Reading mode: Light Dark

what am I doing wrong here??

Go to last post
E

eppicphoto

Well-known member
Messages
149
Reaction score
2
Location
Coquitlam/BC/Canada, CA
I don't understand what I am doing wrong to keep getting over exposure on my shots?
ISO200 Aperature Priority 2.8 some with flash, some without.
I am set on DX2mode with +7 sharpening and +1 Saturation.

The rest of the photo is exposed correctly, so why the blown highlites?

 
Hi,

The most of blown highlights in the blue channel and a little bit in red channel. Greens are good. In your pictyre green is a dominat color (a lot of gren foliage). What I remeber from reading Bryan Peterson's books is when you are mettering off greens you dial in negative EV (-1/3 or -2/3)
--
Best regards
 
Dark(er) background.

Use centerweighted meter or
Roll in -1 stop of exposure (+ -) or

If your'e running out of shutter speed to compliment the f/stop, try an ND filter (maybe 2 stops?)
 
Yeah, try 5.6 or 8. Why an aperture of 2.8? It's aperture! It's aperture!
 
28to70 said:
Yeah, try 5.6 or 8. Why an aperture of 2.8? It's aperture! It's
aperture!
Click to expand...
No it is not. He is using A mode, so the camera will choose an appropriate aperture. The case is to use appropriate EV to compensate for the background he is mettering off.

--
Best regards
 
The previous post was as wrong as the one it was supposedly correcting.

Aperture priority at 2.8 is a fine choice to isolate the subject.

Try center weighted metering (and single point af to make sure the subject will be in focus). Matrix metering might be exposing to bring up shadow areas more than would be desired.

I've had a much higher rate of success with this simple combo than with program and matrix.
 
Matrix metering is for when you want to have a good chance of getting (close) to the right exposure in any situation. But it fails if there is too much difference in brightness between the subject and the background. In that case, you have to be ready to roll in some exposure compensation or ask the meter to give more regard to the center of the image than to the background (centerweighted). Be careful about relying on small adjusments. Just because you ask the camera to knock off 1/3 or 1/2 a stop doesn't mean the mechanics of the camera will actually do it. The shutter may not hold 1/3 of a stop of tolerence at 1/4000 in its normal operation. Underexpose a bit more just to be safe and if it turns out to be something you like, you can brighten it up later.
 
digitalnoise said:
The previous post was as wrong as the one it was supposedly correcting.

Aperture priority at 2.8 is a fine choice to isolate the subject.

Try center weighted metering (and single point af to make sure the
subject will be in focus). Matrix metering might be exposing to bring
up shadow areas more than would be desired.

I've had a much higher rate of success with this simple combo than
with program and matrix.
Click to expand...
I am sorry, I meant to say camera will choose shutter speed. I did not mean F/2.8 was incorrect.

--
Best regards
 
lol Sagittarius. I was going to correct you. Now the poster did mention he did use flash on some pics, he could just dial down the flash output. I don't know if I would have used 2.8, in my opinion 5.6 would have be better for the picture he posted.

http://www.nikonman.smugmug.com
 
I think the sample you posted is a great example of a PERFECT exposure.

I would be curious to see the same shot with the "corrected exposure"... or, perhaps I should say "with the exposure tuned according to your taste".

The reason I believe it is exposed perfectly:

1. If it's a portrait, my number one priority would be skin tones (color, brightness). In this image - they look perfect. Natural color, no blown texture. And I could care less about their clothes or background, you have to sacrifice something when you're operating a camera capable of capturing only 10 stops out of a 20 stops daylight scene.

2. If it's a landscape...'ish kinda portrait... you want to have some sort of a balance between lost shadows and blown highlights. You want to lose a little bit of shadows and blow a little bit of highlights. Well... technically, you don't want any of that :) but in reality... you have to make sacrifices when operating a camera capable of capturing only 10 stops... blah blah blah :)

And in this case, look at all the lost shadows under the trees in the background. I'd say you lost a lot more in the shadows then blew in the highlights. If you drop the entire scene .3 EV, you might get some of the shirt texture back, but lady's pants will completely lose texture. And if you'll drop .7-1.0 EV, not only you'll have overall pretty dark image, your skin tones will be completely off.

--
Vadim
http://www.vadimonline.com
 
willett58 said:
lol Sagittarius. I was going to correct you. Now the poster did
mention he did use flash on some pics, he could just dial down the
flash output. I don't know if I would have used 2.8, in my opinion
5.6 would have be better for the picture he posted.

http://www.nikonman.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
I wouldn't use f/2.8 also on this shot also unless I am forced to. To be honest, highlights blown in this image are very minimal and dont bother me at all. BTW they can be very easely removed in PP.

--
Best regards
 
What everybody seems to be getting at is this: don't think about what the camera is doing for you. Think about what you are doing with the camera.

Look at your subject. You have dark shadows in the trees at the top, and a bright sunlit shirt in the middle. There's no way you are going to be able to get detail in those shadows and a perfectly exposed shirt at the same time with a DSLR. There's just too much contrast.

Now, does the camera know that you are more interested in seeing the people properly exposed than the trees? Of course not. The camera is trying to look at the entire subject and select an exposure that captures as much of it as possible. And it did a pretty good job of it. You can see some tree detail in the background, and only a few areas of the shirt are blown out. Unfortunately, the blown out areas are very obvious because you are looking at the people, but the camera doesn't know that.

So what do you do? You have to tell the camera what is important to you. As others mentioned, you could use centerweighted metering and aim at the people. This will tell the camera what you're looking at and probably come closer to getting the shirt exposed right. The detail in the trees will be sacrificed, but you presumably don't care as much about that.

You could also spot meter the bright shirt and add 2 or 3 stops of exposure compensation. This will bring the shirt just to the edge of the detail zone, and the rest will fall into line, again pushing the trees into darkness.

The third, and in my opinion best, solution, would be to get closer to your subject (or zoom in) and eliminate everything above the top of the hedge. You would lose the tree shadows, the intrusive view of the parking lot, and the fence post. More importantly, you would reduce the overall dynamic range of the subject, making it much easier for the camera to capture everything.

Photography is about visualizing the image you want to see and knowing how to set your equipment to capture that image. Cameras are dumb. Don't let them do your thinking for you.
 
Looks to me like the camera nailed it. Excellent exposure.

--
Scott A.
 
the reason you think it is over exposed is look at all the dark space around your subjects my guess is you used matrix metering when you should have used center weighted that way your subjects would be properly exposed and the surroundings
may have been a little darker

Thats my two cents
eppicphoto said:
I don't understand what I am doing wrong to keep getting over
exposure on my shots?
ISO200 Aperature Priority 2.8 some with flash, some without.
I am set on DX2mode with +7 sharpening and +1 Saturation.

The rest of the photo is exposed correctly, so why the blown highlites?

Click to expand...
--
Mac OS X: Because making UNIX user friendly was easier than fixing Windows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top