Understanding Exposure

[KellyL]

This picture was made right after the drum major using the same 50mm (thrifty fifty) lens. I hardly ever take that lens out and play, so I am glad I did. Great bokeh for eighty bucks.

[Jason Hermann]

Excellent exposure as well

Best,
Jay

[kgphoto]

Originally Posted by KellyL

I always use the center AF point, but I was trying to get this picture in a hurry. I could have very easily missed the target.

Why not just focus by eye? You seem to be ignoring my posts.

[KellyL]

Not ignoring your posts, Kirk. I don't remember you telling me to use manual focus. Since I go between glasses and contacts, my eyes are not that reliable.

[expensive_hobby]

I do see dramatic confidence in your picture taking Kelly, and they are looking awesome!

I'm thinking nighttime offers a whole new (sort of) slue of ideas and changes to the whole exposure thing. I'm sure there's some secret skill to night, but I'm missing it so far.

I don't think this one came out bad considering I was just goofing around, it was almost midnight and of course the whole thing still isn't done yet (that's why I keep the frying pan out there-- it's my *motivation tool* for the husband-- just kidding). I did have to do two different shots though. After *chimping* the first one, I decided to change it just a tad because it was a bit darker than I was expecting.

Can I just say how confident I felt before taking the image? Woohooo baby! You guys are great!

[kgphoto]

Kelly,

It was my exposure comments earlier that I was kidding about. I have very bad eyes, but always focused my cameras until the digital age. Even now, sometimes I have to if the light is too low for the auto focus to grab on. Rather get a slightly soft image than no image at all.

[KellyL]

Kirk,

I have read through Lee's chapter on camera calibration. I am planning on doing that, but oh my word do I have a ton of things I have to get done. Time, suddenly, is hard to find to do anything. With school starting, marching band starts, and I am the "official" photographer of the Marching Spartans. Tonight a shoot. Tomorrow all day long. Then I have to get this crazy video done for our open house on Tuesday. Not to mention some pictures I took of a senior girl last week and an order for another senior boy. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Why can't I just quit teaching!

[cyclohexane]

With school starting, marching band starts, and I am the "official" photographer of the Marching Spartans. Tonight a shoot. Tomorrow all day long.

Just do it. You already know you can, so just execute. =)

Why can't I just quit teaching!

Um, it pays the bills? =P

Seriously, I just found out that I can get a higher starting salary teaching something Algebra I in two of my local public school districts than I can working for the area's papers. Ah, property taxes. =)

[Jason Hermann]

This thread is awesome!! I just went away for the weekend and had an opportunity to take a great picture IMO. My buddy Jonny is getting married and this was his send off weekend

He loves to fish and I wanted to get this shot as good as possible.

Here is what I did:
I metered for the sky in Av mode at f/11 to see what shutter speed I needed. Turns out, 1/200sec was what it told me aiming at the sky on partial metering mode. I was pretty surprised that it was only 1/200sec, but i was happy, because I knew the flash sync speed was 1/200sec on my camera. I figured I could always raise the f/stop though if necessary to slow down the shutter.

So then I switched to manual mode and set the shutter to 1/160 @f/11 so the sky wasn't to dark and set the flash exp/comp at +1 1/2 to try and fill in Jonny as his face was in the shade of the sun. I used this flash setting based on the info I have gotten reading this thread. I was also using the on camera flash so I figured it needed more power.

Here is the result right off the camera raw:


Here is the edited version:


Here is 1 more of Jonny's Dad enjoying a frosty beverage
This 1 came out a bit better just off the camera IMO.



Thanks again for all the great info

Best,
Jay

[KellyL]

Jay, this is me saying....AWESOME JOB! For the life of me I can not get that blue of a sky. When I meter for the sky and I set my camera -2/3 stop, as Bryan Peterson says to do in Understanding Exposure...I get this terrible blown out picture. That is what frustrates me. Everybody says...just do it...but for some reason I ain't doin it.

[KellyL]

Here is a picture from yesterday. I used my 70 - 200. I have learned that it is much sharper at 4.0 than it is at 2.8. In fact, since I have started shooting it at 4.0 - 5.6 I am much happier with its sharpness. I just expected it to be tack sharp at 2.8. Handheld, on the move.....

Anyway, I was also using a polarizer trying to enhance the sky. I wasn't real happy with the results. All the pictures seem a tad dark.

[Crotographer]

I refuse to be spoiled by digital. It's too convenient. (Where was it 30 years ago?)

Honestly, I waited a little too long to start the switch to digital. I am kicking myself for not coming over sooner. Be that as it may I just wanted to add that an old film guy like me had to get over the technical, having learned it through years of repetition, and go to the intuitive form of exposure. I usually have a pretty close guess as to proper exposure. After using this photographers intuition I then meter and double check myself. You notice I said double check. I find that the more you look at the scene and then look through the viewfinder at the scene you can always find something that needs being brought to the forefront. The trick is to know when to quit looking and start snapping.

Once one has got a good idea of the basics of exposure, the interaction of shutter speed and f stop, hence, DOF, it is then a matter of understanding the light. As I said in another thread reply, if I cannot see the scenes light, the way I want to represent it, I stop the shooting process and make an appointment to come back another time on natures schedule and shoot for the light that nature is all to happy to provide.

I love photography. Every aspect of it. As I get older I look harder at what I am going to shoot. I look, with greatest acuity, at the light.

An example shot for a local golf course with the Nikon F5 and Fuji Reala. If you look closely you will see the golden threads of spiders in the needles and branches of the tree. I know that Fuji Reala is a consumer film, however, it doesn't stop me from using it. I roll with the motion. Hey, I still shoot B and W with an Agfa Isolette.

[kgphoto]

Kelly,

Your problem is you still don't know what values you are getting in your scenes and then how much more light you need to add to tame them. the Band shot needs more flash and a faster shutter speed to darken the ambient light. that will get you the rich blue in the sky and keep from burning up their shoulders with highlights.

Basically, it is three fold.

Sunny 16 for the sky, as long as the Sun is not in the frame. (put sun behind or to the side of you.)

The greater the angle of the accent light, the more specular it is, and the brighter affect it will have.

Own enough flash power to deliver the f:stop you need at the distance you must work from.

[Crotographer]

I rarely use flash. I am not interested in doing flash. Take another look. Remember who you're shooting for. I love critique. Thanks. I work with what is given to me.

There is always something that I could do better. I realize that. Do you use film?

Actually, money wise, this shot has worked quite well.

[KellyL]

For this series of band shots, I used aperture priority, I believe, because the values changed so quickly. It was a little after 3:00, sun was coming down pretty hard. I had little choice of the angle from which to shoot. I either used evaluative or center weighted metering, I don't remember which one, I would have to look at the EXIF. No way would I have been able to use flash on these pictures. I could only go to the edge of the track without costing our band points so most of the shots were picked off from quite a distance. (Just looked at the EXIF: I had the zoom extended all the way to 200mm to get this shot...flash would have been incidental.)

You are right...I still do not know how to read a scene. I did the test with the white towel to give me a basic idea of what a stop looks like, but reading that in a scene is another story. I need to just go outside and do some tests in the 4:00 sky. Test, test, test until I know what I know. Time is hard to find right now.

This is really hard for me to understand as well: If I meter for the sky, and then underexpose the sky by 2/3 to one stop, then I am making the sky darker. Jay metered the sky at 200, but then changed his shutter spedd to 160. Slower shutter speed...which means he overexposed according to his reading to lighten the sky. My picture was taken at 3:30, Jay's taken at 6:19, if I read the EXIF data correctly. I have to accept that I will have a difference in the richness of the sky with those times in mind.

Glenn: Lovely shot. Unfortunately, I got involved with photography after film so I do not know how to expose for transparency, medium format, or even film correctly. I have been asked, "Think of what you would do to expose for transparency" but I have never exposed for transparency. I did used to shoot with tungsten photo lamps, a blue filter, and an old Pentax K1000 some 20 odd years ago...but I let the camera do all of the metering. I never second guessed the camera meter.

[KellyL]

Sunny 16 rule. (Except for some reason I had the camera set to 1/200??) I opened it up a stop in ACR.

[KellyL]

I decided to try an test the Sunny 16 rule yesterday. I am happy with how the sky turned out in this picture. Poor Bethany had to face the sun. Had I had her back to the sun, I wonder how the sky would have looked.

[KellyL]

For this image, I specifically wanted to expose for the hands. This shot has meaning to the kids. This is the band director's last year, and before every competition he has them standing in a circle, holding hands, talking about the pride they have in their marching band. It is usually very moving.

I zeroed in on the hands to take a reading. I can't believe the sky didn't totally blow out. So how many stops of light are represented here and where are they?

[KellyL]

Sunny 16 Rule straight out of the camera. No adjustments whatsoever.

[Crotographer]

Always feel free to deduct one half stop from your meters reading in a situation such as this. Afternoon sun is a curse to highlights. More than half a stop can get your shadows in trouble. Again, practice produces intuitiveness. In other words, you know you need a deduction, how much is practice. One half to a full stop is what I usually go by. I use filters if there is more to deal with.

I try to use my common sense, built from practice, when deciding an f stop or shutter speed combination. The meter on modern cameras will get you close. Practice will give you the mental facility to get it on the money. There is no way to teach this. Just shoot a lot and pay attention to detail. You might also use your cameras bracketing system.
I bracket a ton. I always have.