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Difficult subjects
Digital cameras do a good job at automatically exposing photos in light where the subject is evenly lit. However there are times when you must override the camera's setting to get a decent exposure, particularly when photographing the subjects listed below.
Difficult subjects to photograph
- Scenes with high contrast that contain both dark shadows or bright highlights.
- Very bright scenes such as at the beach.
- Snowscapes.
- Very dark scenes such as a forrest.
- When a subject is in front of a dark background.
- When a subject is in front of a light background.
- When the main source of light comes from behind the subject.
- "Spot lighted" subjects, where the main area is bright and most of the scene is dark (eg photographing the moon; actor on a stage). Use spot or centerweighted metering.
To get the best photos in difficult lighting, take plenty of shots, bracket and/or use the appropriate metering mode. For backlit subjects that are close-up, use fill-in flash. Another effective method to use instead of bracketing is exposure compenstion.
When it is difficult to focus, plan ahead and pre-focus by depressing the shutter-release button halfway. Use Manaul Focus or AutoFocus Lock (AF Lock) if your camera has either of these features.
Many digital cameras have scene modes with pre-set factory optimized settings for various scenes.
