About Exposure and Flash Compensation
Sometimes the camera’s exposure meter is deceived by certain conditions. Exposure compensation can be used in these situations. For example, a very bright scene, such as a snowy landscape or a white sandy beach, can appear too dark in the captured image. Before taking the picture, adjusting the exposure by +1 or +2 EV will result in an image with normal tonal values.
Calculated camera exposure | –1.0Ev | –2.0Ev |
In the example above, the dark water caused the camera to overexpose the image making it bright and washed-out. By compensating the exposure, detail is brought out in the leaves, and the stones and water appear richer.
When using fill-flash to reduce harsh shadows caused by bright illumination or direct sunlight, flash compensation can change the ratio between the highlights and shadows. The fill-flash will affect the darkness of the shadows without affecting the area illuminated by the main light source. By decreasing the flash output with a negative Ev setting, the shadows receive less light and are hard- er, but subtle details in the shadows that would not appear without the flash are apparent. Increasing the flash output by using a positive Ev setting softens and nearly eliminate shadows.
Positive compensation | No compensation | Negative compensation | No flash |
110 A short guide to photography
