Issues with pics in bright sunlight

[Horoscope Fish]

That looks like Lightroom indicating you have blown out highlights in your picture. I'm not really a Lightroom user but I'm betting those are akin to the "blinkies" you can turn on in your histograms in the review mode of your camera. Photoshop does something similar in certain modes.

Edit:

Yup... I think I'm Right. Scroll about half-way down the page.

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[WayneF]

That looks like Lightroom indicating you have blown out highlights in your picture. I'm not really a Lightroom user but I'm betting those are akin to the "blinkies" you can turn on in your histograms in the review mode of your camera. Photoshop does something similar in certain modes.
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The problem with the camera blinkies is you have to specify which channel. If you use the single gray histogram, odds are it won't show real clipping unless it is really extreme (too late).
See Two types of Histograms

If there is bright red in the daylight scene, clipping often occurs first in the red channel, but this is not guaranteed. Other channels can clip too.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

The problem with the camera blinkies is you have to specify which channel. If you use the single gray histogram, odds are it won't show real clipping unless it is really extreme (too late).
See Two types of Histograms

If there is bright red in the daylight scene, clipping often occurs first in the red channel, but this is not guaranteed. Other channels can clip too.

I was just late to the party...

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[Mike D90]

Going on a safari in 6 weeks so really need to figure this out.

You would be served well to do some real thorough reading of controlling light before you head out on a safari. Bright direct sunlight is difficult to photograph certain subjects in and you certainly do not want to photograph them in spotty/mottled light under that weird type of shading. Either completely shade them and use fill flash or leave them in direct light and use some kind of scrim to filter the light so it is not so harsh.

If you want to enjoy the safari for what it is as a trip then forget the professional photography. If you want to professionally photograph the trip then forget the fun and get some knowledge and equipment together.

 

[aroy]

As others have stated it must be Lightroom which is highlighting blown areas with red.

Before you condemn the images, open them in View NX and see (and show us) how they look. Just load the images into View NX and export them as jpeg without any processing. Then post them in this forum.

The D5200 has enough DR, so you can meter in the bright area (use matrix metering) and shoot in aperture priority. Once loaded in View NX, you can lighten the dark areas selectively by using Active D lighting presets. Just remember if it is too bright then the sensor saturates and you loose data (you cannot darken the scene and get details). If it is dark, the data is there and you can brighten the scene and see the details.

I have not much idea of the D5200, but in D3300 and other bodies I have, you can view the histogram in a number of formats - Intensity, Red, Blue, Green or all of them. Individual colours can saturate the sensor and blow the highlight, even though the combination has not, so it is wise to check individual colours in the histogram.

 

[heathramos]

You would be served well to do some real thorough reading of controlling light before you head out on a safari. Bright direct sunlight is difficult to photograph certain subjects in and you certainly do not want to photograph them in spotty/mottled light under that weird type of shading. Either completely shade them and use fill flash or leave them in direct light and use some kind of scrim to filter the light so it is not so harsh.

I am a little worried about how the pictures will turn out.

I can only assume the animals will be at a distance and could very well be in the shade.

If they are at a distance, I assume flash won't help. Adjusting the exposure could lessen the bright parts but won't it make the main subjects even darker?

I will also bring circular polarizing filters. A friend suggested using them all the time when sunlight isn't an issue.

 

[Mike D90]

I am a little worried about how the pictures will turn out.

I can only assume the animals will be at a distance and could very well be in the shade.

If they are at a distance, I assume flash won't help. Adjusting the exposure could lessen the bright parts but won't it make the main subjects even darker?

I will also bring circular polarizing filters. A friend suggested using them all the time when sunlight isn't an issue.

I am no expert at filters. I rarely use them. Polarizers are mainly for use where harsh direct bright sunlight is reflected onto your lens . . . I think. Someone else will probably chime in with a much better explanation.

As to my knowledge about all you can do is the best you can. If a subject is in complete shade and you are standing/shooting from direct bright sunlight into the shade, and you cannot use flash or reflectors, you have to meter for the subject which means over exposing. Anything not in shade will be blown out/washed out. However, where you will be may not include completely shaded areas as trees tend to be thin canopy in safari settings.

You might hit up Scott Murray here as he has been on some African style shoots I think and he lives in Australia where the setting may be similar.

 

[foo]

I thought the red areas in the photos were overblown highlights , and can reduced in lightroom by adjusting the contrast , highlights or brightness .

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I thought the red areas in the photos were overblown highlights , and can reduced in lightroom by adjusting the contrast , highlights or brightness .

You can reduce/increase contrast, brightness, gamma etc. but you can't recover a highlight (or a shadow for that matter) if it's blown out. A blowout means all tonality in the pixel is gone and is being rendered as either pure white (if it's a highlight) or a pure black (if it's a shadow). Either way, though, once tonality blown out, it's gone and there's no getting them back.

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[WayneF]

I thought the red areas in the photos were overblown highlights , and can reduced in lightroom by adjusting the contrast , highlights or brightness .

Yes and no. The "Red" is a feature added by Lightroom, just to flag the clipped areas. The picture itself is not red, but it is clipped. Yes, the Red areas are the clipped areas.

And yes, we can dial back the brightness in Lightroom Raw, perhaps can be made to look "acceptable" (depending), but we can never recover the clipped detail in those areas.