Need Advice : Why is this happening?

9wetfckx43j5rg

I bought a Canon 40D with a 50mm prime lens. I was testing it out at a local gig and my picture kept blowing out. Through the viewfinder it looked great. In focus ect. The picture was fine with a flash on, but trying to take it without a flash kept resulting in this. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? It's not the aperature shutter speed ect because when I put the camera on automatic, but without the flash, the same thing happened. Tried changing the white balance ect but no difference.

xshayx

Looks like combination of high ISO and general bad lighting where you are, gigs with bad light are very hard to photograph

mehfesto

Yup, bad lighting I reckon. Happens to me loads down the academy - Probably a red light in there somewhere.

Convert it to black and white and see if you can claw all the details back. If so, it was probably a mixture of red and purple lighting on their own. Not something many cameras enjoy handling!

9wetfckx43j5rg

Hmm so it's the lighting? I know the sound and lighting tech so I could get them to change the lighting and dial more of a different colour. What colour would be the best to change it to?

Also if I bought a diffuser for the pop up flash would it help to light this kind of gig without losing the atmosphere of the coloured stage lights?

the_doctor199

What settings are you using? It's quite overexposed, were you shooting manual? If not, I'd guess the camera is trying to balance the background and the subject and that's why it's overexposed.

As for the flash, it'll be difficult to balance with a pop up flash but it is possible, try a slower shutter speed to let in the ambient light.

CabanSail

Looks to me like the Red & Blue channels have both over saturated with very little Green in the mix. This gives rise to the blown Magenta.

You may be able to pull back the R & B in your RAW data to bring back some detail, along with shifting the WB towards Tungsten. If you were shooting Jpeg then there is stuff all you can do.

Alia Greasy Raffle wrote: »

Hmm so it's the lighting? I know the sound and lighting tech so I could get them to change the lighting and dial more of a different colour. What colour would be the best to change it to?

Also if I bought a diffuser for the pop up flash would it help to light this kind of gig without losing the atmosphere of the coloured stage lights?

If you want to capture the atmosphere then don't use flash. You are blowing channels already so there is enough light there, you just need to learn how to expose correctly and process what you shoot. If you have been Matrix Metering this then you don't have a chance. Spot metering and then exposing manually will probably bring more success. This is a difficult subject to shoot and takes a lot of understanding of exposure.

I would forget the Pop Up Toy Flash. If you are going to use one in this environment then get a proper flash.

9wetfckx43j5rg

Thanks for the advice guys. I shot another gig last night, lowered the ISO and shot in drive which meant I didn't have to worry watching the sequence of lights. Blue light seemed to give me the best results.

To answer your questions, yes I was shooting in fully manual. That night I just brought my camera out with me to start practising with it and getting used to the new controls, so I don't need to worry about the crap quality of the photos, I'm not using them for anything.

Exposure is definitely my weakest point of knowledge when it comes to photography. I understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO ect but don't know a tonne about light metering. Could anyone direct me to any articles about it they think might help?

The Snipe

My method of Metering:

Look at your metere, and make sure its a bit below the middle (If bright) and in the middle (If dark) and then take a few shots with varying exposures until you find the right one, and work from there.

9wetfckx43j5rg

Do you mean varying the exposure by changing the aperture?

the_doctor199

Alia Greasy Raffle wrote: »

Do you mean varying the exposure by changing the aperture?

Try varying with your shutter first.

The Snipe

Vary with your shutter first, to make sure you can hand hold it (If shooting gigs, if needed lower your apperature before your shutterspeed)

9wetfckx43j5rg

Thanks for all the advice. I shot this photo a few days after the first one, same venue, same lights. It was mainly the high ISO that was blowing it out, once I turned it down and slowed my shutter speed to compensate for it the pictures turned out grand.