Two shots that highlight a weakness of mine

[naoip]

Hi both pics were taken with a cheap Samsung, its just a basic p & s..

How do you take a picture where one part is darkness/shadows and the other side bright ??Do you lower the EV till the brightness is under control, then ligten the darker side in photoshop??

As you can see i should of lowered the EV even more,the light side still seems over exposed grrrrr

Whats the best way, to shoot around this problem...

Thks in advance..

 

[karrphoto]

only 2 ways I'd think of doing it, bracketing and shooting a high and low shot and combining them, or my new, old favorite, ND Gradient filters. Though you could probably get away with just a ND Filter and not really need the gradient, or a sharp gradient.. dunno what they are called.. I'm just getting back into using them for landscapes again after giving up on them for so long... they've proved their worth to me on my recent trip.

 

[PeterA]

its called aesthetic choice - thats the beauty of photography - you get to choose how to present stuff..within the limitattions ( choices) of your medium

 

[Jack]

It's a common problem for sure, and always has been. You've been given lots of good suggestions. In film days, you shot for your subject which meant let the brighter tones go full white or more often being sure to crop them out since paper white is ugly, or let the deep shadows go full black.

Enter digital, and we have more control after the capture. Shooting in raw mode instead of jpeg mode -- if your camera allows it -- will generally increase the dynamic range available. For street shots, I'll usually expose to keep the highlights from blowing (specular highlights aside) and then develop for the shadows. The exception is when my main subject is in the deep shadows, then I'll skew the exposure to get sufficient illumination on the subject and then pull the highlights down to just below paper white so they're not quite as "in your face" distracting...

Cheers,

 

[nei1]

Its all about balance,unfortunatly the sky here is just white,maybe you have more in the original file.In photoshop Ive upped the contrast on the dark left hand side and then lightened up a few figures and the floor,then darkened the water at the front,the building on the right and tried to do something with the sky,Ialso upped the contrast on the mans face. Given more time and the file you could maybe get a print but it depends on the sky not the dark left hand side.Youre probably after something very different but its balance you need,dont worry too much about detail in unimportant parts of the image,all the best,Neil.

 

[naoip]

Hi thks fors the replies,very helpful... I guess the bracketing would of been my best option,it was a p & s but as that option...

But what ever camera i'm using i seem to run into this problem a lot...I really need to think more before i just blast away...Anyhow lots to take on board, before i mess up again