Pictures blowing out...

[gsusmaniac]

I dont know what the deal is, but in aperture or shutter priority, all my pictures blow out. What could be causing this?

I am also getting some blown out shots with my 55-200 in bright sunlight.

This drives me nuts!

[gmtech79]

Have you done a two button reset (if the d40 has it) try that. Is there any ev compensation applied?

[Rooz]

it doesnt really have anything to do with the mode. basically, the camera is exposing for the shadows and midtones at the expense of the highlights. bright sunlight is quite dificult to meter alot of the time, particualrly if you have sharp contrast between shadows and light which is normally the case in really bright sunny conditions. check your iso aswell cos if your iso is high it will pull out the shadows but will really blow the highlights.

so this is really about metering, i assume your using matrix. try setting yourself to center weighted or take a spot meter reading of what you want to expose properly and then switch to manual mode to select your exposure settings.

some samples would help.

[gsusmaniac]

I know, I looked, but I have a quick delete finger! I will go take some tomorrow to show you what I mean. Then you can look at my settings and everything.

[Rooz]

take some shots in the shade or on a cloudy day, or indoors with the ame lens in the same modes and see if your highlights blow. that will reassure you there is nothing wrong with the camera itself and more to with the settigns you are using.

really bright sunny days, especially in the middle of the day when shadows are harshest, are probably the most difficult conditions of all to shoot in.

[gsusmaniac]

Yeah, I was shooting a wedding and got a lttle worried, but got some great shots. I need to learn not to delete the bad ones so fast, but my thumb is so quick lol!

It was very very bright and I took around a 1000 pictures to make sure I got good ones.

[Rooz]

ahhh weddings in full sun...white dresses, part shadows on faces, bright flowers... tough gig in those conditions. really tough. thats why you find alot of people, me included, use fill flash in that situation.

needelss to say if you shoot raw try and keep them cos you can fix alot of it in PP. i know its easy to delete on the fly, i do it alot aswell and kick myself later. you can also save alot of the clipped highlight ones for mono or duotone conversions where blown highlights arent as pronounced, so keep that in mind aswell.