adjusting exposure

[Joel_W]

There is also one other issue, we can see about 10 stops, while a digital camera can only interpret about 4 stops max.

Joel.. modern cameras see about 10 to 11 stops of light.. not 4. And humans see about 24 stops max, if my memory serves me correctly! (10 to 14 stops at any single iris opening!)

EDIT: Got me curious about this.. so did some searching Understanding Dynamic Range in Digital Photography

The best method is just plain old experience by taking a lot of pictures, and even taking some notes till you get your technique down.

I disagree... I think that taking one picture.. dissecting it, examining it, figuring out what is wrong with it, and then finding out how to fix it... will teach you much more than firing off thousands of pictures without knowing what you are doing! Taking notes on each and every shot IS a good idea... at least until you have conquered that particular shot.

Thanks for the correction. I don't remember where or when I heard those figures, but the important thing to remember is that we can see a wider range of light values then a digital camera can.

I didn't mean to take thousands of pictures, but rather to go out and shoot. Take notes as to what you did to correct the exposure, then when you evaluate your pictures, you can see what effect those corrections had. Since it's digital, taking a before and after shot would really make it much easier to see the results.

 

[KmH]

The photo you posted is lit with strobed light (flash), which adds an additional layer of exposure setting complexity .

When using flash the in the camera light meter is virtually useless, because the light from the flash cannot be sampled by you before the shutter is released.

Using strobed light and ambient light has some nifty advantages over exposures made using just ambient/available light.

The camera shutter speed can be used to control the ambient light exposure while the lens aperture can be used to control the strobed light exposure.

The photo you posted has some artifacts (ghosting) in it that resulted from using flashed and ambient light.

Your camera likely has some flash TTL modes that can automatically adjust the flash exposure for you by firing very brief 'pre-flashes' the light meter can use just before the shutter is released. Usually you canot see the pre-flashes and certainly cannot see in the viewfinder how that effects the light meter.

 

[Joel_W]

okay I see, I think I need to adjust my camera so I can see the histogram then before I take the photo. I will practice this, thank you.

Close. You need to adjust it so you can see the histogram AFTER you take the shot. You can't see it beforehand but you can use what you see after taking a shot to adjust for a second one.

I know that most cameras are different, but I can see the histogram when I'm in Exposure Compensation, so a before is possible along with what any corrections will do.

Joel

 

[SCraig]

I know that most cameras are different, but I can see the histogram when I'm in Exposure Compensation, so a before is possible along with what any corrections will do.

Joel

Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of that. I guess I just assumed they all behaved similarly, and I appreciate the correction.

 

[paigew]

Thanks a lot for everyones help. I think I am begining to understand.