Blown highlights. Polarizer?

[griptape]

I end up with a lot of blown highlights when shooting my daughter in daylight. It isn't a huge deal, since my actual subject is exposed fine, and the only thing that's really blown is sky (couple examples below). But it would be nice to have the entire picture properly exposed.

So my questions are, would a polarizer solve my problem, and what would it do to my actual subject?

[DonSchap]

A polarizer will nip nearly 1 to 1.7 f/stops of light out of an image. So, if you add your polarizer to an f/2.8 lens, depending on how much polarizing you do ... you are changing it to an f/4 - f/5 lens. This will be your maximum aperture setting ... with Circular Polarizer (CP) on the front of it.

Outdoors is no big deal, usually ... but remember to remove the CP from your lens before you go indoors, or you will wind up looking for an aperture you cannot get.

BTW: When I said it probably won't cause any problems, that's not quite true on a lens like the 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 or the 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3. With their variable aperture, as you zoom beyond 120mm, with the CP on either lens, your autofocus will probably fail. The reason is, like I stated before, with the addition of the CP, you have changed the f/stop characteristics of what your lens is seeing. At f/8+, autofocus usually bites the dust. Try it ... it's kind of weird. ;)

There you are ... autofocusing as you are zooming away and suddenly ... as you zoom a little too much (beyond 120mm) ... the autofocus is lost. Your retreat the zoom back to 100mm and viola, autofocus returns is back. Like I said ... weird. :eek:

[Visual Reality]

A CPL will definetely get your sky back. Turn it to get just the right effect. It will limit the light coming through from the sky (dependent on angles) and prevent it from being over-exposed. Same goes for any "hot" highlights in the picture, but again dependent on angles. It can take away some and make others worse if they are at different angles.

[coldrain]

A polarized light filter will not help AT ALL in these photos. You are shooting into the sun. Of course your subject is going to be dark and the sky is going to be light. Just avoid shooting into the sun.

A polarizer (or other any other filter) will just make for more sun flares and reflections in the photos.

A polarizer only filters out reflected light where the orientation of the light waves has changed compared to the direct light sources. It will not do anything in these photos.

[griptape]

A polarized light filter will not help AT ALL in these photos. You are shooting into the sun. Of course your subject is going to be dark and the sky is going to be light. Just avoid shooting into the sun.

Thanks for the response, but I wish that were practical, but 3 year olds don't really like facing into the sun and having to squint just so I can get some pictures. If a CPL won't solve my problem, it's something I can live with.

[nbh1]

I have the opposite problem actually. When the sun is behind or above me and I try to take photos of my kids their faces become over exposed and many times blown out. I tried using my CPL and was able to improve this but still have not found something consistent. I am going to try a Neutral Density Filter next. Is this a good idea?

[downtrodden]

No an ND will not help. ND's are more for landscape photos, where you want to darken the sky and make it a richer blue and still be able to expose for the ground. your prolem will be easier to diagnose with sample images, but my guess would be you're exposing for something Other than the face. if you have blown highlights on the face, you need to try and set a fast shutter speed, but just remember, this will darken up other areas of your pictures.

as for the sample images, a C-PL will not work. you may not get a 3 year old to face the sun for pictures, but it would help to have the sun directly to one side. Then a C-PL WILL bring back your skies, as the CPL works on reflected light and best at an angle.

unfortunately, Point and shoots don't have great dynamic ranges and the result is that in dynamic lighting situations, you may have to purposely blow some highlights or lose some detail to shadows to expose your subject properly. Especially with subjects that won't, or shouldn't pose.

Hope any of this helps.

~Cory

[mark97701]

try to take a pic of your little one standing 90 degrees (or close to it) to the sun, which btw is the way to get the most out of a CP.

'hope this helps

[griptape]

This has been very helpful. I think I will go ahead and get one and see if I can't get a little more angled away from the sun. I think it'd be cool to play with for other shots as well, and it's relatively cheap, so why not.

[nap]

If I were in those situations, I'd use fill flash. I just have to set the white balance manually to get the best color of my subject. Also, I'd probably be using M mode so I can still control the shutter speed to get ambient and background light. If I used auto or P with the flash, the camera would think that the flash is all you need so it would set a fast shutter speed thus darkening ambient.

[GaryS]

I'm with Nap on the flash idea.

On bright days in the sun, I do two different things...
1 - Use the flash. The flash fills in the harsh shadows, and helps prevent blown-out faces. You have to watch the exposure of course...

2 - Use either M or exposure compensation to force the camera's meter to underexpose the shots. I use the histogram to ensure that highlights are not being blow, and that everything fits in the curve nicely. I also tend to lower the contrast setting in the camera when the sun is high, as this also helps prevent the blown highlights. If the shot is a bit underexposed, you can easily rescue it later on the computer...

When I started this photography thing over a year ago, people always said "Use the histogram"..... and I didn't get it. I still only barely get it, but I have learned this. You need to learn to use the histogram. It tells you exactly what is going on with your exposure settings, and there are things you can do to manipulate it so that the picture turns out better.

I faced a similar situation with my kids this past weekend. I'll see if I can find some good examples and post them here.

Just my 2cents

[DonSchap]

You might want to look at the website's take on flash and sun battles ...

use this link ... -> http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/flashwork/ettl2/high/index.html

[griptape]

Yeah, I've been using practically nothing but manual mode and shutter speed priority (fast moving kid = lots of unwanted blur sometimes) for a while now, so I have a pretty good grasp of controlling my exposure. I'll try all the suggestions. I'll give the fill flash a try too. Most of this falls into the "why didn't I think of that?" category, but I really appreciate all the suggestions.

[ooverdrive]

I was just reffering to this thread I started facing some what not a far
different problem
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30887