Why are my studio images dark?

if they allow manual exposure control use that.

They do, but won't that lead to the same problem if I use the camera's meter to tell me what the right combination of shutter speed and aperture to use? I realize I can dial in anything I want, or shoot a bracket, and choose what looks like the best exposure after several shots at different values, but I was hoping there was a setting that would get me closer to an objectively "correct" exposure on the first try.

This sounds like a basic question to me, which is why I posted in the beginner's forum. A moderator must have moved it here. I apologize for cluttering up this sub-forum. Thanks for your help.

You use it as a starting point, then make adjustments as needed. Since you using a light tent as long as you have the lights set up the same each time you can use the same settings once you figure them out.
 
When in Auto mode you can use Exposure Compensation (EC) to allow for the camera metering system calibration that makes whites a neutral gray.

In Manual mode, setting EC will bias the meter in some models of camera. At any rate, with no EC set you can add exposure by setting the exposure values so the meter indicator is on the + or over exposed side of the scale.
Meter scales and the exposure triad of settings are usually set to a default of 1/3 stop steps.

With most digital cameras you will need at least 2/3 of a stop of over exposure or EC to make whites, white.
 
I occasionally shoot things on autoexposure, on a white background in a light cube lit by a couple of Totas. Regardless of the camera I use (either a Sony a100 or Canon S110), regardless of whether I set a custom white balance based on the background or use the camera's "tungsten" setting, the shots always come out dark, and a little gray. Setting the white point in Photoshop with the Levels command snaps everything back to normal quickly, but it seems like I should be able to get a lot closer with the initial image. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Basically your problem is your using auto exposure. The way a camera calculates exposure is based off of a neutral 18% gray. Because your image is on a white background the camera tends to make that white look gray. The same thing happens when shooting in the show.

I'm not familiar with those cameras but if they allow manual exposure control use that. If they allow exposure compensation you could also do that.

Basically you need to take control of the image.


This is of course the correct answer. The white background is fooling your automatic exposure.

For a quick demonstration and explanation, see How light meters work
 
Thanks for your help everybody. I'm looking forward to getting up to speed on all this.
 
Do what Mike said. That's the way to get the technically correct exposure you were talking about.

If you put something that is 18% grey in front of a meter that is metering for 18% grey! then it'll give you the right exposure. Then take pictures of your objects using the exposure it told you to.
 
Here is the memory trick I devised years ago for myself when I was a kid.

"White means you need to add light. Black means you dial 'er back. If it's gray, you stay."
 

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