Light and Timing

A couple of shots showing the challenge of contrast:

F 10 .. 18 mm .. 1/250 sec

F 10 .. 18 mm .. 1/400 sec

The first shot is a yawn: underexposed in the nearground, overexposed in the farground. Though it's not technically perfect I like the drama of the second shot, taken a few minutes later as a cloud sailed by. The result makes the buildings pop far more, and the faster shutter speed keeps the background from fading out.

In the Field: Exposure

The cathedral of St Vitus is an imposing Gothic edifice at the castle in Prague. It is vast and gloomy: a great setting for the Addams family, but a challenge to photograph on a very bright day. So I fiddled with the exposure and got the following set of photographs:

F 10 .. 24 mm .. 1/320 sec

F 7.1 .. 18 mm .. 1/500 sec

F 7.1 .. 18 mm .. 1/200 sec

Shooting a dark building against a bright sky is difficult... and the sky gets that weird wash-out of colour closer to the (invisible) sun. Adjusting the exposure almost completely erased (overexposed) the colour of the sky, though the building's detail was far clearer. None of them great shots. For these shots the only filter used was a (UV) skylight.

Turning around and shooting a light building with my back to the sun resulted in these shots, the first at the same settings as the final shot of St Vitus above:

F 7.1 .. 18 mm .. 1/200 sec

F 7.1 .. 18 mm .. 1/1250 sec

Amazing what a difference lighting and reflective surfaces make!