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All at sea over aperture? Losing it over LCDs?
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Photo Answers
High-contrast conundrum
Q
When I shoot high-
contrast landscape
scenes, I still rely
on filters – but is it better
to shoot several exposures
and get the balance I want
in post-production?
Kim DelaneyA
The answer to this question is
partly down to personal choice,
and partly down to how much
time you want to spend in
post-production. I believe physical filters
still have a place in my kit bag – but if
I’m being honest, I no longer come
out in a cold sweat if I’ve been daft
enough to forget to pack them!
I’ve written about shooting three or
more images to blend them into a natural-
looking finished image many times, and a
good finished result is certainly the most
important thing. Both methods still require
good technique and ultimately, the viewer
doesn’t really care – they just want to enjoy
the photo. The advancements in processingsoftware make blending several images
together for a good finished photo much
easier than it used to be, so taking this route
has its attractions. If you process your HDR
in a natural way, it’s hard, if not impossible,
to tell how an image has been created.
The example image shown here was taken
at dawn on the Isle of Skye, shooting directly
into the light. It is a combination of five
images – that’s one at the exposure given
by the camera at the time, then one each
taken at -2, -1, +1 and +2 stops. With all
the detail I’d captured, I could have had
an image that showed more foreground
detail in the shadows, but that wouldn’t
have been true to the scene so I have still
allowed some areas to go to pure black.Andrew
JamesAndrew is a highly-
experienced writer
and photographer –
if you have a problem,
he is here to help.Bracketing exposures is a
proven method for capturing
the scenic details you want.