Pappy need advise

[QuadRacer041]

Pappy....or anyone for that matter.....Can you help me figure out whats wrong with my pictures. All these pics were take with a Nikon D90 70-300mm kit lens.

I know its my set up but can you piont me in the right direction?
Most of these pics where take an the lens' make zoom 300mm, A mode, continous servo focus and dynamic area.
This pic was f7.1, 1/250th and in spot meter mode and ev+1.33. Obviously it is way too bright? Why? From everything i've been reading it suggest's that when shooting snow you should ev+1/+2 to keep the snow looking white.

[Pappy]

need to use your histo gram and either add light + or take away light - to get details in the shadows and highlights.

Contrast is low in this shot, could be setting in camera but can be fixed in post workflow

Highlights are gone, over exposure

What was the ISO. Higher ISO = Limited Dynamic Range

[QuadRacer041]

This was f5.6, 1/500 center weighted and ev +1.33 iso 320. Too my my inexperianced eye looks a million times better. For all of these pics I was stuck behind a rope that kept me at a pretty far distance.

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy
need to use your histo gram and either add light + or take away light - to get details in the shadows and highlights.

Contrast is low in this shot, could be setting in camera but can be fixed in post workflow

Highlights are gone, over exposure

What was the ISO. Higher ISO = Limited Dynamic Range


iso in that one was 200

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy
need to use your histo gram and either add light + or take away light - to get details in the shadows and highlights.

Contrast is low in this shot, could be setting in camera but can be fixed in post workflow

Highlights are gone, over exposure

What was the ISO. Higher ISO = Limited Dynamic Range


So over exposed means I should have lowered the EV? How would I keep the snow looking white and not have that blueish tint? Everything is way over to the right on the histo. SHould I be metering off something nuetral first? I just piont at her and shot.

[Pappy]

My guess is that you exposed with teh spot metering and thats where things went wrong.

In this scene, i would have used matrix metering, checked my histogram and taken light out until the right side of the graph showed that the light in the image was moving to the left of the graph.

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy
My guess is that you exposed with teh spot metering and thats where things went wrong.

In this scene, i would have used matrix metering, checked my histogram and taken light out until the right side of the graph showed that the light in the image was moving to the left of the graph.


ok but wouldnt matrix have metered too much of the snow making it too dark? But I will try that next time.
Also when I'm in A mode how do I keep the camera from slowing down the shutter speed? When it slows down it doesnt freeeze motion good enough, raise the iso?

[Pappy]

If stopping the action is prefered, shoot in shutter priority

Spot metering works well, but you really need to chose what you meter well and understand the range of your settings. It just takes practice and more trial and error.

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy
If stopping the action is prefered, shoot in shutter priority

Spot metering works well, but you really need to chose what you meter well and understand the range of your settings. It just takes practice and more trial and error.


...And let the camera pick the f#? Will try that next time too, lol. So matrix is more idiot proof, lol?

[Pappy]

Not really idiot proof. What that metering does is analize the entire scene. When there is tough lighting it will get you close to the mark the fastest, from there you need to read the histogram and tweak the exposure.

Think of aperature mode as needed when you want to control the depth of field

Shutter when speed is the dominate factor in your exposure (shutter speed control)

This is why i use manual mode 99% of the time. I first figure out what is most important. If the light is good I start with a shutter speed equal to or slightly greater then the focal length in use.

Then I use the aperature to bring my exposure close, and fine tune with exposure compensation using the histogram as my guide.

Once you get this down, you will hit your head on the wall because it will suddenly come to you and you will curse yourself for all teh earlier mistakes:p

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy
Not really idiot proof. What that metering does is analize the entire scene. When there is tough lighting it will get you close to the mark the fastest, from there you need to read the histogram and tweak the exposure.

Think of aperature mode as needed when you want to control the depth of field

Shutter when speed is the dominate factor in your exposure (shutter speed control)

This is why i use manual mode 99% of the time. I first figure out what is most important. If the light is good I start with a shutter speed equal to or slightly greater then the focal length in use.

Then I use the aperature to bring my exposure close, and fine tune with exposure compensation using the histogram as my guide.

Once you get this down, you will hit your head on the wall because it will suddenly come to you and you will curse yourself for all teh earlier mistakes:p


Ok got yea, makes sense.
But depending on your lens you can only go so far with aperature right? Say you want a ss of like 500-600 to stop your action, depending on the light avalible you can only go so far with opening your f#. You can be at your max opening but still not have enough light to get the correct exposure and once the lens is maxed out ev doesnt do anything right? In order to get the correct exposure I would have to slow the ss down right?

[Pappy]

Yes and No

Say youre at ISO 400 and you want a SS of 1/1000

The available light wont allow it because your aperature is at 5.6 (max for your lens)

You can raise ISO until you gain enough to shoot at 1/1000


Now if its the other way and at those settings your histgram shows your still to bright, you would start dropping ISO which will bring you inline with your exposure goal.

I routinely will set up say at 1/1500 at f/8 and use only my ISO settings to rapidly move up or down to get where I need to be. Grain or Noise will start showing but in a print to 16x20 you will barely notice it as long as you have a correct exposure (under-exposure will show noise very very fast on your computer screen but it wont be as noticable in a print)

The biggest thing for now is to not over expose and blow out any highlights. Once you get to where you can use your histogram and keep the exposure free of blowing them out, you will immediatley see better images, better color etc)

[QuadRacer041]

Originally posted by Pappy

Now if its the other way and at those settings your histgram shows your still to bright, you would start dropping ISO which will bring you inline with your exposure goal.

I routinely will set up say at 1/1500 at f/8 and use only my ISO settings to rapidly move up or down to get where I need to be. Grain or Noise will start showing but in a print to 16x20 you will barely notice it as long as you have a correct exposure (under-exposure will show noise very very fast on your computer screen but it wont be as noticable in a print)

The biggest thing for now is to not over expose and blow out any highlights. Once you get to where you can use your histogram and keep the exposure free of blowing them out, you will immediatley see better images, better color etc)



That explains alot. When I raise the iso for my daugthers basketball games I get noise but never knew that it usually wont show in prints.
I will make sure I check the histo next time too.