Ugh... What did I do wrong?

[elementgs]

I honestly have no idea what I did wrong.

I shot this in RAW. ISO100, 35MM, f/1.8, 1/2000s.

The raw shot was underexposed, though my intent was to do so because I knew I could pull it out in post... well I thought at least... I mean with the light as bright as it was, I duno, I'm still learning.....

Anyways... this is what I saw in lightroom after changing the settings like I normally do. I didn't do anything crazy... none of my settings were greater than +20 across the board... I literally have no idea why this happened.

Incidentally, the bland one is the flat RAW as viewed from in Lightroom with nothing adjusted.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[elementgs]

This is the full shot, post edit, for reference and the straight from camera jpg for reference.

Once again, the slightly darker one is the "raw" output.

 

[molested_cow]

You are probably pushing beyond your camera's dynamic range.

 

[elementgs]

You are probably pushing beyond your camera's dynamic range.

I wish I knew how to measure that. My issue is that I've quite literally never had this problem before and I'm very close to my 10k shot mark.

I should have mentioned from the start, this shot was with the Nikon D3200 and the Nikon 35mm f1.8.

 

[weepete]

You can measure it with your light meter in camera. Put it it spot metering, meter the lightest part of your scene and then the darkest part.

 

[Juga]

Why did you shoot wide open? This is definitely a dynamic range issue. Do what weepete said. ^^^^

 

[limr]

f1.8 and 1/2000 isn't wide open.

Why did you intentionally underexpose? Were you afraid of blowing the sky out? If so, then you are already aware of the limitations on the top of the range, but you've also got limitations on the bottom as well. Spot metering will help, as mentioned. How do you measure it? Take a crap ton of pictures specifically to find the limits.

I see lots of shadows, which suggests you were not shooting at high noon. Why not re-position the couple and yourself so you're not shooting with shadows on a black shirt? And on the woman's face.

 

[cgipson1]

one word... flash!

 

[Dao]

one word... flash!

Yes!


Or 2 words

Bracket shots

 

[raventepes]

Technical issues aside, I really don't see anything wrong with the right hand image. All I'd really do is cool it down very, very slightly. I can't remember if LR has the warming/cooling/ etc. photo filters, but if it does, a basic blue cooling filter at say, 10% would be a good place to start. While I do see what you're trying to accomplish on the left side, honestly, the man's shirt is distracting. It take my eyes off the subjects themselves. In this situation, the shadows work for the image.

That's just my opinion, at any rate.

 

[Dao]

You are probably pushing beyond your camera's dynamic range.

I wish I knew how to measure that. My issue is that I've quite literally never had this problem before and I'm very close to my 10k shot mark.

I should have mentioned from the start, this shot was with the Nikon D3200 and the Nikon 35mm f1.8.

The main issue was the scene. As you may notice it has a very bright sky and some hot spots and a very dark shadow. The record medium can only record a limited range of luminance (Dynamic range). If the overall scene is bright and camera meter the bright area, the range will shift to the high side so that it can record all the information. If the overall scene is dark, the recording range will shift to the dark. However, if the scene has both very bright and dark area and you meter the bright area, the range cannot cover the dark range or the other way around.

So in this situation, you need to find a way to make the lower the dynamic range of the scene. As cgipson1 suggest, you can use a flash to fill the shadow. In that case, the dark shadow is brighter. Of course, that won't work if the dark shadow is the side of a 40 stories building or a mountain. In that case, you may need to bracket the shots and merge them in POST.

 

[amolitor]

With RAW you can adjust it two different ways. The basic RAW shot looks pretty good for everything except the shirt. Pull a second copy out with adjustments to make the shirt show a little better (not as much as you did, somewhere between the two pictures you showed us).

Then blend the two in your favorite editor. Use the "better shirt" picture as a separate layer, and use a layer mask or similar technology (Photoshop has a couple of options here, but just about everything has layer masks?) to "paint in" the shirt detail into the final image.

 

[amolitor]

As for what you did wrong -- nothing. You gave up the shirt to save the sky. Good call. The right call.

Now use a little technology to get as much of the shirt back as you can get.

 

[cgipson1]

one word... flash!

Yes!


Or 2 words

Bracket shots

Or three words...

Reflector! lol!

 

[ronlane]

f1.8 and 1/2000 isn't wide open.

it was a 35mm f/1.8, how is that not wide open?

one word... flash!

+1