Brandy at the Beach - Help on harsh lighting

[dviv]

Hi all,

I took this of "the family" on the weekend at the beach. Obviously there are some Blown highlights issues. I am looking for suggestions on how I could improve this kind of shot next time.

Thanks!

[Reschsmooth]

Not sure about suggestions for improvements, but, I tell you what, your dog has grown a lot in the last month or so!

In terms of improvements, you can consider different times of the day, using some kind of fill lighting which might then allow you to wind up your shutter speed, etc.

[dviv]

your dog has grown a lot in the last month or so!

 LOL! yes... she's up to about 15kg's - that 1kg a week is starting to get pretty scary

In terms of improvements, you can consider different times of the day, using some kind of fill lighting which might then allow you to wind up your shutter speed, etc.

Thanks! She has really awkward colouring (The dog, not the girl ) so I'll try with some fill-flash next time and see if it works a bit better.

[Bindii]

If you knock back your exposure a stop or two then add fill flash that will fix your problem.. it will allow the background to be correctly exposed and the foreground...

And oh my hasn't your puppy grown.. she is just too gorgeous!! (and the wife isn't bad either.. )

[jamesw]

not sure on what you were using at the time, but a wider aperature would help, i think. fill flash too, if you have a speedlight it should be able to fill at a wide aperature/high shutter speed using the high-fp setting. the loss in power (associated with high-fp) should be negated by the fact that the aperature is wide (flash is effectively more powerful) and higher shutter speed (killing ambient)

[Oneputt]

Personally in the harsh light conditions you often get on the beach, I would be looking at using a CPL.

[dviv]

Thanks for the tips guys (And the compliment Bindii ) I am looking foward to having my flash back - it's currently in for warranty repair.

Oneputt, I've never tried using (and don't own) a CPL. Another thing to add to the wish list I guess

[Oneputt]

A CPL is much cheaper than a flash although eventually you will need both.

[Matt. K]

It's often not possible to use fill flash and large F-stops in bright sun due to the limits on the shutter speed when using flash. Truth is....you should pick your light/time of day when doing portraits for best quality. If that's not possible then careful exposure and intelligent processing can improve the image a bit....but the shadows/highlights will always be problematic.

[jdear]

unless you really want them to have the ocean behind them I would have:

turned their backs to the sun, then used a reflector to bounce light back into their face. Spot metered her skin for exposure and pretty much its all dandy.

[AndyL]

I wrote something a bit longer, but I think that jdear has got it in a nutshell.

I am sure that your lady has nice eyes, but we wouldn't know that for sure.

Regards

Andrew

[dviv]

Thanks again for the advice guys! Much appreciated.

AndyL - You try telling her that

[ozimax]

David, swap your dog for a dachshund, they're much smaller....