Originally posted by thechumpen 
My daughter has really blonde hair and on bright sunny days I find it hard to avoid getting blown highlights on her hair. For example, I meter for the blue sky or some bright area and the whole picture is fine except for blown highlights in her hair. If I compensate with some negative exposure then the rest of the picture seems too dark and sometimes get blown shadows (if that is the correct term).
Is there some technique I can use to handle this or do I just have to accept either blown highlights OR blown shadows?
Should also add that she is only 2 so is moving around a lot I.e. it needs to be something I can adjust quickly on the fly. I can't be standing there doing test shots and viewing histograms etc as she'll have toddled off somewhere completely different and I'd have to start all over again...
Do I just need to spot meter on her head and accept losing some shadows?
Spot meter the hair or face and shot in RAW/DNG. It is much easier to bring up the shadows than recover high lights. Make sure the eyes are sharp and light. Just need a little digital dodge & burn. Pentax handles the shadows really well at the expense of clipping high lights a little sooner than Nikon or Canon.
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