Exposure Compensation

Hello. My camera's manual says to use the exposure compensator when
there are very bright or very dark objects in the frame. I've also
read that you should use a grey card. Which method is best? Or do they
achieve the same results?

 

Yes, they're both best. The grey card isn't the be all and end all of
exposure determination, either - at least, I don't think so. Scenes with
extremes of contrast in one image will sometimes have to lean a little more
one way than the other, for example, and the let the opposite extreme
blacken or whiten. The grey card won't tell you that. Extremely dark scenes
might have to be brought up a bit from a grey card reading, to get usable
content, and vice versa. Using the grey card properly takes a little
knowledge - the same light has to fall on it as on your subject. I don't
think the standardization of grey cards is all that great, at least not the
inexpensive ones that I've seen.

You can use one method to check that you're "close" with the other.

And still bracket.

Do I take it that you're not thinking of a specific composition when you ask
this?

And, slide, print or digital? They'll be handled a bit differently.

====

Charles T. Low
- remove "UN"
www.boatdocking.com/Photos/ - gallery
www.ctlow.ca/Photo/ - essay

====

 

A grey card will give you the middle of the road exposure. It would
probably be the best for most photos. If you are shooting long
exposures (ie. 1 second or more) then you will still want to use
exposure compensation. If shooting with B&W film, a good rule of thumb
is to expose for the shadows and develop for the lights. In other
words, overexpose to bring out the details in the shadows, and
underdevelop so the light areas are not "blownout", to just be a white
area void of detail.

 

Your best bet is to take a metered reading off your subject, be it via
the camera's own internal meter or a hand held meter.

Many cameras offer spot metering...which allows you simply point the
center of your frame at your main subject, then meter...you can then
frame the photo however it pleases you best. With some cameras you
can walk up to a subject (say a person for instance)...take a reading
off them and press a metering select button, then back away and shoot
your photo with the same metered reading off the subject rather than
the entire scene.

Same thing holds true, say you want the sun IN the picture of a scene
with something else. You'd need to meter off the "something else"
without getting a reading off the sun, then include the sun in the
image...otherwise, it'll turn out way too dark.

Other times, like when you're shooting dark scenes...such as Xmas
trees, you're not going to get much more than the lights in the photo
unless you make a proper exposure off the "tree" itself, or atleast
use a flash or some fill-in lighting to help bring out the details of
the tree.