How Can I take This Picture better?

CJO · Oct 8, 2008

This is the statue of George Washington at Virginia Military Institute:

Now, given that I couldn't control the lighting conditions and was not able to do much about the time of day i was there, is there a better way to take this picture so that the details of the statue ar not so overwhelmed by the bright sky?

Taken with a Canon 20D in AF/AE mode.

Rachelsne · Oct 8, 2008

you could have taken two exposures-one for the sky and one for the statue and then combined them, also a cpl may have helped a little.

Chewbecca · Oct 8, 2008

Take that shot when the sun is more behind you (not directly behind you, but not shining so closely to you). You want a blue sky. When the sun is overhead like that (or too close to your subject), it blows the coloring out because the sun is so bright/direct.
Get closer. Either straighten yourself out or your camera out. You want the shot to be straight.

Unless you want the building in the shot as well, get closer to get more of just the statue.
Did you have a hood on your lens for that shot? If not, get one.:mrgreen:
A filter of sorts might be helpful, too, but I never use filters. I mean, I haven't yet. If a sky is white/blown out, I just make sure it's not in my shot or I crop it out if it got in there anyway.

Sorry, this is all I could think of in a hurry.

Resin42 · Oct 8, 2008

Hi, welcome to TPF

Personally I'm not sure if there is a good way to take this shot. It can be hugely frustrating but getting this at a different time of day is the only way to really get it right. The exposure that you've needed to get any detail in the statue has left you with blown highlights on the head and shoulders and a really funky rainbow effect right across the frame so even two exposures would be a tall order without some serious PP.

I'd chalk this one up to experience dude.

maulrat · Oct 8, 2008

I was thinking the of masking like Rachel mentioned or try HDR of a bracket set. Also, that photo is a little crooked. Maybe a 1 to 1.5 degree clockwise rotation and crop would fix it up.