HELP! First serious attempt at Tv mode!

[Weaving Wax]

This is my first serious attempt in TV (shutter speed priority) mode and it came out horribly! I wanted to capture the hand in motion, but it froze the hand and came out really underexposed. I can't remember the apeture it set, but I used ss of 1/1,000 I think. Was that too fast? Was that a bad choice for the very low lighting situation? How do I do things like this without my pictures turning out dark!

 

[Trenton Romulox]

If you wanted the hand to be in motion you needed to use a slower shutter speed.

 

[Weaving Wax]

You know, I know that and for some reason, I got it mixed up. I just got through telling someone to use a fast shutter speed to freeze action. Silly me.

What about the brightness/contrast?

 

[julius]

You can control the shutter speed while shooting in aperture priority. If you set the aperture to the smallest (largest f number) then that will give you the longest shutter speed possible without overexposing. Alternatively, if you shoot at the widest aperture (smallest f number) then that will give you the quickest shutter speed without underexposing.

In this case (unless you are shooting manually) it looks like the lighting was too low to shoot at 1/1000 at the ISO you had set. So even at the widest aperture your camera could possibly accommodate, there was still not enough light coming through to take a correct exposure at 1/1000 sec. If you had set your camera to the widest aperture and shot in aperture priority then that would be the fastest shutter speed with the correct exposure.

If you try this again, try shooting in aperture priority at a high f/number, or if you still want to shoot in shutter priority make sure that the camera meters correctly. It should give you some warning like "Lo" or something similar. Depending on how much blur you want, you may need to shoot with a tripod to keep the rest of the image sharp.

 

[Weaving Wax]

But if I shoot at a higher f number wouldn't it underexpose the shot by letting in less light? I'm not sure how to use the metering system on my camera.

I guess I can "preview" the shutter, take that to know the highest I can go with that aperture and adjust accordingly...

 

[bluerangeriii]

remember that if you take a meter reading for a shutter speed at 1/200 and you shoot at 1/1000 you need to adjust the aperture to get the same light reading. basically if you take away light you have to add light too.

for canons the meter reading is in the view finder. and theres a notch that moves to -2 to +2 and you basically want it at 0. unless certain conditions call for different setting.

 

[avcabob]

But if I shoot at a higher f number wouldn't it underexpose the shot by letting in less light?

But in Av mode, the camera will pick a shutter speed that will let in enough light make a proper exposure. If you were in Manual mode, and left the shutter speed stay the same, then increasing the f number would underexpose the shot.

 

[Alpha]

No, in shutter speed priority mode, you set the shutter speed and it automatically controls the aperture.

 

[Garbz]

What you've done here is the camera has metered correctly but was unable to reproduce the shot. Shooting in Tv mode at 1/1000th would freeze someone doing fast action sports let alone this hand.

When shooting in Tv mode it's important to remember your exposure latitude is far smaller for a given setting. Lenses range from f22 to f4 for an average lens. That's 6 stops of possible exposures. Contrast that to shooting in Av. Typical cameras range from 1/8000th to 30seconds, or 18 stops.

The picture is horribly underexposed and was most probably pushed during development. You set 1/1000th and the camera would have gone straight to it's widest aperture and can go no further. In this case you were simply trying to photograph with an aperture that couldn't physically be obtained.

The only options here to get a correctly exposed image is to switch to Av where the camera has more latitude to pick a matching shutter speed and correctly expose the image, or slow down the shutter. Dropping it to 1/40th would probably have brought it within the 6 stops or so your aperture can handle.

I am not sure how it is on the EOS bodies but most cameras will show aperture, shutter speed, and exposure value inside the viewfinder. If you see that the aperture is already at minimum and drop your shutter speed down by half and it doesn't change, then you are outside of or latitude. The same goes when shooting Av. If you are at f4 and point the camera at the sun it will show it's fastest shutter speed. Moving to f5.6 or higher will probably still be out of range the the reading will stay at it's fastest.

So when metreing if you are not sure, click whichever setting you are using Av or Tv up or down by half (1 stop). If the complimentary item does the same (i.e. in Tv you set 1/100, and get f8, set 1/50 the camera moves to f11) then the metre is working correctly.

 

[Weaving Wax]

Ok! Thanks!