How to take good photos mid-day under a very sunny sky

[SpaceDan]

Other than adjusting white balance, does anyone have any tips on how to avoid washed-out photos like this one I took? Would a filter help?

Seems tough to get good photos when the sun is high in the sky. Photos within a few hours of sunrise or sunset are often best, but sometimes you're flying in the middle of the day.

Thanks!

 

[DroneDestination]

Adjust exposure (lower ISO)

 

[Meta4]

Other than adjusting white balance, does anyone have any tips on how to avoid washed-out photos like this one I took? Would a filter help?
Seems tough to get good photos when the sun is high in the sky. Photos within a few hours of sunrise or sunset are often best, but sometimes you're flying in the middle of the day.

That is not a white balance issue - just leave your white balance on auto and forget it.
White balance is about different light sources that are different colours ie. fluorescent lights vs incandescent vs sunlight
Midday is a fine time for photography and shouldn't cause any problems.
No filters needed.
Your photo is simply overexposed.
Perhaps the camera setting has slipped from EV0 - check the blue EV number in the camera data - is it showing a + sign?
Your sky is very bright but is small enough in the photo to probably not be the cause.
If you aren't using auto, your settings are the cause.

 

[WetDog]

Yep, exposure.

Some issues with the DJI app and exposure:

- In bright sunlight the screen tends to get washed out and hence it is hard to accurately judge exposure. That is where the histogram shines (so to speak).
- It is rather easy to accidentally hit +EV values. If you touch the screen the app decides that is where you want EV0 to be. Which may or may not be true.
- The automatic bracketing (AEB) function does not work well at all. If you want to bracket, do it manually.
- Shooting RAW (DNG) does give you 1 or 2 stops of extra 'headroom' to adjust the exposure in post processing because it doesn't throw away nearly as much information as the JPEG.n If you are at all serious about photography, shoot RAW. Adobe Lightroom is pretty inexpensive and really more than most photographers need.

 

[MassDrone]

There's a lot more in this photo than can be seen in the OP's post. I spent two minutes in Photoshop to produce the attached version. Post-production work can bring out the best in our aerial shots.

 

[BigAl07]

There's a lot more in this photo than can be seen in the OP's post. I spent two minutes in Photoshop to produce the attached version. Post-production work can bring out the best in our aerial shots.

Excellent example of how much you can do in POST. That's one of my weak points and I just need to sit down and invest the time to learn and understand my "tools" better.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Excellent example of how much you can do in POST. That's one of my weak points and I just need to sit down and invest the time to learn and understand my "tools" better.

Yeah, me too. My shots and videos are ok I guess, but looks like they could be better with a little adjusting. Time for this old dog to learn new tricks I suppose. [emoji3]


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[drunkpenguin]

Photoshop!

 

[MassDrone]

Post-processing works wonderfully for videos shot from our Phantoms. I use Adobe Premiere CC to adjust contrast and saturation, plus a few other tricks. Here's a video I shot from my home at sunset a few weeks ago. The piloting is admittedly amateurish, but I like the effects that I can get with my P3S and Premiere.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app[/QUOTE]
Post

 

[drunkpenguin]

Looks nice! I'm an avid premier user myself. I'm still collecting enough video to throw something together for the first time.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Post-processing works wonderfully for videos shot from our Phantoms. I use Adobe Premiere CC to adjust contrast and saturation, plus a few other tricks. Here's a video I shot from my home at sunset a few weeks ago. The piloting is admittedly amateurish, but I like the effects that I can get with my P3S and Premiere.

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Post[/QUOTE]
Very nice. If that's around your place.....you have the same problem I do here at home........TREES , [emoji849]. So would Adobe Premiere CC be a good entry level system (for a beginner like me) or do you recommend a different editing format?


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[drunkpenguin]

Premier is not entry level. It's used by people that make tv shows and movies. BUT, if you are willing to put in the time to learn you can do some really amazing things with it. Premier is rentable, you don't have to buy an expensive program, you can pay by the month, 20-30 bucks a month depending on the plan.

 

[WetDog]

Photoshop!

Only if your insane or very serious or seriously insane.... Lightroom has pretty much everything that a photographer can use. Photoshop is quite a bit more flexible but the learning curve is rather steep. I use it because I started out with Photoshop 3 and they've kept the majority of the key bindings (which makes it really clumsy to learn first time).

There are other options as well Affinity Photo is not bad on OS X. There are a number of Windows options that will get you most of the way there for very little money and invested time.

 

[drunkpenguin]

Photoshop can be very addictive, and let's you cheat! Like the time we went on a safari and let our daughter play with a wild Tiger!

 

[MassDrone]

Or the time I took my wife up flying...

 

[drunkpenguin]

That's really good! The lighting and shadows are perfect! Nice job.

The view must have been amazing!

 

[captainmilehigh]

That's really good! The lighting and shadows are perfect! Nice job.

The view must have been amazing!

Yep, and her hair is not messed up , and the hat is still on. [emoji12]

All I would really want to do is clean up the color and contrast a bit on videos. Nothing professional grade. Any suggestions in that regard?


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[MassDrone]

Yep, and her hair is not messed up , and the hat is still on. [emoji12]

All I would really want to do is clean up the color and contrast a bit on videos. Nothing professional grade. Any suggestions in that regard?

I know there are some free video editing apps out there. What you should do is set your Phantom camera to D-Log color and adjust the Style settings to Soft. The footage will look washed-out, but then you add contrast and saturation in post-processing to achieve the desired effect.

 

[captainmilehigh]

I know there are some free video editing apps out there. What you should do is set your Phantom camera to D-Log color and adjust the Style settings to Soft. The footage will look washed-out, but then you add contrast and saturation in post-processing to achieve the desired effect.

Great. I'll try that. Haven't messed with the camera settings too much, so any advice is always welcome. Thanks!


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[SpaceDan]

Thanks everyone for your tips. Next time I fly I'll try some of your suggestion


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