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I used an external flash (for bouncing) with an old P&S (Kodak DC4800) which didn't even have a hotshoe. I bought a L bracket to fix it. It used to get triggered (strobe) by the built-in flash. No wire connection was needed.

The light was very low.... and I didnt wanted to use flash. Can you give me a good link on metering?
I used spot metering AF point with +ve exposure compensation in a little low light and the pics were over exposed. How do I take a pic of a subject aganist a bright lit background.... say a bird flying in the afternoon.

Well, I dont know much about metering. As in theoretically, I know how each one works, but have never used them and have left it as center weighted average. I have a P & S (canon powershot A530), and from Ken rockwell's site I picked up all the info I could for my camera. I use the LCD display from my camera, so I know how the picture would look. I would suggest you to use a tripod and manual focus for Macro photography. And regarding the bright lit background, you should use fill in flash to eliminate the shadows. This method is not feasible when you are shooting birds, as they are far and flash wont help you. I havent done any bird photography so got no clue on how to do that. Macro is what fascinates me the most, but gettin hold of insects and butterflies to shoot is a major pain and the rewards are worth it. :)

a common trick i use (espscially when shooting objects at infinity) is focus my camera on open sky or any other bright part, then half press the button which locks the focus and exposure, then bring the cam back to the object and complete the shot.

as a rule of thumb, the objects closer than 5 feet, use the flash. closer than 1 feet, use the flash with low exposure, or low power on flash.

Thanks for Info Vivek. I think my method should also work. In case of spot metering the metering area is very small hence very specific, so I can meter off a smaller area which could be my subject. Taking example of a bird flying in the afternoon sky, I can meter off the bird by selecting spot metering at the autofocus point and since the bird would be dark compared to the bright background which is sky in this case, I can always go for + ve exposure compensation. What concerns me is that my cam is a point and shoot so the AF point isnt precise unlike a DSLR so I will have to try this on a stationary object first. You can try this also and do keep us posted while you are at it.

When you spot meter on a dark object, it exposes the dark as mid tone, which means it overexposes. Therefore, you have to use -ve exposure compension, not +ve.

i didn't get it. against the dark background, your bird is underexposed. why do you want to spot meter at bird anyway? besides, birds fly pretty fast ;)

which is the primary reason i use the method i described. my S2 IS also has a small AF box (around 2-3 % of total area) which can be moved around on the frame, but I find my method MUCH faster and easier. there is no difference really.

So how do I click a bird aganist an afternoon sky? Spot metering plus -ve exposure?

question: do you want to see a silhouette? or actual details of the bird?

Actually do do not do -ve since its the bird you are concerned about not the sky.
If you have a spot metering which covers 1% circle, and your bird is bigger than that, no issues, just spot meter and shoot.
However if you have a camera that can meter 9%, i.e. lot of sky+bird comes in spot metering circle. you overexpose.
The sky will be blown out, but you will get exposure on the bird right.

The darkground is bright not dark :D Its an afternoon sky so if I use evaluative metering, the bird would be underexposed. I will post the pic in question shortly, although the composition was nice, exposure screwed it. :(



Rudra if you can give us some insights.

Exactly Tanveer. I have an S3 IS and its bigger than 1% circle so I think I should forget about birding till I move to a DSLR. A bit of sky also comes in and hence the over exposure.

oops, i meant bright.

so you need bird details. either you spot meter on bird, which is difficult (moving target),or any other dark distant object (my method), or overexpose without doing this circus. result should be the same. sky overexposed, bird looking perfect.


PS: the picture is not screwed. it looks good as a silhoutte.

You can't spot meter a flying bird, spot metering needs lot more care.

Preset the exposure when you shoot flying bird. Say spot meter on a similar toned object (apply -ve EC) and lock the exposure. Then shoot the bird.

Tanveer, spot meter always exposes the objects for mid tone. Therefore, when you spot meter anything darker or brighter objects, you gotta compensate.

What you guys say about this


Shot with DSC-W30 at 2007-08-01