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01-03-2012, 08:20 AM   #1
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How to avoid blown highlights?

White duck on a pond in sunlight.

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01-03-2012, 08:30 AM   #2
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I just noticed I had it on center weighting instead of spot. But do you all regularly underexpose. This was taken with a 300mm f4.
01-03-2012, 08:49 AM   #3
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Try bracketing exposures in either 1/2 or 1/3 stops under exposure. It looks like the duck was out in sunlight while the rest of the scene was in shade. The metering you used averaged scene shade area as the most important when the duck in the sun was really the important element.
01-03-2012, 08:49 AM   #4
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I had a similar problem with recent photos I took in Florida mid afternoon - white birds = blowout. I guess I am just not experienced enough (yet) to get all the aspects right at the same time. I continue to forget to check my exposure for blow-outs in the "heat of the battle", and of course the harsh light mid afternoon does not help.

I did start to underxposure a stop when I saw a white bird, but I would be curious what the more experienced photographers do? Spot metering or exporsure compensation? Something else?

01-03-2012, 09:02 AM   #5
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Maybe you were lucky then, because spot metering would prob have under eposed your pic. Light metering, reads light as 18% grey. So a reading from
White would fool the meter in thinking it was far brighter than it actual was. Even though the sun was out a large majority of the pic is quite dark which
would have balanced the exposure out. Your matrix metering would have worked nicely in this pic.
01-03-2012, 09:12 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by HenrikDK Quote
I had a similar problem with recent photos I took in Florida mid afternoon - white birds = blowout. I guess I am just not experienced enough (yet) to get all the aspects right at the same time. I continue to forget to check my exposure for blow-outs in the "heat of the battle", and of course the harsh light mid afternoon does not help.

I did start to underxposure a stop when I saw a white bird, but I would be curious what the more experienced photographers do? Spot metering or exporsure compensation? Something else?
Point the camera at a sauce approx 18% grey ! Like grass for example, or even the back of your hand and use AE lock !
Just give some thought to what you point your camera at, too meter, It should be in simlar light.
IE... If your bird is in bright sunlight... make sure your grass or hand is too !
Hope that helps !
01-03-2012, 09:30 AM   #7
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You just need to learn when problems arrive.
This btw the reason why i shoot in M mode instead of letting the camera do the metering for me

QuoteOriginally posted by westmill Quote
Point the camera at a sauce approx 18% grey !
If you do that you're underexposing with 1/2 stop Light meters are calibrated to approx 12% grey, 30 +/- 5 footcandle to be more precise.

18% grey comes from printing industry.

01-03-2012, 10:35 AM   #8
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Bracket. Underexpose. Bracket. Read ambient/incident light, not reflected light. Bracket. Those are the tricks.
01-03-2012, 10:44 AM   #9
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Buy a K-5, have more dynamic range, use Dynamic Range expansion, maybe even then a little under exposere.
01-03-2012, 11:19 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Anvh Quote
You just need to learn when problems arrive.
This btw the reason why i shoot in M mode instead of letting the camera do the metering for me


If you do that you're underexposing with 1/2 stop Light meters are calibrated to approx 12% grey, 30 +/- 5 footcandle to be more precise.

18% grey comes from printing industry.
Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure

Every bit of litature I have ever read.... icluding my 3 light meters has stated 18% ?
Kodak sells 18% grey cards for this very purpose !
01-03-2012, 11:36 AM   #11
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Stick with Manual mode a bunch of times and you'll find this mode to be easier and more predictable to work with. Of cause it's predictable - you are controling it

I only change to something like Av when I need to be too quick for manual mode shooting - such as at some event. That's also when I'll change away from Spot metering.
01-03-2012, 11:37 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by westmill Quote
Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure

Every bit of litature I have ever read.... icluding my 3 light meters has stated 18% ?
Kodak sells 18% grey cards for this very purpose !
Ever read the instruction Kodak put with those grey cards?
It says you need to open up with 1/2 stop when using the greycard for exposure
QuoteQuote:
"Meter readings of the gray card cshould be adjusted as follows-
1) For subjects of normal reflectance increase the indicated exposure by 1/2 stop.
2) For light subjects use the indicated exposure; for very light subjects decrease exposure by 1/2 stop
3) If the subject is dark to very dark increase the indicated exposure by 1 to 1.5 stops"
Anyway the ANSI PH3.49-1971 "American National Standard for General-Purpose Photographic Exposure Meters (Photoelectric Type)" stated 30 +/- 5 footcandles which work out about 12.3% reflective.
Either your meters aren't confirm with the standard or you have read it wrong.


http://david.spielman.com/Gray_Card/ANSI_PH3_49_1971.PDF

Last edited by Anvh; 01-03-2012 at 11:56 AM.
01-03-2012, 12:14 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Anvh Quote
Ever read the instruction Kodak put with those grey cards?
It says you need to open up with 1/2 stop when using the greycard for exposure
I've never read or heard about 12%. I just tried by aiming at a maximized Notepad on the monitor. Compensated with 1/2 stop and had the peak in the histogram rest in the exact middle.

Damn you internets

Edit: but now I'm confused - why doesn't the cam do this on it's own?

Edit2: Strike that - I'm getting very random results. Could it be my 3rd party focusingscreen?

Last edited by Zafar Iqbal; 01-03-2012 at 12:29 PM.
01-03-2012, 12:49 PM   #14
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I have a K-5. I didn't understand what matrix metering is. I just now read up on it and will try again with multisegment metering and setting the AE to the AF point. Just going to multisegment doesn't really tell me what the camera is going to do if it has 77 different solutions. At least I can't get that from manual.
It seems to me that if it uses all 77 segments and guesses how to expose the whole scene, the duck would be even lighter.
I usually try to use spot metering and focus and then reframe the composition before tripping the shutter. But I didn't yesterday and the bird was big time blown out.

Last edited by Markbrumbaugh; 01-03-2012 at 01:08 PM.
01-03-2012, 01:09 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Anvh Quote
Ever read the instruction Kodak put with those grey cards?
It says you need to open up with 1/2 stop when using the greycard for exposure


Anyway the ANSI PH3.49-1971 "American National Standard for General-Purpose Photographic Exposure Meters (Photoelectric Type)" stated 30 +/- 5 footcandles which work out about 12.3% reflective.
Either your meters aren't confirm with the standard or you have read it wrong.


http://david.spielman.com/Gray_Card/ANSI_PH3_49_1971.PDF
I cant say Ive ever used or felt the need to use a grey card Ta lol
I used the gossen lunasix F for bronica ETRS and Bronica RF 645
and a sekonic 535 for the Mamiya RZ67. Both meters proved to be extrordinarly reliable in the exposure department even with slide film.
Which Im sure would have shown a half stop under exposure lol

Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure ( QUOTE )

Judging tones is a matter of practice and experience anyway with a splash of comon sense thrown in.
everything you tend to read in books or magazines say 18%
I googled How do camera light meters work ! The link above is simply the first thing that came up. No surprise to me its quoting 18% wether right
or wrong. If they too are wrong, then so is almost everything else you read about it. Maybe you are right and everyone is wrong.
My personal thoughts on the matter are more... so what, who cares ? Im sure everyone gets the jist lol. and if the Kodak grey card comes
with instructions saying open up by half a stop and it works... sorted ! If I had bought one and read this I would think what a waist of time buying it.
I would also just assume that it was down to the reflectivity of the card losing light etc. Ive not even read the above link. Maybe there is a mention
of 12% for all i know. What i did notice was the row of coloured squares with 18% wrote on every one of them though.
Im sure there is a reason for this conflicting bit of info. Im not really intrested enough to delve into it if there is though lol
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