focal length: 32 mm
shutter speed: 1/320
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none
I was snapping away under vastly changing lighting conditions (shade-no shade) in manual mode and forgot to check my settings. I was just too excited trying to get a shot of Sophie and her shadow. So guess what happened? Yup. I totally overexposed the shot since I was previously shooting in the shade.
This is what it looked like SOOC:
I know… so, how in the world did I get it to look like the top image? Luckily I shot in RAW and was able to recover a lot of the detail. I did lose highlights on her skin but I got all the concrete texture back. Lesson learned: shoot in RAW and chimp!
You are “chimping” when you check your LCD after your shot. Although the LCD doesn’t show you a true representation of your photo, it can sure help in these situations. Hint: keep your camera playback mode in histogram view to check your tonal range to get better feedback of your exposure.
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.
Christina
Jul 15, 2008 at 10:02 am
OMG, I LOVE this! Nadia has been entranced by her shadow lately, and I’m really wanting to get a good picture of her with it. This is awesome.
Just in the last few days I’ve started shooting in RAW - this absolutely convinces me that I need to keep at it and learn to do it well. Incredible recovery!
Katherine Lim
Jul 15, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I love what you did with this pic! Children entranced by their shadow is so wonderful to watch.
Carrie Hasson
Jul 17, 2008 at 7:37 am
Wow, I just came across your site and will definitely be adding it as a fave. I love seeing the before and after. And I love how you include your camera recipes, it really helps when you’re learning. I so love this pic and it would be great if you could share how you “saved” it so well in PP. Thanks!
laura
Jul 17, 2008 at 11:52 am
@Carrie: Thanks for coming by. I hope we’ll see you often! As for the PP, I used Lightroom to decrease the exposure and also used the “recovery” slider to get back those blown out highlights. It’s certainly amazing how we can get that back… but I think it would be very difficult if it wasn’t the RAW file.
Joanna
Jul 19, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Great shot…..and amazing what shooting in RAW can accomplish. I think I still need to get a feel for my D80 and its settings before I shoot RAW. But you never know, maybe I should just jump right in!