What’s the EV setting anyway? EV stands for Exposure Value (also commonly called “exposure compensation.”) The camera doesn’t always get exposure right–so you can increase or decrease the exposure of your photos up or down a few stops with this feature. You’ll see the setting indicated on your camera by a symbol similar to the one above.
Take a test shot. If the shot looks under or overexposed, you can quickly adjust the exposure up or down via the EV setting without needing to fiddle with other settings like ISO.
But the exposure compensation feature on your camera isn’t just a quick fix for exposure problems.
You can also deliberately use the EV setting to create interesting and artistic effects.