A PHOTO OF A SHOOT I DID TODAY WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT

[Corkyb]

I'm a rank amateur and can't comment on the technical whys and hows of exposure compensation whilst shooting dark and light subjects together. My initial reaction was that the framing looks odd due to the distracting background, specifically the black object screwed to the wall that demands almost as much attention as the woman. I'd suggest first and foremost thinking very carefully about the composition and background of your portraits (unless there's a creative reason for the metal thing, in which case apologies!).

 

[KmH]

I think the problem is with the dynamic range of moder camera that can't handle these situations.

Dynamic range has been an issue since the first camera was invented.

A camera doesn't work like our eyes do. It is up to the photographer to understand how to use the camera, lens, and light to make a photograph that looks as much as possible like what we can see with our eye.

 

[rexbobcat]

hahahahaha.... you are blaming the camera! HA! The highlights are due to bad lighting.. period!

Men, how many cameras did you have since now? I can't believe you are unfamiliar with the camera's dynamic range.

I had a D80 until last year. At normal exposure, even inside, the whites were blown out. I had to shoot weddings RAW and torture myself for about two weeks on a single wedding to recover especially bride's dress highlights, as much as possible, in Lightroom. I hate D80 now.
I must mention that I have all my familly professional photographers since my grandpa', and I also managed a minilab bussines for 10 years. I have seen them all.

I switched to Nikon D90 at the end of the season and it was a fantastic relief. Very wide dynamic range, highlights where fine and I could recover much easyer overexposures. I have also used a D5100, and this one is just fenomenal.

Please don't argue anymore on this elementary knowledge. The man has the perfect exposure for the woman's skin. The camera just can't handle both lights.

Or! He manipulated the levels in Photoshop and blew out the highlights. That seems to be quite common.

 

[DragonHeart]

I find the absence of (or hint of) the other arm disturbing. I think a reshoot is in order. Keep on shooting and take all comments with a grain of salt.