program auto -thumbs down

[mediyoga]

Pl see the two pics I took. This is the rear of my house. I was standing on the ground floor. The focus point was kept on the mid point of the sunshade. The first is on program auto iso 100, and the second on manual iso 100 , 125/ F8 and the diff is obvious! The details are much better with no or little shadows. I remember CDi saying to stay away from program Auto indoors. Is it a better idea to avoid program auto outdoors to , esp in a scene like this betwen walls.

Am I correct in assuming that Program auto seems "fairly ok" when
the light is more even unlike a sunny day with strong shadows?

A "cloudy" day seems better as this avoids strong uneven lighting.

All comments welcome!
Cheers
Krishna Raman

[jamison55]

Actualy the Program auto got the scene right here, while the Manual settings were completely wrong! The first shot is well exposed with detail in the highlight areas. The 2nd is very OVER exposed with all of the detail from the white wall on the right completely blown out.

This scene has nothing to do with the camera settings and everything to do with the strong contrast between the shadow and highlight areas. The only way to properly expose this whole scene would be to throw some light into the shadow areas (i.e. use your flash!)

[aparmley]

I have to agree with Jamison's assessment, I much prefer the first photograph to the second. The contrast that exists between the shadows and highlights are recorded more accurately in the first and the exposure of the sky is much better in the first.

I think whats important to see here is that while the shadows in the first are stronger than in the second, the detail is still present in the shadows while exposing the brightest areas correctly = good exposure.

[cdifoto]

A lot of people leave their camera on P mode for grab shots in situations where the camera can't really possibly get it "wrong". Outdoor during the day is usually a good example. You may not get the depth of field you want if it chooses a different aperture than you would have preferred but it won't totally destroy the photo either. There's enough light that the shutter speed will be fast enough even if the camera decides on a narrow aperture, and if the camera thinks a wide aperture is required (I don't really think the camera opts for this very often although I could be wrong), the shutter speed will just be all that much faster. Kind of a win-win "snapshot" mode.

[Prospero]

I agree with Jamison and Aparmley that the first shot is better than the second one. However, I can imagine that you think the contrast is a bit too harsh. It's probably different to what you imagined it looked like. Like Jamison said you could use your flash, but you can also fix it in post processing. This will of course yield results of a lower quality than if you had used flash, but in some cases you cannot go back to take the same shot again.

One easy way to fix this problem is using the shadow/highlight feature in Photoshop. With this tool you can greatly reduce the contrast between shadows and highlights. As always, there are many different approaches you could take when using photoshop.

[mediyoga]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I aim to shoot again today afternoon and use my 580 ex to fill flash and see what happens. questions

1)Unlike indoor shots where the camera does not calculate for the flash in program auto, does this mean that in outdoor shots the default metering is considred "ok"?

2) In this situation if I dont use a fill flash to tone down the shadows, how about upping the iso to 400 in program auto as it is a shadowy area? I ask this because I accidentally did this and have attached the result below. Would you consider the pic still harsh with blown out areas? The reason I ask is the windows were not that much in shadows actually, which is why I thought that program auto underexposed it. There was a fair amount of light on it. Anyways I will repost another today with a fill flash @100 iso.
Thanks to all
Krishna

[cdifoto]

Looks like you still have blowouts at the top above the window and to the right. You should meter off of those areas and add just a wee bit of exposure compensation so it doesn't underexpose. That should give you a good balance.

[mediyoga]

Thats very good advice. I will try that today and repost along with one with a fill in flash. Thanks Cdi.
Krishna

[britkev]

Seems to me that in this shot there is so much difference between the brightest highlights and the darker shadows that it's going to be almost impossible to get it "just right"....

[cwphoto]

Seems to me that in this shot there is so much difference between the brightest highlights and the darker shadows that it's going to be almost impossible to get it "just right"....

Spot on.

The brightness range in this subject most likely exceeds the dynamic range of the sensor. Correct exposure is therefore a function of which part of the image is important to you...

[mediyoga]

CW photo, I was trying to get the windows well exposed, which is why I ended up fading the walls to the right of the windows. I will try a fill flash today
thanks
Krishna

[cwphoto]

CW photo, I was trying to get the windows well exposed, which is why I ended up fading the walls to the right of the windows. I will try a fill flash today
thanks
Krishna

I like it the way it is. Flash will just make it yucky.:p