Black Photos - Help Understanding Settings

I'm very new to photography and to a new Canon 30D, so my question is embarrasing but must be asked as I try to figure out exposure.

I decided to try TV Priority, to try & catch a hummingbird. I don't have the right lens I know but it was more an exercise in shutter speeds to see if I could slow the wings. That I did, but the picture is soooo dark; I was able to lighten it up to see it but of course the image is grainy (too high ISO?) and not useable in the least.

I was about a foot away from the bird
Lens - 17-85mm F4 (presently trying to decide between 200 & 300 zoom)
Sunny day, late afternoon

TV priority - 1/1600
Aperture - 5.6
ISO 500
Focal length 85.0 mm
No flash

Is it the inappropriate lens that would cause the photos to be so dark or are my settings just totally whacked!

Another thing that surprised & disappointed me was that I expected to see that the image is going to be dark when I'm composing it through the viewfinder. But it looked fine, with no indication it would be dark. So I had no clue until I viewed it later - doesn't do me much good then!!

Thanks for your comments and advice... I'm struggling to "get this" with book references, no classes available where I am. It will really help to apply your advice to this experience. Much appreciated!

Please post an image so we can answer if you exposed for background, if you needed a fill flash, ect...

Excuse my ignorance... the photos were so bad I didn't think it would help.

This is the original

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Reduce shutter speed to 1/500 and increase ISO to 800.

Here's a link to one I took with a 10D and the 100mm macro lens at 1/200, f/4.5, and ISO 100.
http://www.flickr.com/​photos/liza_11/1842687​04/

It would appear you have set the EC for a couple of stops of underexposure. I don't know what metering mode you are using, but there is a hot spot in the central image...so if you had the camera set to spot meter, it might have read that...which in turn added to the underexposure. I think some additional time with your manual would be a good starter...followed by lots of test shots to get a feel for the various controls and the effects they have on a finished image.

You need to read a book on exposure. Bryan Petersen's Understanding Exposure Is a good start. You also need to know that you won't be able to view the results while looking through the viewfinder because it's purely optical in nature and doesn't take into account the effects of ISO, shutter speed and the reduced aperture (the viewfinder shows you the scene at the maximum aperture of the lens. The lens stops down to the require aperture when the shutter is released).

Mark

Thank you kindly for all your valuable advice...

I agree, it's back to the camera manual for me; I have just started reading Bryan Peterson's book on Exposure so hopefully that will help as well.

It looks like an exposure error. The ccamera is reading everything but the subject you're trying to capture. you might want to take it with a 2stop bracketing and try it in RAW and you might be able to recover during conversion. If this sounds a little over your head don't worry, just keep reading this site and keep posting your shots and ask alot of quetion you'll learn pretty quickly. good luck.

Thanks for the encouragement Lostdoggy.... I needed that!

I think now that it was an exposure error as well - likely caused by that hotspot Woolburr mentioned. (I was using evaluative metering)

I did much better today by switching to the Canon 100mm macro lens as Liza did (in lieu of the telephoto I don't have yet). Played with the different settings and tried to be more aware of the light. ISO is tripping me up, overexposed today but at least the images aren't black. It was cloudy versus the bright day yesterday so I got fooled, but I'll learn with practice. Not really sure how to judge that at all.

For my efforts I ended up getting stung by a hornet because I was so involved I didn't want to put the camera down!! They are terrible this year up here and very aggressive, I feel so sorry for the hummingbirds.

Thanks again everyone.... I'll go back to practicing and reading. These are not my best in terms of DOF but #1 is a big improvement over yesterday. They've been edited & cropped in RAW to compensate for going a little overboard with the ISO. I'll try again tomorrow!

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