Properly Exposing Buildings

[PhotoJunkieJen]

Hey! So I was wondering how to properly expose buildings and other large objects against a bright sky... Oftentimes, the building will be too dark or the sky too bright. Is this something that has to be taken care of in Photoshop... or should I take 2 shots and merge them, orrrr?

[Nicole]

I would say that this is one of those times where time of day can be extremely important. Granted, light and time of day is always important, but more so when you have a really large subject that can't be lit up using extra lights. I'd try to wait until the time of day where the sun is hitting the side of the building you want to photograph rather than waiting until it's behind it. Or you can use a polarizing filter to allow a slightly longer exposure. Or you can fix it in photoshop as you said.

[ehill8794]

maybe you could try and do any exposure lock on the building then recompose the frame and snap the image. I had to do that just recently and my pics turned out good, but dont know how well it would work with your lighting conditions!

[navcom]

While not always the case, photographing landscapes or urban buildings is almost always better very early or very late in the day. The light is more "golden" and not as harsh as it is in the middle of the day. Plus it just works better with your compositions....and in the city, there are less people and vehicles to get in your way.

Harsh, mid-day sun is one of the main causes of frustration for landscape compositions and is probably the root of most questions regarding problems with exposure outdoors. This is especially true for those who are relatively new to tackling outdoor photography.

It took me a long time to finally admit that if I was going to get good landscape photos, I needed to either get up earlier or have a late supper.

[OsmosisStudios]

Shoot with the sun to your back.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Shoot with the sun to your back.

That's soooooo old school!

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Digidave

That's soooooo old school!

It's so crazy, it JUST MIGHT WORK!

[B..]

A photo of a building against a bright sky ... a building is normally not a bright object. You'll either blow out the sky or (what's the opposite of blow out?) the building.

Bright sky, bright building? When the sun is shining onto the face of the building those two are compatible. But then you risk losing details of the building in the glare of the lighting.

That suggests that photos of buildings are most easily taken without a bright sky.

[Wynder]

That's the age old problem with photography -- as a human, we can see what? About 11 stops of light whereas cameras are limited to about 3 or 4 stops of light in a photograph. If you shoot a subject against a bright sky, you can do one of two things:

1) Have the sky properly exposed and the subject in silhouette.
2) Have the person properly exposed with the sky blown out.

To remedy this, you have a couple of options:

1) Drag the shutter -- meter for the sky and add a flash to light the subject so you have both properly exposed.

2) Use auto-exposure bracketing to get multiple captures at different exposures, generally one at normal exposure, one two stops over and one two stops under. Then, use Photoshop or a program like Photomatix to composite the images to get the highlights and tone across that great range of exposure.

I'd wind up using #1 if I was shooting people and #2 if I was shooting landscape. That's my personal preference, of course.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by navcom

While not always the case, photographing landscapes or urban buildings is almost always better very early or very late in the day. The light is more "golden" and not as harsh as it is in the middle of the day. Plus it just works better with your compositions....and in the city, there are less people and vehicles to get in your way.

Harsh, mid-day sun is one of the main causes of frustration for landscape compositions and is probably the root of most questions regarding problems with exposure outdoors. This is especially true for those who are relatively new to tackling outdoor photography.

It took me a long time to finally admit that if I was going to get good landscape photos, I needed to either get up earlier or have a late supper.

True.......can't beat that "Magic Light". I don't even pull out a camera from 11:00 to 3:00, unless it's either spot news for a pro sporting event that starts at 1:00, then I hope for cloudy skies. There's nuthin worse than trying to get shots with faces in the shadow of ball caps and football helmets. Most of the time I try to get them backlite.....sweeter light that way.