How can I prevent blown highlights on a Nikon D300?
Asked 1/13/2011
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I sometimes get blown highlights when shooting with my Nikon D300. What camera settings or shooting techniques can help reduce clipped highlights, and is there a way to correct it if the camera tends to overexpose consistently?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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To avoid blown highlights you can:
- use your camera's exposure compensation to set -1 or -2 stops of exposure.
- use spot metering on a lighter part of the image and use exposure-lock before re-framing.
- use matrix metering (sometimes helps)
- alter the positioning of subject and/or camera to make better use of available light
- use supplementary lighting to reduce the depth of shadows in the subject
The range of light levels that can be recorded by a camera are much lower than those present in many real-life situations. One way to deal with this is to use High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging techniques. Use the exposure bracketing features of the camera to make multiple images that can be combined using HDR software that compresses the dynamic range of the scene (using tone mapping) to fit within the range expressible in a displayed or printed image.
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(creative commons images by Kevin McCoy via Wikipedia)
Originally by user2520. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2520
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Blown highlights usually happen when the scene’s brightness range exceeds what the camera sensor can record. To reduce clipping on a Nikon D300, try:
- dialing in negative exposure compensation, such as -1 or -2 EV
- using spot metering on a bright area you want to preserve, then locking exposure and recomposing
- trying matrix metering, which may handle some scenes better
- changing your shooting position or subject placement to avoid extreme contrast
- adding fill light to lift shadows so you don’t need as much exposure overall
If the camera seems to overexpose consistently in many situations, check the D300’s Fine Tune Optimal Exposure setting (Custom Setting b6) and adjust it slightly.
For very high-contrast scenes, a single exposure may not be enough. In that case, use exposure bracketing and combine the frames with HDR software to fit the scene’s dynamic range into the final image.
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