Shooting tips

Sometimes the camera’s exposure meter is deceived by certain conditions. Changing the exposure value can compensate for 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.

In this example, the dark scene appears bright and washed-out on the LCD monitor. By decreasing the exposure by –1.5 EV, the richness of the sunset is preserved.

When using the fill-flash to reduce harsh shadows on the subject’s face caused by bright illumination or direct sunlight, flash compensation can be used to 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 will receive less light than with normal fill-flash and be harder, but will bring out subtle details in the shadows that would not appear without the flash. Increasing the flash output by using a positive Ev setting will soften and can even nearly eliminate shadows.

Positive compensation

No compensation

Negative compensation

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