Burnt out Skies , How Infuriating ! Can you help me solve this problem?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Member's gallery
Excellent feedback regarding the OP's issue with exposure. Another reason this is my "go to Forum" aside from viewing and sharing photos. I live in the Pacific Northwest near the Coast and photograph BIF, Bald Eagles, Osprey's and the norm is cloudy Gray Skies. A mature Bald Eagle with Dark Body / White Head with the Cloudy Sky as the background is definitely a challenge to produce an acceptable photo with minimal Post Processing. I too have learned something from this thread and will be reviewing Steve Perry's ebook on Exposure.
 
Member's gallery
I would post process the puffin shot as follows. First I surround the puffin with marching ants. This separates the puffin from the background. I apply highlight/shadow slider and Topaz Denoise AI. then I inverse the selection and process the background with highlight/shadow slider etc. When processing is completed I just deselect and save.
 
Member's gallery
Okay, learning how to set your exposure for the scene is very important. However, I find myself quite often forgetting to change settings to ideal in the heat of the moment. In that case, I go into post processing. This is an easy fix! I simply brought your image into Photoshop (Lightroom would also do the trick) and adjusted the exposure, whites, blacks and clarity. I also used a bit of DeHaze.
DSC_9077.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Then I ran it through On1 Photo Raw 2020 (as a plugin to photoshop). I simply used the Auto AI tool and then brought down the highlights. That is it! Oh, I also straightened the horizon in PS. I don't know if you just need to understand how to correct for blown out highlights in camera or you are upset because your image, in your opinion, isn't salvageable so I am just showing you how to "fix" an image you thought was blown out in post. I hope you don't mind.
 
Member's gallery
bjanes said:
I downloaded the image and looked at the metadata in Bridge. It shows matrix metering with +1.0 EV exposure compensation. That is at least part of the problem.

Regards,

BillView attachment 2841
Click to expand...

I am quoting myself here and I hope that is OK. This is a good time to review Steve's post on how never to mess up a shot again by always reviewing the information in the viewfinder. With +1 exposure compensation a ± icon would be included in the information at the bottom of the viewfinder. In the excitement of shooting this is easy to forget, but it should become a habit that is ingrained in your shooting style.

Bill
 
Member's gallery
Stevie n said:
Here is the offending image, I had a 300pf on (should have been using 1.4 extender NUMPTY LOL) and to tell the whole truth i was 1.3 stops under exposed. Boy I'm really bearing my soul and exposing all my secrets here aren't I. But you know what I am determined to learn and improve. I'm 66 years old and time is short! And you Know what its really interesting. The special Relationship UK/ USA is in action! (and the rest of the world folks, sorry haha) :unsure: View attachment 2764
Click to expand...
Are You shooting raw?
 
My advice is to listen to some of the pros on here. (y)

I am probably not doing it right myself but FWIW I am generally hiking and carrying a 200-500 hand held. I usually keep my ISO on Auto and EC at -.3 to -.7 when the sky is bright and looking for flying birds.
 
I hope it's ok that I also downloaded your puffin photo. I very briefly tried a few setting changes and presets in Topaz studio but for me a subtle tone curve adjustment helped the best with the least amount banding on this jpeg. Nothing major.

Screen Shot 2020-09-05 at 12.16.01 PM.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
Stevie N. Can I ask a question? Are you wanting to learn what you are doing wrong in camera and/or are you thinking that this image was ruined? The reason I ask is because you can correct your images in camera using the above great tips but you can also "fix" them in post so I'm not sure if you just thought this image was ready for the trash can or you do know how to fix it in post. I never throw my "what I thought were perfect" images in the trash can until I've tried to save them. Blown out images are easier to save than really dark images because you don't have the noise issue when correcting. If they are whiteouts, then that is another story but this image was just blown out so fairly easy to fix in post.
 
Member's gallery
For those - like me :whistle:- who tend to forget to set EC back there are two things I use to minimize the risk.
One is this ...
bjanes said:
I am quoting myself here and I hope that is OK. This is a good time to review Steve's post on how never to mess up a shot again by always reviewing the information in the viewfinder. With +1 exposure compensation a ± icon would be included in the information at the bottom of the viewfinder. In the excitement of shooting this is easy to forget, but it should become a habit that is ingrained in your shooting style.
Click to expand...
... and I still have continuously to remind me looking at it. BTW there is a second one usually left hand side of it for flash exposure correction. Just in case you wonder why the top display shows zero and you still see a +/- icon, it's the one for the flash. They are different but it is sometime easy to get confused, espeically if you don't shoot so often. In A mode there is a more prominent sign for EC not being zero. IF EC is activated there you will see the exposure meter graph in the viewfinder that you normally only see in M mode.

For those who have camera like the D750 or a model of the same (newer) generation with User Modes:
EC is one of the parameters that are stored as the part of the user setting. So, if you store your preferred settings with EC 0 as user mode(s), everytime you change the to a user mode or from one user mode to the other, EC gets reset to 0 if you stored it as 0 in the first place. The EC value set for the other modes M, A, S, ... remains stored separately and doesn't get changed. So e.g. if you are in M and set EC to -1 you will still have the EC set to -1 after changing to A or S.

As I am either working M or A I have my favourite settings stored as U1 and U2, use them all the time and may tweak the settings as needed in the situation. Just by flicking the wheel one postion and back and forward again evrything is back to normal again including EC set to 0. ;)

P.S.:
I could only check for sure for D750 and D7200. I know there were models that had user modes that weren't working the way they should, so I can't guarantee for D6x0, D8x0, etc. but it might be worth trying, if you find it useful for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top