Exercise 4.01–Measuring exposure

Part 1

The following six images were made darker or lighter, by adjusting the exposure, for the reasons given:

‘At the setting of the sun’

This image was overexposed 4 stops to overcome burnout from the sun. The foreground has become almost a silhouette, but I think the treatment has made this view of the battery parade into a strong image with a story to tell.

‘It’s fine even when it’s wet!’

This was taken on a dull, overcast and very wet morning. It was underexposed two stops to lighten the image and the blacks brought back in and the contrast increased using Lightroom. This has had the effect of making the day look brighter and enhancing the few colours to make another image with a story to tell.

‘Backlit Tulip’

This image was taken in the garden using the sun for backlighting and over-exposed by two stops. The exposure readings were taken from the flower petals, which also helped to darken the background.

Misty Bandstand

Here’s another overexposed image, with the darker areas reduced almost to silhouettes. This had to be done, to prevent burn out in the sky areas – the morning was in fact much brighter than this.

 

Sneaton Forest morning

This image was underexposed by 1 stop to make it lighter. Without this adjustment, the view would have been much darker and contrasty, with the sunbeams being far lighter than the rest of the picture.

Backlit daffodil

This image was overexposed, to make the background much darker. The details in the flower were also enhanced by this treatment.

Part 2.

The following sets of images were taken using automated bracketing in camera. They have been rearranged, so that they are shown in the order required in the exercise. I have been regularly bracketing images for several years, for use in HDR software, so nothing new here for me I’m afraid. The camera was tripod mounted in each case. I used matrix metering for a better ‘average’ value.

The first five images were taken in Sneaton forest. Because of the variation in lighting here images really benefit from bracketing.

One stop overexposed

For this set I think the half stop overexposed image is slightly better than the ‘average’ exposure image. The slightly darker image has an air of intrigue, while the lighter images make the forest seem clean and safe – they also have burning out in some areas. The first image is far too dark for my liking.

The next set of Whitby West pier at sunrise were chosen because of the uncertainty with exposure at relatively low light levels. Bracketing takes out some of the uncertainty.

It seems that the exposure overcompensated for the low light conditions as the best results for these images are those that have been over exposed. I prefer the one that’s half stop over exposed, which gives what I perceived as being the actual light at the time.

An early morning walk along the cliffs North of Sandsend provided the next series. I wanted to catch the early light in this view, knowing that the cliffs would be a stark contrast to the light. I anticipated using the images with HDR to make the final picture. The fishing boat was a real bonus.

The results of these exposures caused something of a quandary – the darker images showed off the early sunlight and sea reflections to the best effect, but the lighter ones brought out the detail in the fence / foliage.

The only viable solution was HDR and tone mapping.

The next images were of Goths. I always use bracketed images for the goths, as they work so well in HDR.

The first was taken in Whitby Abbey grounds. I wanted to get the blackness of her clothing and jet jewellery while keeping the detail in the stonework.

The second was taken outside the grounds – I was leaving as he was arriving. His makeup took hours to complete.

I feel the best exposure was the ‘average’ one. This maintains the blacks but still allows the moonstones in her jewellery and her complexion to look right.

Again, the ‘average’ exposure looks to be the best for this set, because the textures of his mask show well, without any burn out. In the under exposed images, his eyes show much better. Obviously the way to use the images is with HDR, like this:

The last set of images was taken on the beach at sunset. Again, it’s a difficult call trying to judge the best exposure for these conditions, so bracketing comes into its own here.

I think the one stop over exposed image works better here. The burn out is reduced and the darker colours give an overall feeling of a warm summer evening – which it was. The blacks are blacker and the contrast much stronger. The average to under exposed images are too light – they just look too thin.