Photo Exposure - Highlights and Shadows

Your camera's meter is smart enough to get you a good exposure for most average scenes. But it isn't smart enough to know what it's looking at, and it can easily be thrown off by bright or dark subjects. And since your meter is trying to average your photograph into an 18% gray tone, it's going to underexpose bright scenes and overexpose dark scenes. To take your photography and exposures to the next level you need to know when to override the advice your meter is giving you.

I'm going to explain how to expose for highlights and shadows. Of course, if you're using a handheld incident meter, you can move along. This tip addresses reflective meters like the one in your camera.

This concept was a breakthrough for me when I was starting out in photography. It might take you some thinking to grasp this, but it's worth it. The most important thing is this:

With bright subjects, you need to add light to the meter's recommendation. With dark subjects, you need to subtract light from the meter's recommendation. That's how you achieve a correct exposure.

Exposure - Light Subjects

Your meter wants everything to be gray, even when you point a camera meter at a white subject. To make the white turn into gray, the meter will suggest underexposing. Think about when you exit a dark movie theater and find yourself in the bright outdoors. Your instinct is to squint to keep things dark until your eyes adjust to the bright light.

But you don't want a squinty, dim photo. You want your white object to appear white. Otherwise the photo will lack the proper contrast and appear flat or dull.

So instead of squinting, you need to override your meter and adjust your camera in the other direction. You actually need to let in more light than your meter suggests so that the white object will appear white. That's the secret. More light in your exposure equals brighter tones.

I'll talk about calibrating your camera later on, but most whites fall around two stops over the 18% gray that your meter suggests. So you can meter a white and open approximately two stops (again, test your camera to be sure) to achieve a good white that still has a minimum of detail.

Exposure - Dark Subjects

Dark subjects work on the same principle as light subjects, but in reverse. In order to stay dark, they need less light, less exposure. So if you're metering off a black object, you'll need to close down to a smaller aperture or else raise your shutter speed.

A good black will fall around two and a half stops under the 18% gray that your meter suggests. Again, test your camera to be sure.

Conclusion

So to re-cap, with bright subjects you need to overexpose from your meter's reading. Bright objects need more light so they can remain bright. And in the opposite direction, dark subjects need to be underexposed from your meter reading. Dark objects need less light so they can remain dark.

Once you are able to visualize that principle of light, you're on your way to understanding exposure and having great exposures in your photography