Camera Issue. Anybody Experience This?

[Smith1942]

My camera is an A830 General Electric point-and-shoot.

It seems to be so temperamental. Sometimes it takes great shots and then other times, like this afternoon, it does this weird thing which ruins every single shot.

So, the item to be photographed is in focus and I press down on the shutter button. Just before it takes, the entire picture suddenly flips to many shades lighter and you can't see the item or any of its details properly because it's so washed out. I've been trying to photograph some pearl drop earrings for an hour and I just can't stop the camera doing this. I have tried in every light - bright light, extra light, daylight, artificial light, no light. I am taking the shots where I usually do with the usual lighting.

Has anyone experienced this? It's hugely frustrating.

 

[kenny]

I'll take a guess.

Is there something in the pic that's super bright ... like a reflection of a lightbulb or the sun?
Or, is there a large very dark area?

All cameras are dumb.
They pick something, or some area, to focus on and calculate the exposure on.
Often they pick the wrong thing ... wrong in our minds, but they can't read our minds.
They just make decisions the way they are programmed to.
If you get familiar with how your camera "thinks" you can control what it sees so it is not picking the wrong thing to pay attention to.

Just a guess.
Alternatively, your camera may be broken.

Have you consulted your owner's manuals troubleshooting section?

 

[Smith1942]

Thanks Kenny! You were totally right - it was the black mat that I had placed the earrings on.

Now I know why my family shot of all my jewels didn't work very well.

 

[kenny]

Thanks Kenny! You were totally right - it was the black mat that I had placed the earrings on.

Now I know why my family shot of all my jewels didn't work very well.

Groovy.

Very light or dark backgrounds cause problems for the camera.
The real world varies in brightness more widely than a camera can capture, so the camera has to decide whether to make the dark parts, the light parts or the middle parts look good.
They have no idea you want just the jewel to look correctly exposed.
Actually the camera is doing exactly what it is supposed to do and has no way of knowing the jewel is the important thing.

Try keeping backgrounds more of a middle tone, not bright or dark.

 

[Smith1942]

Middle tones seem to do just the trick. Thanks!

 

[minousbijoux]

Thank God for Kenny! Or should I say Thank Kenny for Kenny!