Too dark when it is too bright~

DaveC2100 · Jun 10, 2002

I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

Julio Y. · Jun 10, 2002

You need to open up, not close down more. Your brights will be washed out, but you'll get more detail in the darks.

DaveC2100 said:
I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white
shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out
a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are
causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in
bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the
camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of
solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

--

It might look like I'm doing nothing but, at the cellular level I'm really quite busy.
http://www.pbase.com/cyber_dude/my_pix

Terry Thorn · Jun 10, 2002

DaveC2100 said:
I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white
shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out
a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are
causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in
bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the
camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of
solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

In addition to the advice Julio gave, you can also switch the camera to spot metering mode and take the reading from the most important area of the picture. In the case you gave above, that would be the face. You can either press and hold the shutter button down halfway while you take the reading and then recompose and focus. Additionally, you can press the AEL (auto exposure lock) button (just press it, don't hold it) which will hold the exposure reading while you focus, compose, and take the shot. The camera can take pictures in SO many different ways that you're BOUND to like one of 'em.

tim95055 · Jun 10, 2002

Keep in mind, though, that if you spot meter just a face, you may need to open up a stop for caucasians and asians, because their skin tone is usually lighter than neutral gray, which is what the meter is looking for.

Member said:
In addition to the advice Julio gave, you can also switch the
camera to spot metering mode and take the reading from the most
important area of the picture. In the case you gave above, that
would be the face. You can either press and hold the shutter button
down halfway while you take the reading and then recompose and
focus. Additionally, you can press the AEL (auto exposure lock)
button (just press it, don't hold it) which will hold the exposure
reading while you focus, compose, and take the shot. The camera can
take pictures in SO many different ways that you're BOUND to like
one of 'em.

--
tim
Uzi, old Canon AE1

DaveC2100 · Jun 10, 2002

Pressing the right button so that you get into the positives, right?

Daniella68313 · Jun 10, 2002

if you want the photo brighter it is not .-7 that you must use but +.7, but by doing this the white shirt will be really blowed out.

There is no miracle receipie. You can put your in camera settings to low contrast, and that might help, but the best is to find a good compromise between the darker zone and the white ones. Try multibraketing and get the best of them...or if you have Photoshop, you can do a compositing of the lighter and the darker photo, that is if your subject is exactly at the same place and did not move between exposure.

DaveC2100 said:
I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white
shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out
a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are
causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in
bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the
camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of
solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

--
Daniella
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C700 FORUM: http://www.c700uz.com

Daniella68313 · Jun 10, 2002

anohter thing that i just remembered..there is some low contrast filter available from Tiffen and that looks pretty effective in the publicity i have from them. You may want to order this low contrast filter and try it in those photos.

DaveC2100 said:
I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white
shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out
a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are
causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in
bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the
camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of
solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

--
Daniella
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C700 FORUM: http://www.c700uz.com

tim95055 · Jun 10, 2002

Yes. Sorry to be jargony. "Open up" comes from the idea of widening the aperture to let in more light. But the phrase is sometimes used to refer to any increase in your exposure. By using positive exposure compensation (+.3, +.7, +1, etc.) you tell the camera to let in more light either through the aperture or by decreasing the shutter speed. The numbers are in "stops". Increasing by 1 stop means doubling the light hitting the CCD.

DaveC2100 said:
Pressing the right button so that you get into the positives, right?

--
tim
Uzi, old Canon AE1

Psychephylax · Jun 10, 2002

I'm surprised nobody mentioned using a flash

Turn the flash into force mode so it is set to fire regardless of it's better (or worse) judgement....

This should improve the face color and remove shadows as well

DaveC2100 said:
I have noticed that when I take pictures of subjects wearing white
shirts, or white hats in bright light, their faces seem to come out
a lot darker. My guess is that the white objects in the picture are
causing the camera to overcompensate for the light resulting in
bright whites and darker faces.

Is there a quick and easy fix to this problem? I tried setting the
camera to
-3 and -7 but it looks too dark. Can anyone post examples of
solutions?

Thanks so much,
Dave

--
http://www.pbase.com/psychephylax
Proud owner: Oly 2040Z, two 2100UZ, B-300, WCON-08

tim95055 · Jun 10, 2002

I find on-camera flash to be just ugly: flat, harsh. Of course I don't really know how to use flash properly. Maybe I need to experiment with fill flash some.

--
tim
Uzi, old Canon AE1

Daniella68313 · Jun 10, 2002

you can lower the flash power a lot and this will give just a bit of fill in and help in some photo...although it will no do much in this squirrel photo.

He was surprised that only one stop down was making such a hudge difference in the photo but the light migh have changed as well. Overcast day seams to be the same to our eye but the cloud layer can actually change in thickness and make it more or less bright.

tim said:
I find on-camera flash to be just ugly: flat, harsh. Of course I
don't really know how to use flash properly. Maybe I need to
experiment with fill flash some.

--
tim
Uzi, old Canon AE1

--
Daniella
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C700 FORUM: http://www.c700uz.com

Eric Carlson · Jun 10, 2002

The camera adjusts every image so that the average light value is in the middle (gray). So if you have a lot of white, you have to tell the camera that the average should be lighter with a "+" setting, like +0.3, +0.7, +1.0, etc.

If you are taking a photo that is mostly dark, and you don't want it to come out too light, then you use the "-" settings to tell the camera that the picture is supposed to be dark.
--

Eric, http://www.InvisibleRobot.com/

Eric Carlson · Jun 10, 2002

Yes, the flash can fill in the foreground nicely. It can come in handy if you have a bright background. I often use forced flash in daylight.
--

Eric, http://www.InvisibleRobot.com/

Eric Carlson · Jun 10, 2002

Using "+" setting will not necessarilly cause the whites to get washed out. With the right setting, it will make the whites white, instead of gray, without washing them out.

For example, if you are taking photos of mostly snow-covered ground, it will usually come out gray unless you compensate drastically, maybe even greater than +1.0.
--

Eric, http://www.InvisibleRobot.com/

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Too dark when it is too bright~

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