Photographing dark objects in a light background

[keller]

One issue I've noticed when trying to photograph dark objects on a very light background (especially with bright sunlight) is that if you increase exposure, the background looks way too light, but if you decrease exposure, the object is too dark.

I've tried everything - increasing/decreasing exposure, increasing/decreasing the apeture and shutter speed, to no avail. Is this one of those dillemas that are just impossible to solve?

 

[Wally]

have you tried "fill flash"

 

[keller]

What's that?

 

[Kent Frost]

Expose for the background, and use a flash. The camera will properly expose your background and the flash will "fill" the shadows on the subject in front of the background.

Like so:

 

[keller]

Ah, I get it now. Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a shot tomorrow night and see how it goes!