Exposure Query from Newbie

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Projectsdw

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Hi Guys, this is my first post so please be gentle:)
I've taken s a couple of shots for my website using an Olympus E510. I've increased the EV to give it a bright washout look which is what I want. However, I can't get the lighting to remain consistent. I've noticed it depends on the clothes my model wears. If she wears dark clothes the brightness increases and washes out her face. If she wears something lighter, the lighting falls, making here face appear darker. I'm happy with either really but i just want it to be consistent. I think it's to do with the metering averaging out the lightness in the entire picture, but after a quick play I couldn't suss it out. Here's an example of my problem
dark clothing, bright exposure on face
http://www.projectsclothing.com/images/Lipsy-SS09-Pad-Dress-X-355.jpg
lighter coloured cothing, lower exposure on face
http://www.projectsclothing.com/images/GstuzSS09-Hyper-X-355.jpg
Any thoughts would be appreciated. After playing with my new camera I think real photography takes some real skill, I envy you if you do it full time, wish I had the skill.
 
First of all tell us what the settings were for those images. There is no exif data on the ones you've published.

What mode (Aperture/shutter/manual/program/auto) did you use and which exposure mode (spot/matrix/etc).

The exposure mode will tell you what area of the image the camera is using to calculate exposure.

Ideally you shouldnt be using EV as you are because all it will do is alter the image from the baseline given by the exposure mode. As the darkness of the thing you are shooting alters then your exposure will go up and down.

If you have consistent lighting then you would probably be better in manual or Aperture mode.
 
Sorry, clearly new to all this
the settings are as follows
- Auto mode
- EV +1.7
- Digital ESP Metering with AF (49 different parts)
- consistent lighting equipment with no flash

I'm inceasing the EV because I do want her to be washed out, but i'd like her to be washed out consistently if that makes sense. I can't work out which metering would be best as they all take into account the colour of the item worn as far as i can see???
 
who? said:
As the darkness of the thing you are shooting alters then your exposure will go up and down.
Click to expand...

bingo :thumbs:

what your model is wearing will affect what the camera "sees" and so what it decides is the cirrect exposure.

You are altering compared to what the camera perceives as correct.

If you don't want to alter that work in full manual mode - find the settings you want and then don't change them for the rest of the session
 
Projectsdw said:
I can't work out which metering would be best as they all take into account the colour of the item worn as far as i can see???
Click to expand...

Meter initially for 1 outfit until you get the exposure you want.

Then go into manual mode and dial in those settings.

Presto the exposure for the model won't change
 
If they are wearing dark clothes, it will make the image brighter because it is on auto mode and your telling it you want to over expose the whole image, so the face is washed out. With bright clothes the camera already thinks the image is quite over exposed so the face looks fine.

Your best off playing around in manual. Try to find something that works for the face and leave it at that if the lighting is consistant.
 
THANKS GUYS!!!
I've got my model coming in this evening, i'll let you know how I get along, it seems so obvious now, doh!
 
Projectsdw said:
Sorry, clearly new to all this
the settings are as follows
- Auto mode
- EV +1.7
- Digital ESP Metering with AF (49 different parts)
- consistent lighting equipment with no flash

I'm inceasing the EV because I do want her to be washed out, but i'd like her to be washed out consistently if that makes sense. I can't work out which metering would be best as they all take into account the colour of the item worn as far as i can see???
Click to expand...

Thats your first problem. In auto mode you have no control of anything. The camera is making all the decisions - no way you can ensure consistent results.

I would start by putting it into A - Aperture mode and dial the EV back down to 0.

Set the aperture to say f/8. Focus and take a few shots. See what shutter speed the camera is selecting. If the shutter speed is getting too long then you are likely to get shake because you are not able to hold the camera perfectly still. In this case dial the aperture down to a smaller number - as you are doing that you will see in the viewfinder that the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed.

Then set it to M - Manual mode. Set the aperture and shutter speed to what you got in the previous step (the dial will alter aperture and shutter - you hold down the button which you used for EV to swap between them [or I think thats right for default set up - I'll go check on my 510 if you think that isnt working]).

Take some shots. Are you happy with the depth of field? ie are the model and the background as focused as you would like?

So you want to over expose - slow down the shutter speed (remember that this is a fraction so smaller number is longer unless you are getting into longer than 1 sec exposures) or widen the aperture (smaller number) - I'd start with the shutter speed because that wont alter the depth of focus which is a feature of the aperture.

experiment a little with varying the shutter speed and aperture. You will find a set of values which gives yo uywhat you want. You can then use these settings to get comparable results - As long as the lighting is consistent. But at the very least you will have a starting point to use even when your lighting varies a little.

This all puts you in charge of what you are doing and will let you get more consistent results.
 
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