Washed out colors

[LookingWest]

I need some help. I am a photography rookie and am having problems with washed out skys, distant mountains and just colors in general. I have a Nikon D80, so far only shooting in auto mode (could be the problem), I'm using a 17-55 f-2.8 lens with a circular polar II filter. I have posted three of my most recent 'problem' photos so you can see what I am talking about. I hope I at least did the posting thing right. Please help, I love the hobby and would love to know how to get better.


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[navcom]

Hi there! We can certainly help you out but here's a couple things to do first. Check out the forum rules for posting procedures and requirements...most specifically posting just one photo at a time and posting your EXIF data.

The EXIF data will help us tremendously when trying to figure out technical issues you might be having.

From just a quick generic look, it appears your images are not exposed properly. Are you using auto exposure or are you using aperture priority or manual mode? Also, what time of day were these taken?

[Jamie Hickey]

Originally Posted by navcom

Hi there! We can certainly help you out but here's a couple things to do first. Check out the forum rules for posting procedures and requirements...most specifically posting just one photo at a time and posting your EXIF data.

The EXIF data will help us tremendously when trying to figure out technical issues you might be having.

From just a quick generic look, it appears your images are not exposed properly. Are you using auto exposure or are you using aperture priority or manual mode? Also, what time of day were these taken?

I will help them out:
1st...Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 48 mm
Focal Length: 47.6 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
2nd...Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 44 mm
Focal Length: 43.6 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
3rd...Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 17 mm
Focal Length: 17.3 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Return detected

All shot in auto mode.

[LookingWest]

Sorry about the three picture thing Navcom, my fault for not reading first and posting second. I believe Jamie answered most of the questions (thank you Jamie) with the exception of one, time of day. The photos were taken between 7 and 8 am, with sunrise being 6:40 the day of the shoot. Thought about the neutral density filter route but not sure how that works when shooting through an arch with darker forground both above and below and the sky in the center. Any thoughts at all would help guys, I have a lot to learn. Thanks in advance.

[navcom]

Hi again! No problem about the initial posting. Just want to make sure we have all the information to help. Your problem appears to be the camera overexposing the image. This might be due to the camera's auto exposure.

A camera's auto exposure is a wonderful thing, but it's also just a computer, not an artist. It tries to determine the proper exposure based on averaging the lights and darks it sees. This may not always be what you want. Let's take your second image as an example. There is a large shadowed area up front. The auto exposure will most likely try to properly expose this area, which will in turn overexpose the background.

On your third image, you have lots of dark areas around the arch. On auto exposure, your camera decided to expose for the mountain and sky behind the arch (which appear properly exposed) and compensate for the dark area up front by automatically firing the flash. Well, your flash isn't powerful enough to light up the whole arch area so it appears relatively darker.

What I would recommend is using a tripod and manual mode (M) versus auto exposure. Most landscape photographers use manual or aperture priority almost exclusively for the very reasons you are experiencing. With manual mode, you have complete control over the exposure...and your art. And a tripod is almost a necessity with landscape shots.

So here's what you would do. Switch to manual mode. Set your ISO speed to the lowest your camera will allow (usually ISO 100 or so), which will produce the best image quality. Next, select the aperture that will produce the depth of field you require for your shot...usually something between f/8 and f/13. If a lot of DOF is needed, you can go smaller with f/16 but try to stay away from really small apertures unless the scene requires it. Finally, set your shutter speed to whatever gives you the exposure you need. Take a practice shot and adjust your shutter speed until you get a good exposure. This is why a tripod is so important. Your shutter speed very well might be fairly slow. If you hand hold the camera, it could be blurry.

This is a good starting procedure. It's certainly not exactly what you are going to do for every landscape shot you could take, but it's a good starting point to learn proper landscape exposure. I would also recommend turning off your auto focus as well and focus manually about 1/3 of the way into your shot. Better yet, try using hyperfocal distance focusing (search the forum for a lot of discussions on what this is).

One final note. Sometimes a scene's dynamic range (the range between the lightest and darkest points in the image) are more than your camera can handle. A good example is a sunrise photo. In this case, you will need more help, such as using a graduated nuetral density filter or using HDR techniques, to get a good exposure. It's just part of the landscape photography game.

Hope that helps!

[LookingWest]

Thanks Navcom, I can't wait to try the techniques you have mentioned. It's about an hour drive and a half hour hike back in to this area but I will do it again soon to see if I can come out with better results. I was pretty sure using full auto wasn't helping me any and now armed with your advise and a desire to learn I will take camera in hand (and on tripod) and hit the road again. Once again, thanks for the help. Great forum and great site.