I demand compensation!

When I grab the camera to catch some fleeting image, or when I am putting gear into the camera bag there's a list of settings I check so I know the camera is how I want it to be. There's a convenient four way control on the back of the Olympus E620 and E510 for some of these. So here we go:

Auto focus is "Single AF then Manual". White balance is "Auto". ISO is 200 or maybe 400. Metering is "Centre weighted". Exposure is "Aperture priority" and exposure compensation is reset to zero.

This makes the camera behave as much like my old Nikon film cameras as possible. I feel I understand Centre Weighted metering better than anything else, and Aperture priority suits my working method. I prefer to get the depth of field right, and worry about the shutter speed later.

At this point, let's have a picture in case you're getting bored...

Jane Austen's writing desk. Chawton. -1EV

Where were we? Ah yes, checking the exposure compensation setting. That's because I use it quite a lot, and I forget to put it back afterwards. The problem is that your camera's metering system tries to turn every scene into an average scene, and that  means it tries to make your pictures grey if it can...

When assessing the light for a scene I am attempting to influence the camera's metering sytem, because I think I know better than it does. I have three methods. 

Method one, aim the centre of the viewfinder at an object that is the right distance for the AF to get the focus right, and is also the right shade for the metering to get the exposure right. Now half press the shutter, keep it pressed, re-frame the image in the viewfinder to get the right composition. Finally take the shot.

Method two is used when the right shade and the right distance are not in the same place. In this case I aim at the object I wish to meter, and press and hold the AEL exposure lock button. Now I can focus on a new object while keeping the locked exposure, finally I can recompose before I take the picture. Sounds complicated - but you can learn the technique and get quite quick at it.

Method three. I compose and shoot the picture with no clever tricks, but in this case I set   exposure compensation in advance by estimating how much darker or lighter than average the current scene is.

Time for another picture.

 

The Cathedral in Puerto de la Cruz. -1.7EV

All of the images in this post have some sort of exposure compensation. In this case I realise that the large dark area around the door would probably fool the metering, and I would have the outside scene turn out too bright. So, I dialled in -1.7EV of compensation to force the interior down towards black because as we know, I am not afraid of the dark...

Devon country house. -1EV

Here is another dull day. In this case I felt that the low cloud should be emphasised so once again some negative compensation was dialled in to give this splendid gloomy look to what was after all a rather gloomy morning. 

Last example:

Wash Common Allotments. Winter 2010. +1EV

In this case I was worried that the meter would try to turn the snow grey, so I gave it a small amount of positive compensation. Dialling in +1EV of compensation takes some determination. All my experience tells me I am risking burning out the highlights.... However, snow does demand it.