I'm new to photography and often face problems with subject with a bright background.
For example: A worker on a 2nd floor building with bright sky as background and picture captured from ground level. I don't want to use a flash.
I use Nikon D5100. Any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated :)
When you have a relatively dark subject and a very bright background you are not going to be able to capture both in a single frame, so your options are:
Decide you really wanted to get a silhouette or white background
Sometimes you just have to make due with what you have
Combine several frames
Shoot several frames at different exposures and combine the good parts from each frame, either manually or by using HDR software.
Find conditions where the brightness difference is smaller
Around sunrise and sunset the sky is darker, for example.
Reduce the difference in brightness
Since you can't make the sky darker you have no choice but to add light.
You said you didn't want flash but you can use reflectors or mirrors to shine some light at your subject
With options 3 and 4 it's possible to change the environment a little bit, just enough to have some details in both the highlight and shadows and then use software like Lightroom to adjust the brightness separately for the subject and background until you get them both looking good.
Increase the exposure via a slower shutter speed, wider aperture, or a higher ISO... Exposure compensation will also do it in basically any mode, set it to over expose the image.
You could also lighten the subject in post processing although that typically isn't preferred unless it is your only option.
Set the Nikon D5100 from its default Matrix Metering to Spot Metering. This will allow the camera to meter the centre 3.5mm of your viewfinder and correctly expose for this area whilst leaving the background over exposed with some blown out highlights.
Next, set the camera to RAW and click away (very important for post work). you can leave as jpeg if you are only interested in the subject and not the background.
If you wish to take the next step and bring some detail back into the background, then do the following;
Import the RAW images into the Nikon Imaging software supplied with your camera or lightroom, and in this software, bring the slider back for the Highlights and Black. This will bring back some detail into the background which otherwise will be bright and blown out.
Increasing Shadows and whites will also increase dept. A slight increase in Clarity will also help.
When doing these tweaks, keep an eye on the histogram.
