Should i use exposure compensation

And if so, why do you have to bother with exposure compensation in the field? Plus, post-processing exposure correction often takes a toll on your photo. In particular, correcting underexposure can emphasize noise, which just looks bad.

Now that you know all about exposure compensation, you should be ready to put it to use in the field. Exposure compensation is a method of adjusting your photos to become brighter or darker. When your camera has incorrectly exposed for a photo, you can use exposure compensation to make the necessary changes—and end up with a detailed, well-exposed image! Your camera will suggest an incorrect exposure; you can respond by adjusting the exposure in the right direction with exposure compensation.

No, you cannot use exposure compensation with Manual mode. To compensate for a too-dark or too-light photo, simply adjust your shutter speed, aperture, or ISO. You can use exposure compensation when shooting with Aperture Priority mode, Shutter Priority mode, or Program mode. Your email address will not be published.

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Low Key Lighting. By default, the camera will assume that the scene is middle-grey-bright. So, it will underexpose it, and indeed, the resulting image will be middle grey. If you take a shot now, it will be much closer to the real luminance of the scene.

If you turn down exposure compensation by stops, your exposure will give a better representation of the scene. You can have your aperture and shutter speed fixed. Just set ISO to Auto, and you can adjust the exposure compensation. I find this to be a practical feature. In scenes which exhibit a wide dynamic range , you have two options. You can shoot more exposures bracketed , and merge them in post-production. In the previous portrait photograph, the artist chose to let go of some highlight data.

There are other, artistic considerations, too. High key and low-key shots, besides careful lighting, also require over or underexposure in technical terms. In such scenarios, I recommend using manual mode. You can easily manage it with exposure compensation, too. Concerts , theatres , and night shots , in general, are hard to accomplish using exposure compensation. Exposure compensation is a powerful feature that allows you to eliminate bugging with the settings. It often gives you more time to concentrate on the actual photograph.

You should also know the limitations of using exposure compensation. Broaden your photography skills with our course: Photography Unlocked! Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results. Share with friends Share. Show Comments 4 Hide Comments. Related Articles. Our mission is to make photography simple. And the free cheat sheets below will help you to learn photography fast. If you're interested in learning…. And even if you are motivated, it can be difficult to find the information….

What Is Exposure in Photography? And Why it Matters! Knowing how to control light allows you to create different artistic results. That's why you must learn how to use exposure to grow as a…. See all articles in Photography Cheat Sheets. Here are 3 of the 7 steps we uncover in this 21 minute video:. Focus Selection Points Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results.

Where should we send the video? Enter Your Email Address Here Your privacy is safe! Read on to learn more about this powerful and easy tool on your camera! Exposure is simply the amount of light entering the camera sensor. Each of these elements work together and can be adjusted individually to capture the right exposure. To learn more about exposure, be sure to check out our article on the exposure triangle.

Exposure compensation also known as Exposure Control is used to alter the exposure from the values chosen by the camera. Often a composition has widely varying intensities of light. Any area which is blinking shows it is overexposed and there is little detail. It does this by brightening or darkening your photos before it is actually captured.

The picture above shows an underexposed image. The camera settings did not do a good job of exposing the scenery. Instead of spending too much time adjusting the ISO, Aperture, or shutter speed, you can improve your workflow by utilizing the Exposure Compensation. To use this feature, your camera must be at a setting that uses the camera meter.

The only time it will not work is when you have your setting in Manual or Automatic Mode. This is the button you will press to control the exposure value settings.

It works differently depending on which mode your camera is in. In Auto Mode, the camera does everything for you so there is no control over exposure. Dialing it in is pretty simple. In contrast, if your images are coming out bright and overexposed, dial your Exposure Compensation to a negative number -EV. For mirrorless camera users, you can find it on top of the camera as a dial.

This appears most often on retro-looking mirrorless cameras like the one on Fujifilm X-T3 and the Sony Alpha models. More often than not, your camera will correctly expose your photos. However, in some situations, your camera is unable to capture the correct exposure meter which happens in certain settings like a snowy landscape or a nighttime scene. What often happens in a snow scene like the one above is that the camera will read the bright snow as a normal medium gray tone.

However, bright snow is typically 1. This results in an underexposed snow shot. Play around with the different increments to get the perfect exposure. The camera meter will try to underexpose your image, so make sure you are dialing it up a few stops on your camera when you are shooting an overly bright subject.

When you point the camera to a dark surface or subject, more likely than not, your camera will try to overexpose the image. Using Exposure Compensation for creativity can be a powerful tool. Do you want to express drama and intensity in your subject? Or make your subject seem angelic and ethereal? This can be achieved by adjusting the Exposure Compensation on your camera.

Whatever your creative pursuits are, using Exposure Compensation can change the ambiance from intensity to subtleness in a few dials. Give it a try! Nowadays, there are advanced cameras that allow for different kinds of metering systems, like being able to recognize a subject, scene, or setting and exposing them properly based on pre-loaded data. Because there is no perfect way of exposing, photographers came up with this technique to retain the highlights and exposure of an image as much as possible without losing quality.

Essentially, you are overexposing your images to the right of the histogram without blowing out the highlights and re-balancing the photo in post-processing.