sb67 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 I wondered if anyone can give me a bit of advice. Whenever I take a photo outside I struggle to get both the subject and the sky perfectly exposed. I have a Fuji finepx bridge camera and have used the auto setting and tried to adjust the aperture and shutter speed myself but either the sky or the subject ends up either under or over exposed. It's been driving me mad for some time now! Below is what I normally get And this is what I'm trying to achieve, taken by someone else Be good to get your thoughts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MPR Posted May 2, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 2, 2016 A few suggestions... Camera metering doesn't know what your subject is or how light or dark it is supposed to be, so it will set the overall exposure to try to achieve the equivalent of a mid-grey. Accordingly, if you try to photograph a polar bear in the snow, the camera will underexpose, if you try to photograph a 9F against a slag heap, it will overexpose. Depending on the metering mode you choose, the actual information the camera uses to make its metering choice will vary considerably. However, most metering system are heavily weighted towards the centre of the frame - even minor changes in composition will greatly alter the end results. In the first example, the bogies and tanks are very much in the centre, in the second, the reflective sides of the body are going to dominate. Lastly, the lighting available to you will determine whether the camera can capture everything. Digital camera have far less dynamic range than colour negative film did - so incorrect exposure, plus the effects of creating a jpeg in camera (which loses a little more range) can result in an end result that can't be corrected later. HDR modes offer a partial solution, but will result in an image that appears flat and lifeless at one, or oddly artificial at the other! Practically, the best advice I can offer is 1) Ensure that the subject area is not shadowed. 2) Use the +/- exposure correction to tweak the exposure down to preserve the sky (but remember that this will cause noise in shadowed areas if you have to lift them later in Photoshop) 3) Use RAW + JPEG (or DRO mode or similar high contrast mode if it is available to you) for the tricky ones then adjust in Photoshop afterwards. Good luck! Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Metr0Land Posted May 2, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 2, 2016 ^^^ Wot he said. At a guess I'd say the sky 2nd pic in your post has been edited as per 3/ in MPR's response. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold unravelled Posted May 2, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 2, 2016 One of the features of my camera is auto bracket,which I've used for years now. A single press of the shutter takes 3 images, one normal, one overexposed, and one underexposed. It might be worth seeing if your camera allows that. If you are lucky, it will allow you to set the over/underexposure. On one of my Ricoh cameras I had to set a permanent offset to the exposure as well, as the base setting consistently underexposed. When posting to Flickr I can choose the best image, depending on what I want to show. The underexposed ones usually make the best pictures, as the sky isn't washed out, but if shadow detail is needed the overexposed oned can be used. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 In the days of film, it was common practice to use a polarising filter or an 81-series "warm up" filter (81A, 81B or 81C, according to strength) to prevent the sky "washing out", rather than post-processing. Haven't tried with digital, but I don't see why a polariser wouldn't work. The general lowering of colour temperature with a warm up filter will probably be counteracted by the camera's auto white balance, but should still give a little more substance to the sky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Dynamic range, small sensored things don't have much of it, unless you have the sun behind you you're not going to get it exposed like that. Best you can hope for is shoot raw and expose for the sky and try and bring the subject up in post production, but it will be a mushy noisy mush in all likelihood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 It won't do anything other than mess with the colour balance and add a potential source of flare/ghosting. 81 filters are just colour tints - they do nothing for exposure. In the days of film, it was common practice to use a polarising filter or an 81-series "warm up" filter (81A, 81B or 81C, according to strength) to prevent the sky "washing out", rather than post-processing. Haven't tried with digital, but I don't see why a polariser wouldn't work. The general lowering of colour temperature with a warm up filter will probably be counteracted by the camera's auto white balance, but should still give a little more substance to the sky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 3, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 3, 2016 If it's a fujifilm bridge camera see if it's got EXR setting, that does that 3 image thing described above overlaying the pics to give you a HD type image I used that function quite a lot on my old Fujifilm HS28EXR (God rest it's soul) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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