My photos are too dark

Why it happens

• Indoors there is far less light than it looks to your eye.
• The shutter speed was too fast for the available light.
• The aperture was not open as wide as it could be.
• The camera metered for a bright window or sky and darkened everything else.

How to fix it

1. 1

   Open the aperture as wide as your lens goes first — it costs nothing.

2. 2

   Then raise ISO: 800–3200 indoors is normal, not a mistake.

3. 3

   Keep the shutter at 1/125s or faster if people are moving; slow it only if the scene is still.

4. 4

   Move your subject closer to a window or lamp — free light beats any setting.

5. 5

   Use exposure compensation (+1 or +2) when the scene has bright windows in it.

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