Help understanding photo: possible over exposer?

[Tailgunner]

I finally receieved my Nikon D3100 W/18-55mm VR and imediantly got busy snapping shots!

Anyhow, I wasn't sure what happened here but I'm trying for a sharp cityscape picture. Everything looked great looked great at first but turned to this right before I clicked the button. I tryed every function on my camera including all ISO settings and can't figure it out. So Im here asking the pros what you guys think.

(sample picture taken through dirty window...balcony shots had some effects)

 

[Benco]

Did you try the shot using the viewfinder rather than live view?

 

[hirejn]

The matrix meter saw a dark area in the bottom of the frame and exposed to make it medium gray, resulting in an overexposed skyline. Basic understanding of exposure can fix this. Shooting through glass decreases sharpness.

 

[Tailgunner]

Did you try the shot using the viewfinder rather than live view?

I've been using the live view.

The matrix meter saw a dark area in the bottom of the frame and exposed to make it medium gray, resulting in an overexposed skyline. Basic understanding of exposure can fix this. Shooting through glass decreases sharpness.

Thanks,


That makes sense.


As for the decrease in sharpness, are you talking about in general as to b expected or that I should use a different lens?

 

[Greiver]

Glass in general will decrease the sharpness of your photos.

 

[Benco]

Did you try the shot using the viewfinder rather than live view?

I've been using the live view.

Switch it to spot or centre weighted metering, also try using the viewfinder instead of the screen, that allows the camera to use it's dedicated metering array rather than relying on the sensor to meter the shot.

 

[runnah]

This is literally your camera throwing its hands in the air and saying "I dunno".

 

[Tailgunner]

This is literally your camera throwing its hands in the air and saying "I dunno".

Poor camera lol


I'm eager to learn and look forward to the day I can look back and see how well I have advanced.

 

[Nikanon]

Clean the window....

 

[Tailgunner]

Clean the window....

It supposed to rain Thursday

 

[creisinger]

There is nothing you can do make this photo work with only one shot.

Depending on which area of the frame you are metering, the camera will always over- or underexpose a certain area.

Using a tripod, you can simply go into full manual mode using an aperture of f9 let's say, setting your white balance to "sunny", ISO to 100.

All you need to do now is to play with the exposure times and use your LCD screen to check the results.

Start with longer exposures to get the bottom part of the image exposed correctly. Then when shutter times are getting short you will eventually get more detail and color in the sky.

Once you have those two photos that show a nicely exposed sky and a nicely exposed bottom you can use GIMP (free photo editing software) to merge (edit) the two shots together to a more natural looking result.

Beware: it might take some practice with GIMP to get desired results.

Try not to shoot through glass!

 

[Trever1t]

As said, a basic understanding of exposure AND your camera's limitations (all cameras) is Key.

If you had exposed properly for the skyline the foreground would be under-exposed. Your metering was averaged.

 

[OfMikeandMen]

Turn on highlights on your camera and you'd see it was overexposed. The window would naturally make it less sharp, and your shutter speed could have been a little slow to hand hold if it was over exposing. On your camera you should probably try to stick close to 1/100 for hand holding. You could probably get away with a little less, but generally on a full frame you don't want to go below 1/60 (which yours is cropped so you need to make it a little faster).

 

[Buckster]

There is nothing you can do make this photo work with only one shot.

Unless you use a graduated neutral density filter.

Or work it in post processing.

Or are willing to accept that one area will be darker than the other, because it is.

Try not to shoot through glass!

But when you must, here are some tricks to pull it off:

Use a polarizer.

Or get the lens/hood right up against the glass.

Or make a temporary hood out of cardboard (cereal boxes work), construction paper, dark fabric or other materials, tape it to the glass and get your camera inside it to block the light from the room and not reflect light coming from outside, bouncing off it and reflecting in the glass.

Or hang dark fabric over the window and put you and the camera on the window side of it, so that it blocks out the rest of the room from reflecting on the window. Essentially, flocking it.

As a rule when shooting through windows, darken the room as much as possible so that lights aren't reflecting on the inside of the windows, and (no brainer!) clean the glass first.

 

[ronlane]

Try not to shoot through glass!

But when you must, here are some tricks to pull it off:

Use a polarizer.

Or get the lens/hood right up against the glass.

Or make a temporary hood out of cardboard (cereal boxes work), construction paper, dark fabric or other materials, tape it to the glass and get your camera inside it to block the light from the room and not reflect light coming from outside, bouncing off it and reflecting in the glass.

Or hang dark fabric over the window and put you and the camera on the window side of it, so that it blocks out the rest of the room from reflecting on the window. Essentially, flocking it.

As a rule when shooting through windows, darken the room as much as possible so that lights aren't reflecting on the inside of the windows, and (no brainer!) clean the glass first.[/QUOTE]

Very good tutorial Buckster.