Surreal

[sharrij]

I took this pic in the revitalized "City Park" in New Orleans. The majestic oaks are amazing. Wondering if I could have sharpened this photo, or if it is okay the way it is?



Camera: NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D90
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 58 mm
Focal Length: 58.2 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[SusanH1970]

It looks sharp enough, but she's underexposed and the sky is blown out. Spot metering off her face and using a reflector or fill flash would help. Hope this helps.

Why f/22 @ 1/40? You could have opened up a lot more and used a much faster shutter speed.

[sharrij]

I guess I have a lot to learn because I don't know what any of your suggestions mean!
F22...Because I wanted to make sure the moss hanging above was seen. Would a lower f stop made her exposure better? Still learning...thanks for your patience!

[SusanH1970]

LOL, don't worry, we all start in the same place, and we never stop learning!

The hanging moss really isn't that visible against the blown sky. Although I suggested spot metering before, if you wanted to keep the background more apparent you could have metered for the sky and then used fill flash to brighten her up.

Definitely try closing down (try f/8 as a starting point). Shooting in aperture priority mode your camera would set the shutter speed. Shooting in aperture priority is a good way to learn - set different apertures and watch how the camera sets the shutter speed. Then you can take what you learn and if you want, start shooting in manual, setting everything yourself. I've found that shooting manual gets me the correct exposures in-camera most of the time. Well, that, and I'm a control freak when it comes to photography, lol!

[LeeR]

This is a classic case of your camera's meter being 'fooled' by the strong light in the background but it's not too terribly bad. I think a bit of PS wizardry would do wonders for this image. Here is my take on it: