do I need exposure compensation?

J

joescrivens

Suspended / Banned
Messages
15,052
Name
Joe
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi, I'm not really sure I understand if I need exposure compensation or not

I always shoot in manual fully, so set my white balance, shutter speed, aperture and iso. I think that therefore my camera doesn't make any calculation itself right? or maybe thats wrong because I can still choose the metering type in manual which must mean the camera is making some exposure adjustments

help, want to shoot some stuff in the snow today but don't know if I need exposure compensation or not cos I use fully manual
 
all you need to do is expose about a stop higher than normal, that will make the snow white, not grey.
 
Dave450 said:
all you need to do is expose about a stop higher than normal, that will make the snow white, not grey.
Click to expand...

By higher, would that be a smaller number?
 
yeah, let a little more light in :)
 
The camera will still meter in manual, thats to allow you to be able to correctly set your camera settings for the shot, be it spot, evaluated, center weighted yada, yada... If your using a hand-held meter however, don't worry about it, may as well ignore it - its not going to have any effect on the settings you set, its more there as a guide.

Thats my understanding anyway

Ah yes for snow, over expose by about a stop or so like others have suggested :)
 
joescrivens said:
Hi, I'm not really sure I understand if I need exposure compensation or not

I always shoot in manual fully, so set my white balance, shutter speed, aperture and iso. I think that therefore my camera doesn't make any calculation itself right? or maybe thats wrong because I can still choose the metering type in manual which must mean the camera is making some exposure adjustments

help, want to shoot some stuff in the snow today but don't know if I need exposure compensation or not cos I use fully manual
Click to expand...

When you shoot in manual, do you always set the exposure "needle" to the middle of the scale? If so, you are no more involved than using an automatic modes.

The metering modes just tell the camera's meter to use more or less of the image to take a reading from. Remember, a meter is trying to get 18% grey properly exposed, so if you are metering off sky it will by default make the sky too dark and if you are metering off dark rocks, too light.

So, in manual, you set your exposure as you see fit. That often means not putting the needle in the middle of the exposure range - this is the manual equivalent of exposure compensation.
 
jimmy83 said:
By higher, would that be a smaller number?
Click to expand...

Depends which setting you adjust to give you the extra stop or so. You could adjust aperture (wider), shutter speed (slower) or ISO (higher), or a combination of any of them.
 
Exposure compensation is for the auto/semi auto modes - when you use compensation you are telling the camera you want to under/over expose and so it adjusts accordingly - ie if you have it in shutter priority and you want to over expose by two stops you add two stops of compensation and then the camera will add two stops to the exposure.

In manual compensation doesn't do anything, as the camera has no control over anything - you are calling all the shots. What you do do is use the meter as a guide and then as already advised, add your own compensation by upping the exposure (via any of the controls or a combination).
 
jontucker said:
Depends which setting you adjust to give you the extra stop or so. You could adjust aperture (wider), shutter speed (slower) or ISO (higher), or a combination of any of them.
Click to expand...

Yeah I meant the aperture
 
Yes you need Exposure Compensation. I use 99.9% of the time and once you get your head round it it becomes one of the most powerful tools you can use
 
If you are shooting manual. Then its manual. If you want to / need to make an adjustment such as an exposure compensation, then you dial it in manually.

Metering modes don't matter, because once again you are doing things manually. Except perhaps to the flash if you've left that in ETTL mode. But then of course if the flash is also set manually....
 
Ste Manns said:
Exposure compensation is for the auto/semi auto modes - when you use compensation you are telling the camera you want to under/over expose and so it adjusts accordingly - ie if you have it in shutter priority and you want to over expose by two stops you add two stops of compensation and then the camera will add two stops to the exposure.

In manual compensation doesn't do anything, as the camera has no control over anything - you are calling all the shots. What you do do is use the meter as a guide and then as already advised, add your own compensation by upping the exposure (via any of the controls or a combination).
Click to expand...

this is exactly as I thought, I guess I thought most people shot in manual and yet kept reading about dialing in exposure compensation then started to think maybe I didn't understand it right, but I guess not everyone shoots manual :-)
 
for any scene black dominant or white dominant you need come exposure compensation if you take those tones as your reading...so
spot meter around and you will see the changes in your viewer
i did 3 exposures today of the same item..in snow...
and chose the one which just lifted the snow out of the grey regime
it was i think around +2/3 stop on what could have been termed the average reading

doing spot gives you more control and creativity

this is a pano

 
mrcrow said:
for any scene black dominant or white dominant you need come exposure compensation if you take those tones as your reading...so
spot meter around and you will see the changes in your viewer
i did 3 exposures today of the same item..in snow...
and chose the one which just lifted the snow out of the grey regime
it was i think around +2/3 stop on what could have been termed the average reading

doing spot gives you more control and creativity

this is a pano

Click to expand...

I think that you could actually have done with even more, possibly as much as another 2/3rds stop, it's a little dull (lack of sparkle).

The large problem with snow is the very large dynamic range that is inherrant in this type of shot, that is why it is important to meter and expose for the subject
 
EdBray said:
I think that you could actually have done with even more, possibly as much as another 2/3rds stop, it's a little dull (lack of sparkle).

The large problem with snow is the very large dynamic range that is inherrant in this type of shot, that is why it is important to meter and expose for the subject
Click to expand...

thanks..i will keep that in mind...i metered the shadows then highlights then went somewher in between...obviously didnt work out too well
looking at it again..defo dull in the bricks etc
had a pp go but think i have lost this one...really makes a difference to 'see' the shot through others eyes
thanks

i wont give up my day job...:thumbs:

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top