Dark subject

[joe_volcek]

I have a Nikon D70. It seems like most of the pictures I take in

the bright sun are coming out with dark subjects. Backgrounds turn

out great. Subjects look dark and hard to make out. I am using the

auto setting. Any ideas how to make this better? Thanks Joe<div></div>

[gary_woodard]

scary, honey is there anymore film in the fidge?

[erickpro]

Use fill-in flash.

Read reflected light with spotmeter.

Evaluate different light readings and expose correctly.

Do not use automatic mode.

 

Im not familiar with the D70 but if possible, try not use the auto contrast mode curves. (if it has one, use "less contrast")

[errol young]

The D70 seems to underexpose in order not to blow out highlights. You can try increasing the exposure compensation. Use the histogram for a reference.

 

Errol

[beno_t_marchal]

<p>Under a bright sunlight, it is best to use fill-flash: turn on the flash (the built-in flash

is good enough when starting) and dial a flash compensation of... say -1.3 EV. See <a

href="www.popphoto.com/assets/download/821200311318.pdf">this cheat sheet</a>

for more on fill flash.

<p>--ben

[michelle a.]

That's a really good article from Pop Photo. It's one that I ripped out and saved long ago. Here's the proper link, as the one Benoit posted leads to a 404.

 

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/821200311318.pdf

[ShunCheung]

You have a back-lit subject. Fill flash is the only solution unless you changes your composition and make it front lit.

[bill_chiarchiaro]

Joe,

 

The suggestions about trying fill flash, exposure compensation, and spot metering are all good ideas for dealing with this backlit portrait. In other words, the camera needs some help in dealing with the fact that most of the scene is very bright, but the small area of interest (the subject's face) is not so bright.

 

But, there's more going on.

 

There's a horrible amount of noise (little speckles of color) on the subject's face and neck, and there's even noise on the bright water. That made me think that this photo was taken with a very high ISO setting and probably with a very fast shutter speed.

 

Looking at the EXIF data in your photo, we can see that the ISO sensitivity was set to 1600 (as high as the D70 can go), the aperture was f/9, and the shutter speed was 1/5000 second. Aha! (We can also see that the Red Balance and Blue Balance values are quite bizarre --- the camera's Auto White Balance function was really struggling under these conditions.)

 

ISO 1600 would be better used for taking a picture of a basketball game in a poorly lit gymnasium. For a sunny beach scene, you should be thinking of using the camera's lowest ISO setting: 200 for the D70. For your picture, at ISO 200 with the same f/9 aperture, the shutter speed would have been 1/640 sec. Particularly for the D70, that's a more reasonable shutter speed. The D70 uses both a mechanical and an electronic shutter, and its electronic shutter can cause strange effects at speeds faster than about 1/3200 sec.

 

I think you were using one of the D70's "Digital Vari-Programs" or "scene modes." In addition to choosing a lower ISO setting, I'd also recommend learning about depth of field (aperture choices) and motion freezing or blurring (shutter speed choices) and using either the Aperture-Priority or Shutter-Priority exposure modes rather than the scene modes.

 

So, if you get the basic, overall exposure under control, I suspect your photos will already be a lot better, even before applying the other techniques mentioned above.

 

Good luck,

 

--Bill

[bwcombs]

Your data says the following:

 

ISO: 1600

 

1/5000 at f/9

 

300mm focal length

 

Exposure compensation: 0

 

Metering Mode: Multi-pattern

 

Quality: JPEG Fine

 

First off, you need to reduce your ISO on this bright sunny day to

something way below 1600. You can shoot that lens in this

situation at 200 ISO easily. That will eliminate any noise.

 

Fill flash will not help at that focal length. But you should

consider it in bright harsh light such as this when closer to your

subject. The built in speedlight on the D70 is perfect for this.

 

Your subject in this shot is offcenter. Could be that you were

metering in the center on the hot reflection of the water. That

would eliminate any details and correct exposure of the face in

the shadow. Meter in the darkest points and shoot accordingly.

 

Exposure compensation. I have this set on my D70 to +1.5,

because I did not like the default. It is a personal thing, but you

might consider adjusting that as well. My initial images were a

little underexposed for my taste.

 

Lastly, get your hands on a Magic Lantern Guide for the D70. It

will explain how to optimize your D70 for all kind of shooting

situations, including this one.

[frank_skomial]

After reduction of ISO to 200, as recommended:

 

This is a 300 mm lens, and that distance to the subject is not that great, but perhaps the built-in flash, at the small f-stop used would not provide enough power.

 

Open the lens wider, and try using buit-in flash, or better yet use SB-800 flash that has auto zoom and much more power, but shutter speed would be set at 1/500 by you, or slower if in auto mode, at least 10 times slower than your original shot.

 

Better yet, use a non-Nikon flash (e.g. Sunpak 555, Vivitar 285, etc.), and could synchronize shutter speed up to 1/4000 sec.

 

Finally, seems that you need to learn more about general photography.

[hique]

The high ISO also increase the contrast of the image making the face further dark.

 

No problem with the camera, you just have to improve your technique with the tips people pointed.