Why did I need to bump up the EV?

[royey123]

Any idea why I almost always have to bump the EV on my shots? here's an example, and I even used the Flash just to see if it would help. Is it still underexposed??

Model : PENTAX K-x
ExposureTime : 1/180Sec
FNumber : F4.0
ExposureProgram : Portrait Mode
ISOSpeedRatings : 100
ExposureBiasValue : EV1.3
MeteringMode : CenterWeightedAverage
Flash : Fired
FocalLength : 23.13(mm)

[jdepould]

The background is pretty bright, so the camera was probably trying to keep the highlights from blowing out.

[belladoja]

On shots like these where the background is light and the subject dark --you would overexpose purposly to bring up the light up on the subject. I shoot manual so I don't know what you can adjust in portrait mode. You could use same aperture and just slow the shutter speed a little or use the same aperture and shutter speed and bump up the ISO a little. Or open the aperture up a little with the same shutter speed and ISO. Experiment to see what works best. the background will be blown but the subject will be exposed just right. If you want great background and subject--take one image exposed for the background and one image exposed for the subject the combine the two in photoshop. By the by--very nicely composed shot.

[inkista]

You used center-weighted, and the center of that image is a white car.

[Crossfire905]

...and that's where the camera metered the exposure.

For a shot like that, I think I might have tried using the K-x's built-in HDR, though the officer in the shot might have made it a bit tricky unless he could stand perfectly still, unmoving and unblinking, for the time it would take the K-x to snap three bracketed exposures.

However, keep in mind that the flash is disabled in the HDR mode. And you'll probably want to use a tripod.

[Aleix]

Hello royey123,

I see you're a fellow Pentaxian; I own a K20D and it tends to underexpose when set to 0 EV. Perhaps it's not just a K20D issue but a general Pentax one.

The King of Underexposure belongs to the Pentax! The K20D underexposes pictures in an unbelievable large percentage of 44.4%, which is very far more than the underexposure failure rate of all other DSLRs under test, which are all able to keep a very low percentage of underexposure;

The amount of underexposure for the Pentax is in a great amount of 0.7EV, also, in addition to the huge number of underexposed shots recorded (as they could be if not compensated);

RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: K20D Exposure Inaccuracy and Inconsistency

[kirbinster]

First I would use matrix metering if you have it. But it is the same issue as when you take picture of snow or the beach, they are less than 18% grey and fool the camera, so you have to bump up the exposure.