Blown whites. Help!

[MikeEPhoto]

I have noticed that when there is a strong white subject in my shots it seems to be blown almost to a point of being blurred. Also have recieved some feedback regarding this. Is it simply over exposure? White balance wrong? I changed settings with not much resolve. I have a Cannon T1i. I usually shot in AV mode iso 200 white balance sunny if it's sunny. Never tried outdoor shots in Raw. Could that help. I also have gone to full manual with rhe same settings a speed up the shutter. I seem to loose alot of color sharpness when I do that. HELP!!!!

Mike

[RTaylor]

I always shoot RAW, it helps a lot to recover things like shadows or blown highlights as long as its not a total loss.

Try spot metering on a bright spot. When you do, you will notice everything else around it will be dark. So what I do is meter for the bright spot, then up the exposure compensation +.3, +.7 etc which will make those dark spots a bit brighter. Play around to you see the exposure is what you want. The more I use that option, the more I know for later the best exposure to choose. It works great with snow scenes.

You can do the same with spot metering the dark area which will make everything else brighter. To help that, you then adjust your exposure compensation darker like -.3, -.7 or up to -1

[Redhead]

I, too, shoot everything in RAW. The only exception is when I want stop action shots that are not outdoors.
If you use PSCS4, you can open even jpeg images in camera raw edit from the bridge. It will give you some good options to start with toning down the whites down the whites.

[ISpy]

I also shoot in RAW. There are so many benefits with going this route especially when it comes time to edit in Camera RAW and you can bring back so many photos from ruin that you could not do if the same images were in jpeg mode. A very important rule to remember is "don't blow the highlights", shooting in RAW will allow you to tone down the exposure by 2 or 3 stops and then bring up the exposure in Camera RAW with no problem. The other thing is if your already having problems with your highlights, turn down your ISO's to low as this is only fuel to the fire that's already out of control. ISO's only provide punch to the highlights/whites and exposure addresses darks/shadows.

Hope this helps.

[MikeEPhoto]

Thanks everyone. Putting your suggestions to task. So far..so good.

Again Thank You, Mike

[ImKayd1]

I too shoot RAW and have taken an overbright Egret and found information in the 'blown' areas. I also spot meter and tend to shoot underexposed and give my self some room to bring up darks. Your camera will do quite a lot for you, take some time and stick a white paper(or your favorite white something or other) on something and shoot it differently (change ISO, underexpose, shoot raw) but play when you aren't up against an event or camera out and about day. Good luck and remember everyone sometimes has blown out stuff. Also multiple exposures and blending can sometimes work through a situation.

Suzan