Help with exposure settings

[te1221]

Hey guys...

I went to a dinner party at my friend's restaurant. With my "nifty fifty" the F1.4, we were on the fire escape and I was trying to get a pic of two of my friends near the light up sign but I couldnt get the shots exposed correctly.

I think one of the problems I had were from the UV filter I had on that to cause that reflection:

No flash, F1.8, 50mm ISO1600 Tungsten WB
http://photos-064.facebook.com/n27/103/114/8810203/n8810203_31017064_5122.jpg

The next one I tried using that night portrait mode with flash:
Flash F2.8 50mm ISO400 AWB
http://photos-065.facebook.com/n27/103/114/8810203/n8810203_31017065_5568.jpg

This one came out better but I couldn't get the sign to display the colors properly. Could anyone give me some tips as to exposing everything correctly?

[timmciglobal]

Dynamic range, no way to get a dark person and a bright sign exposed at the same time.

You can try photoshop masks a bit to see what you could do with sign or shadow/highlight.

Tim

[JTL]

How's this look? It's the top picture. 10 seconds to change the shadow detail slider in PSP X...now we can see how cute she is...

Also, some slight noise reduction and USM...

Pressing the shutter release is just one step in the process...

http://JTL.smugmug.com/photos/67181381-L.jpg

[aparmley]

I can't tell you if this is right or not but if I were faced with this situation, I'd expose for the sign and use flash to fill the couple. . . if you are shooting with the on board flash you'd have to keep the exposure for the sign under the flash sync speed of 1/200 - which would probably require a low ISO. I'd take a few photos and play with dropping the FEC until I had a good balance - i.e. no noticable flash shadows - but I should think this is a tough tough situation.

[te1221]

Thanks JTL...

I'm getting pretty decent with the new lens with suitable lighting however these tricky shots always get me. I guess the only way to overcome it is to practice.