This was hard to capture...

[litenphrame]

I would like to know if there would be a better way to capture this photo. As you can see there is a swath of blown highlights at the bottom. Could there be change made to the settings or should I use a filter? I didn't want to crop them out for obvious reasons.
Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Canon T3
1/20 @ f5.6
ISO 200
27 mm focal length
EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.0 AF IS

[Tzetsin]

H
D
R
.

Thats about it. Bracket your exposures. More the better (up till about 9, but even 3 will work)

Once you've got the exposures you can either map them with an hdr program or fuse them with layers in photoshop.

[litenphrame]

Ok, that would work only I haven't even attempted any HDR processing. Not sure where to start after the initial exposures. I have PSE and LR, but even with PSE I have never attempted layers. I know I should begin to use some to improve some of my other shots, but I'm a little confused about how they work. I'm an old film guy and not used to this newfangled darkroom. I guess I need to Google it and do some digging. Thanks!

[RichardTaylor]

A graduated neutral density filter, with the dark part on the bottom, will help reduce the contrast range captured when shooting.

[Tiberius]

Put the camera on a tripod, then take 5bracketed shots. Shoot the first one 2 stops under exposed, the 2nd one stop under, the third at the proper exposure, the 4th a stop over exposed and the last one 2 stops over exposed.

You can then combine them in an HDR program, or you can manually stack and blend them in photoshop using layers and layer masks.

[litenphrame]

Well, that I do understand. Thanks Richard! I thought that might be the case. I need to get some ND filters. I have to use my 28-105 with them though because the other lenses focus at the front and would spin my filter. Not really a problem, I just have to make sure I'm using the right lens.

[litenphrame]

Thanks Tiberius! Tzetsin mentioned the same thing, but you gave me more to work with. That bracketing technique is cool, but still new to me. I keep thinking "I'm wasting film, I'm wasting film". I'll get past it soon.

[Tzetsin]

ND filter wont work for that picture. An ND filter will give you a stop or two across the top or across the bottom, but its an even amount weather you need it in that spot or not. Those kind of filters work best with bright days or sunrise/sets where you need an even exposure change across an entire section of the image.

Using layers in PS will allow you to blend, manually, any exposure you like in any place you like. its a bit (read "a lot") of work, but if you do it well it'll give you control like you've never had before.

There are just coming out some third party programs that will do fusion, much like HDR, automatically. Yes, fusion is very much alike HDR, to a point that I dont even think there should be a name for it. I think exposure fusion is pretty much what people wanted from HDR in the first place. Instead we got the "put a bunch of exposures together an make em look like a painting" technique instead. Which is cool too.

[Doug Sundseth]

Have you already tried pulling back the highlights with the Recovery slider in LR? Alternatively, pull the overall exposure down and add Fill to recover the shadows. From what I can see, nothing is so blown out that it's irrecoverable.

If you've already done that and are unhappy with the results, then an ND Grad filter, HDR tonemapping, or exposure blending is the next step.

[litenphrame]

ND filter wont work for that picture. An ND filter will give you a stop or two across the top or across the bottom, but its an even amount weather you need it in that spot or not. Those kind of filters work best with bright days or sunrise/sets where you need an even exposure change across an entire section of the image.

Using layers in PS will allow you to blend, manually, any exposure you like in any place you like. its a bit (read "a lot") of work, but if you do it well it'll give you control like you've never had before.

There are just coming out some third party programs that will do fusion, much like HDR, automatically. Yes, fusion is very much alike HDR, to a point that I dont even think there should be a name for it. I think exposure fusion is pretty much what people wanted from HDR in the first place. Instead we got the "put a bunch of exposures together an make em look like a painting" technique instead. Which is cool too.

I think I'm beginning to understand the usage of layers and masks to improve an image. I've got a lot of reading to do!! Thanks, I think (lots of reading=lots of work=lots of time)

Have you already tried pulling back the highlights with the Recovery slider in LR? Alternatively, pull the overall exposure down and add Fill to recover the shadows. From what I can see, nothing is so blown out that it's irrecoverable.

If you've already done that and are unhappy with the results, then an ND Grad filter, HDR tonemapping, or exposure blending is the next step.

I can't remember which of the two I tried to adjust levels with whether it was LR or PSE, but I did try that. I suppose I could try again in LR. There seems to be a little more flexibility in LR with levels, but I guess my last resort would be masks and layers. HMMM. Thank you.