out door pics seem too bright 7D

I’ve got a 7D and the kit lens, along with a nifty fifty..
I’ve tried attaching a hood to both lens and seem that I have to get my pics into Photoshop and darken and adjust red/blue tones to get them where I like them.
I haven’t tried any filters yet, but I’m thinking that is my problem.

For information I have been shooting car shows, outdoors, bright daylight, very shiny cars/chrome.

Any ideas or things to try would be greatly appreciated.

-james

The solution isn't lenses, hoods or filters usually, but correct exposure. If you are using any of the automatic exposure settings (other than the full auto, which doesn't allow this I think), use some negative exposure compensation. See your manual.

You can also post a sample here. It's possible, if not calibrated, your monitor is set too bright.

I agree, post a sample. If your adjusting brightness and colors but have not calibrated your monitor, you may be making changes to your images based on one faulty monitor.

and theres roughly 2000 pics of an indoor/outdoor car show here http://www.ifitsgotwhe​els.com/new/main.php?g​2_itemId=19517

I presume the first image is a processed version of the second, which was essentially as captured.
The original is correctly exposed. Your processing has enhanced contrast and (over)saturation, but you have lost detail in the dark areas. Welcome to the world of post-processing.

Post is often a matter of personal choice. The top one has the contrast cranked up, imo. Black levels are too high. May be oversharpened.

The bottom one actually could use a slightly higher black level or pull back the exposure, slightly.

xarqi wrote in post #11419918
I presume the first image is a processed version of the second, which was essentially as captured.
The original is correctly exposed. Your processing has enhanced contrast and (over)saturation, but you have lost detail in the dark areas. Welcome to the world of post-processing.

ok maybe its just my personal taste then, i like them a bit darker and over enhanced contrasting.

thanks for having a look.

-james

bohdank wrote in post #11419937
The bottom one actually could use a slightly higher black level or pull back the exposure, slightly.

ill try stepping the exposure on the next round of outside bright shooting.


thank you guys

What metering mode are you using?

bk2life wrote in post #11419940
ok maybe its just my personal taste then, i like them a bit darker and over enhanced contrasting.

And there's nothing wrong with that. The camera is delivering a very good starting point for you to imprint your own artistic expression. I guess my point is that there's nothing wrong with your set up, so there's nothing to fix.

Someone referenced it earlier but I'm not sure it was addressed.

Is your monitor calibrated? I'd be interested in seeing how those two images print.

Most monitors out of the box have the brightness bumped way up and when you're editing you end up with dark prints.

xarqi wrote in post #11420021
And there's nothing wrong with that. The camera is delivering a very good starting point for you to imprint your own artistic expression. I guess my point is that there's nothing wrong with your set up, so there's nothing to fix.

Exposure seems fine to me. I found the 7D to be very good in the autoexposure modes.