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Digital Photography Forum | all galleries >> DPF: Over the Years >> 2017: The Year in Review >> "Assignments" 2017 >> March/April 2017: DPF Assignment: "Exposure Compensation" > edit image
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11-MAR-2017 Laura Milholland

Anna's Hummingbird
by Laura Milholland

Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, San Rafael, CA

A small bird against a bright blue sky - I knew this would come out as almost a silhouette
without some positive exposure compensation.
Just +.3 (1/3 stop overexposure compensation) was enough to give me
some of the color and detail that would have otherwise been missing.

Nikon D5300 ,Nikkor 300mm f/4 ED-IF AF-S
1/1250s f/7.1 at 420.0mm iso250
with Nikkor 1.4 TC full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
Laura Milholland20-Mar-2017 00:42
Thank you, Liz. He kept moving around so the light was sometimes on his face or on his back. His face is actually all black. I could have lightened a touch more with EC, but it wouldn't have looked all that much different really. I have another shot with his face tilted a bit more into the sun. Maybe I should have put that one up instead, but I liked this pose with the wing up better. ;) Laura
Liz Bickel17-Mar-2017 09:00
Well handled. This is a tough one. Did you try +2/3 to give more brightness to the bird? Obviously, that would have blown the sky. But if I had to chose, I'd forget the color in the sky in favor of detail in the face feathers. However, maybe that would have been too much EC for this particular shot. There are a lot of variables in this image, and you did a very nice job with what you had to work with. Well done.
Breezanemom16-Mar-2017 12:27
Great catch of the hummingbird! I don't know that I've ever seen one sit still. :)
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