Exercise: Highlight Clipping

 

 

For this exercise I am to find a scene with a wide range of brightness. This was a challenge in itself as the weather has been so dull that I had postponed completing this assignment and had moved on to others. Luckily this weekend there has been a bright sunlight (accompanied by a harsh frost). I decided to pick the view over the stud that my house looks over, that way I do not have to be out in the -3 degrees for very long.

I did struggle with this exercise to start as I was not aware if my camera had a highlight clipping warning so it meant thoroughly going through my manual before even beginning. After a short while I managed to find the setting , and with some trial and error, managed to switch it on. I decided to find the setting where the highlight clipping warning just appears and then alter the exposure by adjusting the shutter speed.

First image where the highlight clipping warning showed.
1/400 f5.6 ISO 200 98mm WB Auto.

The next image shows the exposure increased by one f-stop which shows a much wider area of clipping.
1/320 f5.6 ISO 200 98mm WB Auto -1

I have then taken 3 further shots, each one decreasing by one f-stop.

1/500 f5.6 ISO 200 98mm WB Auto +1

1/640 f5.6 ISO 200 98mm WB Auto +2

 

 

1/800 f5.6 ISO 200 98mm WB Auto +3

 

 

 

When I first examined the areas of highlight on Photoshop I noticed how the clipped areas were much larger than they had appeared on my camera. Zooming in on the clipped areas of the first and second image I took the detail is pretty non existant with the colour of the sky being bleached out and you can see a definite line where white meets nearly white. The last three images the area of clipping is much smaller but the detail has again disappeared. The exposure decrease by 3 f-stops actually has no areas of highlight clipping present but I think that I should be aware of the shadown to the bottom right. The colours are much more saturated on this image too and overall I prefer it as it contains the most detail.

I have to say that this exercise has troubled me the most. It has very much been a learning process as I had to research highlight clipping a lot first to make sure that I thoroughly understood it, then I had to re read my manual to find the right settings and then on photoshop (which I only use for very basci editing) I then spent far too long working out where the button was to even show the clipped areas. I persevered with this much longer than I normally would as I tend to get disheartened quite quickly, and I am glad I did as I really feel this exercise has taught me a lot.