N-Photo

What you’ll learn

How to get correctly

exposed portraits

when the background

is much lighter than

the subject.

What you’ll need

A willing subject and

a bright window (or a

clear view of the sky

if you are outdoors).

2 | Shoot a backlit portrait

TAKE IT FURTHER

Going to the next couple
of shots you will see that
the peak moves to the
right. This shows that
the large area of white
is more accurately
recorded in the image
shot with the exposure
compensation set at +1,
while on the image taken

at +2 there is a gap on

the left of the histogram,

indicating that the image

is over-exposed as there

are no dark tones.

The opposite is true of

the images with a black

background, as the peak

should be positioned on

the far left of the graph.

Try spot metering

First, make sure that the

exposure compensation on

your camera is set to zero,

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that they’re against a bright background

such as a window or the sky. Then, with

your Nikon set to aperture-priority mode

and the widest aperture available on your

lens (such as f/4), frame your shot so that

the subject covers approximately half the

frame, with the rest of the (much brighter)

background clearly visible.

Now you can focus on the subject and

take a picture. Reviewing this image you

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a s you r Ni kon i s t r y i ng to e x pose t he br ight

background as a mid-tone. Next, take some

more shots with exposure compensation

set to +1. Reviewing these images, you will

see that the subject appears much lighter –

closer to how you see them. Note that if the

background is very bright you may need to

increase the exposure compensation to +2

to expose the subject correctly.

15

mins

Because the matrix

metering in your Nikon

measures light from all

across the image it can be

fooled by bright (or dark)

backgrounds, as above.

Another metering mode,

known as spot metering,

measures the light from a

tiny area of the image. That

area is linked to the focus

point on most Nikons, so to

use this mode you need to

position the focus point

over an area that you want

to record as a mid-tone.

Because it’s not always

possible to keep the focus

point positioned over this

area of the subject, it’s best

to use manual exposure

mode when using spot

metering. You can set the

exposure with the focus

point positioned over a

suitable area of the subject,

set the exposure, and as

long as the lighting doesn’t

change, you will get

correctly exposed results.

+2EV COMPENSATION NO COMPENSATION

WHITE CARD, +1EV

WHITE CARD, NO COMP

GREY CARD, NO COMP

BLACK CARD, NO COMP

BLACK CARD, -2EV

BLACK CARD, NO COMP

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com March 2016 27

FEATURE