Constantly upping exposure in LR

Raptor Mike

Raptor Mike

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First I hope this in the right forum.
Nearly every photo I take I have to up the exposure during PP. I have the warning that flashes red on the review and I used the cameras meter to get a correct exposure. But I find I still have to up the exposure on most of my images whether I used flash or not. Is this normal or am I just not getting my in camera settings right? I have always thought it us better to not over expose because you can't recover blown out areas as well as lightening dark areas but as I say my settings are saying the exposure is central.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Could it be that monitor is not well calibrated and everything looks dark because of that?
 
JYC said:
Could it be that monitor is not well calibrated and everything looks dark because of that?
Click to expand...
This and a hundred other questions.

Is this consistent? How are you metering, what are you shooting, how much 'under', how do you like your prints to look, are you even printing or just commenting on a screen image, what do other people say about your images, are you checking the histogram, how are you metering your flash, is this on camera or studio flash?
 
JYC said:
Could it be that monitor is not well calibrated and everything looks dark because of that?
Click to expand...

This was my first thought. The fact that you have the red over-exposure warning in LR might support that, but the histogram is key - in LR and also on the back of the camera.

Shoot a plain wall in an auto-exposure mode - any auto mode, JPEG only. Any plain wall will do but zoom in to get an evenly illuminated area, with zero exposure compensation applied. That should produce a mid-tone image and a histogram with a big lump in the middle. Import to LR and check the histogram there - it should look identical, or extremely similar. Turn the image to black & white, and the tone should be quite similar to the default background tone in LR that is also mid-grey. If all that checks out, it points to the monitor.
 
Thank you folks.
The monitor is calibrated but is due for redoing so I will get onto that. But its always seems this way even after calibration. It's the same with portraits, landscapes, bike, just about everything. Flash helps but the mids and the darks still seem to dark. I must confess I haven't been using the histogram on the camera so will start doing that and I will try you little experiment @HoppyUK
 
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To answer your questions better Phil I just used the meter reading in the camera. I don't meter flash, just adjust until it looks right (if the highlight alert shows I drop it a little). Images are usually half a stop under but can be anything from around a third to one. Ive finally nailed prints and they seems to come out pretty much like the screen, bearing in mind they aren't back lit. My wife sees them straight out of camera and also thinks they come out too dark.

Thanks (y)
 
My cameras are set at +1/3 or +2/3 as a default, @HoppyUK (Richard) will tell you which bodies this matters most with, but I find that Canon metering errs on the side of caution re highlight protection.
 
Denyerec said:
Print one of your images without adjustment at a decent lab, too :)
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What a good idea, I'd been wondering if my monitor was anywhere near but was reluctant to buy a calibration device. I realise comparing a printed image isn't going to be as good as proper calibration but it will give an idea and a print for the wall.
 
I generally find this the same as well but just a quick tweak and a slight slide and everythings tickety boo.
 
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