sunlight and light surfaces overexposed

[rsud]

Not changed any default settings on the camera and
am in TV (shutter priority) mode.

Overall pictures are great. Lively, punchy.

But outdoors when its sunny light surfaces are overexposed and blurred out in white (Some taj
mahal pictures I took are not too good).

In TV mode what adjustments should I make?

[MiG82]

Why are you using Tv mode? It's pretty useless in most cases because aperture control is nearly always more important than the shutter speed. Tv mode is pretty much only for moving subjects.

Was the aperture indicator flashing red? This means that the aperture is too limited to admit the right amount of light (can't open up or shut enough).

The other thing is that in some photos you need to overexpose to get a decent photo. You could spot meter off areas a bit darker than the brightest ones, but then the rest of the photo will be underexposed.

[jpmccormac]

The answer above is helpful. Also, the dynamic range of digital cameras is limited to about five stops. Whenever you have a range of dark to light areas in the picture that exceeds this range, the camera cannot capture them and the meter will bias toward a middle 18% gray, usually causing the highlights to blow out (become very white or overexposed). When the scene is very bright like the Taj Mahal, you need to consider this in metering the subject. Try overexposing by 1 to 1.5 stops and check the results in Review mode. The G3's meter is quite good in evaluative mode, but not nearly as good as your brain. :)

[bradinvancouver]

And you could also take the same picture twice on a tripod - once exposed correctly for the bright spots, once for the darker areas. Then it's a matter of layering them together in photoshop. The ND filter can also be helpful in these situations, although better suited for times when the entire frame is too bright. If you have photoshop, under the image/adjustments menu, there's a shadows/highlights option - toy around with that and you'll be amazed with what you can dig out of an underexposed photo.

[pradeep1]

rsud, post some of your Taj Mahal pictures. I remember that when I went there and took pictures, my camera's meter wanted to make the beautifully white Mahal the middle gray. Overexposing as suggested above is a good way to compensate. Better way is using the double exposure to increase the range of what you capture. Of course, you need a tripod and patience. If you try to take in a tripod into the Mahal, the local authorities will harass you and try to get more money out of you, so be careful. One option is a minipod that you can mount on those many ledges in the park in front of the Mahal.

[Andy_T]

Hi,

some more basics ... maybe some are helpful


... always shoot RAW. That way you can correct the esposure later

... always UNDERexpose, when in doubt. You can correct underexposition, but not blown highlights.

Examples:

With BreezeBrowser, you can correct this

http://www.breezesys.com/BreezeBrowser/help/standrews_uncorrected.jpg

to look like this

http://www.breezesys.com/BreezeBrowser/help/standrews_corrected.jpg



And finally ... Don't worry, I'm sure there's already enough photos of the Taj Mahal :)

Have fun,
Andy