3 Tips To Nail Exposure In-Camera

Photography Tips

Being able to nail the exposure in-camera is something every photographer should be able to do. It’s quite essential as you’ll be able to deliver results with optimal quality and details. It also cuts down a pretty good chunk of time you’d otherwise spend in correcting exposure in post. Photographer Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge talks about 3 tips that will teach you how to expose for your photos while maximizing your camera’s details and dynamic range:

 LCD Brightness

Straight out of the box, the displays on the back of the cameras are designed to get bright outdoors, and dim down when indoors. This makes it inconsistent for judging exposure.

“I don’t want you to rely on your screen to judge exposure.”

To make the LCD more consistent, change its brightness from Auto to Manual. Then pick any brightness level that you’re comfortable with. And that’s it. No matter whether you’re indoors or outdoors, the LCD will now give a consistent output.

Turn On Highlight Alert

Highlight alert notifies you if you’re clipping the highlight details. Be sure to go through your camera menu and look for this option, and enable it. If the image that you’ve taken has lost details on the highlights, it will let you know by blinking in those clipped areas. You can then adjust your camera settings accordingly to fix the issue.

Use Flat Picture Profile

The preview that the camera shows is based on the picture style/profile that you’re shooting in. This therefore affects the histogram as well. To make sure that your images retain as much detail as possible, set a custom picture style with minimal sharpness, contrast, saturation. Using such flat/neutral picture style in conjunction with the histogram will allow you to set your camera to make the utmost use of the camera’s dynamic range.

If getting correct exposure in-camera has been your weak point, try these simple tips out. You’ll be surprised with the boost in efficiency in your workflow.