Over-exposed stained-glass windows?

[CMBessette]

(I couldn't figure out where exactly to post this question )

I few weeks ago I went to the state capitol of Wisconsin (I have some pics in the Critique forum). Anyway, there were a few beautiful stained-glass windows in the ceiling . . they were huge! Well, I tried to get some decent shots of them, but failed completely. The only thing I could think of was trying different shutter speeds . . when faster, the ceiling surrounding the window would be under-exposed . . when slower, the window would be over-exposed. What should I have done so I know for next time? (Or is it not even possible?) Thanks! :aureola:

[EOSThree]

You have exceeded the dynamic range of your sensor. A digital camera can only handle about 5 or 6 stops of light before your lose detail in either the shadows(ceiling)or the highlights(window). You will see this effect quite commonly in sunset photos, beautiful clouds/orange sun/sky, but the foreground is rendered black.

• You could fire a flash to illuminate the ceiling, although the flash on your camera is probably too small to do an effective job of this.
• You could put your camera on a tripod and take two images, one exposed for the glass, the other exposed for the ceiling, then using masks and background erasers combine the two images into one correctly exposed image.
• It wouldn't work for this shot, but a sunset image can be greatly enhanced by a split neutral density filter(half the filter is darkened by a certain number of stops) by placing the line on the horizon and "holding back" the sky/sun/clouds.

The "Help" forum would probably been the most appropriate forum for this post.

[CMBessette]

Thanks for answering . . that helps a lot. Now I see the importance of how good post-processing and/or good lighting is pretty much essential in these cases. :idea: I'll remember to take two shots next time that grabs both the bright and dark aspects of the scene.

[EOSThree]

Silly me for not reading your sig and seeing you probably have a flash that could help in this situation. A 430EX might have enough oomph to light the ceiling if it's not too far up. You may want to experiment with it.

[Asylum Steve]

You have exceeded the dynamic range of your sensor...

Yeah, assuming you shot digital. This problem can crop up in any of a number of lighting situations, but it's especially tricky with back-lit translucent objects like stained glass in darker surroundings.

I had this exact same challenge shooting a story for a magazine last month. Dark, atmospheric restaurant (see pics below) with a handful of back-lit stained glass pieces.

The shot was specifically meant to show the glass, so it was vital to get that exposure right with good color saturation. Yet, I certainly didn't want the rest of the scene to go dark just for the sake of the glass.

So I bracketed a sequence of shots (camera on a tripod), the first one exposed for the general illumination of the room (and as you can see, the glass washed out), the rest a series of underexposed frames to darken the glass. BTW, I spot metered the glass seperately, but still shot about three or four bracketed frames just to be sure I got it right.

Then I combined them in photoshop. If you look at the layers palette image, I simply dragged the "dark" layer (with the proper glass exposure) into the image with the correct room exposure, masked the entire layer (filled mask with black), then "painted" in the glass by uncovering parts of the mask (paint with white) to let the darker glass show though.

You can see I also decided to darken the two bright lamps next to the one glass piece on the left that also washed out in the first shot...

The ease of digital shooting and editing make this a standard technique for me now when I shoot to capture a wider dynamic brightness range. The trick is to remember to bracket to cover a frame range with shadow and highlight detail. And a tripod is almost mandatory to get perfect alignment of the images.

Keep in mind many DSLRs now have auto-bracket modes which are highly customizable (cool word, eh?), so you can program the camera to automatically bracket a sequence of frames. This might make things much easier as you then don't have to touch the controls on the camera (other than the shutter) and risk moving its position...

[another view]

The only thing I could think of was trying different shutter speeds . . when faster, the ceiling surrounding the window would be under-exposed . . when slower, the window would be over-exposed.

Sounds like you were in manual mode when doing this but keep in mind that if you're in any auto mode changing the shutter speed won't have an affect on the exposure. By doing this, the aperture will just change to compensate for the shutter speed and you'll end up with the same result (same exposure, anyway).

I agree about taking two shots and combining them in PS. There are a lot of different light levels on the glass which might make it a little more difficult. Might be a little easier to do it on an overcast day which will not only lower the light on the glass (making it closer to the inside ceiling) but also be much more even across it.

The capital in Madison is really incredible. I finally got around to walking inside for the first time about a month ago, being a big fan of the Saturday farmer's market which I go to when I have the time. I asked about photography and they told me that there are no restrictions as far as tripods, etc. Gotta go back and shoot there sometime!