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5.5 HOW TO OVERRIDE AUTOMATIC EXPOSURE | ||
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Most digital cameras provide one or more ways to override the automatic exposure system to get the exposure you want.
Exposure compensation lets you lighten or darken the photograph that the camera would produce if operated automatically. To lighten a picture, you increase the exposure; to darken one, you decrease the exposure. The amount you increase or decrease the exposure is specified in "stops." For example, to increase the exposure 1 stop, you specify +1 to open the aperture or slow down the shutter speed. It’s easy to use exposure compensation because you can preview your changes on the LCD monitor.
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| Exposure compensation darkens or lightens pictures. |
| Tip Use + exposure compensation when the subject is bright and - when it’s dark |
To make changes to exposure, you use exposure compensation control where you can often increase or decrease exposure by two stops in one-third stop increments. Here are some typical settings where you’d make these changes.
- +2 is used when the light is extremely contrasty and important shadow areas are much darker than brightly lit areas.
- +1 is best for sidelit or backlit scenes, beach or snow scenes, sunsets and other scenes that include a bright light source, or very light objects, such as a white cat on a white pillow.
- 0 (the default) is best for scenes that are evenly lit and when important shadow areas are not too much darker than brightly lit areas.
- -1 is for scenes where the background is much darker than the subject, such as a portrait in front of a very dark wall. Also good for very dark objects, such as a black cat on a black pillow.
- -2 is for scenes of unusual contrast, as when an extremely dark background occupies a very large part of the image and you want to retain detail in the brighter parts of the scene.
| How To: Using Exposure Compensation
Look in your camera manual for a section on exposure compensation. Many cameras let you select a setting from -2 to +2 stops in increments of 1/3 of a stop. The LCD monitor will display the result of the changes. If you select a + value, the scene will look brighter. If you select a – value it will look darker. ______________________________________________________________________________________ |
Just as you can point the camera at an object and press the shutter-release button halfway down to lock in focus, so you can with exposure. For example, with a gray barn sitting in a white snow-covered field, you can use spot metering or move closer to meter just the barn and hold down the shutter-release button to lock in that reading. You can continue holding the button half way down and recompose the picture using the locked in exposure and focus setting.
How To: Using Exposure Lock
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