Taking pictures with a bright background

Hi,

This will probably be a armature question.

I'm using a D5200. What options do i have when taking a picture of someone with a bright background. For example lets say a couple is standing in front of a window. They want a picture of themselves with the background seen through the window (which is bright). How best can I take the picture giving emphasis on both the couple and background ?

A good flash will do the trick. Try your onboard flash to see if it'll help. If not, you may need a to use off camera lighting or flash.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention. Is there any other option without using flash ?

The other option you have is to overexpose so the white background is white and then in post production you increase the light in the shadows areas. Or you could use a large white reflector to send some light back on your subjects. You have to understand and study the light since it's the light that creates the image, not your hopes of how it will turn out.

The thing to remember here is you are shooting two scenes, he shot out the window and the people inside. If you expose for the outside the people inside will be dark. The opposite holds true expose for the inside and the background is over exposed often refereed to as blown out. So to correct this you can either make it darker outside or add light inside. If your are shooting in raw you have the option of trying to correct in post as mentioned above.

You could also try HDR I have had some luck with this although not as good as I hoped. You could try this and see if your results are satisfactory.

Don't be upset if your results aren't very good SJD; this is traditionally a very difficult setting for a photo. I'd try it on an overcast day to help reduce the drastic difference in the light sources. Good luck and let us know how things turn out.