Are blown highlights ever a good thing?

[AlphaBjerke]

Pretty much my title says it all and I just want to hear the opinions. I have operated under the opinion that I should never have blown highlights, yet, I see them now and then in professional and published work. Thoughts?

[candleman]

Depends


sometimes it doesnt matter, sometimes it does. Take Fashion as an example.. thats a world of art and fantasy where anything goes.

Product Photography.. yeah its a bad idea to loose details

Brides detailled wedding dress.. she paid a lot of money for that dress so she better be able to see the details. ....what if its a plain satin dress with no details? ..probably doesnt matter.

what matters is where the blown highlight is, and what you're supposed to be doing with the image.
retaining details on the subject is important... elsewhere it can be a distraction, but not always.

so, i say again... it depends.

[SusanH1970]

Totally agree with Jared (candleman) here.

In portraiture, I love shooting in full sun and using backlighting - sure, it blows out the hair a bit, but in this case, if done right, it works. But in many other cases, blowouts just don't add anything.

Example (not that it's a great one, but it's one I have handy):

[LeeR]

There is an old saying in photography: "A single out of focus image is a mistake, ten out of focus images is and experiment, 100 is a style." It's just the nature of the beast; as soon as someone says "You can't do this or that" someone comes a long and starts a trend with it. In answer to your question, No, blown out highlights are never acceptable...unless you learn to make it so.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by LeeR

There is an old saying in photography: "A single out of focus image is a mistake, ten out of focus images is and experiment, 100 is a style." It's just the nature of the beast; as soon as someone says "You can't do this or that" someone comes a long and starts a trend with it. In answer to your question, No, blown out highlights are never acceptable...unless you learn to make it so.

Nicely said, Lee.

[CheaperKings]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Nicely said, Lee.

Agreed. As always, Lee, very informative.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by candleman

Depends

Pretty much the answer to anything photography related, actually.

If it's for artistic reasons, blown highlights are fine, as long as it's done right.

In much the same way that the "rule of thirds" can be broken, it just has to be done properly.

As candleman said, for products, weddings and so on, it's usually a bad idea to light highlights clip. But for anything stylized, go ahead IF IT WORKS.

Of course, the same can be said of shadows: get things too underexposed and you're likely to clip the shadow end . Again, this can be good if dont for effect, and done well.

[BigVinnie]

Sometimes white is white.

Also cameras lie.

If you are shooting in raw, your camera may show blown highlight blinkys but it may not be true. That image is after jpg conversion, even if you are shooting raw. Only through testing will you know the truth.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Pretty much the answer to anything photography related, actually.

If it's for artistic reasons, blown highlights are fine, as long as it's done right.

In much the same way that the "rule of thirds" can be broken, it just has to be done properly.

As candleman said, for products, weddings and so on, it's usually a bad idea to light highlights clip. But for anything stylized, go ahead IF IT WORKS.

Of course, the same can be said of shadows: get things too underexposed and you're likely to clip the shadow end . Again, this can be good if dont for effect, and done well.

*Nods head enthusiastically.

My example was a tiny example of when blown highlights can work (though others may disagree, and I'm fine with that). I also have examples of going against the ROT and other "rules".

Best advice I ever got from experienced photographers who mentor me is "learn the rules first; then learn to break them". I'm still learning, and will be till the day I die I suspect, and feel weird when I break them, lol, but sometimes I like the results.

[AlphaBjerke]

Great responses all...I am really pleased to see that you took the time to answer my question because I have wondered for some time.

The place I mostly notice the blown highlights is in portraits. I was prompted to ask the question when I saw some wedding shots of the bride getting ready where the light from a nearby window was totally blown out. You can go on flickr and see lots of pros in portraiture and wedding photography who do it.

Thanks for answering.