In my youth \u2013 don\u2019t ask how long ago that was \u2013 there were sign painters that traveled the south painting billboards on barn roofs.\u00a0 The advertisements varied from chewing tobacco to tourist attractions.\u00a0 Now, instead of a day-long painting process, billboards are changed in minutes through the use of computer-generated wraps.<\/p>\n
![\"Las](\"https:\/\/www.davidallio.com\/da-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/12nv0265.jpg\" "\\"Las")
Las Vegas Billboard | \u00a9 2012 David Allio<\/p><\/div>\n
This particular billboard attracted my attention because of the stark contrast in the black-and-white graphics.\u00a0 Out of curiosity, I checked a variety of automated exposure modes on my digital camera before setting the exposure model to Manual.<\/p>\n
The most common question is why?\u00a0 Why should I go to the trouble of ignoring all of the automation of a modern digital camera?<\/p>\n
The answer is that the high contrast of the scene caused the in-camera meter to vary widely between under-exposure and over-exposure.\u00a0 When the camera sensed more black, it tended to indicate less reflected light than average.\u00a0 Conversely when it sensed more white, the tendency would be for under-exposure.<\/p>\n
These are common errors.\u00a0 That is why most of my Experience Photography workshops, including the motorsports workshop that starts tomorrow at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, open with a discussion of common exposure errors and manual exposure calculation.<\/p>\n
For reference, this photograph was created using a Nikon D3 camera with a Nikkor \u00a0AF VR Zoom 70-200mm f\/2.8G IF-ED set at 200mm.\u00a0 The Manual exposure data was f\/8 at 1\/1000th<\/sup> of a second and a film speed of 250 ISO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In my youth \u2013 don\u2019t ask how long ago that was \u2013 there were sign painters that traveled the south painting billboards on barn roofs.\u00a0 The advertisements varied from chewing tobacco to tourist attractions.\u00a0 Now, instead of a day-long painting process, billboards are changed in minutes through the use of computer-generated wraps. This particular billboard …<\/p>\n
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