help blown highlight D90 Nikon35mm1.8

The setup was the D90 sb600 with diffusion dome nikon 35mm1.8 on an overcast day. Program and matrix metering. I notice afterwards that the hat has clipped. I don't know what else I could of done. The only other thought was off camera flash at lower angle or something. A picture of the hat is shown at the bottom of what it looks like.

not that unusual - starting with the D80 Nikon started weighting their matrix metering to favor the focus point more than the rest of the image - with the D80 it was bad enough to the point where I used center weighted and spot metering almost exclusively, from what I have read the D90 is better than the D80, but it is still an issue. In situations like this I would suggest you spot meter the scene and set the exposure accordingly.

this is a quote from Thom Hogans review of the D90

"One not-so-obvious change from the D80, at least until you use the D90, is the exposure and focusing systems. Nikon has used essentially the same parts as the D80, but the D90 uses the pro camera Scene Recognition System to tie them together better. Matrix metering still isn't perfect in Single Point AF (still too much emphasis on the focus sensor), but it's better and more reliable than the D80 was."
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Primary kit - D200, 10.5mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G, 50mm f/1.4G & 70-300VR
Backup kit – D80, 18-105VR
SB800, SB600 and other misc lighting equipment

Lenses worth mentioning owned and sold– 12-24 f/4, 17-55 f/2.8, 35-70 f/2.8, 80-200 f/2.8, 20mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4D, 60mm f/2.8, 85mm, f/1.8. 105mm f/2D-DC, 180mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4D-ED

What you could have done is have your LCD activated to warn of Blown Highlights (Blinkies), Review after exposure & adjust Exposure Compensation accordingly. Adjust shadows in PP. Can't rely on "P" (professional) mode to cope with situations beyond the dynamic range of the sensor. I prefer Aperture priority with Blinkies on, with a portrait you need to be in control of DOF.

cheers

ibeng

Forget about using an f1.8 lens in broad daylight wide open. It cannot be done without some serious neutral density filters. You will still have to stop that lens down.

Sun sync for a D80 or D90 is manual at 1/200th and f 11. and set flash on manual for whatever fills the shadows at that distance.

If you are going to do pro photographer stuff you cannot depend on automatic settings to get your exposure properly.

--
http://www.leongoodman.com/balance
http://www.leongoodman.com/expose
http://www.leongoodman.com/d70focusnew.html
http://www.pbase.com/photoleon
http://www.leongoodman.com

it's hardly noticeable, sometimes barely clipping really small part of the photo brings much better balance to the photo overall. If you exposed any lower ( darker) all the photo would be underexposed.
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http://www.infiniteartphotography.com
http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

Just use the exposure compensation and set the camera to display blinkies after the photo is taken. Dial it down a bit and everything will be fine. Once you learn to do this everything will be fine and you won't have to worry about it again.

"P" mode stands for Program not professional.

angelhappy said:

The setup was the D90 sb600 with diffusion dome nikon 35mm1.8 on an overcast day. Program and matrix metering. I notice afterwards that the hat has clipped. I don't know what else I could of done. The only other thought was off camera flash at lower angle or something. A picture of the hat is shown at the bottom of what it looks like.

Click to expand...

Other than the hat, the rest of the photograph was perfectly exposed. Her face (the most important point of interest is well exposed so the hat got blown out.

I think that you were on the right track with the fill flash. As someone else suggested, you should gave the back LCD display set to reveal "Highlights" (blinkies), and then adjusted the exposure accordingly (stopped down further). Then you could have fixed the face in post.

If you wanted good bokeh in lighting conditions like that then you would have to use ND filters.

In the end, the best shot would have been one where the subject (and her hat) were not in the direct (albeit overcast) sunlight. Time of day is another factor but that light might be all you had at the time you were there. Perhaps a photograph under shade of some sort. Shooting out in the open always brings that risk at that time of day.

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Regards,
Wayne

Leon's advice and observations are spot on, as usual.

The idea of "professional" mode or looking at the blinkies is not going to help you much in this situation. The light reflectivity of the hat and face are too different and you did not have the tools to balance them.

What you wanted was her face well-exposed (I think it is slightly underexposed). You had to expose for the face which meant that brighter hat was going to be over-exposed. One thing you could have done was take her out of the direct light. That would have reduced considerably the reflection off the hat. A bit of flash would then have lit her face (I would have used a reflector to get light on her face).

One other odd problem...black will reflect shadows. In macro photography especially, I will sometimes use a black reflector to cast shadows on my subject. I see some reflected shadow on her. The reflection from the black umbrella increases the reflectivity difference between the hat (reflecting brightly) and face (shadows increased).

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OK, not so purely a hobby.

leon

The op stated that the picture was taken on an "overcast day".

Is the poblem as you stated using a wide open aperture or the flash overpowering
the ambient light.

Thanks for your input.

I'm pretty new to the nikon system - but I wonder if shooting raw (increasing dynamic range?) or using d-lighting (to even out the highlights / shadows) would have helped in this situation?
ps - love that lens!

I don't like to cheat but had to save the picture somehow. Used photoshop and alien skin bokeh to fix a bit the bokeh. I will certainly take all the tips here to avoid pp time. After/ before pictures

That piece of photoshop was nicely done !!

Just add a suggestion to the OP, perhaps he can PP in RAW, taking the exposure down -0.7EV or thereabouts. Then a simple boost to the curves to brighten up the image. If this works, then leave EC at -0.7EV on the camera in "Professional" mode, and remeber to zero out the EC when ambient lighting changes.

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lasm
http://www.suprememastertv.com
http://iwillsavetheearth.blogspot.com

what's the professional mode on D90?

"P" stands for program mode. Means it automatically changes aperture and shutter speed accordingly.
Are you referring to full manual mode? That's the "M" mode.

I suspect people are joking by calling it "professional" mode. In one of his articles Ken Rockwell called P mode "professional" mode and said all of the professionals used it.

this is from his "whats new" page

"Professional Exposure Mode

I almost always shoot in Professional exposure mode, the "P."

Today's Professional mode was originally called "Program" back in the 1970s by camera marketers, and this name still turns up in in some instruction manuals.

Pro photographers call it Professional mode, since that's what everyone uses. If we need different shutter speeds or apertures, all we do is flick the rear dial to get them.

Calling it Professional mode also helps steer newcomers the right way, since they are often working off old-wives' tales and trying to shoot Manual or Aperture-priority with no good reason.

Pro mode gets us where we need to be faster, with less twiddling as conditions change, than any other exposure mode. Use the other modes as needed, but lead with Pro mode."

jkats said:

what's the professional mode on D90?

"P" stands for program mode. Means it automatically changes aperture and shutter speed accordingly.
Are you referring to full manual mode? That's the "M" mode.

Click to expand...

--
Primary kit - D200, 10.5mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G, 50mm f/1.4G & 70-300VR
Backup kit – D80, 18-105VR
SB800, SB600 and other misc lighting equipment

Lenses worth mentioning owned and sold– 12-24 f/4, 17-55 f/2.8, 35-70 f/2.8, 80-200 f/2.8, 20mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4D, 60mm f/2.8, 85mm, f/1.8. 105mm f/2D-DC, 180mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4D-ED

There are many ways to solve this problem, especially with a D90.

Picture controls can be modified to boost the brightness (face tones) while leaving the almost white tones untouched. Just add +1 brightness to -1 contrast to any picture control.

Using picture control with a custom curve such as my P&S curve elevates face tones by almost a stop while leaving white range untouched.

All this can be camera installed or added by Nikon View to a raw file. See a sample of my custom curve below:



More details are here:
http://www.leongoodman.com/expose

--
http://www.leongoodman.com/balance
http://www.leongoodman.com/expose
http://www.leongoodman.com/d70focusnew.html
http://www.pbase.com/photoleon
http://www.leongoodman.com

As a newbie, I really like this discussion. It is very informative. I was wondering about the d-lighting as well.

Since when do we believe everything Ken Rockwell says on his site. His has specific disclaimers about the accuracy of everything.
--
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
-- Max Ehrmann

I hope you don't shoot in A-mode (amateur mode). And I am sure you know what will happen to your photos if you shoot in S-mode.

RobertLaw said:

Since when do we believe everything Ken Rockwell says on his site. His has specific disclaimers about the accuracy of everything.
--
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
-- Max Ehrmann

Click to expand...

--
OK, not so purely a hobby.

cmanbrazil said:

As a newbie, I really like this discussion. It is very informative. I was wondering about the d-lighting as well.

Click to expand...

Yes, in addition to all things previously mentioned Auto D-Lighting works as well. It would have lowered exposure by three different steps and in some cases avoided the channel crowding at the white end of the scale as well as the low end.

You have to know that the contrast and brightness and curve values of Picture Controls are over-ridden by Auto ADL. These two features are not used at the same time. It is one or the other.

Just shooting raw would have given you the advantage to gain one stop of detail at the white end that could have been expanded on using Shadow/Highlight feature of Photoshop. To have suggested all these solutions at one time would have been overkill for a simple response.

The D90 and recent features in Nikon's current cameras are so wonderful in allowing complete control over the tone curves and other options of exposure that the typical new user is blown away by the choices available.

Since you are beginning to wrap your head around the exposure options you have now, I hope you will take advantage of my comments in my web page and think carefully of which options give you the most bang for the effort. With a Nikon DSLR you can design your own film, lighting, exposure and development with each picture you take. It is like going to heaven for a serious photographer. Enjoy!

Leon

--
http://www.leongoodman.com/balance
http://www.leongoodman.com/expose
http://www.leongoodman.com/d70focusnew.html
http://www.pbase.com/photoleon
http://www.leongoodman.com