Lesson Learned: Avoid Guessing

I have a bad habit of getting the exposure wrong on the first shot. I carry my camera all over the place and my default settings are typically 1/250, f/5.6, and ISO 200. Often I'll pull out the camera and even though my experience tells me that those default settings will result in an overexposed or underexposed image (see below), I snap off a shot hoping that it will somehow miraculously create a properly exposed photograph. Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO 2500, 7:22 pm Last week I was heading to the One Man Star Wars show in San Francisco, when I encountered these die-hard fans. In this instance. I made a feeble attempt to adjust the exposure correctly by increasing the ISO and opening up the aperture. Unfortunately I again did not pay close enough attention to the camera's exposure meter. Here's the final image. Too bad I've got lens flare issues again. Darn it! Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/50 sec, f/2, ISO 2500, 7:22 pm