How to Gain to One to Two Stop Exposure Advantage

If you’re working with a slower lens or lower ISO, you may find yourself shooting at shutter speeds that may introduce motion blur. Vibration Reduction or Image Stabilization will help with camera movement, but not subject movement.

To gain a one to two stop advantage in speed (the equivalent of using a faster shutter speed or lower ISO) try using the dynamic range enhancement feature on your camera. Nikon calls this “Active D-Lighting” and Canon calls it “iContrast”. It dynamically lightens shadow areas and fills in lost highlight detail.

Set it at maximum if possible, and use exposure compensation to select a shutter speed one to two stops faster than normal. If the shutter speed and aperture are adequate but the ISO is high enough to cause excessive noise, set the exposure compensation as above, but also lower the ISO by the same amount of stops.

The resulting image will be brighter and sharper.