This is the first in what may become an occasional series of "Tips From The Top": ideas that I have picked up from someone that knows what they're talking about. This one's from Galen Rowell, sadly no longer with us. I don't know whether Galen ever used a digital camera seriously before he died, but he did use colour transparency slides, which are often to compared to digital sensors in how they react. His tip:

Expose for your most important highlight!

Sounds simple enough, and is in situations when the most important highlight is the brightest and the subject occupies enough real estate in the frame. If this is not the case? Galen's advice is:

1. Make sure you get an exposure reading to favour the chosen highlight, which will cause the brightest to over-expose by some degree.

2. Consider changing the composition to ensure the viewer's attention is drawn into the less bright area.

3. Think about how much brighter the over-exposed highlights will be. You get away with a stop or so, but surrounding the target highlight with white-out probably won't work.

I don't have the temerity to give example pictures. If you want, you can read Galen's book: Galen Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography. This material was taken from the essay, Crash Course to Perfect Exposures, on pages 84-85.