Metering (D3100)

[james_tigerwoods]

I was out yesterday and wanted to take a close up photo of a tall haystack against the sky - however when I did, the haystack was fine and the sky was blown out (as you would expect). If I wanted detail in the sky, the haystack was dark.

I assume that I wasn't getting the metering right here, but I've no idea how to do this - any tips?

(If it helps, I have a Nikon D3100).

Thanks

JTW

[Gemm]

Your metering is fine but the camera just can't handle it. This is why people use HDR and combine the correctly exposed sky + subject together in post processing.

Edited by Gemm on Tuesday 30th August 11:10

[james_tigerwoods]

Is there no way I can meter against the sky and then set speed/aperture manually?

[GetCarter]

I quite often do a manual digital blend. Take one metered for the sky, one for the land... cut/paste one onto 'tuther. It's like HDR but without the HD ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

Other than that a grey grad helps keep the sky from blowing.

You have to remember how stupid cameras are!

[james_tigerwoods]

GetCarter said:

I quite often do a manual digital blend. Take one metered for the sky, one for the land... cut/paste one onto 'tuther. It's like HDR but without the HD ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

Other than that a grey grad helps keep the sky from blowing.

You have to remember how stupid cameras are!

I was afraid of all that - thanks for the advice from a pro there

[Simpo Two]

Makes you realise how clever eyeballs are.

Shooting RAW will help you drag maximum detail from shadows and highlights (process the file for each and blend) but as Mr Get says sometimes bracketing/blending is the only answer. You'll need a tripod.

[Oddboy86]

O/T How are you finding the D3100, as I've been looking at them for a while and will probably end up buying one this week. Cheers.

[james_tigerwoods]

Oddboy86 said:

O/T How are you finding the D3100, as I've been looking at them for a while and will probably end up buying one this week. Cheers.

Love it

First impressions are how good a little camera it is for the money and how much more it offers over my old D40 and how close it is to a D90 (IMO). Having only been able to do ISO800 at best on the D40 (ISO1600 was pretty poor) the D3100 will do ISO3200 pretty well (6400 and 12800 are very noisy as I expected) - Video recording is pretty good, but I'm not sure how much I'll use it either.

The 18-55 VR kit lens is ok, but not a patch on my 18-70 so it's only been on once to make sure it works and will be sold in fairly short order.

Going from a D40 to this has been really simple as it's a very similar camera, lightweight and so easy to use - my OH is rather pleased that you can use the screen as a viewfinder as she always hated using the viewfinder.

I've not taken any photos with it yet (apart from of furniture while I played with it) but my initial view is that if I'd paid full whack for it, Id still be happy - but as a "freebie", I'm over the moon .

PM me if you want more info