Basic Question on lens hood

[nerdygirl]

Hi there. I'm a newbie and pretty much learning by trial and error. Recently I took pictures at the local zoo using a lens hood. It was mid-afternoon and very bright (I'm in TX) Some came out good and others were too dark.

Can anyone suggest a general rule of thumb in regards to knowing when to keep the hood on and when to remove it?

I used a Nikon D3100 w/ Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm

Thanks!

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by nerdygirl

Hi there. I'm a newbie and pretty much learning by trial and error. Recently I took pictures at the local zoo using a lens hood. It was mid-afternoon and very bright (I'm in TX) Some came out good and others were too dark.

Can anyone suggest a general rule of thumb in regards to knowing when to keep the hood on and when to remove it?

I used a Nikon D3100 w/ Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm

Thanks!

Always leave the hood on unless you are shooting with the pop up flash. It does not detract from the pictures at all and offers good protection from banging around your front element.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by nerdygirl

Hi there. I'm a newbie and pretty much learning by trial and error. Recently I took pictures at the local zoo using a lens hood. It was mid-afternoon and very bright (I'm in TX) Some came out good and others were too dark.

Can anyone suggest a general rule of thumb in regards to knowing when to keep the hood on and when to remove it?

I used a Nikon D3100 w/ Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm

Thanks!

The lens hood has nothing to do with an exposure that's too dark (unless we get into vignetting from poorly fitted/shaped hoods). Aside from certain space-limited situations, there is no reason to ever shoot without a lens hood.

[nerdygirl]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Always leave the hood on unless you are shooting with the pop up flash. It does not detract from the pictures at all and offers good protection from banging around your front element.

Hmmm....Then the hood must not have been what caused the darkness. It was an outdoor habitat, direct sunlight and yet the baboon came out extremely dark. What should I have done differently?

Thanks for the quick reponses. I really appreciate it

[Jim Poor]

The basic answer is, you should have exposed correctly for your subject.

Without seeing the photo, it's hard to say exactly how.

You could have used a different (probably spot) metering mode, exposure comp, etc.

The camera probably set an average exposure of the whole scene and the baboon was darker than the rest of it.

[nerdygirl]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

The basic answer is, you should have exposed correctly for your subject.

Without seeing the photo, it's hard to say exactly how.

You could have used a different (probably spot) metering mode, exposure comp, etc.

The camera probably set an average exposure of the whole scene and the baboon was darker than the rest of it.

Thanks Jim! I guess I need to learn about proper exposure and practice it, sounds like I've got some weekend homework

[GreggObst]

You might benefit from this exposure simulator. It lets you make pretty much all the same exposure adjustments (sans metering) that a real digital SLR would. You can practice and see how different adjustments can affect the look of an image.

SLR Camera Simulator | Simulates a digital SLR camera