Newbie question - Exsessive blowouts

Jaysmark

Senior Member
I am a bit of a newb. I recently upgraded from a D7000 to the D750 and am struggling with lighting being very wonky and windows blowing out. It probably 100% my fault because I suck. I shoot in A with auto iso. I am using Tamron 18-50 2.8. The first photo I took was taken in pitch black with no moonlight. Why is it crazy bright and look like sunset or something? The others show blown out windows and other light issues. What am I failing at? I didn't have this issue with my D7000? Again, I realize this is probably me. I did a hard reset to make sure I didn't fail at a setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

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J-see

Senior Member
It would help if we'd know the shutter speed and ISO settings. And eventual exposure compensation.

If the first was in pitch black and you used auto-ISO it probably maxed out and then lowered the shutter. If exposure compensation is added to that, you'd pick up loads of light. I don't see the EXIF data so it's hard to say what goes on.

The second doesn't look that strange. Depending what metering you used, it's going to adjust to the middle tones. If it increases exposure for those, the brightly lit windows will suffer.
 
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Jaysmark

Senior Member
That's kind of my question though - If im shooting in A with auto ISO and shutter, why am I getting consistently bad results? I don't know how to attach EXIF or I would. Thanks for taking the time.
 

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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The first photo I took was taken in pitch black with no moonlight. Why is it crazy bright and look like sunset or something? The others show blown out windows and other light issues. What am I failing at? I didn't have this issue with my D7000? Again, I realize this is probably me. I did a hard reset to make sure I didn't fail at a setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Your post suggests you don't really understand how the meter in your camera works. It's too much to type up in a single post but I'd suggest you learn about how the light meter in your camera determines exposure value. This article would be a very basic, but good start: Why Your Camera's Meter Gets Exposure Wrong.
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J-see

Senior Member
Shooting in A isn't much of a problem but shooting in auto-ISO I only do when I know how much ISO will work and when doing that, I overexpose to have it a bit easier to get rid of the noise in post. I never let it shoot the whole ISO-range.
 

Jaysmark

Senior Member
I will definitely read about metering. Thanks so much for the link. I am still confused as how it could be this bad out of box.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I will definitely read about metering. Thanks so much for the link. I am still confused as how it could be this bad out of box.
Looking at your shots, I'd say the metering is pretty much spot on.

I don't mean to sound harsh but the problem is not with your camera, it's with how you're using it.

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J-see

Senior Member
If you desire that in a shot everything is clear, it requires you to abandon any auto-mode and adjust the setting for that individual shot. You can't take a shot inside a room and have that inside perfectly exposed and also be able to look outside the windows without adjusting the settings in such a manner no data will be clipped.

Shot like that require you to either go fully manual or use exposure compensation and afterwards adjust the shot in post.

DSC_0718.jpg

I killed the highlights in LR. That's all the data there is in the windows. If you want more, you have to adjust the cam's settings first.
 
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Jaysmark

Senior Member
Thanks you guys so much for the help and identifying what was my suspicion in the first place. I just suck, lol. I will need to hit the books harder.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Thanks you guys so much for the help and identifying what was my suspicion in the first place. I just suck, lol. I will need to hit the books harder.
You don't suck, you're just experiencing the learning curve we all hit at some point. Not like anyone is born knowing this stuff...

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J-see

Senior Member
Once you know how to adjust your settings and overcome the lightmeter's adjustments you can shoot in about any situation and get out of it what you desire. It isn't too long ago I was cursing the cam for adjusting its exposure instead of shooting what was at the other side. These days I don't care if there are loads of light or if it's pitch-black. I'll probably get my shot. Maybe one day I'll certainly get it.

Don't just hit the books; shoot anything any time anywhere using every setting at your disposal. It teaches you what not to do fast. After that you can start doing what should be done.
 

Jaysmark

Senior Member
I am still a little confused here. I brought better examples this time. I have one shot on my girlfriends D7000 this time to show the difference. Both were shot on Aperture priority using auto ISO and Aperture. I know I can manually find my way around this. The problem I am having is that most of what I do is fast walking around photography where I don't really have time to manually set everything. Why am I getting such immaculate blowouts? I rented a D810 once and did not have this problem. I just want to eliminate the problem that something may be wrong with the camera. The first picture was done by me and the second was done with the D7000. The last one was done with my camera. How could ANY camera do that poorly on the third photo on any setting. Even if it was on auto everything??? I feel like something is up other than the fact that I suck. In camera auto should not be this sucky. Again, any help would be much appreciated. Why would I not be able to see a drawing on a damn paper where lighting was totally normal?
 

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J-see

Senior Member
What metering were you using? It's not as if the cam has a brain, the lightmeter just measures where you point it and adjust that to the metering method selected. If you use center or point and that's in a dark area, it'll weigh heavy on the metering.

The last shot is not overexposed if you ask me. Matrix metering I'd guess and most of the shot being dark results into this. If the paper was darker, so would be the rest. It can't adjust exposure in every individual part of the scene. It's all or nothing. This is stuff you just fix in post.

Here you go.


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I can't make the drawing appear since it's out of focus.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
What J-See said on the metering. 1st and 3rd pictures look like what I would expect with matrix metering and camera free to do what it wants to do. They are tough scenes and would need some intervention for optimal exposure and some post processing. The 1st being a night scene and the 3rd having a very black background and a very white paper, tough for the camera to get it right. It doesn't know what is most important to you.

Night and twilight scenes DO NOT automatically come out looking like a night scene, they will brighten up to look like a normal daylight scene. Unless you go manual or change meter mode or use exposure compensation. If the camera has a night scene mode, that could work too.

It is possible to 'accidentally' get a night scene to look as you expected. For instance, if you were in shutter priority and even with the camera fully opening the aperture, you were still low on light, then you could get a night scene that looks like you expected. That is bad technique though. So if no specific action was taken on shot #2 to make it look like a night scene, I would guess that it was taken in shutter priority and the lens was at it's widest aperture rendering the camera unable to expose it further. You would likely get some warning flashing in the viewfinder.
 
I don't know how to attach EXIF .

If you will follow these directions for upload the EXIF should show automatically.

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.







 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I'm not sure how the +/- button works in the mode you are using, but did you check to see if it is set at anything other than '0'? It's located on the top of the camera.
 

J-see

Senior Member
The cam doesn't know the difference between day and night. It just measures the light of a scene and decides how much light it needs to have it exposed according its standards. It is up to you to adjust that standard to your liking. It's pretty hard to nail a night scene as you see it because your eyes can adjust in a way that is impossible for a cam.

To get it right you either need a manual lightmeter that can be pointed at the exact right location to measure that or use exposure compensation and adjust according to what the histogram shows after you take a shot. Or have the experience to know about how far you can go with exposure. But you'll always have to correct the shot in post, especially without metering.

I think you have too high expectations of what any cam can do. You can't point it into a direction, push the button and then expect it to be perfect as you see it. If cams could do that, the world wouldn't need professional photographers. Everyone's granny would be taking the shots.
 

aroy

Senior Member
If you use auto ISO, the camera will just jack the ISO up till the scene is bright. There are a few things that you need to be careful of
. If you use Matrix meter, then it will average the scene out and and you have seen, blow some parts.
. Use Centre weighed when you want the meter to concentrate around the centre, and spot when you want a particular point metered - say you have the slate/display off centre and you want that properly metered, then you select the spot meter and it will expose the object under the selected focus point perfectly. Mind you the rest of the image may be either dark or blown depending on the intensity of the light with respect to the chosen spot.
. If you want any control on light, avoid auto ISO. Use fixed ISO and check the exposure speed as you adjust the aperture.
. For high contrast scenes, as a dark room with a bright window, the only way to get every thing perfectly exposed is to use HDR. The the room is properly exposed and so is the scene outside the window. Remember that the camera has a DR of 14EV of which the top 6 EV is relatively noise free. If the scene has a DR of 18EV or more, some areas are bound to be ither blown or pitch black.

One trick advocated is to expose for the brighter part of the scene and then use the D750's DR to "lift" the shadows.
 
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