Shooting in the middle of the day

[jonneymendoza]

Hi, whenever i shoot during the day on a blue sunny sky, i canno get the exposure correct on my images. The sky is either overexposed when the foreground is exposed properly, or the sky is exposed fine but the foreground ois underexposed.

Any tips on how to get correct exposures on both the sky and all foreground objects? im currently in the philippines taking pictures of landscapes and the streets here.

I am using a canon 400d along with a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens. I have heard you can take two pictures of the sky being exposed fine on one scene, and another pic of the foreground being exposed properly on the otther and merge the two but impossible to do hand held and sometimes traveling at the back of a moving vehicle.

Any other techniques? what matering mode should i use? Im current using centre weight mode

[yogestee]

Here is what I do.. I expose for the sky then during post processing I select the foreground and bring up the exposure..

Another method I use is a graduated neutral density filter..

[jonneymendoza]

Cheers i may try graduated neutral density filter

[yogestee]

Make sure you get one that's dark enough at the top extremity..

[Gatorboy]

Use fill-flash (if shooting people), or try HDR.

[tdodd]

A sunny blue sky should not overexpose easily, unless you are shooting towards the sun, putting your subject in backlight and doubling the problem of haze becoming a giant softbox that your lens is aiming towards. If you keep the sun somewhere behind you - it doesn't have to be directly behind you, just over your shoulder somewhere - then your problem should be reduced enormously. The sky will calm down and the (fore)ground will be better lit.

Here are two "blue sky" examples. They are unedited raw files, with the exposure set to purposely ETTR. The exposures are only separated by 1/3 stop and the were taken just 12 minutes apart. With the first image the sun is somewhat behind my shoulder. With the second one the camera is pointing closer towards the sun, and the brightest part of the sky. As you may note, in the second picture the sky is more of a threat to my subject, but I am still on the sunny side of my subject so I am OK. If I had moved 15' to my left I would have caused a big problem for myself.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4_R8TkwT74w/S21ki3U9HBI/AAAAAAABPMs/jT0-b56rg9Q/s800/20100102_125327_1205_LR.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4_R8TkwT74w/S21knKPRyyI/AAAAAAABPM0/alepj7Gtf2I/s800/20100102_124151_1197_LR.jpg

To point the camera directly into the direction of the sun I might be better off deliberately aiming for silhouettes. In fact that is exactly what some people were doing.

[400dabuser]

Until recently, I have had the same problem with you OP, thanks to a new technique that someone told me, I rarely get overexposure these days

Think it was called mid tones something???

[jonneymendoza]

Until recently, I have had the same problem with you OP, thanks to a new technique that someone told me, I rarely get overexposure these days

Think it was called mid tones something???

Care o elaborate more on this technique? At the previous poster, yes it will work if taking a picture of a flat clear landscape but when out on the streets taking pictures of builidings or people walking along a narrow street with the sun up and running, its difficult as their is too many shadows in the foreground.

[400dabuser]

Care o elaborate more on this technique? At the previous poster, yes it will work if taking a picture of a flat clear landscape but when out on the streets taking pictures of builidings or people walking along a narrow street with the sun up and running, its difficult as their is too many shadows in the foreground.


lol, kind of hard to explain, since I am still learning it :)

Mind you, it is working though

[jonneymendoza]

You got a reference to this technique at least?

[PhotosGuy]

I am using a canon 400d along with a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens. I have heard you can take two pictures of the sky being exposed fine on one scene, and another pic of the foreground being exposed properly on the otther and merge the two but impossible to do hand held and sometimes traveling at the back of a moving vehicle. Got PS? Another way is to adjust different parts of the image different amounts. Adjustment Layers are one answer. Post #9:
Airport runway shoot (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=117950)
The sky is either overexposed when the foreground is exposed properly, or the sky is exposed fine but the foreground ois underexposed. First, you need to adjust your exposure for the important part of the image, whatever you decide that it, as in Post #8 in Correct Exposure (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=689216)

Another solution is to wait until the light in the sky is closer to the light on the subject. See the links in my Sig.

[RPCrowe]

Depending on the angle of the sun; a CPL will darken the sky... It will often darken it enough so that the dynamic range capability of your camera can cover the dynamic range of the scene after the sky is darkened.

[jonneymendoza]

Cheers. i have PS so i will give it a try blending two versions of a picture with two different exposures