Magic Button - Exposure Compensation

Exposure control using Exposure Compensation

Some call it magic button and there are some who think it's a waste of time. What is Exposure Compensation. Can we not control exposure using shutter speed, aperture and ISO? 

While we can control exposure using all these parameters, you may experience situations where you might need a little more help. 

1. Create HDR images

I know your phone can do it, but trust me your DSLR will do it better. You can use exposure bracketing and create images where shadow details and highlights are not lost. Combine all the images to get a beautiful HDR image. 

2. Scenario A

Imagine you're shooting a moving subject and need a higher shutter speed to reduce blur, you've also reduced aperture so that you've a deeper depth of focus. Just by changing these parameters you've ensured the following:

1. Reduced or no motion blur

2. Subject in focus

3. The image is darker and you've bumped up the ISO. 

All this is fine till such time higher ISO does not degrade the quality of your image. However high ISO affect the quality of the image. In cases where it starts affecting the quality, you can use the exposure compensation feature. 

3. Scenario B

You're on the mountains and it's covered with snow. You click a picture and the snow appears to be dull grey and not bright white. This will happen because your camera's metering will not be able to judge snow properly. All you need to do is increase the exposure compensation and solve your issue. 

Also exposure compensation changes the Exposure Value or EV. It ranges from -3 to +3.


Kunal