Can you guys help me out? Too dark.

[eagle334]

Hey folks. I'm looking for a bit of help. It seems all of my photos come out to dark and although most of it can be corrected in PS I would rather have them come out of the camera better. The photo below is straight out of the camera with only a resize done. It was taken at 1/640 at F9. The sun was at about 5 o'clock in relation to the jet. I was using a Canon 10D with a Canon 70-200mm F4 lense. I know I could open the lense up but then would I lose a lot of depth of field? If I slow the shutter down, things tend to get blurry. I see a lot of shots on here where people are using shutter speeds of 1/1000 and higher so I am having trouble figuring out why at 1/640 or lower these shots are so dark. Any help would be appreciated.

[gouryella]

the picture seems a bit soft to me when i sharpen it there comes to much noise so i made this result for you.

[eagle334]

Thanks Gouryella, but I'm not looking for help in the processing end. I am looking to have the photos come out of the camera better. The easiest way to describe it, I guess, would be if I shot film to be developed, what would I have to change to have better pictures come back.

[Top_Gun]

here's your exif data, what is "average" for your meterering using a Canon?

Make - Canon
Model - Canon EOS 10D
Software - Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
DateTime - 2007:03:14 09:52:01
YCbCrPositioning - Centered
ExifOffset - 220
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9.00
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExifVersion - 0220
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 3 (bits/pixel)
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/640 seconds
ApertureValue - F 9.00
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 5.60
MeteringMode - Average
FocalLength - 115 mm
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExposureMode - Manual
WhiteBalance - Auto

Does this happen if you go to shutter priority?

[LX-A343]

1/640 at f/9 at this time of the day means, that you simply don't have enough light. Try different settings, use bracketing if you're not completely sure.

[kukkudrill]

Since you're shooting on manual, where are you getting your exposure settings from?

[Tanner_J]

Looks to me as though you did not use the light meter in your camera?

f8 should be good enough for most aviation.

[Airbus_A320]

I use center weighted average mode and generally overexpose between .7 and 1 stop. I also check histograms periodically to make sure it's not to far over or under. I've actually become pretty good at seeing the light, and guessing how much to overexpose, and if I mess up, I just check the histogram and adjust accordingly. Also, I've found it's a lot better to be a little bit over exposed than underexposed, just be careful with that and make sure you don't blow your highlights.

[LX-A343]

I use both, the in-camera light meter and an "external" light meter. I use the latter for more or less a gudeline, while doing some sort of "fine tuning" with the in-camera light meter. Depending on the subject ... and my mood ... I then set the camera to manual mode and use bracketing to make it sure to get some decent exposures.

[eagle334]

Guess I need some tutoring in using the histogram.

[Greg Wilson]

Don't let photography get too complicated Wayne. The photo in question is just underexposed.
Have a look at this........http://www.robert-barrett.com/photo/...alculator.html...for a guide.

[seahawk]

When using levels and curves you can save the photo.