Help! Pictures look too bright!

Prophet

Prophet

Prophet

Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2004
Posts
7,395
Location
Notts
I attend several car shows over the summer and have noticed a lot of my pics suffer from overly bright whites etc. I'm using a 350D with either the kit lens or a Canon 100-300 USM. I've not got a lens hood and most of the time Im in TV mode so I can get some motion blur etc.

What steps can I take to solve this problem?

Cheers,
Neil.
 
It sounds as though you are over-exposing ('blowing') the highlights, ie, the brighter areas of the picture. You will need to lower your shutter speed, increase the aperture value (ie smaller aperture) or lower the ISO. Additionally, you can dial in some negative exposure compensation.

Why don't you post an example for people to see, for extra advice
 
AdWright said:
It sounds as though you are over-exposing ('blowing') the highlights, ie, the brighter areas of the picture. You will need to lower your shutter speed, increase the aperture value (ie smaller aperture) or lower the ISO. Additionally, you can dial in some negative exposure compensation.

Why don't you post an example for people to see, for extra advice
Click to expand...

I'll get one posted when I get back from work :)
 
You've probably just accidentally added some + exposure compensation. Very easy to change, not sure how to do it on a 350D though.
 
This isnt a great example but shows what I mean. Car to the right.

IMG_1617Large.jpg
 
You haven't included the EXIF info ;)

It could be anything but Partial Metering or Exposure Compensation seems most likely.
 
SDK^ said:
You haven't included the EXIF info ;)

It could be anything but Partial Metering or Exposure Compensation seems most likely.
Click to expand...

I resized the image! How do I keep the info and resize it?

Edit...

Shutter Speed 1/400
Exposure Program: Normal
F-Stop f/11.0
AV f/11
ISO 400
Focal Length: 18.0mm

Looking at this I'd say the shutter speed was too slow and the ISO is too high! The camera was set to full auto so I'm surprised that these settings were used!?!?


Just found the info using CS2..
 
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Orange Peel said:
Looking at this I'd say the shutter speed was too slow and the ISO is too high! The camera was set to full auto so I'm surprised that these settings were used!?!?
Just found the info using CS2..
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say that's really too bright, the blue car is exposed pretty well, skin tones look pretty decent.

The problem you have in that shot is the range of light. Bright white car right through to deep shade, you're always going to end up with some compromise, either loss of shadow detail or blown highlights. I honestly don't think that's too bad a result.

At a guess though there's a fair chance the camera was metering on the central, darker portion of the frame, as SDK says, partial metering, maybe even centre weighted. Dark subjects will lead to the camera trying to compensate and upping the exposure. Dial in maybe 1/2 to a full stop of underexposure and you should be there or there abouts. Sorry if that's teaching you to suck eggs but good as modern metering is, it's not always foolproof.
 
Alex53 said:
For those conditions a polariser might help keep the whites in check.
Click to expand...

It would?


I doesn't look like there is a problem with the camera or settings. Simply the scene you are trying to capture has too much dynamic range. Not many ways you can solve this, you could get a camera that has more stops of DR but its unlikely to help a huge amount. HDR wouldn't work at all in that picture.

The best advice is think about when and how you take the picture. If there is a very bright and dark object in the scene recompose so there isn't. Try not to shoot in direct and bright sunlight. Gives harsh shadows and unflattering photos.
 
What it looks like is your camera is using the centre af point to get the meter reading and thusly is metering for the darker areas of the centre area (the bonnet)

If you are shooting in AV/TV then the meter can be fooled in certain situations. Partial is usually the best metering mode to use and evaluative when the light levels in ascene are more or less even.

Best resolution is to stick it in AV and aim the centre AF point at a mid tone on the scene and remember what shutter speed the camera chooses for thata rea and switch to manual using that shutter speed at the chosen aperture you were in. In M you can also use the light meter in the viewfinder to make sure the exposure will be most neutral for the midtone by simply hovering the centre af point over a midtone such as the cars blue bodycolour and adjust only the shutter til the light meter gets to the middle then just leave it there for the remainder of the session.

If you must use AV then you can use the AE lock button to meter off a midtone then simply recompose the shot and snap the frame. the camera will releae AE lock after each shot by default so remember to AE lock once again from a midtone for the next shot.


AUTO will just meter best for the most dominent area of the frame in the centre and i your case this looks like the cars ebay.
 
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Thanks for all the replies :)

I'm off to Billing Aquadrome for a weekend car show. Hopefully I can put what you've sugested into practice and get some better results.

I'll post on Sunday PM when I get back :)
 
xolotl said:
It would?
Click to expand...
As Alex says it might. The whole reason for using it is to reduce reflections/glare. Depending on how it's positioned it might help a bit. Still needs a decent exposure to start with though.
 
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