird as well. But it's a very valid point.
Jan, what is your recommendation for metering birds against a completely blown out sky or background? I am using a scene averaged exposure method but getting a lot of misreads on exposure.
Jan, there were shots where you reduced exposure (faster SS) to rovover most bird hilites, then a 2nd time to capture all bird hilites. But you said the 2nd shot was not good because of higher noise in dark areas and a dark background. Why not lower ISO instead of increasing SS? You could capture all bird hilites, reduce noise everywhere, and, if you like, adjust the background in post?
Hi, I usually like to adjust SS and adjust ISO only when necessary. I mentioned the noise, because the darker background colour increases it. If you have a dark background and lower ISo, the shutter speed will quickly fall too far. For birds on a big lens I really wanna be above 1/400 if I can generally I set Aperture and ISO and don;t change those two much during a shoot and control everything via the shutter speed
@@jan_wegener Jan, thank you for your quick reply. I think I understand. It is a workflow choice that you prefer and which works well for you and your equipment. I am still trying to work through what is best for me. In this specific case, as an example, you were originally were at ISO 1600, 1/400 sec and next switched to 1/500 second, and then to a higher SS that I missed. So, if I am ok with using ISO to increase exposure, instead of increasing SS to 1/500 I could reduce ISO to 1250 and achieve 3 things...stop the motion as well as I had originally intended, avoid reducing the amount of light hitting my sensor, and lower noise in the image. For the 3rd shot which captured all of the bird hilites, I could reduce ISO to, say, 1000 and reduce noise even further. If I am correct in my understanding of this relationship, this is the workflow option that I think I would prefer to use. I can always lighten the background in post in order to avoid losing highlights in the bird. Is my understanding correct? Thank you for all the help your videos provide. Your facility to distill and communicate the complex is exceptional (as are your images).
Since I shoot manual, I only use Evaluative metering. Or in other words, because I set all the inputs, the metering doesn't matter, since I control it all.
Thank you, awesome video, I have been in the dark for a very long time! Now its ETTR! Could you do a video on using spot metering in manual for birds that don't fly away quickly, e.g. waders. In manual exposure, that would give the best exposure control, but keen to know what settings in relation to the histogram. best wishes, Guy
Thanks! My suggestion is to use manual, because then the metering mode doesn't matter, since you are dialling in all the settings th-cam.com/video/yxm7HQ37kXY/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/dicPTGRL45E/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the video. You start your test at 1/400 but for birds I usually use faster SS in case they take flight, so ISO is much higher. What's a good compromise SS for perch and flight?
I never really go from perched to flight, unless it's a very obvious situation. For smaller birds I disregard the take off and focus on getting a nice perched shot. If you want to prepare for the take off and flight, you would be looking at at least 1/2000 sec. In my preferred overcast conditions, it would be almost impossible to get to that speed. But it would be easy on a more open perch and a sunnier day
Not directly discussing it, but not too much changes, except that you will have to bump up your ISO much higher and probably open up the lens a bit more until you get a fast enough shutter speed (1/200 - 1/400)
Thanks, good to know! I shoot manual too and ev for metering and it works great for me in most settings but it’s tricky for birds sometimes, I’m just starting to try and capture birds and it’s a challenge, but thankful for folks like you sharing your knowledge.
Liesl Huddleston if you’re shooting full manual, setting iso, Aperture and shutter speed, the metering doesn’t really matter, since the camera doesn’t have to set any settings. It’s all you and the histogram to find the exposure
Thank you for a great video , great to see a video that we can learn from , Do I have to shoot in raw my computer is not working at the moment can I edit on my phone .
ultimately it's up to you. I don't know how well Apps handle RAWS. I have never used one. If you shoot Jpeg you are giving up a lot of potential in your images. But if you just want use them for Instagram you might not need more than the jpegs has to offer
Great, Jan. Thanks a lot. I'm curious and sorry if this has been asked a lot, are the birds used to your "setups" and know to come or do you just set the perch up in a random location and wait? I've seen Duane doing the same thing and it blows my mind how quiet some birds are.
Great tutorial Jan, at last I have caught up and watched this, so immediately outside to my blind/hide to practice what you preached 😂 easy I thought, however the weather gremlins thought otherwise, cloud sun cloud sun, ISO up ISO down, in the end I think we are there (near enough) I’ve now made the histogram small (Canon R6) and yes thank you, I’m there! 🤞🏼 (so love the R6) cheers buddy 👍🏼
Ich muss sagen das du für mich die besten Tutorials im Bereich der Tierfotografie machst. Klasse Vergleiche und Praxisbeispiele, wirklich Klasse. Zum Thema Histogram, hier nutzt du das Helligkeitshistogramm und nicht die Farbhistogramme. Richtig? Eine weitere Frage zu der man immer unterschiedliche Aussagen bekommt ist der Farbraum. Mit welchem arbeitest du in der Kamera? Gruß Michael PS. Deine Lokations sehen ja Phantastisch aus, bietest du auch Fotoexkursionen an in Sachen Vorgelfotografie?
Hey, danke! Ja, ich benutze das Helligkeitshistogramm. Ich benutze Adobe RGB in der Kamer aund als mein Farbraum beim Bearbeiten. Ja, ab und zu organisere ich private Touren. Wollte auch ein paar Workshops anbieten, aber Corona hat das erstmal verhindert
Hi, Since I shoot full manual, the metering mode does not matter. Since I dial in every setting myself. the metering only matters, if you use automatic or semi automatic modes, where the camera needs to make decisions on your behalf.
@@jan_wegener Me, too use manual mode for birdshot. But you still need to choose one mode type otherwise how is the meter going to work then? BTW, I use spot metering all the time on birdshot.
When you are shooting at a bird against a bright sky on at all perch above you does the entire Sky flash over exposed as you're correcting the exposure for the bird? It seems I have to overexpose the entire sky in order not to have a dark underexposed bird in this situation.
yes, that's the only way to not have the bird too dark. Having the bright sky and a dark bird is never in ideal situation and will likely always end up in a compromised shot. The only way to balance it with a non-overexposed sky would be to use a flash
Thanks Jan, what about a sinner like me who at the moment only shoots jpeg!, I know the is a bad word, will I still shoot a little to the right? Thanks.
First of all, get on to RAW :) With just jpegs, you are limiting yourself a lot. While you want to expose to the right with just jpegs as well, you have to be a lot more careful, since you don't have any ability to recover highlights. So you have to watch that more, at the same time you're also lacking the ability to lift the shadows much, so it's a really tricky place and you have to nail exposure in-camera, since you can't change or recover much afterwards.
SInce you're on a tripod, why wouldn't you use the lowest possible ISO setting (100) to minimize sensor noise and just compensate with a slower shutter speed? Is it just because you want minimum shutter speed in the 1/400 ballpark to prevent blur if the bird is moving around?
Jan I have a question. You don’t say what metering mode you’re using. Which is it? I’m guessing it’s matrix and since you match the background colour to the bird colour this is not an issue?
Thanks for all of this, it's very helpful. However, I do have some questions: (1) When I have tried to use these ideas, I often notice that the histogram has two peaks, one for the background and one for the bird. Do you decide based on the bird's overall color (dark or light) which peak is the one that reflects the bird? I think that seems to be working, does that sound right to you? (2) Sometimes I find it hard to figure out the right ISO to expose the bird, and have sometimes used Auto ISO in manual mode to see what the camera thinks in a test shot or if I am walking around a lot to try to find birds, is using Auto ISO in manual mode something you would recommend?
The main thing I am watching is the right hand side of the histogram and that I don't clipped the right edge. I don't worry too much about the peaks in the middle. I don't use auto-iso, cause I like full control, but many others do successfully, so it's certainly a good option. But then you're giving control back to the camera.
Hi Jan, eine Frage zur Belichtungsmessung. Welche benutzt du? Spot, Mehrfeld, Selektiv, Mittenbetont? Bin mir da immer etwas unsicher, welche Methode bei welcher Situation die Beste ist. LG Michael
Da ich nur manuelle belichte, spielt diese Messung keine Rolle, da ich Blende, Verschluss und ISO selbst einstelle und die Kamera nichts selbst machen muss.
@@jan_wegener ok so mache ich es auch. Heisst das die Belichtungsmessung dann durch die rein manuelle Einstellung ignoriert wird? Das wär dann plausibel und gut :-)
Shutter speed 400 f5.6, I don’t want to change Either setting, so to get the image exposed to the right I need it set at iso 1600. The question is I’m adding noise with that iso setting, is it best to have it iso 400 and lighten in in post? Or use 1600iso?
@@jan_wegener Thanks Jan, great advice, I’ve always tried to keep iso low and then increase exposure post 🙈🙈🙈 Just needed advice as which way to go 👍👍👍
There is no perfect histogram it is a representation of all the tonal pixels in a particular image. RGB histogram is very important to understanding your exposure,more so than your luminous histogram. Colors that are clipped or blown can not be recovered as well and exposing to the right will help reducing nioise in darker areas. But there are times ETTR can cause you to blow colors....always read RGB as well as luminous histogram. Otherwise correct.
Forster Stewart good point. Yes there are certain colours like red that present a big challenge. They’re often clipped on both sides, which requires a lot of editing work to fix, because you cannot perfectly expose for them
Exposure to the right works for Canon sensors, not so for Sony sensors. Sony sensors are better at recovering shadows, than highlights. So it is better to expose for highlights when using a camera with a modern Sony sensor.
@@jan_wegener Not in practice. Sony sensors have a better dynamic range (mostly), they have more flexibility in post and the EVF and screen are WYSIWYG to get the exposure right. You expose so you do not blow the highlights. The shadows are very easy to recover without losing details. I have both Canon and Sony bodies, ETTR for Canon and expose for highlights on the Sony.
@@michaelhains2291 I was referring to how bright I can have my backgrounds. Something I pay a lot of attention to. I can expose one stop darker, but then I have to manually lighten the background. Ultimately it's probably just a different work flow and something you'd get used to easily. Good to know, though!
Please take this question out of ignorance, but does this apply to Sony FF sensors and/or Sony cameras? I would have thought that it is as much the implementation of the sensor by the camera manufacturer as the sensor itself that would determine the final results, so that you could get different results with the same sensor from two different camera brands... I can certainly say that the ETTR principal is beneficial to an Olympus MFT camera (which I have) equipped with a Sony sensor to help in controlling noise
Craig B I think the basic concept of ETTR always applies and gives you the best results, however, depending on the camera and sensor you might not be able to push it as far to the right with certain cameras. You might have to be super careful on a Sony not to clip any highlight, whereas on a Canon RAW file I can bring a decent amount of clipped highlights back and this can push ETTR quite far
Very nicely done. Simple language that we can all understand and relate too. Very natural presentation style. I will certainly be trying to get the hang of this.
Col VK5HCF thanks a lot 😊
Jan, thank you! You are the only one on youtube that explains bird photography so extensively. Please keep it up !! I learn a lot! I'm from belgium and I'm 18 years old but want to learn everything of bird photography via the Internet and because of you it's more than possible. So thanks a lot!
Thank you! Will do! It's great to hear that
Danke Jan für Deinen Input...
Thomas Müller gerne 😊
Hi Jan - another great video. It’s worth noting that your workflow is specific to DSLRs. The principal would be the same for mirrorless, but you obviously have access to live histograms with EVFs. One of the dangers of EVFs, in my personal experience, is that they are set by default to show a brighter image than what will be captured - helpful for visibility in brighter conditions but you have to be really mindful of your histogram (as you say) rather than relying on what you see in the EVF. I am sure this is a rookie mistake that experienced photographers would not make, but it is human nature to believe the eye (the EVF) and easy to get caught out...
Craig B hey. That’s the perfect example of never believing anything else than the histogram. Screens are nice, but as you say hab either purposes than evaluating exposure
Fantastic. So well explained and motivating to get out and shoot without ignoring that histogram ever again.Thank you.
Great to hear you found it helpful :) Thanks!
Hey Jan my name is Gary Temor I really impressed with your videos beautiful work and beautiful teaching I’m learning from you the way you take pictures of the birds and I’m impressed I’m watching every video you produce at TH-cam I hope I’m going to learn how to take pictures of birds I love it thank you
Wonderful :)
Best explanation about exposure. You are fantastic. I’m off to watch all of your videos.
Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoy them
Using your all manual guidelines really improved my images at such an important moment today! Several kestrels were hunting and taking off and landing from branches up above me with a bright sky behind them. If I had been using auto ISO even with exposure compensation I think most of the images would have been under exposed for the birds. Presetting an ISO that properly exposed the shadowed backlit branches and perched Kestrel ahead of time allowed me to catch some great takeoffs and landings and not worry about my spot metering or any metering at all. 1600 shutter speed and around f8 was perfect with about 800 ISO in bright sunlight. Thanks for the heads up Jan and best of luck to you, be safe!
Hi,
That's great to hear and a perfect example why I like true manual. Cause it let's you control what you want to do and get the best results
Mr Jan, am new to your channel, and I've been a serious photographer for abt 3+ yrs, and am confident to say that this is the only video out of hundreds ive watched that has made me understand on how to read the histogram correctly. Thank you
James Ngai that’s fantastic to hear 😊 I try to keep it simple and focus on real life application. 👍
Hey Jan ....the way you explained and demonstrated the usefulness of the histogram was fantastic. Best ever explanation.
So uplifting to watch you tutor us mere mortals.
Keep it up please.
Rob
thanks Rob, glad you enjoyed it!
Jan you are a great photographer & very easy to understand.
Thanks so much 😊
I am glad I found you randomly on google looking at bird images. I followed the link and found your TH-cam. Brilliant explanations I am going to try and put some of this to use myself.
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks for sharing Jan
You are so welcome :)
Great video! You explained the use of histogram clearly and I learned to shoot lighter to get rid of noise. Well done
awesome! :)
Jan, thank you, your message was very well exposed.
👀
🦗
Awesome tips and beautiful images!
thank you!
Why are there some thumbs down on these tutorials?? He does a great job.
you can never please anyone. It's probably people who don't like what I say or how I made the video. As long as I can help people and share good information it doesn't really matter anyhow.
@@jan_wegener My philosophy as well. I just finished up Bald Eagle season here and I've been trying different shooting methods. I take a little info here and there and apply to what works for me. Thanks again :)
Tim C yep! They’re such majestic birds. Great work
Jan - your explanation of exposure and use of histogram is superior to anything that I have watched so far. Keep up the great work! I am a subscriber! :)
Thank you :) I try to explain these topics as simple as possible. No need to get caught up in all the technical aspects if we just wanna use it to take photos.
I don't pay ANY attention to the histogram, I set the camera and take a test photo. Its that easy! I under exspose by half and it works for me!
in the end whatever works for you is best. But you are relying on the screen, which can be off at times. Underexposing will introduce more noise once brightened
Hi Jan, thank you so much for the great explanation of exposure and use of histogram. I subscribed to you, will be watching all your valuable videos soon. You are very straight forward and easy to follow your methods. Thanks. I am Dunstan from Sri Lanka.
Excellent Jan. But what about about blackbird you have to go negative compensation to get the perfect black composure but also your background will get dark.
SRC Wild and Adventure dark birds always photograph best in soft light and with lighter coloured backgrounds. If the conditions aren’t right. It’s very tricky to photograph them. This is also where a flash comes in really handy to balance things out and add more light and details on to the dark bird. Like I said in the video, exposure is always a compromise.
@@jan_wegener I agree with you thanks for your videos really enjoying. Btw I am going to the mountains for photographing songbirds and Himalayan birds in the middle of this month. Love from India
SRC Wild and Adventure that sounds awesome
Jan, you explain everything so well and I thank you for that..love your work so much..when I'm taking pictures I hear your voice all the time..thank you from Acworth, Georgia USA
Thank you! I hope it's not too creepy to have my voice in your head :D
Wow the principles are so simple. Thanks so much.
Glad it was helpful! :) Once you understand it, it's actually easy
Fantastic, this video helped me a lot as I always red articles saying everything in the histogram should be in the middle. Anyway thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it and also I like your presentation in general. 👌
Glad it helped! Thank you
I use flash outdoors also. Thank you for the great info. about the histogram.
Thanks for watching!
Super helpful video! Thanks a million.
SS77 Photography glad I could help 😊
I have been photographing birds for some years now, but not until now I have understood the idea of keeping the histogram to the right. I have always been "protecting" my highlights and underexposed my images slightly, which have caused my problems with noice in shadows. I feel a little bit stupid that not figured that part out. Thanks for really good explanations.
Daniel Brehmer glad I could help! I think 99% of people photograph like that. Which isn’t “wrong”, but negatively impacts image quality.
Great tips, I’ve been struggling with some of my settings 👍👍👍
Happy to help! Thanks
Hi Jan, can u make a video of basic editing to go with this video. One more question what is the best metering mode matrix or spot for wildlife photography. Thanks... Love u style & photos.👍👍👍
There will be a big editing project launching soon followed by a few YT videos on the topic. Stay tuned! I shoot manual, so the metering mode is irrelevant. When I shot AV I always used Evaluative
@@jan_wegener Thanks a lot Jan, appreciate you took the time to reply.
Another excellent video mate, extremely well explained and great examples. I look forward to having a live histogram in the viewfinder in the future.👍
Duade Paton that would make love very easy!
Great video big kudos a has Ben improving my flow with all your tutorial thank you
Glad to help
Another excelent video, thank you. I haven't seen all you videos, but i would love one about how to find and approach the birds. Thanks
Awesome you liked it! You can check out my video "How to attract amazing birds" for a little insight. But it's a nice idea for another video, too
th-cam.com/video/P8eHbkjxYGo/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Jan, I learned a lot, very clearly explained.
David Roach awesome!
Another great video Jan, thanks
My pleasure!
Excellent video Jan !!
Learnt a lot today. Tfs
That's awesome! Always happy to help!
Perfect explanation of exposure. New subscriber love your work 👌
Awesome, thank you!
Again an excellent explanation
Sen Seo 😊😊
Thanks Jan. Subscribed and bell active! Liking what I've seen so far!
awesome Jim!
This helped me immensely, thank you very much Jan
That's great to hear!
Love these videos Jan. Your work is fantastic and I enjoy seeing your images as well as learning so much! Thank you for the great explanations...I can't wait to put these tips to practice.
Dana Campbell thanks so much Dana. Always great to hear I can help people to better understand bird photography and some of the finer details
Very good video. It solved my problem. Thank you.
Great to hear!
Good solid advice Jan, thank you . We regularly have poor light in England and yet using flash is frowned on.. which is a shame as it just lifts the subject. Ted.
Ted Shillitto it is in many places, usually because people don’t know how to use it, so they don’t want you to use it either
Your are perfect on teaching !!!
Thank you! 😃
Thank you jan . Very useful👍
awesome
A great well explain video, always shot in aperture priority but recently tried manual a few times but always concerned that I'd miss the shot. After watching this I'll give it more off a go .
That's good to hear. Let me know how you go. It certainly takes a little bit to get used to. But I think a lot of people stay away from manual because they don't know how to use the histogram and without it, it's like driving blindfolded.
Excellent channel Jan, just subscribed. I got here from your IG account. I think you should promote it more on IG because your material and pictures are wonderful and your channel should have more views! I have a question, other photographers recommend using auto ISO and limiting to a range, what do you think?
Miguel Angel Jimeno thank you! I don’t use it. I can see that it makes sense sometimes, but I like full control, so I prefer full manual mode
Thank you for the tips!
Things get really tricky when you need to keep the shutter speed at or above 1/1000
Desi Baba it does and that’s probably the main reason why it’s always tempting to underexpose your images, but as you can see that has a bunch of negative effects, too
Wow, just found you today and subbed. Great info and very helpful.
Steve Kunder great 👍 😊
Hi Jan, at around 6.30 you say you will cover flash in the next video but I can't find it. Have you done this video? If you have, which one is it it. If not, I would really love to see one. Thanks
Jim Shanks it’s coming next week!
Jim Shanks so stay tuned 😊
thanks so much, hope i can do better this time with the migrating wheatears, who pass by Jeddah in March. still not have nice shots of the pied wheatear or the black eared one. wish me luck Jan, and thanks again.
Iove your videos, Thank you.
Great to hear! Thanks
Thanks, for your relaxed manner and helpful video on this subject- subscribed!
Awesome, thank you!
Brilliant, so so helpful thanks 🙏
Kingfisher61 😊😊
Cool video
thanks :)
Thank you, Jan for your brilliant videos you bring to us, after watching this I will definitely be using my histogram more. Before watching your videos I used to ETTL but are creating much better, well exposed, brighter images now and it’s all down to your help and Photography knowledge. You explain things so well.........Thanks again.
You're very welcome! Happy to hear that I could help you improve your photography!
This is very helpful. I'm heading out now to try your techniques. Thank you, Jan!
You are so welcome!
Great video Jan. I learnt the most when you spoke about the histogram and preventing clipping and reducing ISO noise. What do you do when you have changing light conditions like cloudy or overcast days? We see here that you use manual and set the ISO, so if the light changes quickly one way or the other will you be constantly changing the ISO to match the conditions and taking test photos to view the histogram?
thethreeislands I would usually just adjust my shutter speed and only when the light looks like it’s more constant adjust the iso. When it changes all the time I pick one that’s not too high for the sun and not too low for the shade and then adjust the shutter speed when the light changes. It’s much easier that way and noise is not really that important in my opinion at least. It does depend on your camera as well though. Mainly using shutter speed to adjust exposure gives me ease of use and fast handling
@@jan_wegener Cheers, thanks for the info =)
Good day Jan. Fantastic explanation of flash usage. Thank you very much, it was really a tutorial for me. May I ask if you could send me a link with possible flash options as yours i.e. with the 'extender' set to be higher than the camera avoiding the silver eye? Regards.
and old article I have written
aviscapes.com/flash-settings-and-accessories/
Thanks, this video helped me a lot and this is a problem i have a lot! I underexpose some times and when i lighten my images i get a lot of noise, so i can do nothing about it. I'm going to try and shoot nice and bright and darken my images in post processing.
Great!
Superb. You just got yourself a new subscriber
great :)
Mighty fine vid Jan , inspiring have subscribed also , great style my friend , cheers
Rick PLAYLE glad you enjoyed it mate
Which camera are you using? On my Sony A7ii mirrorless camera, I can see the histogram along with the zebra pattern change as I dial A/S/ISO parameters. Once I think it looks good I take the shot. There's no need for trial and error.
CODER QN yes it’s different on mirrorless. You can’t do that on dslr cameras
Jan, have you ever heard the phrase "the lying histogram"? If you expose just short of the wall to the right, often you will blow out a small patch of white feathers on the subject. The small patches (like under the throat) on some birds are too small to appear on the histogram. I try to avoid this by exposing to the middle of the 5th box.
Your videos are excellent. Thank you.
Yes, you will miss small spots, but I often find it easier to fix them when I edit than underexposing too much. All depends on the bird as well. But it's a very valid point.
Jan, what is your recommendation for metering birds against a completely blown out sky or background? I am using a scene averaged exposure method but getting a lot of misreads on exposure.
I would take a few test shots in manual mode and check the histogram
th-cam.com/video/dicPTGRL45E/w-d-xo.html
Jan, there were shots where you reduced exposure (faster SS) to rovover most bird hilites, then a 2nd time to capture all bird hilites. But you said the 2nd shot was not good because of higher noise in dark areas and a dark background. Why not lower ISO instead of increasing SS? You could capture all bird hilites, reduce noise everywhere, and, if you like, adjust the background in post?
Hi,
I usually like to adjust SS and adjust ISO only when necessary. I mentioned the noise, because the darker background colour increases it. If you have a dark background and lower ISo, the shutter speed will quickly fall too far. For birds on a big lens I really wanna be above 1/400 if I can
generally I set Aperture and ISO and don;t change those two much during a shoot and control everything via the shutter speed
@@jan_wegener Jan, thank you for your quick reply. I think I understand. It is a workflow choice that you prefer and which works well for you and your equipment.
I am still trying to work through what is best for me. In this specific case, as an example, you were originally were at ISO 1600, 1/400 sec and next switched to 1/500 second, and then to a higher SS that I missed. So, if I am ok with using ISO to increase exposure, instead of increasing SS to 1/500 I could reduce ISO to 1250 and achieve 3 things...stop the motion as well as I had originally intended, avoid reducing the amount of light hitting my sensor, and lower noise in the image. For the 3rd shot which captured all of the bird hilites, I could reduce ISO to, say, 1000 and reduce noise even further. If I am correct in my understanding of this relationship, this is the workflow option that I think I would prefer to use. I can always lighten the background in post in order to avoid losing highlights in the bird.
Is my understanding correct?
Thank you for all the help your videos provide. Your facility to distill and communicate the complex is exceptional (as are your images).
Great video Jan, could you do a video on metering modes..do i need evaluative, centred etc?
Since I shoot manual, I only use Evaluative metering. Or in other words, because I set all the inputs, the metering doesn't matter, since I control it all.
Great videos from you Jan very well explained and interesting keep up the great work, oh I really need a Charlie where did you purchase him from?
the local flower shop :D
Thanks Jan could be a long walk through
realy well explained Jan, cheers, Ian
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you, awesome video, I have been in the dark for a very long time! Now its ETTR! Could you do a video on using spot metering in manual for birds that don't fly away quickly, e.g. waders. In manual exposure, that would give the best exposure control, but keen to know what settings in relation to the histogram. best wishes, Guy
Thanks! My suggestion is to use manual, because then the metering mode doesn't matter, since you are dialling in all the settings
th-cam.com/video/yxm7HQ37kXY/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/dicPTGRL45E/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the video. You start your test at 1/400 but for birds I usually use faster SS in case they take flight, so ISO is much higher. What's a good compromise SS for perch and flight?
I never really go from perched to flight, unless it's a very obvious situation. For smaller birds I disregard the take off and focus on getting a nice perched shot. If you want to prepare for the take off and flight, you would be looking at at least 1/2000 sec. In my preferred overcast conditions, it would be almost impossible to get to that speed. But it would be easy on a more open perch and a sunnier day
great job.
Thank you! Cheers!
Hi Jan. Do you have a video on photographing birds in the bush where its a lot darker than cloudy?. Thanks
Not directly discussing it, but not too much changes, except that you will have to bump up your ISO much higher and probably open up the lens a bit more until you get a fast enough shutter speed (1/200 - 1/400)
How do you adjust flash settings... Is itvon ettl
Prashant Gupta check out my video about flash
th-cam.com/video/Gb7e2cfgrPg/w-d-xo.html
Great video and tips! Do you shoot with spot metering or evaluative?
Liesl Huddleston i shoot manual so the metering doesn’t matter, but I always used EV, spot I found trickier to use when I shot in AV mode
Thanks, good to know! I shoot manual too and ev for metering and it works great for me in most settings but it’s tricky for birds sometimes, I’m just starting to try and capture birds and it’s a challenge, but thankful for folks like you sharing your knowledge.
Liesl Huddleston if you’re shooting full manual, setting iso, Aperture and shutter speed, the metering doesn’t really matter, since the camera doesn’t have to set any settings. It’s all you and the histogram to find the exposure
Cool! Thanks!
Thank you for a great video , great to see a video that we can learn from ,
Do I have to shoot in raw my computer is not working at the moment can I edit on my phone .
ultimately it's up to you. I don't know how well Apps handle RAWS. I have never used one. If you shoot Jpeg you are giving up a lot of potential in your images. But if you just want use them for Instagram you might not need more than the jpegs has to offer
Great, Jan. Thanks a lot.
I'm curious and sorry if this has been asked a lot, are the birds used to your "setups" and know to come or do you just set the perch up in a random location and wait?
I've seen Duane doing the same thing and it blows my mind how quiet some birds are.
Ah and now I see your video about attracting birds, haha. I'll watch that one!
If you find the right spot and birds it can be almost easy sometimes :)
Great
Great tutorial Jan, at last I have caught up and watched this, so immediately outside to my blind/hide to practice what you preached 😂 easy I thought, however the weather gremlins thought otherwise, cloud sun cloud sun, ISO up ISO down, in the end I think we are there (near enough) I’ve now made the histogram small (Canon R6) and yes thank you, I’m there! 🤞🏼 (so love the R6) cheers buddy 👍🏼
You can do it! Glad I could help
Hi Jan what type of focus point use when bird moving around?
If the bird is not too big in the frame, I like the centre point with some assisting points activated around it
Thanks....
Ich muss sagen das du für mich die besten Tutorials im Bereich der Tierfotografie machst. Klasse Vergleiche und Praxisbeispiele, wirklich Klasse.
Zum Thema Histogram, hier nutzt du das Helligkeitshistogramm und nicht die Farbhistogramme. Richtig?
Eine weitere Frage zu der man immer unterschiedliche Aussagen bekommt ist der Farbraum. Mit welchem arbeitest du in der Kamera?
Gruß Michael
PS. Deine Lokations sehen ja Phantastisch aus, bietest du auch Fotoexkursionen an in Sachen Vorgelfotografie?
Hey,
danke!
Ja, ich benutze das Helligkeitshistogramm.
Ich benutze Adobe RGB in der Kamer aund als mein Farbraum beim Bearbeiten.
Ja, ab und zu organisere ich private Touren. Wollte auch ein paar Workshops anbieten, aber Corona hat das erstmal verhindert
So well explained, thank you. Looking forward to putting it to the test. Completely with you on the editing thing too.
great :) Let me know how you go.
You have not mentioned what exposure mode did you use.....spot, matrix, exponential?
Hi,
Since I shoot full manual, the metering mode does not matter. Since I dial in every setting myself. the metering only matters, if you use automatic or semi automatic modes, where the camera needs to make decisions on your behalf.
@@jan_wegener Me, too use manual mode for birdshot. But you still need to choose one mode type otherwise how is the meter going to work then? BTW, I use spot metering all the time on birdshot.
what about manual mode and auto iso + ev compensation?
Federico Sciascia I find it more complicated and definitely still less accurate because you let the camera decide things
When you are shooting at a bird against a bright sky on at all perch above you does the entire Sky flash over exposed as you're correcting the exposure for the bird? It seems I have to overexpose the entire sky in order not to have a dark underexposed bird in this situation.
yes, that's the only way to not have the bird too dark. Having the bright sky and a dark bird is never in ideal situation and will likely always end up in a compromised shot. The only way to balance it with a non-overexposed sky would be to use a flash
👍👍no.1👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks :)
Thanks Jan, what about a sinner like me who at the moment only shoots jpeg!, I know the is a bad word, will I still shoot a little to the right? Thanks.
First of all, get on to RAW :) With just jpegs, you are limiting yourself a lot. While you want to expose to the right with just jpegs as well, you have to be a lot more careful, since you don't have any ability to recover highlights. So you have to watch that more, at the same time you're also lacking the ability to lift the shadows much, so it's a really tricky place and you have to nail exposure in-camera, since you can't change or recover much afterwards.
Isn't using flash not allowed in some places?
Great video Jan, have to get out tomorrow and give it a go 👍
Awesome! I know it will help!
SInce you're on a tripod, why wouldn't you use the lowest possible ISO setting (100) to minimize sensor noise and just compensate with a slower shutter speed? Is it just because you want minimum shutter speed in the 1/400 ballpark to prevent blur if the bird is moving around?
Because that's the recipe to get a lot of blurry image from the bird moving or me moving the camera
That’s brill, thank you
Thank you
Jan I have a question. You don’t say what metering mode you’re using. Which is it? I’m guessing it’s matrix and since you match the background colour to the bird colour this is not an issue?
When I am shooting full manual mode, the metering mode doesn't matter, since I am setting all the parameters affecting exposure
Thanks for all of this, it's very helpful. However, I do have some questions:
(1) When I have tried to use these ideas, I often notice that the histogram has two peaks, one for the background and one for the bird. Do you decide based on the bird's overall color (dark or light) which peak is the one that reflects the bird? I think that seems to be working, does that sound right to you?
(2) Sometimes I find it hard to figure out the right ISO to expose the bird, and have sometimes used Auto ISO in manual mode to see what the camera thinks in a test shot or if I am walking around a lot to try to find birds, is using Auto ISO in manual mode something you would recommend?
The main thing I am watching is the right hand side of the histogram and that I don't clipped the right edge. I don't worry too much about the peaks in the middle.
I don't use auto-iso, cause I like full control, but many others do successfully, so it's certainly a good option. But then you're giving control back to the camera.
I need a new computer what should I be looking for image processing
It really depends on what you want to spend. If you send me an e-mail I can send you what I got and I am happy with.
G'day Jan , are you and Charlie on FACEBOOK ? Thanks & Cheers again ....
facebook.com/aviscapes/
Have it & thank you - Jan ; Cheers Norman
Hi Jan, eine Frage zur Belichtungsmessung. Welche benutzt du? Spot, Mehrfeld, Selektiv, Mittenbetont?
Bin mir da immer etwas unsicher, welche Methode bei welcher Situation die Beste ist.
LG Michael
Da ich nur manuelle belichte, spielt diese Messung keine Rolle, da ich Blende, Verschluss und ISO selbst einstelle und die Kamera nichts selbst machen muss.
@@jan_wegener ok so mache ich es auch. Heisst das die Belichtungsmessung dann durch die rein manuelle Einstellung ignoriert wird? Das wär dann plausibel und gut :-)
@@michaelp9574 genau das
Shutter speed 400 f5.6, I don’t want to change Either setting, so to get the image exposed to the right I need it set at iso 1600. The question is I’m adding noise with that iso setting, is it best to have it iso 400 and lighten in in post? Or use 1600iso?
definitely use 1600 and expose properly in the field. Pulling up an image that much in post will degrade IQ
@@jan_wegener Thanks Jan, great advice, I’ve always tried to keep iso low and then increase exposure post 🙈🙈🙈
Just needed advice as which way to go 👍👍👍
There is no perfect histogram it is a representation of all the tonal pixels in a particular image. RGB histogram is very important to understanding your exposure,more so than your luminous histogram. Colors that are clipped or blown can not be recovered as well and exposing to the right will help reducing nioise in darker areas. But there are times ETTR can cause you to blow colors....always read RGB as well as luminous histogram. Otherwise correct.
Forster Stewart good point. Yes there are certain colours like red that present a big challenge. They’re often clipped on both sides, which requires a lot of editing work to fix, because you cannot perfectly expose for them
Whats up with the flush??
flash? I made a video about that, too :)
th-cam.com/video/Gb7e2cfgrPg/w-d-xo.html
I would love to photography birds but without a long lens its basically useless where I live. Birds are not friendly here.
Yes, a long lens really helps with birds, unless they're coming to a feeder or are used to people.
Exposure to the right works for Canon sensors, not so for Sony sensors. Sony sensors are better at recovering shadows, than highlights. So it is better to expose for highlights when using a camera with a modern Sony sensor.
That's interesting an makes a few things a lot more difficult, like having nice and bright backgrounds
@@jan_wegener Not in practice. Sony sensors have a better dynamic range (mostly), they have more flexibility in post and the EVF and screen are WYSIWYG to get the exposure right. You expose so you do not blow the highlights. The shadows are very easy to recover without losing details. I have both Canon and Sony bodies, ETTR for Canon and expose for highlights on the Sony.
@@michaelhains2291 I was referring to how bright I can have my backgrounds. Something I pay a lot of attention to. I can expose one stop darker, but then I have to manually lighten the background. Ultimately it's probably just a different work flow and something you'd get used to easily. Good to know, though!
Please take this question out of ignorance, but does this apply to Sony FF sensors and/or Sony cameras?
I would have thought that it is as much the implementation of the sensor by the camera manufacturer as the sensor itself that would determine the final results, so that you could get different results with the same sensor from two different camera brands...
I can certainly say that the ETTR principal is beneficial to an Olympus MFT camera (which I have) equipped with a Sony sensor to help in controlling noise
Craig B I think the basic concept of ETTR always applies and gives you the best results, however, depending on the camera and sensor you might not be able to push it as far to the right with certain cameras. You might have to be super careful on a Sony not to clip any highlight, whereas on a Canon RAW file I can bring a decent amount of clipped highlights back and this can push ETTR quite far