Camera Labs

Hi all.

First thing thanks a bunch for reading my post.

I have been testing my camera outside for a while. I am not getting the desired results what I have expected..

I am very sure the fault is with me. may be I dont know the right camera settings..

I wil attach few photos for your reference and camera settings as well. please please help me to over come this problem..

#1


Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Shutter Speed: 718654/65536
Focus Mode: One-shot AF
Canon Exposure Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Metering Mode: Center-weighted averaging
Lens: 18 - 55mm
Color Temperature: 5200°K

#2


Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Metering Mode: Center-weighted averaging
Canon Exposure Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Color Temperature: 5200°K

#3


Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/18
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Metering Mode: Center-weighted averaging
Canon Exposure Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Color Temperature: 5200°K


Hi, these are the settings I used..

The time I took the shot was too much cloudy. there was no sun.. you can see only in one picture the sun was slightly showin up..

why did the first image is too dark?

why the second image (clouds) too bright ? that happened in third image too.

Please tell me what to do.


Thanks a lot once again..

_________________
I am a newbie.

Took the liberty of trying to better your 1st shot for you.. all I did was fiddle around with the Brightness/Contrast and Highlights and Shadows in CS3 if you don't like it or are offended by my actions then I will delete it from my Flickr and my computer.

_________________
Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

Hi vaaz, your images perfectly illustrate the problems with photographing on an overcast day, especialyl when the sky occupies a large amount of the picture.

In the first one, your camera has been influenced by the bright sky and reeduced its exposure to cope. As such, the foreground is a bit dark. So the solution is to expose / meter for the foreground instead, BUT this in turn will mean the sky will be brighter and probably become a large expanse of white - like in your second and third examples.

It's a choice you have to make when taking the photo.

Unless you want to lock the exposure or change the metering mode, one of the easiest ways to deliberately brighten the exposure is to use exposure compensation and we have a tutorial on our sister site DSLR Tips. You may also find the other tutorials useful...

BUT there are also some other tricks you can do. As Roy has illustrated, you can boost the brightness digitally using software later.

Another more advanced option is to take several photos of the same subject using different exposures, then combine them all using software on your computer for the best of both worlds. This is called High Dynamic Range, or HDR for short, and we have a great tutorial about it here:

http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1961

Gordon

Living in wales I get this problem all the time! lol

Im a fan of photo's with blue sky's and it hardly ever happens here lol

_________________
Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

Hi, Defiance, Gordon Laing and tobywuk,

Thank you very much for your time to reply.


for Defiance,

I am not offended for what you did to my photo, lol. me use to do many times using CS3. I donot want to retouch.. any way.. with this weather I have to play with my camera a bit and use CS3 constantly..

Thanks again for your reply, cheers.

For Gordon Laing,

Hello Gordon Laing, happy to see a reply from you.

I went through your tutorials very carefully.

You know what I did. I changed my metering mode to Evaluative metering mode (Matrix metering mode, I guess in canon 400d ). I got a decent shots with the same location.

I got few shots with overcast sky and tried to adjust exposure.

Well, the only thing I learned is, we got to be bit patience here to get the right shot.

Thanks a lot for your tutorials. cheers.


For tobywuk,

That shot is from Leek, lol. I went to Buxton and Bakewell this weekend. I always wanted to go to Wales. but seeing the weather, we still didt get the proper summer, always wet and chilly.. Only one day I enjoyed in Llandudno, good proper sunny day.. u know what I left my camera at home that day. lol.

cheers.

_________________
I am a newbie.