Controlling Exposure (Without Going Full Manual)
Exposure compensation is like manual “lite”
I have a confession. For most of my photography-taking life, I’ve ignored one of the best features of my camera: Exposure Compensation. I’ve embraced it hard over the past few years, however, and it just might be my favorite camera feature.
It's Like Manual "Lite"
You might already know that shooting in Manual mode gives you precise control over your photos, but I find that Manual mode is not always practical for everyday shooting. I don’t always want to fiddle with multiple settings for every single photo I take. But using any mode besides Manual relinquishes most of the exposure control back to the camera. While my camera does a pretty good job of guessing the proper exposure in some situations, it does a terrible job in others.
What if there was a way to metaphorically take your camera by the scruff of the neck, show it who’s boss and get it to quickly and easily under- or over-exposure a photo without having the full burden of Manual mode?
Enter exposure compensation.
Exposure compensation is the control by which you temporarily adjust your camera’s definition of what is “properly exposed.” More simply, it’s a way to force the camera to make your photos darker or brighter to the degree that you tell it.
Armed with the power of exposure compensation, you can happily shoot away in your favorite mode (Automatic exposure, Shutter priority, or Aperture priority) and kick the exposure lighter or darker as necessary when a tricky lighting situation emerges.
When to Use Exposure Compensation
Simple: when you need it. I’m not trying to be coy with that answer, but you’ll want to use exposure compensation whenever your camera is not producing the right exposure for whatever reason.
There are, however, a few instances where I find myself employing exposure compensation regularly:
Super Bright Scenes
The bright sun shining down on a white sandy beach or snow-covered landscape produces tons of light, so much so that it can confuse your camera. It’ll often think “that's too bright!” and then under-expose the photo. If these scenes are turning out a little darkish, “stop it up” with some extra light via the exposure compensation control. Don’t go crazy though, or you’ll over-expose your highlights.
Super Dark Scenes
Your camera has a similar problem in low-light scenes. It will often think “ahhh that's too dark!” and then incorrectly increase the exposure. This not only leads to an overexposed photo, but it can also introduce camera-shake blur because of the extended exposure time.
Manually reducing the exposure by a few stops via the exposure compensation corrects the overexposed photo and helps avoid camera-shake blur:
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Scenes
So, pretty much every sunset/sunrise ever.
HDR is just a fancy way of describing scenes with really bright areas AND dark shadowy areas. Your eyes can resolve these scenes pretty well, but cameras’ sensors have a tough time. You can use exposure compensation to dial in the exposure appropriate for either the shadows or the highlights. Sadly, you can’t have it both ways; you have to choose or at least have a preference. (But, shooting in RAW can give you way more choices.)
Sunsets and the moments afterward are the classic example of HDR scenes. Our eyes do a wonderful job of adjusting for this light, but our cameras do not. At this time of day, shots tend to be grossly over- or under-exposed depending on whether you are facing the remaining light from the sunset or not.
What the above example scenes have in common is that they all fooled the camera’s light meter. I cover this deeply in my Clicked! course on exposure!
How to Use It
One of the best things about exposure compensation is how easy it is to use. There will be some button combination unique to your camera, but you shouldn’t have to dive into any complex menus. On my Canon DSLR, it’s as simple as holding down the “+/-“ button and rolling the main dial:
My Sony mirrorless makes it even easier with dedicated exposure compensation dial at-the-ready:
Warning! Warning! Warning!
When you use exposure compensation, you WILL, sooner or later, forget you have it off-center and only realize this after you’ve shot a bunch of photos with improper exposure. Then you’ll be sad. So just make a point to either reset it when you’re done, or check it before you start taking photos again. Or both. (But, again, shooting in RAW makes this goof easily fixable.)
Wrapping Up
Exposure compensation is one of those features that hides in plain sight. It’s easy to overlook, but once you start using it, you might wonder how you ever shot without it. It gives you just enough creative control to steer your camera’s exposure without slowing you down.
The next time your photo looks off and you don’t want the hassle of full Manual mode, the exposure compensation dial is your shortcut to taking back control of your photos.