need some help setting up all shots

06/05/2005 04:16:36 PM · #1

im struggling here with basic metering, exposure and shot settings. what happens is, i see something i like or would want to take a photo of. then i find the angle, but after that, i just put the camera into P mode. to me it makes no difference on the shutter speed or aperture value. (of course im im going to shoot fast, slow motion or various types of depth of field, i'll adjust accordingly.) but otherwise i usually shoot in P mode.

the problem is most of my shots require post processing up the wazoo and then noise starts to become an issue. i find some parts are too dark and some are too light. especially when i try silouhette shots with the sun or similiar.

any tips on setting up the metering modes ( i own a canon 20d) and the exposure values? is there some rule of thumb? maybe my shot compositions are not properly set, i.e. sun is in the way... etc.

kyebosh

Canon EF 80-200mm f/2.8L

06/05/2005 04:19:11 PM · #2

check your histogram and make sure it peaks towards center or even to the right a little bit if your highlights aren't blown. You can use the compensaction accordingly even in P mode iirc. Just move that until your histogram looks good! :D

06/05/2005 04:29:03 PM · #3

sounds like a good start. i also have shots with blown highlights and dark shadows. is there no hope for a shot like that?

06/05/2005 04:29:04 PM · #4

oops. duplicate post

Message edited by author 2005-06-05 16:29:30.

06/05/2005 04:29:38 PM · #5

Sameer,
I tend to shoot in the Av mode because I feel I need to control the dof in the photo ( unless I am shooting sports ). Again as keybosh suggested always look at the histogram to know what camera captured.
If you are using an averaging meter, camera will set your shutter speed based on the subject and the surrounding both. If they are not at the same level, you wil have problems.
You can try a simple experiment. Take a subject which occupies about 20% of your frame and shoot it with white background and a black background and you can see the different exposures set by camera. White background will tend to underexpose your overall image and black will overexpose it. This might give you some clue as to what to expect from camera and how to compensate.

kyebosh

Canon EF 80-200mm f/2.8L

06/05/2005 04:31:03 PM · #6

the only hope for shots like that would be to change the lighting. The only other thing might be bracketing and mixing the shots together. You can also take a raw file and take a pushed version and a pulled version and put them together to balance this out. I don't remember the steps to do it however... sorry. Good luck.

06/05/2005 04:34:30 PM · #7

Originally posted by reemas:

sounds like a good start. i also have shots with blown highlights and dark shadows. is there no hope for a shot like that?

if a single image has both blown out highlights and shadows, the dynamic range of the scene is much more than your camera can capture. Digital cameras capture upto 5stops range only. You will have to improve the lighting. If you can't control it ( for landscapes ) you will have to resort to digital blending. Either two images exposed for highlight and shadows or for dpchallenge submission, single image in RAW processed twice to jpeg with + and - exposure compensation.

06/05/2005 04:36:37 PM · #8

gaurawa... is there any type of tutorial on this? i get the idea, but im afraid without a tripod the slightest movement will result in a blurred shot when merged!

06/05/2005 04:38:08 PM · #9

Originally posted by reemas:

gaurawa... is there any type of tutorial on this? i get the idea, but im afraid without a tripod the slightest movement will result in a blurred shot when merged!

You will sure need a tripod if you are trying to merge two images. In the meantime you can try a single RAW with two jpeg convesions. I will look for the tutorial and post it as i find one.

06/05/2005 04:39:43 PM · #10

try this tutorial from luminous landscape

06/05/2005 04:52:30 PM · #11

very nice, thanks!