Most cameras have an exposure meter. This confused me early on because I thought it was the bar that controls exposure. It was my first time shooting and it took a while for the word "meter" to sink in. The exposure meter simply shows you what the above three settings will result in as far as exposure is concerned with your exposure metering. Exposure metering is also something to be covered but that will be done later.<br>For most use cases, you want to have the exposure meter bar centered.<br>Example of an exposure meter:

Most cameras have an exposure meter. This confused me early on because I thought it was the bar that controls exposure. It was my first time shooting and it took a while for the word "meter" to sink in. The exposure meter simply shows you what the above three settings will result in as far as exposure is concerned with your exposure metering. Exposure metering is also something to be covered but that will be done later.<br>For most use cases, you want to have the exposure meter bar centered.<br>Example of an exposure meter:

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Example of an exposure meter reading zero:

Example of an exposure meter reading zero:

Understand that your camera may place negative / positive at different places. Notice the bars and dots. Each dot is 1/3 EV (i.e. Exposure Value). Your camera may use dashes or dots or whatever. But you will most likely have a way to know when you move somewhere by a third and when you move by a full integer EV (e.g. -1 EV). In the above example, I am using a dot for a third and a bar / pipe for a full integer EV. I am using an asterisk to basically state that the exposure meter is reading that the view is perfectly exposed (i.e. it's reading 0 which is neither over nor underexposed).  

Understand that your camera may place negative / positive at different places. Notice the bars and dots. Each dot is 1/3 EV (i.e. Exposure Value). Your camera may use dashes or dots or whatever. But you will most likely have a way to know when you move somewhere by a third and when you move by a full integer EV (e.g. -1 EV). In the above example, I am using a dot for a third and a bar / pipe for a full integer EV. I am using an asterisk to basically state that the exposure meter is reading that the view is perfectly exposed (i.e. it's reading 0 which is neither over nor underexposed).  

Here is an example of under-exposing by 2/3rd's of an EV.  

Here is an example of under-exposing by 2/3rd's of an EV.