Helpful Tips for Getting Your Exposure Right in Camera

One of the most fundamental and important skills any photographer can possess is the ability to create an accurate exposure in camera. This first part of a two-part series will show you the numerous tools your camera has to help you achieve that goal as well as how you can avoid being fooled by other things your camera does.

Coming to you from our good friend, Pye Jirsa, over at SLR Lounge, this awesome video will teach you a lot of useful tips for getting your exposure right in camera. This is one of the most essential skills any photographer can have, as it helps you avoid losing information to clipped highlights or shadows, it gives you more post-processing latitude, and it saves you time when it comes to editing. Of the tips, I was surprised by how sneaky the picture style is. I have always left mine set to auto, as I don't shoot JPEGs and I don't care very much what the photo looks like on the back LCD beyond verifying the exposure, but I never made the connection that the camera is generating JPEG previews for the back LCD, and in the process, it applies the selected picture style, which could affect where it places highlight alerts. It's just one of quite a few very useful tips in the above video; check it out for the full rundown.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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I'm definitely going to give this a try! I never fully took those picture styles into account because I shot in raw and thought the previews were taken from the raw file in camera.