Blown Highlights

Hi Folks,

I am new to underwater photography and had the chance to try out my new gear during a trip to Egypt.

Still have a lot to learn - the camera is more capable than I am. What disturbs me most on the pictures are the blown highlights (see attached pic)…

CAMERA : E5000V1.7

METERING : SPOT

MODE : P

SHUTTER : 1/30sec

APERTURE : F2.8

EXP +/- : 0.0

FOCAL LENGTH : f7.1mm(X1.0)

IMG ADJUST : AUTO

SENSITIVITY : AUTO

WHITEBAL : SPEEDLIGHT

SHARPNESS : OFF

DATE :

QUALITY : FULL FINE

SATURATION : 0

FOCUS AREA : CENTER

Any ideas?

Cheers and thanks,

Thomas

The 5000 does have probs with blown highlites. You can experiment with the camera settings for contrast and the EV. See DPreviews and the Yahoo 5000 group for ideas. The main thing is, unlike film cameras you want to keep the sun out of your image. In further explanation you don't have to point the sun towards the sun to get enough light for your pic. This is one of the biggest diff tween fiilm and digital.

Hi Thomas,

Because the camera was exposing for the loco wheels and the area of hard coral surrounding them the intensity of the afternoon sun has, has you say burned out half the picture.At 1/30 & f2.8 this situation may have burned out even Velvia!

Changing to average metering would have not made too much difference either. It was a case of one half or the other suffering. It's a case of knowing the limitations of the camera based on conditions... Your LCD monitor would have shown some distress too.

Shooting into the sun on low f.stops and low shutter speeds is a no-no and as you may have discovered having the sun on your back produced effective shots across the top of the Namibia wreck.

In this instance a Silhouette may have been the only option taken from lower down and using the flash to highlite a specific area like the loco wheels.

Did you have an external stobe?

In Programmed mode (P), the camera tends to pick the fastest shutterspeed and as a result WAYYYY LOOOOW fstop in order to make the shot look like it thinks you want it to.

That is because it is "programmed" for topsides shooting.

You've gotten some excellent advice in this post. Stick with it! YOU should take control of your camera and start shooting in A and even M mode - you will get consistently better results.

Keep posting thos pix and we'll help you!

Cheers

James

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for the advice - especially from such big contributors to the wetpixel forums.

@Dave: There surely ARE some differences to film... I just have some topside experience with my Minolta SLR. A pity, I like pictures towards the sun for their effect...

@Cybergoldfish: No, I do not own a flash (yet). Think I browse wetpixel for some recommendations... What about Subtronic?

@James: I'll try to take control, but I fear it will take a while until the next trip to some warm and salty waters. Living in a landlocked country is no fun!

I'll surely keep on trying and posting...

Cheers,

Thomas

Tom,

Considering this was taken with no strobes at all, this is really quite good. I took your shot and looked at the color balance and noted that there is no red....which is to be understood since the red specturm is the first to go as you dive deeper than 15' or so.

Others can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that it is virtually impossible to actually capture what you wanted to capture here. Digital has a terrible problem when you have the direct sun in the background. Most guides I have read have suggested that when you want the sun in, keep the whitest part out, or let it be blocked by the diver or subject. I agree with Bob that I am not sure film could have done all that much better.

When you get a shot you like, that has problems like this consider cropping. Take off the blown out water, and just leave an impression of the sun coming in. I gave a quick shot at it, others I am sure sould do much better.

Keep shooting, your composition is really good.