For more frequently asked questions, read my posts from , , and .

Dave, recently you gave some advice about how to in a product photo. I was once told to overexpose snow and underexpose a black bear in a coal mine because most digital cameras do not capture pure white or black properly in auto mode. Might that have been the ladys problem? Can you comment on what I was told?Gordon Totty, Plymouth, Michigan

You're absolutely right, Gordon. Snow, for example, is about two stops brighter than neutral gray, so when you let a camera set the exposure automatically, it underexposes the scene, and the snow comes out gray. An easy fix is to overexpose the shot by about two stops. (You can be sure I'll explain this again sometime in the winter to help everyone with their outdoor holiday photos.)

But the situation Kaya Atli asked about last month is subtly different. For her eBay product shots, the easiest solution is to set the camera's exposure for the product and to throw enough light on the white background so that the backdrop blows outthe result is a properly exposed subject, and a clean white background.