Steeeeed needs some digital processing advice

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Steeeeed

Steeeeed

Winger
Hi folks,

I'm hoping to pick your brains a bit please.

I took some sunset photos the other night down at Roseberry Topping and I can't recreate on screen what I saw with my eyes.

Foreground is too dark, presumably because of the intense light from the sun and the lightish sky?

An example jpeg is below, it's had no processing from its RAW format. This shot didn't have any positive or negative exposure dialled in, it was in aperture priority and I let the multi metering mode determine the shutter speed. Histogram looked fine in camera.

I know that I can use the raw file to produce different exposures and I could use layer masks etc... to better show the lighter foreground against a darker sky but wondering if there is a better way to rescue the shot. The building might be a bit of a fuck on that way too.

I even tried using the PS elements exposure merge function :eek: to very little effect.

I tried using a ND grad filter on site but it gave a horrible colour cast.

So, any advice on processing the shot and also what I might have done differently to take a better shot?

Thanks in advance.
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By the way, this is more like what I had in mind;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fellwalker1/7166753148/
 


The lads here will hate me for saying this, but photograph like you are doing HDR.

That way you can pick your exposure.. or if needed use a blend.

That guy did exactly that if you look.

Not all HDR is bad really, it's just that usually it is.
 
Steeeeed said:
Well don't I feel like the perfect ass (badum tish!).

Just spend some more time on it tomorrow mate, I'm in no hurry :-D
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:lol: no seriously, that shot is lost marra.

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^^ That is pretty much the limit you can bring the foreground in before you start to see the sensor pattern.
 
I am no expert with PP but I would have a go with adjusting the levels and curves. By using the histogram on your camera you can really maximise the information in a shot and get you a more even exposure.
 
HebburnMackem said:
The lads here will hate me for saying this, but photograph like you are doing HDR.

That way you can pick your exposure.. or if needed use a blend.

That guy did exactly that if you look.

Not all HDR is bad really, it's just that usually it is.
Click to expand...

It's not about the appearance most times TBH.. for me it is like loving to go fishing but instead of working dead hard to catch great fish - gasp - you hang your rod over a fish farm.
 
ayesane said:
It's not about the appearance most times TBH.. for me it is like loving to go fishing but instead of working dead hard to catch great fish - gasp - you hang your rod over a fish farm.
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I know, it's an artistic judgement just as much as it's technical. The balance of which is up to the artist. But that original image looked great and it was using HDR concepts.

..I'll get my coat.. and my camera.. ;oP
 
HebburnMackem said:
I know, it's an artistic judgement just as much as it's technical. The balance of which is up to the artist. But that original image looked great and it was using HDR concepts.

..I'll get my coat.. and my camera.. ;oP
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Get a tutorial written for me man!
 
UaeExile said:
Eh.... Where did the clouds come from!? :eek:
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My thoughts exactly! I feel like a dinosaur when it comes to all this digital wizardry. That's not an invite for Sean / Hebburn to add a dinosaur to my pic!
 
Tricky scene to expose for. Not even ND grad filters are going to work here, as your subject is backlit by the harsh unfiltered sun. You'll notice in the example that you've posted, Mike (canny lad, you seen his northern lights shots?) has taken the picture with the sun in partial cloud, taking the sting out of it a bit.

I also know that Mike makes use of layering techniques with multiple exposures, so the chances are, his example is more than one shot. My guess is that he's metered for the sky, then for the ground, (and probably the monument) then combined them in photoshop blending the layers together with a layer mask. It achieves a much more believable end result than HDR, shadows are preserved and you don't get the shitty HDR artefacts. For me, this is acceptable digital manipulation, because it's similar to dodging/burning, and multiple exposures in the darkroom.

It's for shots like this that I would only venture into photoshop nowadays, and tbf you're not altering the composition (which is an even bigger sin than hdr in my book)
 
It's still a load of nonsense to me, as the naked eye has no chance of seeing the scene that way
 
Thanks Dave. So when you say exposing for the ground etc... That's spot metering on a lighter / darker part of the scene to get the light right in the part you need? Then merging using masks in ps? Is this just a more focused approach than bracketing exposures?

And re processing, with something defined like the building, I guess he uses the selection tool rather than brush?
 
Icarebecauseyoudo said:
It's still a load of nonsense to me, as the naked eye has no chance of seeing the scene that way
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I'm not sure I agree 100%. The human eye does have a much higher dynamic range than any sensor, apparently many order's of magnitude better. This is mainly due to it being logarithmic instead of linear in nature.

HDR when done correctly is an attempt to simulate this.

Icarebecauseyoudo said:
You are basically describing a manual hdr technique
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Yup.
 
HebburnMackem said:
I'm not sure I agree 100%. The human eye does have a much higher dynamic range than any sensor, apparently many order's of magnitude better. This is mainly due to it being logarithmic instead of linear in nature.
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Not true of summat like Phase one like

And I repeat the human eye has no chance of seeing the scene that way. (the Mike shot)

Obviously it will do better than Steed's original shot
 
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