If the highlights are an important part of your composition, then you can't allow them to blow out-reduce exposure so that they remain within what your camera can handle.

this would be the kind of image that might benefit.

If your camera has built-in shadow/highlight correction, D-Lighting, D-Range modes, etc.

Some cameras allow auto-bracketing for contrast as well. It's easier to boost contrast once you've captured it than to reduce it once data is sacrificed during JPEG processing.

If shooting JPEG, consider reducing the contrast setting in-camera.

Shooting RAW will maximize your ability to use what you've captured, you might be able to recover some of the highlight detail.

Not only would this allow you to choose the best one, but you might also combine two or more of them during post-processing, one exposed for the sky, one exposed for the foreground.

Take multiple shots at different exposures, possibly using auto-bracketing.Things you can do to improve the situation: Question in JPEG compression does the algorithim actually throw away uneeded pixels, or are they still there somewhere where they cant be displayed or accessed ?ĭaria, as other's noted this scene is very contrasty with deep shadows in the foreground and very bright sky. Maybe I should have said 'There is not much Value RGB inside those blown out pixels' instead of there are not many pixels to work with. Clipping can allso occur with Black colors where the absolute value in the pixels is 0. Ask any wedding photographer what he does with the pictures of the bride wiith the blown out gown. I spent hours trying to squeeze out some detail out of those sections even though they were taken in RAW all to no avail. There was no color and no details whatsoever. I have to show you some pictures I took of blown out skies I took when I got my first digital camera. This value is beyond the gamut of what the camera can display on the screen or in print so it might as well be non-existent. There is a clear difference in the color and the details. Rob clipping in the highlights shows up as pure white with a 255 value, but this value or greater is quite different than the whites which have not been blown out. If you think that white is recorded as a null value then you have a serious misunderstanding of digital photography.'

Make visuals great again sky too bright