Beginner Evening photo

V

val d5000

Messages
60
Edit My Images
No
Hi i took some evening photos and when i was checking them the one's that were minus in the exposure were the closest to what i was actually seeing is this normal
 
Yes The cameras meter tries to the subject as average grey. Taken in average day light.By dialing in minus exposure you have told it you want it to look darker.
 
Maybe. It depends on what was in the frame when you were metering it. We'd need to see some examples.
 
As above could be normal. The camera exposes for neutral grey so can make things look brighter or darker. For example take a picture of a dark room with no lights on and if you expose according to the camera's meter the room will look bright.
 
val d5000 said:
hi the brightest one is the one which is supposed to be correct exposure sorry its only pictures of my crap


https://www.flickr.com/photos/137317759@N05/23316851679/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137317759@N05/23056702984/in/dateposted-public/
Click to expand...
There's a couple of issues here.
1. As above 'correct' exposure assumes that the subject is mid grey on average, your subject is mostly black things.
2. In the way that we can never really predict (when using awb), the white balance on the better exposed image is closer to 'correct'
 
The reason the ones with negative exposure compensation looked right is because your subject is dark.

Remember, the camera doesn't know what you're pointing it (*) or what colour that is. So it assumes that on average the scene is a sort of mid tone (18% grey). A polar bear in a blizzard and a black cat in a coal cellar both look the same to the camera. So you have to tell the camera what to do. You dial in positive exposure compensation for the polar bear to make it come out white instead of mid grey, and you dial in negative exposure compensation for the cat to make it come out black instead of mid grey.

(*) If you're using evaluative metering, the camera can sometimes work out the subject is; it can recognise that the subject is a face, say, or a landscape, and set the exposure accordingly. But for your photo I think the evaluative metering would have no chance working it out properly.
 
Awb is something I have yet to read up about as well as the metering although it was spot metering which I take was no good for this photo , little steps
 
val d5000 said:
Awb is something I have yet to read up about as well as the metering although it was spot metering which I take was no good for this photo , little steps
Click to expand...
Spot metering is really not something I'd recommend for newbies. Modern cameras evaluative or matrix metering is great and I'd stick with that for now.

If you don't know about AWB (auto white balance), you'll almost certainly be using it by default. Again, there's no need to change that for now.
 
I have changed it from spot metering to the auto I'm not there yet for that let me read more and practice the other stuff first
 
I agree with the above, as the photo is mostly black objects, the camera meter tries to make then 18% grey and then for over exposes the image.. sometimes it's easier to let the camera meter it and then take a few shots in manual to see what happens when it's over or under exposed..
 
Rather than dialling in minus exposure compensation it may be worth shooting as your camera decides and backing the exposure off post capture, effectively exposing to the right. You'll have to check the results but you might get better results shooting this way.
 
Val d5000 , when you say "closest to what i was actually seeing" what exactly do you mean? Brightness wise? Colour wise?
 
@val d5000
You are doing the right thing by asking questions.
The more you ask, the more you will learn.
There are some great photographers on here who are happy to help.
I have learnt a lot from asking questions on here.
 
It was brightness and from the info I have been given here and the articles to read, as it's nearly Xmas was thinking about a Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 EX DC HSM os
Now I saw so
 
val d5000 said:
Sorry tablet fell and I hit send I saw it on eBay here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Sigma...887272?hash=item3d08d080e8:g:oWoAAOSwo3pWcR9o is this a grey import or something
Click to expand...
Personally I'd avoid them, they claim the item is in the UK, but give a delivery date that suggests international shipping, then if you dig around you can see they're in Hong Kong.

I don't have a problem buying grey, or buying from abroad, but I do have an issue with someone lying about where they are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top