jrsteeve
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
|
Been using the camera for over a year now but rarely take it off the 'Tv' setting and adjust the shutter speed to make it brighter/darker, sometimes though they can be really overexposed if in a dark room with a window (like in the pics below)
http://www.manchesterpropertygroup.co.uk/propinfo.php?pid=182
I'd rather avoid having to use a tripod but am realising it may now be necessary for some pics. Does anyone know what I should be adjusting or have any tips? I'm aiming for them to come out a bit more like this - http://www.clydeproperty.co.uk/buying/falkirk/letham/letham-terrace/6785.html - for clarity and brightness.
Any help mucho appreciated 
|
Rob E
Member
Registered: 1st Jan 06
Location: Madeley, Stafford....I want to live back in Wales!
User status: Offline
|
I would seriously suggest you invest in a proper flashgun, that way you can fill out the room with flash and then your windows wont look blown out kind of thing. I can honestly say it has made the biggest improvement to my photograph out of everything I have purchased.
Also you can set the camera's light metering mode to spot metering which will take a light reading from closer to the centre of what is being projected through the lens.
Here is one of mine, the room had a tiny window in and was quite a dark room. I put the flash in the corner of the room and fired it off with a wireless trigger. Ideally it could have done with a diffuser to even out the bounce you can see on the ceiling but I didn't have one with me at the time of shooting. I could even crop the ceiling out and I would be happy with it really, its evenly lit up the features of the room which was the important part!
You can still achieve similar results with the flashgun mounted on camera, you just aim the flash up at the ceiling and it gives you a very even, and a much more natural looking spread of light
|
BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
|
jrsteeve, can you use photoshop?
|
Matt L
Member
Registered: 17th Apr 06
User status: Offline
|
make sure the metering mode is set to spot and not evaluative (this may blow the window light out though).
I would personally use av mode and change the aputure and let the camera worry about shutter speed (always have and always will unless im using manual) (f8 would be best i imagine) although you may then need to up the iso/use a tripod to get a decent picture but if you up the iso too much obviously starts to get pixelated.
[Edited on 19-04-2012 by Matt L]
|
jrsteeve
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
|
Cheers for the info, will have a look into spot metering on the next set. I can usually get decent results in TV mode, it's the lower light photos I struggle on without the tripod as it's fairly impractical to cart it around unless i'm in the car.
Gave photoshop a go years ago but gave up, far too much going on and a bit too complicated. I use Photoscape to resize the images, it has a few other functions too but brightening them through it often makes them look odd.
|
Rob E
Member
Registered: 1st Jan 06
Location: Madeley, Stafford....I want to live back in Wales!
User status: Offline
|
Another thing you could try if you havent already is shooting in RAW format instead of JPEG format. It captures an awful lot more data than a JPEG and you get an awful lot more adjustment. (i.e you can adjust the brightness and wont induce as much noise and distortion etc). You can download Canon's RAW editor for free from their website. Have a go in your own house with poor lighting conditions and see if its of any use
|
Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by BluKoo
jrsteeve, can you use photoshop?
That won't fix blown highlights and it'll take far longer to rectify an exaggerated tonal range than if you just took the photograph properly in the first place.
Three issues for me -
How much light you have.
How much light you have relative to ambient (outside).
How you meter the light.
In the case where the windows are blown out you just need more light in the room - or less coming in, but preferably the former as it's then less critical that you get the camera stable as the shutter can be faster and also the WB is easier to predict. Slow shutter and dim, artificial light are two things you'll never go back to putting up with once you've got proper flash equipment.
On the photos with limited ambient light, you need a longer shutter and also you're not really in control of the white balance, hence why the bathroom pic in your example is orange and horrible, not sharp and full of shadows. Tripod would fix the sharpness issues but you still have the white balance to contend with.
On the photos with a small window and lots of shadow, you're getting dark spots, like the kitchen. Similar issue but because you've more light the WB is less noticeable. Still the shadows/dark areas issue though.
On the photos where you're photographing a window, you're either getting a correctly metered window/outdoor and a massively underexposed interior or a correctly exposed interior and a blown highlight on the window.
In all cases, taking control of the light will give make you significantly less vulnerable to those conditions.
In its most basic form, you need a good flash gun. Your main purchasing decision should be whether you can direct the flash, most of the time at the ceiling. Even an old 550 will do that if you don't want to pay 580 mk ii money, although the 550 doesn't meter as accurately as the newer stuff (although you have mains electricity and lots of memory so you could just enable exposure bracketing and take a load of pics). Also an old 550 might be getting tired and be unreliable. They do have a limited lifespan.
Step up from that you need a few guns around the room which can be triggered remotely. Again the 550 will do this as well but you'll spend more time setting it up.
If anything I would stay away from spot metering because you're basically only considering a very small portion of the scene. So if you point it out of the window you'll get only the outdoors metered and completely ignore the rest of the room. If you point it at a dark corner, the corner will come out OK but the rest of the pic will be completely blown.
The way I would approach that is that you're looking to equalise and average out all the light on all the surfaces and details. Hence regular every day average metering should be fine. Even centre weighted could potentially introduce the same issues that you have with spot, albeit less acute.
If its lit properly and there are no dark corners or massively contrasty windows, the metering and therefore the final exposure really will look after itself.
[Edited on 20-04-2012 by Ian]
|
jrsteeve
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
|
Awesome write up Ian, cheers for that. Will have a look into a decent flash gun, don't mind paying for a good one as i've already shelled out a fair amount for the camera and the Sigma 10-20mm lens.
|
BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ian
quote:
Originally posted by BluKoo
jrsteeve, can you use photoshop?
That won't fix blown highlights and it'll take far longer to rectify an exaggerated tonal range than if you just took the photograph properly in the first place.
I was simply going to suggest he could blend 2 exposures. A very simple job.
|
