Is my exposure correct?

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

I've been fiddling w/exposure trying to make sure I am metering correct. It seems like I meter, it looks great on the screen, then I upload it and its dark. So I have been spot metering on hair and hands today to see if I can get a better exposure. This is just a random shot, I was not thinking about composition or anything.. just trying to get exposure exact. Its SOOC

ryan7783 · Apr 25, 2008

what does your camera say? Are you using the gauge on your camera? or are you just guessing?

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

well of course I'm not just guessing. Like I said in my original post, I am spot metering off of my sons hair in some pics, and his face in other pics.
Here are the specs of the pic
ss 50
f 8
iso 100

the histogram seems right.. but I"m still learning to read histograms correctly so I"m not positive.

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

I mean, its flat.. but after minor adj of levels in ps it's fine.. Should I have to adjust levels always? Or is my exposure off somehow??

Robert Kaleta · Apr 25, 2008

It looks ok to me. But there was no reason for spot metering, whole scene is lit evenly so it has probably worked just like the full scene metering or hower it's called.
If you want some more practise on correct exposures you need to find something more extreme. Some highlights and areas of total darkness. Or maybe just try a landcape

ryan7783 · Apr 25, 2008

I'm sorry... I misunderstood what I was reading.

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

Ya.. tomorrow I'm shooting a little boy w/white blonde hair so thats why I wanted to practice metering off of hair/hands/face and see how it went. I don't know why its so flat though.. I really tryed metering correctly.

carlostau · Apr 25, 2008

To me it looks a little bit underexposed... then again it's just my opinion.
If you measured the hair in spot metering mode, it makes sense since it will meter a smaller area and you are telling the camera that your "average" light is the kid's hair which in practice is one of the brightest points in the pic
Try to meter an intermediate point in your subject like the fence on the right... you should be able to get a brighter pic.

MX962 · Apr 25, 2008

Looks on the dark side to me ,lacking flash the subject blends to well with the B/G imo...in this situation i would have meter off the palm of my hand,its ussualy only 1/2 stop off for me

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

carlostau said:
To me it looks a little bit underexposed... then again it's just my opinion.
If you measured the hair in spot metering mode, it makes sense since it will meter a smaller area and you are telling the camera that your "average" light is the kid's hair which in practice is one of the brightest points in the pic
Try to meter an intermediate point in your subject like the fence on the right... you should be able to get a brighter pic.

Thanks for that advice! Makes total sense in hindsight. Gotta practice:thumbup:

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

MX962 said:
Looks on the dark side to me ,lacking flash the subject blends to well with the B/G imo...in this situation i would have meter off the palm of my hand,its ussualy only 1/2 stop off for me

What's weird, I guess for me, is that I took a few shots metering his face, his hair and a whole frame meter. On my viewfinder, it looks like I've metered correctly. I will try using my own hand for the meter.. should I just get close to my subject, meter my hand, and then back to my orig composition?

davebmck · Apr 25, 2008

It looks OK to me too. If you were going to crop it down to just the boy in the pic, then you could up the exposure a little. Does your camera let you see a histogram when you shoot a picture. That can be very helpful in adjusting your exposure.

kundalini · Apr 25, 2008

Not knowing what your camera is, there might be an option for you to adjust your exposure control. While chimping and viewing your histrogram, you can + / - the exposure. If the exposure is underexposed with the settings you want, bump the exposure control. Check your manual.

You could also try a dynamic (average) metering rather than spot metering.

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 25, 2008

Hi
I can view the histogram while shooting. I am reading this
http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/curves/curves_3.php

to learn more about levels/curves and reading the histogram correctly.

My histogram seems flat, but exposed correctly. On my viewfinder, the image looks very different than when uploaded. Its exposed correctly. I'm not sure what to think about that..