 - Nevia Cashwell Contact Nevia Cashwell Nevia Cashwell's Gallery |
Canon 20D RAW Images Overexposed I just started shooting RAW with both my Canon 20D and Canon Digital Rebel. even though I always shoot -2/3, my RAW images always look overexposed. They come out looking good after I adjust the Exposure in the RAW converter but I am worried that I am doing something wrong or have something set wrong. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
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robert G. Fately |
I don't know if anyone can assist you until we know a bit more, Nevia. For instance - what kind of metering are you doing; spot, center weighted, etc? And what is the scene like - overall simlar lighting or vastly different light and dark areas? If you load up a sample image it wil give us some idea of things to think about.
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Ibarionex R. Perello |
Nevia, You shouldn't be experiencing regular overexposure on so many of your photographs. As Bob indicated, you should check what metering system you're choosing as well as making sure that you exposure compensation is set correctly. As you judging your images on the camera's LCD, the histogram or your computer? Depending on what you're doing it can make a difference. You shouldn't have to underexpose all your images by 2/3 of a stop. I understand why people do this, but you end up not taking advantage of the camera's full tonal range. You end up reducing the dynamic range unnecessarily at times.
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- Nevia Cashwell Contact Nevia Cashwell Nevia Cashwell's Gallery |
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- Nevia Cashwell Contact Nevia Cashwell Nevia Cashwell's Gallery |
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
My raw images sometimes look a little lighter than I like before making any adjustments in ACR/Photoshop even when ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) does not show that I shot it as over-exposed. When I 1st started shooting raw, I didn't like it because I was so used to looking at my jpeg images which are processed in the camera before we even download them. The raw images have to be processed to make them look how we want. It really wasn't until I took Jon Canfield's 4-week course on Raw Processing that I finally felt like I could make my raw images look as good as my jpegs but since taking this course and a little practice I now love the flexibility and control I have with my raw images. I will look at the "auto" settings in ACR but they are not usually to my liking so I manually adjust these myself. I shot some pics earlier today using raw & jpeg on my 20D. I think the jpeg looks better than the raw-unprocessed image but with just a few quick adjustments in ACR, I think the raw-processed looks better than the jpeg. I am a beginner myself and I am sure many experienced BPers could do better than I did, but I am getting better and more comfortable each time. Hope this helps. Carlton
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Ibarionex R. Perello |
Nevia In your raw converter the Exposure dialog box indicated a +2.75. This is why you are experiencing such overexposure when you open your RAW files. I recommend setting your camera to its factory defaults to eliminate any bad settings. I also recommend resetting your RAW converter to its defaults as well. This should eliminate the problem.
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Pete H |
Hello Nevia, The RAW shooting data tells all..and thanks for uploading the screenshots. Let's start with the photo you use as the example. Photographing people with a distracting background as in your example, requires you to meter off their skin (Face) If you look and study the photo in your example, you will see that the subjects face takes up very little frame or metering real estate from a percentage point of view. This means the camera's meter is making a "best guess" as to a proper exposure; based on the information it is presented with. (i.e) ...The meter (sees) mostly the wood background. Matrix metering would be a poor choice here unless you get real close and allow the persons face to fill the frame.. Center weighting would be a better choice if you center on the subjects face. Spot metering would be the (best) choice from a distance; again, metering the face and recomposing. Ok; next. The histogram. Lastly; the shooting data. I notice you have "Auto" checked on all settings. Start with the "exposure" setting. Uncheck the auto setting. Use the slide bar to reset as you see fit. Check the "hilight" box as an indicator when you've gone too far..Don't wanna' blow out too many hi lites. Hope this helps a little, All the Best, Pete
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- Nevia Cashwell Contact Nevia Cashwell Nevia Cashwell's Gallery |
Thanks so much to all of you. I am going to reset cameras to factory settings and change Adobe Camera RAW options to not auto adjust anything. One more question though on Color Space ... if I reset cameras to factory settings, color space will be SGRB rather than Adobe RGB. I have had others tell me that Adobe RGB is a better setting. Your thoughts? Thanks.
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Ibarionex R. Perello |
If you are printing your own prints on an inkjet printer, Adobe RGB more closely matches its output. If your images are primarily displayed on the web or are printed by a photo lab or commercial printer, sRGB is the best choice especially since most printing machines using the sRGB color space. Adobe RGB does provide a wider color gamut but it really comes down to what your choice of output is.
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- Nevia Cashwell Contact Nevia Cashwell Nevia Cashwell's Gallery |
Thanks to all of you. I have reset settings on both my Rebel and 20D and saved new camera defaults for both of them based on Pete's recommendations. Already getting much better results. Soon I will be posting a question about Neat Image and how to best use it within my digital workflow. The best to all of you. Nevia
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