Niece Shots with Exposure Comp turned up. How do I fix them?

[clanthar]

All kinds of conflicting info here. First, regardless of it working or not in manual, what camera offers 10 stops of exposure comp? The original post seems to suggest a positive value of 4.7 which I would read as 4 and 2/3 stops.

The photo is no way overexposed by 4.7 stops.

Using the camera's LCD as an exposure meter is not an effective way to go.

The exposure for the children's faces looks about right

Did you use fill flash? This lighting condition absolutely required fill flash, Without fill flash no possible camera setting could be used to make this photo produce an exposure that wouldn't either underexpose the children or blow out the highlights. The choice then to get a decent exposure of the children was the best choice.

Joe

 

[KmH]

....didn't realize the the exposure comp was at 4.7. I adjusted down, but they still look really bright.

.....so can these be fixed?

Sorry, but no, they can not be fixed. If they were shot as Raw files, maybe +2 EC could be improved, but not +4.7.

The example you posted does not look like it was made with EC set to +4.7. Is that one you made after re-setting the EC to zero?

Do you know about the indicator in the D40x viewfinder that turns on to let you know when EC is set to something other than zero?

It looks like this:

 

[digabella]

After we realized what happened, I took a pic of my hubby set the meter to zero and the pic was blown out. Then turned off the comp and took another set to zero and it was fine. Here's a couple I just took. The first comp was set to 4.7 and the meter was set to 0. The second one, the comp was set to 0 and the meter was set to 0. My camera is a nikon d40x.

1.
plant1 by digabella, on Flickr

2.
plant2 by digabella, on Flickr

 

[clanthar]

Yep, that first one looks like it's blown by 5 stops. Photos of the children don't look like that.

 

[digabella]

All kinds of conflicting info here. First, regardless of it working or not in manual, what camera offers 10 stops of exposure comp? The original post seems to suggest a positive value of 4.7 which I would read as 4 and 2/3 stops.

The photo is no way overexposed by 4.7 stops.

Using the camera's LCD as an exposure meter is not an effective way to go.

The exposure for the children's faces looks about right

Did you use fill flash? This lighting condition absolutely required fill flash, Without fill flash no possible camera setting could be used to make this photo produce an exposure that wouldn't either underexpose the children or blow out the highlights. The choice then to get a decent exposure of the children was the best choice.

Joe

The exposure comp was set to 4.7. I just didn't use the 0 on the light meter. I way underexposed the pic to get it to be that dark. Just didn't cross my mind about the exp comp.

No, I did not use fill flash. Are you saying the fill flash would help counteract the brightness of the sun?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Well, with Nikon cameras in manual mode, setting EC biases the meter.

Interesting!

 

[Robin Usagani]

Well, with Nikon cameras in manual mode, setting EC biases the meter.

Interesting!

What? I dont believe it. If you are on manual then you are on manual. If you want to over expose it, then put the meter higher. This doesnt make any sense.

 

[clanthar]

Well, I just checked and yes the D40x provides 10 stops of exposure comp. Can't imagine why but it does.

 

[clanthar]

All kinds of conflicting info here. First, regardless of it working or not in manual, what camera offers 10 stops of exposure comp? The original post seems to suggest a positive value of 4.7 which I would read as 4 and 2/3 stops.

The photo is no way overexposed by 4.7 stops.

Using the camera's LCD as an exposure meter is not an effective way to go.

The exposure for the children's faces looks about right

Did you use fill flash? This lighting condition absolutely required fill flash, Without fill flash no possible camera setting could be used to make this photo produce an exposure that wouldn't either underexpose the children or blow out the highlights. The choice then to get a decent exposure of the children was the best choice.

Joe

The exposure comp was set to 4.7. I just didn't use the 0 on the light meter. I way underexposed the pic to get it to be that dark. Just didn't cross my mind about the exp comp.

No, I did not use fill flash. Are you saying the fill flash would help counteract the brightness of the sun?

The fill flash would balance the dynamic range which was beyond the ability of any camera to record. In other words your lighting condition was impossible to photograph without intervention.

Joe

 

[Robin Usagani]

exposure compensation is for shutter and aperture priority (or maybe other semi auto mode i never use).

 

[clanthar]

Well, with Nikon cameras in manual mode, setting EC biases the meter.

Interesting!

What? I dont believe it. If you are on manual then you are on manual. If you want to over expose it, then put the meter higher. This doesnt make any sense.

My experience with my student's cameras says Keith is correct -- exposure comp remains active in manual mode on Nikons.

 

[Robin Usagani]

wow.. i just googled it. Crazy Nikon. Maybe more like exposure calibration?

 

[digabella]

I never realized that this was so unusual, but I just took another pic of the same plant with the exposure set to 4.7 and the meter waaaaayyy off of 0. The pic does not look blown by 5 stops. The second picture is what my camera screen is showing so people can understand what I did to "correct" the issue(as I said, on the kids didn't realize the comp was set to that) so after all of the facts, with the kids picture looking as it does, is there anything post processing that can be done to make the colors look a little darker/richer and play down the bright sun?

1.
comp4.7fast shutter by digabella, on Flickr

2.
screen by digabella, on Flickr

 

[AgentDrex]

I will stick with Canon, thank you.

In reference to the absolutely silly "BBC Code" references I see in this thread: BBC Editorial Guidelines
Now that is BBC Code....and this is UBBS Code (Universal Bulletin Board System)

 

[KmH]

2.

That's the rear LCD, not the viewfinder, but that shows the +,- box I was refering to that is displayed in the viewfinder to alert the photographer that some value of ED is set, as the frame a shot