Don’t trust your camera to think for you.

* It’s not that hard to figure out how your camera’s brain works! I’ll explain it to you.
* Your camera is ALWAYS looking and aiming for a middle gray tone. Not a black, not a white, but a medium gray.
* When it thinks in auto, it’s trying to figure out whether it needs to be turned up or down, and it aims for that average gray to make that decision.
* Here’s the problem: if you shoot something that is mostly black, the camera is going to say “OH! It’s too dark. Turn it up” to aim for that middle gray but that’s not always the best decision because if the scene is mostly dark, you want it to show up as dark in the photo, you don’t want it turned up bright!
* If you shoot something that’s white or mostly white, your camera will want to turn it DOWN/DARKER, because again it’s aiming for that middle gray tone and thinks it’s too bright.
* EXPOSURE COMPENSATION is adding a bit of your own thought to the way the camera works. You’re telling the camera, do what you do automatically BUT I need you to aim a little brighter or darker. Don’t aim for that middle gray: aim higher, or aim lower.
* Here’s an example: bride on an altar in a dark church. She’s wearing bright white in the middle of a dark scene. The camera will see MOSTLY DARK, and think it needs to make the photo BRIGHTER, but that’s WRONG because then the bride will be too bright and you’ll lose detail and information and might not be able to distinguish her features any more.
* Here’s another example: shooting outside on a snowy day — bright bright bright, and reflecty-white everywhere. The camera sees that the shot is super bright and wants to turn it down (aiming for that gray, of course) and then you end up with a photo that is darker than it really should be.
* Hope this helped you! If so, I’ve got a FREE COURSE for you.
* The course is about beginner manual mode, and it’s a SHORT course as well.
* Don’t be scared off by the word “manual” ! It’s easier than you think.
* Don’t miss this course, it won’t be free forever: grainhappy.com/manual