C & C Group 2 A Study of Exposure

[mooimeisie]

Since exposure is such an important part of photograph, I was happy to see this subject come up, but made me feel like I was back in class. The first thing I did was take 5 pictures of a Crabapple flower on manual and metering Center Weighted, with a Sigma 105mm. I'm not sure why I picked center weighted, but it felt right at the time. Each picture was reduced or increased by one stop from what the meter was showing as 0. The first 5 pictures are straight out of the camera, no cropping or adjusting, just reducing the file size.

#1 f/5.6 1/640 Ev -2

#2 f/5.6 1/320 Ev -1

#3 f/5.6 1/160 Ev 0

#4 f/5.6 1/80 Ev +1

#5 f/5.6 1/40 Ev +2

Clearly you can see what the exposure settings have done to each of the photos. The next thing I did was see what I could do with each of these in PS Elements 7.

This was is from the first photo, where the exposure had been reduced by 2 stops from the meter reading.
#6

This is from the second photo, where the exposure had been reduced by 1 stop.
#7

The last 3 at 0, +1 and +2 were really unusable as the highlights had been blown out too much. In all photos there's a couple of spots where the highlights have been blown out. I should have shaded the little of pocket of light coming through the tree. I'm not sure which one I like better. I think #7 is a more accurate representation of real life, but #6 looks like something I would prefer to frame. As always, C&C is welcome and appreciated by all. Thanks for looking.

 

[farmerj]

Center weighted tends to look more at a defined spot. I like what you took here.

Did you try to do a mid level adjust? In Paintsop Pro that I use, it's under Adjust/ Brightness and Contrast / highlight/midtone/shadow. Not sure where it would be in PS Elements 7.

I would think # 6, with a touch of fill flash EV-0.3 to -0.7 would really come alive.

 

[mooimeisie]

Can't seem to find in Elements where to adjust the midtone levels, only midtone contrast. Would that be the same? I would have never of thought to use a flash while underexposing the photo. To tell the truth I've never used the flash before with this camera. If the wind ever stops blowing around here, I'll definately try it again, with the underexposure and a fill flash. Thanks.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Most often, I have my camera set to -1 exposure compensation, using evaluative metering. My shots have been consistantly better that way (IMO).

 

[mooimeisie]

Bitter Jeweler, thanks for the advice on leaving the camera on -1. I think in situations where you don't have alot of time for metering, that would be a good way to go. Now a little OT, I just took a look at your blog on blogspot and really like the looks of the layout. I can't get mine to use the whole width of the page like yours and the max size of my pictures is quite a bit smaller than yours as well. Can you tell me what layout you're using or did you do something special to make it like that.

 

[KmH]

You change the CSS code for the blog.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Pick the Styles that say Stretch or Stretchy.

[edit] Now that I am home, the template is Minima Stretch.


Back on topic...Remember, I leave it (exp. comp -1) there "most" of the time. I just couldn't find any consistancy with "spot metering". More my fault not finding the right thing to meter off of for the shots that I take. I found evaluative to be more consistant, but on the bright side.