How to take pictures like these??

[vojm]

I just bought a Nikon D40 and am trying to take good pictures of people outdoors.

The pictures attached is what I'm trying to do where the subject in the front is bright and clear while the background still remains well lit.

However, no matter what settings I choose, my results are either overexposed background (usually the sky and trees) with well lit subject, or perfectly exposed background with dark subjects.

What am I doing wrong? I've adjusted exposure anywhere from -.7 to +1.0 with white balance at daylight (or sunny). Could the photographer be using flash outdoors on the subject?

Thank you for your help.

There's no flash in these photos... At least nothing noticable.

I have no clue what you're doing wrong because you haven't shown us the problem.

[vojm]

Sorry, I guess it would help if I attach examples.

I don't have any person available on hand so I had to use my air conditioner unit today.

On 1.jpg, the subject (the A/C) is bright and clear for me, but the background is overexposed and can't make out anything. (+0.0 exp F8 1/60 whitebalance: sunny iso 200)

On 2.jpg, the background is starting to get more defined (not quite where I want it to be at yet), but the subject is getting darker. (-0.7 exp F9 1/80 whitebalance: sunny iso 200)

Am I just not positioning myself right? Thank you.

[sk66]

Your problem is one of two things. too much contrast in a scene, or as in the example you gave, the lighting is different on the subject/background. (your subject is in shadow)

[vojm]

Thanks sk66. What do you mean by too much contrast?

[cphoniball]

Your subject is in the shade - the background is in direct sunlight. There's quite a few stops of difference between the two. To balance out the exposure you either need to shot into the shade or bring some light onto the subject through use of flash or a reflector.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by vojm

Thanks sk66. What do you mean by too much contrast?

White against black. Dark against Light...due to coloration.

The example you gave is similar, but the issue is lighting and not color.

[vojm]

Thanks for the answers guys. I think I understand. Time to try again.

[inkista]

From white to black, your eye can see about a 10-stop range. Your camera and computer monitor can only see/display about 5 stops.

Bright sunlight vs. shade or indoors and you've got a "dynamic range" (contrast) that's higher than can be completely encompassed by your camera. This can happen pretty easily, as you've found. That's why your histogram has those vertical lines to show where the five stops land and you know that if you've got a "shoulder" at both ends, you've got a scene with a dyanamic range too big for a single shot.

You basically have two choices. (If you were shooting landscapes, you'd have a third choice, which is to physically put a graduated ND filter on the lens).

You can learn HDR, Enfuse, or masking techniques to merge multiple, bracketed exposure to combine a well-exposed subject with a well-exposed background (this example uses enfuse):



Or you can use a (fill) flash to compress the dynamic range by bringing up the light level on your subject, and making it closer to the background. Or even overpower the light of the background and shoot day for night, if your lights are bright enough.

[Raoul Isidro]

The range of very bright areas and dark areas are quite extreme on your chosen scene, and the camera can only capture a limited amount of that range. It will either choose the dark one to meter (in which case the bright areas are all blown out), or it will choose the bright areas (in which case the darker areas will all be black). Using fill flash may help only on close ups but not on wide vast scenery.