HELP! Backlight exposure problems

rp1600 · Oct 12, 2006

Shot this late yesterday afternoon on a whim to see if i could capture detail and exposure in the sky while at the same time, bringing out the red in the windmill frame and whilte in the windmill blades. As you can see, disastrous.

Shot with:
Canon Dig. Reb. XT
18-55mm lens
1/50 sec
F-8

I shot are a whole variety of settings, none with great results. As an old school film guy, i'm trying to learn my way around digital and not liking it. LOL

Any and all advice requested. OTE

Big Mike · Oct 12, 2006

Would you really have been able to get colour detail in the windmill with film? I don't think so. Maybe a little more than with digital...but not a lot more.

The way I see it, you could mask out the windmill and adjust it separately. Or you could have taken two shots and combined them (again, using layer masks)...or I guess you could take several shots and try HDR (I don't have CS2 so I don't know much about it).

Maybe I'll give it a try.

*added image*
Ok, it's not perfect...but it's on the way.

rp1600 · Oct 12, 2006

Probably not much color even with film. Maybe i didn't ask the question correctly. Any ideas on how i could have avoided the silhouette while still maintaining the sky WITHOUT using a balance of fill flash and ambient lighting.

Big Mike · Oct 12, 2006

rp1600 said:
Probably not much color even with film. Maybe i didn't ask the question correctly. Any ideas on how i could have avoided the silhouette while still maintaining the sky WITHOUT using a balance of fill flash and ambient lighting.

You could invent some sort of new film or digital sensor that has a much, much wider exposure latitude... :lol:

Without using something to add light to the windmill, I don't think you can accomplish what you are talking about...with a single exposure.

Alex_B · Oct 12, 2006

meter on the sky (to avoid blowing it out), shoot raw, underexpose the windmill in a similar way you did. From RAW whicht has more than 8 bits per colour channel you can then retrieve much more information in the dark parts of the image using a decent raw converter. Will look better than when you try this with jpeg.

you could maybe have the sky exposed even a bit brighter without blowing it out. That would make things for the windmill then even easier. try bracketing exposure, digital film is cheap

Also, if the windmill was not moving, use a tripod and to one shot with the sky exposed correctly, and one with the windmill exposed correctly. you can then combine the two using photoshop. The result might look slightly unnatural though

rp1600 · Oct 12, 2006

Thanks Alex. Guess i won't have to invent new film or digital sensor afterall Mike. LOL ...

..

appreciate the feedback from both of you.

Alex_B · Oct 12, 2006

rp1600 said:
Thanks Alex. Guess i won't have to invent new film or digital sensor afterall Mike. LOL ... ..

appreciate the feedback from both of you.

Well, having sensors with a slightly better dynamical range would be nice though

cosmonaut · Oct 12, 2006

I'm a newbie to this forum, but have run into this problem. Basically you have to balance the exposure between the sky and your subject. Meter them both and go in between. If you are good in PhotoShop you can also lasso the subject and brighten it some. You can also use a polorizer and tone down the sky some....
Greg

xfloggingkylex · Oct 13, 2006

without flash, the best you can do is meter on the sky, stop up once or one and a half( +1-1.5 EV) so the sky wont be blown out, and then shoot raw so you can still pull some color out. Without taking 2 shots (HDR) it will still look less than what you are seeing.