Shooting bright signs in darkness!

[Jack2013]

Hi Guys,
So I've got this massive crane just outside my apartment with a bright sign on the top and have been trying to get the right exposure with very little success. I can either get the sign correctly exposed but the crane too dark or vice versa.

I've attached two photos to show my dilemma!

Look forward to your replies,

Kind regards,

Jack

 

[480sparky]

You've exceeded the dynamic range of your camera. Short of buying a more expensive camera, you'll need to look onto HDR.

 

[Jack2013]

Hi Sparky,
thanks for the reply!

I've got a D5100 so chances I'm probably trying to do something it can't but I'll give the HDR a go.

Kind regards,

Jack

 

[Josh66]

You could do one exposure for the sign, then another for the crane and merge them in PP.

 

[Jack2013]

HDR did help somewhat...

But lost detail of the crane.

 

[cmhbob]

Was that in-camera HDR? I've got a 5100 too, and I haven't been overly impressed with night HDR in-camera.

You might look into taking a bunch of images - like 7 or 8 - and exposing one step for each one. Much better range for HDR software in post-processing.

Love the concept, by the way.

 

[Josh66]

I had something more like a straight 'merge' in mind - should be doable with just the first two photos you posted.

Something like this-

Source photos:




And a simple merge results in this:



edit
I did this in GIMP, BTW...

 

[rambler]

Try this software: Photomatix
HDR101.com Photomatix Information Page

 

[Jack2013]

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

Will try out these suggestions tomorrow...

Cheers

Jack

 

[AndyjO]

Hi Jack2013,

That looks like in Camera HDR to me. The image has a very high light contrast rendering it difficult to capture all the levels of light intensity (you've gone over the dynamic range of your camera). Try HDR software not the HDR camera capabilities of your D5100. It would be interesting to see your results as I am interested in HDR too!

Good luck,

Andy

 

[jaomul]

You could also take the shot before its completely dark. A little light in the sky and the sign should show up bright