Curtain call photo help needed

[aliceinwoolfland]

It seems a bit silly to start a thread just for this, but I wasn't sure where else to ask!

 

I used to have an iPhone 7 and managed to get good curtain call photos, because if I tapped the phone screen when in camera mode the exposure was automatically adjusted. I have since switched to a Samsung Galaxy S9, because of its better camera. To my dismay, all of my curtain call photos at the first performance I saw with this new phone were massively overexposed, with most of the dancers coming out as white blobs. Editing didn't help much. There was no 'auto exposure' unlike with the iPhone, and my partner's iPhone SE managed to get better photos. 

 

We have got really good seats in Les Patineurs and I want to take some lovely curtain call photos. Does anyone have experience with a Samsung camera and can offer me some tips on advanced settings etc?

 

Many thanks! 

[Rob S]

I'd say it's best to post this on a phone forum or a photography website but I would imagine spot metering needs to be enabled some how otherwise the camera will try to get a perfect exposure of all that red curtain. rather than the dancers

[Rob S]

Have you looked at the 'Pro' mode on the camera app? It seems to allow more manual control

[Timmie]

Hi Alice, I’ve got the S9 as well and I’m not too impressed with curtain call pictures either (as you say over exposure is the issue). The way I get round it is to zoom-in and this works to a certain extent but is not great.

Another way round it, which I have not yet tried for ballet pictures, but should work, is as follows. In AUTO mode if you tap the screen where your subject is then the camera adjusts the exposure for that small area (until the scene changes). Now take your picture.

Best tip I have is to hope Don Q Fan goes to the same performance as you then pinch her pictures when she posts them .

[Rob S]

Bingo https://gadgetguideonline.com/s9/how-to-use-galaxy-s9-camera-pro-mode-on-galaxy-s9-and-s9/

 

Scroll down to Adjust Autofocus Mode and it tells you how you can adjust your metering in Pro Mode.....practice around your house rather than the Opera House

 

It's a good idea to establish whether it offers exposure lock so that you can keep taking shots at the same meter reading rather than continually resetting it, as I found to my cost during Mayerling with my iphone....one decent Yuhui pic followed by four overexposed ones...I discovered holding your finger there for a few seconds locked it rather than just setting it for one shot with a short tap

Edited December 3, 2018 by Rob S

[taxi4ballet]

Sidetracking totally, but I'm really impressed with the photos I've taken on my iPhone - I even managed to get one of the International Space Station as it flew overhead a few months ago. 400+ miles up, and the picture is fuzzy but the shape is recognisable.

 

As you were...