Taking photos in dappled light...help!

[vawitt]

This week's photo theme challenge is roads/trails. I have a higher-level P&S (Oly 570 UZ) where I can make manual settings, but I usually shoot on one of the "scene" shots or auto. As a result, I get a lot of blown-out sunshine spots, or gray foliage that should really be deep green.

Is there a basic recipe (ISO, aperture, etc.) for shooting in dappled light? Any help appreciated! I can figure HOW to change my cam settings, but not sure WHAT to set to. Plan to do more study when I get home, but for now, help save my vacation pictures?

~Val

[lexcell]

Hi Val,
Depending on the contrast range of your dappled light something is going to have to give....either blown out highlights or blocked up shadows. To remove or reduce the blown out highlights, you will need to get out of the picture modes and into P, A, S or even manual. If you can go into an auto mode, you can dial in minus exposure compensation to darken the scene. If in manual, set the exposure based on the meter then begin to close down the lens or speed up the shutter speed until the highlights are gone.

[vawitt]

Thanks, Laurie. We are off to a hike-through-a-tropical-jungle botanical gardens this AM, so I'll give these ideas a try...

Here's hoping!

~Val in balmy HI

[TonyW]

Get into the habit of looking at the histogram after the shot - I'm sure your camera has one. Check for blown flashing highlights and if too many dial the exposure compensation down a stop and shoot again. Also it's a good idea to use flash if you can to help fill in the shadows. The one I did this morning for that photo theme used flash and had the exposure compensation dialed down 1.5 stops. It's not great (it would have taken several exposures at different settings and then combining them to work properly) but I was in a hurry (to escape from the bugs) and did the best I could in very difficult lighting conditions by using the histogram.

Tony

[ljameso1]

or take multiple exposures and join the hdr thread.

[lexcell]

An excellent suggestion, Linda. I am just beginning to play with HDR using Photomatix and wow! It opens up a whole new world!!!

[Not4wood]

I dont know if your camera can do it, but besides all of the great ideas mentioned, have you thought about shooting in Raw instead of JPG?

When shooting for HDR, are you supposed to shoot in Raw or JPG? If you are do you open all of the images in ACR and batch correct?

[lexcell]

You can shoot in either RAW or jpeg for HDR....it just depends on how much resolution and what file size you need. A RAW HDR can be a huge file. Personally, I shoot in RAW and process them all as is to a tif and once the HDR tweaking has been accomplished, I finish the image in Photoshop.

[ljameso1]

I typically open them in acr and select all. I do clarity/vibrance/sharpen and correct the white balance if I screwed it up. Ignore hilight/shadow warnings and don't touch exposure-that's what photomatix is for.

[Not4wood]

Originally Posted by ljameso1

I typically open them in acr and select all. I do clarity/vibrance/sharpen and correct the white balance if I screwed it up. Ignore hilight/shadow warnings and don't touch exposure-that's what photomatix is for.

I've been hearing about using Sharpen in ACR. I have seen comments that you can sharpen slightly but to not over do it. You can mess up your image a bit if you over sharpen by using ACR and you can always sharpen it in Photoshop. I have Nik Sharpener, and have a feature for sharpening in ACR as well.

Now, does this statement hold true for HDR as well or are you supposed to Not Sharpen in PhotoMatrix?

I have never seen PhotoMatrix, can someone you post a link for the Masses for this wonderful HDR Program?

Thanks for all of the info in this thread.