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Question: Question about Nikon d40!?
I bought Nikon d40!. It is my first professional camera and I still try to figure out how it works!. I have two questions!.
Please view this picture
http://www!.to-hawaii!.com/images/p1!.jpgWhy is the left side of the image so dark!? Did I use a wrong setting or what setting do I need to use to display better!? Do I need a flash even when it is sunny!? It was a nice sunny day but my image appeared so dark!.
Please view this picture now
http://www!.to-hawaii!.com/images/p2!.jpgWhy can’t you see the sky on the image!? What did I do wrong!?
Thanks a lot for your replies!
Www@QuestionHome@Com
I have the Nikon D40, so I guess I have experienced these before (:!. I'll do my best to answer!. Oh, and do use the "blinkies" when you look at the image press up four times so the parts that are overexposed will be blinking!. Use that to see your photos if they are okay!.
First Picture - It is not you that is in the wrong mode, the light causes the water to be bright, so the camera would probably focus on the water and "make it brighter" so that it the side would be darker!. If I am not wrong, you used the pop-up flash with the camera, this might cause the water to be "brighter", try using a tripod and set the camera to no-flash mode (below auto) and try again, if theres no tripod, try using another support like a wall (:
Second picture - use daylight setting, I've got this lots of times and yes, you might want to set is to daylight setting!. press the "!?" thing at the bottom left of the camera (or the magnifying glass) and go to WB, change it from there!. If not try lowering it by one stop to make it look better, if not try taking twice, one with the focus on the sky, one with focus on the land!. Then edit from there - this method would need you to take the same shot at the same angle, quite tricky if you don't have a tripod!.
Good luck (:Www@QuestionHome@Com
The D40 DOES have spot metering and this is one of the main reasons I always recommended it over the Canon entry level products!.
First shot!.!.!.
There is a sky light that is making the center of the picture brighter!. That's all!. The image looks like it is a perfect rendering of the scene as it existed!. You might have used flash to even things out, but the pop-up flash would not do what you want it to, so you did the best you could with the tools you had available!.
Second shot!.!.!.
Set your camera's white balance instead of using AWB!. (auto) Try the daylight setting and do this again!. Or, underexpose by about one stop and the sky will look better!. Or, get a circular polarizing filter to really help the sky look better!. Look at this sample:
http://www!.flickr!.com/photos/samfeinstei!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
the first image: looks like the lighting of the room is at fault
second image: its just really bright out!.
fix the first one by moving to a different location!. there seems to be to much light coming into the right side of the room and not enough to the left side!.
fix the second by selecting a faster shutter speed (thats what i do) this will make the picture darker but the sky should be visible!. Or you could (after putting the picture on your comp) edit it and up the contrast
hope that helpsWww@QuestionHome@Com
Todays cameras have computers on board that look at a scene and try and guess what is important to you!. It averages the light level across the scene and sets an exposure level that hopefully is what you were trying to capture!. Unfortunately these meters are not fool proof!. You were in an area where the contrast is very high!. You have quite bright areas in the image and dark areas as well!. I will bet that you had the camera in program mode!. Unfortunately the D40 does not have spot metering!. With spot metering, you can select a very small area and the camera will expose that correctly!. But at the expense of the rest of the scene!.
Most professional photographers try and shoot either early or late in the day when the sun is not as harsh as this!. Cloudy days are our friends!. The clouds diffuse that bright sunlight and make exposures much simpler!. The only thing you could do differently is put the camera into a manual mode or put in some exposure compensation to either brighten or darken the image as required!. Just remember that if you set the exposure so the shadow looks nice, you will "blow out" the bright areas much like your second image did, or if you expose for the bright area, dark areas in shadow will be very dark!.
Fill flash is an option for small areas or an isolated subject, but those were pretty large areas in your images that were in shadow!. Sometimes you need to come back at a different time of day to capture the image when the light is right!
Hope this helps!Www@QuestionHome@Com
