Hello I am very new to Photography and I just bought the Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera and I am getting hot spots is there a way to correct this problem in my shots? Thank you for any advice and pointers.

Not seeing an image, I would say that the flash coverage is too narrow for the subject you are shooting. I have only had the D7 for 5 days and have not yet experimented with the flash coverage and fall off. The flash is small on this thing, and though it appears to have a coating to help defuse the light, Im not sure, yet, how well it works. Hope this helps Quinn

Sorry I guess it would help with an image here is one. if you notice the bricks on the side of the cabin have a hot spot and the trees to the right just white out on me loosing a lot of detail. Thanks :-)

No flash problem. What Im thinking, and I vary well may be wrong, is that the main subject of the image, is exposed well, but the Hot Spots are Blown Out highlight areas. Im trying to think of how to explain this and Im not getting my thoughts into words. In scanning this would be due to the dynamic range of the scanner. If an image has areas that are very bright, areas that are mid tones, and areas that are very dark (look under the eves of the smaller building) you have to expose for the range of tones you want and the tones outside this range, go pure white, or pure black, or at least very close to those extremes and you lose most all detail. I have retyped this 4 times, and I cant think of any other way to say it. Hopefully someone has a better gift for language than I. Again I may be wrong, but I think this may be the answer. Regardless this is still a nice shot.

When you have areas of very bright and very dark the camera will not be able to expose all areas perfectly. This is true for any camera, film or digital. You have to decide which area is most important to you and meter that area, you will have to compromise sometimes and will end up with "hotspots" as you call them or areas that are dark. The Dimage 7 has 3 different exposure modes to meter light; multi-segment, center weighted, and spot. For the most part I would say that multi-segment is probably the most accurate for metering a scene. I've been using my Dimage 7 since November. I've found that I prefer to keep the camera in manuel mode. This way I have total control over exposure and depth of field. The image that you've posted looks fairly well exposed to me. And this is a very good example of what you are up against. Since your camera's meter will aim for a tonality of 18% grey, the main building is perfectly exposed. Of course the sun shining on the branches will cause blown-out highlights in the area beyond it, as well as on the bricks in the foreground....that is the trade-off. If you are very new to photography let me suggest that you read lots of books on the subject. One that I found very helpful was John Shaws book called "Nature Photography Field Guide". Even if you're not into nature photography his book is so very good at explaining the basics. The first chapter covers exposure and is very thorough. It's the most helpful book I have ever read. Hope this helps! :~)

Yes this was shot in the default settings of the camera in automatic mode and auto focus. the camera will let you change the F stop and shutter speeds I just dont have a clue what they are for and when and how much do you change on these. do you know of any tutorials on shutter speeds and f stop so i can find out what they are for and how to use them. the camera does have like 4 auto settings one is for portraits one is for rapid shots for something that is moving. and one is for daylight and the last is for night or dusk. as you can tell im am a rookie LOL thanks for your help :-)

Keep hanging out at the Forum, Kid. You'll get better in no time. Great thing about the digital cameras is you can experiment and get the results right away. In a scene like this, first try the automatic mode. I'm not sure if the Dimage does this, but probably does: note the f-stop and shutter speed it used. [If the dimage doesn't show this, there are ways around it.] Look at the result. If the highlights are blown out like this, switch to full manual mode and enter the same f-stop and shutter speed values that the camera used in Auto mode. Then either increase the shutter speed by one or two levels, or increase the f-stop (bigger number). And try again. Repeat until it looks good. An easier way if the camera has a "compensation" button. Leave it in Auto. Take a picture and check the result. If the highlights are blown out, Reduce compensation (-). Repeat until it looks OK. Remember to turn compensation off (back to normal) when you are done. The thing to remember is faster shutter, or bigger f-number, lets in less light.

Misha's right, you learn a lot here! I'm really new to digital photography & found some really useful info at www.photoalley.com, you might find it helpful.

Attached Link: http://www.peternorquist.com/technotes/zone_system_p1.html

Kid, if you have a chance, and really want a better shot of that location, wait for an overcast day and reshoot it. Cloudy skies should help to tone down the harsh over-lit areas of the scene. Get familiar with you camera, it's a nice one. Like Misha says, you can snap away all day in manual mode, twiddling the f-stop and shutter speed settings and see how they interact with each other instantly and for free.

For a quick introduction of how to take advantage of
shutter speeds and f-stop settings, have a look at the
link above, which explains the Zone System of photographic
exposure.