Waterfowl+WaterDrops=Burnt out spots

[anthonty_debase]

Perhaps some of you may be able to suggest solutions to a problem I am having shooting water fowl. Recently I was shooting a nesting grebe. I used Sensia 100 (I have several dozen rolls of the old stuff left) in my FM2 with a 400mm f/5.6 Sigma. She had recently been diving in the water and had numerous small water drops on her feathers. The sky was partly cloudy but the grebe was in direct sunlight. Many of my exposures was right on so I got nice detail in the feathers, but the water spots reflected so much sunlight that they appear as burnt out spots on the grebe's feathers. Fortuneately the clouds came around and reduced the unwanted reflections. But the issue of how to deal with water spots that burn out still remains since one can't guarantee the exact level of clouds that will reduce the harsh light while allowing a decent shutter speed.

Any suggestions on how to deal with water spots that reflect more light than the film can handle would be appreciated. I have also had this problem with ducks, geese and coots. I suppose I could buy one of those butane hair dryers and blast away, but I have a feeling the grebe would not have stayed around. :)

[bob_atkins]

Give it a towel?

 

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I think it's just "one of those things that you have to live with"

I'm afraid. You have either to wait for a dry grebe or the right

light. You could try a polarizer, but I don't know how effective

it would be. It couldn't hurt if you still had enough light for a

reasonable shutter speed. If this was easy, everyone would have

great images!

 

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The other obvious answer is a digital scan and image manipulation, if

that is a way you want to go.