Help!

[melissa5704]

Okay, I tried to take a team photo tonight to make copies for everyone on the team by Saturday. I used my 50mm lens with the following settings (I tried a bunch of things to get the color right. I'm not happy with the fuzzy picture. Back row is out of focus.

I don't know if I can salvage this picture!

I had my camera set originally to 1600 ISO but my camera changed it automatically.

f 2.8
1/60
ISO 200
exposure -1.3 step
50mm

I have a real problem with the exposure thing. On manual mode, the meter (I think that is what it is called) always shows lines either to the right or left of 0 and I don't know exactly how to fix this other than to adjust exposure. I don't know if I'm explaining it right.

I'd appreciate any suggestions. I have Photoshop CS4 (another thing I don't really know how to use). I had Elements 6 and did very basic editing with levels.

Thanks for any help
Melissa

[ktreffin]

Hi Melissa,

I hope you don't mind, but I took a copy of your pic and adjusted it in Lightroom. I believe that the color was fixed pretty easily. By adjusting the white balance, it seems like I was able to get it to where it needs to be. I am not familiar with CS4 or Elements 6 for that matter however in Lightroom to set the WB with the "dropper" you want to click on something in the pic that is supposed to be light gray. I am sure that CS4 or Elements 6 has a similiar feature so that you might be able to get the color you are looking for by trying it with the dropper.

Being a newbie here myself, I can only offer limited suggestions on what to do with the exposure. According to the EXIF data of the image, you shot this in Manual mode. With an adjusted exposure of -1.3. I think that maybe this would be contributing to the dark pic that your getting. Also with an aperture of 2.8 it would seem that you have a pretty narrow depth of field that may be contributing to the soft focus on the back row. I would try to increase the aperture giving you a deeper depth of field (say maybe at 5.6 or even 8). This in turn will reduce your shutter speed so would have to increase your ISO or use the slower shutter speed with a tripod. Also, using a flash would help.

I hope that this makes sense. Like I warned before I am a newbie here myself....I am sure that someone with a lot more experience will be along to help correct any misinformation that I may have given and offer some other advice.

If you would like to see your image after I played with it let me know, and with your permission I will post it for you. If not, please tell me and I will immediately delete it.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Ken

[melissa5704]

Ken,
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I'd love to see how you corrected the photo! I'll try to fix it in Photoshop too since I need to get them done for Saturday!

I kick myself after I take bad photos because deep down, I know that wide open, I will get a shallow DOF. I get into panic mode and my mind goes blank! I'll try to think before I do next time!
Melissa

[Frog]

Did you shoot it in raw.....then it would be easy to fix white balance?
If not, go to enhance, adjust lighting, and levels. Then select the gray dropper.
Your aperture definitly gave you a shallow dof but don't know why your camera did an auto iso change. At 1/60 th you don't want to go slower so a higher iso would be necessary especially if you want to use a smaller f stop.
The exposure meter thing....if the lights are to the right you need to decrease shutter speed, select a smaller aperture, or increase iso. It would mean you are underexposed.
If they are lit to the left, do the opposite because it means you are over-exposed.
In this case you may be getting changing exposure readings because you have dark and light surfaces. I would use spot metering and expose for the faces. You could also do an auto bracket set.
Good luck and hope this helps.

[ktreffin]

Hi Melissa,

You are welcome. Hopefully my comments have helped. Looks like Frog has also given you some awesome advice.

Here is your image after I tweaked it in Lightroom (fixed the WB, added some sharpening, and also straightened it some):



I hope you can see the difference, and you like the results. WB correction is probably one of the easiest things to do, you just have to find that right spot.

Hope this helps.
Ken