EXPOSURE COMPENSATION DEMYSTIFIED!

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My name is Simon d'Entremont and I'm a professional wildlife and nature photographer from Eastern Canada. In this videos you'll learn to master exposure compensation to rid yourself of over or underexposed photos.

I use Topaz Labs software for noise reduction, sharpening and upscaling:

Music in intro: "Nicer", by Houses on the Hill. Find that, and other sound effects at Epidemic Sounds

My equipment:

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[simon_dentremont]

What’s your favorite tip to get the exposure right? I’d love to know! Please share.

[algi]

It might be self evident for photographers, but when I first started shooting in RAW, it was like entering a magic world where I can just change my mind in the comfort of my home about the brightness of shots already taken. It's so easy to fix pictures that are supposed to be too dark.

[McSebsta]

Your videos are incredible. Concise, explained so simply, structured well and with perfect images to accompany and explain what you're describing. My favourite photography YouTuber by far I'm learning so much. Keep it up!

[Louis_Bautista]

As someone who's been taking amateur photos for awhile now but recently invested in better gear and wants to step his game up, your videos have been the absolute best here on Youtube. Very concise, informative, and easy to digest. You're doing incredible work here and I'm really grateful for that!

[billfortney]

Simon, I’ve been a working pro for over 50 years and have taught photo workshops with many of the greatest nature and landscape photographers in America.

I must tell you while your work is right up there with the best I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of incredible work, your ability to teach is even better, I’m on;y sorry that we’ve never gotten to teach together, congrats my friend you’ve certainly earned my deep respect!

[PatrickCarrube]

One important thing to note is that EC *does* work in full-manual mode (even without Auto ISO), though perhaps in a different way than some people are used to. Using EC in full-manual mode (FMM) will allow you to offset your in-camera meter by whatever EC you dial in. For example, let's say you meter a scene and set your exposure settings to 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 100, which shows a perfect "0" in your meter (meaning it is balancing image scene to the 18% grey). If you were to now to dial in +2/3 stop of EC, your in-camera meter will now show this scene as being -2/3 dark. You would have to adjust your exposure settings by 2/3-stop to brighten the exposure in order for your meter to read "0" again. In the example above, you could adjust shutter speed to 1/125 (keeping other settings the same), which would now show as being neutral/0 exposure in your meter.

This feature is really handy, even in FMM, since it allows the shooter to "offset" the "0" in the meter, allowing for consistent exposure value changes to be made. I do this frequently in sporting events where LVs can change depending on the player location in the field or in situations where I know the meter is reading consistently BUT is still over/underexposing. A good example is when players are wearing white jerseys on a sunny day, where I will take a few test shots and see where the meter is settling at, set my EC to compensate, then I can adjust exposure settings as needed (such as a high shutter speed, large aperture for action shots), while getting consistent EVs.

[theglz]

This is now my go to photo education channel. Absolutely awesome content, delivery and execution. Thankyou.

[memathews]

EC and Auto ISO are my favorite digital controls. Beats spending a week in the lab calibrating new film batches to a handful of light meters and varying minutes of push/pull processing, cool/warm baths, etc.

[victormultanen]

Wow, such an important topic to discuss! I photographed the kids playing at stadium, and the background was lit uneven at different part if stadium, and I got several shots overexposed whed green trees were in background, and underexposed photos when the background was the white building.

[firefeethok_tui]

“ know when to talk and when to shut your mouth, You’re so moody, always such a fighter, baby open up your mind, and you’ll be just fine”. It’s almost the best part of every video.❤ plus these straightforward easy to understand examples of camera features are so helpful. I can’t even even tell you.

[af-photography]

Somutch knowledge in a person that is willing to share it the best way possible, thank you!

[odaimohammad]

I just can't get enough of these videos

[tremainejohnson]

This channel is so perfect for learning basic camera stuff without any extra stuff. Basic and simple with the perfect example photos

[NonApplicapable]

I got into photography pretty young and didn’t take any formal lessons. I just learned about the three bases pretty much (ISO, SS, aperture). I primarily shoot in the harsh mid-day lighting because I’m a student and I don’t always have time for the early or late night trips. Embarrassingly, it took me about five years to realize (1) you don’t need to use manual all the time for good photos and (2) exposure compensation makes a world of difference, especially shooting in midday.

[guscanon]

Hands down the best channel about photography.

[TimberTransport]

It's nice to listen to a proffessional.

[mujtabahmed]

In the past, I held the belief that achieving a perfect photograph necessitated maintaining an exposure value of zero. Consequently, I meticulously ensured that the exposure was set to zero before capturing each image. However, I am grateful for the insights provided in the video, as they have enlightened me to the benefits of experimenting with different exposure settings, particularly in challenging lighting conditions such as excessive darkness or brightness.

[pwrofmusic]

I wish I knew you earlier. But now that I've found your channel, I'm taking in all you say. Thank you so much.

[Andre-qmwe]

Perfectly explained. Thanks from Germany!

[jeffolson]

Newer Canon cameras have a mode called FV. This is what I use. I find it most useful on cameras with only 2 control wheels. One wheel controls which of the four settings you are controlling; shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, and ISO, while the other wheel lets you adjust the chosen setting. I set my ISO to AUTO 99.9% of the time. I then use mostly control the shutter speed and compensation. It is true that I cold do the same thing by just mapping one wheel to shutter and the other to exposure compensation but on the rare occasions where I actually want to adjust my ISO I would then have to press a button while moving a wheel and that just doesn't work well for me.

Great explanation on why exposure compensation is needed. When I have explained to people that cameras always try for 18% gray they are surprised.