DannyJS wrote:
You don't say what camera you're using. Anyway have you tried setting your camera to Centre-weighted or Spot metering??? Also try setting your Exposure Compensation anywhere between +.3 to +1.0.
Hope the above helps.
You need minus compensation for dark tones-not plus!
Remember the zone system?
Fed Archer/Ansel Adams developed the Zone System
To control exposure and contrast for black and white film photography
And To pre-visualize finished image after post processing in the darkroom,
There are11 zones black to white-each zone represent 1 EV (exposure value) stop:
0 Total black
I Almost black-no detail
II Dark grey-black -very dark detail in shadows
III Very dark grey-shadow detail-dark animal fur
IV Medium dark grey-dark green foliage, shadow side of Caucasian face
Dark stone-landscape shadow-dark skin-details plainly visible
V Medium grey-green grass-grey stone-dry tarmac-excellent detail
VI Rich mid-tone grey-Caucasian skin in sunlight-light stone and sand
VII Bright light grey-white with texture-silver hair
VIII Almost white-Delicate texture-no detail-reflected highlights on Caucasian skin
IX Nearly pure white
X Absolute white
Each zone is a tone between black and white
Each zone is either half or twice the exposure of its neighbour, depending on whether you are going up or down, For example Zone III is 2 stops darker than zone V, and zone VII is 2 stops lighter than zone V-As you move your exposure one stop (ev) say, from f 8 to f 11,or from 1/60sec to 1/125sec, you will have moved the exposure one zone
Although developed for black and white film, it can still be useful for digital imaging, and once you get used to using it, your resulting images will be superior to anything you have done before..
It can be difficult to understand that when working in color, that black and white and tones of grey can apply. Your cameras meter sees in black, white and tones of grey in between.
So to help you understand:
Your cameras built-in meter will average everything it sees as mid-grey (18% or 13%-whichever you believe to be correct) > ZONE V!
To prove that this is so, try this experiment:
Get a piece of white paper and a piece of black paper ( A4 sheets) take separate photo of each sheet, filling the frame, in the same lighting conditions, using the cameras meter - Surprise, Surprise! They both came out mid-grey. This is because the cameras meter averages out the scene, giving an average exposure for the scene at ZONE V.
The cameras light meter will measure and average everything its pointed at
So it becomes necessary to switch to spot metering-a spot meter will measure only a very small angle (1-2 Degrees)-spot metering will let the camera know the most important part of the scene in front of it.
Ok. Lets assume you have a Caucasian model against a relatively dark background-So you assess the scene before you, and decide that the models face is the most important part of the scene.
Usually Caucasian skin registers at Zone VI or Zone VII, (Even though we are looking at a color scene, the camera only sees light and dark.) When we spot meter for models face, this will register on camera as Zone V
We have decided to rate the models skin at Zone VII, and this means we must open up 2 EV stops to achieve this:
If we are in manual shooting mode, this will require us to either a) Decrease the shutter speed from, say 1/250th sec to 1/60th sec, or b) 0pen up aperture from, say F8 to F4.
If you are in auto mode/scene exposure mode, set exposure compensation to +2
Always do a final check using your histogram: In some situations, by placing the subject at a certain zone, could result in other areas of the image being under or over exposed.