Dark shots

[Bingo76]

Hey, recently found a lot of help on these forums re: my new D500 acquisition: https://nikonites.com/forum/threads/slightly-out-of-depth-with-a-d5000-to-d500-move.48713/

I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated that the camera takes very dark shots - especially noticeable when swapping out lenses. I'm sure I'm doing something really obvious and stupid - in fact, I hope I am, as I'm getting pretty frustrated.
Below are some shots, taken on overcast days - the only way I seemed to be able to lighten them up is playing with the ISO. I've attached the lightened shots too. Any help or advice, would be much appreciated - I really am a newbie, so don't overlook the obvious! Have downsized the pics, but hopefully all exif info remains:

 

[blackstar]

You may want to play a little with exposure adjustment: ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. For example, lower ISO and shutter speed could improve your "light but washed" sample. Your "lighter" one is good, but you could slower s.s. to match your desire. Another way to adjust is to set auto-iso and adjust the shutter speed (and/or aperture) for the occasion/scene. GL

 

[Clovishound]

I'm a little confused. I know, normal for me. All the pairs of images were taken in program (auto) mode. The lighter ones have several stops more exposure. They are the same scene, and taken seconds apart, with no exposure compensation on any of them. You say you changed the ISO to get the lighter images? That makes no sense, if you are in program mode. They should have the same overall exposure with the camera adjusting aperture and/or shutter speed to compensate for a higher ISO. The stacked blocks image has the same ISO for both.

Have you tried other exposure modes, such as aperture preferred, or manual? You might also want to try matrix metering instead of center weighted. What exactly was the difference in input from you between the lighter and darker images? Are you inadvertently shooting in auto bracketing mode and in single shot mode?

 

[BF Hammer]

Frankly, I do not see great choices being made in the exposure settings for the dark exposures. The portrait would be best done with a flash to fill in the shadows and face.

You are using center-metering instead of Matrix-metering. There are times and circumstances for each. The center of your photo of the sky with the sculpture to the left is what the camera exposed for. Matrix metering would have taken the whole scene in to average and should have brightened it up some. But realize you are shooting an unlight surface in the foreground against a sunlight sky. That is how you make a silhouette. There are limits to your sensor's dynamic range so you will loose the foreground to the shadow. That is why boosting ISO did some good.

Building in shade with a much brighter sky is going to throw off most automatic metering of exposure. Again, Matrix-metering may be the better choice. But here is where you can bring the exposure-compensation adjustment to play. Too dark, dial in +2 or +3 exposure and see what you get.

 

[Needa]

Did you do a camera reset when you received it, used camera a good starting point.