Need help with exposure

garethf

garethf

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gareth fox
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Hi guys,
Need abit of help if i can, Im having trouble with exposing correctly in my pictures.
The main problem is when im taking pictures of my dog and the inlaws dogs as they are black dogs my pictures arnt coming out that good.

Can anyone advise me in how and what to look for to get the exposure correct for the darker subjects.

Thanks
Gareth
 
You might try looking for the book Understanding Exposure 3rd Edition by Brian Peterson. It's an often advised read for anyone wanting to get the most out of their photography and is written in an easily understandable way.
 
Apologies if you've twigged this already but when the camera sees a black dog (or any other dark subject for that matter), it will think that it is seeing a dark scene and will try to balance this by letting in more light. The opposite applies when photographing a scene with a lot of white, snow for example, the camera will tend to underexpose and the snow will look grey.

In the case of a black dog, you can combat this by dialling in some negative exposure compensation. The amount that you need will depend on how dark the dog is and how much of the frame it fills. Trial and error will probably be the order of the say, maybe try -1/3, -2/3 etc...
 
What metering mode are you using? I managed to ruin a photo using 'spot' metering, the subject had a black jacket and thus the camera compensated for this black centrepiece! Evaluative is usually recommended :thumbs:
 
Easiest way to get correct exposure is a Grey Card, Just hold it up infront of your subject and zoom in with your camera, Take the reading and imput into Manual Mode or Exposure Lock, Recompose then take the shot. (just make sure the card isnt pointing to the sun or the ground)
 
Cameras see everything in shades of grey, going from black to white and including every tonal shade between. The mid-point between white and black is known as middle grey.

Middle grey reflects 18% of light; this is why it’s commonly called 18% grey. All Camera meters are calibrated to 18% grey. This means that whichever type of metering you use, the meter will give a reading suited to photograph at 18% grey.

With bright subjects you need to overexpose from your meter's reading. Bright objects need more light so they can remain bright. And conversely, dark subjects need to be underexposed from your meter reading. Dark objects need less light so they can remain dark.

Hope this helps :)
 
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