Don't you hate it when you have shots that have areas that are too dark or areas that are too bright? Well, this article will show you exactly the reason why this happens and how to avoid it.
Exposing photos is not that hard in most circumstances.
However, there are some times when exposing a shot right is very difficult.
Easy places to properly expose photos are in the shade, on a cloudy day, or in a very well lit room.
If you're having difficulty exposing those settings, take a look at some of my other articles here as this covers more difficult challenges.
The problems that this will cover are: sunny day shots, shots with windows in the background, etc.
The reason that one area of your shot will be too dark or too bright is because your giving your camera something very hard to do.
When you have two areas of the photo that are too drastically different contrasts, it is not an easy task.
For example, a picture with someone standing in front of a window.
Inside the light is very low and outside the sun's light is very strong.
The camera cannot properly expose both so either makes the outside too bright or the inside too dark.
The solution to this is to avoid it! Unless you want a silhouette shot, do not place your subject in front of a very bright background.
It will end up poorly exposed and without details.
Either that or you'll sacrifice the background for an all washed out area.
When you are outside and your subject has shadows that make certain areas of their face too dark, there are a couple solutions to a proper exposure.
You can either bounce light off to their dark side of their face with a reflector (foil or a mirror, etc) or you could just move to a shady area.
Moving in the shade will give a more diffused and less harsh shadows.