Useful Tips – Exposure compensation or flash

When shooting pictures indoors or in a dimly lit location, you need to change the camera setting so that the subject will be adequately illuminated. Methods using exposure compensation or flash are available. Which option you should use will differ depending on the picture subject and the conditions for taking the picture. It is easy to use the flash to illuminate a subject. However, when you use the flash, pictures may seem unnatural since the flash eliminates ambient lighting conditions. By contrast, using exposure compensation preserves the ambient lighting, which results in a more natural-looking picture. However, the shutter speed may drop, making it more likely for subject or camera movement blur to occur. If you are in a situation where blurring may occur, you can increase the ISO sensitivity setting. Increasing the ISO sensitivity, however, may result in more noticeable noise. There is no definite answer as to which method is better, so it is probably best to take your pictures using both the flash and exposure compensation.

Compare these pictures taken with exposure compensation and flash

	Shot using exposure compensation: The subject’s facial expression and the incoming light are adequately visible, but the bright areas in the background are overexposed.		Shot using flash: The entire picture is nicely lit, but the interior/exterior brightness and the atmosphere of the interior lighting are not accurately reproduced.