Can you manually ajust light meetering on 400d

jchiver · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:23

Hi,

I have a shot in mind for when i am on holiday and it goes like this. Two people on a beach looking at the ocean at about dusk and i want these two people to be silhouetted. How do I do that??

Thanks

J

Messiah Khan · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:35

Make sure the sun is behing them, then take a meter reading off the sun/reflected light off the sea. The camera will then underexpose the couple making them silluetted.

growse · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:39

jchiver said:
Hi,

I have a shot in mind for when i am on holiday and it goes like this. Two people on a beach looking at the ocean at about dusk and i want these two people to be silhouetted. How do I do that??

Thanks

J

Easy, meter against the sky. Most likely you'll not want the people to be in the center of the shot, so whack it on center-weighted, frame the shot and see how it comes out. If you want it less exposed, just whack the exposure level meter thingie down a few notches.

jchiver · 24 Apr 2007 at 13:46

but how do you change the exposure reading on the 400d.

FreeStream · 24 Apr 2007 at 13:52

Read the manual perhaps!?

I've had my 350D for 18 months nearly now and I still carry the manual around just incase...

Amp34 · 24 Apr 2007 at 13:53

Set it to manual and use similar settings to the auto mode, then adjust the settings slightly to get the desired result.

jchiver · 24 Apr 2007 at 14:15

Concorde Rules said:
Read the manual perhaps!?

I've had my 350D for 18 months nearly now and I still carry the manual around just incase...

i think this maybe the best idea and one i should have thought about

i think its a case of RTFM

Raymond Lin · 24 Apr 2007 at 14:18

Point the camera at the sky, half press shutter and hold it. Then move it to your people in the shot with sun behind and press it all the way down.

Bolerus · 24 Apr 2007 at 16:17

I thought the way to do this was,

set the camera to one of the auto modes
point at the sky,
half press the button, look at the settings, remember the settings
recompose in manual mode, (eg set the shutter speed and exposure to what the camera had told you was for the sky)
and focus where you want,
take the pic.

If you half press at the sky, then recompose and full press,

wont that just leave your foreground out of focus?

or am I (as usual) completely missing the point?

SDK^ · 24 Apr 2007 at 16:26

Bolerus said:
If you half press at the sky, then recompose and full press, wont that just leave your foreground out of focus?

Not if you use Auto Exposure (A/E) Lock

rpstewart · 24 Apr 2007 at 16:28

jchiver said:
but how do you change the exposure reading on the 400d.

Press the exposure compensation button (+/- icon top left of the LCD), then +/- 2 stops of compensation using the main wheel. You want positive compensation to over expose or in this case negative compensation to under expose and silouette the subjects.

Bolerus · 24 Apr 2007 at 16:29

good point, but

what if you decide you want to slighlty change it, i dont know, maybe to bring the sand in slightly? doesent auto exposure lock leave you having to use manual anyway?