How can I avoid a blown-out background in portraits with bright windows or sky?
Asked 6/26/2013
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When shooting a portrait indoors or in shade with a much brighter background, I often end up with either a properly exposed subject and a blown-out background, or a better background and an underexposed subject. In a scene like a person near a bright window, what are the simplest and best ways to handle this? Is blending multiple exposures the only real option, or are there better in-camera or lighting solutions?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
7
First - when you take a picture of a large dynamic range scene, not just portraits, and your camera cannot cover this dynamic range you'll either get overexposure of the bright parts or underexposed of the dark parts.
There are some ways to workaround this:
- Shoot the portrait on a different background.
- Shoot HDR: I don't like this method for portraits, mostly because the processed image rarely seems natural, but it depends on your processing.
- Shoot RAW: this way you'll get much more details and a larger dynamic range.
- Use another light source like flash or reflector: this way you can achieve more natural light and reduce the dynamic range of the scene.
I prefer 1 or 4, depending on the location and/or the available equipment.
Originally by user19909. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user19909
13y ago
0
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This is mainly a dynamic range problem: the scene has more brightness range than the camera can capture in one exposure.
Common ways to handle it:
- add light to the subject with flash or a reflector, which reduces the brightness difference and often looks most natural
- change the scene/background or shooting angle so the background is less extreme
- shoot RAW to preserve more highlight/shadow detail for editing
- blend exposures in post if the scene allows it
- use a graduated neutral density filter in situations where the bright area is confined to part of the frame
For portraits, flash or a reflector is often the easiest practical fix because it lets you expose for the background a bit more and lift the subject to match. If you can’t add light, repositioning the subject or choosing a darker/simpler background is usually the next-best solution.
Exposure blending can work, but for portraits it may look unnatural if overdone, and it’s not the only option.
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