Is it ever OK to over expose....

[Moppie]

.....say for effect.

Relativly speaking Im very new to taking photos, and so have relativly a whole lot to learn.


I was trying to capture some action shots today, and get some motion blur into the background while tracking the subject.
The only problem is we get very harsh bright sun light here, which is not good for slow shutter speeds, and my A80 won't stop down below F8.
I figured I needed a shutter speed of about 1/20sec to catch the level of motion blur I was after, but heres the result:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/Moppie/IMG_0259small.jpg


Its been cropped a little (about 10% from the right edge) with a small level adjustment with the black slider in PS (just brought it upto the edge of the histogram).

While Im aware its a bad photo, I do wonder if theres prehaps some potential in delibratly over exposing a similar shot. Enough to blow out the back ground, but still capture the subject.


And for the record, my tracking skills are pretty good :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/Moppie/IMG_0311sma.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/Moppie/IMG_0312small.jpg


But again, both suffer from a blown out sky, both are 1/40 and F:8
I needed 1/100 at F:8 to get really good photos, but they lacked any sense of movement and speed.
Considering thier traveling at about 30-40kph there is plenty of speed involved, and I want to capture it!

[Olegis]

Nice shots !
You can use a neutral density (ND) filter to cut down the light even further.

[sdommin]

Like Olegis says, a neutral density filter is your best choice, but you can also try setting your exposure compensation for -2 (or as negative as it will allow).

As for your original question: "is it OK to overexpose"? Of course it is, if you get a photo you're happy with. We always talk about certain "rules" in photography, but the results are what really matters.

[Moppie]

Thank you gentlemen, your good for my ego.


Next question then, what exactly does an ND filter do? (google was most un-helpful), Im assuming it has a similar effect as a lens in sunglass's, but with out the polarisation.

[nosquare2003]

Yes, your panning skill is good with the A80!

As written by Olegis, the ND filter is to cut down the light.

[ohenry]

Overexposure results in loss of detail in the highlights. Detail that is not there can never be reproduced. If you can live with the results of the overexposure, then it's ok.



While I think going with ND filters is the best choice, you could always add motion blur in post processing. Perhaps it won't be as authentic, but you can control the amount to suit your tastes.