Camera Labs

Hi all,
I've only had my Canon 1000D since Christmas, so I'm definitely still a newbie to all of this! I've been out on Marsden Moor this afternoon trying out some landscape shots, but they all seem overexposed - where am I going wrong?







Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, but please bear in mind that I'm a complete beginner!

Are you using the automatic setting? That can quite often lead to overexposure.

If you set your camera to Av (aperture priorty) for example, your shutter speed will be set automatically but you can manually adjust the exposure (AV +- button) to suit your subject. If you use Live View, you can see the real-time difference changing your exposure makes in the LCD display.

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control

Thanks for replying - I was using Av - am trying not to use auto at all!

Good work on not using auto settings - credit deserved there, especially since only having it for 2 months. Usually takes n00bies a year or so to get the courage to rotate that dial

Anyway, looking at the first photo I'm inclined to believe it was an overcast sky? If this is the case, then you never took the photo wrong. However, this can be fixed in post processing. Have you breached into the world of programs such as Aperture (for mac) or Lightroom (for pc)? If so, then here's what I would do in the situation,
1) shoot the photo in raw. Not Jpeg (I dunno if you have done this or not). Raw retains more information as opposed to an uncompressed jpeg. They are larger file sizes however, so HD space over a couple of years may become a concern. But the benefits outweigh the costs.
2) in post processing, bring your highlights down - this should bring some detail back into the sky.

For your second photo, were you shooting into the sun? Perhaps a polarizer would help. Or - once you get really comfortable, you could look into doing some HDR work for scenes like this.

Your third photo - I like. I don't really see anything wrong with it.

Anway, hope this helps, happy shooting!

Reducing the exposure compensation by -0.3 or -0.7 can help. Alternatively, you could shoot with auto exposure bracketing and choose the one you like the most.

You should check your manual to see how these things are done on your camera.

The first sky looks overcast and so it's unlikely you'll catch much detail in it. Shooting frames containing a bright sky and a darker background will usually present the following conundrum:

1 - overexpose the sky but correctly expose the foreground, or
2 - correctly expose the sky but underexpose the foreground.

You should try and strike a balance determined by what you want to capture. The exposure compensation button will allow you to experiment and is the quickest and simplest way to adjust exposure.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/53061745@N02/

Panasonic G3: 9-18mm, 14mm, 20mm, 45mm

Thanks Trevor and Kimchi, some great advice which is much appreciated. I'll definitely be following your tips, and will hopefully be back with some better shots soon
Thanks again