[sneek]

Hey guys. I haven't been here for a while, but I have noticed that almost all my detailing pictures are over exposed in the background. How can I eliminate this?

here are some examples.

I was thinking about shooting in program and dialing down the exposure.


here my license plate is just washed out!

I get some nice photos like


but then other photos turn out like

or

and the camera is on the same setting!

[Denzil]

Change your aperture?

[sneek]

biggest n00b questions evarrrr...but how does one do that?

[Nica]

Um...I'm no expert at all but just a few things I've been playing around and that is changing the ISO makes a big difference on the quality of the picture...well that's all I got, hopefully I got that right too

[P1et]

And all these shots are taken in full auto?

[Bunky]

It is no wonder the photos are overexposed in the background. I suspect your camera is either metering at center or center weighted and metering a black surface !

This means when you put to something dark it will open the aperture to add light so in your case the car gets lighter but the background gets more washed out.

When looking for the best exposure, you need to realize what logic the camera is using when deciding the right exposure. For example, some cameras will allow you to meter something and then lock in that reading and then you can point it in the direction you want to shoot.

Changing the ISO, everything else unchanged, is not going to affect the exposure unless it was so dark that you did not get a full reading. Yes, ISO can affect quality (lower iso usually means less digitial noise).

When shooting objects like this, the best approach is just to bracket your exposure and then pick the best later or override. Or, you can anticipate this and just manually either slow the shutter speed or open the aperture to compensate.

It is always best to slightly underexpose (a little dark) and then fix it in sw than overexpose since you cannot recover the lost highlights.

Net, pay attention to what the camera meter is pointing at and anticipate issues when pointed at very dark or very light objects compared to the surroundings. Bracket your shots in constrast situations such as this.

[sneek]

Originally Posted by P1et

And all these shots are taken in full auto?

Most of them were in full auto- no flash. I think that flashed pictues dont look very good, I think that if the flash was diffused more it would be better.

Originally Posted by Bunky

It is no wonder the photos are overexposed in the background. I suspect your camera is either metering at center or center weighted and metering a black surface !

This means when you put to something dark it will open the aperture to add light so in your case the car gets lighter but the background gets more washed out.

When looking for the best exposure, you need to realize what logic the camera is using when deciding the right exposure. For example, some cameras will allow you to meter something and then lock in that reading and then you can point it in the direction you want to shoot.

Changing the ISO, everything else unchanged, is not going to affect the exposure unless it was so dark that you did not get a full reading. Yes, ISO can affect quality (lower iso usually means less digitial noise).

When shooting objects like this, the best approach is just to bracket your exposure and then pick the best later or override. Or, you can anticipate this and just manually either slow the shutter speed or open the aperture to compensate.

It is always best to slightly underexpose (a little dark) and then fix it in sw than overexpose since you cannot recover the lost highlights.

Net, pay attention to what the camera meter is pointing at and anticipate issues when pointed at very dark or very light objects compared to the surroundings. Bracket your shots in constrast situations such as this.

You are right it set to center weighted. I am thinking I shall set it to -2, -1 and 0 if that is possible. I think it can be done. I shall watch out for these things. Thanks guys!!!! I shall post up when I get a chance to play with my camera more.

[DetailAddict]

i am by not an expert in photography... but this is what I do since I suck BIG TIME.

i set my Nikon D50 to aperture mode, then spot focus with the lowest ISO setting and auto WB. If it's needed, I'll use flash, but set it to lowest setting possible (i hate flash). the most important thing it to take it in RAW.

I then open it up in PS and I can adjust the exposure and shade/shadow before converting it to jpg. after that, I just do batch resize and manually blur out all the plates. hope that helps...

I need a better lens or something to capture the closeup shots better...