Exposure

[[godfather]]

I just have clicked this shot with elinchrom, 400d and Sigma 17-70.

I just randomly selected the manual settings. SS 1/160, F/8.0, Sorry for the BG, I was too tired to setup the things

Please tell me if this exposure is correct. Focus on Nose

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[Bumgardnern]

You tell me. Is this the look that you were going for? Over and under exposure can be subjective. If you are going for a moody look this is just fine. Generally speaking I would say this is a bit under exposed though.

[Skonk]

I think it would be hard to up the exposure much more than that without the left side becomming blown, with the current lighting.

[[godfather]]

Actually what I wanted is one side properly exposed and other more on the dark side. For me its what I want. But still want expert opinion.

[Seanzky]

Did you try f/5.6?

[Titus213]

IMO you need to ease the shadows on the right side. A reflector or very slight fill light would work for that. You are close to blown out on the left side and too dark on the right.

And focus on the eyes, always the eyes.

[[godfather]]

Did you try f/5.6?
5.6 of what?

[[godfather]]

IMO you need to ease the shadows on the right side. A reflector or very slight fill light would work for that. You are close to blown out on the left side and too dark on the right.

And focus on the eyes, always the eyes.
Thanx for the inputs :)

[[godfather]]

Are these good? These are clicked by a photography illiterate, so pardon for the framing and other aspects. Kindly comment on the lighting. Actually this is me

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[hawk911]

;7795879']5.6 of what?


Please read this- then answer your own question:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0817463003/bookstorenow57-20)

[[godfather]]

Thankyou sir! I m about to buy the book.

Can you please comment on the photos?

[Gentleman Villain]

;7794716']

Please tell me if this exposure is correct. Focus on Nose



I believe that the proper exposure is set to control the highlight. In the case of your teddy bear, the highlight is obviously the white fur. The current exposure is only about 1/6th stop too dark. So probably another 1/6th stop of light would be just about perfect exposure for the subject and the current lighting setup....or just a slight bump in levels in post will be perfect.

Overall, as long as an exposure is within 1/6th stop for a controlled highlight then that is considered an excellent exposure.

[Gentleman Villain]

1) This image is about what the proper exposure for a truly controlled highlight should appear. It would be about 1/6th of a stop brighter than the original image:
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii176/ConsensusTrance/one-six.jpg


2) This image would be the equivalent of about 1/3rd of a stop brighter than the original image. It is a little too bright for a controlled highlight:
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii176/ConsensusTrance/one-third.jpg

The bottom image (2) is probably the one that most people would prefer...But it's actually too bright and the highlight is starting to blow out. I learned to judge exposure by pushing and pulling E-6 film in a lab and going by eyesight instead of histograms. If an exposure is within 1/6th of a stop then it is usually considered an excellent exposure. If it is about 1/3rd of a stop off then it is a decent exposure but not perfect. If it is 1/2 of a stop or more off then that would be considered a bad day for the photographer

THese examples are of very subtle differences. THey might appear differently on my monitor than other people's monitors. But this is how I would have judged the exposure visually when I worked in a lab and processed film.

[hawk911]

;7796470']Thankyou sir! I m about to buy the book.

Can you please comment on the photos?

Can't see them from work.

[Gentleman Villain]

BTW - Did you put a flag between the light source and the lens? There appears to be a loss of contrast...but I'm not sure if that is flare or something else that may have been done in post.

[[godfather]]

Can't see them from work.
No PRoblems Sir, I would be waiting for your comments.

[[godfather]]

@Gentleman, thankyou for the elaboration Sir.

[[godfather]]

BTW - Did you put a flag between the light source and the lens? There appears to be a loss of contrast...but I'm not sure if that is flare or something else that may have been done in post.
No, I did not do that. I thought to did a test. So tomorrow, in second atte,pt, I will use the hood on lens.

[Gentleman Villain]

;7796780']No, I did not do that. I thought to did a test. So tomorrow, in second atte,pt, I will use the hood on lens.

Flare might be effecting your exposure....It's not possible to get a perfect exposure and also have flare. Try and always make sure that it's not possible to see any of the surface of the light source from the position of the camera lens. If so, there will be flare and then a perfect exposure isn't possible.

For example, if you can put your eyes right in front of the lens and see the white surface of a softbox...then that means there will be flare. So there must be some kind of flag positioned between the lens and the white surface of softbox in order to prevent flare. A lens hood might not be enough protection from flare....it may require a small flag or black card.

Flare can often be very subtle and hard to see...it often is just a slight loss of contrast.

[[godfather]]

Ya I could see the white softbox over the front element of the lens. I will use some sort of protection tomorrow, starting from Lens Hood. If that doesnt help, I will move forward to use something else then.

[hawk911]

my shot with flare looked like this: intentionally done though.

http://hawkphotography.smugmug.com/photos/412010372_exBjq-L.jpg

[Gentleman Villain]

hawk911 - Thanks for posting that pic... That is a perfect example of what most people have been trained to see as flare. But most of the time flare is less obvious and will only show up as a slight loss of contrast similar to the OPs original photo.

This thread started as a discussion about exposure, but it's a good opportunity to discuss the issue of flare and flagging that isn't taken as seriously as it should be by most photographers. Everytime the surface of a light source is visible from the position of the camera lens then there will be flare unless flagged. It kind of horrifies me that most of the online tutorials and how-to books don't cover the serious use of flags. A competent studio will often have as many flags present on the set as light sources. Unfortunately, many of the popular photo blogs and photo sharing sites are filled wtih serious flare offenders...a flare nightmare :D Just wanted to give a heads up to those that are interested

[Skonk]

Hope you dont mind, I know you introduced the flare intentionally..

Just wanted to point out for other people that, if you ever find an awesome shot has been ruined by flare that thanks to the magic of Photoshop (Levels tool = win) they can sometimes be salvaged to some degree :)

http://www.skonk.net/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1020&g2_serialNumber=1

[[godfather]]

M learning it!!:D