Pls Advise A Newbie

[dreamer_toons]

I was shooting group photos using my friend Nikon D70, with kit len the other day.

As ths was my 1st time using the dslr, I was trying to experiment it and shooting under various lighting conditions. There are few things which puzzled me.

When I viewed the image on the LCD, I realised that the group is further behind compared to the view through the viewfinder before I pressed the shutter. I have to zoom in more to compensate for it Does this happen to all dslr or is the kit len that cause it

In areas where there are mixed lighting conditions, dim and bright areas, how do I ensure that the pic would not turn out to be over-exposed/under exposed in these areas? Previously, someone told me to set the metering to spot and aim at the bright areas/light source and half press the shutter, and re-compose and shoot. I tried but dont seem to work. Am I missing something?

 

[ExplorerZ]

try metering on someone face 1st, meter on those with skin tone that are in not too far or dark.
as for your first question, that is mainly because d70 viewfinder only covers 95% of the actual frame (photo on LCD) so there will be a 5% around the VF which one couldn't see.

 

[catchlights]

the method being mention is call average metering, it will work on some cases.

but if brightness of different areas are too great, more that 3 stops, no matter how you meter it, it will not exposure the two areas as within the accepted level for group photos.

you can re-arrange the goupe to a more even lighted areas.