| Author | Thread |
|
|
12/06/2004 02:52:40 PM · #1 |
I have just started experimenting with lighting an dphotographing people. I built myself a pair of 80 cm Soft boxes with permanent light instead of flash. My photos came oth pretty well, however I did notice some problems with exposure. Some over and some under exposed.
I can't afford an expensive light meter so was wondering what alternative suggestions/techniques there are.
Is it worth buying a grey card and using that for setting the exposure, or is it used for setting the white balance (Or Both)? If so do you use spot metering on the grey card & set the camera to manual.
White balance seems to be under control as I Held a white piece of paper in front of the camera and set the manual white balance.
I will post a couple of examples when I get them resized etc. |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 02:55:38 PM · #2 |
The exposure shouldn't change if the lighting is not changing between photos. If you are using spot metering and the camera moves between photos, or the subject moves, your exposure will change.
A gray card would work OK in this scenario as well.
|
|
|
|
12/06/2004 03:00:39 PM · #3 |
Bracketing your shots with say 1 f-stop up & 1 f-stop down will give you a range on each shot. Gray card would be an another method to check you auto-exposure values.
Depending on the composition, spot metering or spot metering with exposure lock will give you control of what you want exposed, then recompose the shot and take it. (Why I suggested bracketing - easier to do sometimes)
|
|
|
|
12/06/2004 03:09:53 PM · #4 |
You can try using a white piece of paper to spot meter off of and then increase the exposure by two stops, this should get you pretty close.
Braketing is a real good idea as the proper exposure also depends on the subject. My camera has an auto braket mode that I use a lot.
If your camera has a live histogram that is the best way to set the exposure.
And as alway with digital cameras when in doubt under expose rather then over expose. |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 03:13:33 PM · #5 |
If you rely on the camera's built-in light meter, then images with lots of white (or light colors) will get underexposed and images with lots of black (or dark colors) will get overexposed, because the camera is trying to make an average grey out of every scene.
You can manually correct for this (+EV for ligth scenes, -EV for dark scenes, feels counterintuitive), but a grey card is a more reliable and accurate method. |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 03:19:20 PM · #6 |
Wow! Thanks for the fast replys.
I guess my problem is both settings were using a light background. My first set which is for Stock, I wanted a white background to Isolate, and this messed things up a bit.
Here are a couple of examples.
One of the few useables from a session with my kids. (Unuseabls as the kids wouldn't stay still). I had to brighten this quite a lot in PS.
From the stock session. Here the face seems a little over exposed.
 |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 08:53:55 PM · #7 |
| I looked and the DSC-717 does have a histogram, see page 22 of your manual. This is by far the best way to set your exposure. If you see the levels going all the way to the right hand side of the histogram and pushing into that side you will have some over exposed areas. If on the other hand you have a dead area on the right hand side you will be under exposed. You will want to play around with it to get a feel for it. If you have a large white background you should see a spike in the histogram on the right hand side, this is from the bright background, adjust the exposure until this is close to the right end of the histogram buy not touching. |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 09:10:08 PM · #8 |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 09:25:09 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by doctornick:
Shoot in RAW mode |
+ 1 -- I'm just learning all about RAW myself, from what I've seen so far and from experimental shoots, it's the way to go. Just get a big memory card and be prepared to spend a bit more time before you start 'photoshopping' your photos. But this way, YOU set the WB and can adjust easily for over/underexposures as well.
|
|
|
|
12/06/2004 09:42:54 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by doctornick:
Shoot in RAW mode |
Shooting in raw mode helps a bit but only a small amount. If a raw pixel level goes beyond the A/D limit it will be blown out. You still have to be careful about your exposure even when shooting raw.
And I don't believe the F717 has a raw mode. |
|
|
|
12/06/2004 10:09:49 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by scottwilson:
Originally posted by doctornick:
Shoot in RAW mode |
Shooting in raw mode helps a bit but only a small amount. If a raw pixel level goes beyond the A/D limit it will be blown out. You still have to be careful about your exposure even when shooting raw.
And I don't believe the F717 has a raw mode. |
RAW helps a LOT more. You have TOTAL control over White Balance, you are editing in 16bit mode and you have a lot more latitude in correcting exposure problems compared to JPEG where the WB is all set and the file is in 8 bit mode. There is just no comparison.
As I have recommended in previous threads, Real World Camera RAW with Photoshop CS is a MUST read book for anyone shooting digital.
|
|
|
|
12/07/2004 01:43:21 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by doctornick:
Originally posted by scottwilson:
Originally posted by doctornick:
Shoot in RAW mode |
Shooting in raw mode helps a bit but only a small amount. If a raw pixel level goes beyond the A/D limit it will be blown out. You still have to be careful about your exposure even when shooting raw.
And I don't believe the F717 has a raw mode. |
RAW helps a LOT more. You have TOTAL control over White Balance, you are editing in 16bit mode and you have a lot more latitude in correcting exposure problems compared to JPEG where the WB is all set and the file is in 8 bit mode. There is just no comparison.
As I have recommended in previous threads, Real World Camera RAW with Photoshop CS is a MUST read book for anyone shooting digital. |
Raw can be great but you still need to get your exposure right. A shot that is over exposed can not be brought back with raw mode. Having said that shooting in jpg the camera can process the image in such a way that the highlight are blown out even if there were not in the capture. Raw will also work better for a camera like the 1Ds Mark II then for others that have higher noise and therefore can't make as much use of the 16 bit color depth. For a camera like the F717 you have to get the exposure right. For any camera you have to be at least close. For your camera you can shoot maybe 2 to three stops under exposed and still get a good photo but your can;t shoot over at all, even raw. |
|
|
|
12/07/2004 03:20:45 AM · #13 |
Raw is out of the question. Not only because it uses so much space, and my memory card is too small, and my hard disk is too small, and copying files to the computer takes so long,...umm but ......errr my camera doesn't have it!
I think I will try to get a grey card. I saw an advertisment of a collapsible pop up one, like the reflectors you can buy. Doesn't wrinkle, and folds up to a small package. but 25 Euro or something.
Can you print a grey card, or is it better to buy one?
I will try to use my histogram more, but light or dark backgrounds throw me off a bit. |
|
|
|
12/07/2004 03:31:03 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by scottwilson:
...Raw can be great but you still need to get your exposure right... |
Right, but you have a LOT more latitude with RAW than with JPG in terms exposure. It`s better to "Expose to the right" because you have more information on that side. Another interesting article About Histograms and how to use them.
|
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/09/2025 02:19:22 AM EDT.
