Lighting

phcojinx

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Hi, I am brand new to photography and I use a Cannon EOS 30D. I have a good basic knowledge about how my camera works and how to shoot on manual. I understand how and what the aperture, shutter speed and IOS is.
My problem is I have a hard time applying it. My background will be to bright and then my subject looks like a shadow. So I'll take shutter speed down and it turns out blurry because its too slow. So I raise that and raise ISO and by time i get it bright enough its too noisy, And my aperture will already be all the way open. I have tried everything to get the results i want, but it seems when I change the settings its like being at square one and I create another problem.
Im not sure if its just because I'm not using good light source and not taking my time to frame a shot or maybe I don't understand aperture, shutter speed and ISO as well as I think I do. Im sure this is a very amateur question but any tips or tricks or advise anyone has to offer I'm all ears
Thanks!
 
Welcome aboard. Since this is your first post, I'll forgo the joke about cannon vs. Canon.

Try posting an example with all of the EXIF data - aperture, speed, ISO, meter mode, focal length, etc.
 
It sounds to me like it's most definitely a matter of lighting, however as Snowbear said, an example image (or two) will help diagnose the problem.
 
It sounds to me like it's most definitely a matter of lighting, however as Snowbear said, an example image (or two) will help diagnose the problem.
I'm interested in metering mode. I know matrix will cause some issues with high contrast (like full moon with shorter telephotos)
 
I do believe that you could benefit from reading this: Digital Photography Tutorials

Photography is all about light. You have to learn how and when to use light to your advantage and when you must accept the compromises of too much or too little light.

FYI...

Cannon vs Canon.jpg
 
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HAHA I understand the difference between canon and cannon. I had a brain fart, once I am in a place I can throw up some examples I'll post them. Thanks
 
IMG_0008 4.jpg
This was the best one I could get. I am using a Canon EOS 30d 17-85mm lens ISO:125 F/4.5 Shutter speed:1/8
IMG_0009 4.jpg
ISO: 100 F/8 SP 1/8
I understand the image got darker becasue I lowered the ISO and F/. It seemed like the only way to brighten the photo was to turn up the ISO and keep everything else low. The only problem is i don't want the photo to noisy. I guess what I'm wanting to know is, is there a proper way to take a photo with a window behind someone without making them looking like a shadow or having the over all picture look dark trying to compensate for a bright background. or its just a simple problem of crappy lighting.
 
View attachment 143986 This was the best one I could get. I am using a Canon EOS 30d 17-85mm lens ISO:125 F/4.5 Shutter speed:1/8View attachment 143987 ISO: 100 F/8 SP 1/8
I understand the image got darker becasue I lowered the ISO and F/. It seemed like the only way to brighten the photo was to turn up the ISO and keep everything else low. The only problem is i don't want the photo to noisy. I guess what I'm wanting to know is, is there a proper way to take a photo with a window behind someone without making them looking like a shadow or having the over all picture look dark trying to compensate for a bright background. or its just a simple problem of crappy lighting.

The proper way to take the photo would be to add supplemental light from inside to increase the overall illumination and balance the light out the window. This would ideally be done using off-camera flash lighting. It's a big deal to do that right.

Lighting is your problem in this photo. The light indoors on the young woman is too dim and way out of balance with the bright light out the window. The real solution is change the lighting. But assuming you can't do that and can't use off-camera flash, then you have to make compromises that will allow you to take the photo. There's a range of options. Raise the ISO. You should be taking the above photo with the ISO set to 1600 or even 3200 not 100. Yes, the photo will get noisy; you can filter the noise to a degree. Open the lens up further. In the first photo above you have the lens set at f/4.5 -- that's better than f/8 under the circumstances. Setting the lens to f/2.8 would be better still but your lens was already wide open at f/4.5 -- buy a more expensive lens.

Any camera action you take to increase the brightness of the young woman in the photo (sans external lighting hardware) is also going to increase the brightness of the window. The window then will overexpose and become an objectionable background blowout. The difference between the window light and the light on the subject is too extreme. Save raw (CR2) file and process the raw file by hand. Combine some of these options together for maximum benefit.

But bottom line is you're trying to take a photo that's beyond the limits of the tech you have and you're going to get a weak result unless you can intervene and change the lighting condition. Taken as is with the hardware you have and unable to change the condition your best answer was to raise the ISO and accept the compromise of increased noise and the window going nuclear. Post processing a CR2 file could soften that blow to a degree but you'll have to take the hit to get the photo.

Joe
 
View attachment 143986 This was the best one I could get. I am using a Canon EOS 30d 17-85mm lens ISO:125 F/4.5 Shutter speed:1/8View attachment 143987 ISO: 100 F/8 SP 1/8
I understand the image got darker becasue I lowered the ISO and F/. It seemed like the only way to brighten the photo was to turn up the ISO and keep everything else low. The only problem is i don't want the photo to noisy. I guess what I'm wanting to know is, is there a proper way to take a photo with a window behind someone without making them looking like a shadow or having the over all picture look dark trying to compensate for a bright background. or its just a simple problem of crappy lighting.

The proper way to take the photo would be to add supplemental light from inside to increase the overall illumination and balance the light out the window. This would ideally be done using off-camera flash lighting. It's a big deal to do that right.

Lighting is your problem in this photo. The light indoors on the young woman is too dim and way out of balance with the bright light out the window. The real solution is change the lighting. But assuming you can't do that and can't use off-camera flash, then you have to make compromises that will allow you to take the photo. There's a range of options. Raise the ISO. You should be taking the above photo with the ISO set to 1600 or even 3200 not 100. Yes, the photo will get noisy; you can filter the noise to a degree. Open the lens up further. In the first photo above you have the lens set at f/4.5 -- that's better than f/8 under the circumstances. Setting the lens to f/2.8 would be better still but your lens was already wide open at f/4.5 -- buy a more expensive lens.

Any camera action you take to increase the brightness of the young woman in the photo (sans external lighting hardware) is also going to increase the brightness of the window. The window then will overexpose and become an objectionable background blowout. The difference between the window light and the light on the subject is too extreme. Save raw (CR2) file and process the raw file by hand. Combine some of these options together for maximum benefit.

But bottom line is you're trying to take a photo that's beyond the limits of the tech you have and you're going to get a weak result unless you can intervene and change the lighting condition. Taken as is with the hardware you have and unable to change the condition your best answer was to raise the ISO and accept the compromise of increased noise and the window going nuclear. Post processing a CR2 file could soften that blow to a degree but you'll have to take the hit to get the photo.

Joe
Thanks so much for the input. Being new to photography I find myself getting into habits where I want to take pictures of anything and everything regardless of setting and wondering why they don't turn out. Ill just have to invest in better equipment, slow down and take quality over quantity. Again thanks for the input, any bit helps.
 
using ISO 100, when you need at least 1600...
 
Balancing shutter/aperture & ISO can be tricky, and it's not helped in a situation like this where you have a poorly lit subject with a bright background. Any settings that expose the subject right will blow out the background.
Your camera will have multiple metering modes, the most commonly used one takes a weighted average of the whole scene, so reduces the exposure to prevent the background burning out. Switching to spot metering should make sure it concentrates on the selected spot.

As others have mentioned the ideal solution here is to add light onto your subject. Experienced portrait photographers will often use quite elaborate lighting setups with 3 or more diffused lights carefully placed for maximum effect.
A less complicated approach which will help is to use the cameras built in flash for a fill light. Later on you may progress to bounced or off camera flash for your fill light, where the results might be closer to a full blown lighting set-up.
 

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