Over-exposure/Sun glint

[MarkLawrence]

Can anyone help with sun glint and how they cure it. I had quite a few pictures that I took last Sunday at PBI, but, had almost all rejected for over exposure and I can see that it's where the sun glint caught on fuselage,etc. Any hints on cureing this?

An example is http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=1276237

[NIKV69]

Don't confuse glare or glint with overexposure they are two totally different things.

Here is two examples taken from the same location.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1160684/L/

This shot has glare, most noticably on the tail. Yet the fuselage is exposed properly, in fact I didn't even need to fix it after the capture. If you are shooting in a sunny conditions sometimes you will get this especially on the Maxjet fuselage, which is shiny. Doesn't mean the shot is bad.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0973730/L/

This shot you see the glare near the nose. Same thing, the fuselage is fine.


Remember, glare or glint doesn't mean overexposed. The only ways you combat overexposure is exposure comp on your camera and sun position. The rule of thumb is positive comp if the main subject is darker than the background and negtative if it is brighter. IMO if the sun is too high sometimes it is not even worth shooting from certain locations. FRG is a good example of this. Midday is a nightmare there from certain spots or the mounds too at JFK, try shooting the CSA fuselage with the sun around noon. If that sun is too high it's a nightmare. Let your light source get a little lower and directly behind you and watch how much easier it is.

As for your example that spot your shooting from is death with the sun very high. Your also going to battle heat distortion like crazy too, I looked at your pic quickly but I though I saw some near the nose gear. Like I said that spot leaves little room for error at the time you shot that pic. I don't how often you go there but I would want to see the sun a tad lower and you will have to work your Exp Comp to combat it.

[MarkLawrence]

Thanks for the detailed reply Nick! It was indeed between 10:45 and 12:15 when I was shooting and the sun was right behind me. I was in the same spot when Phil and Mel were down here - but at 3pm and later and that made a lot of difference. I guess my timing might change this weekend when I'll be at PBI again. I'm also going to be trying a Quantaray 70-300 lens as opposed to my normal Nikon 70-300 - should be interesting to see in the same position, different time the changes that I'll see.

Thanks again for the reply!

[NIKV69]

Well just by looking at the pic you posted you have no shot at midday. It is much like the mounds at JFK. If you tried to shoot at Noon on a sunny day you would have trouble. Sounds like it would be a bit better at 3pm. Shoot some and post them here.