Exposure Compensation: Fixing Bright or Dark Photos

Exposure compensation lets you override the camera's metered exposure without leaving aperture priority, shutter priority, or program mode. It is marked as EV, usually from -3 to +3 or -5 to +5, in one-third-stop steps. Dial in +1 EV and the camera gives one stop more light, brightening the image; dial in -1 EV and it gives one stop less. This is the fastest fix in photography, because it changes nothing about how you shoot.

The camera assumes the world averages out to mid-grey, and it is wrong whenever a scene is unusually bright or dark. Snow, a white beach, or a backlit sky fool it into underexposing, so add +1 to +2 EV to make snow look white instead of grey. A black car, a dark stage, or a night scene fool it into overexposing, so subtract -1 to -2 EV to keep blacks black. In each case you are correcting the meter, not the subject.

Backlighting is the other common case. When your subject stands in front of a bright window, the meter exposes for the window and turns the face into a silhouette, so add +1 to +1.5 EV, or better, spot-meter on the face. If your camera has a dedicated exposure compensation dial, adjust it while watching the histogram and the highlight warning. If it does not, most cameras assign the function to a rear dial or a quick menu.

Remember to zero the dial when you move on, because a leftover +2 EV will blow out your next sunny shot. Compensation is applied at the moment of capture, so use it deliberately rather than trying to guess later.