sunny day overexposure?

idiom · September 4, 2008

Hello,

Whats the best way to handle the following?

- Very bright sun high in the sky.
- Overcast in most of the sky EXCEPT in front of the sun.

I was taking some photos, and it seemed that, because of the clouds reflecting the sun, no matter what angle I shot from (sun in front, sun to the side, sun behind) the sky was completely blown, and there was no definition in the clouds at all.

The sun was quite high in the sky at the time, but seem to reflect from every angle.

My exposures of the subjects were fine, but accompanied by a blown sky.

I can't post any examples at this time, but if some are required I can post some later on.

Thanks!

Halite · September 4, 2008

Cameras are much less able to deal with differences in exposure levels than our eyes. So what looks like a good scene to us translates as blown out or shadowed in the camera. The best way to deal with this is to try to bring the exposure levels in the image closer together so that they are in the range that the camera can handle. Suggestions:

1. Expose for the sky and light your subject with flash.
2. Eliminate the sky from the composition or make it a less important part
3. Shoot multiple images exposed correctly for sky and subject, then combine them in post-processing.
4. Shoot silhouettes?

Richard · September 4, 2008

Gage: I moved this to the Technique forum, as it is not only a problem in shooting people.

jfriend · September 5, 2008

[/quote] I think we've all seen this circumstance at one time or another. Here are the options you have that I can think of:

Expose for your subject and let the sky go (it will probably blow and lose detail).
Expose for detail in the sky and let the subject lighting be what it is, try to fix it in post or use auxiliary lighting (e.g. a flash) for the subject lighting.
Use an ND gradient filter to block light from the sky without impacting your subject.
Take a couple shots and bracket the exposure and then combine them digitally so you can combine a lower exposure for the sky with a proper exposure for the subject. This usually requires a tripod.
Compose differently so the sky isn't in your image or isn't an important element so you can let it blow.

The first and the last are the easiest to do at any time in the field. There is no magic camera setting that will fix this.

pathfinder · September 5, 2008

Try getting a close up meter reading of your subject ONLY, and compare that to a reading of the sky only 90 degrees from the sun.

You may find that there is a 3-5 stop difference between them. If there is, you will not be able to capture both with one exposure. Then you have a choice of multiple exposures, Graduated ND filters, or adding flash to your subject.

The easiest way to manage this situation, faced by portrait and wedding shooters almost every week, is to add flash to your subject to bring them closer to the same exposure as the background/sky. This is called fill flash, and the easiest way with the Nikon or the Canon system is with and external system flash set to ITTL/ETTL mode and the camera in Av or Manual mode.

idiom · September 8, 2008

That is all great information thank you guys very much, I appreciate the input. I have a few things to try next time.

I did debate taking out the flash, but I decided not to because i had a wide background of tree'd area which the flash wouldn't have hit, so I would have had a properly exposed couple, and sky, and dark trees in the middle-ground.

But I will try it next time and see what comes up.

Thanks again!

Scott_Quier · September 8, 2008

idiom wrote:

That is all great information thank you guys very much, I appreciate the input. I have a few things to try next time.

I did debate taking out the flash, but I decided not to because i had a wide background of tree'd area which the flash wouldn't have hit, so I would have had a properly exposed couple, and sky, and dark trees in the middle-ground. But I will try it next time and see what comes up.

Thanks again!

So you have some dark trees - who cares? That'll just help focus viewer attention back on the couple, especially if you mix in a little creative PP. I think you now have some tools to make some quite dramatic photos!

idiom · September 8, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

So you have some dark trees - who cares? That'll just help focus viewer attention back on the couple, especially if you mix in a little creative PP. I think you now have some tools to make some quite dramatic photos!

Allright, didn't really think of it like that. Noted, thank you.

sunny day overexposure?

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