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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-04-2012, 02:19 PM
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For whatever it is worth (not much, but its free :)):
I find that I consistently screw up something when taking a picture.
If you think about it, you need to get the exposure right, right aperture/shutter speed for the situation, focus correctly, frame correctly, compose correctly, make sure there are not weird things coming out behind the subjects heads, no distracting branches, the background looks pleasing etc. Sometimes I have the time and still I forget something. A lot of times you only have a few seconds before the image is gone. I believe one difference between a great photographer and a mediocore (like me) is the ability to consider and adjust for all of the things above, and do it quickly - in other words it should all be second nature. That takes LOTS of practice, but like anything is great when it all clicks!
I think I am trying to say that getting the expsoure roughly right (i.e. just using -1 exp comp on the white bird) would be more than satisfactory as long as I am able to get all the other things right:lol:. Using RAW/K-5 certainly helps...
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-04-2012, 07:22 AM
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Back to the duck...
You could have switched to spot meter, measured duck, do AE-L or do manual, and added 1.5 exposure compensation to compensate for white vs grey 18 or 12%). In the mean time the duck would probably have gone off to greener pastures ;-)
Seriously - on my recent canoe trip where I ended up with a similar issue on a lot of my shot, there is NO way I could spot meter and compensate, getting the perfect exposure quickly enough. Canoe was floating, birds flying off etc, plus I would miss that perfect composition while floating pass...
During this particular shoot, I realized about half way through that I was blowing some highlights and started to just underexpore a stop or so when shooting white/light birds - that takes a just a second or two.
In hindsight I would do the same - use central metring (not comfortable with matrix metring), and do manual +/- as guesstimated. More importantly I need to check for blow outs more frequently, and compensate accordingly. Also I would probably use my exposure bracketing a little more judicously (I have it assigned to the fx button on my K-5).
In terms of using Manual - I think I ONLY use it for some tripod shots or panoramas. I much prefer selecting an appropriate program line, and using HYPER overrides to get my apperture OR my shutter speed where I want it. I frequently use exposure compensation and or AE-L (set to 30 secs). This IMO provides me as much control as pure manual when I have time, but when needed to react quickly, will give me a reasonable setting 90% of the time, while allowing me focus more on capturing the shot and doing composition.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-03-2012, 08:49 AM
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I had a similar problem with recent photos I took in Florida mid afternoon - white birds = blowout. I guess I am just not experienced enough (yet) to get all the aspects right at the same time. I continue to forget to check my exposure for blow-outs in the "heat of the battle", and of course the harsh light mid afternoon does not help.
I did start to underxposure a stop when I saw a white bird, but I would be curious what the more experienced photographers do? Spot metering or exporsure compensation? Something else?
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