Exposure Question

Zeagle · Jun 10, 2007

I need some advice on the pic below. Basically, what could I have done to get the hats, that the guys in the background are wearing, to expose better? Should I have metered off the hats or something else?

Original and exif info http://www.redskynight.net/img/v0/p704200232.jpg

Sw1tchFX · Jun 10, 2007

Did you shoot in RAW? if so, you could easily pull detail back into them.

Mad_Gnome · Jun 10, 2007

There appears to be a lot of black in the photo, so your camera misread the data and overexposed the highlights. An exposure compensation setting of about -1ev would bring the detail of the hats back. There also appears to be a distracting blob of pinkish red in the lower left corner of the frame. A finger, perhaps?

Zeagle · Jun 10, 2007

I shot this in RAW and used Aperture to process the file.

Sw1tchFX said:
Did you shoot in RAW? if so, you could easily pull detail back into them.

Zeagle · Jun 10, 2007

Thanks for the tip, I will try it shortly. The blob was some ones head :blushing: and did not notice it as it was behind the Aperture rating. Should be able to crop it out. Thanks!

Mad_Gnome said:
There appears to be a lot of black in the photo, so your camera misread the data and overexposed the highlights. An exposure compensation setting of about -1ev would bring the detail of the hats back. There also appears to be a distracting blob of pinkish red in the lower left corner of the frame. A finger, perhaps?

Sw1tchFX · Jun 11, 2007

Zeagle said:
I shot this in RAW and used Aperture to process the file.

Ok, so go back and try it again. I know lightroom has the highlight recovery, and i'd be surprised if aperture didn't.

Zeagle · Jun 12, 2007

I have updated the picture and I know that I have a long way to go to improve. Thanks for everyones help.

Sw1tchFX said:
Ok, so go back and try it again. I know lightroom has the highlight recovery, and i'd be surprised if aperture didn't.

Kerri Rae · Jun 12, 2007

Well, besides fixing it in post, yes, you could meter off the hats better, get right up to them or zoom in on them, meter and then back up to create your scene. That way you'll for sure have properly exposed hats.

The_Traveler · Jun 13, 2007

If you lower the exposure the faces under the hats will go darker.
Why not try some selective sharpening on the hats to bring out the weave and that will 'create detail'