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BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Exposure Settings

Photography Question 

Barbara Helgason 		 

How to Meter a Backlit Sunset Portrait


 
 
I've been told to meter off the sky or to meter off of the subject's face. The two are so different it doesn't make any sense to me. I am thinking of metering off of the sky and then adding a fill flash. Last time I took sunset portrait I was terribly disappointed. Faces underexposed, sky overexposed!! I'll include an example. Please someone help and tell me what I did wrong!


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September 21, 2005

 

Jon Close 		  Meter the sky, and you'll get good sunset exposure, but your foreground subjects will be in the dark. Meter on them, and the sky will be overexposed. You've hit on the solution: Meter for the sky and use fill flash (or reflectors) to light up your foreground subjects. The only other alternative is to "cheat" by taking two pics - one exposed for the sky, the other for the people - and combine them digitally.


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September 21, 2005

 

Barbara Helgason 		  Thanks John, I am going to give that a try, hopefully the results will be much better this time!


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September 21, 2005

 

Roy Blinston 		  Firstly, put your camera on a tripod (ask the model to keep very still). Put your camera on "manual mode". Take a reading of the sunset and adjust settings accordingly... then pop up your flash and take the pic. Because pop up flash is only good for about 8 feet, you can use and adjust your distance to match (experiment).
You only have about 10 or 15 minutes of twilight time to get the perfect shot. Take lots of pics during this time.


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September 28, 2005

 
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