An Example of the Auto Exposure Lock (AE Lock) Button (Re-Post)

[Steve Eisenberg]

(I thought this post belonged in this category, rather than "Show & Tell")


For those who wonder what the asterisk (*) is there for, it's called the Auto Exposure Lock (AE Lock) button:


These two photos were shot with the Canon XTi, 50mm f1.4, without a flash (with the flash it's "Flash Exposure Lock", but we're not dealing with that in this post), on "P" mode, one shot auto-focus, center focus point, center weighted metering, ISO 1600.


For this first shot I focussed on the face, recomposed and shot atf1.4 1/25 As you can see, the metering took the background into account,as well as the forground. And in attempting to better expose the background, the camera forced an overexposure, as well as a shutter speed too long for being handheld.





Next time I centered on the body of the subject, pressed the "Auto Exposure Lock" button, then focussed on the face, recomposed and shot at f1.8 1/80. The subject is properly exposed, the distracting background fades away, and the picture is sharper due to the shorter shutter speed (the smaller aperture helped as well).





The first shot may have worked ot with "Partial Metering", but sometimes while photographing animals, youarestuck without the time to fiddle withtoo many settings. And some of the background may have been brought in as well. Bracketing may have also worked too, if already set up to do that. The "AE Lock" button is one of the features I use every time I pick up the camera.

[Bryan Carnathan]

Thanks for the comparisons Steve.

[Steve Eisenberg]

You're welcome!