Exposure compensation

Exposure compensation

Exposure compensation is relatively easy to use in most cameras and helps getting perfect photos.

In this article, we will go over what exposure compensation is on a digital camera and how you can take advantage of it. To make adjustments to your exposure when shooting in camera modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority, program mode and other scene modes of your camera.

Every modern camera today has a built-in capability to adjust exposure settings in order to make it easier to properly expose images. In simple terms, the idea is to be able to control the brightness of an image, so that it does not end up looking too bright or too dark. To be able to do this, one has to use the Exposure Compensation feature. This is typically provided either as a dedicated button on a camera. It can also appear as a dial that one can move from positive exposure compensation to negative. Let’s take a look at how you can utilize this great feature on your camera and take full control of your exposure.

 Exposure Compensation Defined

Exposure Compensation allows photographers to override exposure settings picked by your camera’s light meter to darken or brighten images before they are captured. Since camera meters work by evaluating light reflected off subjects and are standardized on middle gray (also known as 18% gray), any time a camera is pointed at something very dark, the meter will work the opposite way by brightening up the exposure, whereas a very bright subject will cause the meter to darken the exposure.

This is done to get as close to the middle gray as possible so that the resulting image is not too dark or too bright. While this works out quite well in most cases, one might experience overexposure or underexposure  in more challenging lighting conditions, where the camera meter might be adjusting the exposure too aggressively. This is where Exposure Compensation comes into play, with the photographer manually taking control of the brightness of the image and overriding it using the exposure compensation feature of the camera.

Let’s take a look at an example, where my camera’s metering system did a poor job at properly exposing the scene:

The camera’s meter ended up underexposing the image, because the scene was rather challenging—the sky and the white sand in the foreground were bright, so the camera ended up darkening the whole image, which resulted in my subjects in the scene appearing way too dark.

To address this problem, I used the Exposure Compensation feature of my camera and dialed +1 EV  exposure value, which resulted in a much brighter image:

The image is now properly exposed, with the whole scene appearing much brighter. Compared to what the camera thought was the right brightness. By using the Exposure Compensation feature of the camera, I was able to take care of the problem in a matter of seconds.

How to Use Exposure Compensation?

In order to use exposure compensation, you must be in one of the camera modes that use the camera meter. This can be as aperture priority, shutter priority, program mode, or any other “scene” mode that performs automatic exposure adjustments. Unless one has Auto ISO turned on, exposure compensation will do absolutely nothing in Manual mode. Once the proper camera mode is selected, it will be possible to adjust the brightness of the image.

So where do you find the exposure compensation feature on a camera? Unfortunately, it all varies by camera make and model. Most cameras will have a dedicated button on either top or the back of the camera. However some cameras might have this feature available only through a dial. Identifying the exposure compensation button on a camera is pretty easy. Look for a button that has plus and minus signs.

This might be a dial on the top or the back of the camera.  That goes from a negative value to a positive value, such as -3 to +3. With small increments in between. If you are having a hard time finding the exposure compensation button or dial, please check your camera manual for details.

For Nikon cameras

If you are using a Nikon camera, it will be a button near the shutter release of the camera.

For Canon cameras

If you are using a Canon camera, there might be an “AV” button on the back of the camera.

Using exposure compensation is very easy. If an image appears to be dark, you dial a positive number (+EV). However if the image appears to be bright, you dial a negative number (-EV). For cameras that have a button, you will need to hold the button and rotate one of the thumb dials. You can also press it once and use the LCD screen to adjust the exposure value. For cameras that have a dial it is even simpler.  All you have to do is move it in the proper direction.

Making adjustments

As you start making adjustments to your exposure through exposure compensation here is what you do.  You will notice a bar going to the left or to the right of the middle “0” value. This  indicates that you are dialing negative (-) or positive (+) exposure compensation. Try this feature.

If you are using a mirrorless camera, adjusting exposure compensation should brighten or darken the image. Use the camera’s LCD and electronic viewfinder (EVF). This will make it easy to see the end result. Along with the automatic brightness adjustments, there should be an information overlay that shows the current exposure compensation value.

Make adjustments to exposure compensation, the +- EV values.  This will be shown in the LCD and the EVF. Some times you cannot see those values after making changes. Then you might need to turn on informational overlays from the camera menu.