How should I expose a high-contrast subject like a black-and-white dog?
Asked 7/27/2011
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2 answers
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I’m photographing a dog with very dark facial areas, mid-tone fur, and nearly white legs, so some part of the subject often ends up clipped or too dark. I shoot RAW, usually handheld outdoors, and often don’t have time to carefully set up each shot. I already try to expose toward the right of the histogram and recover shadows in post, and sometimes use a little fill flash, but I’d like a better approach. What exposure method works best for a fast-moving, high-contrast subject like this on a Canon EOS 50D?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
2
If you don't have time to take readings and set manual exposure maybe you can do something with exposure compensation.
Take multiple pictures of the dog with the settings (practically metering mode) you normally use but with different exposure compensation values (+1/3,-1/3,+2/3,-2/3 ...) - the composition is not important but it should be similar enough to the pictures you usually take so the camera metering is the same.
Load all those pictures into your computer and see what EC value gives you the best result, always use this when taking pictures of the dog
I don't believe this will give you the optimal results - but it should be close and it's fast and doesn't require taking readings and thinking about camera settings.
Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2481
15y ago
0
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For a subject like this, the goal is usually to place the dark and bright fur so neither is pushed too far beyond what the sensor can hold.
A practical approach is:
- Use spot metering on the important bright and dark areas that are lit by the same main light.
- Compare the two readings and set exposure so they fall roughly equally on either side of mid exposure. Example: if the white fur meters 4 stops brighter than the dark fur, expose so the white is about +2 and the dark about -2. That gives both ends the best chance of retaining detail.
- If the light is consistent, switch to manual exposure after metering so the camera doesn’t change exposure from shot to shot.
- If you need something faster, test a few shots with exposure compensation and find the EC value that usually works best for this dog. Then use that as your default.
Shooting RAW is still the right choice, and a little fill flash can help, but careful metering or a reliable EC bias is the main fix.
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