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UER Forum > UE Photography > Balancing Light and Dark (Viewed 1088 times)
Hoover 


Location: Michigan
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Balancing Light and Dark
< on 2/23/2018 6:38 PM >
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So this might be a real nooby question, but I'm new to photography and I'm having a lot of trouble with the balance of light and dark in photos. I'm not fantastic at low-light photography to begin with, so maybe this is a bit of an advanced topic for me, or maybe it's just not a good combination, but I'm not sure what to do about encompassing both ranges in a single shot.

I was hoping that, in the photo below, I would be able to capture a little bit of the darker, deeper colors from the interior of this garage, while also getting the contrast of the snow and shack directly outside:



After messing with exposures this is as clear as I could get the exterior lighting to be.

What's the right way to approach this? Should I practice pure low-light shots before I get into this combination? Thanks so much, I need all the help I can get




blackhawk 

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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 1 on 2/23/2018 6:43 PM >
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The exposure range is too broad.
The snow blows it out.
You need to either add lighting ie backlighting, flash, etc to the interior...
or wait for sunrise/set to shoot it.
Shoot RAW and then dial in the exposure and contrast curve.



[last edit 2/23/2018 6:45 PM by blackhawk - edited 1 times]

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skatchkins 


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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 2 on 2/23/2018 7:14 PM >
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My favorite cheater method is to take 3 bracket shots. If your camera allows it, you can -exposure, normal, +exposure 3 shots in succession (tripod works best in this situation), then deal with it later in post (my 6D will do it in camera but I haven't seen any good results from utilizing that).

Then it's off to your favorite editing software (Photoshop) for some multi-layer feathered cutting or perhaps subtle HDR (with something like Machinery HDR).

Then there's no need for all Blackhawk's RAW dogging sunset flashes.



[last edit 2/23/2018 7:15 PM by skatchkins - edited 1 times]

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Hoover 


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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 3 on 2/23/2018 7:53 PM >
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Great, thank you both for the suggestions, I appreciate it. The cheater method sounds like less messing around in the moment, though I'll try both and see where it gets me. Thanks again!




blackhawk 

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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 4 on 2/23/2018 7:59 PM >
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Posted by skatchkins
My favorite cheater method is to take 3 bracket shots. If your camera allows it, you can -exposure, normal, +exposure 3 shots in succession (tripod works best in this situation), then deal with it later in post (my 6D will do it in camera but I haven't seen any good results from utilizing that).

Then it's off to your favorite editing software (Photoshop) for some multi-layer feathered cutting or perhaps subtle HDR (with something like Machinery HDR).

Then there's no need for all Blackhawk's RAW dogging sunset flashes.


Better to dial in the exposure in manual then to find out latter your exposure is off by one exposure setting in spite of all the bracketed shots and the 3 exposure setting leeway of RAWs.
Not big on hdr's at all. Set it up right the first time... plus you get that nice glow at sr/sunset.

Mind your metering mode too...




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Oculus.Affectus.Foto 


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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 5 on 2/24/2018 1:06 AM >
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Shoot in RAW and do really simple edits in Photoshop's CameraRaw tool. Below is your picture, as a JPEG, run through it with only dragging the shadows up, and the highlights down. The whites are totally blown out (because of the format AND time of day) so they only turn gray when the highlights are dropped, or the exposure is lowered. You can see how well the lows are handled, but the highs are screwed.
Oh, and calibrate your monitor. I wasted many a nights editing pictures too dark because my monitor wasn't correct.

1.






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Hoover 


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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 6 on 2/25/2018 3:14 AM >
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Wow I see what you mean about the whites, Oculus. With that, is your suggestion to focus on getting a good bright shot and editing the dark into existence later? Or was that just a general observation about editing?

I've been shooting in RAW but using Lightroom. Sounds like I should start messing around with Photoshop. Thanks a bunch for the tips




Oculus.Affectus.Foto 


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There is Beauty in darkness. There is darkness in Beauty.

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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 7 on 2/25/2018 3:34 AM >
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No, I would pay attention to what BH said about time of day in a shot like this. I shoot more low-light scenes so I don't USUALLY have to worry too much about the brights, but if I were to have shot this I would have personally scrapped it. That's just me though. Lightroom and Photoshop are pretty much the same thing as far as their RAW editing is concerned, but each has their preference.
This is a good thread to read too:
https://uer.ca/for...d=1&threadid=49601
Basically, if you only focus on getting the brights, you run the risk of a LOT of noise when you bring up the darks. I just try to get the right shot, but that has been a lot of trial, error, practice, and listening to others suggestions. But, honestly, I'm surprised those highlights didn't drop better in LR...




"The call upon self-discipline will not be long, only till life is done with."
-M. Aurelius
Hoover 


Location: Michigan
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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 8 on 2/25/2018 3:47 AM >
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Well, I'm also not great with LR lol. This is definitely an art with a lot of intricacies to learn. But sweet, I appreciate the suggestions and the link. I'll read up.




Oculus.Affectus.Foto 


Gender: Male
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There is Beauty in darkness. There is darkness in Beauty.

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Re: Balancing Light and Dark
< Reply # 9 on 2/25/2018 6:25 AM >
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Posted by Hoover
Well, I'm also not great with LR lol. This is definitely an art with a lot of intricacies to learn. But sweet, I appreciate the suggestions and the link. I'll read up.


You may need to download the Adobe DNG converter because every camera has their own format of RAW images and Adobe can't keep up with all of it. Again, I don't know, I don't use Lightroom only because I'm comfortable with PS. Google some stuff about editing RAW files, opening RAW files, etc. That, and going out and shooting anything and everything, is how I learned. Then, following the advice I have gotten through this same forum, I know my work has really improved.




"The call upon self-discipline will not be long, only till life is done with."
-M. Aurelius
UER Forum > UE Photography > Balancing Light and Dark (Viewed 1088 times)


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