Blown-Out Highlights with Nikon D70

I am constantly getting blown-out highlights with a Nikon D70. Whites get blown-out

when I make pictures outside at almost any time when the sun is out, and inside when I

use the SB-800 Speedlight.

 

I normally shoot in aperture-priority mode, with a wide aperture. I can frequently eliminate

the blown-out highlights by stopping down the lens significantly. But, that is not an

optimal solution because I would prefer to have a shallow depth-of-field.

 

When shooting, I usually set the LCD to show blown-out (blinking) highlights. I can

eliminate the blown-out highlights for any given shot by swithing to manual mode, and

reducing the shutter speed until I am able to get the picture that I want without blowing

out the highlights. But, that is not an optimal solutions because it is tedious and

frequently photographics opportunities are lost.

 

Does anyone else experience this problem? Are there more systematic solutions to the

problem?

You might get a better response if you provide an example of the trouble you are having.

 

In a high contrast scene, you are likely to get blown out highlights. Is that what is happening? Changing the exposure compensation to underexpose might give you a "better" result.

 

"aperture-priority mode, with a wide aperture. I can frequently eliminate the blown-out highlights by stopping down the lens significantly"

 

If this is true, then you're probably "requesting" a shutter speed beyond that which your camera can deliver - like it wants to do f2 at 1/8000sec, but can't and ends up overexposing with f2 at 1/4000sec. Check the ISO is at 200 and not 800/1600, or whatever.

 

Get another camera / light meter & check that the meter in your D70 agrees with it.

If you've done any shooting with slide film then this issue should be familiar to you. It's not exclusive to the D70, it's an inherent property of digital.

<p><i>"Whites get blown-out when I make pictures outside at almost any time when the sun is out, and inside when I use the SB-800 Speedlight."</i>

<p>It's kind of hard to fight the sun, but you can crank the flash exposure compensation down, either by using the little button to the left of the built-in flash, or on the SB800 itself.

<p><i>"I normally shoot in aperture-priority mode, with a wide aperture. I can frequently eliminate the blown-out highlights by stopping down the lens significantly. But, that is not an optimal solution because I would prefer to have a shallow depth-of-field."</i>

<p>The fact that the D70 only goes down to ISO200 doesn't help you here. I would look into neutral-density filters in this case.

<p><i>"I can eliminate the blown-out highlights for any given shot by swithing to manual mode, and reducing the shutter speed until I am able to get the picture that I want without blowing out the highlights. But, that is not an optimal solutions because it is tedious and frequently photographics opportunities are lost."</i>

<p>It may or may not be optimal, but if you're so dead-set on keeping the highlights from blowing out on any particular composition, that's what you'll have to do. A smarter way would be to determine what your subject is, and compose your picture such that your subject is properly exposed yet any highlights that could blow out or distract (not all blown highlights are necessarily bad) are out of the frame. Beyond that, as I mentioned before, digital is similar to slide film in its intolerance of overexposure. Get used to it.

The only way to reduce blown-out exposures (given that you want to shoot what is there instead of waiting for better light) is obviously reducing the exposure. This can be done by applying exposure compensation (the +- button next to the shutter release). If you apply (say) -1 compensation in one of the automatic modes, it should solve the problem but won't (of course) work for every shot. Experiment.

 

If you want to do this the correct way and are willing to forsake automatic modes, set the camera on manual mode (M), activate the spot meter, and set the white part of the image (say a white building) to +2 stops above the meter reading. In such a way, you will avoid the wall being blown out and everything else should more

or less fall in place as well. With the spot meter and histogram, you should quickly learn the limits and possibilities of the camera.

 

Frequently photographic opportunities are lost? So what!! Learn to photograph, take lots of pictures and you will be faster in setting the camera up for a shot. What is not important is the shots that you loose, but those that you do get.

By the way, I use the D70 on newspaper assignments and I don't have a problem with blown highlights or missed pictures, and I also use manual mode. I do this by firing test shots when I get to the assignment, checking the histogram, and making adjustments if necessary (i.e. do it right away when I get there instead of waiting until something important is happening). I'm at the point where I usually don't need to adjust, as I now know the D70 meter fairly well and can predict what it will do in most situations. Then I literally set-and-forget until I sense a change in light levels.

Another experiment would be to change the "Metering" system from 3D Matrix to Center weighted etc.

You might wanna check what you set for your Tone Comp (compensation).

Possible solutions:<p>

 

Reduce the contrast level in your camera.<p>Set your camera to underexpose about -0.7

or -1 stops.<p>On a bright sunny day you won't be able to use f/2.8 or faster unless your

subject is in the shade because the D70 shutter isn't fast enough.<p>Preset your

exposure in the auto modes and then switch to manual. Unless the clouds are continually

changing the light or you're shooting in and out of the sun rapidly, manual mode is the

way to go.<p>Learn to use your flash better. You can also set your flash to manual mode

and make quick adjustments. Since you have the benefit of reviewing your shots

immediately, flash photography is incredibly easier.<p>Use the blown highlights to your

advantage. How? Be creative:)

You have gotten many good answers that I won't re-iterate. Except to say that learning

about exposure is crucial to any type of photography. Translation: do your homework.

There are some things which you may be fighting that have not been mentioned yet, and

could help you.

 

Are you shooting jpeg or RAW format? You can recover a lot of blown highlights in

Photoshop or Nikon's RAW converter.

 

Second, what color space are you using?? The D70, and nearly all digicams use the horrid

Microsoft abomination called "SRGB". You should set the camera to Adobe RGB, which has

a much wider color and contrast gamut.

Russ: I always shoot in RAW + Basic JPEG, and I use the Adobe RGB (1998) color space.

Since starting this thread, I shot 20 pictures of the same scene using different settings. In

order to preserve details in the sky, I needed to increase the shutter speed to a point

where the rest of the scene was horribly underexposed. These pictures were taken in the

middle of the day with an extremely bright sky--it was a difficult test. I plan to post the

pictures as soon as I figure out how to use automation to reduce the size of the JPEGs.

Even with color negative film, there are scenes that cannot be captured. This is a fact of life.

Jeff: Did someone suggest that film can capture all scenes?

I usually shoot with -0.3 to -0.7 stop compensation with my D70 to avoid blown highlights. As someone stated above, digital (not just the D70) behaves a lot more like slide film than print film, tending to get blown highlights. Digital, otoh, can record an amazing amount of shadow detail. So always favor underexposure over overexposure with digital (the opposite of print film).

<i>"Jeff: Did someone suggest that film can capture all scenes?"</i>

<p>I see that you haven't changed a bit. What Jeff was referring to was that you seem to be asking too much of the medium. Negative film is known for its exposure latitude, and what Jeff was saying is that even that can't handle what you're asking for.

El Fang: Are you claiming that I am expecting too much of the medium (digital

photography) by seeking to understand the limitations of the medium? That cannot be

what you are claiming because it does not make much sense. Perhaps you could elaborate.

<i>"Are you claiming that I am expecting too much of the medium (digital photography) by seeking to understand the limitations of the medium?"</i>

<p>I wouldn't venture as far as to say that you are seeking to understand the limitations of the medium. You're looking for an easy way to get around the limitations, and the bad news is that there isn't one.

Wow, doesn't anybody use filters any more? I know that filters for colour don't work on digital cameras, but wanting to use a wide aperture for shallow depth of field in bright conditions seems to me to be a cry for an ND filter, and you can fix the bright sky/dark ground contrast problem with a graduated ND filter.

I agree with the filters suggestion. I routinely use a Tamron ND8 filter to reduce the light and allow for a larger aperture.

 

Also, have you considered a polarizer? this can help somewhat, although it may produce an effect that you don't want either.

 

Also, which direction is the light coming from? is there a lot of haze or is it bright overcast? I almost never get a good shot with bad light no matter what I do. Unfortunately it seems bad light is more common than good light.

<p>Use a flash.</p>