Where do you stand on blown highlights?

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joescrivens

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Personally I don't mind blown backgrounds if the subject is exposed properly as a result. Spending a lot of time looking through Babi's wedding shots he often blows out the background highlights to get the good exposure on the subject and I think it works.

But some people seem to want every pixel to not be blown.

Why is this and what are your personal tastes?
 
It is impossible not to do the former without artificial lighting or some kind of HDR, at a wedding can you imagine.....'hang on a minute Vicar while I just take 7 shots at different settings so I can get the whole shot perfect'

What do we do when no flash is allowed.....you have already answered your question.
 
I'm not talking exclusively at weddings though. I just used that as an example.
 
Dpends on wherethe blown highlights are, but if you're main subject is exposed how you want then I can't see a problem with them at all. I think some people just go into the technical and ignore the fact that it really doesn't matter, if the image looks good then what's the problem.
 
Crit - accept it or ignore it.
 
I try to avoid blown highlights when possible but sometimes they're unavoidable so they have to be lived with. One (very small) benefit is the saving in ink in blown areas wher there's no colour information left to use it.
 
ChrisGilbert said:
You have to ask yourself whether blowing highlights removes any important detail and whether the blown area actually adds an undesirable feature. If the answer is no and no then it's probably not worth losing sleep over.
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agreed
 
I can live with it as long as it doesn't impact on the subject.
 
trevorbray said:
I can live with it as long as it doesn't impact on the subject.
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Agree, though in the case of landscapes, I don`t like to see blown highlights,sometimes they can add appeal but not usually. Guess it is all subjective.
 
fracster said:
Agree, though in the case of landscapes, I don`t like to see blown highlights,sometimes they can add appeal but not usually. Guess it is all subjective.
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I think with landscapes you have more control, I guess i'm talking more about portraits. In a landscape, the background is the subject.
 
On sky - I like to think they can be avoided in landscapes but one area it's hard to avoid is birds in flight. Spot metering with a bit more exp compensation added is often required just to avoid a silhouette never mind retain subject detail.
 
tiler65 said:
It is impossible not to do the former without artificial lighting or some kind of HDR, at a wedding can you imagine.....'hang on a minute Vicar while I just take 7 shots at different settings so I can get the whole shot perfect'
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Your camera doesn't have a way to do auto-bracketed shots at maximum FPS?

Personally, I have FUNC mapped to 'Bracket shot' on my d200 in one profile, I can hold down func and hit the shutter and it'll fire off the 3/5/9 shots as fast as it can.

Personally, I try to avoid blown-out highlights, especially on the sky. But if it's just a tiny region that isn't the primary focus of the composition, I can live with it.
 
Don't mind them at all if they work with the picture. Yes blown skies are a PITA more often than not, but sometimes unavoidable. However, blowing within certain areas to create spot on exposure in others is ok by me and even has some artistic merit imvho.

As for using bracketing and FPS at weddings... well in some very limited circumstances you might get away with it, but generally the amount of movement involved even at a high frame rate makes this a unviable option. Not to mention most clergymen/registrars get very annoyed if you start gunning the shutter. :nono:
 
Blown highlights in a landscape are unacceptable, unless it's a really really small portion, it's why I moved back to film photography. In portraiture I quite like the whole blown background contre jour sort of style.
 
I am thinking of setting up a blown highlights help group if anybody is interested in joining? Meet once a week to talk about our painful blown highlight experiences. :lol:
 
Sometimes you just haven't got the time to avoid blown highlights...It would be nice for one of the manufacturers to produce a sensor that has the dynamic range to capture what film used to capture...But until that happens what can you do....Nothing, Just make sure the subject is correctly exposed. If you have time and the situation lends itself for HDR or you are not on a tight timeline, then PP is your best friend.

Crit.....It's subjective as are most aspect of photography,

Quote ... desantnik Crit - accept it or ignore it.
 
Tugster said:
It would be nice for one of the manufacturers to produce a sensor that has the dynamic range to capture what film used to capture...
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They already do. And have done for quite some time! The best are capturing 14EV dynamic range.

I think people forget that with film you didn't scan and pixel peep so blown highlights wouldn't be as visible for a start.

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/film.vs.digital.summary1.html

Some interesting stuff in the above.
 
Have to agree for non-landscapes I don't mind as quite frankly on sunny days the DR well and truly defeats digital. In landscapes you have to be prepared to use the tools you have to hand (filters etc) to tame the dynamic range and live with the results. Or shoot B&W film that can cope with such differences! ;)
 
Many people simply wont notice blown highlights and if the image is strong enough I really don't think anyone will say "Jeeez. That shot of Elvis stepping out of the UFO would have been great if only he hadn't blown the highlights." :D

Seriously though, lots of iconic images have blown highlights, missed focus, questionable composition etc...
 
Blown Highlights Anonymous..... my name is Ken and I get blown highlights........ Shooting birds makes it an unavoidable consequence at times, particulalrly with the grey/white skies that are a frequent occurence in the UK. I aim to get the best exposure of the "subject" as possible and leave the rest to cope as best it can.
 
Radiohead said:
They're a fact of life with digital. Accept that and they go away as an issue.
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In reality they are a fact of life with your eyes too, just you brain copes with them dynamically.

I used to worry about them in extremis but then realised if you are trying to record a scene with a high dynamic range then they are part and parcel.
 
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