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Metering Problems???


brian night

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Hi,

 

I am not sure where I make the mistake and I hope there is someone

who can help me in here. I have a Canon 20D with a 17-85 IS lens,

and I like to take nature photos. I was in Turkey couple of weeks

ago and I visited very beautiful villages on the southwestern part

of Turkey. I was taking pictures in a small town called Old Datca

and that?s when I had this problem. I was trying to take a picture

of the streets of this old town, however the sky in the background

looks very bright. I tried to reduce the exposure compensation to

capture the blue sky as well, however this time the street looked

very dark. In fact anytime I try to take a picture on the shadow in

a sunny day, the background is always overexposed. How could I

capture both adequately lighted foreground and not overexposed blue

sky background at the same time? Thanks a lot.

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Not a metering problem. Welcome to the harsh reality of exposure. The best solution that I know of is to wait for better light. Light low on the horizon diffused by haze sometimes works.

 

In good conditions (if important objects don't protrude deeply into the sky) you can use a neutral density graduated filter or composite two different pictures at two different exposure settings.

 

Good luck. :)

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If the light was right, a polarizing filter may have reduced the sky. Another solution might be the use of a gradient filter to reduce the range of brightness in the sky. Lastly, this is the type of situation frequently calls for manipulation in PS wherein you create layers, one optimized for the sky, one for the buildings, and erase part of one layer to reduce the overexposed (or underexposed part), then flatten the image. Go to Fred Miranda's site, he has a tutorial with actual photographs illustrating how to correct the situation you describe. I've tried it and it works great.
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Another option that sometimes works, is to shoot in RAW and process the image twice. Once for the bright areas & once for the darker areas. RAW will get you an additional stop or so of exposure latitude. Then combine as layers, and do what Stephan suggested with two images.
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If you really want the shot badly, and were using a tripod, and have Photoshop CS2, you

could consider the merge to HDR functionality. It works in some places, and does wierd

things in others. The bottom line is that you tried to shoot a scene that had too much range.

 

Next time, meter the brightest spot you want to retain detail in, then the darkest spot you

want detail in. If BOTH don't measure within your meter, then you need to wait until the sun

gets lower, use fill flash, or otherwise "deal" with the lighting.

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