{"id":51275,"date":"2015-03-16T13:01:15","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T18:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=51275"},"modified":"2015-03-16T13:17:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T18:17:01","slug":"5-easy-tips-nailing-exposure-every-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/5-easy-tips-nailing-exposure-every-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Easy Tips For Nailing Your Exposure On Every Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter what camera you\u2019re shooting with, perfect exposure is the biggest key to achieving a beautiful image. Here are 5 easy tips that will help you get it right every time.<\/h2>\n

Whether you’re shooting to a compressed format or to RAW, nailing your exposure in-camera will improve the look of your image and save your hours (or days!) in post-production. The tips below are especially relevant when shooting with cameras that suffer from low-bitrate recording.<\/p>\n

Use an EVF During the Day<\/h2>\n

\"EVF\"Image from Edwin Lee on Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Outside of using critical exposure tools (which we\u2019ll get to soon) one of the most important factors when it comes to exposure is being able to trust your eye. Unfortunately most cameras and monitors are unable to compete with bright light sources – such as sunlight – which can make monitoring a huge challenge during day time exteriors. Although it may seem like you are getting an accurate visual read on your image, the truth is that you probably are judging your overall exposure incorrectly, and the only way to combat this is by using an EVF<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you have a camera like the C300 that has a strong EVF built right in, then things are quite simple for you. Just make sure to use it over the LCD screen. However if you have a camera with a poor EVF (or none at all) I would highly recommend investing in one.<\/p>\n

Understand Your Zebras<\/h2>\n

Unless you\u2019re extremely new to shooting, you probably already have been using zebra stripes to some extent. For those of you that don\u2019t know, zebras can be set to effectively highlight a portion of your image that is overexposed<\/strong>, so that you know when your shot is clipping to white.<\/p>\n

It sounds easy, and in many cases it is, however there are some snags that you need to know about when working with zebras. For example, many shooters expose for the zebras (so as not to overexpose their shot), but then they end up underexposing their talent. In other words, if there was a lamp in the back of the shot that was blowing out, a lot of amateur DPs would be tempted to expose the image so the lamp doesn\u2019t clip, but then\u00a0the rest of their image ends up being severely underexposed. Always remember that it\u2019s okay for parts of your image to clip – at least within reason. Just never sacrifice the skin tones or your talent in general.<\/p>\n

Lynda<\/a> has a solid tutorial for using and reading zebras:<\/p>\n