Reflection/Contrast issues

Hey all,

I've been photographing some of the prairie areas here in Central IL, and I've noticing that the grass and trees have been reflecting quite a bit of light, appearing very contrast-y and blown out when compared with the rest of the image. The actual scene does not look like this- it just happens sometime between taking the photo and post-processing. This only happens in full sunlight, also. I haven't been using a polarizer lately because this is a fairly new lens and am not the richest person in the world (College, yay...)- so would a polarizer help this, or is it something I'm doing while post-processing? Any and all help appreciated- here's an image for reference (if this is against the rules, I apologize in advance- feel free to delete).

Much appreciated

I am not sure a polarizer would help in this case. In my experience it will help a lot when the leaves and grass are wet, but less so in this case. Others may chime in with their experiences.

I would suggest you use the Shadow/Highlight tool. Leave the shadows alone and reduce the highlights. If you also used levels and adjusted the black point, using the slider on the left, you will darken increase color saturation and reduce the apparent difference between the darker colors and bright highlights.

Again others may chime in with even better advice.

Have fun.

Ed

Another favorite stunt of mine is simply to arrive early or late so the light isn't so intense, then do longer exposures (as the breezes allow!) to compensate for the lower light levels. An extra bonus is great warm color to the light while the sun is still just behind the horizon.

What Hank said. Less contrasty light will mean...less contrast.

A polarizer might help here somewhat depending on the angle of the sun. The foliage doesn't have to be wet, but the sunlight has to be coming in at the correct angle, like any other time you use a polarizer. Basically, the above just looks like a very contrasty scene to me - it doesn't look unreal at all, and I don't see any blown highlights or blocked shadows at this small size.

One other thing to consider - are you shooting RAW or JPG? If JPG, you might be able to turn the pre-cooked contrast setting down some in camera. It may give you washed out looking images though, so you might really need to do some test shooting.

And watch out for overusing the shadow/highlight tool if you use it - it's very easy to pick out images where it was overused; They have a strange look to them.

Good luck, Nathaniel.

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments, I'll try and test all of them out

Very much appreciated

Nathaniel, try shooting around an hour before and after sunset and sunrise. You'll see a marked difference in contrast. You'll need a tripod though.