Dxenion Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I borrowed an SLR to have a bit of a play for the first time. Happened by chance (not planning) to capture an image I like but I obviously had the wrong settings and overexposed the photo badly. The dog is a White Swiss Shepherd but he's not that white! I've tried photoshop - duplicate layer, multiply but this doesn't fix the image. Can it be saved or will I have to try again? If I have to try again, could someone please provide a SLR for dummies guide on exactly what settings will get the sharpest image when shooting in continuous mode. The dog will be moving left to right under a patio and it could be overcast or with a little sun. Camera is a Canon EOS500D with a EFS 18-55 lens. I've included the photo data for this image so someone can tell me where I went wrong. Camera was in M mode if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumCorner Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Bad luck because it is a nice shot. First prob was your very high ISO. Maybe bring it back to 200 or 400. Then set on aperture priority, set your aperture to f8 (5.6 was you second prob, letting too much light in). The aperture priority has a Canon buzz-word I'm not sure of. Anyway that is going to let the camera choose the shutter speed to suit the aperture. See how that goes. Then try on shutter priority (another Canon buzz-word needed) with a shutter speed of at least 250th so you can hand hold without giving the blur that 125th has given you (125th is just a bit slow for hand holding). Shutter priority will hold the speed at 250th and allow the camera to choose the aperture. If you can borrow the camera again it's worth playing around. If you can only borrow it as a one-off again, take some shots using automatic. Then some on automatice 'sports mode' to get a higher shutter speed. Make sure the battery is freshly charged so it is not letting you down, and have a new or newly formatted card so you can take lots. Trying to salvage severe over-exposure isn't generally successful - if the image is burned and gone there is nothing to salvage. But the main thing in this shot is the ISO, just too high for those manual settings of 5.6/125th. A Canon user might have something more Canon-specific to offer. And go back to Kirislin's thread - http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/223830-very-clever-especially-for-new-dslr-owners/ - and check out her simulator link. It is a clever way of showing correlation between ISO, shutter and aperture (which are the basic three corners of correct exposure). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 As far as I understad it once you blow out/overexpose a shot or part of a shot, there isn't any way to fix it as technically there is no pixels in the blown out area to work with. Hope that makes sense. Perhaps experienced people know a way? White dogs are hard to shot, Some good tips from PC, I usually find I just have a play to see what works in different situations as what works for one won't work for another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Try adjusting the levels (assuming you're using photoshop). A lot of the time it's sort of salvageable, but it's not gonna be perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RottnBullies Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 On Canon: aperture priority = Av / shutter priority = Tv I'm great at overexposing and I think white dogs are hard to capture, but I thought I should finally start playing with RAW Images and granted that my processing skills aren't that great, I'm Impressed with what I was able to save from my overexposed shots, here's an example So yeah technically tlc there is a way to save blown out shots, but If It's too blown out I guess even In RAW It can't be saved PC has offered some great advice, I'm still trying to master the white dog dilemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 What Rottn said If you shoot in RAW, there is more room to recue under/over exposed images. Even if that image was RAW though, it probably wouldn't be able to be saved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stutterfly Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Nah I'd say the whites are blown completely on that. As others have said, shoot in raw and lower your ISO and exposure comp. in daylight conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda K Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 hard to tell from the thumbnail, but looks way too blown out to save to my eyes. A nice snapshot otherwise. Agree with taking it off M until you have a better grasp of what to do, put it on TV, chose a shutter speed f say at least 1/250 or 1/500, if you are in bright light ISO 100, less bright try ISO 200 or 400, and let the camera chose the aperture. If the camera can't get an aperture to suit, look for it to be blinking at you and adjust the ISO accordingly until it does not - it will use the blinking to tell you that it can't achieve exposure at the settings you have given it. With that model camera, I would not be pushing it to ISO 3200, images will be very noisy unless they are perfectly exposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 the link in this thread has a great camera simulator to help you understand how different settings work. Have a look http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/223830-very-clever-especially-for-new-dslr-owners/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dxenion Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 (edited) Thank you everyone for your comments and advice. I was able to adjust the settings as recommended and take an almost identical photo. This time it was a little underexposed because the sun suddenly disappeared behind thunder clouds (where did they come from?) just as we sent the dog through the door. Didn't have time for further shots as the sky opened up! I really appreciate your help. Edited July 27, 2011 by Dxenion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubiton Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 The best way to judge the light needed is the light meter in the viewfinder - if thats in the centre you shoudl be fine. A little either side shoud be fine but too far and it will be under or over. If the light goes to the 2 mark on eithe rside tghe exposure is completely out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Practice, Practice, practice!! oh, and then practice!! Set up something .. like a white dog sitting/lying then take a few dozen shots, on different settings .. and see which ones worked ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dxenion Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 This is the reshot photo - a much better result thanks to all your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Much more detail.Well Done ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 This is the reshot photo - a much better result thanks to all your advice. Wow, it's a very predictable routine isn't it. At least it wasn't one of those once in a lifetime opportunities You will be able to practice your settings with this till you get it spot on. The second attempt is much much better. It's small so I cant see it too well, I'm not sure how sharp and if focus it is. Try to post a bigger pic please. I suspect the dog is moving fairly fast when it comes through the door so try for a fast shutter speed. If it was a whippet I'd have it at least 1/1000th. you might need to change other camera settings to compensate for the fast shutter but because the dog does the same thing every time it's something you can play around with on your camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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