What is EV Compensation?

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I’ve started to look at my camera’s settings and get to know them. Yesterday was the first post looking at a digital cameras macro mode.

This is the first time I have looked at all my camera’s features so closely, so they will be introductory posts as I know I will learn more about the features as I go.

EV Compensation

This is the first option I have in my camera’s menu. And an interesting one because by using it you can adjust the automatic settings for exposing the image. And for a simple point and shoot this is quite a cool feature to have.

I haven’t tried it out yet so I don’t pretend to know much about it, but I have found a good description of EV Compensation here.

My camera’s EV Compensation can be adjusted from -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV (0.5 EV step). It also lists effective subjects and set values for positive and negative compensation. This is helpful when first trying out EV Compensation like I am, as it’s a guide for experimenting and giving me a starting point for practice:

Positive (+) Compensation
Backlit portraits
Very bright scenes and highly reflective subjects
Shots made up predominantly of sky

Negative (-) Compensation
Spot lighted subjects, particularly against dark backgrounds
Scenes of low reflectivity, green or dark foliage

And as with Macro mode I will need to remember to set back to auto after using image compensation.

Mandy

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