How to change your style?

[MiiLovely]

Im looking at my manual and Im on the chapter about Exposure compensation but even when I have it at 5+ (or -5) the photo is still dark. And I think its brighter becaue the shutter is open for longer letting more light in (please correct me if I am talking gibberish)

 

[MLeeK]

I dont think it does, it does. Even with completely normal lighting. why do YOU think its doing that?
Edit: I just tried to take a picture, normal room lighting, shutter speed 1/4000 ISO at 200 and the photo is so dark I can barely make out an outline.

you need to go back to Digital-Photography-School.com and read those lessons because you should be able to answer that question if you read them.

Each element of the EXPOSURE triangle (that word should be a BIG hint) controls light. How much light comes in or doesn't come into the lens.
Here's my basics for beginners on the exposure triangle: Your camera is like an eyeball. The shutter is the eye lids that open and close. The iris is the aperture and the retina is the sensor.
Shutter speed is like blinking your eye. If it is open for a long time a lot of light reaches the sensor. If it opens and closes very fast less light gets through it. Very slow shutter=lots of light. Shutter speed is a written as a fraction so if you are shooting at 1/40 of a second you are shooting for a WHOLE lot longer than 1/4000 of a second. Very fast shutter=little light. Shutter controls blur in that if it is open for a long time your subject or even your hand holding the camera can move. That movement is recorded on the sensor as blur.
Rule of thumb for shutter:
To hand hold your camera for STILL LIFE without seeing the shake of your hand the shutter needs to be equal to or greater than the focal length of your lens, but not less than 1/80.
To shoot a live but VERY still subject your shutter must be no slower than 1/125
To shoot a moving subject such as a child your shutter must be about 1/250 or higher.
To shoot a fast moving subject (running) you are looking at a shutter of 1/500 or more.
To shoot a race car you are looking at that shutter of 1/4000

Aperture is the blades of the lens. It is easier to think about what % of CLOSED they are when you read the numbers. F/1.8 would only be a little bit closed whereas f/5.6 would be more closed. A wide aperture is a low number and a small aperture is a high number.
If your iris is wide open it lets in a lot of light. if it is closed or stopped down it lets only a little light come through
Aperture also controls Depth of Field (DOF) or depth of focus. DOF is how much of an image is in focus front to back. Think about when you can't see something. You squint to make that opening smaller so more is in focus. So a smaller aperture (higher number) is going to make more things sharp. A wide aperture (low number) will have less things in focus.
A good rule to start by is that your aperture has to be equal to or greater than the subjects in your image. It has no scientific bearing, just happens to work pretty well.

ISO is how sensitive your sensor (retina) is to light. If it is a low number it's only a little sensitive. You need a lot of light to get exposure. If it is a high number it needs less light to get proper exposure.
ISO also controls noise. The higher the ISO the more prone you are to getting noise in your image. We've already had a discussion about ISO and hopefully you have gotten the jist of it from that. You want to use the lowest possible ISO that will allow you to get proper exposure. Do not underexpose for the sake of using a lower ISO, it's just going to cause you more problems.

Now you have to balance all 3 of those things. It sounds complicated, but really it's not.
First you have to decide what your priorities are. You were shooting a toddler. He was trapped so he's not running, but he probably is squirmy. You have to stop that motion. You NEED a shutter of 1/250. He's the only subject in your image so your lowest Aperture is fine and will allow you to get the most light in the lens you possibly can. You are probably limited with your lens to a max of f/3.5 if you do not zoom at all, so that's the best you can do. Your last resort to get exposure is to raise the ISO until you can get proper exposure.

What proper exposure is and how your camera lies (not really) to you is a whole other post.

 

[The_Traveler]

I didn't think I was rude but I guess you are quite sensitive to directness.

There doesn't seem to be any style to this editing.
The picture looks essentially untouched; it is plain to the point of blandness.

Perhaps you could post the original so that what you have done to the image could be understood.

I thought you were EXTREMELY rude. And, you act like you have a huge stick up your A#$.

Since you clearly are an extremely sensitive person, constantly bruised by the rough rudeness of daily life, I suggest that you block my posts.
That will keep you from constant aggravation at my ongoing behavior and relieve me of the enormous guilt I would feel, knowing how much I would be disturbing your tender psyche.

All the best,

 

[MLeeK]

Im looking at my manual and Im on the chapter about Exposure compensation but even when I have it at 5+ (or -5) the photo is still dark. And I think its brighter becaue the shutter is open for longer letting more light in (please correct me if I am talking gibberish)

EC will not work if you are in manual mode. You have to be in an assisted mode where the camera gets to choose either aperture or shutter speed. Even then you still hit the limits. If your lens won't go below f/5.6 and you allow the camera to choose aperture by using shutter priority it just plain can't get exposure. MANY to most people choose to shoot in aperture priority allowing the camera to choose shutter speed to get exposure. However then you have to watch to make sure it isn't dipping below your absolute minimum need for the image to be in focus and not have motion blur.

 

[Vtec44]

You definitely need to read up, and understand, the exposure triangle.

 

[MiiLovely]

Im readin g everything you are righting but nothing I do is making the photos any better.
hang on.. I will show you.
(this is the exact lighting in the room I am trying to take my picture in)

And this is my photo at 1/1000 (I know the ISO is auto 6400 I changed that but if its any lower you cant see anything in the photo. Not even an outline)f/5.6)

Im probably being a really big idiot/newb here and missing something extremly important.. but from reading everything.. I have no idea.

 

[SCraig]

Im probably being a really big idiot/newb here and missing something extremly important.. but from reading everything.. I have no idea.

No, you just don't understand the basics. In this example, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH EXPOSURE TO GET THE SHOT. You shot at 1/1000 second and you probably needed 1/100 second or slower at ISO 6400 (which is going to result in a very noisy image).

Please, PLEASE, look at the link that Lew provided. It truly will answer all of your questions and once you understand the principle you'll wonder why it was so difficult to grasp.

 

[MLeeK]

Read above my guidelines for your shutter speed. Your shutter speed is far beyond what you NEED.
Slow down. You aren't at an event where you have to have exposure RIGHT NOW. SLOWLY think through what you NEED. You have very little light to work with. You need the slowest shutter speed you can possibly work with in order to get as much light in. That would be PROBABLY about 1/125.
Then you need to use the lowest aperture that you can use and get focus to get as much light in as you can. If you are zoomed it's probably 5.6. If you are using no zoom it's probably 3.5.
Those are what you HAVE to use. You don't have any other option with those two to get more light in. Your last resort is ISO. Raise it until you can get exposure

Your camera only has so much capability. At some point you have to add more light. The camera can only do so much without giving it more light somehow. You may not be able to get a decent exposure inside. Cameras have limits in their capability and lenses have limits in their capability.

 

[MiiLovely]

Now I am just annoyed. So by slowing down my shutter speed to under 1/100 I wasnt actually doing anything wrong(in my first and second picture). But the right thing. nope now Im just confused again. so inside photos with only 'okay' lighting and low shutter speeds and a kit lens is going to end up with not so great photos. Right?
(also for everyone who keeps telling me to go read.. I am lol Im reading everything everyone is posting and also the link that was posted earlier : )

 

[The_Traveler]

Im probably being a really big idiot/newb here and missing something extremly important.. but from reading everything.. I have no idea.

1/1000 is a very fast shutter speed and so very little light gets through.

1/100 is much slower and thus more light gets through.

If the picture is too dark, you have to use a slower shutter speed to let more light in.

or

you open up the aperture more (from f 6.4 to f 3.5)

or you increase the sensitivity of the sensor by increasing the iso


that is the exposure triangle.
read the link posted.
then put the camera on a table, shoot in constant light at something that doesn't move,
use aperture preferred mode, then vary the aperture (the camera will adjust the speed) and compare the results

just making odd snaps at random without any pattern or knowledge is a terribly wasteful way to go about learning.

 

[MTVision]

Now I am just annoyed. So by slowing down my shutter speed to under 1/100 I wasnt actually doing anything wrong(in my first and second picture). But the right thing. nope now Im just confused again. so inside photos with only 'okay' lighting and low shutter speeds and a kit lens is going to end up with not so great photos. Right?
(also for everyone who keeps telling me to go read.. I am lol Im reading everything everyone is posting and also the link that was posted earlier : )

Your shutter speed is still WAYYYYY to slow. you're at 1/40 here. You need to be at about 1/250 to shoot an active toddler without it being blurry.
Will you allow us to edit your images? Your people are pretty orange... think oompa loompa and that is the first thing you are going to need to learn in editing-how to fix white balance issues.
Are you calibrated? I assume not?

Does this ^^^ help explain why going below 1/100 with a toddler wasn't necessarily the right thing to do?

 

[MiiLovely]

I think I understand now. I thought I was doing something wrong by having the shutter speed at 1/80 or 1/100 (I realise the first and second photo are so grainy and 'soft' because the ISO was on auto64000 (without me realizing. Ive change it now. and my photos are looking much .. cleaner.. still pretty blah because of lighting and the lens but better then before lol)

 

[MLeeK]

Now I am just annoyed. So by slowing down my shutter speed to under 1/100 I wasnt actually doing anything wrong(in my first and second picture). But the right thing. nope now Im just confused again. so inside photos with only 'okay' lighting and low shutter speeds and a kit lens is going to end up with not so great photos. Right?
(also for everyone who keeps telling me to go read.. I am lol Im reading everything everyone is posting and also the link that was posted earlier : )

There is a HUGE difference between a shutter speed of 1/25 and 1/125. It matters in terms of light and in terms of motion. That is 2 1/3 stops of light. Each FULL stop of light is twice as much as the one before it. You don't have to go from 1/25 to 1/1000 to stop the blur. You need only get to 1/125 to stop the blur.

 

[MTVision]

I think I understand now. I thought I was doing something wrong by having the shutter speed at 1/80 or 1/100 (I realise the first and second photo are so grainy and 'soft' because the ISO was on auto64000 (without me realizing. Ive change it now. and my photos are looking much .. cleaner.. still pretty blah because of lighting and the lens but better then before lol)

Your first photos in this thread are soft because they were shot at crazy slow shutter speeds like1/25 and1/40....

 

[MiiLovely]

^^^ That too.. lol At least I am learning from my mistakes instead of repeating them lol