how to get the overexposed areas out of a FTS?
- Thread starter dixiedog
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Allmost
New member
when too much light, us humans close our pupil up, to get correct exposure.
so I guess higher F stop number ? [smaller apreture]
Lower Iso would also make film less sensitive ... so u can step that down instead too Id assume.
Id wait for beer guy, or Jben or others to advice as well. Im prety new too, just checking if what I have learned is right lol haha
so I guess higher F stop number ? [smaller apreture]
Lower Iso would also make film less sensitive ... so u can step that down instead too Id assume.
Id wait for beer guy, or Jben or others to advice as well. Im prety new too, just checking if what I have learned is right lol haha
Last edited:
2 parts of the 3 with regards to technically correct exposures Allmost.
Will defer to beerguy, Misled and others as Im just starting to do some FTS.
That said.
Working on a couple assumptions.
Your camera is metering for the entire tank and averaging the light being reflected. So relatively speaking the brightest parts, comprise only a very small portion.You could use spot metering to metering off one of the brighter area's and adjust your settings accordingly so as to avoid blowing them...
Or stay with matrix/eval metering and refer to your histogram/lcd (if you have highlight warning enabled.) and then reduce your exposure by dropping ISO, reducing SS, or stopping down until your highlights are exposed the way you want. The trade off is you will likely start clipping shadows (blacks) and leaving other areas of the tank decidedly "under exposed".
"proper exposures" as defined by your meter are not always "correct" or what you want.
Expose to the right.
By referring to your histogram you can try to edge the exposure as far right as possible without blowing any of the highlights. Once blown, those pixels contain no data.If the image (overall is under exposed) you can play with it in post to lighten the darken areas (if desired) .
And sometimes you just have to make a choice and maybe accept blowing some highlights, or clipping some shadows...the devil is in the details.
Alternatively there are some other things you can try during capture.Starting with some flash so you expose for the highlights and allow the flash to "balance" or fill shadows and possibly even using a grad nd if the top of your tank is really bright, relative to the mid and bottom and your aqua scape
Will defer to beerguy, Misled and others as Im just starting to do some FTS.
That said.
Working on a couple assumptions.
Your camera is metering for the entire tank and averaging the light being reflected. So relatively speaking the brightest parts, comprise only a very small portion.You could use spot metering to metering off one of the brighter area's and adjust your settings accordingly so as to avoid blowing them...
Or stay with matrix/eval metering and refer to your histogram/lcd (if you have highlight warning enabled.) and then reduce your exposure by dropping ISO, reducing SS, or stopping down until your highlights are exposed the way you want. The trade off is you will likely start clipping shadows (blacks) and leaving other areas of the tank decidedly "under exposed".
"proper exposures" as defined by your meter are not always "correct" or what you want.
Expose to the right.
By referring to your histogram you can try to edge the exposure as far right as possible without blowing any of the highlights. Once blown, those pixels contain no data.If the image (overall is under exposed) you can play with it in post to lighten the darken areas (if desired) .
And sometimes you just have to make a choice and maybe accept blowing some highlights, or clipping some shadows...the devil is in the details.
Alternatively there are some other things you can try during capture.Starting with some flash so you expose for the highlights and allow the flash to "balance" or fill shadows and possibly even using a grad nd if the top of your tank is really bright, relative to the mid and bottom and your aqua scape
Recty
New member
If you showed a picture, we could probably help.
If your tips are all lighter colors than the rest of the coral, it makes sense that they reflect more light and are therefore brighter and wont look exposed correctly.
Also, if they are "flat" up top when compared to the orientation of the rest of the coral to the light fixture, they are going to reflect more light.
If your tips are all lighter colors than the rest of the coral, it makes sense that they reflect more light and are therefore brighter and wont look exposed correctly.
Also, if they are "flat" up top when compared to the orientation of the rest of the coral to the light fixture, they are going to reflect more light.
Yea, to really help, we need a pic and what you did to take the shot. For full tank shots an off camera flash from underneath may help, but I doubt it. We don't know how far away from the tank, what type of lens, and the metering of the shots. You should be able to meter on the tips, and try to bring up the shadows in post as J said, but that will only help so much.
What kind of light you have and as Recty said how much reflection you get from the top of the corals may be the largest problem. Turn off the tank lights, put the camera on a tripod and shoot the tank. No flash.
What kind of light you have and as Recty said how much reflection you get from the top of the corals may be the largest problem. Turn off the tank lights, put the camera on a tripod and shoot the tank. No flash.
Reef Bass
colors and textures
I encounter this issue all the time shooting macros of corals. IME, if I expose for the tips, the rest of tue shot is way under exposed. I try to make the overall exposure for the whole shot look right. Sometimes that means letting the tips blow out.
Shooting in RAW helps me with this, in that if I'm not happy with the overall exposure, I can just import the raw file again and change the exposure.
One can also try using the dodge / burn tool on the tips but that can be particularly tedious if there are a lot of them.
Another approach is to expose for the tips and then brighten shadows a fair amount, but if overdone that can get funky looking.
Shooting in RAW helps me with this, in that if I'm not happy with the overall exposure, I can just import the raw file again and change the exposure.
One can also try using the dodge / burn tool on the tips but that can be particularly tedious if there are a lot of them.
Another approach is to expose for the tips and then brighten shadows a fair amount, but if overdone that can get funky looking.
byronsands
Member
while this may be beyond what you are looking to do, bracketing your exposures over a 5 to 7 stop range and then combining them using an HDR app should bring in both highlites and shadows.
You will want to keep your aperture constant and vary the shutter speed (or your depth of field, etc will be changing with each image.)
This technique won't work however when you have parts a scene in motion.
You will want to keep your aperture constant and vary the shutter speed (or your depth of field, etc will be changing with each image.)
This technique won't work however when you have parts a scene in motion.
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