Bad Photos - Need help!

[Guy With A Rebel]

We had a nice sunny day today so the family went to the zoo and I brought along my Rebel XT. Because it was so busy I couldn't block the sidewalk while I tweaked settings. I went ahead and set the camera to auto mode for some quick shooting. Many of the photos in direct sunlight came out like this picture.

Is the problem due to not using a lens hood or something else?

(This is probably a simple issue....forgive me I'm a newbie.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guywitharebel/2276096501/

[Sime]

Hey Justin,

Well - that photo... yep, she's pretty "blown out"... I took a look at your exif [the extra data in a photo that tells its settings] ...it appears that your camera selected an iso of 400 and also let the flash fire. If I were taking that photo - i'd probably be on an iso of 100 and I don't think i'd allow the flash to stick its nose in... Maybe what has happened here is, when you pointed your camera at the subject, your camera has metered the light on a dark spot and adjusted itself accordingly. Something to try: When you point the camera at your subject, if the shot turns out like this, point your camera again - but - try point it at a lighter bit. press the shutter release and see what you come up with [the joys of digital - do it a hundred times!]

try and try again.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Sime

[wulf]

I also note that the exposure bias says 0/2 EV. To be honest, I don't know quite what that signifies but I wonder if it indicates that somewhere you had adjusted the camera to meter the scene and then make the shot lighter than the readings suggested? That would perhaps explain why it has picked such apparently wacky settings in auto mode.

I can appreciate that you don't want to stop and "chimp" your shots in the middle of the sidewalk (chimping means looking at the shots you have just taken to an excessive degree) but you can always step the side of the path and find a little space to check the kind of results you are getting.

Wulf

[Guy With A Rebel]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I noticed that exposure setting too Wulf. I think I'll do a reset on my camera just to make sure that I didn't tweak any settings on accident.

[richb14]

Hi Justin

I also owned a rebel for awhile (until I upgraded to a 40D) and had some querky results like yours, I ended up using Program mode almost full time P on the dial), it will allow you to manage some of the settings quickly and also wont fire the flash unless you ask. Obviously not as quick as Full Auto, but you wont have to fight with the camera over the settings.

Good luck.

Rich

[henryscat]

SLR's just aint designed to be used in AUTO mode i'm afraid!
My first DSLR was the Fuji S1 pro which had an AUTO mode. This mode seemed to be there to make your shots as bad as possible

Never had auto since and even if I had, I wouldn't ever use it

[mountaintreker]

Try slowly taking more control over your camera and ween your self away from the auto mode to the more creative modes where you have more control and check your settings before you snap. Most of the time the camera will do an admirable job in auto with average light in scenes (not too much light and not too much dark). I still find myself taking images when I have my ISO set on 400 during an average light scene simply because I didn't stop to think of what I had in front of me. Take the time to give the shot some thought as to what you have in front of you and, and then what is the best way to shoot it. Think it through and don't just point and shoot and think that the camera has a brain. You are the brain and it is only the tool in your hands to record life. Read books about exposure control and composition and read your manual. Get to know your camera and shoot and shoot. Most people don't shoot enough to ever get to know what they may have learned last week. Learn something new about your camera and practice it. Take your camera with you and use it. If something doesn't work find out why and learn from that experience. Find out what is right and do it over and over again until you know it and your camera.

Mountaintreker

[Elmo]

FYI ev 0/2 indicates adjustments are in 1/2 f-stop steps the 0 indicates no exposure offset was applied.

[Pshorten]

Wow, something went really wrong...too bad. Good luck with that.

[amber54474]

Just a thought - I just bought my rebel xt last week and went a couple days where I didnt know what was going on with the camera - after 2 days of research and frustration I realized it was not me at all - I had gotten a defective camera...took me 2 days to figure it out but was so relieved to find out it wasnt me - I actually put my first post on about it not too long ago when I first jointed the forum (there's an example of how ALL my pictures were turning out)...good luck!