When photographing a bird (especially a light-colored bird) against a dark background, it is important not to let the dark background trick you into overexposing the bird and making it too bright and shiny—perhaps even washed out.
The trick is to adjust your exposure based on a reading against a neutral subject, such as the green foliage of a tree, or a patch of grass. In this way, your subject will be lit properly, and the dark background will remain what it was already—dark.
In the case of this photograph of the white-breasted nuthatch, I like the way the contrast of the dark background as set against the brightly lit subject area creates a spotlight, or halo, effect around the bird—value added, as they say.
This is the final column in this series by Mathew Tekulsky, the Birdman of Belair. You may keep up with Tekulsky's birding and photography activities on his Web site.
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