Polarize lens and overexposure

[ferrettifr]

Alright so I was at the zoo yesterday and I was taking some photos and I decided that since it was a nice sunny day I would give a go with my CP lens. Now I did gets some great shots, but there were quite a few that had some beautiful areas with overexposure in areas, can I get some hints and tips on how to correct this for next time. Keep in mind that I was using the camera on Full Auto. What are some things I can do to get better exposure? As you can see from the photo the items in the shade cameout pretty good, but the ones not in the shade were overexposed.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[dcclark]

Was there any particular reason why you were using your polarizer? From your sample, it doesn't look like it would do much, except absorb light (which is unnecessary, if you're not trying to get slow shutter speeds). Polarizers primarily remove reflections from not-metallic things (such as glass and water), and make skies bluer.

As for overexposure, this is a hazard of taking shots of shadowy subjects on bright days. Your eyes can see things like the shadows and hilights of the tortises just fine, but your camera is much more sensitive to bright vs. dark areas. This has nothing to do with the polarizer, more, it's just how every camera works. Ways to avoid it are -- recompose to include more shadowy (or more bright) areas, or wait for the light to change.

[ferrettifr]

Guess I am using for the wrong reasons then, but the shots I have with sky turned out great. One of the places I used it was a Koi pond and came out with almost the same reaction. Thanks for the info.

[EmigrantChris]

It looks to me like the problems aren't with the CP filter (Although as dcclark pointed out, it wasn't really necessary for the sample you posted). I would work on learning how your camera's light meter works, and how to properly expose an image. If you've got $17 to spend (Or your local library might have it) Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is an excellent book that would probably help you out quite a bit.

If you can't/don't want to get that book, check your camera's manual and read about the different metering modes that it supports.

[Silverz]

In the photo in your example, you would have to choose wether to expose the shadows or the bright areas, because it looks like a bright day then you wouldn't be able to get both at once.

The best choice would have been to lose some detail in the shadows so that the bright areas came out looking better.

[Elmo]

CPL have more uses than darkening sky's. If properly used they restict light entering the camera to that which is in one plane. That reduces the scattered reflected light from other objects intensifying the colors by reducing the scattered light which is usually recorded as a slight grayish haze.

As for the over exposure it is the result of faulty metering technique and selection of area photographed.

As a side note this photograph exceeds the dynamic range of the camera (Blown out highlights) and if complete area is needed it might be a canadate for HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing.