How to shoot in tricky lighting condition - Shooting against the sky

[Eni]

Hi :) ,

As a keen photographer, my main aim when joining this forum was to help other people improve their photography. I have a website of my own, where I will begin to sell images in 2013 at txstockphotos.com . You can also visit my blog here at txstockphotos.com/blog/. I have many tips there, all aimed at helping YOU get to grips with photography.


Today I would like to bring to your attention, tips on how to photograph in tricky lighting conditions, in this case addressing shooting against the sky. In this tutorial, I will assume that you need to photograph something in a tree, or a flying bird, or similar, against a bright sky.

While, for many, it is a tempting prospect to shoot in auto mode all this time, to crack shots in tricky lighting conditions, you need to venture away from this mode. Change to PROGRAM mode. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments, but the camera will sort out shutter speed, and aperture.



When you point a camera at a scene, it exposes for the brightest part, in this case the sky, meaning that the subject will be underexposed. To avoid this, we need to change the METERING MODE. Accessing this varies, and you may have to consult your cameras manual.
Your cameras default is likely to be evaluative, or matrix metering. This divides the scene into sections, and meters seperately for each one. You need to change the mode to spot metering, which only meters for the central 2-5%, and is therefore potentially the most accurate. You can then point your camera at the subject, ensuring the spot is over the subject. The first image was taken on default mode, and the lemur is a silhouette. The other picture shows a lemur taken with spot metering, with the sky over-exposed, and the lemur correctly exposed.



The sky will be overexposed, but your subject will be perfectly exposed to create that image that you are after.


Lookout for my next article, on HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT DIGITAL CAMERA, addressing all you need to know .