I'm a lifelong birder and have been actively photographing birds for the last 2 years. I have a Canon 10D and 75-300mm lens and occasionally use a friend's 400mm L prime lens.
For many obvious reasons, digital is much more versatile than film for bird photography. However, the biggest problem I've noticed in switching from film to digital 2 years ago, has been loss of details of the darkest and brightest areas, when photographing high-contrast birds, like Buffleheads, Goldeneyes and Woodpeckers. I now shoot RAW to increase my adjustment possibilities, especially the Color Temperature and Exposure Compensation settings in Rawshooter Essentials.
Unfortunately, I haven't found a way, either pre-shoot in the camera, or post-shoot in Rawshooter, to bring up the kind of high-contrast details I used to get using film.
Therefore, I'd very much appreciate hearing how others have been able to deal with this problem, to try and maximize details.
Thanks very much and I look forward to your replies.
Colin Clasen
Coquitlam, British Columbia
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Linear Mode
