At what situation use D-Active Lighting?


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williamchew85

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dunoe how to use it leh.. i always use auto de
 

dunoe how to use it leh.. i always use auto de

i normally turn d-lighting off as i do not want it to change the colors of my picture. however, in situations where there is a large disparity between the dark and bright regions of a picture where i want active d-lighting to try and bring it to something that has less disparity, i would use active d-lighting.

for example, if i am taking a pic where it is on a bright day and a building is casting a large shadow, i would use active d-lighting. below is a picture where i used HIGH active d-lighting. i do not have a before and after pic to show you, but without active d-lighting, the shadow areas would become much darker.

3218918435_53f4a3623f.jpg
 

wow thanks! am i rite to say that D-Active Lightning under day time and huge shadow casting appear?
 

wow thanks! am i rite to say that D-Active Lightning under day time and huge shadow casting appear?

you can use active d-lighting in that situation... but note that when you take people, in some situations, the skin tones would not be as neutral and natural as without active d-lighting.
 

dunoe how to use it leh.. i always use auto de

to be honest, i have seen pictures with and without d-lighting

if you are proficient in post process, d-lighting simply looks like the shadows have been lifted in-camera
 

When not to use it:
When you want to shoot silhouette.
When you want to play with light and shadows to create "mood".
When you shoot an illuminated subject against very dark background (low-key studio photography).

Otherwise, I leave mine (called Dynamic Range Optimizer in my system) on all the time.
 

I dun let the camera handle any of these pic manipulations.

Ryan
 

is it just me or does the active D lighting, when set on HIGH on my D300 make the shadows very noisy? It it because it (and I'm also wondering how it works):

a- uses a relatively higher ISO to bring out the detail in the shadow areas? (for example, shadows ISO 200 and highlights ISO 100?)

OR

b- everything at ISO 200 and then reduce highlights/midtones in-camera only in order to bring out the shadows?

c- does it AFTER the picture has been taken? (but then again this is the D-lighting feature and not the active D-lighting)

So i should naturally assume that since i'm getting MORE noise anyway, might as well do the same when post processing so I have more control, right?

And IF i use active D-lighting, I should start with a very low ISO, such as ISO LO or ISO 200 to avoid noise issues?

Abit gundu here...I can only relate this to what I would do to adjust the picture levels during PP..haha
 

Nikon USA publishes an instructional guide with information on page 19 for use of Active D-Lighting for sports event photography.
 

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