Exposure Manipulation

Blown out exposure happens. How do we prevent them?

For those blown out exposures which have already happened & you have failed to resurrect in Photoshop, it is time to move on and see what we can do to prevent these in the future. As all photographers have to admit at some point, good as Photoshop is, it is far better to get it right before we shoot, than to have to spend the extra time later. So what is it about a blown out skies that we could solve before we press the shutter release?

Clearly the settings on the camera are asking it to remain open too long, or too wide for the available light. So take the time before you click to check your settings. This is not a fail-safe, but a common sense precaution. I generally use the axom that "If I have to squint my eyes or can't see detail", I stop the lens down a step or two, or I lower the ISO. Or I check the simple knob on top & turn it to sunny as opposed perhaps to cloudy. Any of these actions will help. Other than in snow. Here your camera unless in Manual mode will stop itself down, so you usually will want to overexpose to get a properly exposed photo.

Of course with a Histogram, it becomes nearly fail-safe. I am going to assume that most of you reading this are using a body with a Histogram feature. If not then follow the suggestions above. Histograms allow us to place the LCD in Histogram View Mode so we can see immediately if we are getting the response we need. If I see on my Canon bodies any flashing white areas, I know to stop it down from let's say 4.0 to 5.6 or 8 as an F-stop. Or I might select a faster shutter speed. Whatever mode I'm in I tweak settings to achieve a non-blown out sky or detail. The alternative on many dslr bodies today is to set within the menu an exposure of 1/3 to 1/2 stops.

Now having said that one can go too far. One can get the sky just right and lose the shadows. So a bracketing approach is the answer here. If you see a severe loss of shadow detail, adjust accordingly. A move back toward a wider opening or a slower shutter speed or a rise in ISO would help. If you simply cannot get what you want then the angle which is allowing too much light in can be adjusted slightly away from the source.

Finally shooting in RAW, if your camera is equipped, is an option worth considering because if despite the precautions & changed settings, you still don't get it right, then shooting in RAW allows for professional adjustment post capture. If you'd like to read a bit further on this BetterPhoto has a great short read by Lewis Kemper of
Better Photo http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?id=51.html

And if you are using Photoshop CS here is another read from Dummies: http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-2382.html

Good luck.

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