Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - First Submit got all rejected, please give advice

kenny123 · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:59 pm

Thats what I mean, so I couldnt know the shutter speed was 1/500. It depends on the light at the time of shooting. Even with an overcast, the light can be different at times. Or am I missing something now?[/quote]

This is why I mentioned the strength of the shadows, and advised bracketing. It's Basic Daylight Exposure,or if you wish,"Sunny 16 rule",which has served photographers for years:

Manual Exposure Metering

Your camera uses reflected light readings for exposure-light reflected from different subjects, will result in a range of tones, which your camera’s meter will try to average to give an overall exposure. It may not matter sometimes, but because any little deflection of lighting will give a different reading, and if you are photographing a wedding, for instance, it could look as if photos were taken on different days!

Incident light-light falling on the subjects is always constant.

Start using your in-built Incident exposure meter- Your eyes!

This is how us oldies who started in the late 1950’s/60’s learn to read exposure: You will often hear the term “The sunny 16 rule”, or Basic Daylight Exposure” here it is explained:

Basically four apertures are used: F16; F11; F8; and F5.6

Shutter-speed is based on Equivalent ISO#

Watching the shadows, the base settings are: ( for ISO 200)

Hard-edged shadows …………………….1/200 sec @ F16

Soft-edged shadows………………………1/200 sec @ F11

Barely visible Shadows…………………..1.200 sec @ F8

No Shadows……………………………….1/200 sec @ F5.6

Remember, these are the base settings: so variants would be:

1/200 @ F16
1/400 @ F11
1/800 @ F8
1/1600 @ F5.6
These all give the same exposure (But with different depths of field)
The other 3 settings use the same spatial relationship, the settings you choose are based on subject movement and/or depth of field desired. For instance If you want to keep the Aperture at F8:

Hard shadows……………………………1/800 @ F8

Soft shadows…………………………….1/400@ F8

Barely visible shadows…………………1/200 @ F8

No shadows………………………………1/100 @ F8 (As shadows fade, more light is required)
Heavily overcast…………………………..1/125 @ F8

Deep Shade………………………………1/60 @ F8

Pre-thunderstorm…………………………1/30 @ F8

Brightly lit store interior……………………1/15 @ F8

Well-lit stage/sports arena…………………1/8 @ F8

Well-lit house interior……………………….¼ @ F8

(Of course you would vary the F stop and shutter speed combinations to whatever would be most appropriate. )

I often use an older 50mm F 1.8 nikon lens that doesn't link with auto exposure,or metering.(One of the sharpest lenses Nikon ever produced)-Cost me $20.00.

The moral of this story is that if you get a chance to buy an older lens,without auto links, you will be at a loss.

rinder99 · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:56 pm

Ya know kenny. someday before it's all over we gotta go shoot together. Somehow.

fotomak · Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 985

Rather than disregarding your camera meter, you could spot meter the ( barely visible ) shadows and the brightest spot and set the exposure starting from there, depending on the mood you like to create.

kenny123 · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:03 pm

rinder99 · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:08 pm

I also have the old 1960's NonAI 50. incredibly sharp at 5.6 no meter. Gosh....What to do???LOL

jeffbanke · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:01 am

cdkeyser · Joined: 22 Feb 2012 Posts: 17 Location: over the moon

kenny123 · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:09 am

mnsanthoshkumar · Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 466

I am not posting this after carefully reading all the posts till now. But I got the feel of the matter here. I am a novice too in this field of photography, but not in observing beauty(that has been my lifetime passion, be it girls or nature). My photography is an extension of my eye, perhaps more than that sometimes..

Most important of all, I feel, is how you present your stuff. Not how you capture it. Most of the time, I sit and think what best I can do with a photo and photoshopl. Not just what I can do with that 1 photo, but I also think of my existing collection and see what fits where, what I can do with different combinations, etc.

In the end, what matters most is how much the customer likes it. He cares a damn for aperture used, ISO settings etc. If we can deliver a stunning and useful image, even if it is heavily manipulated using photoshop, thats what is all required...

I learnt all the basics of photography here in this forum, in just a few weeks(I am really grateful for that to all folks here). But I dont adhere to any rules discussed here.. When I click, I just see whether I got the right one.. And now a days, I sometime dont even see what I clicked.. I know I would have got it.. Most of the time, it works..

rinder99 · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:16 pm

Consistency is what it's about.Not getting Lucky. You don't have clients that demand perfection and ask you to shoot sometimes Bizzare things with weird lighting. being able to see something is the biggest hurdle , being able to capture it is the easy part.Well not easy but easier.And the more experience you have the easier it gets.The Image should in my view dictate what you do to it.Sometimes nothing and sometimes a lot.We are creating Illusions and stories.Not much more.What has always turned me on about this craft is capturing something that in a split second will never be seen again.It's still magic for me after all these years.