More weeds

[donlfaulkner]

I'm having problems with blown out whites and can't figure out what I need to do to address this problem.

Still working on that focus thing. Saving my pennies for focus rails. (hope that helps)

What can I do to improve? Did I do anything right?
Thanks for looking.

1) Trying to tone down the highlights. Got the picture too dark


2) Hadn't even noticed this thing before and it's right outside my back door. The white is still blown out.


3) This one looks better, probably because it's bigger, but still a bit blown.

[jfoureyes]

For whites I use the spot meter on my camera and shoot plus one on the exposure then bracket 1/2 stop each way. I also shoot in RAW so I can fine tune with my software. Don't shoot in direct sunlight...I carry a small Tote umbrella in my bag if I work in the sun to shade the subject and it also helps block the wind sometimes as well. Shoot at f16-22 for enough DOF. Stay as parallel to the subject as possible. I use MLU when shutter speeds are between 1/4 sec. to 1 sec.

The last photo looks pretty nice and could use a little more DOF, it is the best of the three to me.

[donlfaulkner]

Thanks Jim, I'll give that a try. I've never used mirror lockup before. Looks like manual reading time.

[ifly223]

Yep, what Jim said. : )