Especially for beginners, exposure compensation is a useful tool for getting good images in challenging lighting situations. It can also help you decide what details are important to keep in extreme situations where it’s difficult to choose between losing highlight detail or shadow detail.
Exposure compensation overrides the camera’s metering setting and allows you to adjust exposure before your photo is captured. This is a simpler way to tweak your photos without having to use Manual mode.
1. Underexposure
If your camera’s meter shows a tick to the left of the negative numbers, it’s underexposed and you need to adjust the settings (ISO, aperture and shutter speed) accordingly. It’s easy to do – just check the histogram and adjust the settings until you see the image coming out correctly.
Getting the right exposure for your images is critical for your work as a photographer, and it’s also one of the most difficult things to master. Whether it’s a portrait of a loved one, a sunset or even a sunrise, the ability to make your shots come alive is essential for telling a story.
Underexposure is when the amount of light hitting your camera’s sensor is too low, with many of your shadows turning to black. This can make it hard to see your subjects, especially when you’re trying to capture a dramatic sunset.
It can also lead to a loss of detail in your highlights, with the results looking like a dark grey or muddy color. This is usually seen when a person’s skin looks pasty or white and their shirt has a blah look to it.
However, there are plenty of situations where underexposure can be used to your advantage as a creative photographer. Underexposed photographs can be taken in such a way that they give the viewer the impression of what’s hidden in the dark – which is often a fantastic effect to have.
This is where exposure compensation comes in handy – by using it, you can adjust the f-stop and shutter speed until you find the perfect balance between the amount of light that hits your camera’s sensor and the level of contrast (highlights vs. shadows).
You can also use exposure bracketing to shoot underexposed photos that are then overexposed in post production to get the best possible results. This technique is particularly useful for photographers who want to preserve the dazzling details of their backgrounds but aren’t able to do this with the settings they have available on their cameras.
Generally speaking, underexposed photos can add depth and interest to a scene, but you can also create some truly stunning images by overexposing them. If you’re a beginner, the key is to try and experiment with your settings to see what works and what doesn’t, but do so with the intention of creating the type of effects you want in your finished images.
2. Overexposure
Overexposure is the result of too much light hitting the camera sensor or film, which can lead to a photo looking blown out and overly bright. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as overexposed photos can often look more natural and realistic than neutrally exposed images.
Overexposed images also tend to be a bit washed out, with highlights being very pale and shadows appearing darker than they should. This can be especially problematic with dark backgrounds.
There are a few ways you can combat overexposure when shooting indoors, but these techniques will only work if the room is evenly lit. For example, if you’re shooting in a window and the sun is shining on one side of the actor’s face, lowering the ISO can help fix the problem.
Another way to combat overexposure is to use a low shutter speed, which can help reduce the chances of overexposing the image. A shutter speed of 1/60 is a good place to start, and you can always adjust it from there.
You can also try experimenting with different exposure values. This is a simple system that divides the amount of light into f-stops and then adds them together to create an Exposure Value (EV). The EV scale works in doubles and halves, so a f/1.4 EV is actually a 4 EV.
This can be a useful tool when photographing snowy landscapes, as the white snow and blue sky will appear more true-to-life if you overexpose your pictures. It’s also a great technique for taking photos of people in a dark room, as this will make their faces stand out and look more vivid.
Similarly, overexposing black-and-white images can create a dreamy effect. This can be especially useful for making portraits more dramatic, but can be difficult to achieve on a digital camera.
Overexposure is a common problem that can cause a lot of trouble in photography. If you’re not careful, it can be a real pain to get your images back to their original state. But there are a few things you can do to correct this issue in post-processing.
3. Brightness
Brightness is a measure of the intensity or amplitude of light. It is an important element of color perception and can also affect battery life on mobile devices.
In the camera, brightness is affected by shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings. The shutter speed is what controls how long the camera opens and closes to allow in light; the aperture is what controls how much light gets in (also known as f-number); and the ISO determines how much noise the image will have (this is what causes artifacts or graininess).
However, there are some situations when it’s not enough to simply adjust shutter speed, aperture or ISO. In these cases, you need to use your exposure compensation function.
Exposure compensation is a button or dial on your camera that allows you to override the setting your camera’s meter picks based on the scene. For example, if you’re photographing a subject in front of a bright background, your camera’s meter will try to compensate for the brightness of the background and may overexpose the subject by default. To fix this, you can dial in a negative exposure compensation to make the photo darker, and then check your camera’s LCD to verify that you have achieved the desired effect.
You can see from the above that the camera’s meter is standard on middle gray, also known as 18% gray. This is a standard reference point, and when you are taking photos that are darker than the middle gray, your camera’s meter will try and brighten up the picture to get it as close as possible to the reference.
Another situation where you’ll want to use exposure compensation is when the main subject in your picture is surrounded by a very dark background. When this happens, your meter will try to compensate for the darkness of the background and brighten up the main subject, which will result in overexposing it by default.
To fix this, you can dial in -EV to make the subject darker and then check your camera’s LCD to make sure that you have achieved the desired effect. This is a great technique for getting very dark subjects, like pitch-black rocks, to be properly exposed.
4. Darkness
Darkness is a tricky subject to capture on film or digital camera. Luckily, there is a way to make your shots look more impressive — exposure compensation!
Exposure compensation, which can be found in the camera’s settings menu, is a simple way to alter the brightness of your picture without having to change the shutter speed or aperture. It’s particularly useful in low light conditions, but it can also be used to add some contrast or depth to your pictures, especially when you have a lot of bright details.
To get the most out of this feature, you’ll want to experiment with different exposure compensation values until you find the perfect one for your situation. The best way to do this is to start out by using a lower value, such as -1 or -2, and then checking the results on your camera’s LCD screen. If the image is too dark or bright, increase the amount of exposure compensation until you have the desired effect.
Interestingly, the most popular use of exposure compensation is to adjust the white balance in order to make colors appear more natural or neutral. This is a good idea if your scene has many different colors present and the lights are turned off, but you should keep in mind that exposure compensation isn’t foolproof, as it may not produce accurate results if the lighting is too dim or too bright.
Another important thing to note about exposure compensation is that it is not a one-time setting. You’ll need to reset it after each shot, so be sure to remember this little nugget the next time you’re reviewing your images.
In addition to exposure compensation, you’ll need to take into account other factors like the lighting and shutter speed in your photo. Often, these can be the culprits behind underexposure or overexposure, so be sure to pay attention to them.
As with any type of photography, exposure is an art form that can be highly subjective. However, the correct exposure is one that makes your pictures look their best and most pleasing to the eye. The right combination of light, shutter speed, and other parameters can produce stunning results that will be sure to impress any photo lover.
