light over exposed pics

[photo_passion]

Okay, so I just dont know what happen... I had the ISO set to Auto, usually I put a value myself...

The weather was cloudy, was afternoon... and I was photographing a very beautiful girl in all directions...

In most of the pics, the light is too much... whatever direction is too much, some of course worse than others...

I was playing around with photoshop, but cant find a good solution...

What do you usually do in this circumstances? Do you know any tutorial that might help? I actuall tried a few of them already, but cant get good results... because it always causes damage to something else...

 

[Overread]

A lot of what is possible is highly dependant on the image in question - so we would really need to have a look at some images just to get an idea of how bad and where the problem is.

As for solutions I have two bits of advice (that you might or might not use already).

1) Use the camera histogram when shooting in the field to review the exposures of your shots. This is a wonder tool and really makes getting the best exposure a lot easier. The histogram is not bias like the JPEG review image on the LCD and gives you an easy to read graph of the lighting and where there is any over or under exposure - you can then adjust your settings as/if needed to get the proper exposure you desire.

2) Shoot in RAW - this will give you more give in your exposures - you can pull a little more out of the darks and a little more out of the highlights - but a fully blown (white) or fully underexposed (black) area will still be white or black only with no details. So whilst it gives you a little more leeway its still no replacement for nailing the exposure in the camera.

 

[photo_passion]

Thanks Overread

Actually, in photoshop, the only thing that seems to give some help is the adjustment "levels", which is based in the histogram...

I will look online for some tutorials on how to actually use this histogram... if someone knows a link to a good tutorial would be appreaciated...

Thanks

 

[Overread]

The curves control also works in the histogram and you can also try the shadows and highlights tool as well.
As for the histogram there are some good articles on this site here:
Ron Bigelow Articles

Histogram articles 1 and 2 from that site
Histograms - Part I
Histograms - Part II