This one may be a bit trickier but is worth it. Background: Your camera is not perfect. Neither is mine. No matter how much money you spend, cameras have their limits. In most automatic modes a camera will take a look at the scene in front of them and try to find an average setting that lets all the highlight areas be seen and the shadows as well. The problem with this approach is cameras are not human eyes and don’t have the wonderful range our eyes (and brain) do. A scene may be 40% dark and 60% bright and the camera comes to middle ground on its choice.
This choice may make the highlights far too bright, or the shadows as black as midnight, with no detail either way. And if your subject happens to be standing in those shadows when the shutter is released, they will be lost in the dark while your camera tries to make everything even. Understand what your camera is trying to do and then tell it to do something different. How? By using exposure adjustment features.
Most cameras will have a simple +/- button or menu feature. This allows you to override the camera’s ‘correct’ exposure setting in any condition and will tell the camera to overexpose or underexpose the scene by up to three extra ’stops’ of light. Taking the example above, if the subject is too dark when you snap the first photo, use the exposure adjustment and crank it up to +1 or +2. This tells the camera, “Hey, take what you think is the correct settings and let in more light, please” You’ll notice the highlights get brighter, but you’ll also notice you can now see your friend in the shadows. The reverse is also true if you find things are a bit too bright (because you’re out shooting during the middle of the day like I told you not too, aren’t you!?). Crank it down to -1 or -2 and your camera will let in less light to help those overexposed areas. It’s a give and take game, so practice with this setting.
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