Underexposed?How does Exposure compensation work on Nikon?

[S_Sanyal]

Nikon D90 with 18-200mm VRII lense
EXIF:
Exposure 0.02 sec (1/50); Aperture: f/10.0; Focal Length: 18 mm; ISO 100
Exposure Bias +5/3 EV ( I dont really know how this aspect works in-camera, here Nikon; does [+] mean its compensating by darkening a bright scene or brightening a dark scene; would really appreciate help on this from Nikon DSLR users as the camera manual isn't helping )
Program Mode: Manual

Is this scene looking too underexposed? I wanted to keep attention on the sky/clouds, which is the main subject with the rower as foreground silhouette. I worked on the RAW file to make the clouds stand out but I am curious to know whether that has happened at the cost of the foreground elements. I did not want to compromise on highlights at all!

Other questions
How are these tones, are they conveying energy or gloom?

I attempted to capturing the man's profile at an angle and pressed the shutter when the oar was at a particular point with respect to clouds; to convey movement... How evident is this in the composition?

Any other critiques are very welcome, and likewise for edits to original image.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. for some reason (possibly lighter page colour) this image looks darker here on DPS, than in the flickr lightbox, which should I consider closer to a print colour representation?

[IABoomer]

I don't think exposure compensation does anything in manual mode. It works in program, shutter priority, or aperture priority modes where the camera can adjust a parameter in the exposure triangle to get the image you want.

In manual mode, you're telling the camera that you know what settings to use. It wouldn't know if it should open the aperture or lengthen the shutter speed to get the exposure where it "belongs". In the priority modes, you set one and the camera does the other.

If you wanted to shoot this scene with a deep depth of field (hence the f/10) you could shoot in aperture priority, set the aperture at f/10, and adjust the exposure using the +/- EV settings.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by IABoomer

I don't think exposure compensation does anything in manual mode. It works in program, shutter priority, or aperture priority modes where the camera can adjust a parameter in the exposure triangle to get the image you want.

Yes and No...
In manual mode the camera will not make any adjustments for you, but it WILL change the meter to tell you the exposure is "correct" with a given exposure compensation.

Exposure compensation works the same on all cameras, + means the camera is gathering more light...usually for a dark scene you need negative exposure compensation since the camera will want to overexpose to achieve "grey".

IMO the exposure is fine...I probably would have not have used the + compensation to get more of a silhouette.

[IABoomer]

Ah, I learned something today. So, if you want to shoot one stop over in manual, you can either adjust things so the arrow is to the right of center at 0EV, or you can dial in +1 EV then adjust the arrow to the center?

[sk66]

Originally Posted by IABoomer

Ah, I learned something today. So, if you want to shoot one stop over in manual, you can either adjust things so the arrow is to the right of center at 0EV, or you can dial in +1 EV then adjust the arrow to the center?

Yes. I think it's easier to dial it in and adjust the meter to center because I find it easier to see and quicker. But either gets you the same result.

[S_Sanyal]

Thanks IABoomer and sk66, I tried what you said and figured that + is indeed for overexposing the scene, and yes, it does work best in aperture priority mode. I shot the same scene with + , - and 0 EV in A mode, and it became clear...

Havent tried the pre-set thing yet, but will do, it will be moer convenient for me as I like to control all settings manually.

Thanks so much once again.