High contrast scene... HELP

[fergo]

scenerio is i taking a pic of someone under a shed and the background is a clear bright sky. i was using Matrix metering. the subject's face turned out well-exposed. the background was washed out. i had a ND4 filter on. in this case, how would you take the shot?

i thought abt it after the shoot. i was thinking of using flash with diffuser and down the ISO and shutter speed to really low to properly xposed the background and the flash to exposure the subject. do you think this is a gd idea? havent tried it though.

and then again, distance may be a factor with this method. the flash cant seem to reach the subject.

 

[catchlights]

the lighting ratio are too great for the sensor to capture.
you can
- change the location
- use reflector
- use flash
- photoshop

 

[fergo]

the lighting ratio are too great for the sensor to capture.
you can
- change the location
- use reflector
- use flash
- photoshop

reflector as in a reflective board?

 

[Splutter]

Yes reflective board. Can be as simple as a Styrofoam board if you want. However it could be a little hard to coordinate if you are shooting from further away. Not sure why you would want a ND4 also, is the sky that bright you can't shoot at flash-sync shutter speeds?

 

[Redsun]

hmm expose for sky n use flash to light up subject?

 

[catchlights]

yes, anything which can bounce the light onto your subject.

anyway, all methods are working differently, results are varies, you can try them out see which works best for you and the situation.

 

[fergo]

hmm expose for sky n use flash to light up subject?

if u were to meter for the sky, the subject would be underexposed and the sky would turn out pretty well. right? so in this case, use the flash to proper exposed the subject and still have the sky well exposed.

dun know whether this is a correct way to do it but thats wat i tot of..

 

[fergo]

Yes reflective board. Can be as simple as a Styrofoam board if you want. However it could be a little hard to coordinate if you are shooting from further away. Not sure why you would want a ND4 also, is the sky that bright you can't shoot at flash-sync shutter speeds?

at that point in time, i totally didnt think of using the flash. (i'm still very new in photography, still learning. )
i read somewhere that using an ND would help solve the problem. but apparently i cant seem to use it properly.

i would love to post the pic here but unfortunately the pic is confidential(military). :dunno:

 

[night86mare]

the lighting ratio are too great for the sensor to capture.
you can
- change the location
- use reflector
- use flash
- photoshop

- use gnd can also work :bsmilie:

ts : gnd, not nd. one is graduated, one will darken the sky and therefore allow you to even out exposure. google for what a gnd looks like, as opposed to a nd and you will know what i mean

 

[yannh]

For lighting control, if your flash cannot reach the object, it's a bit hard to have 2 high contrast area well exposed with a single shot.

If you can take multiple shots, then you can combine them and have both well exposed. This is the HDR techniques.

 

[fergo]

- use gnd can also work :bsmilie:

ts : gnd, not nd. one is graduated, one will darken the sky and therefore allow you to even out exposure. google for what a gnd looks like, as opposed to a nd and you will know what i mean

yup.. will do that. thanks..

 

[fergo]

For lighting control, if your flash cannot reach the object, it's a bit hard to have 2 high contrast area well exposed with a single shot.

If you can take multiple shots, then you can combine them and have both well exposed. This is the HDR techniques.

is it true that HDR only works well when u shoot RAW?

 

[yannh]

is it true that HDR only works well when u shoot RAW?

As I know, jpg works well too.

 

[giantcanopy]

is it true that HDR only works well when u shoot RAW?

RAW contains more information when performing HDR compared to jpg.
Also some softwares allow limited HDR with a single raw file.

Ryan

 

[night86mare]

is it true that HDR only works well when u shoot RAW?

not true; but it depends on what you mean by "working well"

there are advantages to using hdr from a single raw - one very prominent one is that of having a moving element in your picture, like say, a swaying tree branch, or an animal smack in the foreground, or a human present. you cannot stop them from moving, even the human will not be able to keep perfectly still.. so how you prevent ghosting in the hdr program?

you have 2 options as i see it, you can either do hdr yourself using layers - very tedious, very painful sometimes.

or you can shoot in raw and do a "fake hdr". the dynamic range will not be as good as that of a proper set of jpgs.. and you will have more noise. that is the disadvantage of using a single raw, however you can execute such shots.. assuming that you get the BEST exposure for a single hdr from raw, i.e. enough shadow detail is recorded.. so slight overexposure by 1/2 stop from what your camera recommends is best.

of course, these days photomatix has some "anti-ghosting" function, but i do not have the latest version, so i won't comment on how well that works