Lighting Issue

[mradem]

The following two pictures were taken in the same lighting conditions:

The all black item vs. the mostly light colored item seem to have a profound affect on the color of the mannequin. I am using a Canon Rebel XT. Is there a setting I should be adjusting on the camera when I'm taking pictures of lighter and darker items?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[mrmacedonian]

Most likely the exposure. What mode were you in?

If you're metering off of the black (on auto) then the camera will think it needs to compensate and take actions to ensure the photo as a whole is light enough, making the non-black areas overexposed.

 

[bradleypics]

I'm a complete noob but could it be that with the darker item your camera sees the environment as being dark and therefore adjusts to let in more let, thus the lighter skin? Just a guess!

Edit: What mrmacedonian said...

 

[mradem]

haha, and I thought auto would help the situation... adjusting for the different scenarios, thanks for the input, i'll try using manual settings

 

[myfotoguy]

haha, and I thought auto would help the situation... adjusting for the different scenarios, thanks for the input, i'll try using manual settings

You don't neccessarily need to go into manual mode. You could be in a semi-auto mode and then use exposure compensation. Typically for a situation like this you wuld dial in negative compensation, somwhere between -.75 and -2.0, it will depeond what metering mode your in, where your focus point is, etc. So you would have to adjust the compensation as needed using your preview as a guide.

 

[Aggressor]

Go to manual mode, dial in f/8, put up a gray card and measure the exposure and dial it in (hopefully it doesn't exceed 1/200).

If your lighting doesn't change... Leave it in manual and don't change the settings at all.