Challenging Exposure

Last week, while sailing on a breezy afternoon, we encountered a boat, close hauled and markedly heeling. The boat was sillouetted by both water unilluminated by direct sunlight and a bright orange sky. To bring out the boat's details, I could have metered off the water or spot metered off the boat itself, but experience has taught me these approaches generally yield washed out images that I throw away. Instead, I selected multi-segment metering (normally I prefer center-weighted), and pulled the trigger. Picture number 1 is the result - it retains the "feel" of the shooting moment, but the boat appears too dim to my eye.

Number 1:



Picture number 2 is one in which I modified the curves significantly to try to bring out details of the boat. To me, while the detail appears, the "feel" is lost.



Finally, number 3 is a further modification of number 2, in which I applied the lowest level possible of PSP's Clarify treatment. I think it better balances the "feel" and the detail, but inserts the "metallic" look it often does.

Number 3:



Note that all three were straightened, resized and sharpened identically. Please tell me what you think and how better to handle this sort of situation.

Thanks,

Jer

[daacon]

Ver good shot Jer and nice PP. Those are tough conditions. I suppose you could try and bump the ISO see if that helps the exposure. Perhaps a CPL to help with reflective surface of Sun and water. Not sure how close you were to the vessel woudl flash fill help ? (maybe even try a little flash fill in pp). Perhaps even playing with the WB and temperature (assuming you are shooting raw)

I am no processing guru by any means - but if you got the time give'em a go

[Ash]

You've done well with the original exposure Jer.
It isn't the easiest to work with.

Like Dave, I'd suggest a retake (I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities for one) with boosted EV and polariser. Flash would probably be out of the question if you're over 20m from the other vessel but may be worth a try at full power and high ISO.

Then try some dodging and burning after your curves and levels in PP and see how you go.

[Sailor]

Originally Posted by daacon

Ver good shot Jer and nice PP. Those are tough conditions. I suppose you could try and bump the ISO see if that helps the exposure. Perhaps a CPL to help with reflective surface of Sun and water. Not sure how close you were to the vessel woudl flash fill help ? (maybe even try a little flash fill in pp). Perhaps even playing with the WB and temperature (assuming you are shooting raw)

I am no processing guru by any means - but if you got the time give'em a go

Originally Posted by Ash

You've done well with the original exposure Jer.
It isn't the easiest to work with.

Like Dave, I'd suggest a retake (I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities for one) with boosted EV and polariser. Flash would probably be out of the question if you're over 20m from the other vessel but may be worth a try at full power and high ISO.

Then try some dodging and burning after your curves and levels in PP and see how you go.

Thanks, gents, for the suggestions - I'll try playing around and see what happens. Interestingly, when I looked at the posted images just now, the original - number 1 - looked more pleasing to me than when I first saw it .

Jer

[Jimbo]

Jer, I too prefer the orginal shot and would play around with it a bit. This is a tough exposure and you did well. It all depends how white or bight you want the sail and boat now. I may have tried dodging out the wires but its not a biggy. Cheers JIM

[Sailor]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Jer, I too prefer the orginal shot and would play around with it a bit. This is a tough exposure and you did well. It all depends how white or bight you want the sail and boat now. I may have tried dodging out the wires but its not a biggy. Cheers JIM

Thanks buddy,

Jer