Camera Screen
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Finally made the switch to a digital camera. One thing I’m having a problem with: when I look at my photos outdoors – on the camera screen – I can’t see if I have the correct exposures. Does that mean I should bracket every shot?
Randy
Randy,
A few months back, Ben Cochran wrote an excellent explanation, in this photography forum, of how to use your camera’s histogram (I searched for it here but couldn’t seem to find it). Maybe someone can insert the link on this thread if they know where it is. Anyway, using your histogram (and knowing what it means) is going to be the key to seeing if you have captured a good exposure.
Also, you want to think about where you take your meter reading (shadows, highlights, or mid range depending on artistic intent) in order to capture all of the available info. You can also check the dynamic range of the scene, by metereing the shadows, and then metering the highlights, to see what the f stop range is. If for example your camera has a range of capture of 6 f stops, but the range of your subject is more than 6 f stops, you will need to use a graduated ND filter, or some other means to make an exposure where you have not blown out the highlights or lost the shadow detail.
If it is a really important shot, bracket it. Bracketing every shot will take up a lot of space, and can also be a crutch. Get familiar with your camera, and try to make your exposure settings in manual mode, so you understand how your camera works. You can bracket manualy, and use this to learn how things work, and then when time is tight or it is a really important shot, use the camera’s auto bracketing function.
You can adjust the brightness setting on your LCD screen, and it is also affected by the outdoor light, so it is not an accurate way to tell if you have a good exposure or not. With that said, I have found that I like to set my LCD screen brightness to about 50 or 60%. Not sure what others use or would reccomend.
My $.02 🙂
Learn to read a histogram. You can’t trust the LCD for exposure.http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml
Thanks so much for the info. I was wondering what the histogram was really for. I needed a point-and-shoot that I can take on the river, so I bought one that I can set my f-stops and shutter speed: Lumix LZ10.
I must say, however, I still like my small minox and slides. I hope slides never go away, in spite of the the cost of film and developing.
Randy
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