Exposure problems

[Darren Brothwell]

Can anyone help, I'm a keen motor sport photographer and having a problem with exposure problems with dark coloured cars in bright sun. The shots all come out washed out and over exposed with some dodgy highlights on the car. Light coloured cars are fine and use the same setting between cars. Have found that if I have the time between cars and know what is coming up I can shift down half a stop and that helps (pluss Photoshop!).

Using EOS10D with cannon 70-300EF lens, set to sun and use shutter speed (TV) at around 250.

Also any know how I can use photoshop raw with my 10D doesn't seem to recognise it, too old? I'm using elements 8 for Photoshop

[nick_gray]

Hi Darren,

You don't say which Photoshop product you have, nor which version. But Adobe Camera Raw supported the Canon 10D from version 3.1 onwards (05/05/2005), so check you have the latest version of ACR for the Photoshop you have. (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...atform=Windows)

HTH

Nick

BTW If you want a RAW viewer for MS Windows, Microsoft have this free download http://www.microsoft.com/download/en...s.aspx?id=8802

[donoreo]

What metering are you using? I am not sure which modes the 10D supports.

[markgozz]

Hi Darren

As donoreo has asked it would help if you can tell us what metering mode your using , if you are using spot metering your camera could be metering from the dark cars only and this is why every thing else is being over exposed .
As far as your raw files go if you can't get an update for camera raw you can download a free program from Adobe called DNG converter , this will convert any raw files into a DNG files which can then be opened by any Adobe Camera Raw program .

Hope this helps

Mark

[lesrhar]

Hi Darren,

Have you tried setting the camera to evaluative metering? I've never tried shooting motorsport, but on my 10D evaluative mode usually works quite well in high-contrast scenes.

If you can't get the RAW files to open in ACR, you could always do the initial processing in Canon's Digital Photo Professional (it should have come with the camera, or you can download it from the Canon website). I usually process my RAWs in DPP, save as jpegs, and then to the final tweaks and post-processing in PS.

Another approach, if nothing else works, would be to expose for the highlights ( because it is usually possible to retrieve detail from underexposed areas of a shot), save the shot as a jpeg, then in your RAW software boost the exposure to bring out the detail in the underexposed parts of the pic, save that as a jpeg, and then blend the two images in Photoshop. That, however, is a labour-intensive, clunky workaround that should only be a last resort.

Hope this helps,
Les

[GeoffWessex]

I think that Canon's Digital Photo Pro, which comes with a new camera, is not downloadable from anywhere... or at least, nowhere from Canon.

The Canon 10D's Raws (CR2) have been featured in the Adobe Camera Raw list of cameras since the very first incarnation...... so whatever Photoshop or Elements version you're using you should have an ACR that's able to open them.

[Cathus]

I think you can download Digital Photo Profrom the Canon website somewhere but it won't install unless you have an earlier copy, and original CD will do, it doesn't need to be installed as long as the software can check the CD in the drive - at least that's what I did when I installed it a couple of years ago & wanted the latest version (I don't use it and it's not on my current PC)

[Darren Brothwell]

where do I find what metering modes I'm using, probably a silly question that I'll know what you talking about when you reply!!

[lesrhar]

Hi Darren,

If you look at the LCD panel on top of the camera, behind the shutter-release button, the info is in there.

There is a little square that changes according to the metering mode you use.
if the square is blank, you're using centre-weighted metering.
If there is what looks like parentheses turned on their side (it's almost like the shape on an eye), the camera is set to partial metering.
If there is a black dot in the parentheses, it's on evaluative metering:


Hope that helps.

Les

[MattUK]