LCD's and outdoor shooting...HELP!

[katia]

i have ran into something VERY frustrating when shooting with my DSLR outside. everytime i take a picture and go to review the exposure in the LCD, i can never tell if it's good or not! sunny skies, overcast skies, the exposure always looks off. and the frustrating part is when i stick my memory card in my computer and upload all the pictures, exposures that i THINK were spot on, were in fact, over or under exposed. i do shoot raw, but post-processing EVERY single image is a bit tedious. how do you guys get around this, is there some sort of filter i can put between the LCD cover and the screen to help me see what the picture is ACTUALLY gonna look like? thanks for any input.

[Palladius]

You can get little clip on shades that go over your LCD screen... not sure about the situation in Canadia but in the UK they're in most Jessop shops (the largest photography chain)

Failing that, you should be able to get a histogram for the pictures you've taken... don't know how exactly unless you've got a Canon, but this will be a lifesaver on any shot that is even remotely tricky.


Just thought... you might get more luck posting this in the equipment section for whatever gear you're shooting... this is more lighting in the flash and strobe sense of the word

[dcclark]

Basically all LCDs are like this in natural light -- it's a real problem. The best solution I've found is to put the camera inside your coat, and try to look at the screen in there.

[nowonder]

Does your camera have a histogram mode? On my canon Rebel XT, I can look at a photo, hit the info button, and it will show a graph with the distribution of light to dark. Any blown out whites will also blink on the image, so you can get a good idea of the exposure without zooming in for details.

No idea if Nikon has something similar, but I assume it's on the other canon models.

--nw

[autofocus]

Even in bright ambient light you should always be able to see the histogram, and to that end, learn how to read and interpret your histogram. Any data off the chart on the right means you've blown out details...off the graph on the left means you have blocked details in the shadows. You also need to interpret your histogram...if you shoot a white wedding dress as the bride leans against a white limo you will see the data shifted to the right side of the graph. Conversely, a black tux shot against a black limo will skew your data to the left side. Again, what's most important is keeping the data within the boundaries of the histogram, and not off the chart on either side. As far as the small LCD image on your camera looking anything like your monitor...well, they'll rarely match.

[katia]

hmmm i have never really looked at the histogram, i know what it us, but never learned how to use/interpret it. that's a great tip though! i think i'll go through some of my photos and try and figure out how it works.

and to any admins, if you get a chance can you please move this thread to the "equiptment" forum, as someone suggested?

[oldwolf]

hood loupe

http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1017

wife loves it. i need to get one eventually because i keep on wanting to borrow her's

[katia]

wow very cool product! i will have to look into that!

[wulf]

The best filter is experience. Part of that is learning the tools built into your camera. On my D40 I make use of the "blinking highlights" and histogram display modes all the time. They give me enough clearly visible information to avoid unexpected over- or underexposure.

I have also found which zoom setting makes it easiest to judge whether a photo is as clear as I want. This can be harder in very bright light but even just turning so your back is to the sun can make a big difference in how well you can see the screen.

Wulf

ps. I will move this thread as it isn't really about setting up lighting to take pictures and more about how to make best use of the LCD display.

[freybear3]

i do alot of outdoor/nature and storm photography. I just basically look at the photo to see if it is blurry or not, that i look at the quality after i download them to my computer.

I had the same situation, when out in the field, i was unable to tell the quality of the photo on the LCD. So i gave up on trying to look at the quality, and just take a lot of photos