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Anonymous
/p/ I'm VERY new to photography. I seem to be having trouble spot metering (I'm fairly sure its that anyway).

<---- Pic related. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

In the top pic, i metered from the sky...

Result: Perfect sky ect, but balcony and clothes in forever darkness. Its not nearly that dark there.

Bottom Pic, i metered from just about everything there, including the shirts and bricks...

Result: Balcony and clothes are lit somewhat correctly, but the sky bright white like a fucking nuclear holocaust!

Camera is a 5D, its in aperture priority with auto white balance.

Ok, now you can all br00tally rip my asshole to shreds like i deserve.
EXIF data available. Clickhereto show/hide.
Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeCanonCamera ModelCanon EOS 5DSerial Number-106366699Image-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2008:03:02 16:20:54RenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardExposure Time1/2000 secF-Numberf/5.6Exposure ProgramAperture PriorityISO Speed Rating400Lens Aperturef/5.7Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length24.00 mmColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width4368Image Height2912Camera Actuations1178940466
>> Anonymous
Shutter Actuations - 1178940466
Thats a lot of pics...

Dynamic range sucks for digital, this is where you either "don't take a pic", or blow highlights or shadows somewhere. Or well you can always use external lighting to light up the foreground, but I believe the 5D's flash sync is 1/250 (therefore good luck doing that).
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
this is a tough call. on the one hand, it's disappointingly feasible that someone bought a 5D without knowing how to meter. on the other,

troll.
>> OP
Swear to god I'm not a troll, just a dumbshit.

I mean fuck, i tried to meter of just about everything! Always turns out like one of those two!

If anyone has any ideas, i will try it and post back the results.

Prove yourselves if you think your so great! Who can solve this problem first?
>> Anonymous
>>133719
Matrix metering, Adjust exposure compensation as you see fit
Voila.
Or you can just realize that spot metering aims at exposing the spot at 80% gray, and ignores all other aspects of the pic.
>> Anonymous
well in digital you always want to shoot for your highlights

which is the sky in this picture. so meter for the sky and mess aroudn in photoshop untill you get a decent image. usaly you want to avoid problumatic shooting scenarios
>> OP
>>133721

Ok, I'm not educated on matrix metering, but i'm researching it now.

So thats it then? a 5D can't take landscape photos? LOL Come the fuck on...

Fuck sake, Sony cybershots can at least take a pic of that scene and get the colours right.
>> Anonymous
would HDR solve the problem?
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
>>133719

alright, fine. your spot meter is always going to try and turn whatever it sees into middle gray. doesn't matter why, that's just what you need to know. so, if you point your spot meter at something bright (like the sky, or a white piece of paper), the camera has to underexpose to get that bright thing dark enough. likewise, if you point your spot meter at something dark, like a dark t-shirt, it'll overexpose to brighten the target to middle grey. so, the trick is to meter off something that you want to be middle grey (in terms of brightness).

the problem with this scene is that, yeah. it really is that dark on your balcony, or at least that's how the camera sees it. it can only record a fraction of what your eye can see.
>> OP
>>133725

Haha, it would be good for a laugh anyway
>> Anonymous
>>133717Shutter Actuations - 1178940466

that's a generic number but i think that's obvious

it might mean something to canon but there's no counter unless you have a 1d
>> Anonymous
>>133728
really? all nikon's have shutter actuations. Its handy for when buying used gear it gives a bit of an indication as to how much it was used.

I could have bought a D2Xs with 112,000 shutter actuations on it for $1000
I saw the 112,000 and went FUCK NO
>> OP
>>133726

Thanks fence, this was the answer i was looking for.

It's funny, my photography teacher said this...
"Always meter of the brightest colour unless its white"

Some random photographer on the street told me..
"Always meter from a middle-ground type of colour"

Which i take he means "middle grey".

Gunna try some more "middle grey" metering and see what i get out there...
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
>>133730

i was wondering what the fuck ever happened to you and that camera. too many goddamn people post on /p/ with interesting dilemmas and then disappear forever. whatever happened to that lesbian that wanted to pictures of another girl in her underwear?

anyway. OP, here's what you do. stick with spot metering; you'll learn a lot faster this way. everytime you're metering a scene, meter the brightest part and the darkest part first. this will tell you what sort of brightness range you'll be working under. if there are more than 5 stops difference (wikipedia "stop" for more info) between the brightest part of your scene and the darkest, you're risking blown highlights or shadows. you can usually stretch it to 7 stops, but 5 is nice and safe. learn to see how your camera sees. you can see into shadows just fine, but they're almost completely black to your camera. bright stuff looks okay to you, but it's pure white to your camera.
>> Anonymous
>>133732
ya, I played with the camera, he cleaned it up nice, I couldn't even tell. but I took some test shots first and when i loaded it up and saw the 112,000 i was like WTF, thread died before i could post about it
>> Anonymous
>>133725would HDR solve the problem?

no, seriously, would HDR help this situation?

underexposed picture for the sky, normal picture, overexposed for the shadows

then merge it in one picture, no?
>> Anonymous
>>133731
Back in the day when people shot slide film, we used to meter for highlights. To do that, you pick the object in the scene that you want to be the brightest object in the scene that still has detail, then overexpose by two stops (give or take, depending on the film). The meter will set the object as middle gray, they you use exposure compensation to push that object to the upper edge of the film's dynamic range.

You can also meter for shadows, where you pick the object that you want to be the darkest in the scene while still having detail. Meter on that, then underexpose by approximately two stops. It works the same way, except this time you're pushing the object to the bottom end of the film's dynamic range.

If you combine those two methods with metering for neutral gray, you're starting to use the zone system. It's all good stuff to know if you really want to understand how to control your exposure.
>> Anonymous
ITT ass hole op
thats all i have to say
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
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>>133735

see, this is where it begins. just a casual curiosity about hdr. maybe i'll just try it a little bit, you tell yourself. just to fill in some shadows, you say.

the next thing you know, you're taking 30 exposures of the same scene in 1/3 stop increments, just so you're sure you can capture everything. and then... this.
>> OP
>>133732

Excellent. Its all making sense. Researching stops now.

I don't think there is much i can do with that scene in my original pic other than a flash i guess.

Unless HDR'Z IT!!!
>> Anonymous
>>133739

if you wanted to deviantart or flickr it, sure

but to get the scene as something your eye would see, wouldn't HDR work?
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
>>133742

yeah. doesn't make it a better photo, though. it's really frustrating when you first start out in photography and you realize that your camera can only record a small fraction of what you see. but then you wise up and realize that contrast and a limited tonal range are powerful tools for the photographer. the goal isn't to record a scene exactly as the eye sees it, it's to interpret the scene for maximum effect.
>> Anonymous
>>133745

okay, so it does work! i've never tried those overdone HDR pictures from DA

but i've always understood it as combining multiple exposures to get more detail in shadows and highlights
>> Anonymous
>>133740

/r/equesting the HDR'd pic RITE NAO
>> Anonymous
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Camera-Specific Properties:Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS3 MacintoshImage-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2008:03:02 04:12:33Color Space InformationUncalibratedImage Width546Image Height364
>> OP
>>133761

LMFAO, it actually works to how i imagined the original shot to look like!

Just needed to use the tripod haha.
>> Compton
Now that you know about dynamic range and HDR, please FIND MORE INTERESTING SUBJECTS TO SHOOT!!
>> Anonymous
ITT a person with too much money for their own good.
>> Anonymous
>>133785
But, wait. I thought HDR makes every subject interesting.
>> Anonymous
my god... a 5D and a guy who does not know how to use it...


why you didnt get a 300D or 350D, you could have kept money for whatever other shit you want, including whores for shooting
>> Anonymous
>>133724


wait, its a troll
>> Anonymous
>>133761

You may hve imagined that the original shot would look like this, but this is impossible to get on your camera without incredibly skilled use of graduated filters.

If you're not a troll then go fuck yourself. Buying a 5D probably made your pictures worse than they would be since you are apparently 100% clueless.