Hi, I shot a party on a bright sunny day under some shade trees in manual mode in which the background was blown out. I set the settings in the shade in order to receive proper exposure of everyone which turned out great. I believe the ND was set in the #2 position. Everything was manual with the exception of WB which was set to auto. I'd like to know what I could have done differently to accomplish a good shot without blowing out the background? I tried to attach a .mov clip, but couldn't. Thanks, Ray

What you're dealing with is a contrast range that very few (if any) cameras would be able to handle. Shooting in the shade is usually a good idea, as the light is softer and more flattering, but the iris needs to open up...which (in turn) makes any sunlit areas overexposed (as you've witnessed). There are three viable options:
1) Shoot your subjects in the sun and expose accordingly.
2) Add light to your subject if they're in the shade or use a shiny reflector to bounce sunlight back onto your shaded subject.
3) Avoid shooting into a sunlit background (keep everything of interest within the shade, or have dark foliage as a background).

With some cameras, shooting RAW or using a flat-looking LOG profile will help maximize dynamic range...but you must still expose carefully, and keep the contrast in check. New advancements in High Dynamic Range shooting might one day solve this problem, but those features are still being rolled out. In Hollywood, the solution usually involves a whole bunch of bulky gear (scrims, silks, butterflies, HMI lights, etc) to get a proper balance between a shaded subject and a sunlit background. Frankly, it's a minor miracle that we can get even close to those results today with camera alone.

Thank you for explaining the situation. It appears that I shot the proper exposure for what I was faced with. I'm glad that I had proper exposure for everything that mattered. I knew better not to set up my manual settings in the sunlight which would have caused a very dark scene. I certainly didn't want to crank up the iris (gain) due to introducing noise. Your help was very much appreciated and thanks again, Ray

The following is a clip of the party......
http://www.dvinfo.net/media/rs/RaymondSherman-party.mov

Your camera performed fine, as the faces are well exposed. Not much you could have done in this instance except to shoot from a higher perch (less sky in image, more grass/foliage), or move to your left so that the shade of the background tree fills the frame. Every situation differs, so it's best to experiment. I find that shooting close up shots help to minimize the distractions of a blown-out background. For obvious reasons, all of these require some sort of compromise.

What you were able to capture there actually looks pretty good for its intended purpose. Certainly it wouldn't meet the standards of a feature film shoot, but you did a good job of representing the people and event. Not that the preceding advice isn't all valid, of course, if your audience is more critical.

- Greg

Thanks for the replies...... It was a family Baby Shower therefore, it wasn't all that critical. Turns out that everyone was quite happy with the video. Certainly a learning experience and I will try to incorporate the things you mentioned in future shoots. Thanks for the help and advice, very much appreciated. Ray

Your camera records super whites so you should be able to bring in just a little bit more highlight detail. For more dynamic range you should record in raw, log or HDR mode. if your camera supports that.