Setting for a bright or sunny day?

CindyT said:

I just bought my C2100 less than a week ago after much thinking. I
had the problems with the view finder on the C700. When taking
pictures outside on a bright or sunny day, is the only way to keep
the picture from being washed out or dull to lower the number in
the exposure compensation? I tried that and it does help some. I
was just wondering if there is something else I should be doing.
Trying to learn things fast. My daughter and I are leaving early
Friday morning on a trip to Texas. I have a picture that is an
example of the washed out look. I know the picture is BAD!! I have
just been experimenting on everything and anything in all
situatons. I was so desperate the other day that when a dried
hydrangea blew past against the white snow I took a picture of
that. I have an example of the dull washed out picture. I
actually got 2 pictures to load --my cardinals are out there
somewhere - they never made it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364076

Good squirrel picture if interested:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364125

Thanks,
CindyT

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Bill Yuey said:

Hi Cindy,

I would just trust the camera's program mode to get the exposure
right. It's pretty accurate (I don't own a 2100, but I think the
metering system is the same on my C-700). I think the only problem
with the first picture is that you just happened to shoot a scene
with very little contrast in it, so it looks kind of washed out and
blah. The squirrel photo, on the other hand, is just fine. So,
just trust the program mode and I think you'll be fine. Exposure
only gets tricky in low light, high dynamic range scenes.

Bill

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CindyT said:

I just bought my C2100 less than a week ago after much thinking. I
had the problems with the view finder on the C700. When taking
pictures outside on a bright or sunny day, is the only way to keep
the picture from being washed out or dull to lower the number in
the exposure compensation? I tried that and it does help some. I
was just wondering if there is something else I should be doing.
Trying to learn things fast. My daughter and I are leaving early
Friday morning on a trip to Texas. I have a picture that is an
example of the washed out look. I know the picture is BAD!! I have
just been experimenting on everything and anything in all
situatons. I was so desperate the other day that when a dried
hydrangea blew past against the white snow I took a picture of
that. I have an example of the dull washed out picture. I
actually got 2 pictures to load --my cardinals are out there
somewhere - they never made it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364076

Good squirrel picture if interested:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364125

Thanks,
CindyT

Click to expand...

Terry Thorn said:

It appears that the dark background fooled the exposure meter as it
will attempt to render the overall scene into a middle grey by
taking the brightest and darkest areas and averaging them. You may
want to try using spot metering on shots like that. Did the image
in the viewfinder look washed out when you took the picture?

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Inigo Montoya said:

I don't quite follow you here....

She apparently did trust the program mode on first one, and got a
washed out shot as a result, so clearly it can't be trusted in all
cases. No automatic system is perfect anyway.

If you can tell at the time you take the shot (or even before in
the EVF) that it's washed out, the easiest thing to try first is a
couple clicks of negative compensation. -0.3 or -0.7 should do.
Take another shot and see how that works. Switching to spot
metering as also suggested can be good, especially if, as in this
example, your main subject occupies only a small portion of the
frame. Switch to spot metering, center the subject, half-press the
shutter, then while still holding the shutter, recompose to where
you'd like the subject to actually be in the frame.

Shooting a short sequence in auto-bracket mode, and then reviewing
them might also help you identify the best settings for the
lighting conditions.

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Bill BikeRider said:

What mode was the camera in when you took the pictures?

The second picture of the squirrel looks pretty good to me. The
squirrel is shaded and the exposure seems about right for it. The
background is brighter and is somewhat overexposed. I don't know
if you can get both right in a scene like this.

I am puzzled by the first shot. The aperture was wide open and the
shutter speed was only 1/160s, way too long for a sunny scene.
Your second picture was taken at 1/650s, much faster even though
the overall scene was less bright. Were you using manual settings?
--
Bill
C7OO D46O

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Bill Yuey said:

Hi Inigo,

Of course, you're right, no exposure system is correct all the
time. I was just trying to make the point that Cindy doesn't need
any special settings for bright, sunny days and that 99% the time
she should trust the built-in meter. She just happened to pick a
scene that was relatively flat and required special handling. I
didn't want her to think that this would be typical performance by
the camera for all outdoor shots.

Bill
(another fan of the 'Princess Bride')

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Inigo Montoya said:

INCONCEIVABLE!

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CindyT said:

Hi
The camera was in the P mode, but I didn't change anything else in
the menu. Always just had a point and shoot camera, this is all
quite overwhelming to try to learn especially before a trip. I
have been just trying to experiment with many different situations.
Thanks
CindyT

Click to expand...

CindyT said:

I just bought my C2100 less than a week ago after much thinking. I
had the problems with the view finder on the C700. When taking
pictures outside on a bright or sunny day, is the only way to keep
the picture from being washed out or dull to lower the number in
the exposure compensation? I tried that and it does help some. I
was just wondering if there is something else I should be doing.
Trying to learn things fast. My daughter and I are leaving early
Friday morning on a trip to Texas. I have a picture that is an
example of the washed out look. I know the picture is BAD!! I have
just been experimenting on everything and anything in all
situatons. I was so desperate the other day that when a dried
hydrangea blew past against the white snow I took a picture of
that. I have an example of the dull washed out picture. I
actually got 2 pictures to load --my cardinals are out there
somewhere - they never made it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364076

Good squirrel picture if interested:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364125

Thanks,
CindyT

Click to expand...

Inigo Montoya said:

Anyone have an idea what would cause this? Over/under exposure
would shift the entire scale right or left, but what "chops of the
ends"?

By the way, a levels adjustment (even a quick and dirty auto one)
does a lot to "save" this shot from the washout.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1367981/

BTW... great squirrel pic!

CindyT said:

I just bought my C2100 less than a week ago after much thinking. I
had the problems with the view finder on the C700. When taking
pictures outside on a bright or sunny day, is the only way to keep
the picture from being washed out or dull to lower the number in
the exposure compensation? I tried that and it does help some. I
was just wondering if there is something else I should be doing.
Trying to learn things fast. My daughter and I are leaving early
Friday morning on a trip to Texas. I have a picture that is an
example of the washed out look. I know the picture is BAD!! I have
just been experimenting on everything and anything in all
situatons. I was so desperate the other day that when a dried
hydrangea blew past against the white snow I took a picture of
that. I have an example of the dull washed out picture. I
actually got 2 pictures to load --my cardinals are out there
somewhere - they never made it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364076

Good squirrel picture if interested:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364125

Thanks,
CindyT

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Bill BikeRider said:

Bill BikeRider said:

Hi
The camera was in the P mode, but I didn't change anything else in
the menu. Always just had a point and shoot camera, this is all
quite overwhelming to try to learn especially before a trip. I
have been just trying to experiment with many different situations.
Thanks
CindyT

Click to expand...

In your original post, you mentioned that you had experimented with
exposure compensation. I wonder if you set the camera for a +
compenstion and didn't realize it? I did that once and couldn't
figure out what was going on.

I tend to agree with Bill Yuey. Since you are just learning to use
the camera, the P mode is safest. I switched to P mode (after
experimenting with A/S/M) when I saw that Daniella uses it for many
of her pictures.

The viewfinder on the C-700 displays the camera settings, and I try
to pay attention to what settings the automatic system is
selecting. That way I can get an idea of what the results will be,
and hopefully recognize if the automatic settings are reasonable
for the shot I'm trying to get. If they are not I can switch to
A/S/M for better control.

Good luck.
--
Bill
C7OO D46O

Click to expand...

Daniella said:

That is really wierd, because it does not look like an overexposed
photo, it look more like if you were facing the sun and this would
be some flare effect maybe. the white on the bird is not too
bright, so its not really overexposed..it look more like an image
that have no contrast then an image that is overexposed.

I have noticed that by using some teleconverter i was getting the
same effect like a lack of contrast, are you using a teleconverter
? if so then what brand?

Click to expand...

Bill BikeRider said:

Bill BikeRider said:

Hi
The camera was in the P mode, but I didn't change anything else in
the menu. Always just had a point and shoot camera, this is all
quite overwhelming to try to learn especially before a trip. I
have been just trying to experiment with many different situations.
Thanks
CindyT

Click to expand...

In your original post, you mentioned that you had experimented with
exposure compensation. I wonder if you set the camera for a +
compenstion and didn't realize it? I did that once and couldn't
figure out what was going on.

I tend to agree with Bill Yuey. Since you are just learning to use
the camera, the P mode is safest. I switched to P mode (after
experimenting with A/S/M) when I saw that Daniella uses it for many
of her pictures.

The viewfinder on the C-700 displays the camera settings, and I try
to pay attention to what settings the automatic system is
selecting. That way I can get an idea of what the results will be,
and hopefully recognize if the automatic settings are reasonable
for the shot I'm trying to get. If they are not I can switch to
A/S/M for better control.

Good luck.
--
Bill
C7OO D46O

Click to expand...

Daniella said:

I have noticed that by using some teleconverter i was getting the
same effect like a lack of contrast, are you using a teleconverter
? if so then what brand?

CindyT said:

I just bought my C2100 less than a week ago after much thinking. I
had the problems with the view finder on the C700. When taking
pictures outside on a bright or sunny day, is the only way to keep
the picture from being washed out or dull to lower the number in
the exposure compensation? I tried that and it does help some. I
was just wondering if there is something else I should be doing.
Trying to learn things fast. My daughter and I are leaving early
Friday morning on a trip to Texas. I have a picture that is an
example of the washed out look. I know the picture is BAD!! I have
just been experimenting on everything and anything in all
situatons. I was so desperate the other day that when a dried
hydrangea blew past against the white snow I took a picture of
that. I have an example of the dull washed out picture. I
actually got 2 pictures to load --my cardinals are out there
somewhere - they never made it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364076

Good squirrel picture if interested:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1364125

Thanks,
CindyT

Click to expand...

--
Daniella
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C7OO discussion group:
http://www.homepet.com/cgi-bin/c700/UltraBoard.cgi

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