HDRI producing blown out highlights

[jackgriffirths]

Hi,

i have been trying to use hdri's for a while now and they always seem to produce blown out highlights. i don't know if this is a setting i haven't changed but the only solution i can think of if turning the output down but this then leads to an underexposed image. I've turned the internet upside down trying to find an answer and have been unsuccessful i will provide an image showing these blown out highlights below

[John.McWaters]

It doesn't look bad to me. Have you tried adjusting the exposure as well?

[jackgriffirths]

really these highlights look okay to you? jeez. I am a photographer and blown out highlights are a big no no

[romullus]

No, of course those highlights aren't ok. But as photographer you should know, that taking a picture of highly reflective object against bright sun, you will inevitebly have to deal with them. Use highlight compression to lower intensity of brightest parts of the image, bring up the shadows to equalize lighting a bit (good idea is to use additional light in front of subject). Treat your render like you would treat RAW photograph.

[Designerman77]

As Romullus said, use a bit of highlight compression. Something like 1.5 or 1.7 is often enough in such exteriors. The dynamic you lose by highlight compression you can compensate increasing contrast in the cam or in post.

Generally, I think that sometimes overexposed highlight can be tolerated. I also did a lot of street photography for a while and were „afraid“ of overexposure.
But hey, if it looks good in some cases, then why to stick to a dogma? What looks good is correct...

[maru]

You can use photographic LUTs (those starting with "Kim Amland") to have a nice simulation of real life DSLR. Just to not enable any other kind of tone mapping, and set the intensity of LUT to about 0,6 - 0,8. Then you can adjust exposure to your taste.

[Rimas]

really these highlights look okay to you? jeez. I am a photographer and blown out highlights are a big no no

I'm a photog too and blown highlights are NOT "a big no-no". No idea where you got that from. Depends on what you're trying to achieve, of course. Same as how some people just lift the shadow slider all the way up and highlights down, resulting in a muddy image lacking any contrast.

[cjwidd]

It would probably be a good idea to calibrate your HDRI if that has not been done already. Of course, the bloom / glare is probably contributing to the perception of blown out highlights - it is attracting attention to those areas.