Why are white-lighted areas on my Nikon D5100's LCD blinking continuously?

Question

I bought a Nikon D5100 a few days back, with the 18-55mm kit lens. For past few days it was working fine. But today when I clicked some photos, I noticed that the while viewing the photos on camera LCD, the white lighted areas are blinking continuously. The white lighted areas are turning black and again changed to white. Can anyone help me in this regard?

Answer 1

Apparently you have the Highlight Alert feature on. This allows you to preview areas of your picture that are overexposed (receiving too much light) and decide if this is your intention or not.

This is a very handy feature, but if you prefer to turn it off you can follow this tutorial (source):

1. Press the Menu button, then use the Multi-selector to access the Playback menu
2. Once in the Playback menu, move the Multi-selector to Playback Display Options and press OK
3. Move the Multi-selector down to select the Highlights option, then press OK to place a check mark next to the word Highlights
4. Now move back up to select Done, and press OK again to lock in your change

Another way to toggle the Highlights is to use the up and down keys during picture playback (tks @DHall!).

On the other hand, you may want to leave it on and use it to learn about how exposure settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation) influence your pictures.