How can I photograph a dark interior and a bright sign so both are readable?
Asked 11/14/2015
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2 answers
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I photographed a dim bar at night with a bright sign in the background. In the brighter exposure, the bar looks okay but the sign is blown out and unreadable. In the darker exposure, the sign is more controlled but the rest of the scene becomes too dark. How can I capture both the dark interior and the bright sign so they’re both visible?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
26
You could've probably got a decent result just by picking an intermediate exposure.
Alternatively, you can try to take a short and a long exposure of the same scene, and combine them digitally afterwards. Here's what I got just by taking your two images above (mouse cursor and all), aligning them (manually, using the Scale tool in GIMP) and blending them together at various ratios:
25% short exposure + 75% long exposure:
50% short exposure + 50% long exposure:
67% short exposure + 33% long exposure:
Just play with the mixing ratio to get the feel you want.
(It's also possible to apply non-uniform masking to get an exposure fusion effect, as in this example. However, in my quick attempt I didn't manage to obtain any particularly nice results from your image that way. YMMV, of course.)
In general, I would also recommend always shooting RAW, both to better capture the full dynamic range of your camera, and also to avoid the ugly digital clipping of overexposed areas. For the latter, it helps to underexpose your shots a little (say, −⅓ to −1 EV; more if you're shooting a dark scene with bright elements like here) and then pull the exposure up on your computer, using the "soft highlights" mode in your RAW editor.
Originally by user6125. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user6125
10y ago
0
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This is a dynamic range problem: the scene has a bigger brightness range than the camera can record well in one exposure.
Best options:
- Use an in-between exposure if the contrast isn’t too extreme.
- For a static scene, take multiple exposures of the same composition and blend them later (exposure blending/HDR). A tripod helps a lot so the frames align cleanly.
- If subjects are moving, blending can cause ghosting. In that case, shoot RAW and expose to preserve the highlights as much as possible—ideally only the brightest white parts of the sign clip—then lift the shadows in RAW processing.
For your examples, the two exposures could be blended digitally, but they should match in composition for best results. Software can merge them automatically, or you can layer them manually and adjust the mix.
So: for the cleanest result, keep the camera fixed, bracket exposures, and blend; if you only get one shot, shoot RAW and prioritize keeping the sign from blowing out.
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