eyebidder

Hello all,
New to this forum. Using a D7000, set to Manual, ISO 200, AF-A, WB Auto 6500K flor. lights. Whenever I post process I always have to lighten the photo even though the camera says exposure is correct. Anyone have any suggestions?

thank you!

Budgiehawk

It sounds as though you may be photocopying white or light things and your camera is trying to render them medium gray. The exposure meter averages what is in the viewfinder. If not, you may have a problem with the camera, but that is less likely. Hope this helps.

stillducky

How dark are you talking about? I always post process and I have to lighten. It is better to have some blown out black that you won't notice than have some of the bright highlights blown out to pure white.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Check if you have auto exposure correction set on.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

wait, maybe the monitor is off, have you printed any of the pix yet? if they print ok, its the monitor and not the camera. You would need to calibrate the monitor. if it turns out to be the camera
its easy to correct, just change the exposure comp. which may be off and need to be reset.

eyebidder

My background(these are still pictures of jewelry) is white along with some white reflectors, so maybe there's just too much "brightness".

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

If you are talking about florescent lights - that can be the problem -

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

What metering mode are you using? The usual choices are Average, Center Weighted, Matrix (evaluative) and Spot. Average is self explanatory. Center Weighted will provide 60% of the meter's focus to the center of the image, which may be useful in back or side lit subjects. Matrix will look at the entire image and make a decision about how much overexposure to allow with highlights based on zones, color, contrast, and some very proprietary factors. Each camera is a little different in this style of metering. Spot metering will just look at what is under the focus point. It allows you to be very precise in measuring reflected light, and make some decisions about what your camera is seeing.

You might find this helpful:

http://photographylife.com/understanding-metering-modes

Something different happens with fluorescent and other lights that flicker with the phase - 60 cycle - 120 peaks and valleys per second, but the human eye generally sees the persistence as continuous light. The camera will see is as continuous as long as your exposure is longer that 1/120. If you use a shorter exposure, you may run into the problem that you caught the light at the peak of a negative wave, where light intensity is lowest.

http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/4115/do-fluorescent-lighting-and-shutter-speed-create-a-problem-with-color-cast
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/flickering-lights.aspx
http://photographylife.com/light-frequency-issue

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Sounds to me like you are metering mostly the white background, in which case your meter is correct - it is calibrated to render the scene 18% grey (or thereabouts). Try increasing your exposure by 1 or 1 1/2 stops and see what happens.

DaveHam Loc: Reading UK

There are several possibles to look at here.

The metering may be wrong; is there other ambient light as well as the florescents for example? The camera will interpret the metered selection as mid grey and meter accordingly so you may need to meter on an area of the shot that represents what you want as the mid tone and adjust the exposure accordingly.

Nikon errs on the side of caution with it's metering especially if you are using full or centre weighted meter modes. This can lead to exposures being a good stop darker than you might expect from the in camera meter; highlight blow out indicated in camera is usually a stop away approximately from the same indication in post.

bcrawf

Since you are metering a white background, you would need to increase the exposure 1 to 2 stops, otherwise your white background (which probably makes up most of the image area) will be exposed so as to render it medium gray (which is what a properly light meter does).

krvitali

When metering off anything that is predominately on the light to white side you need to compensate.

The important thing to remember is your light meter will try to make everything 18% grey regardless of the tone. That means scenes that are predominately dark will be light and should be underexposed. You may have to compensate predominately white scenes and overexpose to make your whites white. Also learn to use the histogram that will help you as well.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

As many have said, it may have something to with the way meters were set up. Kodak decided to calibrate them to photograph skin correctly as skin is 18% grey the meter was designed to read light in terms of 18% grey (sometimes called neutral grey). Metering off a grey card is for that reason. Meter a totally white bachground and the picture will be grey, same for a totally black background. Fortunately we all come equiped with an 18% grey card. The skin on your palm is 18% grey. So when in doubt place your hand in the same light as the subject and meter off your hand. However it probably won't wort under flourscent light, as thisis artificial. All that said, as long as you can correct the exposure in post, there is really no problem. As long as you are in manual set the meter reading 1 stop off so as to correct the exposure.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

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YES!

Gene is Correct, Again...

Being a retired electrician - I know about the Sixty Cycle "thing" .. Sometimes referred to as "the stroboscopic effect". And this may occur with L.E.D.'s as well... (They are D.C. - true = but NOT true FULL Wave D.C.) --- A Low shutter speed will help the problem - and you may need to make use of a tripod to have the best steady image capture.

Gene has provided - Again on the UHH great information. Read it and understand as to what is going on.

Thank You - again - Gene.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

i rarely rely on in-camera meters, and always use a hand held meter (gossen, pentax, sekonic) for making exposures with floods or strobe lights. i have always believed in-camera meters are limited and configured to the average in any exposure. hand held meters, incident and reflective, will always provide much better results. i've been using this method, in studio, for decades and have found this to be essential.

good luck with your images.