How do you shoot a white gown in daylight?

[NineEleven]

Hi, please don't slam me for this. I'm just a newbie into this. I'm not going into wedding or whatever but find that everything I try to shoot a person wearing clothes with some whites & it always blow glaringly in outdoor & daylight, losing details. So, i was just wondering how do you wedding photographers shoot bridal gowns in outdoor? You'd need to see the details in the gown yet maintain correct exposures.

I'm on Nikon. Which metering do you use? Does the no of AF points matter or -EV? Or filters?

I found this link pretty interesting. We've got snow & bridal gown together & yet he managed to get all details right.

http://dp.pconline.com.cn/photoblog/page.do?method=picPage&pid=502539&from=photoblog

All comments most appreciated.

 

[catchlights]

basically you need understand what is exposure, and secondary, you need to shoot it under diffuse lighting, if you plan to shoot a white gown under direct sunlight, it will be 100% gone case.

 

[HLZQ4]

From what i see in the link the sky and snowlooks blown. Maybe that explains why the gown details are still there, although it looks a bit overexposed to me. So I think in that case, the photographer exposed for the gown.

 

[ameermukmin]

If you simply point your camera at a bright white subject using either the spot or center-weighted patterns and shoot at the suggested exposure values the whites will, of course, be rendered as a medium tone–gray. Have you tried shooting a bride in a bright white gown using your point and shoot camera? Did the bride’s dress turn out white when you viewed it in your image editing program or when you printed it? So how do you get a bright white in your photos? Solution: If your subject is large in the frame and bright white, spot meter off them and add 2 EV to 2.5 EV.

Or another simpler solution would be to use a gray card and shoot raw. Adjust metering off the gray card in post.

 

[NineEleven]

Erm, I normally use matrix but switch between spot as well. I find that sometimes aperture priority don't work well but I'll shoot 1 first then read the settings & then switch to manual and play with the shutter to get the right exposure.

I was shooting a lady with very fair skin in a sunny morning some time back & it was very difficult not to overexpose her skin but it was fine once she's under shade. Also did one with white shirt & was a disaster so I thought how do u guys shoot bridal gown in daytime outdoors.

Do you guys have any idea where is a good place to read up on exposures?

 

[night86mare]

I was shooting a lady with very fair skin in a sunny morning some time back & it was very difficult not to overexpose her skin but it was fine once she's under shade. Also did one with white shirt & was a disaster so I thought how do u guys shoot bridal gown in daytime outdoors.

basically you need understand what is exposure, and secondary, you need to shoot it under diffuse lighting, if you plan to shoot a white gown under direct sunlight, it will be 100% gone case.

see uncle catchlight's explanation, it is as simple as that

the problem is DYNAMIC RANGE ISSUES, you want to expose for highlights, i.e. the white areas in the scene, but under HARSH LIGHT, the difference between white and dark areas are so great that your sensor cannot capture it all. under diffuse light, this difference is a lot LESSENED, and so your sensor has a better chance of getting everything properly, without extreme black areas or extreme white areas (former due to underexposure somewhere, latter due to overexposure).

this is why many overseas wedding photographers use fujifilm dslrs, the DR of those cameras are much wider than usual.

anyways, just think about it, read up about DR, that should do. as for exposure, it is a read, digest and shoot and practice thing, no use just reading. good books include "understanding exposure", and if you want to see more specialised books addressing this very issue, there are loads of wedding photography related books in the library.

 

[NineEleven]

see uncle catchlight's explanation, it is as simple as that

the problem is DYNAMIC RANGE ISSUES, you want to expose for highlights, i.e. the white areas in the scene, but under HARSH LIGHT, the difference between white and dark areas are so great that your sensor cannot capture it all. under diffuse light, this difference is a lot LESSENED, and so your sensor has a better chance of getting everything properly, without extreme black areas or extreme white areas (former due to underexposure somewhere, latter due to overexposure).

this is why many overseas wedding photographers use fujifilm dslrs, the DR of those cameras are much wider than usual.

anyways, just think about it, read up about DR, that should do. as for exposure, it is a read, digest and shoot and practice thing, no use just reading. good books include "understanding exposure", and if you want to see more specialised books addressing this very issue, there are loads of wedding photography related books in the library.

Thanks! I've seen some using a giant diffuser over the model's head but this is quite impossible unless I have an assistant. So, extreme blacks have the same issue as well. (lens can't even focus!)

Hmmm. I don't remember having so much problems shooting film long ago.

OK, found this site to read for a while now. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-metering.htm

 

[night86mare]

Thanks! I've seen some using a giant diffuser over the model's head but this is quite impossible unless I have an assistant. So, extreme blacks have the same issue as well. (lens can't even focus!)

Hmmm. I don't remember having so much problems shooting film long ago.

film has much wider DR (most film, from what i understand) than digital sensor

 

[Diavonex]

Read this:

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Wedding101-page2.html