Suggestions for f-stop, etc. settings needed FZ-10

[ISProf]

I have an FZ-10 with a Hoya UV filter and a Sony teleconverter. Overall I'm happy with the combination although CA and noise are sometimes evident in the shots. I can't figure out, though, how to compensate a frequent shot I have - straight up into the sky with overcast conditions (and sometimes too much sun). I've tried different settings and am not seeing results. The link below has an example of what I end up with. What settings would be correct in this situation, and is there an easy way to recover these shots after the fact? Thanks.

http://business.auburn.edu/~halldia/SonyTest.htm

[normjackson]

If not much light is falling on the waxwings from the side you are viewing, it is going to be difficult to get a picture that compares favourably with one taken when the birds are well lit.

Still, a bit more exposure would probably have helped your picture.
The trick must be to exclude the sky from your meter reading. Your FZ10 has spot metering which might have allowed you to take a meter reading from the birds' breasts or you could taken a meter reading from somewhere else (perhaps the ground) and "locked" that before taking the picture. Or you could use the manual exposure facility on your camera to lock a suitable exposure.

If you submitted this picture to the dpreview retouching forum, you might be impressed with what can be done with it. Still, I suspect with all the wizardry to hand there, the results would still not compare well to some of your better pictures taken under more favourable conditions where you managed to nail the exposure.