Light #5 - High contrast

[RichardTaylor]

Light 5.

High contrast #1

Bright sunlight can be a killer for people shots.

These were "candids" at a street food & wine festival on a cloudless day.

(1) In full sunlight,at 1.11pm. Notice the harsh shadows and no eye detail. This photograph has had a lot of post processing



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Getting subject completely out out of the direct sun can help a lot.

(2) Same location and at 1.15pm. However the model is in total shade.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

If direct sunlight is lighting part of the subject you will still have problems. I think dappled sunlight under a tree could be a major problem.

(3) Same location and at 1.07pm. Notice the over exposed dress and hand. This photograph also has a lot of post processing.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire


(4) Or you may be able to change your point of view so most of the contrast problems are solved. Taken 15 seconds before pic #2 (1.07pm)



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire



More to come

-----------------

Other parts of this series

#1 Introduction
Light #1 - Introduction.

#2 How much? Enough #1.
Light #2 - How much? Enough #1.

#3 Indoors #1
Light #3 - Indoors (1)

#4 Low light outdoors #1
Light #4 - Low light outdoors #1


#6 Too much light.
Light #6 - Too much light.

#7
#7 Light direction.
Lifgt #7 - Directiuon

#8 Weather
Light #8 - Weather

#9 Time of day.
Light #9 - What time of day to shoot?

Larger versions of the pics are on my Flickr stream
Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask questions or comment.

Richard

[autofocus]

Thanks for taking the time and showing this Richard, and nice job on all the photos. And agree, bright direct and dappled light is probably the worse light to be working with. This is when an assistant holding a reflector's white, sheer and semi-transparent material side as a scrim comes in real handy

[RichardTaylor]

Thanks very much Vince..
I am just a hobbyist, however I would love to have an assistant sometimes.
+ smile

[autofocus]

My wife and I are both photographers, so we're always there to assist each other when we're out on a job. We are very fortunate in that regard to have an extra set of hands.

[ccting]

I think you need to explain why "Bright sunlight can be a killer for people shots"..
Issit because of the "bright sunlight" creates hash shadow that create DISTRACTION of people shots..

Well, that at least helpful for noobs like me...

;D

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ccting

I think you need to explain why "Bright sunlight can be a killer for people shots"..
Issit because of the "bright sunlight" creates hash shadow that create DISTRACTION of people shots..

Well, that at least helpful for noobs like me...

;D

The sun is a small hard light source=harsh shadows, squinting eyes, high contrast, and overall the least flattering light source for your subject(s)

[RichardTaylor]

@autofocus
Not to mention people wearing sunglasses and hats..

@ ccting

And it is not just people.

#1 Harsh near midday sun, lots of glare from the track and rear glass of the airborne vehicle. No control over the subject and I was roughly shooting towards the sun (11 o'clock high" to me). Sometimes in sport you just had to take what you can get.




Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program Manual

#2 This was shot very late in the afternoon and car is roughly at the same location as the cars above. Shot 15 minutes after sunset so I was working with just an afterglow in the sky - a very diffused light source.
No harsh shadows.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Program Manual
Date and Time (Original) 2011:06:26 17:11:39+10:00

[RichardTaylor]

Light 5 Continued.

High contrast #2

When faced with a high contrast scene there are some things we can do whilst shooting.

In addition to the suggestions above (Thanks Vince), we can make for a "better" final image by:

(1) Reduce the contrast of the light seen by the lens by using a graduated neutral density filter on the lens. Here a 3 stop ND grad fiter was used to darken the clouds for this shot taken around sunset.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 6
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2)We can shoot RAW and/or bracket our exposures and combine the exposure when post processing, by either using HDR techniques or layers (masked) for different parts of the subject. This from a single capture shot during a vacation. Notice we have everything here from full sunlight on white building to deep shadows in the cafe.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(3) Sometimes we can make high contrast work for us, as in a silhouette. I had very little control over my shooting position and no control over the subjects.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 131 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(4) Or we can use it to isolate a subject as per this very under garden exposed background.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 250 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

We can also reduce the contrast by adding in more light by using reflectors and/or fill in artificial light. I havn't had much experience with that so it will have to wait for another post.

More to come

Larger versions of the pics are on my Flickr stream
Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask questions or comment.

Richard

[ccting]

What are the photography terminology used in this tutorial? Mind to explain in detail for each of them? And, why such "flattering" is favaroble? etc etc.. That makes better readiness for noobs and non-native speaker like me to understand. Well, use simple plain English.. ;D

[graciousness]

I don't know how much more plain English you want. He's explained it quite well in plain English.

Your want for terminology is confusing. Do you want things explained more plainly or do you want more fancy terminology, thereby, not so plain English but more technical?

Richard, thank you for all the tutorials. You know how much you've helped me all these months and I am sure it's the same for a lot more people.

Cheers!