Why is everything bright/Terms?

[Vilatus]

Hi everyone, first post here! I need a little help with my camera.
I have a Nikon D3300, and everything is coming out super bright when I try to go outside with it. I adjusted the white balance so that it was set to direct sunlight, but it doesn't help. Everything comes out like I'm trying to take a picture of a flashlight. I tried turning active D-lighting off as well, and it did nothing either. Its snowy outside, but that shouldn't be an issue should it? I intend to mostly do pet photos, but I would like to take it on the go sometimes.

Also, if anyone could explain the technical terms of my camera to me that would be wonderful... I'm a total newbie, I just bought this camera because I've known I wanted to do photography for a while and this was highly recommended for beginners everywhere I looked. I'll insert a picture below of what I'm talking about. Any advice is welcome, thank you!

 

[astroNikon]

Do you have a picture that is coming out really bright,
rather than just the settings ?

and yes, snow reflects light really well. So it can cause issues but we need to see a photo to help you. But the 1/40th second and high ISO probably is a primary issues.

 

[Braineack]

you're shooting in M mode, with settings that would be VERY bright in the sun.

you basically told your camera the capture the amount of light necessary for a dim scene, then when you took the picture you have MUCH more light that your camera was ready to collect, so it blew out the image.

if you really wanna get technical: EV - Exposure Value, EV chart, calculator

 

[JonA_CT]

You're letting an absolute metric ton of "light" into your sensor at those settings.

For a bright sunny day, you need a faster shutter speed, a smaller (larger F) aperture, and lower ISO setting.

 

[Vilatus]

Do you have a picture that is coming out really bright,
rather than just the settings ?

and yes, snow reflects light really well. So it can cause issues but we need to see a photo to help you.

I was trying to take a picture of the tree in my backyard. Its literally just white. I put it in Landscape and it worked fine though, I'm just an idiot, oops.

 

[Vilatus]

you're shooting in M mode, with settings that would be VERY bright in the sun.

you basically told your camera the capture the amount of light necessary for a dim scene, then when you took the picture you have MUCH more light that your camera was ready to collect, so it blew out the image.

if you really wanna get technical: EV - Exposure Value, EV chart, calculator

Oh, ok! That explanation helps a lot! Could you possibly explain to me what I'd use each mode for? Again, I'm totally new to all this- my most recent experience was with a 8 year old Sony Cybershot haha...

I don't know if you need a picture of my camera's switch to explain or if all of them have the same general settings, but here's one just in case.

 

[Vilatus]

You're letting an absolute metric ton of "light" into your sensor at those settings.

For a bright sunny day, you need a faster shutter speed, a smaller (larger F) aperture, and lower ISO setting.

Ok, thank you! I'll write this down as a note to myself!

 

[JonA_CT]

I'd recommend something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs...TF8&qid=1513617170&sr=8-3&keywords=d3300+book

and something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Ap...r=1-1-spons&keywords=mastering+exposure&psc=1

to get you started.

 

[Vilatus]

I'd recommend something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs...TF8&qid=1513617170&sr=8-3&keywords=d3300+book

and something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Ap...r=1-1-spons&keywords=mastering+exposure&psc=1

to get you started.

Thank you so much, I'll take a look!

 

[astroNikon]

as you learn more about the Exposure Triangle you'll learn that your settings should be been something similiar to:
ISO 100
Shutter 1/128
Aperture f/6.3

In (M)anual you have to control each of those settings. In AUTO, the camera controls everything. In Aperture Priority (AP) the camera controls ISO and Shutter and you control Aperture. In Shutter Priority you control Shutter and the camera controls the ISO and Aperture.

In Manual you have to learn the Exposure Triangle and how it works to get shots properly. It takes time to learn but it's well worth it.

In brief, the ISO 3100 made the sensor amplify light a lot, which made it bright. The 1/40 shutter allowed too much light into the sensor which also made it even more bright. So your image could be completely blown out.

In Manual you can control and fiddle with each of those settings to get the proper exposure that you want. Or take a photo in AUTO and then looks at it's settings and replicate it in Manual to use that as a baseline.

 

[KmH]

Could you possibly explain to me what I'd use each mode for?

RTFM - Read The Furnished Manual.
Page 4 will show you the page numbers with info about each shooting mode.

 

[petrochemist]

Oh, ok! That explanation helps a lot! Could you possibly explain to me what I'd use each mode for?

Auto is the one where your camera decides for itself & will ignore your input even with such items as white balance (not much good for any creative work or learning)

P is similar but allows you to change the settings. Not bad for standby...

A is where YOU decide the aperture (controls the opening through which light enters) wide openings/low numbers give quicker exposures but less depth of field. The camera will (try to) pick an appropriate shutter speed.

S is where you decide the shutter speed & the camera tries to pick the appropriate aperture.

M is where you fix aperture & shutter speed over riding the camera to get exactly what you want.

ISO on all of these four can be fixed by you or in many cameras left on auto giving the camera the ability to control an extra variable.

P, A & S will usually get a photo of some sort even if you put a badly chosen value in as your setting.

 

[Designer]

Hi everyone, first post here! I need a little help with my camera.
I have a Nikon D3300, and everything is coming out super bright when I try to go outside with it. I adjusted the white balance so that it was set to direct sunlight, but it doesn't help. Everything comes out like I'm trying to take a picture of a flashlight. I tried turning active D-lighting off as well, and it did nothing either. Its snowy outside, but that shouldn't be an issue should it? I intend to mostly do pet photos, but I would like to take it on the go sometimes.

Also, if anyone could explain the technical terms of my camera to me that would be wonderful... I'm a total newbie, I just bought this camera because I've known I wanted to do photography for a while and this was highly recommended for beginners everywhere I looked. I'll insert a picture below of what I'm talking about. Any advice is welcome, thank you!

Congratulations on the new camera! After you get some of the basics down, you will enjoy photography.

There are some very basic "rules of thumb" that you could learn, but for now, just concentrate on learning your camera.

Beginners can jump right into "manual mode" right away, but IMO you'll have a long learning curve unless some experienced photographer is at your elbow mentoring you as you go.

Do this: Set your ISO to "auto" (in the menus). Set your mode dial (on top) to "auto". Go outside and take a picture.

Now, look at what your camera set for those conditions. My guess it will be something like f/11, @ 1/1000 of a second (or thereabouts). Now you have a starting point for the next time you want to try manual mode. Whatever the settings were, is but a good starting point. If there is snow and bright sunshine, you should override your camera's settings just a bit, to cut back on the exposure, but that could be for another day.

"Auto" (the green auto) will work in most situations, possibly even inside, but don't expect miracles.

Later, you will learn to select either the shutter speed or the aperture, and you're that much closer to fully manual.

 

[SquarePeg]

When starting out, I recommend...

Read Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure

When learning to get away from Auto:
For still subjects in good lighting conditions - use Aperture priority mode and ISO 100-200 so that you can experiment and see what the various apertures produce as far as depth of field goes.
For moving subjects in good lighting - use shutter priority mode and ISO 100-200 so that you can experiment with how the various shutter speeds will stop action or show motion blur.
For less than ideal lighting conditions - use Manual mode and Auto ISO. Set the shutter speed and aperture based on what you learned while experimenting with the A and S modes and let the camera set the necessary ISO.

 

[ac12]

For now shoot in Auto or P (Program).
Then read the manual and about exposure, and there you can experiment.

ISO level is something that you may have to set manually.
Read about exposure to learn what ISO is appropriate.
In a very simplified nut shell, the darker the scene, the higher you should set the ISO. And the brighter the scene, the lower you should set the ISO.

• On some cameras, you can set the ISO to "auto ISO" and let the camera choose the ISO level it thinks it needs for that shot.
• BUT on other cameras, the auto ISO will only work to raise the ISO level if it is too dark. So you still need to set the ISO appropriately.

When you shoot in M (Manual), you need to pay attention to the exposure indicator, in the red circle. This will tell you that the camera thinks the scene is over or underexposed based on the setting you have the camera set at. It should be on the center 0.

• When you were outside, the indicator would have been all the way to the right. Indicating heavy over exposure.
• As shown in the picture, presumably shot indoors, or with the lens cap on, it is to the left, indicating heavily under exposed.