I took an image of a dark bar with a bright sign at night using auto mode:
ISO 1250 | 1/60s | f/2
What I actually wanted is to be able to read the sign in the background. On this image it is obviously much too bright, and you can't read what the sign says. I tried reducing the shutter speed:
but now everything else is too dark.
What could I have done in order to take the photo so that I could see both the bar itself and the sign?
Answer
You could've probably got a decent result just by picking an intermediate exposure.
Alternatively, you can try to take a short and a long exposure of the same scene, and combine them digitally afterwards. Here's what I got just by taking your two images above (mouse cursor and all), aligning them (manually, using the Scale tool in GIMP) and blending them together at various ratios:
25% short exposure + 75% long exposure:
50% short exposure + 50% long exposure:
67% short exposure + 33% long exposure:
Just play with the mixing ratio to get the feel you want.
(It's also possible to apply non-uniform masking to get an exposure fusion effect, as in this example. However, in my quick attempt I didn't manage to obtain any particularly nice results from your image that way. YMMV, of course.)
In general, I would also recommend always shooting RAW, both to better capture the full dynamic range of your camera, and also to avoid the ugly digital clipping of overexposed areas. For the latter, it helps to underexpose your shots a little (say, −⅓ to −1 EV; more if you're shooting a dark scene with bright elements like here) and then pull the exposure up on your computer, using the "soft highlights" mode in your RAW editor.
No comments:
Post a Comment