getting rid of light flares

[alancwr]

okay thanks very much for all the advice, will follow up on my next shoot
seems like the museum onli emit white light at night really late night, other times will be blue i guess

anyway really thanks, to all, appreciate all help

i welcome more suggestions n opinions

 

[MatCh]

personally, i'm kinda lazy and do it this way:

1) frame and matrix meter, e.g. f8 2s
2) use black card cover museum and matrix meter, e.g. f8 4s
3) from 1 and 2, estimated the time to release the black card at the last 2s
4) release shutter and count "one thousand, two thousand" then remove black card

usually will re-try a few shots and adjust shutter speed a couple of times to get it right.

 

[pinholecam]

The exposure latitude is too much between the dark parts (eg. 3 towers of MBS) and the bright parts (eg. Art Science Museum)
2 ways round it.

The old way is to cover the bright part with a black card (even your lens cap will do) for a portion of the exposure time.
Eg.
Aperture: f10
Shutter Speed: 25"

So you block off the museum for say 18" (~2 stops). Leaving it to expose for the remaining 7s.


The new way is to do HDR.
This can be done in-camera if your camera has the function or take 2-3 exposures and merge them using a HDR program or manually in an editing software.
Just look for a free program.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/threads/708306-freewares-for-amateur-photographers

 

[ziploc]

hmm, noted...Normally I'll trial and error using the spot metering...I guess I should try the evaluative metering sometime too...Haven't been using this metering for quite sometime (esp during day time)

When using spot metering, no need to trail and error actually. You just need to practice to identify the mid tone & the "very white" and "very dark" objects. If you know how to identify the mid tone objects, you can just spot meter them and that will give you correct exposure with no compensation needed. E.g. under bright daylight, asian (chinese) skin tone is near mid tone, so you can just spot meter the back of your hand. Note that mid tone doesn't need to be grey, it can be any color, just the "tone" is grey. If on the other hand, if you meter the "very dark" subject, usually you would compensate about -2EV. For "very white" subject, compensate about +2EV.

 

[alancwr]

guess i have no choice since the museum is really a PITA

personally, i'm kinda lazy and do it this way:

1) frame and matrix meter, e.g. f8 2s
2) use black card cover museum and matrix meter, e.g. f8 4s
3) from 1 and 2, estimated the time to release the black card at the last 2s
4) release shutter and count "one thousand, two thousand" then remove black card

usually will re-try a few shots and adjust shutter speed a couple of times to get it right.

 

[alancwr]

i dun tink this method will work at night?given the dark surroundings??

When using spot metering, no need to trail and error actually. You just need to practice to identify the mid tone & the "very white" and "very dark" objects. If you know how to identify the mid tone objects, you can just spot meter them and that will give you correct exposure with no compensation needed. E.g. under bright daylight, asian (chinese) skin tone is near mid tone, so you can just spot meter the back of your hand. Note that mid tone doesn't need to be grey, it can be any color, just the "tone" is grey. If on the other hand, if you meter the "very dark" subject, usually you would compensate about -2EV. For "very white" subject, compensate about +2EV.

 

[SkyStrike]

When using spot metering, no need to trail and error actually. You just need to practice to identify the mid tone & the "very white" and "very dark" objects. If you know how to identify the mid tone objects, you can just spot meter them and that will give you correct exposure with no compensation needed. E.g. under bright daylight, asian (chinese) skin tone is near mid tone, so you can just spot meter the back of your hand. Note that mid tone doesn't need to be grey, it can be any color, just the "tone" is grey. If on the other hand, if you meter the "very dark" subject, usually you would compensate about -2EV. For "very white" subject, compensate about +2EV.

Noted, learning something new again...I always thought it must be grey...

Currently, I'm doing the +-ev thingy when I meter the v.bright/dark subjects (sometimes out of frustration, I jump to manual mode and trial & err :sweat. I still need a lot more practices needed to identify the tones.

 

[SkyStrike]

i dun tink this method will work at night?given the dark surroundings??

(correct me if I'm wrong) Metering will work regardless of bright daylight or in a dark night. But it's just that when you have subjects of big contrast difference (e.g. White and Black), metering will be more important as you will want the "correct/optimum" exposure of both subject

 

[ziploc]

Spot meter still works the same at night, i.e. you can zoom in and spot meter an object and compensate accordingly. The problem with night scene like this is that, e.g. the MBS building has many bright windows. So spot metering just the wall or the window will not give you the exact exposure. Center weighted will give you better results as it covers a larger area and hence providing you an average. The only difficulty is how do you know how much to compensate since it is an average, so can only trail and error. Matrix/evaluative metering in modern DSLR bodies are quite accurate nowadays, so why not trust it and let it do the job.

 

[alancwr]

add-on questions...

does ND, GND, Polarizing filter does any good to reduce the light flare??

 

[SkyStrike]

add-on questions...

does ND, GND, Polarizing filter does any good to reduce the light flare??

No, on the contrary, they may end up causing more flares...

 

[alancwr]

No, on the contrary, they may end up causing more flares...

okay thanks

 

[Cowseye]

add-on questions...

does ND, GND, Polarizing filter does any good to reduce the light flare??

Assuming u refering to night photography, stick no extra glass in front of your lens.

 

[alancwr]

Assuming u refering to night photography, stick no extra glass in front of your lens.

ok noted,

really appreciate everybody here for all the tips and advice..wanted to go out n try tonight but im down w a running nose, guess i'll just have to try it some other days

 

[alancwr]

i went back to the same spot to take the same picture of the same landmark again, this time hoping to do better w the advice and tips given...
basically i tried the "black card" method and i took out my UV filter(which was the most important part i feel), i open up aperture from f11 to f8, i feel that there's lesser flaring this time, though the pictures aint fantastic but its still a step forward to learning

below are the few pictures that i have taken


this is done at -1EV which i think looks better over



this is done w the black card method
i find that there's a max time limit where u can cover up the museum before u see the shadows of the card starting to appear..


guys any more advice n tips? :think:

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

i went back to the same spot to take the same picture of the same landmark again, this time hoping to do better w the advice and tips given...
basically i tried the "black card" method and i took out my UV filter(which was the most important part i feel), i open up aperture from f11 to f8, i feel that there's lesser flaring this time, though the pictures aint fantastic but its still a step forward to learning

below are the few pictures that i have taken


this is done at -1EV which i think looks better over



this is done w the black card method
i find that there's a max time limit where u can cover up the museum before u see the shadows of the card starting to appear..


guys any more advice n tips? :think:

I think you did a good job there! Keep trying!
The exposure of the ArtScience Museum is better in the -1EV version, though the MBS towers do look a bit too dark.
As you have probably discovered, the black card technique is not so easy. But it's still do-able. The rest of the 'magic' you can probably perform in post-processing.

 

[alancwr]

Thanks for the compliment, the route to the journey really ain't easy

The ppl at nightphotography recommended that I shoot earlier in the night cos there will be more "colorful" lights from MBS tower

 

[mazeppa26]

yups using centrewgt or spot metering will help..
but sometimes its good to have flares in your pix, adds a creative touch esp in portraits

 

[alancwr]

yups using centrewgt or spot metering will help..
but sometimes its good to have flares in your pix, adds a creative touch esp in portraits

Centrewgt?what's that?

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Thanks for the compliment, the route to the journey really ain't easy

The ppl at nightphotography recommended that I shoot earlier in the night cos there will be more "colorful" lights from MBS tower

If you shoot earlier in the evening, there will still be light in the sky, which helps to define the buildings better. Late at night, all you get is a big black and empty sky. And as you have discovered, when you lower the exposure in order to deal with the very bright 'Lotus', what you get is the other buildings becoming dark enough that they seem to blend into the sky.