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olliemycat

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Several of my shots of hydrangeas were grossly over exposed. The camera was set to full auto at ISO 200. I'd like to correct the problem, yet still keep the settings to full auto. Is an ND filter the answer?

Thanks in advance.
 
olliemycat said:
Is an ND filter the answer?
Click to expand...
An ND filter will block light from entering the camera, yes. But I don't think that is the solution. If you can post an example image with metadata we could be of more assistance. But shooting in the fully auto mode and coming away with an overexposed shot usually means something else needs changed... simply blocking light won't do the trick unless you happen to magically block just the right amount of light that the camera can no longer compensate for!
 
olliemycat said:
Several of my shots of hydrangeas were grossly over exposed. The camera was set to full auto at ISO 200. I'd like to correct the problem, yet still keep the settings to full auto. Is an ND filter the answer?
Click to expand...
No. Your camera will compensate for the ND filter and the result will be identical, except maybe blurry as well since it will lower the shutter speed.

Does your camera allow you to use exposure compensation in full auto? If so, try to dial it down -1 EV or even -2 EV and see what happens. Or maybe it was set to +1 EV by accident?
 
When you shoot in auto, the camera is basically making an educated guess as to what kind of scene it is being pointed at, and the best settings to employ, but because the camera isn't actually a telepathic Artificial Intelligence, it sometimes doesn't get it right. This will happen from time to time with any camera.

Sound of a bell tolling.....

It tolls for thee.

Now would be a good time to begin learning how to get the best out of your camera by doing some study of the basics of digital photography, and how to use your camera in modes where your participation and input is greater than zero.

Start with your camera's user manual.

Good luck.
 
Thanks John -

I thought I retained the image shot at ISO 200 but I tossed it. The enclosed Photoshop screen capture shows a portion of an identical appearing shot at 800. The meta data is also a presented via a screen capture. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for your (and others, too) help.



 
I guess setting the white balance at some settings other than the auto will help, when the

camera’s white balance is set to auto, the camera assumes the brightest value is white

and adjusts all other colors in the image accordingly. That has happened in the case of your image...when you have a good understanding of color temperature you'll be able to set the white balance settings accordingly to suit the subject you're dealing with.
 
Johan Borg said:
olliemycat said:
Several of my shots of hydrangeas were grossly over exposed. The camera was set to full auto at ISO 200. I'd like to correct the problem, yet still keep the settings to full auto. Is an ND filter the answer?
Click to expand...
No. Your camera will compensate for the ND filter and the result will be identical, except maybe blurry as well since it will lower the shutter speed.

Does your camera allow you to use exposure compensation in full auto? If so, try to dial it down -1 EV or even -2 EV and see what happens. Or maybe it was set to +1 EV by accident?
Click to expand...
From the ISO 800 example it looks like it was set to +1.33 EV. Turn that to 0 and everything should be fine with everything else on Auto.
 
The exposure compensation setting was set to +1.33, just as Johan surmised. Thanks to all. Chalk up another point for DPR!
 
olliemycat said:
I will do that, Johan. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes. Your shot is about 1+1/3 stops overexposed. As the shot is set to be over -exposed by 1.33 stops on the exposure compensation scale, this is not entirely surprising.

Read up on "Exposure Compensation" to find out how to use the control.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"
 
olliemycat said:
The exposure compensation setting was set to +1.33, just as Johan surmised. Thanks to all. Chalk up another point for DPR!
Click to expand...
It wasn't hard to tell. It was listed in the EXIF you posted... under 1/400th.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"
 
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