wedding dresses how much do I under expose

[LeeLove]

peter excuse me if I am missing some thing but have you tried to check out that funny little graph on the LCD called a histogram ? )

Aperture priority, set for depth of field needed, look at the histogram, adjust EV +- for proper exposure. Unless there are major scene changes you are ready to rock. I haven't shot weddings in a LOT of years and only using film but my guess would be a wedding dress would hit a 235.

Lee

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History judges great Photographers by their technique not their technology.

 

[Andrew64673]

Peter, how are you lighting it? I see this question come up all the time, but the only time I see it happen is when I am forced to use a straight on flat lighting. I always expose for the face, (that is get the face right) and the dress should be right also. Flat light (eg flash on camera or bracket ) will blow out due to the angle of reflection. It has always been a cr@p way to light a wedding dress and always will be. Some dresses are UV treated to look super white, and you will usually get at least a little blow out with these. A little in spots is ok, but big panels of blinking black on your lcd is bad.

I dont use RAW, I dont use a flash bracket, I dont under expose, I dont fix exposure in post, I just expose and light correctly and I dont have this problem.

Hint: soft light, from the side, less fill than you think.
a

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[Neil van Niekerk]

the difficulty is that the photo causes the wedding dress to white
out and loose all detail and thats why i need to knoe how much to
under expose the ev value

This makes even less sense. How can the "photo" cause the wedding dress to white out ??

How do you meter and what do you meter off to have the dress blow out ?

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http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/d100.html

 

[Tom Doran]

Chimp, histogram adjustment, chimp, histogram, adjustment

the difficulty is that the photo causes the wedding dress to white
out and loose all detail and thats why i need to knoe how much to
under expose the ev value

This makes even less sense. How can the "photo" cause the wedding
dress to white out ??

How do you meter and what do you meter off to have the dress blow
out ?

--
http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/d100.html

 

[Dainese]

im with you, i just expose for the face and the dress 98% of the time is exposed correctly.

I also agree with you that lighting the bride is very important, on camera flash with the flash head pointed straight-on is the worse way to light up a bride (or most things for that matter). I always bounce my flash indoors, no matter how high or what coloured celing it is.

Rgds

First of all, use as little flash as possible throughout the day.
Its the brides skin you want to worry about, not so much the dress,
plus, they should be in the same light (as long as youre not in
spotty light), worry about exposing her face. Dont over complicate
things, keep it simple, worry about your composition and making it
interesting, not about how much to underexpose the dress....

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