Quick suggestion needed for lowering the exposure in bright sunlight

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When I am outdoors in bright sun, my automatic setting takes pictures a tad too exposed. I am going to an outdoor doodle pawtee this weekend, is there a quick suggestion for me to try? If I am lucky there will be a bit of a cloud cover - then my automatic setting will be perfect! My camera is a NikonD60.

[Mandy&Bailee]

I used to have the D60. If it's over-exposing in direct sunlight, maybe change the white balance to cloudy or shade? Really though, it's probably the situation where you are shooting - switch to A mode and put the aperture to like f/8 or even f/22. Lower the amount of light coming into the lens. You'll just have to play with it !!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Larry, increase the shutter speed is to go to higher fractions - right?
Mandy what is the white balance? Is there a picture of cloudy?
I have a shade thing on my longer lens. Should I be using this with this lens on bright sunny days? Probably a dumb question but .....

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks to both of you. I copied the information and will look at it again and again as I take my photos on Saturday.

[Sue]

There is something known as the Sunny rule of 16. It is explained here. I have a Nikon D300 and use aperture priority most of the time. The brighter the sun, the lower your ISO should be. 100-200.

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/tips/054a_exposure_sun...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks, Sue. For those of you who are into this, some of our questions must be soooooo elementary. To me the answers are complicated. Oh well, we gotta' stretch our brains.

[Sue]

I looked up the Nikon D60. It's got the same sport's setting that my D80 had. I used that alot with the doodles outside taking action shots. This guy Ken Rockwell explains alot about the different cameras.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d60/af-settings.htm

[Diane Margetts]

There is really nothing elementary so my suggestion is ask, ask away!!! Every situation is different and expert advise might work just great in one situation, yet on another day in another setting, the same advice may not work as well. It comes down to listening to the experience of others, trying it out and then adjusting to your own comfort level. Another important thing to remember is that "correct" is very subjective in photography. I may totally LOVE the way a particular photo turns out but it may not work for you at all . . .
I have had photography classes both in person and online and I spend a lot of time reading reference material but I am still enrolling in a photography class this spring. It seems to me that there are always things to learn, viewpoints you haven't heard, and styles that you haven't seen . . .
That's what Itruly love about places like this. There are so many great photos and great ideas and experiences here!

[F, Calla & Luca]

If your photos improve from where they are now it will be quite a shock--that is a compliment, of course.

[Diane Margetts]

How kind of you!! That means a lot coming from you--I've looked at your pics and they are beautiful!!
I totally welcome constructive criticism and just different approaches on taking a pic. I work in a 4/3 format which, I suspect, is different from most of the folks in this group which probably are primarily Nikon or Canon users. I don't think the 4/3 is better or worse than the 3/2 but it is very different so I sometimes need to ask your patience as I translate 3/2 recommendations to 4/3!!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Sue, Thanks so much. I can't wait to really concentrate on this. At first glance I am not sure what some of the letters refer to but I am sure as soon as I sit with the camera and the page, I will.

[Linda and "Toby"]

As luck and timing would have it, there was a good article on this very subject on PopPhoto.com yesterday: http://www.popphoto.com/Features/Getting-Great-Shots-In-Harsh-Light

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks Linda, I saved this also. With enough practice, I should understand more.