Need help, pictures keep turning out dark

[Candice]

What setting do I change if my pictures keep turning out dark? Doesn't matter if I am indoors or outdoors they all turn out dark.

Here are a few from the park yesterday

And I got two books.. but the more I read the worse my pictures turn out

[Photo-John]

Candice-
Tell us some more about what you're doing. What camera are you using and what shooting mode are you using? The easy answer is to use the exposure compensation on your camera to brighten them up. If you images are consistently dark, there may be a problem with the camera. But in all of these, there's a common metering problem. The light meter in your camera - in any camera - tries to average everything out ot a medium gray. That's a good strategy for most photos. But for some - inlcuding the ones you've posted, that will make them too dark. Take a moment to evaluate the scene you're photographing, before you press the shutter release. If it's got a lot of bright values and light objects, then you should probably set your exposure on the bright side. How you do this depends on the exposure mode you're using. Since you seem inexperienced, I'm guessing you're using some sort of auto mode. If that's the case, you'll need to figure out how to use exposure compensation on your camera. And for the photos youve posted, you'd probably want to set it at +1/2 to +1 to get an exposure you'll like.

Just so you know, the problem you're experiencing isn't a digital camera problem. It's a normal photographic exposure issue. If you've just switched to digital, it will seem new to you because you won't have noticed it before. Usually, when you take film to the lab, they'll automatically compensate for reasonable under and over-exposure. So the problem was always there. You just weren't aware of it. One issue with digital is that some things that used to be handeled by a photo lab - like slight exposure problems - become the photographer's responsibility. On the other hand, most digital cameras are much more sophisticated and powerful than the point-and-shoot film cameras most people are used to. So even if you're encountering some new problems, the cameras are actually more capable and generally do a better job. You just need to learn why certain new problems occur, and what to do about them.

Hope that helps. If you give us some more information about yout camera and camera settings, we might be able to offer some more specific advice.

[Candice]

Hello John,


I have a Sony DSC V3. I think I figured it out. The EV was -2.0. I will try and play with it to make it right.

Candice

[trog100]

better slightly under than slightly over candice.. just remember that.. they are quite nice shots really..

trog100

[Peter_AUS]

Candice turn it back to 0 and try again, then you might be getting into the ball park. You are under exposing by 2 f stops at present, so that his why they are dark.

[meeksdigital]

Candice turn it back to 0 and try again, then you might be getting into the ball park. You are under exposing by 2 f stops at present, so that his why they are dark.

set EV to "0".... that is "normal" exposure. if you are still getting dark pictures, take the lens cap off. i have found that to help from time to time.

[Candice]