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Home → Photography Techniques

What is Exposure Compensation and How to Use It

By Nasim Mansurov 90 Comments
Last Updated On December 23, 2019

In this article, we will go over what exposure compensation is on a digital camera and how you can take advantage of it to make adjustments to your exposure when shooting in camera modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority, program mode and other scene modes of your camera. Every modern camera today has a built-in capability to adjust exposure settings in order to make it easier to properly expose images. In simple terms, the idea is to be able to control the brightness of an image, so that it does not end up looking too bright or too dark. To be able to do this, one has to use the Exposure Compensation feature, which is typically provided either as a dedicated button on a camera, or as a dial that one can move from positive exposure compensation to negative. Let’s take a look at how you can utilize this great feature on your camera and take a full control of your exposure.

Before we show you where you can find the exposure compensation feature on your camera, let’s explore what it does and in what camera modes the feature can be used. But first, it helps to have a good understanding of exposure, which is the sum total of the three most important settings in all of photography: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Collectively, these form what is known as the exposure triangle.

Table of Contents

  • What is Exposure Compensation?
  • How to Use Exposure Compensation?
  • How Exposure Compensation Works
  • Exposure Compensation with Advanced Metering Systems
  • Exposing to the Right

What is Exposure Compensation?

Exposure Compensation allows photographers to override exposure settings picked by camera’s light meter, in order to darken or brighten images before they are captured. Since camera meters work by evaluating light reflected off subjects and are standardized on middle gray (also known as 18% gray), any time a camera is pointed at something very dark, the meter will work the opposite way by brightening up the exposure, whereas a very bright subject will cause the meter to darken the exposure. This is done in order to get as close to the middle gray as possible, so that the resulting image is not too dark or too bright. While this works out quite well in most cases, one might experience overexposure or underexposure in more challenging lighting conditions, where the camera meter might be adjusting the exposure too aggressively. This is where Exposure Compensation comes into play, with photographer manually taking control of the brightness of the image and overriding it using the exposure compensation feature of the camera.

Let’s take a look at an example, where my camera’s metering system did a poor job at properly exposing the scene:

Camera Meter - Underexposed Image
Underexposed image based on camera’s meter (shot in Aperture Priority Mode)
DSC-RX100M4 + 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 @ 10.15mm, ISO 200, 1/13, f/11.0

While shooting in Aperture Priority mode, the camera’s meter ended up underexposing the image, because the scene was rather challenging – the sky and the white sand in the foreground were bright, so the camera ended up darkening the whole image, which resulted in my subjects in the scene appearing way too dark.

To address this problem, I used the Exposure Compensation feature of my camera and dialed +1 EV (Exposure Value), which resulted in a much brighter image:

Camera Meter - Properly Exposed Image
Properly exposed image after dialing +1 EV using Exposure Compensation
DSC-RX100M4 + 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 @ 10.15mm, ISO 200, 1/6, f/11.0

The image is now properly exposed, with the whole scene appearing much brighter compared to what the camera thought was the right brightness. By using the Exposure Compensation feature of the camera, I was able to take care of the problem in a matter of seconds.

Note: if you are wondering how different metering modes impact your images, please see our detailed article on Camera Metering Modes.

How to Use Exposure Compensation?

In order to use exposure compensation, you must be in one of the camera modes that utilizes the camera meter, such as aperture priority, shutter priority, program mode, or any other “scene” mode that performs automatic exposure adjustments. Unless one has Auto ISO turned on, exposure compensation will do absolutely nothing in Manual mode. Once the proper camera mode is selected, it will be possible to adjust the brightness of the image by using the exposure compensation feature of the camera.

So where do you find the exposure compensation feature on a camera? Unfortunately, it all varies by camera make and model. While most cameras will have a dedicated button on either top or the back of the camera, some cameras might have this feature available only through a dial. Identifying the exposure compensation button on a camera is pretty easy – look for a button that has plus and minus signs, similar to the following illustration:

Exposure Compensation Button

And if you cannot find such a button, there might be a dial on the top or the back of the camera that goes from a negative value to a positive value, such as -3 to +3, with small increments in between. If you are having a hard time finding the exposure compensation button / dial, please check your camera manual for details.

If you are using a Nikon DSLR, it will most likely be a button near the shutter release of the camera:

Nikon D5500 Exposure Compensation

If you are using a Canon DSLR, there might be an “AV” button on the back of the camera:

Canon EOS Rebel T7i Exposure Compensation

And on some other cameras, especially mirrorless cameras with a retro design, you might find an exposure compensation dial on top of the camera, as in the case of the Fuji X-T20 below:

Fuji X-T20 Exposure Compensation

Using exposure compensation is very easy. If an image appears to be dark, you dial a positive number (+EV), whereas if the image appears to be bright, you dial a negative number (-EV). For cameras that have a button, you will need to hold the button and rotate one of the thumb dials, or press it once and use the LCD screen to adjust the exposure value. For cameras that have a dial it is even simpler – all you have to do is move it in the proper direction and your exposure should get adjusted accordingly.

Since DSLR cameras have optical viewfinders, they will have an exposure compensation area within the viewfinder that looks like the following:

Nikon Viewfinder

As you start making adjustments to your exposure through exposure compensation, you will notice a bar going to the left or to the right of the middle “0” value, which indicates that you are dialing negative (-) or positive (+) exposure compensation (if you have never used this feature, you might not even see the area highlighted in red until an exposure compensation value is added).

If you are using a mirrorless camera, adjusting exposure compensation should brighten or darken the image on the camera’s LCD and electronic viewfinder (EVF), making it easy to see the end result. Along with the automatic brightness adjustments, there should be an information overlay that shows the current exposure compensation value. It might be shown in one, or multiple areas of the viewfinder:

Electronic Viewfinder Exposure Compensation Overlay

Once you make adjustments to exposure compensation, the +- EV values will be shown in the LCD and the EVF. If you cannot see those values after making changes, you might need to turn on informational overlays from the camera menu.

How Exposure Compensation Works

Exposure compensation works by adjusting one or more of the exposure variables, depending on what camera mode you are using. When shooting in Aperture Priority mode, the photographer sets the camera’s Aperture, while the camera automatically sets the Shutter Speed depending on the reading from the camera meter. When adjusting exposure via exposure compensation, the photographer essentially overrides the shutter speed set by the camera. Take a look at the below sample chart, where we will try to adjust exposure using exposure compensation in aperture priority mode:

CAMERA METERED EXPOSURE (APERTURE PRIORITY)
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

Dialing in -1 EV via exposure compensation will increase the shutter speed from 1/250th of a second to 1/500th of a second, while keeping the aperture constant:

APERTURE PRIORITY, -1 EV EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

This essentially darkens the image, since there is less light hitting the sensor. On the other hand, if we dial +1 EV, we will end up with a brighter image and the shutter speed will be halved, resulting in a brighter image:

APERTURE PRIORITY, +1 EV EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

When shooting in Shutter Priority mode, using the exposure compensation feature will impact the camera’s aperture instead of shutter speed. Let’s start with the same base exposure, where we set 1/250th of a second as the shutter speed:

CAMERA METERED EXPOSURE (SHUTTER PRIORITY)
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

Dialing in -1 EV via exposure compensation will adjust the camera’s aperture from f/2.8 to f/4.0, while keeping the shutter speed constant:

SHUTTER PRIORITY, -1 EV EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

Whereas dialing in +1 EV will open up the aperture to f/2.0 and thus brighten the image:

SHUTTER PRIORITY, +1 EV EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6
1/10001/5001/2501/1251/60

When shooting in Manual Mode, the only variable that can change is Camera ISO, but it first has to be set to Auto ISO, as pointed out earlier. It would work similarly as in the above cases, except both aperture and shutter speed would remain constant.

Exposure Compensation with Advanced Metering Systems

Although I have stated above that metering systems on cameras standardize on middle gray, many of the modern cameras now come with sophisticated metering systems that are capable of recognizing scenes based on pre-loaded data and make necessary adjustments to the exposure, essentially minimizing the use of the exposure compensation feature.

Some cameras are even able to recognize the presence of people in an image, basing exposure primarily on people’s skin tones in order to reduce the chance of over or underexposure. Because of such advancements, our cameras might require less and less manual intervention by using the exposure compensation feature. However, no matter how intelligent our cameras are going to get, knowing how to quickly make exposure adjustments is still important, not just because you might need to use it one day, but also because you can push the limits of your camera by taking advantage of such techniques as exposing to the right.

Tel Aviv (43)
GFX 50S + GF63mmF2.8 R WR @ 63mm, ISO 160, 1/500, f/5.6

Exposing to the Right

Although there is no such thing as “proper exposure” for every scene due to the fact that we as photographers often pick relative brightness of the scene depending on what we are trying to portray (such as intentionally darkening an image to highlight silhouettes, as in the image above), there are cases where one can make exposure adjustments using the exposure compensation feature in order to get the best out every image. This technique, known as “Exposing to the Right”, allows photographers to make images as bright as possible without blowing out any highlights, which essentially results in obtaining images of highest-quality possible. Be warned that this is not a beginner technique by any means though, as it requires shooting in RAW vs JPEG to get the best results. If you would like to explore this topic in more detail, please see our Exposing to the Right article.

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Filed Under: Photography Techniques Tagged With: Canon, Tips for Beginners, Nikon, Mirrorless, DSLR, Exposure Compensation

About Nasim Mansurov

Nasim Mansurov is the author and founder of Photography Life, based out of Denver, Colorado. He is recognized as one of the leading educators in the photography industry, conducting workshops, producing educational videos and frequently writing content for Photography Life. You can follow him on Instagram and Facebook. Read more about Nasim here.

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Gmann
Gmann
August 28, 2020 1:20 pm

My question concerns metering on a dark football helmet and jersey in football stadium at night.
I took some photos from a middle school football game last night using my
Nikon D7100, cropped sensor camera using a Nikkor 70-300 Zoom lens.
I tried shooting my pics with shutter priority, Zoomed to the 400 where fStop
Is f3.5 and I wanted my speed at 1000 to freeze movement, iso 400. And my pics
were all underexposed ? Since I was shooting from the stands on the stadium I was not exactly sure where to meter my camera. I could not set any exposure compensation for my situation.
I finally resorted to using manual mode and I used less shutter speed and a lot of
ISO, 2000 to get the my pictures to brighten ?

1
Reply
nish1013
nish1013
January 15, 2018 1:42 am

Nasim, I own a bridge camera Fujifilm s7000 (2003 year). I spent so much money on learning using books etc but nothing helped more than your articles. Big Thank you !

1
Reply
Moreno Tagliapietra
Moreno Tagliapietra
July 1, 2017 1:04 pm

Hi, I am a “mature” photographer who began with film and manual cameras. I am sometimes annoyed with all the talking about technology and not enough about technique but… I am currently working with two Oly EM5II bodies always in aperture priority. There are complex, high contrast subjects such as alternating bands of darker clouds and bright sky (especially at sunset) where the camera can significantly change exposure just by moving it a little. With the EVF set to changing brightness with the exposure and the histogram showing, exposure compensation always lets me re-center the histogram very quickly while exploring different compositions. A little bracketing takes care of most additional unpredictables (and leaves the door open for some realistic HDR when called for). This lets me work faster and increase the % of keepers.

1
Reply
Jim
Jim
June 30, 2017 10:01 am

A) That silhouette shot was terrific!!
B) Every article like this, e.g., ISO Invariance, ETTR should have a mandatory concluding sentence something like: “Before your respond, go out and experiment with what has been discussed. After analyzing a thousand or so shots, feel free to comment”.

Reading about technique is one thing. Actually shooting and reviewing results is where you learns what works for you.

1
Reply
Eloquent Eye
Eloquent Eye
June 29, 2017 3:42 pm

You did a good job of explaining this feature. However, are we talking here about exposure compensation, or flash intensity adjustment? I’m not sure they are equivalent? Both have a “+/-” control so it may confuse some people. In your image of the EVF it is the flash control that is circled in red as evidenced by the thunderbolt adjacent to the +/- symbol. That is not the same as the plain +/- control used to compensate exposure when flash is off.

1
Reply
Nasim Mansurov
Nasim Mansurov
Author
Reply to  Eloquent Eye
June 29, 2017 4:55 pm

Thank you for pointing it out – I had an updated image that I uploaded, but the cache did not clear it for some reason. Please CTRL+F5 to force the refresh of the page and its images and the updated image should now be fixed.

0
Reply
David Powell
David Powell
June 29, 2017 2:03 pm

I only ever used manual cameras with film, (back in the distant past!). These days, if I was using manual mode and felt that the cameras “opinion” needed correction it wouldn’t even occur to me to look for an Exposure Compensation control, I would simply change aperture or shutter speed directly – or, if I remembered, ISO – and what a luxury that is! What I would not forget is that I can often do a lot of bracketing for no extra cost – another luxury! The skill that has to be learnt is identifying situations where intervention is necessary.

A nice article, clear and well illustrated!

1
Reply
Nasim Mansurov
Nasim Mansurov
Author
Reply to  David Powell
June 29, 2017 4:56 pm

Thank you for your feedback David, glad you’ve enjoyed the article!

0
Reply
Ian Brewster
Ian Brewster
Reply to  Nasim Mansurov
December 27, 2020 4:11 am

A very helpful article. However, unless I am missing something, I do not understand why all four tables illustrating the effect of exposure compensation are all exactly the same, except for the headings?

0
Reply
Pete A
Pete A
Reply to  Ian Brewster
December 28, 2020 9:25 am

Hi Ian,

The difference between the tables is the table cell background colour: each row has one cell that is darker than the others.

Regards,
Pete

0
Reply
Tatra Scrambler
Tatra Scrambler
February 18, 2021 2:20 pm

Unless one has Auto ISO turned on, exposure compensation will do absolutely nothing in Manual mode

I get what you mean but this is not entirely correct. The camera will in fact shift the “neutral” 0 position of the light meter according to the EV you dialed in. Say the proper exposure for a given scene as judged by the light meter is 1/500 sec @ f/5.6. At these settings the light meter indicator is smack in the middle, at 0. If you then dial in, for instance, +1 EV it will actually show you that according to this new overwritten value, you are 1 stop overexposed and so if you tried to bring the lightmeter indicator back to 0 by changing either your f-stop, shutter speed or ISO, you would end up with an overexposed image.
With Auto ISO the lightmeter indicator always stays at 0 no matter what exposure compensation you dial in, provided you don’t exceed your min-max ISO range.

0
Reply
Anthony
Anthony
December 6, 2019 1:24 pm

I just purchased a Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera and always use the viewfinder for focus and exposure. When I shoot indoors with incandescent and fluorescent lighting, the image in the viewfinder is always much brighter than the actual scene that is being focused. If I use Exposure Compensation to darken the image to my liking, the image that is saved to the XQD card is much darker than what I saw in the viewfinder. It seems to me that Exposure Compensation is useless unless you start with the viewfinder image and actual scene at the same level of brightness. In this case, am I supposed to lower the viewfinder brightness level to correspond with the actual brightness in the scene before I use Exposure Compensation?

0
Reply
philobob
philobob
June 30, 2017 12:30 pm

I love my Canon 5d mark 3; however when it come to EC it falls way short. The only way I can get to EC is by going through the menu.

0
Reply
Thorben Doehl
Thorben Doehl
Reply to  philobob
July 4, 2017 8:35 am

If that would be the case Canon wouldn’t sell any 5DIIIs… Try the big wheel on the back of your camera

2
Reply
c williams
c williams
June 30, 2017 12:42 am

Am I the only one that accidentally presses the stupidly placed compo button on Nikons, as well as the shutter button, and rotates the dial for something else, but actually alters the exposure by a few stops
My finger always seems to cover the compo button if it is on the shutter button.

0
Reply
Betty
Betty
Reply to  c williams
June 30, 2017 11:30 am

Sounds like you have really big, heavy fingers.?

1
Reply

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