Understanding exposure compensation
In this article, we take a look at exposure compensation on digital cameras and how you can take advantage of it to make adjustments when shooting in-camera modes like aperture priority.
Many of today’s digital cameras are super smart and have the built-in capability to adjust exposure settings in order to properly expose your scene when using various camera modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority, program and various scene modes. It’s dependant on the metering mode you use, but even when you have selected the correct metering mode for your shot, the camera doesn’t always get it right.
So what is exposure compensation?
So what is exposure compensation you may ask? This allowed photographers to override the exposure settings selected by the camera. The light meter in most cameras works by evaluating light reflected off your subject and compares it to a standardised formula (mostly a middle gray). This is why some cameras may seem slightly darker than others for the same shot. When you point at something very dark the camera will try to lighten everything up. Likewise, if you have a very bright subject the camera will darken things down. It is basically trying to even out the histogram a little. This is a little frustrating in challenging lighting conditions when the camera adjusts a little too aggressively, such as the beach (all that sun and white sand, or the snow).
So how do you find it?
This is found on most modern DSLR & Mirrorless cameras with a -/+ button or a wheel with -3 up to +3 (Check your camera manual). When working in various camera modes (other than Manual), you sometimes need a little help to get the exposure correct. Aperture Priority mode for example. You set the Aperture, but the camera calculates the ISO and shutter speed. The cameras are pretty smart but do not always get it right. If you are in a situation where it is very bright (like shooting into a backlight) you camera will see it as too much overall light and try to make things darker. But you don’t want things darker. You can either switch to Manual Mode and change it yourself or you can use the Exposure Compensation and fix it in-camera.
So how does it work?
You must be in a camera mode or scene mode, being in manual mode will do nothing. I usually use it in aperture priority for example. If your scene is too dark in the viewfinder (or eyepiece) you dial a positive number (+EV), or if the image is too bright dial a negative number (-EV). In older DSLR cameras with the optical viewfinder, they will possibly have an exposure compensation area within the viewfinder that looks like a scale with a 0 in the middle, – on one side and + on the other.
In newer mirrorless cameras and an electronic viewfinder, you should see the image brighten or darken as you adjust, making it easier to see the end result. Why does it only go from -3 to +3…that is add 3 full stops of light, or remove 3 full stops of light. It is unlikely you need more than that. If you do, you may still have to swap over to Manual mode to get the correct exposure.