Digital Camera World - UK (2019-08)

96 DIGITAL CAMERA^ AUGUST 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

Over the top

Is it ever OK to

overexpose some

parts of an image?

Roger Winters

A

On most occasions, you are

looking to shoot your image so

that its exposure fits within the

camera’s dynamic range – but

this is sometimes impossible. If you are

taking a landscape shot that includes the

sun in the frame, for example, it’s inevitable

that some highlights will be blown out.

There are also times when you might

want to deliberately blow the highlights

out for creative effect. A high-key image,

where you want to minimise shadows

and have strong highlights, will also often

involve overexposing parts of the scene.

Ultimately, you are always looking for

the most impact from your images – so if

this requires deliberate overexposure (or

underexpose for that matter), then do it.

Always avoiding it will mean that sometimes

you miss getting the best shot. You have to

make a judgment at the time of shooting

and adjust your exposure accordingly.

When I took this image of a young ballet

dancer looking at his phone, I knew that

the light flooding in from outside would

completely blow out if I retained detail in his

body and the darker interior. The contrast

between his shape and those blown

highlights make the image; if I had retained

the highlight details from the exterior,

the photo just wouldn’t have worked.

Photography is all about working the

given light to your best advantage.

Over- or underexposing parts of the scene

to do this are just weapons you have at your

disposal to give your photos atmosphere.

Into the action

Q

I love photographing

motorsport, but I

can’t get a panned

action shot where the car

is sharp enough and the

background is blurred.

What shutter speed

do I need to get it right?

Keith Feldman

A

Panning is not a particularly

easy technique, Keith, and

requires a lot of practice to get

consistent results. The trouble

is, I can’t tell you the perfect shutter speed

to use for the effect you want to achieve,

because it depends on how fast the

subject is moving through the frame.

The advantage of panning your camera

with motorsport is that you can get a lot of

goes at it, since the cars are usually going

round and round a track. You can simply

stay in one place and keep trying. The

slower the shutter speed you use,

the harder it is to get the subject

sharp and the rest of the image blurred.

The most important thing is that your

panning motion is smooth, so lock onto

your subject as it comes into view, fire the

shutter as it is directly in front of you and

continue to follow its trajectory as the

exposure is made. If you wobble or shake

the camera during the time the shutter

is open, this will affect sharpness in the

subject. I’ll use shutter speeds between

1/15 sec and 1/250 sec to try and get

that combination of sharp subject and

blurred foreground and background.

The photograph of the racing car was

taken at 1/125 sec. The wheels show

movement, as do the grasses in the

foreground and the crash barrier and

trees in the background, but the car itself

is sharp. Incidentally, even if I am trying to

freeze a car speeding past me with a high

shutter speed of 1/1,000 sec or more,

I’ll still use this panning technique.

Q

LEFT: Sometimes, overexposing a shot to

leave out some the background detail is

exactly what the image needs.

Panning with your camera to freeze the movement of a car or athlete takes a degree of practice,

but it shouldn’t be long until you can capture shots like this.