Blown highlights

[jax314]

Not too long ago, I posted a picture of my little girl that had highlights blown out in the background. Here is a picture I took of a couple yesterday, trying to get an effect with the little ball of sunlight close to where they kisses. Is there any way I could have avoided blowing a portion of this out? Is it okay blown out? Thoughts on how to do this kind of shot or how to improve, in any way, the one I did? Thanks in advance! BTW, I know my ISO is way too high....I forgot I had it in Auto ISO.....with this much sun I have NO idea why it bumped it up to ISO 1600...any thoughts on that either??


D5000
1/100
f/18
ISO 1600
85mm prime

[scootermcq]

To avoid blowing the sky, you would have had to introduce light... probably a big bad strobe because of how bright the background is.

Now, in this instance, because of the background you have chosen with the foilage, I would not worry about it. The colour of the tree prevents the background from being just a white backdrop and the blown sky works in this situation (for me). I am the first guy to hate blown sky, so if I don't mind / like it then it is probably not an issue for most other people.

The reason the ISO went high is because the subjects which take up most of the frame would have been really dark. The camera is trying to expose for them as they are mostly what the sensor is reading. If you had more sky, but were on spot metering it would still have done the same. If you had metered off the sky, then your couple would have been a silouette with the ISO lower. Obviously, you could have used a lower ISO, and brought the aperture down in number or more open to get the exact same result, except for the background being more defocused.

[NicoleScraps]

The blown background does not bother me one bit with this photo.

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Obviously, you could have used a lower ISO, and brought the aperture down in number or more open to get the exact same result, except for the background being more defocused.

^This is what I would have done ^