Exposure Compensation – When and Why
- Cameras are calibrated to capture an average tonal range in an image by default.
- The most sophisticated of metering systems calculate the final exposures by measuring light across the frame and giving an exposure value.
- To creatively expose a scene, a photographer has to tell the camera how an image should be exposed, and this is where exposure compensation comes into picture.
- If an image consists largely of bright tones, a camera will produce the whites as muddy grey if not intervened. A positive exposure compensation fixes this by faithfully reproducing the bright tones in an exposure and vice versa.
- Classic examples of where exposure compensation is required are, ‘shooting a black cat against a black background’ and ‘shooting a rabbit against a white background’
