Sometimes you need to think the way a digital camera thinks. All it knows is to take a light meter reading based upon where you point it. Most cameras base their light readings on the center point of the image because that’s usually where people put their subjects’ faces. But doing this can sometimes freak the camera out when it doesn’t understand what it’s seeing.

Take this super dark image, for example. The camera took its meter reading from the bright window light. It assumed there was no need for a flash because it didn’t understand the image. Since the scene was so contrasty (a big difference between the light area and the dark area) the camera exposed for the bright sunlight and left us in the dark.
To fix the situation, I panned the camera over to my face, pressed the button down half-way, and then panned the camera back over to include Chloe. Remember not to release the button but keep it half-way down until you’re ready to push it all the way to snap the picture. Voila, the flash went off and we look pretty well exposed. The whole operation took maybe 2 seconds. The key is that first step of showing the camera what you want it to see and pressing (and holding) the button down half way.

You can do the same thing for sunset shots or other tricky lighting situations. For more about tricking your camera, click here.