A little understanding of autoexposure will go a long way in helping you take better photos with your iPhone camera. Examine the two images above. Both shots are of the same buildings taken just seconds apart. So why is one darker than the other? It's simply a matter of brightness. Though it may not seem that way to your eye, the sky is substantially brighter than these shaded buildings. The reason we don't perceive that at first is that your eye and brain have their own built-in autoexposure controls.
When the differences in light in the scene are as great as they are in the darker image the camera makes it's choice based on what's brightest. So the sky won. The lighter image was taken at a lower angle with no bright sky visible in the scene so the camera exposed for the buildings. When you shoot follow these tips to avoid underexposure:
- Make sure your subjects are well-lit if you include sky in your image.
- Light sources like lamps and the sun should not be visible in the scene. These will darken the image.
- Highly reflective backgrounds that are white or silver can darken your subject too. Place your subject against medium toned backgrounds.
- Pointing the camera down on a subject as opposed to up will generally give you better exposed shots.
