Very novice photographer here (actually my wife is and I am posting this to get her some help) - she is using a Nikon D5300 (on auto everything) and has this set of lights/kit (http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/8805002097):

* Powerful total 810 watts lighting to provide a sufficient exposal and brilliant image.
* Soften lighting with soft box for reducing overexposure and hot spots.
* 2x continual lighting with 18 bulbs for bathing object in dimensional lighting.

Professional Daylight Bulbs:

* CE approved for your safety.
* Average life 8,000 hours.
* Each lamp has 9 powerful bulbs.
* Save electricity! 45 watts spiral daylight lamp equals to 200 watts regular bulb.
* Color temperature is 5500k, most perfect color temperature for photo taking.
* Total 18 x 45 watts fluorescent daylight bulbs equal to 3,600 watts light output.
* Save $1600 energy cost for 8,000-hour usage, comparing to 3,600 watts continuous flood.

Studio Soft Boxes:

* High quality nylon construction.
* Two 20" x 28" large soft boxes.
* With two regular 20" x 28" white covers and two 16-1/2" x 22" little pure white translucent cloth.
* Extremely soften the light and get rid of the shadows to improve the quality of your images.
* Each soft box built-in two louvers with Velcro for dissipating heat and replacing bulb easily.

The camera is pretty much on auto everything. however, for some reason, the picture keep coming out rather dark. The room is well lit, the lights are on and we have tried to put the kits close, far, medium distance, every distance we can think of and still the pictures come out pretty dark.

Any ideas on how to fix this? We have backdrops as well and that has not helped. My wife is taking pictures of dogs for a rescue and she has to do alot of work in Photoshop to brighten up the pictures since the lights aren't working, or so it seems.

 

It might be just me, but the link isn't working for me. The lights are just constant lights correct? They aren't flashes? Try shooting in manual and change your shutter speed accordingly. Say, if the shutter speed is 1/250 and the image is too dark, try a slower shutter speed like 1/200, and keep messing around with that?

I'm no strobist but i'm trying to help the best that I can

 

http://www.amazon.com/Photography-St.../dp/8805002097

^^that's his link. The one posted above wasn't working for me either

 

Like Nick said...

Get off AUTO EVERYTHING. If you let the camera decide what you want, it actually decides what it wants. It tries to figure out white balance from the 'scene' in front of it. It tries to figure out exposure based on what it sees in front of it.

Set the camera on Aperture priority depending on how much depth of field you want. Maybe start at F8 to get the whole dog?

Then, let the camera pick only the shutter speed. You can then either go to manual mode and adjust the shutter speed slower to get a longer exposure, or you can use the exposure compensation and add a 1/3, 2/3, a full stop again to add exposure time.

Take a few test pictures of a stuffed animal in that same area with the same lights. Look at the histograms and see where the exposure should be for the lighting. Something should stick out as wrong. Maybe you're metering the entire scene and the lights are tricking the camera? Try to meter against the subject only.

You may also consider posting one of your images with EXIF data. There may be some other clues in there to help you out.

 

Thanks, will try!!!!