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From: "Larry N. Bolch" 
To: 
References: 
Subject: Re: New PhotoSIG Pictures
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 20:51:27 -0700
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terry.vernon{at}fanciful.org wrote:

> CK> > This one illustrates the problem I always have with black
> CK> > animals.  It's good to see it's not just me  :)
>
> CK> Nah! It's not just you! {smile} I had to do some cartwheels to get
> that CK> one right. In the end I used spot metering if I remember
> rightly, to get CK> the blasted thing a little lighter. The result was
> though, that it looks CK> a little washed out in places.
>
> There's no alternative when the brightness range of the subject
> exceeds the ability of the film or sensor to record it.
>
> I always had this problem when shooting planes in flight;
> fortunately, no one expected to see much detail in sky.
>
> Darkroom/digital after-work is the only solution...

When I first tested pictures shot in RAW format, I saw no advantage whatever
over the quality I was getting with best quality JPEGs. However, I have
found one use for them.

My camera has an auto-bracket feature that allows one to shoot up to 5 shots
at up to 1 stop intervals. Then one can layer them and use layer masking in
Photoshop and blow away washed-out areas to reveal the detail of the layer
below in order to much expand the dynamic range.

To a certain degree, one can do the same thing with an image in RAW format -
which allows you to set the exposure after the fact. I have a small tutorial
on the technique - using auto-bracketing - at
http://www.larry-bolch.com/layers.htm

A five stop extension is quite significant, and the great part is that you
do not end up with a muddy, low contrast picture.

larry!
ICQ 76620504
http://www.larry-bolch.com/

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