Creative photography

[hummerfan]

Hi,

I shoot with the Panasonic FZ 18 and was wondering what I should do when I am forced to stand in the shade to take a picture of a bird that is in the sun.  Should I set the White Balance to shadow?  What else do I need to do so my shots will not be too soft?

Thanks,
Hummerfan

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Hummerfan and welcome to the Q&A Forum,

Page two of this outstanding article about photographing birds covers just about every aspect of settings you should use:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/nature/birds2.php

Every photographic situation is different, so there are really no hard and fast rules.  But other than becoming familiar with the settings on the FZ18 that are mentioned in the article, I'd change the focus mode to high speed, single area focus.

I'm not quite sure Cloudy white balance would make a big difference than auto, but take some test shots. I'd be certain to spot meter on bright areas on the bird and adjust exposure compensation as necessary to avoid blown out areas. When photographing birds, I prefer to underexpose so I can draw out detail when editing. Blown areas have no detail.

Ideally, the sun should be falling on the front of the bird, rather than having a backlit situation. So position yourself strategically.

I've started you on page two, but do read the entire article, which starts here:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/nature/birds.php

Gil is a highly skilled bird photographer. He's also written on how to photograph birds in flight:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/nature/flight.php

If you have questions after reading the article, let us know.

[hummerfan]

Thanks so much Gail for your informative reply.  I found it very helpful.   Well, I'm off to read the links you included in your post.

Again Thanks.

Max (aka hummerfan)