Exposure compensation is a way of overriding your camera's default light settings to get better pictures. It is used by advanced photographers, but even beginners can get employ it. Exposure compensation comes in handy when your camera's automatic settings produce a picture which is either too light or too dark.
Instructions
1. Understand what exposure compensation does. Your camera sets its automatic light settings based on the total light available. However, because your camera does not know what the subject of your picture will be, some objects will either come out too dark or too light. Exposure compensation fixes this problem by either lightening or darkening the picture.
2. Find the exposure compensation controls on your camera. They're usually indicated by a +/- logo in a camera's settings. An exposure of 1.0 is twice the normal exposure and makes a picture twice as bright. An exposure compensation of -1.0 is half the normal exposure and makes a picture half as bright.
3. Use exposure compensation as plan B. After taking a picture, look at the result on your camera's LCD screen. If your subject is too dark turn up the exposure compensation to +.5. If it is still too dark, turn it up a little more. If it is too light, turn your exposure compensation down -.5.
4. Turn exposure compensation up or down when small objects are either much brighter or much darker than their surroundings. The exposure compensation balances the image.
5. Increase exposure compensation when taking pictures of scenes with mostly light tones such as snow. In these situations, a camera's automatic settings are likely to leave a picture underexposed and, therefore, too dark. Increase exposure compensation to +1.0.
6. Apply an exposure compensation lock to let your camera automatically set the exposure compensation. Not all cameras have this feature, so consult the owner's manual to see if it is available and use it. Generally, when the exposure compensation lock is activated, all you have to is point your camera to your subject and press the trigger button half way down. The camera applies the correct settings.
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