Overexposed Sky

[mwoody]

One moment images not working

Hi all,

I have taken a few shots today, and my sky is always over exposed or any where the sun is shining brightly. It looks fine through the viewfinder, just when i take the shot.

I used a D40 with kit lense. I have a Pro 1 UV and Circular PL to hand as well, not 100% sure how/when to use these properly yet though.

how do i stop it over expsoing, i played with all sorts of differnet settings while i was out to no avail

It seemed to happen across a range of my shots-

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2124/example1wl8.jpg

f7.1 1/30s iso 400

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4683/example2wg2.jpg

f22 1/15s iso 200

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4837/example3ra4.jpg

f5 iso 200 1/50s

[RobertP]

Short answer is you can't change a setting to fix it. What you are discovering is the limitations of dynamic range - how bright and how dark things can be in the same shot and still be exposed properly.

There are various ways round the problem.
Your polariser will help in the right situation - sun to the left or right of you and not near the middle of the day... then it will darken the sky somewhat. (the UV filter should be best thought of as a lens face protector only)

You can get some Neutral gradient filters and a holder and use the shaded half of the filter to darken the sky but not the land. You could set it at an angle for that last shot but they wouldn't help you with the first one.

Then there is HDR processing with pictures exposed for the bright areas and another for the dark etc. combined using software. (search the forums for HDR if you are brave ;) )

now what have I forgotten :thinking:

[Ewan]

I like the HDR method. Petemc is quite fond of it too :D

Just search the forums for HDR...You'll find loads.

[mwoody]

Ok well, with a nikon D40 how do i adjust the bracketing? Or will i ahve to do it from 1 raw photo?

just got the trial of photomatix so will have a play

thanks guys

[mwoody]

Still looks kinda, crappy-

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1998/dsc0210312tonemappedzq4.jpg

[I Simonius]

as others have said but also shot RAW

That way there is just thepssibility that you'll be able to retrieve detail from the highlights in photoshop

Other than that it is just a question of DR (for those sort of shots) so it also comes down to composition

For the tunnel shot you could have tried to underexpose the tunnel and see if that way you could get the exposure OK for the end of it but the difference is probably going to be too great

[oldgit]

Chimp and check.
If it's blown completely left or right on the histogram its gone.
RAW/HDR/ThePope wont be able to do a thing to bring back the lost detail.

[badgerbaiter]

if you shoot in raw, you can fix it
not sure how to do it in photoshop, but if you use Aperture (on the mac) i can help you.

i'll post a couple of examples

[badgerbaiter]

here ya go

original:
http://www.xynamic.co.uk/temp/gp3816.jpg

tweaked
http://www.xynamic.co.uk/temp/gp3815.jpg

i reduced the exposure, then reduced the shadows. its not perfect, but it is one way of fixing the problem

of course, if i'd used a flash i might not have had the prob in the first place :)

[ppp]

or meter for the sky and try underexposing the rest of the scene slightly, that will be easier to recover in photoshop later on especially if you shot in raw

[desantnik]

There's little you can do with a really bright sunny day, except to try to not take too much sun in in the first place or failing that try to underexposed and correct upwards - you have more scope there than over exposed.

Try shooting earlier in the morning or later in the evening and of course at low ISO - your 400 was waaaay too much and without ND filters you'll never get the old slow running water thing in bright daylight, or like you show above, the bright sky is blown to sh*t ;-)

[staffitaxi]

There is a setting as well as the histogram which shows you the blown areas in flashing black. I does seem to help a little.

I found over exposing a problem and I also have a D40. I figure eventually I will just know my camera that well that I'll do things automatically.

[Sisteron]

Another setting you could change is your white balance.I don't know what you have it set to but as your taking the shots in RAW you can correct it there.

I always set mine to cloudy for outdoor work when using Canon bodies.

[Ally]

Graduated ND filters. Now with photoshop you are able to bring skys and so on back but if you really want to get it right do it in camera with graduated ND filter and then their is no drop in quality and no photoshop work needed.