Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories

59

Chapter 3 ✦ Choosing the Right Equipment for the Job

+/- Dial adjustment

Your camera has a dial that changes your exposure to create either overexposure or underexposure

while still allowing you to use the automatic modes. You can continue using modes like Aperture Priority,

Shutter Priority, or Program, but the exposure compensation is added or subtracted from this setting.

For example, if you shoot into the sun you might dial in a +1 exposure compensation to bring out some

shadow detail while letting the highlights overexpose a little. The camera still functions in an automated

mode like Aperture Priority but your +1 compensation is added to each shot. This is the preferred

method of exposure compensation if you are shooting in the same type of light condition for some time.

The only drawback to this method is that you will invariably forget that you moved the dial, and when

you continue to shoot this way in a different sort of light, you may end up ruining a number of images

before you notice the problem. If you have a bad memory as I do, you may want to rely on the exposure

lock button whenever possible because it automatically switches back to normal after each shot.

Manual mode

Manual Mode is also an excellent way to make exposure compensations. With this mode, the camera’s

meter still tells you what it calculates as the correct exposure, but you can purposefully dial in whatever

exposure ...