Metering?!?

[riz]

Nice photo of the clouds, but i wanted my garden in the picture aswell, so i locked the metering(shutter button halfway then pressed the lock button-i aimed at the grass etc). Then this happened

Again i tried doing something a tad more creative.
This is the scene

i then added a toy

but postman pat's face was very dark, i tried using the flash but it ruined the pic as it was too bright. I also tried metering but not too sure what i am doing!! Is this the limit of the D40x or would i need a seperate flashgun. I also adjusted the flash etc but still the flash exposed the walls which i wanted to keep dark.


Any help much apprec. oh and d40x

 

[Leeds_VTO]

what have you got the metering set up as spot, area, etc ? id try spot on postman pats face.

 

[Brown.]

now you see why CMOS Sensors will never compete with film .....

 

[dick]

get a maglite and shine it on pats face.

 

[Brown.]

For you to see the postmans face AND the warm glow of the lamp...take one shot -2EV and another without moving the camera at +2EV and merge in photo shop.....or subsiquently have a look at some of the HDR threads.....this tpye of picture gives excellent oppertunity to work with HDR High Dynamic Range.... i use Photomatix......take one pic -2EV one at 0EV and a third at +2EV........photomatix will merge the three images giving you what you want.....photomatix is free as a demo/download photoshop also features a HDR merging program

 

[Brown.]

You can also get the same effect in your first pics with the clouds.....in sted of aiming at the gras experiment with the +/- button just next to the shutter button.....hold it and with the wheel move up and down the scale...-2 will give you what you see in the first pic .... +2 will give you what you see in the second pic. without aiming and locking.

 

[riz]

You can also get the same effect in your first pics with the clouds.....in sted of aiming at the gras experiment with the +/- button just next to the shutter button.....hold it and with the wheel move up and down the scale...-2 will give you what you see in the first pic .... +2 will give you what you see in the second pic. without aiming and locking.

ah i c nice one mate cheers, never thought about that, need to buy a tripod now

 

[James.]

welcome to the world of correct exposure. Meter on the sky, the forground is underexposed. Meter on the forground, the sky is burnt out. Getting both without HDR is pretty tricky!

 

[MaLicE]

first off dont shoot through a window...

secondly to take a good image of pat and the other thing i wouldnt even use the cameras light meter... get a dedicated meter that you can actually spot meter from right at the object...

plus the inbuilt flash is a piece of poo lol... hence why pro cameras dont have them... again get a dedicated... or a couple....

i use a sekonic L-758DR bit ott for normal use but i got given it so i was happy they are about £400 but you can get one that will do everything u need for about 30 quid...

 

[riz]

lol i was outside for ages and my hands were numb, so i went inside!!! lol

 

[Brown.]

you can do hdr with just one picture......but you have to manually set the exposure in photo shop then do a 'save as' of three differnt images....first pic has to underexposed....save the next at a lighter level, and the third at an even lighter lever so detail appears where shadows were......wont have the same quality of three individual images, but there are ways around not using a tripod

 

[riz]

you can do hdr with just one picture......but you have to manually set the exposure in photo shop then do a 'save as' of three differnt images....first pic has to underexposed....save the next at a lighter level, and the third at an even lighter lever so detail appears where shadows were......wont have the same quality of three individual images, but there are ways around not using a tripod

would these need to be s**t in raw?

 

[James.]

you dont have to shoot them in raw. But it would help capture more detail.

 

[Lagerlout]

Get better results shooting in raw and post processing the exposure in my experience, but as James says you don't have to.

 

[Brown.]

in raw you have to apply every thing you camera's in built processor alredy does in jpeg format. you actually get less detail in the image straight from the camera when viewed on pc screen.....you have to coax out the detail using photoshop....ie sharpening, noise control, exposure compensation, contrasts, colour temps.... unless you pro and know what you are doin, imo dont use raw, you may actually loose quality compared to the incamera processor........ i have yet been able in 6 years to get a raw image to look better then the jpeg created from the inbuit processor i came close to getting it near the same but lost interst, as it took ages just apply the normal adjustments to the jpeg image and save on the highest quality....... i only ever shoot in jpeg. saves time. and makes developing easier....having to convert to 8-bit/ 16-bit tiff is an arse ache....when the images are never really gonna leave your computer.


if that helps.