Digital Photography

	5.3 WHEN AUTOMATIC EXPOSURE WORKS WELL

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Most scenes that you photograph have an overall brightness of middle gray. Some areas of the scene may reflect 90% of the light and other parts may reflect 5%, but overall the average amount of light reflecting from the scene is 18%, the amount reflected by a middle gray subject.

Whenever you photograph a normal scene with this average brightness, your automatic exposure system exposes it correctly. Typical middle gray scenes include the following:

Scenes in bright sunlight where the subject is front-lit by a sun that is behind you when you face the scene.

Scenes on overcast days or under diffused light, such as in the shade or in evenly lit scenes indoors.

This image has detail in the lightest (highlight) and darkest (shadow) areas. If just a little darker or a little lighter details would be lost in the shadows or highlights.

How To: Taking a Picture in Automatic Mode

Turn the camera on and set it to automatic mode. Be sure to remove the lens cap.
Compose the image in the viewfinder making sure the subject that you want sharpest is in the focus area in the center of the viewfinder.
Press the shutter-release button halfway down so the camera can set focus, exposure, and white balance. When the camera has done so, a lamp may glow or the camera may beep.
Press the shutter-release button all the way down to take the picture. When you do so, the camera may beep. The camera then saves the new image onto the camera’s flash card.
When done, turn the camera off.