Expert and pro pls advice..

[nakedtoes]

I am using canon S1 IS, which has full manual functions.. how do i take he below pic that i can see the scenery outside without :

1) The balcony inside to be dark..
2) the reflection of the balcony door and aluminium frame as possible.

And yet able to maintaine a good explosure for the scenary outside? Pls advice.. i took about 25 pics and this is the best i could get.. pls advice what settings for the shot thanks

 

[kcuf2]

this is a common problem because of a brightly lid background..
this is because the background is so bright, thus the camera meter will think that the environment is very bright and hence underexpose the darker areas..
there are a couple of solutions, the common solution[and the easiest one] is to a) use flash to light up the foreground.

alternatively, b) u can up ur exposure compensation, but u risk over exposing the bright background..

alternatively c) u can take multiple exposure of this same image and merge them using photoshop..ideally this give the best result

to minimise the reflection, u got to use a circular polarizer --> no choice, this is the only way

 

[nakedtoes]

k is there and best setting to balance out the explosure

 

[wildstallion]

k is there and best setting to balance out the explosure

Its Exposure

And yes, Matrix metering will usually give a balance (Takes in the bright sky and dark foreground both into consideration)

 

[blazer_workz]

Shoot mutiple image with different exposure and create a HDRi using software..
tip: tripod required+polarizer to cut reflection by glass door.

 

[astroboy]

Alternatively u could choose a time, say around 7pm when it is not too bright outside (magic hour) giving u a blue-ish light.

If that's not possible, just use a tripod and bracket like crazy. Meaning shoot a few over and a few underexposed shots (take care not to move the camera). Then in PS, just use the right exposure for the outdoor and merge with the right exposure for indoor. This is called "digital blending".

 

[Andy Ang]

Best:

Open the door, fill flash, use a cir-pol to reduce the reflection, do all this at sunset / sunrise.

 

[Clown]

Alternatively u could choose a time, say around 7pm when it is not too bright outside (magic hour) giving u a blue-ish light.

If that's not possible, just use a tripod and bracket like crazy. Meaning shoot a few over and a few underexposed shots (take care not to move the camera). Then in PS, just use the right exposure for the outdoor and merge with the right exposure for indoor. This is called "digital blending".

ditto..

 

[bluroom]

Bracket and comp it together in photoshop. That would be the easiest with lack of equipment me thinks. Just my opinion.

 

[lastboltnut]

Hi nakedtoes, I think you can shoot with HDRI....please refer to this thread for Sx IS HDRI and other tips and tests done by the peers of the Sx IS cam...

Thanks.

I am using canon S1 IS, which has full manual functions.. how do i take he below pic that i can see the scenery outside without :

1) The balcony inside to be dark..
2) the reflection of the balcony door and aluminium frame as possible.

And yet able to maintaine a good explosure for the scenary outside? Pls advice.. i took about 25 pics and this is the best i could get.. pls advice what settings for the shot thanks

 

[kestorr]

Alternatively you can try this out. Not sure whether you're camera has such functions though. Not a Canon user, hez...

1) Set your camera to Center Weighted Metering (Instead of Matrix or Spot metering).
2) Focus your camera on the darker areas of the balcony.
3) Half click on shutter button, let the camera focus.
4) Then press down on the AE-L AF-L button. Hold it there, don't release.
5) Resuming composing your shot as per normal.
6) Fully click on shutter button (Remember, you should still be holding on to the AE-L AF-L button.)

Hope it works for ya!

 

[blazer_workz]

Alternatively you can try this out. Not sure whether you're camera has such functions though. Not a Canon user, hez...

1) Set your camera to Center Weighted Metering (Instead of Matrix or Spot metering).
2) Focus your camera on the darker areas of the balcony.
3) Half click on shutter button, let the camera focus.
4) Then press down on the AE-L AF-L button. Hold it there, don't release.
5) Resuming composing your shot as per normal.
6) Fully click on shutter button (Remember, you should still be holding on to the AE-L AF-L button.)

Hope it works for ya!

Wouldn't this overexpose the view outside??

think HDRi/flash is the best option for such tricky situations..

 

[LiOnElLiN]

If you are going to do a composite image, remember to light the balcony with soft light in one of the shots, while making sure that the room is much darker than the balcony so no reflections appear on the sliding door. you could try hiding a softbox just behind the curtains in the balcony, or alternatively, aim the strobe at the ceiling and bounce it. I would personally use just 2 photos to here; 1 of the interior and sliding door frame, the other of the balcony lit with a strobe to balance out the exposure with the distant background.

 

[student]

I had hesisted to give an opinion because I am neither an expert nor a pro.

But I think I might have a little to contribute.

There are several suggestions so far.

These are

1 use exposure compensation
2 change settings
3 use matrix metering
4 use centre-weighted metering
5 use circular polarizer
6 take pictures at different time of day
7 take the same image using a tripod and with several different exposures and then create a composite in PS
8 alter the light by using fill flash

The way I see it is this. This is an issue of extreme contrast. Remember that irrespective of the metering mode the photographer/camera uses, the contrast is NOT altered at the taking stage. With whatever settings/metering you use, you will have either a too bright area or too dark area. You just cannot change the law of physics! (until clever camera people come out with something that can deal with that!).

So solutions 1->5 will simply not work

#6 may work, but to get a situation when the light outside is not too different from the light inside may be a little difficult.

#7 is certainly one of the most sensible approaches to such issue. And will work if you know PS

#8 will also work because by lighting up the interior, you are in fact reducing the contrast between inside and outside.

So my suggestion is to either adopt #6 or #7.

 

[eng_keow]

Do you think using the prinicple of Zone System will help in resolving this situation. I am no pro but just want to learn how to apply things that I have learnt. I know that things are usually not so technical, so its just for my own understanding as well.

Using a 18% grey card to meter somewhere around the flower pots and get the settings. Otherwise, meter at the flower pot may roughly get the 18% grey (not sure, cos some say that metering red brick wall gives Zone 5. Take a shot and look at the histogram. Adjust one or 2 stops up or down until I get a well distributed pattern over the histogram. If I can get my picture with Zone 3 to Zone 7, the picture should be adequately exposure, right?

As student mentioned, however the tonality of the whole picture extends beyond Zone 3 and 7, then post DI may be necessary or #6, #7 or #8

 

[student]

Do you think using the prinicple of Zone System will help in resolving this situation. I am no pro but just want to learn how to apply things that I have learnt. I know that things are usually not so technical, so its just for my own understanding as well.

Using a 18% grey card to meter somewhere around the flower pots and get the settings. Otherwise, meter at the flower pot may roughly get the 18% grey (not sure, cos some say that metering red brick wall gives Zone 5. Take a shot and look at the histogram. Adjust one or 2 stops up or down until I get a well distributed pattern over the histogram. If I can get my picture with Zone 3 to Zone 7, the picture should be adequately exposure, right?

As student mentioned, however the tonality of the whole picture extends beyond Zone 3 and 7, then post DI may be necessary or #6, #7 or #8

EK, the basic problem is the extreme contrast, and no metering system will alter that. When one use a digital sensor or transparency, the extreme contrast will result in either overblown high values or underexposed shadows. There is no way out of that except to reduce the contrast at the taking stage, or to merge diiferent exposures in PS.

Usign 18% grey card etc is just another way of metering, and like all metering systems, will not alter the contrast.

However, when one use B&W film, one can alter contrast at the film developing stage. This is one of the applications of the zone system.

 

[eng_keow]

EK, the basic problem is the extreme contrast, and no metering system will alter that. When one use a digital sensor or transparency, the extreme contrast will result in either overblown high values or underexposed shadows. There is no way out of that except to reduce the contrast at the taking stage, or to merge diiferent exposures in PS.

Usign 18% grey card etc is just another way of metering, and like all metering systems, will not alter the contrast.

However, when one use B&W film, one can alter contrast at the film developing stage. This is one of the applications of the zone system.

Thanks PN,

Point taken. Must learn about B&W film from you one of these days. Now totally no idea what's all about. :dunno: