Under exposed

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coralking

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Hi

I took a few pics yesterday, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and after a bit of fiddling in Aperture I quite like the results. However lots of them (most) were heavily under exposed. I was using a D70 and a 12-24mm Tokina in RAW. I used manual setting mainly f11 and then set SS according to read out. Most were so under exposed that in Aperture I nearly had to move the exposure slider full right as some of them were almost black.

Any ideas why?

The light was very low kind of murky with a white sky. Could this have fooled the camera?

I am a rank amature at this and very new to anything other than snaps, but I am sure I was doing things correctly (set to f11 and turn dial till all dashes dissapear and they meet at 0).

Cheers
 
It depends where you were actually metering from. If you were metering from the sky then it would produce the results you have seen with the ground being underexposed
 
Posting a shot would shed some light (groan) on the matter ;)
 
Yep I should have saved some, but I fixed up what I could and then binned the rest.
 
coralking said:
The light was very low kind of murky with a white sky. Could this have fooled the camera?
Click to expand...

Possibly, depends on how much of the sky was in the frame when you were metering. Like already said do a straight conversion from one of the raw files you kept and post it up :)
 
2007-12-30_at_11-33-46.jpg


This has been rescued from the trash bin.
 
Right, you've got 1/125 at F11 ISO 200. You've used matrix metering which has taken that fairly bright sky into account. It's also taken in the darkish hedge and tried to average out the whole scene. It's a difficult scene for the camera to do properly and I'd say your original guess that the bright sky fooled the camera was right. Others may disagree :D

Personally, I think with that scene I'd probably have metered from the gravel track or the grass, recomposed and taken a couple of shots based on whatever the readings were.
 
I think Ross and Dod have hit the nail on the head, your camera seems have metered for the sky. The foreground looks like it was quite dark and if you had metered for that then the sky would most likely have been 'blown' (no detail retained). This is one of the eternal problems that photographers face, especially with landscape shots. It can be fixed using multiple exposures or by the use of filters.

A quick trick though if you are not bothered about retaining detail in the sky is to point the camera at one of the darker area's of the photograph and half press the shutter button so the camera reads the light levels from the object/s you want and then re-compose the shot whilst keeping the button half pressed to capture the image you want. You do need to be careful with this method though as the focus will also be set at the point that you chose unless your camera has a continual focus setting.
 
Hi Coralking,

I suspect that what's been said already is about on the money but the amount of sky in that shot and the amount of underexposure you have, well it doesn't quite add up somehow.

It might just have been a much brighter sky than it looks in the shot but it's well worth checking that you've not got any exposure compensation set up. I know it's quite easy to dial it in on some of my cameras. :)
 
Why use Manual for this shot?....you could use Aperture Priority for landscapes and keep an eye on the shutter speed.
Tom
 
It still would have been the same picture though, wouldn't it Tom. Whether you let the camera set the exposure from it's meter, or you look at the meter and set it yourself.

It is good to understand what the camera will do. :)
 
On a dull day given the amount of sky showing in that shot and using matrix metering, I'd have expected the meter to cope much better with that shot than it has. There's some heavy under-exposure in the shadows there - I'd definitely check that you don't have some exposure compensation set, it's very easy not to notice that.
 
Hi

Thanks for the help.

Just checked and exposure comp is turned off in the menu.

I have always thought my D70 under exposed, but I thought this was par for the course with the D70. Maybe it does not like the 12-24 Tokina or it may have developed a fault.

It has always done this, but I think that it may well have got worse. I have had it from the early days of the D70. Maybe a check up or a trade in is needed.

Cheers
 
It's pretty dull and overcast here today. I just took a 200 ISO meter reading from lawn grass and at 125th I'm getting f2.8. Metering from the sky and at 125th I'm getting f16 which would lend credibility to the theory that you exposed for the sky. I have to say though that I always found Nikon matrix metering pretty reliable in far more testing conditions than this shot. You say also that all the shots were like this, which would rule out the odd bogey camera error shot.

I'd double check your camera settings, then try taking some test shots using Aperture Priority which would be my preferred mode every time unless the light was particularly difficult.
 
dazzajl said:
It still would have been the same picture though, wouldn't it Tom. Whether you let the camera set the exposure from it's meter, or you look at the meter and set it yourself.

It is good to understand what the camera will do. :)
Click to expand...

OK I agree with that...just wondered why he bothered to use Manual for that particular shot.
Tom
 
I just shot this in AP Mode using evaluative metering which is much the same as Nikon's matrix system. It's uncropped just as it came from the camera, and pretty much what I'd expect under these conditions.

test1.jpg


Humour me - shoot some similar shots in AP mode and show us what you get. :)
 
No probs there, and just what I'd expect.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you say yourself you're a beginner at this, and shooting in manual mode is really fraught with danger if you don't understand the principles of basic metering and you don't really need to be continually balancing that exposure display in your viewfinder. There are advantages to shooting in Manual Mode under some circumstances, but not that many IMHO, and all too often we see people being urged to shoot in Manual Mode from the start as though it's some sort of badge of rank and it makes you a 'proper' photographer which is total ballix. ;)

Shooting in AP or SP Modes depending on which is important, the shutter speed or the aperture is a wonderful advantage in being able to work quickly under most conditions, and it frees you to get on with concentrating on taking good shots instead of worrying about continually balancing a display which will be constantly moving as you pan around the scene.

I almost always shoot in AP mode. Worry about getting to grips with manual exposure and when it's likely to be an advantage when you're good and ready to make the step, but for now use those wonderful auto systems which Nikon have provided for you and go and get some killer shots.
 
well those images don't look much different to CT's :thinking:

Although the dark areas are just that, there is still detail visible, unlike the foreground in the first shot.

When you said the first shot was rescued from the trash, did you try and edit it in anyway first?
 
Theres plenty more exposure available in that sky
Theres no exposure bias dialed in that image = 0.
Nikon Capture it shows the image to be 2 stops under
D70 metering is pretty good, I'm thinking its operator error, the bit where you meter in a program mode then switch to manual replicating the settings might be where it went wrong.
When it is tight for light a small movement from the metered position to the actual manual shot can give quite varying results.
A = aperture priority
S = shutter priority on a D70
 
Hi

Yep looks like user error.:bang:


I was trying to do so much I must have cocked up. I also did some manual test shots and they were fine too. I was forcing myself to use manual so I can understand the camera, but I will try both methods and compare results next time out.

I can not remember if I tried to alter the image, before it was trashed, but maybe.

Cheers :)
 
one of the best things using digital . take picture chimp if not happy , change something and do it again . not like running blind with film .
 
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