I have a load of digital photos taken during a hike a week ago sunday and the sun was very uncoopertative not to mention the fog cap on the headland we were hiking across provided for some very interesting shots of mist through the the tall evergreens. Problem is many of the shots are just toooo exposed.
I’m thinking now perhaps I had some settings on the digital camera I should have paid attention to (landscape vs portrait mode etc) and perhaps selecting my own iso settings instead of the ‘stock’ auto setting.
My questions: 1. Can you give me tips on unwashing a washed out photo.
2. Any hints on the value of customizing the cameras settings prior to shooting?
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Buz, my first few (well, more like first hundred) outside digital photos had lots of blown out highlights (i.e., white areas with no detail left at all); I then read and applied a lesson from a book by Ben Long (Complete Digital Photography) which suggested an exposure compensation of -1/3 to -1/2 f-stop for contrasty lighting conditions. I’ve pretty much got that permanently set now, and the results have been much better. Our friend Ray Robillard has been using a -1/2 stop compensation with excellent results. I don’t think that adjusting the ISO will necessarily help; the auto exposure features of the camera will simply create an equivalent set of shutter speed and f-stop that will still blow out the highlights. The only downside of the exposure compensation is that the images may appear a little flat (not enough contrast), but Auto Contrast usually snaps them back into pleasing balance.
With respect to the unwashing, if there are no details in a highlights area, you’re out of luck. If they’re just a little light, try duplicating the background layer and changing the blend mode on the duplicate layer to Multiply. If it darkens the image too much, you can reduce the opacity of the duplicate layer. There are other ways, but that’s a quick one.
buz, It’s worth mentioning that it’s better to have a slightly underexposed image than an overexposed image. You can pull details out of an underexposed image, but you can never get details back from an overexposed area. Foggy scenes are tricky because all that bright fog messes with the camera’s automatic metering. Eric
Chuck – after reading your suggestion I browsed through the camera (not the first time but with more attention) and found the ‘exposure setings’ – as well as a host of other items I will want to pay attention to. Any idea whether there’s a website that may more clearly define some of the settings for these cameras. For instance, choosing between AF, spot and macro – of course macro speaks for itself but what of the other two – how does the novice know what to choose?
Eric – Thank you too for the under/over exposed bit – makes perfect sense. I see you caught my reference to the "bright’ day along with the ‘fog’ rolling in and out. It was a beautiful day and to some degree caught alot of it on ‘pixels’.
I experimented with iMovie and iDVD and created a DVD slideshow of the hike complete with classical guitar accompaniment, credits and some PSE pizzazz. Still need to learn more about image resolution and 33" TV screens though. <grin>
Buz, adjustments are so camera-dependent that it’s almost always a good idea to read the owner’s manual thoroughly and then head off to the DP forum for the particular brand with remaining questions. For instance, on my camera, spot refers to the metering point for exposure and may also refer to the type of focus control, AF is auto focus (which is has several different modes, including ‘spot) and macro is a repositioning of the lens elements allowing close focus. So my guess is that in your case they all refer to a type of focus setting as opposed to light metering, but I couldn’t be sure.
No Eric – actually I have never handled a guitar, I used stock music – I can listen to it for hours and to watch a good classical guitarist is amazing. I also mixed in a little Flamenco.
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