Exposure Compensation

[briansquibb]

Re: Exposure Compensation

For a wedding dress in bright sunlight it is better to meter on a darker part of the dress else you lose detail. To meter on the face and do exp comp of -2 has exactly the same effect as metering on the dress. If it is very contrasty I get the flash out anyway and do it that way. The spot meter approach works well if you expose lock on the correct place.

Manual mode is no good for candid shots in a variable light situation - like following a bird across the sky or in a street with dark on one side. I am afraid the bird wont wait while I get an incident meter out or even take a peek at a histogram - you have to use an instant metering method else you miss the shot

This approach works well for me in all circumstances

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Metering on a shaded area of the dress is akin to metering on a neutral grey (as I noted) .

In bright sunlight it depends where you meter from. Meter on the bright part of the dress and the image will be under exopsed - meter on a darker than mid grey the dress will be over exposed and you'll lose highlight detail.

Manual Mode works well in most situations - Even in changing light all you need to do is take a reading when the sun is out and another when the sun is behind a cloud and flip when required.

We were not talking about birds though..... Each situation may require a different way of shooting. Shooting a bird in the sky can be pretty difficult in any situation and the cameras meter can be easily fooled using a semi-auto mode

Like you say use what you are used to.

[Trevoreast]

Re: Exposure Compensation

I was out the other day mid day sun, using the flash wasn’t possible because I was with friends and couldn’t be bothered to carry a flashgun.
I'm normally "Mr dedicated", but getting pictures was not high on my agenda. :-)
I couldn’t get manual mode to work for me, eg get consistent decent exposures, I was wasting too much time making adjustments for the harsh light and moving subject.

I Switched to AV mode F2.8 with partial metering and still had to chimp and adjust almost on a per shot basis and adjust the exposures compensation the pic below is +2/3 of a stop exposure compensation.

Here is a shot; I admit I was giving it my fullest attention. I never got an exposure I was happy with, note the blown whites and the blown bit on the sax? When I did get a well exposed shot , sod’s law dictated the composition was lousy.
I couldn’t use exposure lock here for the same reason I couldn’t use manual.



Trev

[briansquibb]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Now you know why I walk around with the flash attached :smile:

[Trevoreast]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Now you know why I walk around with the flash attached :smile:

Me too normally. Travellin' light :-)

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Trev
When you did get a good exposure, why not select that in Manual and job done. In bright sunlight like this the light won't change that much (unless clouds hide it for a few seconds). Even then there's usually only around a stop of a difference on a day like this.

This looks a pretty decent exposure to me given the conditions.

[Trevoreast]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Jim, I started in manual; the meter was all over the place, if I locked the exposure in AV mode or used manual, it would not be right for the next shot a second later.
This was a “two tone” Ska band, all dressed in black and jigging around the stage.
When they moved forward they were in direct sunlight – then in shade etc.
As well as that I wanted half decent composition filling the frame – not cropping later.

I shoot in manual 99% of the time; in this case I made the decision to use AV, moving subject in different lights.
I think there are times when semi auto modes like AV with EC are the least worst option.
I was only snappin this for a minute or two, if it was important I would have stayed longer.

Trev

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Exposure Compensation

Yes in light like that I can see why you preferred AV. Like i said above though you could meter for the bright area and the shaded area of the stage to get a couple of exposures so you could flip between them quickly - but AV is probably quicker :)

[Woolley]

Re: Exposure Compensation

note the blown whites and the blown bit on the sax?

In my experience it's very important to get a blown bit on the sax else it doesn't work properly...

[Trevoreast]

Re: Exposure Compensation

In my experience it's very important to get a blown bit on the sax else it doesn't work properly...

Boom Boom !

Nice one Woolley, you made me laugh ! :-))

Trev