All of the birds that frequent my garden seem to enjoy the bubbling fountain, especially when the temperatures hover around 100 for days on end. They’re giving me an opportunity to practice with my 80-400 lens. About 11 AM, this little female house sparrow plunged head first into the bubble, then emerged looking a bit dazed. The trouble I’m having with setting exposure is that most of the day, the rafters of the pergola cast deep shadows over the fountain and the birds are usually half in and half out of the shade when I take a photograph. These shots were all underexposed until I tweaked the exposure in Lightroom.
As shot: Focal Length 400mm; ISO 250; f/5.6; 1/640
I ventured outside in the peak heat about 5PM because I saw the hummer flitting about but when I went out, the hummer disappeared. I did capture a couple of shots of the male lesser goldfinch. This time, the shot was overexposed so I reduced the highlights and shadows in Lightroom.
As shot: Focal Length 400mm; ISO 500; f/5.6; 1/400
Apparently, I should have used the afternoon exposure settings for the morning shots and the morning exposures for the afternoon shot.
When they are in shadow try using a flash. Glad to see you practicing with your new lens every day. I need to start doing that myself. Keep up the good work.