You Need to Be Using Exposure Compensation

Kevin Cockerline

A key component to becoming a good photographer is learning how to use manual mode on your camera. But, an important step in becoming an even better photographer is realizing that your camera has all sorts of different shooting modes for a reason. Exposure compensation is another tool in your camera to help you reliably get the shots you want.

Unless I have plenty of time on my hands, I’m usually shooting in aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode. These two modes offer us a clear amount of control while also utilizing our camera’s auto-exposure.

But our camera’s auto exposure isn’t always perfect. When we shoot scenes with lots of contrast or excessive highlights, our cameras can get a bit confused.

After seeing hundreds of pictures that are just a stop or two brighter than I would like, I found myself thinking –

“Man, I wish i could underexpose what my camera thinks is correct by a stop or two.”
– Me

But there’s good news! You can do exactly this with Exposure Compensation!

What is Exposure Compensation?

Simply put, exposure compensation lets you override what your camera thinks the correct exposure is, allowing you to make the image darker or brighter. Many cameras have an exposure compensation dial that looks something like this:

Exposure Compensation Dial — Here’s the exposure comp. dial on my Sony A7iv (Pardon the iPhone image quality)

Some of these dials will be numbered from, for example, -3 to +3. If your camera doesn’t have a dedicated dial, it may have a button instead:

Exposure Compensation Button — Exposure comp. button on Nikon D3500

Changing this setting adjusts your exposure in 1/3 stop increments. Some cameras have more range to adjust the exposure than others. For example, my Sony a7ii can adjust between -3 and +3 stops while my Sony a7iv ranges from -5 to +5.

Here’s some RAW sample images:

Various stops of exposure compensation — Auto exposure looks correct in this situation, but you get the point

I mentioned earlier that I’m a fan of aperture priority mode and shutter priority mode. These shooting modes are both compatible with exposure compensation, but it also works with program mode. It’s worth noting that it does not work with automatic mode. You can use exposure compensation in manual mode but only if you’re using auto ISO.

Exposure compensation is a really simple way to improve your control over your RAW images without stepping into manual mode. So if you’re used to shooting while on the move, be sure to try it out.