Some help with exposure and metering please

[freyuk]

This morning went out to try to get sharper pictures when I handheld the camera, to that end I tried using high shutter speeds and ISO settings, didn't do too well and really struggled with exposure and metering mode too. Not fully familiar with the histogram yet, to help me with the settings.
I will really appreciate, if I have suggestions on where, you will have taken the reading and what compensation if any, used to get a correct exposure, and what metering mode to use. Got lots of noise too in the pictures.
Been reading this thread and it helps but I think I need some examples.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=158332

Thank you all for your help.

-All pictures made with a Canon 600D mounting a 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS on manual mode.
-All pictures processed with Lightroom auto settings so you have a fair idea of the lighting conditions.


2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_008.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/400 sec at f/16, ISO 200
55mm



2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_020.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/320 sec at f/22, ISO 400
100mm



2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_027.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/320 sec at f/22, ISO 400
100mm



2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_029.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/320 sec at f/22, ISO 400
109mm



2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_015.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/3200 sec at f/4.0, ISO 100
55mm



2012_Thames_riverbank_ II_032.jpg by freyuk, on Flickr

1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100
250mm


Any critique and comments are really welcome, together with the exposure and metering ones. Thank you all for taking the time.

 

[woof woof]

I think that some of your aperture settings are a little extreme. It might be worthwhile looking at some hyperfocal tables to get an idea of what aperture settings give what depth of field at various focal lengths and thinking about what is most appropriate for the scene. For example, there's little point getting a depth of field that exceeds the scene or framing. If you used a wider aperture you may be able to use a lower ISO and / or higher shutter speed. Sorry if the aperture settings were deliberate and informed choices...

As for exposure settings, I use evaluative most of the time unless shooting something which is much lighter than the surroundings like a white flower or someone dressed in white against a relatively darker background.

When looking at a histogram IMVHO the main thing is to avoid things dropping off the right hand side. It is however an advantage to expose the shot so that the histogram is pushed as far as possible to the right hand side without clipping, the image will appear too bright but it can be backed off to look natural during post capture processing. You can do this by metering for a smack in the middle of the histogram exposure and then dialling in some compensation.

One advantage of digital is that you can experiment with settings and find what works best for you and all it costs is a little time.

 

[freyuk]

Thanks for the comments, and thanks a lot for the information about hyperfocal tables, knew that aperture influences the depth of field but now I can be more precise.

 

[Pegasus2]

In general, the lower ISO the better. So that should be the last variable to increase when you are haveing trouble.

Shooting at 1/200 hand held is fine for a lot of stuff and so is a wide aperture. Stick with 100 ISO and ajust the aperture to suit your desired shutter speed. Or you could just set to shutter priority and see how the camera changes the aperture to suit what speed you want to shoot at. Obviously if you have lots of light, you can crank up the shutter speed to keep the exposure and I would do this over closing down the aperture.

You images are good, maybe hampered a bit because I suspect there was flat light and no shadows when you took them, because it was overcast.

One last note: low aperture + high focal length = shallow DOF

Best of luck.