How can I expose for a colorful evening sky while keeping a subject in the foreground visible without flash?
Asked 3/23/2012
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I’m using a Canon 1000D, usually with the Canon 50mm f/1.8. I typically use evaluative metering and single-point center autofocus. When shooting a person or other subject on the road against a bright evening sky, I want to retain the sky color while also keeping the foreground subject reasonably well exposed and in focus, without using flash. What shooting approach or settings would help?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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Yes, Hasin is correct. Bracket the shots and then apply photorealistic HDR techniques. Here's my final shot:
This was three exposures of 0.4, 0.1 and 1.6 seconds at f4.0, ISO 100. If you bump your ISO you can use much shorter exposures. I don't like doing that since it introduces noise which HDR can really magnify. Of course I used a tripod.
(The lens was the Canon 17-40mm set to 17mm mounted on a Canon 40D body.)
The camera was set to pattern metering, which is probably better than spot metering for a bracketed situation. I don't see the focus recorded in the EXIF data but I almost always shoot with manual focus. Stationary subjects really help here!
Now, what type of subject are you intending to have in the foreground? A person? If so, be careful. HDR can make faces look awful. You might need to take your HDR final and bring it into Photoshop, then layer the overexposed bracket on top of it, and brush away all so the overexposed bracket face (which will be correctly exposed) comes through.
Originally by user7310. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7310
14y ago
0
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A single exposure often can’t hold both a bright sunset sky and a darker foreground subject. The approach suggested in the answers is to shoot bracketed exposures and combine them later using HDR or exposure fusion.
Practical approach:
- Keep the subject in focus first.
- Use auto exposure bracketing or manually shoot several exposures: one for the sky, one for the foreground, and possibly one in between.
- A tripod helps a lot, especially if shutter speeds get slow.
- Keep ISO low if possible to reduce noise, since HDR/exposure fusion can make noise more obvious.
- Evaluative/pattern metering is fine for this kind of bracketed sequence.
Limitations:
- This works best with stationary subjects.
- If your foreground subject is a person, HDR can sometimes make faces look unnatural.
So, rather than one special metering setting, the key solution is bracketing multiple exposures and blending them in post-processing.
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