Shooting lighted buildings at dusk

benignor · January 28, 2006

Hi, all!

I often find lighhted buildings appealing, especially at that "just right" time of the afternoon when the sky is a deep, rapidly darkening blue after a crisp autumn day. But I can't seem to figure out how to capture that moment properly. I always end up with badly blown highlights, an unnatural yellow cast on the building, and a poor reproduction of the sunset colors. Either that, or a waay too dark picture. Please see an example enclosed.

Can somebody provide some advice on hos how to shoot these pictures? Please be very explicit in your replies - am just beginning to teach myself some intermediate dig photo, and still need a lot of hand holding:dunno . I have a Canon EOS 20D, and I typically use my EF 17-40 f/4L for these shots, but I also have a 70-200 f/2.8L at my disposal. Thanks!

Shay Stephens · January 28, 2006

What you're basically asking is...
How do you load an elephant into a taxi?

The answer is you can't. So you have discovered that there is a limit in the dynamic range you can capture with any one exposure. That is not a failing on your part, just a limitation of the medium. It's a no win situation.

So what's a photographer to do? Take a lesson from Captain Kirk. Yes, that Captain Kirk when he was training on the Kobayashi Maru

So, I ask the question, what's a photographer to do?

benignor · January 28, 2006

Love the reference. Not a Star Trek myself, so I had never heard about it , but it is indeed very pertinent! But since I don't have any spaceships available for character-building, would stacked exposures work in this situation? Thanks,

Shay Stephens wrote:

How do you load an elephant into a taxi?

The answer is you can't. So you have discovered that there is a limit in the dynamic range you can capture with any one exposure. That is not a failing on your part, just a limitation of the medium. It's a no win situation.

So what's a photographer to do? Take a lesson from Captain Kirk. Yes, that Captain Kirk when he was training on the Kobayashi Maru

So, I ask the question, what's a photographer to do?

Shay Stephens · January 28, 2006

benignor wrote:

Love the reference. Not a Star Trek myself, so I had never heard about it , but it is indeed very pertinent!

Ok, good, you get the point. In a no win situation, you can accept the losing outcome, or you can "cheat".

In our case here, "cheating" involves taking more than one exposure and cramming them into one image. Stacking the images and exposure blending them.

There are a number of techniques you can try. The one I want to highlight right now because I think it is the easiest to implement and understand is this one:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

Shooting lighted buildings at dusk

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