Darkened Shadows ~ Make them go away!

My company recently upgraded our digital camera to the Rebel XTi, previously used a Nikon P4. Now when I use the Canon shadows come out very darkened, when I try to lighten it in Photoshop it gets grainy. I take photos for a real estate company so it is important for me to be able to get a good photo. Is there any setting that I can change on the camera to help with this? I am VERY new to photography so please be detailed. Even a link to information would be great.

Thanks!

A sample image would help us in answering you better.

It is your opinion that the shadows are too dark, how are the midtones and highlights, do they seem correct.

In photoshop there is the shadow/highlight recovery choice. This can work fairly well on the shadows as long as you don't overdo it to the point where it attracts noise.

Again, an image would be most helpful here.

Sorry I didn't think about that!

This is the only image that I could find right now that I have not modified in some way.

If you notice in the doorway and the trees the shadows are very dark. It is worse when I have a shadow over the entire front of a house. I have used the shadow/highlight adjustment but I am finding that I have to adjust it way to much to get it light enough.

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If you're doing realestate photography I think that this shot is way underexposed. You probably can afford to shot at least -1EV (ie. slow down the shutterspeed, or open up the aperature). The sky in this shot is well exposed. I would expect that you will end up blowing out the sky when you get the house properly exposed.

It is very under exposed. The histogram is from about the middle pushed up against the left side. Here is what Fred Miranda's Shadow Recovery action I have does to it at it's max recovery setting:

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In that shot the cam is trying to expose for the highlight on the back of the car. You'd have been better off if you'd taken a reading off the grass. Read through these:

Gray card: Why your meter may be lying to you!
I found something that I didn't expect!

What’s best for exposure, Gray cards, white paper, expensive attachments for the lens?
Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?

Need an exposure crutch?
Don’t have a gray or white card, or hand held meter with you? “Film tricks” can help you out.

In this shot, the dynamic range is too great to be presented nicely without some type of hdr.

To fix this, wait for a better time of day when the light is softer and the shadows are less harsh.

davidmigl wrote in post #2215455
In this shot, the dynamic range is too great to be presented nicely without some type of hdr.

To fix this, wait for a better time of day when the light is softer and the shadows are less harsh.

Thats what I was going to say.
bad lighting.