Photo Virgin - Please help

[Brad1234]

Hi there,

I'm a photo virgin who knows very little about photography or cameras who need some urgent help

I have borrowed a Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro and I'm shooting a landscape panoramic for a project

From research into panoramics and photo stitching, I know that the camera needs to be on it's manual setting in order to have a consistent exposure / focus so that I can stitch the photos together (if you use the automatic setting, all the images have different exposures and the stitch does not work)

The lens is a 28-200mm focal lens - I have had decent images from a 180 fs shutter and F-stop of 5.6

Here is the problem I'm having:

- The image viewer on the camera doesn't give a good enough preview, so when I'm on location, I can't judge whether the photo I have just taken, looks good. Some photos that seem to be neutral on the camera viewer look either too under or -over exposed when viewed on my Computer Screen.
- Also the inbuilt histogram does not give a reliable way of judging the photos exposure either.

Currently the only way to get a good photo with a neutral exposure, is to take photos at different exposure settings - then to open up the images on my Desktop computer to see which ones look good and then to use that setting.

The Problem is: When I am on location (taking the landscape photos) - I don't have access to a laptop or computer in order to see if the photos look good.

So with only the camera at hand on location, how do I know whether the hundreds of photos that I will shoot, will look good (will have a neutral exposure)?

Is it a complete 'hit and miss' scenario? What is the trick to it?

Please help is very much appreciated!

Brad

 

[Shooter1]

The S3 is a fine camera so maybe the problem could be your computer screen - have you calibrated it? Any particular reason why you are shooting at 5.6 for landscape panoramic's, why not stop the lens down and use a slower shutter speed. Are you shooting in rapid succession? Light changes quickly and the exposure in panoramic's will not remain the same when panning.

 

[Brad1234]

Thanks Shooter1,

My monitor isn't calibrated but I know it very well (I use it for design and have worked with thousands of photos on it)

Don't worry about the 5.6 - it's just a setting that worked in my garden and I know that on location for the landscape shoot, a different setting will be needed.

I'm trying to find a way of gauging that whichever setting I end up using, will look neutral - without having to see it on a computer screen first.

thanks

 

[Vinny]

I don't know that particular camera, but if you can get the camera in a manual mode then that's how you can shoot it better. Anytime the camera "thinks" it is going to give you it's exposure.

The other thing to look at is how it's metering. It may be possible that it is in spot metering or something else. For a large scene you want it to meter a larger area, not a spot (center). As far as trial and error - you don't need to go far to test the camera, just go outside your door. There also may be a exposure compensation control or something else that is giving you photos that you're not expecting.

 

[D-B-J]

shoot in raw! I found that i always mess up my settings ever-so-slighty. I started to shoot in raw, and voila! It helps, alot! Just make sure your pp is all the same on the raw photos.