How to take a shot for a person standing infront of bright window using S1 IS?

HI..

I just own canon powershot S1 IS and am very happy with this model.

I tested to take a shot of a person standing infront of a bright window (inside a room).

You know the face or body of the person normally dark and the window at the back is too bright because of the sun coming through.

Could you please help me what is the good aperture or iso or exposure or etc etc to take this shot taken from 3 meters away?

I tried different shot programs but the best so far is using manual (without flash) but the skin color still a bit dark than the original and the scenery outside the window is too bright (for example if there is a tree, I also want the tree is shown normally and not too bright).

Do you think it is possible with canon powershot S1 IS? should I use flash or without flash?
or just give me your suggestion or opinion from your experiences.

I think it is similar situation if you taken a shot with a person undercover with very bright background/sun. I hope you know what I mean.

Thanks for your help.
Sorry, I am still new using this camera.

Well, some things are hard (but not impossible) to get around and this is one of them. Your camera only has a limited ability to show a wide range of light-to-dark colors at the same time so when you expose for the person to be lit correctly, the view out the window is burned out (totally white). Alternatively, when you expose for the outdoors part to be lit nicely, the person inside comes out black.

This has been an issue in photography for a very long time and that's why people use neutral graduated filters for landscapes (ground is darker than sky, just like in your situation). Luckily, the digital world does offer another solution, though it's a bit limited in that it works best with a tripod and a still-life subject.

Here's the idea. You take the same image twice, once exposed for your interior subject to be lit correctly and once exposed for the exterior view through the window to be lit correctly. Then you use Photoshop to blend the two images to pick up on the properly exposed portions of both. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it. I've tried this and it works quite well as long as the images are otherwise identical (i.e. can't have your subject move their head at all).

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

BTW, if you decide to try this with your S1, you can use the exposure bracketing feature to have it take the different exposure levels quickly and automatically. Because you're not having to stop and mess with settings between differently exposed shots, you're more likely to get both of your shots with the subject unchanged.

insi said:

HI..

I just own canon powershot S1 IS and am very happy with this model.

I tested to take a shot of a person standing infront of a bright
window (inside a room).
You know the face or body of the person normally dark and the
window at the back is too bright because of the sun coming through.

Could you please help me what is the good aperture or iso or
exposure or etc etc to take this shot taken from 3 meters away?

I tried different shot programs but the best so far is using manual
(without flash) but the skin color still a bit dark than the
original and the scenery outside the window is too bright (for
example if there is a tree, I also want the tree is shown normally
and not too bright).

Do you think it is possible with canon powershot S1 IS? should I
use flash or without flash?
or just give me your suggestion or opinion from your experiences.

I think it is similar situation if you taken a shot with a person
undercover with very bright background/sun. I hope you know what I
mean.

Thanks for your help.
Sorry, I am still new using this camera.

Click to expand...

Use your flash for fill ighting of the subject(s)...

If you can control flash and exposure comp independently (as you can on my S60), use Exp comp of -1 (or more) to reduce brightness of window, and adjust flash output to give a nice (but not overwhelming) exposure to subject...

An example shot this weekend while my daughters (right) and a friend decorated Xmas cookies:



Shot in front of a SW facing window in the afternoon sun. You can tell the direction of the sunlight from the highlights in their hair...
--
Dave Gard
http://www.pbase.com/gard

Thanks to both of you.

It is a very helpfull information for me.

Thank you.