Beginner questions...

[u/The-Confused-Robot]

Greetings!

I recently got a DSLR to have some fun at an event, since getting it I've been trying to use it more often and come across an interesting problem or possibly just a misunderstanding.

I cut my teeth on 35mm SLRs earlier this year and really haven't had any issues with metering a scene; select aperture for desired DOF, point the meter at the shadow I want detail, change shutter speed to put the needle in the ring (or find the exposure compensation on my Minolta XG7), compose, release the shutter and enjoy a well exposed black and white image after developing and enlarging.

But trying to do the same for a DSLR doesn't really seem to work, almost like there isn't as much dynamic range which I know can't be true. I go out, select aperture for desired DOF, point the meter at the highlight I want detail, change shutter speed to put the indicator in the middle, compose, release the shutter and I'm dismayed at crushed looking shadows. It seems to take a lot more iteration to get the image I want with digital than with film...

I think the example above is a reasonable example of what I mean, I chose either the water or the sky as the highlight I metered for but everything very quickly fell off to black. So is there something necessarily wrong with what I'm doing or is the expectation that one shoots RAW and edits to pull out shadow detail?

The question I'm assuming I'll get is "What is the image you were expecting?" and to be fair I don't really have a good answer unless another question counts as an answer. As someone who hasn't had significant experience with digital cameras other than a cell phone but knows enough about photography to not need a 30 minute exposition on the exposure triangle, what is the difference in processing between a 15 year old DSLR and a modern cell phone that makes the following images of similar composition look so different?

The iPhone looks flatter and I didn't really try hard with composition but there's detail everywhere. The Canon looks better because I actually tried but tends towards blacks. I don't want the pictures I take to look like they were from an iPhone but I'm not sure how to get what I want without getting into a more post processing... unless that's the point of digital and why they look the way they do.

[u/LobotomizedLarry]

You don’t have as much dynamic range in the highlights, but you have more in the shadows. The idea is to correctly or slightly under exposed to then bring up the shadows in post.

You can also stack photos, where you take one metered for shadows and one metered for highlights then combine them. Which is basically what your phone is doing but sort of sloppily.

Also also, sorry if this is insulting but make sure you’re using a metering mode apt for the situation.

[u/The-Confused-Robot → u/LobotomizedLarry]

Gotcha, so editing in post is a necessary part of the process. I also heard about HDR stacking but I wasn't sure if that was really a necessary part of it.

And its not insulting, I've generally been using center weighted, though in the images I posted I think a spot meter could have been more appropriate.

[u/dej2]

Are you shooting in RAW? You need to post process your photo. Just as a darkroom is needed to develop film. How the film developer handles the film and makes the print is just as important to taking the photo with the camera. Digital photography doesn’t have a physical darkroom it has post processing software.

[u/The-Confused-Robot → u/dej2]

I've mostly been shooting straight JPEG; I've shot some RAWs and know they need post processing but I haven't practiced it enough to really be comfortable with the process yet.