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How to get best exposure

exposure

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20 replies to this topic

#1
Dkap

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I recently bought a D3500 and I'm getting used to it. There are so many ways to set exposure it gets confusing. It's the first real camera I've bought in 20 years. The last few years I've been doing quite well with my Moto g6 camera even though its limited. I've noticed that I still get better exposures with the g6 than my D3500. I know I need more practice with it but how can I get that overall color richness and good exposure?

I have the settings on Vivid and bought a polarizer filter.

 

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.



#2
krag96

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You could bump your saturation up +3 and see if that gets you where you want to be.



#3
Merco_61

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Could you let us see one of your problematic photos? 



#4
Dkap

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You could bump your saturation up +3 and see if that gets you where you want to be.

Where do I set that ?


Could you let us see one of your problematic photos? 


Could you let us see one of your problematic photos? 

How do I uploads photos in this forum without having to have a URL?



#5
Dkap

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Could you let us see one of your problematic photos? 


You could bump your saturation up +3 and see if that gets you where you want to be.

I set picture control to Vivid. Is this what you are talking about? 



#6
Merco_61

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To upload a photo, you can use the attach files option you get when you click the More Reply Options button in the lower right corner under the reply window.

Another way is to upload it to your Gallery space here on the site and then use the BBCode link in your reply.



#7
Nikon Shooter

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How to get best exposure

Of course, the quality of the sensor is important but just as
much is the histogram (your best friend in all situations).



#8
krag96

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No, I think it should be just below picture control in the shooting menu, you can bump it up +3. 

 

Merco_61 is right, we should see some examples, put them on Imgur and export them here.  Copy the image from Imgur, (direct link) click on the Image icon here, (second row above, about middle, bluish square just to the left of <> icon and import it as url.  See below on of mine from a D700 shot in manual, with a zoom at 50mm, (I believe I had it on vivid, saturation neutral).  

 

  Nikon's color rendition is usually the best in camera, in the industry, but do get some pictures here for us to view and we can better help you. 

 

zvPDk8J.jpg



#9
Dkap

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To upload a photo, you can use the attach files option you get when you click the More Reply Options button in the lower right corner under the reply window.

Another way is to upload it to your Gallery space here on the site and then use the BBCode link in your reply.

 

 

Could you let us see one of your problematic photos? 

Like this one... overexposed sky and underexposed foreground.


Here's one from the G6 camera and the second from the D3500. I've been using the P setting in Nikon.

 

Notice how the overall exposure in the G6 is better than the Nikon. How to correct the Nikon?

 

 

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

  • 2020-12-21_11-38-46_resized.jpg
  • G6view.jpg
  • Nikon1221sm.jpg


#10
Merco_61

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With such extreme contrast, stay away from the Vivid and Landscape settings for now, until you know your camera better. These two raise the contrast, losing dynamic range.

 

For landscape shots, shoot in raw to get the maximal exposure latitude. Keep the camera at the standard or neutral Picture Control (I don't remember what PC settings the D3500 has) to get a reliable histogram. Expose to preserve the highlights at all cost as blown highlights are lost forever. Lift the shadows in post. The Moto probably does things like this in the background to get usable snapshots, but a carefully tweaked raw file *will* render a better photo in the end.



#11
krag96

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Okay, you want to go from this,

JnYpg9Q.jpg

 

To this!

vpsaUHj.jpg

 

All you need is more light, a slower exposure than your meter says to use.  I thought you were trying for a certain effect.  Like Peter said, shoot in RAW, maybe play with bracketing, (+ or -) in stops.  This can be done in post also, I use Affinity Photo.



#12
Dkap

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With such extreme contrast, stay away from the Vivid and Landscape settings for now, until you know your camera better. These two raise the contrast, losing dynamic range.

 

For landscape shots, shoot in raw to get the maximal exposure latitude. Keep the camera at the standard or neutral Picture Control (I don't remember what PC settings the D3500 has) to get a reliable histogram. Expose to preserve the highlights at all cost as blown highlights are lost forever. Lift the shadows in post. The Moto probably does things like this in the background to get usable snapshots, but a carefully tweaked raw file *will* render a better photo in the end.

Thank you for the advice. I've never used RAW before. Never used histogram either. Where are there instructions for these?



#13
Dkap

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Okay, you want to go from this,

JnYpg9Q.jpg

 

To this!

vpsaUHj.jpg

 

All you need is more light, a slower exposure than your meter says to use.  I thought you were trying for a certain effect.  Like Peter said, shoot in RAW, maybe play with bracketing, (+ or -) in stops.  This can be done in post also, I use Affinity Photo.

Never used RAW before. Do I make the adjustments after taking the photo or can I adjust before taking a RAW photo?



#14
Dkap

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With such extreme contrast, stay away from the Vivid and Landscape settings for now, until you know your camera better. These two raise the contrast, losing dynamic range.

 

For landscape shots, shoot in raw to get the maximal exposure latitude. Keep the camera at the standard or neutral Picture Control (I don't remember what PC settings the D3500 has) to get a reliable histogram. Expose to preserve the highlights at all cost as blown highlights are lost forever. Lift the shadows in post. The Moto probably does things like this in the background to get usable snapshots, but a carefully tweaked raw file *will* render a better photo in the end.

What do you mean by Lift the shadows and Expose to preserve highlights? This camera has so many settings it's confusing at first.



#15
Nikon Shooter

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Prior to SR, the histogram will help you the best RAW recording. Of
course, given that you shoot RAW, once at the computer, all the re-
sources of a properly exposed file will be at your disposal.


What do you mean by Lift the shadows and Expose to preserve highlights? This camera has so many settings it's confusing at first.


I can offer you some mentoring sessions… that would make
your leaning process quite quicker.



#16
Dkap

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Prior to SR, the histogram will help you the best RAW recording. Of
course, given that you shoot RAW, once at the computer, all the re-
sources of a properly exposed file will be at your disposal.


I can offer you some mentoring sessions… that would make
your leaning process quite quicker.

What is SR?  Any help is appreciated. Thanks.



#17
krag96

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Why not relax with a few youtube tutorials on the D3500?  Have your camera at hand and follow along. 



#18
Merco_61

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Depending on how you learn best, a book might work better than YouTube.

 

A good one for the D3500 is :

David Busch's Nikon D3500 Guide to Digital SLR Photography.

ISBN-13 : 978-1681984766

 

All the books in The David Busch Camera Guide Series are basically a good beginner's handbook, but tweaked for a specific camera model.



#19
Nikon Shooter

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What is SR?

 

 

Shutter release.

Contact me on skype: "kodiakonline"



#20
Dkap

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Why not relax with a few youtube tutorials on the D3500?  Have your camera at hand and follow along. 

Watched a couple videos. Very informative. Settings are now less confusing. ;)

 

Thanks for all the advice.







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