Overexposure Problem

JSPhotography

I had a trouble with overexposure last weekend which has not been a problem for me in the past. Notice how the exposures are very different even though the conditions did not have time to change. All these shots were taken with my 40D and a Sigma 70-200 F2.8. The sky was heavy heavy clouds, looked like it was going to rain. The arena was dusty. Everything was aperture priority, evaluative metering, auto WB. The Exif data should be there I have only converted from RAW to Jpeg. Hope this makes sense.

#1 & 2 were back to back riders only a minute apart, f4.5, ISO 320, #1 gave me 1/640 while #2 was 1/800

#1


#2


These were shot at ISO 500, F4.5, #3 1/2000, The rider did the jump over a minute later, I picked these also becouse I stayed on the shutter long enough to get two shots, both were at 1/2000.

#3


#4


#5

Niepce

Weird... What's "evaluative metering" ? Is it like "Matrix Metering" on Nikon ?

wadesworld

Niepce wrote:

Weird... What's "evaluative metering" ? Is it like "Matrix Metering" on Nikon ?

Yep, it is.

I'm a Nikon guy, but I'd say that Partial or Center-Weighted Average would probably be a better choice.

nipprdog

The sky was heavy heavy clouds, looked like it was going to rain.

That means the lighting was consistent, and you should have been shooting in manual. Then you won't have to worry about the camera making decisions for you, and changing settings at will.

On another forum that I visit, many of us post about how we like overcast days.

In sunny conditions, I shoot in AP, and or, manual, depending upon my location. But, in cloudy, manual.

Btw, your good photo#1 was at 1/640, and the bad photo#2 was 1/800. That was an under exposure, not over exposure.

David Evertsen

Trying shooting RAW as well.. Wow you can fix those issues in a minute or two...

ChuBean

Cloudy gray days...does something to the meter causing it to try to compensate for the tones by over exposing. Notice this in my Nikon. I adjust the exposure compensation setting to under expose by 1 to 2 f-stops on overcast days. Found this works pretty consistently. Watch for changes in the lighting during the day and make exposure adjustments as needed for outdoor sports. The exposure compensation feature is there to allow you to compensate for the meters inadequacies in circumstances like these while still using the meter to get the correct results.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Also, when you plan to shot an event like this, just about any sporting event, or one that you will make multiple shots in the same lighting setup. Take some trial shots first, review what you get then make the necessary adjustments so you are set to go for the event.<o:p></o:p>