Hawaii Bound and need help

[taracary]

Hi Guys,

I have a new Canon Rebel XTI with the kit lens and a telephoto, anon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. I have only had the camera a couple of weeks and am headed to Hawaii shortly. I have had trouble with over exposure in outdoor settings. I have a UV circular polarizing filter on the lens and have tried lots of shutter speeds and aperture settings. But overall I still frequently get that washed out flat look of too much light. I am really concerned with the sunshine in Hawaii that I will miss a lot of good shots. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Tara

 

[Big Mike]

Hi Tara,

What modes do you typically shoot in? Do you ever adjust the exposure away from the suggested meter reading?

Since you are shooting digital, why not follow this procedure? Shoot, check the histogram, adjust exposure and shoot again.

 

[LarryD]

Tara,

Hawaii is a great place to photograph...there is so much foliage and greenery though, you may actually need to worry about getting detail in the dark areas rather than the bright sun... That said, over the water and high clouds are always a challenge, so be sure you meter for the bright areas before taking the shot..

As toi your problem........ Are you rotating teh polarizer for best effect ? If you are rotated 180 degrees out, your shots will be flat and washed out..

Also you state that you ".......have tried lots of shutter speeds and aperture settings." so, I would ask you .. How did you arrive at those "settings" ?..

Were you actually metering for the bright areas and still got blow-outs ?

What metering mode and technique do you usually use ?

Sometimes if you know that you have some very bright areas you need to compensate by underexposing slightly and correcting in post process.

 

[Samanax]

Yes, the sun can be very strong here in Hawaii. When shooting outdoors what shooting mode are you usually in? Do you use exposure compensation when you need to? Do you use the correct ISO setting for the lighting situation you're shooting in?

I have a XTi and haven't had much problems with overexposure unless I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. I shoot mostly in Av (Aperture Priority) mode and like to shoot wide open to get a shallow DOF in my pictures. I do shoot in manual mode when using flash or if I'm trying something different.

These shots were taken during a very sunny photo walk a few weeks ago. I was using my EF 50mm f/1.8 II and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses that day, no filters. The exif isn't in these images but I can look up the shot data up if you'd like.

Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/4.0
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 17mm

Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/4.0
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55mm

Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/3200
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55mm

 

[taracary]

Hi Tara,

What modes do you typically shoot in? Do you ever adjust the exposure away from the suggested meter reading?

Since you are shooting digital, why not follow this procedure? Shoot, check the histogram, adjust exposure and shoot again.

What I have been doing is using mostly shutter priority. I was recently at Niagara Falls and was shooting around 3:00 in the afternoon. It was a pretty bright day, and the water wasn't helping of course. The reason I was in shutter priority was I was trying to get two contrasting shots, one of the falls really blurred out and one almost stop action.

For example, I took one at 1/2000 sec shutterspeed, F/3.5, ISO 100 ---- the camera automatically matched up the aperture and it was using the evaluative metering mode. It was ok, but kind of washed out. Then I took another set of shots. I moved to slower shutter speeds, but above 1/200 sec, it just whited out completely.

I am a real newbie, so if you have any good links for info on metering I would appreciate it.

 

[taracary]

Tara,

Hawaii is a great place to photograph...there is so much foliage and greenery though, you may actually need to worry about getting detail in the dark areas rather than the bright sun... That said, over the water and high clouds are always a challenge, so be sure you meter for the bright areas before taking the shot..

As toi your problem........ Are you rotating teh polarizer for best effect ? If you are rotated 180 degrees out, your shots will be flat and washed out..

Also you state that you ".......have tried lots of shutter speeds and aperture settings." so, I would ask you .. How did you arrive at those "settings" ?..

Were you actually metering for the bright areas and still got blow-outs ?

What metering mode and technique do you usually use ?

Sometimes if you know that you have some very bright areas you need to compensate by underexposing slightly and correcting in post process.

Larry,

Sad to say I don't know that much about it, so mostly I arrived at the settings by trial and error. I was using shutter priority and letting the aperture be selected by the camera because I was trying to shoot Niagara falls and what I wanted was a really blurred effect over the falls.

I am really a newbie, so I am looking for any links to information regarding proper metering techniques.

Thanks again --- BTW your pics are great.

 

[taracary]

Yes, the sun can be very strong here in Hawaii. When shooting outdoors what shooting mode are you usually in? Do you use exposure compensation when you need to? Do you use the correct ISO setting for the lighting situation you're shooting in?

I have a XTi and haven't had much problems with overexposure unless I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. I shoot mostly in Av (Aperture Priority) mode and like to shoot wide open to get a shallow DOF in my pictures. I do shoot in manual mode when using flash or if I'm trying something different.

These shots were taken during a very sunny photo walk a few weeks ago. I was using my EF 50mm f/1.8 II and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses that day, no filters. The exif isn't in these images but I can look up the shot data up if you'd like.

Yep I would be a happy girl if I got anything that looks like these. I would appreciate it if you could send me some starting settings. Good to know that I don't need more equipment, just more knowledge. I am reading everything I can get my hands on and then trying it out on the camera, but it's slow going.

Thanks again

Tara

 

[Samanax]

Yep I would be a happy girl if I got anything that looks like these. I would appreciate it if you could send me some starting settings. Good to know that I don't need more equipment, just more knowledge. I am reading everything I can get my hands on and then trying it out on the camera, but it's slow going.

I edited my previous post and added the shot data for each photo. I shoot in RAW and post processing was done in Photoshop Elements 6.

 

[taracary]

Thanks ---really appreciate the help.

 

[rmh159]

I usually live in Aperture Priority instead of Shutter Speed. Maybe try some of the other modes.

You could also check out graduated neutral density filters for sunsets. They should be easy enough to use (put the graduated line in the filter on the horizon) and will help you get good exposures that you wouldn't be able to without the filter.