Shooting Pictures without Blowing out the Background

[PhotoJunkieJen]

Hey guys... I'm looking for some tips on how to properly expose a foreground without blowing out a bright background.

For instance, we little to eat at a waterside restaurant and take pictures there. How can I take a decent picture of my parents sitting inside the restaurant using a flash... without blowing out the sky behind them?

 

[reg]

Meter for the sky, use the flash to fill in the interior.

 

[manaheim]

The idea is to have more light on your subject than in the sky, basically. You want to err on the side of underexposing the sky to get the blues. That can be VERY hard to do, because even an overcast sky tends to be far brighter than any source of artificial light.

If you can, it's best to have the sun to your back, but it sounds like in the situation you are in that's essentially impossible. As reg said, try the flash.

 

[PhotoJunkieJen]

Are there any sort of filters that could be used in a sitation like that?

 

[reg]

Inside the restaurant.... how much sky is there in the scene anyway? A small square or two? 25%? The entire background?

 

[PhotoJunkieJen]

Well for this particular restaurant, it's open air... so it's basically you... the table and the sky, haha.

But I'm also lookking for any general advice for shooting in a situation like this... For instance, shooting into the sun but not wanting to silhoutte the foreground.

 

[reg]

I'm telling ya, spot meter on the sky, and use the flash to compensate for the foreground.

 

[K8-90]

^ +1

 

[jwhphoto]

I haave a question along these lines, What if your subject is somewhat far away and the flash has little effect on this? is there any way to keep the sky from blowing out?

 

[Dao]

Then you may need to use a tripod and take few shots with different exposure settings such as bracketing and combine them together later with software.

 

[chrisburke]

The Sunny 16 rule...

the rule tells us on a bright sunny day to set your aperture at f 16 and convert the ISO film rating to the closest shutter speed.

Example would be: f/16, ISO 400, Sutter 1/400
or
f/16, ISO 100, Shutter 1/100

 

[ANDS!]

The Sunny 16 rule...

the rule tells us on a bright sunny day to set your aperture at f 16 and convert the ISO film rating to the closest shutter speed.

Example would be: f/16, ISO 400, Sutter 1/400
or
f/16, ISO 100, Shutter 1/100

What the hell?

As others have said, meter for the sky, and if you have a flash, use that to "fill in" the light for your subject (which would be WAY underexposed otherwise). If no flash is available, simply say "screw you" to the sky, and focus on your subject. If you can, position yourself so the overexposed sky is NOT in the shot.

Basically -work with what you've got.

 

[chrisburke]

What the hell?

As others have said, meter for the sky, and if you have a flash, use that to "fill in" the light for your subject (which would be WAY underexposed otherwise). If no flash is available, simply say "screw you" to the sky, and focus on your subject. If you can, position yourself so the overexposed sky is NOT in the shot.

Basically -work with what you've got.

i'm not to sure what to take from this... were you agreeing with me, or dogging me?? I've been using the sunny 16 rule since I started photography, and all my skies look great...

 

[manaheim]

i'm not to sure what to take from this... were you agreeing with me, or dogging me?? I've been using the sunny 16 rule since I started photography, and all my skies look great...

If I may translate, I believe ANDS! is saying is "Really, old chap, I think you may be confused."

With respect to light and exposure, how big your aperature is only affects how long your shutter has to be open to get the exposure. It won't have any effect on what we're really dealing with when we address blown out skies, which is simply that cameras do not have the same dynamic range as the human eye. This causes a condition where a properly exposed subject in darker light, against a very bright sky, yields blown out skies. That is, of course, the problem that we're talking about, to which the prescribed remedy has been using a flash, or changing your conditions entirely.

 

[chrisburke]

If I may translate, I believe ANDS! is saying is "Really, old chap, I think you may be confused."

old chap?? ouch... i'm only 23...!!!

thanks for clearing that up for me... the sunny 16 seems to work fine for me though.. maybe its a fluke?? i duno