BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Penny

outside pics to bright/washed out


	Zachary Penny

I took some pictures of my son with my Nikon DSLR on a cloud covered morning, the pictures are a little too bright, his face is a little washed out. I tried a few auto settings. Do I need a filter? Manuel technique?

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February 26, 2008

Sarah G

Spot meter the face.

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February 26, 2008

Pete H

Penny,

Sara's advice is bang on.

I wanted to add, if this is a photo you like, there is enough detail that you can easily salvage this one with Adobe or some other image editing program.

all the best, Pete

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February 26, 2008

Penny

Thank you so much! obviously I am new at this. My new imaging software just arrived today..cant wait to try to fix it! It did look great in B&W, but I like color.

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February 26, 2008

Raymond H. Kemp

Learn to use the histogram on your camera. In my experience, it is the most useful exposure tool on your camera and one that is usually disgarded by inexperienced shooters.

The histogram would have revealed "clipping" of the highlights and therefore you could determine the amount of adjustment needed to correct the exposure. A little EV adjust or correction to your apature or shudder (depending on you shooting mode) would correct the exposure.

Ray

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February 26, 2008

Pete H

Ray,

I agree that the camera histogram is a valuable tool, but not always to be adhered to 100%.

In my opinion, beginners (should) "discard" the info provided by in camera histograms.

Your great gallery of fire & rescue photos serve as a good example.

There area few shots that would go right off the right side at (255+)..but that is acceptable as the sky in the helicopter shot demonstrates; was not what you were metering.

I've found that beginners have a difficult time grasping the histogram. When given just enough info (expose to the right) etc; they find themselves chasing every spike along the 0-255 line. Very distaracting to a newbie in photography.
They should be shooting, not scrutinizing the histogram. LOL..and we all know the perfect histogram is rarely seen.

Penny's photo would have shown a histogram simply "pushed" to the right (75%-100% zonal) with very little clipping and a overall exposure probably down 1 stop at the (0-25%)) left end.
Her mid tones are probably down perhaps 20-30% overall..Not too bad really and easily correctable in post processing.

Now I'm sure Penny is reading this and saying "What the heck?"

Which is why I steer clear of histogram instruction when teaching new photographers exposure.

all the best,

Pete

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February 26, 2008

Raymond H. Kemp

Many students (and non-student) as I'm sure you know, will "chimp" their shots then wonder later why the exposure is way off when looked at in PP.

My work is photojournalism and of course the image of the helicopter taking off in the sky with fire fighters in the foreground the dynamic ranges alone says something got to go - and the sky lost.

If students are spike chasing the histogram then they were not taught correctly. But even learning the basic aspects of clipping would be a great help in my experience.

I keep my histogram on all the time and could care less what the LCD image display looks like. I already know since I just composed the shot in the viewfinder! I only have seconds to make corrections and the histogram for me is a vital tool.

Ray

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February 27, 2008

Bernard

Penny
you can also reposition to an area with a brighter backgroung, at which point you can decrease the exposure setting until the background is as dark as the above image, of coarse your son will be exposed less.

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March 01, 2008

Bernard

oh! and don't use flash, unless on your next attempt it's a sunny day (maybe fill flash for shadows).

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March 01, 2008

Christopher A. Walrath

Sarah's definitely got this one. Meter the face then increase exposure your reading by on stop, essentially placing your subject on Zone VI which is a good place for white/caucasian skin. Darker skin looks good placed ona bout Zone IV, so decrease exposure by one stop in this instance.

Thank you
Chris

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March 01, 2008

Bernard

Cristopher
There are times when metering off the face is a good choice ie.. musicians on stage with stage lights on the subject, but in this case if Penny were to meter off the face, its obvious that the beautiful background would be to dark, "If That's What Penny Want's" then go for it. if not, then the background should first be brighten by what ever means are available to her, lights, repositioning, shooting at a deferent time of day ect..

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March 01, 2008

Bernard

I might add, as been said many times here photography is an art. and as I see
it, having beautiful greenery outdoors to look like a dark backdrop defects the purpose, but as an art form others may see it differently, good luck Penny.