The Street Photographer's Guide to Exposure Compensation
Introduction
Exposure Compensation is great when you want to reduce those highlights or reduce the brightness on that almost blown out sky, when shooting street photography. It is also great when things are looking a little too dark, even though the camera seems to think that it has a correct exposure.
So what is Exposure Compensation and how do you go about using it for street photography?
Let's get into it.
What is Exposure Compensation?
On many camera brands, there is an Exposure Compensation dial, button or a feature in the menus that you as the photographer can use to override the camera's meter. You can either adjust it to a minus value to darken the exposure or you can turn it to a plus value in order to brighten the exposure.
How does Exposure Compensation work?
When your camera meters the light for an exposure, it looks at all of the tones within the image - the blacks, the shadows, the mid-tones, the highlights and the whites. The meter then averages these tones out to an 18% grey. (Camera Manufacturers have determined that most scenes average out to a middle grey tone, hence they use an 18% grey.)
Unfortunately, the meter can be fooled by the scene that the photographer is shooting. This depends upon whether the camera thinks the tones of an image are brighter or darker than that middle grey tone.
In order to better explain this, imagine that you are shooting a street photo on a snow-covered street.
The snow should always be white, right? Well, the camera doesn't think so. The camera's meter thinks the snow is much brighter than those middle grey tones and will say "Hold on, this white stuff is way too bright, it's going to be overexposed!" It will then proceed to underexpose the snow.
This is where you get to say to the camera, *I actually want this white stuff to look white", and then you turn the Exposure Compensation dial to the right (plus side) until the snow looks white and properly exposed.
On the flip side, you could be shooting on the streets at night and you want those shadow areas to look dark and shadowlike. However, the camera can think that those dark, shadow areas are darker than the middle grey, and will be underexposed and will therefore brighten up the image, resulting in a washed-out exposure.
Once again you can use the Exposure Compensation dial, this time, turning the dial to the minus side (left) in order to darken the image, thus making those shadows look like shadows.
Almost blown out sky reduced with Exposure Compensation dialed to the minus
How to Use Exposure Compensation
Like I said previously, your camera should either have a dial, button, or a feature (that might let you program a button), specifically for Exposure Compensation.
When you make changes with the Exposure Compensation dial, in your viewfinder and/or on your camera's LCD, you will notice a bar at the bottom with a minus to zero to plus sign - |||||||¦0||||||| + and when you change the exposure it will show up on the bar respectively.
There are various camera modes that can be used in conjunction with exposure compensation.
Aperture Priority
In this mode, you choose the Aperture and the ISO, whilst the camera chooses the Shutter Speed. If you are not happy with the Exposure that the meter gives, then you can use the Exposure Compensation dial, which, in Aperture Priority, will change the Shutter Speed.
Shutter Priority
This time you select a Shutter Speed and ISO whilst the camera selects the Aperture. Therefore, if you use Exposure Compensation, the camera will change the Aperture, which will either brighten or darken the exposure.
Program Mode
In Program Mode the camera chooses the Aperture and the Shutter Speed, whilst you pick the ISO and you can also use the Exposure Compensation function. Depending upon the camera make, model and brand the Exposure Compensation will either change the Shutter Speed or the Aperture.
Note - Exposure Compensation does not generally work in Manual Mode because you already have complete control over the exposure. However, if you are using Auto ISO (you set the ISO range and the camera chooses the ISO within the range that you set) in Manual Mode, then it is possible to use Exposure Compensation. This time it is the ISO that gets the compensation treatment and not the Aperture or the Shutter Speed.
Increments
By default, in many cameras, Exposure Compensation will usually be adjusted in 1/3-stop increments but some cameras allow you to change the increments to be adjusted to 1/2-stop and possibly other increments, depending on the make and model. In total, the stops can usually be adjusted up to plus and minus +/-5EV.
In this 1/3-stop table where I'm shooting in Aperture Priority at f/ 2.8, the camera has metered for 1/250 sec.
However, the image is too bright and I need to darken the exposure using Exposure Compensation. I decided to darken the exposure by three stops, taking me to 1/500 sec.
This time I want to brighten the exposure slightly so I use Exposure Compensation, adding just one stop of light.
Now I am working in Shutter Priority. I have selected 1/250 sec in order to capture the action on the street and the camera has metered for f/ 2.8.
I'm moving into a darker area so I need to add some light so I use the Exposure Compensation dial to add three stops of light, taking my exposure to 1/250 sec at f/ 2.
Now the sun starts coming out and I don't need such a bright exposure. I choose to darken the exposure with Exposure Compensation which I use to increase my Shutter Speed to f/ 5, which is a five-stop decrease.
Darkened down the Shadows using Exposure Compensation as the camera naturally wants to lift them, washing them out
Exposing to the Right
This interesting method might not necessarily work for simple street photography, but for urban landscape photography, exposing to the right can be beneficial when you want to get the most information possible in the image. Exposing to the right means that you ever so slightly overexpose the image, without clipping the highlights. By doing this most of the tones would be on the right-hand side of the histogram, resulting in the cleanest, most detailed tonal information within the image. Then you darken down those slightly overexposed tones in post-processing.
This can easily be done with the Exposure Compensation dial taken to the plus side, increasing the exposure.
More street photography Exposure Compensation scenarios
Besides ensuring that snow is properly exposed for and keeping shadows dark here are some other street photography scenarios where you may need to use Exposure Compensation.
When you are shooting a street photography sunset scene, or are simply shooting into the sun, sometimes it can be very difficult to balance the shadows with the sunlit sky. Generally, that sunlit sky will be prone to clipping unless you underexpose. By dialling back the Exposure Compensation, whilst shooting in Aperture Priority, you can get the sun to look perfect. Later on, in post-processing, you can increase the shadows that may have been underexposed after or before you reduce the exposure on the sky.
Many times when I'm shooting night street photography lamplights, shop windows and car lights can easily be clipped, even when I have supposedly got a correct exposure, according to the camera's meter. This is another instance where dialling back on the Exposure Compensation dial will save those lights from being blown out.
If you want to shoot your subject in a silhouette, where the sun would be behind your subject, you probably need to use Exposure Compensation to ensure that the subject is in darkness, reducing the exposure value, whilst you balance the exposure by metering for the sky.
Exposure Bracketing for Urban Landscape Photography
Sometimes you really want to make sure that the Highlights and the Shadows will be exposed correctly when you are shooting urban landscapes. This is for when you simply want to take your time - you have the camera on a tripod you want to take the most beautiful night or day street scene possible, without people entering your image.
The simplest way of achieving this is using Exposure Bracketing (Auto Exposure Bracketing). This is similar to Exposure Compensation as it gives you more control over your exposure but it is different in its application.
Using this function, you can have a set of images, (usually three or five) where a shot will be underexposed, exposed correctly and overexposed. This ensures that all tones are captured. These shots can then be blended in post-processing software, such as Photoshop and/or Lightroom, either to make a blended exposure or a High Dynamic Range image. Some cameras can let you choose the increment amount of stops that each image is shot at.
If you are interested in this function, check your manual to see where it exists in your camera system's menu.
Conclusion
if you generally shoot your street photography in either Aperture Priority, Program Mode, or Shutter Priority, then Exposure Compensation can give you that little bit of extra control over your images and how they look. Want to get a little bit creative and choose your own amount of darkness and light in your images? Exposure Compensation can help you do this.
Go forth and create.