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High Contrast exposures
Apr 7, 2019 17:11:10   #
DocDav Loc: IN
 
Butterfly at the local garden. Some have strong contrast. The attached photo is a species with a lot of black and the wing tips are a beautiful yellow. Regardless of the ISO, F stop, stop up or down, spot focus, center weighted....I tried them all. The yellow still comes out as white. Not cleaned up anything yet as far as dust, and other compensations I can make in PS, and I know I can blend in a yellow in PS, but I would feel better if I could actually take the shot as it appears. I am open to any advice.

As an aside, the same butterfly when landed on a white surface, photographed more accurately. Second pic with the wing tips yellow.

The real exposure should be between these two but the point is, once it landed on the white railing all the colors show. On the green plants, the yellow was impossible. I actually have about 50 shots of it with various exposures before I got frustrated and quit.







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Apr 7, 2019 19:50:08   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
What settings and shooting mode were you using? For example, were you in aperture priority? Do you have any pics from that series (photo #1) that are noticeably darker? If not, then your camera was compensating by changing one setting when you changed another. Please look at several shots from that series and compare the numbers (best if you share that info with us also ).

"once it landed on the white railing all the colors show. On the green plants, the yellow was impossible"
It's critical that you understand exactly what happens to overall exposure when you change a setting or a metering mode. Practice and controlled tests will help; the worst idea is to randomly change a number of variables. Note in #2 that the white railing is gray. It appears that the camera metered for the brightness and reduced the overall exposure, so you end up with a gray railing and darker colors in the butterfly.

High contrast: read up on "dynamic range" if you aren't already familiar. Every camera has a limit and though shooting in raw will help, there are often compromises to be made (or certain lighting situations to just stay away from).

One tip for future: since butterflies are unlikely to wait around while you check your result and adjust exposure as needed, try bracketing: 3 shots in quick succession at different exposures.

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Apr 8, 2019 08:57:41   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
Another note: here is #2 lightened. You may find that under-exposure works best with your camera in certain conditions, and that you can adjust in pp to show details without losing your color.

But, I'm still interested to know if you have a darker exposure for #1 and what it looks like. Thanks!



Your posted shot
Your posted shot...

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Apr 8, 2019 09:18:12   #
DocDav Loc: IN
 
Thanks. I will be back to that garden soon and will set bracketing. In reality, I altered the ISO and the mode of focus from spot to center etc. I got so frustrated that bracketing didn't really cross my mind at the time. I know I was on shutter priority a these critters don't' sit still too long.

Will repost hopefully some better ones.

David

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Apr 8, 2019 09:26:34   #
TBPJr Loc: South Carolina
 
DocDav wrote:
Butterfly at the local garden. Some have strong contrast. The attached photo is a species with a lot of black and the wing tips are a beautiful yellow. Regardless of the ISO, F stop, stop up or down, spot focus, center weighted....I tried them all. The yellow still comes out as white. Not cleaned up anything yet as far as dust, and other compensations I can make in PS, and I know I can blend in a yellow in PS, but I would feel better if I could actually take the shot as it appears. I am open to any advice.

As an aside, the same butterfly when landed on a white surface, photographed more accurately. Second pic with the wing tips yellow.

The real exposure should be between these two but the point is, once it landed on the white railing all the colors show. On the green plants, the yellow was impossible. I actually have about 50 shots of it with various exposures before I got frustrated and quit.
Butterfly at the local garden. Some have strong c... (show quote)


Your white balance is compensating for the green cast of the foliage; try setting the white balance at a custom setting (several ways--the easiest would be to put a grey or white card in the foliage and set it from an exposure). That should help you get the yellow, if it does not resolve the issue completely.

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Apr 8, 2019 09:28:02   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
DocDav wrote:
Thanks. I will be back to that garden soon and will set bracketing. In reality, I altered the ISO and the mode of focus from spot to center etc. I got so frustrated that bracketing didn't really cross my mind at the time. I know I was on shutter priority a these critters don't' sit still too long.

Will repost hopefully some better ones.

David
If you are using shutter priority, then the aperture is changing automatically - negating your attempts to change exposure, even if you adjusted ISO. I would try focusing with single point center, and set metering mode to spot.

As an alternative to bracketing (or for future reference): In shutter priority if you find exposures are too light, use exposure compensation and go to -1. (set ISO ahead of time and leave it alone.) The camera will make the aperture size smaller, resulting in darker images. Shutter priority is good because you are avoiding motion blur, as you mentioned.

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Apr 8, 2019 11:17:10   #
chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon
 
What camera are you using? Is it a Sony? If it is, look in the ISO menu for "multiframe auto ISO." This is to help with high contrast. The camera will take 3 quick images at different ISO setting and then combines them for one image.

HDR and bracketing are different from this setting.

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Apr 8, 2019 11:28:10   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
If you aren't saving as raw, you should be. WB becomes irrelevant. If you're saving as jpg it's possible that the bright yellows are being pushed into saturation. You could also try bracketing and using just the neutral and the dark exposure.

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Apr 10, 2019 16:46:21   #
Pysanka Artist Loc: Rochester, NY
 
I think sometimes the camera just can't capture "as is." That's what post processing is for.

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