Over Exposure Problem

[Tatsuya Graham]

When I am filming outdoors, I have to try and make the subject perfect color, not to dark not to light, and when they are infron of a bright background, such as a sunny day, they become perfect and the background just looks VERY bright and over exposed, How can I fix this?

heres a screen shot:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ort0004903.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ort0011401.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ort0014316.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ort0014623.jpg

_______________________
Thnx,
Tatsuya Graham

[Graham Bernard]

* Front Illumination. Close down the IRIS to reduce light in and set up front lighting on the talent to balance.

* Reflectors. Bounce some light from OUTSIDE to INSIDE onto the FACE of the talent? I bet you might have been able to get a mate to sit at the feet of the Talent and reflect upwards?

* ND Gauze BEHIND the talent. There is a gauze that can stop down a background.

* Video on the other side of the street? Possible?

* Wait till the sun goes down, or early in the morning?

However, that is some truly crucial OE going on there? Can you give us your settings? Please?

[Mark Holland]

I agree with Graham's advice. Personally, I'd start with some kind of illumination on the talent's face. But that's just me...

[Tatsuya Graham]

So there is nothing I can do to the camera to help with this problem?
Did this happen because One person was in the shade and the other person wasnt?

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Tatsuya Graham

So there is nothing I can do to the camera to help with this problem?

None that I can think of. I either expose for the brights - and the darks are TOO dark. OR I expose for the DARKS and the BRIGHTS are too bright. Simple really? As humans we have an amazing set of cameras on the front of our faces. However linked to those cameras is a control unit that has taken many millenia to develop and is now a highly complex and elegant mix of evolution and training on the job! A camera just ain't there - yet!

But as humans we also do the same stuff I mentioned above.

We wear sunglasses - that'll be the NDs we can use on our cameras; we automatically close down our own irises - that's really neat; we squint at/in the brights - that could be the sunshades on our cameras and/or hold our hand over eyes to give EXTRA shade or we avert our gaze - we don't look.

Why do you think that a dumb ole camera is any better? In fact it is even worse, much, MUCH worse!! Because we can get by, or we think we get by, we think our cameras can/could do the same. They can't. They need ALL the assistance we can muster.

So, Tatsuya, your question, "So there is nothing I can do to the camera to help with this problem?" as you are asking this, then maybe I failed in getting across just what it is YOU need to consider? Hence my own description of how we as humans deal with the bright/dark imbalance. A camera can deal with quite a bit of variation. However, we can deal with much more. Give your camera a chance by assisting it. And give yourself a chance in enjoying the differences in light and dark. So, " . . is nothing I can do to the camera to help with this problem?" yes, lots! But it ain't the "problem" you think it is. To restore/control the bright/dark imbalance I/you/we need to be canny about extra kit - lights; reflectors; scrims; filters etc. That's the problem. The problem is one of recognising that there IS more out there to assist. The camera can go just "so" far. But then it is up to us to assist it. This took me a while to cotton-on to. But now I have a whole heap of kit - not that much - to assist my lowly XM2.

Originally Posted by Tatsuya Graham

Did this happen because One person was in the shade and the other person wasnt?

Yes.

The result can be this. In Manual you can adjust for the Brights and hold and sustain the Iris setting. If you are in Auto, then depending on which Auto - Easy Mode or AUTO - and then depending on just where the sensors are looking at and the amount of bright there is, your camera's Iris could close down at a point you DON'T want it to (remember the thing about our own eyes - yes?).

Read the wealth of knowledge here on using your XM2 with mixed light and whether to go EASY or AUTO or MANUAL. Personally, and I am still adding to my knowledge experiential base here (I make mistakes!), it is now 98% manual for me with the remaining, very rare, 2% in AUTO Exposure Lock. And this I do very very carefully, and I still crap out too! Not so much now. But now I just get more and more critical of my own work.

I really hope just a small part of this has helped. You ain't alone on this. You most likely will be advising people in future too! We are only here for a short time. Let's learn together and enjoy what is an amazing endeavour - making movies.

- g