Bought a 750D (Rebel T6i) last month - all pictures overexposed

I bought a Canon 750D last month and used it for my trip to South Africa. I shot in raw format in various modes - Av, Tv, Auto etc. but all my pics are superexposed and all my trip memories are ruined. I have tried to recover a lot of pictures by adjusting the higlights and exposure in Lightroom but many pictures are so white that they are ruined for ever.

Given I have been doing photography for a few years, I am sure it is not about the settings I used. Can somebody let me know what could be the problem. I am uploading a few pictures by converting them to JPEG as is (i.e. without any white balance or exposure adjustment) - you can see what has happened.

Please help me out - I need to get this rectified soon as I am up for a Mexico trip soon.

User4527909039 wrote:

I bought a Canon 750D last month and used it for my trip to South Africa. I shot in raw format in various modes - Av, Tv, Auto etc. but all my pics are superexposed and all my trip memories are ruined. I have tried to recover a lot of pictures by adjusting the higlights and exposure in Lightroom but many pictures are so white that they are ruined for ever.

Given I have been doing photography for a few years, I am sure it is not about the settings I used.

It greatly depends what your photographic experiences are based on. If it's a point and shoot then you're in for a learning curve as dslr in the creative zone does need a bit of understanding the system, how it exposes and how you need to compensate for it.

Can somebody let me know what could be the problem. I am uploading a few pictures by converting them to JPEG as is (i.e. without any white balance or exposure adjustment) - you can see what has happened.

The first shot is set to overexpose 1 stop according to the exif info. The second is set to over expose +1/3 stop. When looking in photoshop, the average pixel values in the center reflects the exposure settings, so it's not overexposing more than it was told to.

Unless you did this on purpose you'll need to know how the exposure compensation works in combination with Av, Tv and P modes.

The metering mode is evaluative. This is a black box type of metering, there's no knowing exactly what's going on. It may be better in some cases to set it to center weighed or spot. In those modes it's more predictable and may not try to be smart and mess things up.

The pictures below are not shot in challenging conditions so I recommend spending some time learning the metering system.

Luckily you shot raw and you can, based on the pictures below, easily recover a lot of highlight detail.

Please help me out - I need to get this rectified soon as I am up for a Mexico trip soon.

imqqmi wrote:

User4527909039 wrote:

I bought a Canon 750D last month and used it for my trip to South Africa. I shot in raw format in various modes - Av, Tv, Auto etc. but all my pics are superexposed and all my trip memories are ruined. I have tried to recover a lot of pictures by adjusting the higlights and exposure in Lightroom but many pictures are so white that they are ruined for ever.

Given I have been doing photography for a few years, I am sure it is not about the settings I used.

It greatly depends what your photographic experiences are based on. If it's a point and shoot then you're in for a learning curve as dslr in the creative zone does need a bit of understanding the system, how it exposes and how you need to compensate for it.

Can somebody let me know what could be the problem. I am uploading a few pictures by converting them to JPEG as is (i.e. without any white balance or exposure adjustment) - you can see what has happened.

The first shot is set to overexpose 1 stop according to the exif info. The second is set to over expose +1/3 stop. When looking in photoshop, the average pixel values in the center reflects the exposure settings, so it's not overexposing more than it was told to.

Unless you did this on purpose you'll need to know how the exposure compensation works in combination with Av, Tv and P modes.

The metering mode is evaluative. This is a black box type of metering, there's no knowing exactly what's going on. It may be better in some cases to set it to center weighed or spot. In those modes it's more predictable and may not try to be smart and mess things up.

The pictures below are not shot in challenging conditions so I recommend spending some time learning the metering system.

Luckily you shot raw and you can, based on the pictures below, easily recover a lot of highlight detail.

+1

I like to use Center-weighted Metering for its predictability and consistency.

Good luck,

R2

Something is strange here.  I would think that shooting in daylight at ISO 5000, 1/50, and F6.3 that you should have nothing but a solid white picture, completely blown out.

Just as a test I put my T2i on Manual (M), set the shutter at 1/50, aperture at F6.3, and ISO 3200 and took a shot out the window.  It was a completely blown out white square.

So, if the pictures were taken in daylight something is really off.  Maybe these pictures were taken at dusk or night?

It does appear that this is probably your fault.  In addition to reviewing the manual and relearning your procedures, you need to turn on the histogram review in the camera and make a habit of checking that after each shot.

User4527909039 wrote:

I agree last time it was my fault - accidentally had set the exposure compensation and high ISO even in daylight. However, even with suggested settings this is happening again.

Attached are couple of pictures that were shot at ISO-200 0-step bias and f/160. I had to heavily edit them in lightroom to get back the details in the highlights. Still it all looks so washed out.

Can you post these unedited for us. It's possible there may be something wrong with your camera/lens (besides the copious dust ).

Regardless, I'd really recommend learning a little more about the "Creative Modes." That way you can control the exposure yourself to a much higher degree (or completely when using Full Manual).

Thx,

R2

I don't know what you think is wrong with those pictures. They DO appear to be correctly exposed, so that is an improvement. I second the request to post the jpeg files straight out of the camera. I can't see anything that the camera has done wrong.

You need to take the camera to someone and have the sensor cleaned. You also need to learn to keep the camera clean.  The sensor is VERY dirty.

The second picture is not clear, and that could contribute to your disappointment. The image was shot at f/11, which is not the best choice in this case, but I don' think that's the main problem. It may also be out of focus, or maybe the air was turbulent or not very clear.

You need to know that the camera only records the picture. If you want a masterpiece, you need to learn how to use the camera and how to process the photo--and much more. We can't tell you everything you need to know in a few replies, but there is a lot of information available to you. If you want to improve your pictures, the way to do it is to learn everything you can about photography.

The best we can do for now is, if you post the pictures straight out of the camera, we can comment on what is right or wrong with those pictures.

If the second shot was taken from a small plane, 1/320 sec shutter speed probably wasn't fast enough to cancel the vibration from the plane, especially if the camera/lens touched any part of the plane.

The atmosphere and the relative humidity can play a big part on the apparent clarity of the picture. The first shot was done in very humid conditions to the point of almost 100% humidity, foggy, misty conditions. You can't really expect contrast to be very high, so use that to your advantage. Low contrast shots can be great!

As for the second shot, the farther the distance between camera and object, the more air is between it. Light needs to travel from the subject to the camera and meets dust, water particles and changes in temperature which diffracts light. Hence pictures may not be as sharp and clear as things close up.

Also, you seem to shoot through glass, or plexiglass or similar, and in the case of airoplanes multiple layers of them, which can also cause interference, drop in contrast and auto focus problems.

There's also quite some chromatic aberration visible near the highlights in the corners, this may also add to the effect of making it look blurry. This can be corrected though.

Some degree of post processing with dslrs is expected, since these systems shoot conservatively.

Check your exposure compensation, when I bought my 80D it came set at -2

R2D2 wrote:

Attached are couple of pictures that were shot at ISO-200 0-step bias and f/160. I had to heavily edit them in lightroom to get back the details in the highlights. Still it all looks so washed out.

Can you post these unedited for us. It's possible there may be something wrong with your camera/lens.

Hi,

Have you figured out what is going on yet?

R2