Testing Canon’s latest flagship model, the EOS 1Dx MkII under some of the most arduous conditions possible during the Isle of Man TT races.
SHADOW DETAIL
With bikes darting from the bright highlights and into the deep shadows cast by the ever-changing scenery around the Isle of Man TT circuit, it is difficult to get an exposure for all eventualities. Riders take different lines, even around the same corners. Some in shadow and some in bright sunlight. Some race black bikes in black leathers, whilst some race white on white. All in all, an exposure nightmare!
Back in the day, (yawn yawn) where shooting transparency film was the norm, film would often be push processed when dealing with evening practice sessions (or early morning as was the case in those days), shots had to be carefully considered – do you shoot in the highlight or the shade – you couldn’t do both! At least not with one bike.
But now, as a result of the massive leaps taken by Canon in the digital age, it is actually possible to shoot a white bike in the highlights and a black bike in the shadows at the same setting and to be able to bring out a perfectly acceptable image from each, thanks to the amazing amount of shadow detail that is available via the new CMOS sensors. This situation is far from ideal, and should not be encouraged except in extreme situations, but it is possible, and especially if you shoot RAW (CR2) files.
These are both jpegs and demonstrate the point perfectly – the black bike in shadow is too dark whilst the white bike in highlight is too bright. Both have had the mid-tone levels tweaked one up and one down obviously but both are perfectly usable images.
I find myself exposing in a similar way to how I used to shoot transparency film – exposing for the highlights and letting the shadows deal with themselves only now, the task of bringing a little detail into these shadows is simple.
I have deliberately ‘overcooked’ some of the adjustments in the images below in order to demonstrate just how much detail is retained in shadow areas of the shot which at first glance appears ‘dead’
The first image is as it came into the camera – as a jpeg – a black bike, in the shadows, with the exposure set for the highlights!!. Each of the other images show a different level of shadow detail recovery of the bike and rider, with the final shot being recovered to a ridiculous (almost cartoon) level simply to demonstrate just how much detail is retained in the file – even as a jpeg.
For the record, I did test some of the auto exposure modes but the bikes were so fast between shadow and highlight areas that the system had difficulty in coping and provided me with some wildly varying results. I am sure that under consistent lighting conditions the AE modes will provide perfectly good results when set to an individual photographer’s preferences, but in this situation (as I do for the vast majority of my work) I found manual control to be my preferred option.
Words: James Wright 2016
Images: © Double Red
Not for publication
