How to shoot during bright sunlight?

dhie20

dhie20

Senior Member
Hi All,
I always have a problem when shooting during bright sunlight, for example, at the beach.
I can't take the background and the subjects at the same time. If I focuse on the subject, the background will be overexposed (too bright to be seen), and if try to get the background, the subject will be underexposed (too dark/silhouette). I usually use lower ISO at 100, shorter shutter speed (below 1/60) to get kid movement. Since I want to get better focus on subject and a little bit blur on background, I use larger aperture. Please I need advice to make my wife happy when taking outdoor & beach photographs. :very_drunk:
 
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D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
nikonpup said:
have you tried camera hdr for the "still" pictures? or fill flash?
Click to expand...

This will work to a certain degree.

FredKingston said:
ND filter...
Click to expand...

ND Filter will just darken the entire picture.


Active D-Lighting might be a good choice from this type of shooting. Try setting it on extra high and see it that helps. Try one with it on and one with it off to see the difference.
[h=3]Active D-Lighting[/h] Active D-Lighting is effective for shooting, for example, a dark room including outside scenery seen through a window, high-contrast scenes such as at the seaside under strong sunlight, and backlit situations. It preserve details in both highlights and shadowy areas in such situations, maintaining moderate contrast to reproduce brightness as you see it. Select the preferred setting from "Auto", "Extra high", "High", "Normal", "Low" or "Off". Active D-Lighting works for a moving subject and it is also possible to bracket images so as to obtain one with Active D-Lighting and another without.
 
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crycocyon

Senior Member
Go manual. Spot meter off of the subject in A mode (maybe with -1/3 stop under), then set your shutter speed according to the aperture you prefer. Then regardless of the background it will be properly exposed.

Another way I do it is to shoot in aperture priority mode, test shoot, then under or over-expose if necessary using exposure compensation.
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I think the OP wants to get better exposure on both the subject and background. I know that when I am on the beach I would like to get the people and the beach. Normally there is a very short window of opportunity to get that.

Not sure what the sand is like there but I live near the Gulf of Mexico and in Alabama and The panhandle of Florida the sand is Bright White.
 
dhie20

dhie20

Senior Member
thanks for your feedback mates... I never thought I'll get so many replies in a very short time :D
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Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
This will work to a certain degree.



ND Filter will just darken the entire picture.


Active D-Lighting might be a good choice from this type of shooting. Try setting it on extra high and see it that helps. Try one with it on and one with it off to see the difference.
Active D-Lighting

Active D-Lighting is effective for shooting, for example, a dark room including outside scenery seen through a window, high-contrast scenes such as at the seaside under strong sunlight, and backlit situations. It preserve details in both highlights and shadowy areas in such situations, maintaining moderate contrast to reproduce brightness as you see it. Select the preferred setting from "Auto", "Extra high", "High", "Normal", "Low" or "Off". Active D-Lighting works for a moving subject and it is also possible to bracket images so as to obtain one with Active D-Lighting and another without.
Click to expand...

thanks for your advice, this is something that I haven't tried before. I already tried HDR, but I can't use it to capture kid's movement. I'll definitely try this

pedroj said:
Use your flash...
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Yes, I had tried this, but sometimes it gives overexposure on the subjects. Maybe I have to change the flash compensation?

crycocyon said:
Go manual. Spot meter off of the subject in A mode (maybe with -1/3 stop under), then set your shutter speed according to the aperture you prefer. Then regardless of the background it will be properly exposed.

Another way I do it is to shoot in aperture priority mode, test shoot, then under or over-expose if necessary using exposure compensation.
Click to expand...
Yes, I prefer manual, since I can control both aperture and shutter speed. When I switch to "A", when I open the aperture wide, the shutterspeed too short, and I got underexposure :(

Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
I think the OP wants to get better exposure on both the subject and background. I know that when I am on the beach I would like to get the people and the beach. Normally there is a very short window of opportunity to get that.

Not sure what the sand is like there but I live near the Gulf of Mexico and in Alabama and The panhandle of Florida the sand is Bright White.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's true. I want to get both subjects and background. from 20 shots, I might only get 4 or 5 pictures.
 
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Mfrankfort

Senior Member
Make sure the flash is set to TTL. Sometimes (lot of the time) the flash compensation needs to be adjusted. This works good for me. Point the camera at the background, make sure the meter is at 0 (or where you want it) to expose the background, and lock in the settings. (should be done in manual). Then point the camera at the subject wtih the flash (onboard or off) and take the shot. Check the picture to make sure the subejct is exposed properly. Sometimes (most of the time) TTL is a little off, so just use the compensation to dial it in to where you want. Hope this helps. If it does, I want 2 tickets to the Australian Open, and a Kangaroo. :)
 
dhie20

dhie20

Senior Member
DSC_0412.jpgDSC_0443.jpg sample of the overexposure on background and underexposure on subject
 
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Mfrankfort

Senior Member
Under the flash settings, there should be an option for TTL or M. TTL (Through the lens) is like Automatic, where the flash itself adjusts for what it thinks is "proper" exposure. M, you can set it to full, 1/2, 1/6....etc to 1/128. As far as the exact way to make sure it's TTL on the camera, someone with a 5100 will have to show you exactly. It should be under custom menu flash settings. It's the default setting, so it should be already set. My friend actually just got back from Australia. His uncle lives there. Awesome pictures.
 
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crycocyon

Senior Member
DSC_2830.jpg

Well you have the option of shooting with the light facing the subjects or backlit. Above is a backlit example exposed for the subjects. It just requires a proper exposure and usually one test shot will help determine that (you could even use the histogram for the test image).
 
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Mfrankfort

Senior Member
Ya. Matrix works REALLY well with camera's now-a-days. They've made it pretty smart. It stays on mine all the time. And it should stay on yours as well. :)
 
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