Correcting Bleached Sun

[olgap]

I took the attached at 6:00am, April 28 using a FinePix 5200 on automatic. I had to darken it a tremendous amount to turn the sun from a bleached white to an orange approximating the truth, which spoiled the sky. The sun was so orange that I thought there was a fire at the neighboring farm and set out to check. It was so large on the horizon that it reminded me of the harvest moons we have over the fields here. I have had some luck photographing sunrises (on automatic) just before the sun breaches the horizon but I want to be out there at 5:00am tomorrow to see if I can capture this full on. If I used the manual mode, could I capture this sight without needing to do a lot of doctoring and what settings would you suggest? I want the sun to really dominate and fill a large portion of the frame.

[RexK_Cozumel]

I have a similar shot that I posted here.

The settings that I used is posted as well. My sun is a bit brighter than yours but I still captured the colors in the sky. if you are wanting to not blow out the sun then you might want to use a faster shutter speed perhaps 1/400 but this will cause the sky to be a lot darker.

[clockdoc]

Hi and welcome to DPS. The attached link didn't seem to work. You will get a mich better response if a larger image can be posted with your questions. The "sticky" at the head of this forum offers suggestions as to how to accomplish this. You camera's meter was probably "tricked" into providing you with an erroneous exposure value due to the extreme range of contrasts and tonal values. Since you say it was "bleached out", I suspect your meter favored the darker base of the photo and grossly overexposed the scene. In some cases it is impossible to accurately reproduce on film or with a digital camera what we see with our eyes. Granted, there are special exposure techniques and software manipulation that will get use close but it is never quite the same as we see it in person. If you decide to go with Manual exposure, start taking pictures before the sun rises and adjust your exposure values based on what you see on the camera's LCD. Watch the metering mode you use and be prepared to override it. Use a low ISO (100 or less). Good luck and let us see the results.

[olgap]

Thanks for welcoming me. I had another go at the sunrise this morning, with poor results. I used an ISO of 100 as suggested, increasing/decreasing white balance, increasing/decreasing aperture and changing to the automatic setting, always ending up with a white ball in the sky. I searched Google images for "sunrise" and had two types of hits -- those showing only reflected light on the underside of clouds, or the same white, small sphere, like a hole in the middle of the picture. Am I trying something that is impossible? Would purchasing a filtering lens help? If so, would I need a polarizing lens, coloured lense? Both?

[clockdoc]

Hi,
If I understand your question, you want the sun to appear as an orange or colored ball and not a white, washed out sphere. If it has no color then it is being overexposed either by too slow a shutter speed or too wide open an aperture. I would not suggest metering the sun directly as it may damage your camera, not to mention your eyesight. Rather, switch to manual exposure anduse a starting exposure of 1/500 second at f/16 for ISO 100 or less and incrementally increase your shutter speed/aperture until you achieve the correct darkness. A gradated colored filter may also help but only after you have tried using the manual settings suggested above. Can you post an example along with the EXIF data? I cannot open the attachment thumbnail .

[olgap]

That's it exactly.
These photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/26319980@N03/ - were taken at +/- 6:00 today. The EXIF information is intact, but the time, which I did not reset because of haste this morning, is wrong.
I started with f8, 1/60s, used ISO 100 for all, finishing at 1/100s, f/8. This camera has limitations - no f/16. The stops are f/3.2 - f/8 on the manual setting. Apart from the exposure problem, I see that I am going to have to carry a tripod and notepad. This is more complicated than flora and fauna, with which I have had far more luck.
I used the LCD screen instead of the viewfinder, so there should be no danger to vision. How could this damage the camera?

[clockdoc]

Looks like you could have even used a faster shutter speed even at f/8 as the sun is still fairly bright. If you don't have any neutral density filters, try holding your sunglass lens in front of the samera lens and see how it affects exposure. While I have heard of no stories involving sun 'over exposure' in digital cameras, in the early days of film cameras with built in meters, one could occasionally find that the meter would not read properly for a short time after such shots. I guess there may also be a risk to the LCD if the camera is left on that type of scene for an extended period. Perhaps covering the camera with a dark cloth between exposures would help. You get a gold star for your persistence in this project.