focal length: 24 mm
shutter speed: 1/50
aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 640
flash: not fired
When we were upgraded to a newly renovated suite in Maui, I just had to get a picture of it. I had my 24-70mm on my FX body, which gave me a fairly wide angle of view. I took several shots but this one seemed to get most everything in and the exposure was nice. The outside scene was blown since it was many stops brighter than the interior and my camera sensor can only capture detail in both highlights and shadows within a limited dynamic range if metering for the entire scene. In this case, the interior of the room was more important to capture at the correct exposure, so the outside was sacrificed.
There are a couple ways to get around blowing out the sky. One is to take multiple shots at different exposures. For example, I could have exposed for the room and then exposed for the outside followed by a bit of post processing where I could meld the two images together using only the correctly exposed areas of the image. I could have also used a flash to bring the level of light of the interior to match the outside levels of light. Those are just a couple of examples of what you can do to have both parts correctly exposed if you wanted to.
Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.
[n.] a resource for beginners who wish to take sweeter pics.
Copyright © 2012 Dolce Pics. All rights reserved.
golightly
Feb 25, 2009 at 3:15 am
Great room! Wow, I want to be there. Going to your comments about other options like exposing for the room and then exposing for outside; would that type of shot be better on the tripod for accuracy of the picture to line up in post-processing? Or maybe I’m just a shaky dork!
lu
Feb 25, 2009 at 10:58 am
I always think about shooting the hotel room when I am not there anymore. I know there have been some that scared the hell out of me and I wanted to forget them, but then there are others that were amazing and I should have recorded that. This simple picture of yours is a great reminder.
Jessica
Feb 25, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Thanks for the great tip! I am always shooting my daughter in front of our big french doors because of the light, but I can never get the mountains behind her to come out as well.
Gayle
Feb 25, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I love your lessons Laura. It’s great to know the possibilities in photography! (I don’t have the talent yet, but I still like having the information!)
laura
Feb 26, 2009 at 3:03 am
@golightly: Oh yes, a tripod would be mandatory especially if you are changing the exposure yourself. If you have auto-bracketing then the camera will automatically make the exposures for you within seconds, I believe. I haven’t tried that feature yet though.
@lu: Usually I forget to take a picture and remember once we’ve messed it all up.
@Jessica: I hope you get to try some bracketing. Let me know if you have any questions.
@Gayle: Oh Gayle! You’ve got talent!
Carrie Hasson
Feb 28, 2009 at 7:33 pm
nice hotel!
i don’t shoot with flash (yet) and i have found it frustrating when i have been at the beach at that sweet sunset hour and in post process I have to choose between lighting up the subjects or the beautiful water & sunset in the background…reminds me of what you’re talking about here with exposure.
laura
Mar 1, 2009 at 3:43 am
@Carrie: Yeah… sunsets are always tough since you have to choose which part to correctly expose. If you have a flash (preferably off-camera), you can get some awesomely dramatic shots. i see wedding photogs do it all the time. I should try it too!
Irfan
Apr 17, 2009 at 10:39 pm
On behalf of the exposure problem between background and object, what is the best time to shot interior room? The photo seems taken on daylight, nothing on the window but white.
laura
Apr 20, 2009 at 4:22 pm
@Irfan: Hi! Thanks for your question. I think if you want to retain the details through the window, shooting later in the day when the brightness outside is closer to the darkness inside might help. I would then expose for the outside and use flash to help light the inside of the room.