Photo Came Out Dark.

TaurusDevil

I took a photo today and printed it out. It was in the sun and these were the settings, 1/640 sec. f/10 130 mm, ISO 1600. Do I need to lower my shutter speed to let in more light? Any help? Thanks!

John7

How dark? What camera/lens?

Shutter speed depends on subject movement - static subject=lower shutter speed. Moving subject requires higher to freeze motion.

Aperture, does not need to be so high usually (small (high) aperture reduces light). F5.6 should be sufficient.

ISO 1600 is very high for a shot taken in sunshine. Should be around 100-400 ISO

TaurusDevil

3pm with a Canon EOS 350D.

shotokan101

"Yes" or alternatively use a wider aperture.....

Can you post  a link to the shot so we can see the full EXIF and were you shooting in manual or did the cameras pick the settings?

...could also be a metering issue

BTW did you not view it on screen before printing ? and if so did it simply print much darker?

TaurusDevil

shotokan101

EXIF shows this as actual shooting details...

Filename - IMG_5765.JPG
Make - Canon
Model - Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
DateTime - 2019:02:21 14:45:42
ExposureTime - 1/1000 seconds
FNumber - 13
ExposureProgram - Normal program
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
DateTimeOriginal - 2019:02:21 14:45:42
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/1000 seconds
ApertureValue - F 13.00
ExposureBiasValue - -0.67
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 130 mm


....so even higher shutter speed and Aperture than you said and also a -0.7 exposure compensation probably accounting for the 1600 ISO choice I think....

Saying that the image posted here looks OK in terms of exposure - could you maybe take a shot of the print and post it ?

The subject/shot itself - while it's sunny outside the actual subject area has little direct sunlight and is "darkish" so the auto metering won't really "see" a lot of light.

Not sure from the EXIF if it's a fully auto shot or any of the shooting settings were FIxed - e.g. ISO - if that wads set high then the knock on effect would influence the other values - same for shutter speed and aperture....

snerkler

OP I’d recommend reading this. Understanding how the exposure is achieved via the exposure triangle will take you a long way to better photography.

https://photographylife.com/iso-shutter-speed-and-aperture-for-beginners


Also, as Jim says you have 2/3 stop negative exposure compensation set so this will account for some of the darkness.

TaurusDevil

Cheers!

12harry

Hi, I'm not sure I understand this - ( If the Garden Stones is your "faulty picture" - then I don't see much wrong with it.... The exposure is "correct" for the pool of sunlight in the distance to the right. ).
-OR- Is your "rogue" picture one we've not seen?  also, are others [ Taken previously ],  normally OK?
Perhaps this a new camera to you - and this "Darkness" is typical of all/many of your daylight pictures?
1) Is this camera set to Auto? This will solve 80% of exposure issues. Many cameras have the ability to move the exposure-point several EV  ( Exposure Values ) - useful when photographing something white, like a dress, or black like a cat.
2) Is the viewfinder showing a dark picture - OR has it been set to "Extra bright" so you expect the picture to be recorded somewhat brighter. ( again, if your example picture is what you are complaining about, exactly how would you like it to be less dark?

Just because it was taken when the sun is out doesn't mean all pictures are going to be bright - anything taken in "Shadow" will be dark, unless you deliberately tell the camera to change the exposure.
Sadly, for this picture example, the pool of light in the middle distance will be burnt out ( i.e.  white ), which may look slightly odd.

A photo-editor will enable you to adjust the Contrast as well as the overall brightness - to save printing-ink this can be a great benefit.  Areas that show as dark will use a lot of ink - some "adjustment" will reduce this, but you have to be carful if the picture is to look how you saw it, when it was taken.   Our eyes are poor judges of brightness, so we may have to introduce additional light ( e.g. flash, or a white reflector ).  Most cameras have a small flash, but the light falls off as the square of the distance, so this is often not suitable for pictures with depth ( As the example). For portraits any flash can help, as folks don't like to be looking into the sun - Try a shady spot or under a white umbrella should help a lot.... adding Flash then balances their face with anything in the background..... which should be out of focus as well..... but it's usually nice to see the "Where" in a picture.

Good luck.

Rahto

It’s about what I would expect to see with ¾ of a stop of negative exposure compensation dialed in.  There is a lot of dynamic range to the scene and the exposure compensation is under exposing the middle leaving the right light side fairly well exposed and the darker left side way to dark. You can lift the shadows in Photoshop to balance it out to some degree but I would set the exposure compensation in the camera back to zero.  Here is the picture with the shadows lifted and hopes this helps.