Need help improving photography

[IntrepidXJ]

What do you mean by "blow out the highlights"?

Blowing out the highlights means overexposing the brightest part of the image beyond what the sensor is capable of recording, meaning you have no data from the sensor in those areas rendering them pure white (no detail).

Most modern cameras have a menu setting that you can turn on called 'highlight alert' or something similar that will show show you which part of the photo is blown out by blinking those parts of the image when you review it on photo on the LCD.

[mtn_nut]

First off, I take my shots with a point and shoot, a Canon S110.

The thing I've found frustrating with having the camera in "auto" setting is that when I'm taking a picture and focusing on one element (say, trees in the foreground), the settings set for the foreground, but wash the background and sky out. If I point the camera at the sky and background, it sets for that, but the foreground is too dark.

What do people do in situations like this, where you're shooting outdoor scenes that have such a difference in dark/light?

I'm assuming jumping into manual mode will help this?

Jumping into manual mode may help, but using aperture priority or shuttle priority will help you control the camera 99% as well as manual mode if you know what you're doing.

I use to own a S100, so i understand how the camera works. The HDR mode works fantastic, as long as you use a tripod. You can use multiple bracketed shots and software to get a similar effect too.

What will help out too is allowing the camera to shoot RAW and adjusting the RAW photos afterwards using software. The S110 will only shoot RAW in aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual mode. When starting out with shooting RAW, have the camera record in RAW+JPEG, so it will record both formats.

No matter what, you'll be fighting the small sensor's limited dynamic range (able to handle highlights and shadows at the same time). Upgrading to something with a larger sensor (RX100 for example) will help out even more, but the S110 is still very capable.

[acidchylde]

Most camera HDR modes only work in jpg. You can do manual bracketing in RAW and do the HDR in software later if you want. In either case, use of a tripod (or at least setting the camera on a stable surface) is highly recommended though not required, and be aware that if anything is moving (people walking around, wind blowing) that will also affect things (people with no legs or blurry vegetation/water, for example).

I would give three recommendations. First, learn what aperture and shutter speed numbers are, mean, and how they work both independently and in relation to each other. This is the largest part of what allows you to control the exposure in terms of brightness and what is or isn't in focus or blurs. Second, once you understand the concepts you need to work with the three modes on the camera - shutter priority, where you set the speed (frozen waterfall or blurred/flowing); aperture priority, where you control how much light is let in (and how much can be in focus, among other things); and manual mode, which is where you set both. This will let you start learning and seeing the results of how they interact.

Third, I haven't looked at the S line specs in a while, but if it does exposure compensation I would set it to -2/3 (or -1/2 if you can only do half instead of third stops) any time you're shooting in daylight or high contrast conditions like you describe. It's been my experience with several Canon cameras that the meter reads a bit high and that adjustment is usually enough to bring the highlights back in line. You can almost always bring out more shadow detail in post (lighten the dark areas) but once you've overexposed and blown out the highlights, there's simply nothing there to get back. For this reason, in the case you mention in OP, you'd want to meter off the sky and worry about lightening the trees later. When shooting, if you can display the histogram on review, that can help along with the highlight warning mentioned earlier. If part of the image is blinking or a lot of the data on the histogram is to the right, stop down or increase the shutter speed. As other's have mentioned, it is still a P&S, so the sensor's abilities aren't going to be the same as something larger in terms of dynamic range. But you at least have the controls over shutter and aperture available to you, so you can learn how to use them and what they do before deciding to commit to a larger camera system with better/finer control if you want.

[JGiffinPhotog]

As others have said, shoot in manual settings & play around with the settings to see how they all work in relation to each other (ISO, F stop/aperture, shutter speed) & shoot in RAW+jpg to play with whatever photo editing software you use. the auto HDR feature can only be used in jpg, but it is also worth playing with for situations with big light/dark contrasts (such as being in the shadows of a mountain valley with the sun shining bright on the peaks).

Mostly just have fun playing around with the settings & shooting different things for different situations! The beauty of digital is that it's only memory, so take all the pictures you want to get the right one!

[acidchylde]

One other important thing to note I don't think any of us have mentioned yet. On Canon cameras at least, the true Auto mode (green on the dial) is just that - full auto. Most settings and adjustments you can make will not be used - they stay set, they're just ignored. In fact you can't even shoot RAW as others have suggested in auto mode (whether to actually shoot RAW is a whole other discussion in my mind though). To some degree this also applies to the other pre-set shooting (Scene) modes like Portrait or Night or Landscape or whatever. In order to take advantage of most of the functionality, such as exposure compensation, you'll need to at least shoot in Program (P on the dial) mode. This is 'auto but not full auto' mode - still sets the aperture and shutter for you, but does allow you to make some adjustments and settings. If you haven't, reading the camera manual would be a good idea, as it explains the different modes and when/where custom functions and adjustments will be in effect.

[Pops921]

The basic issue is the light was not good. There are various ways to improve the balance in a bad photo, but it always works better if the light was good enough to record a quality image. The human eye compensates for light and dark much better then your camera. The first thing to change is your positioning and shooting angle, easy to do with Human subjects, harder but sometimes possible with other shots. The best photographers plan there shots for the time of day when the light is best and sometimes for the time of year. Early morning and late evening light is generally softer then middle of the day direct over head sunlight. Cloudy days can sometimes produce very balanced lighting. Try to train your eye to notice the light and dark situations that create that are causing this problem. Pay attention to dark shadows etc.. the fact that you are aware of the situation means you are off to a good start. Now just keep your eye out for those good light situations.

[Photoguy32]

manual mode, manual mode, manual mode. Don't under estimate the manual mode. When looking at a scein that has lots of darks and lights. You have to decide on what is the most important to you. If you want the lights to have lots of rich color then you much adjust the setting for the lights. If you want the darks to not be too dark. Then adjust for the darks. but know that your lights will be way too bright and your photo will probable look washed out. or the third choice is the meter for a happy medium. The trick is to see the photo in your head before you take it.

[Herbert]

I do have success with post-photo adjustment. Do people like lightroom or photoshop better?

This may be TMI (too much information), but Julieanne Kost, Adobe's Chief Evangelist for Lightroom, gets into a pretty nifty discussion of adjusting exposure, highlights and shadows, and later on she talks about adjusting white balance, in this tutorial:

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/getting-start ... ng-images/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[shearmodulus]

You can do a dodge and burn job on Photoshop on an under/over exposed picture. Your best bet is to get gradient filters or UV polarizers for really bright conditions.

[PaliKona]

Many of my mtn shots have blue cast...anyone know how to correct it?

[mtn_nut]

Many of my mtn shots have blue cast...anyone know how to correct it?

Sounds like a white balance/tint issue. If you always have it on auto white balance, its just the camera not sensing it correctly (too cold). This is easy to adjust after the trip if you have the RAW file and some sort of software like adobe lightroom.

Otherwise, adjust your white balance in camera to daylight or cloudy to "warm" up the color.

[PaliKona]

So I was experimenting shooting a rapid and was looking to get that cool blurred effect from the water...I had the camera in manual mode, with a shutter speed around 1/20, aperture of F8, and ISO of 80, in order to get a decent blur and have the image not be bright/washed out...however going to a slower shutter speed, like 1/8 ends up with a really really bright picture. Is there a setting I'm missing that handles that? Thanks.