Exposure is an essential aspect of taking good photographs. It is the amount of light that your camera receives when you press the shutter. The right exposure can make the difference between a good and a great photograph. This guide will explain what exposure is, how to set it, and how it relates to the exposure triangle.
What is Exposure?
Exposure is the amount of light that your camera receives when you take a photograph. In order to get the right exposure, you need to adjust the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO of your camera. This will determine how much light enters the camera and how long it stays open.
How to Set Exposure?
Setting the exposure on your camera is not as difficult as it may seem. The most important thing to remember is that the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all work together to get the right exposure. Here is a brief explanation of each one:
- Aperture: The aperture is the size of the opening in your camera lens. The larger the aperture, the more light that can enter the camera, and the brighter the photograph will be.
- Shutter Speed: The shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open. The longer the shutter is open, the more light that can enter the camera, and the brighter the photograph will be.
- ISO: ISO is the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is, and the brighter the photograph will be.
Once you understand how these settings work together, it is easy to adjust the exposure of your camera. You can use a light meter to measure the light and get an accurate reading. You can also use the camera’s built-in meter, or use the “exposure compensation” setting to adjust the exposure.
What is the Exposure Triangle?
The exposure triangle is a visual representation of how the three settings of your camera (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) work together to get the right exposure. It is important to understand the exposure triangle if you want to get the best results from your camera.
In the exposure triangle, the three corners of the triangle represent the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The center of the triangle is where the three settings interact with each other to get the right exposure. The size of the triangle can change based on the amount of light available.
How Does Exposure Relate to ISO and Shutter Speed?
ISO and shutter speed are the two settings that are most closely related to exposure. They both control how much light enters the camera and how long it stays open. A higher ISO will allow more light to enter the camera, while a slower shutter speed will allow the light to stay open longer. Therefore, it is important to know how to adjust these settings in order to get the right exposure.
The aperture also plays an important role in exposure, as it controls how much light enters the camera. However, it is not as closely related to ISO and shutter speed as the other two settings.
Summary
Exposure is an important aspect of photography that can make the difference between a good and a great photograph. It is important to understand the exposure triangle and how ISO and shutter speed work together to get the right exposure. With a bit of practice and understanding, you can easily adjust the exposure of your camera to get the perfect shot.
Now that you understand the settings of both shutter control and aperture settings you need to know what influence they have on overall exposure. Many of you are probably familiar with overexposed and underexposed pictures. Overexposed pictures are a result of too much light coming through, and underexposed pictures are those which are too dark.
Let’s say for example, that we used a fast shutter speed (to limit the amount of light coming in) and a high aperture number (small home) to limit the amount of lighting coming in and to capture the greatest detail for a landscape photograph. The following would be the result.
Notice how in this photograph the subject is underexposed. There is not enough light shed on the film (or CCD if the camera was digital) to bring out the details of the subject. In the case above it may have been the intention of the photographer to create a darker image and often underexposed images are taken intentionally. Your concern is to ensure you don’t take unintentional underexposed images.
Now image you set your aperture setting to a low number (larger opening to let in more light) and you set your shutter speed to a longer exposure time. The result would be a photograph which overexposes your photograph. Look at the following example.
Therefore it is important to know how shutter speed and aperture work in conjunction with each other to determine the overall exposure levels of a photograph. Think of shutter speed and aperture as a teeter totter. On one side you have aperture and on the other side you have the shutter speed. As the shutter speed gets set to one increment higher the aperture setting needs to get set to one increment lower in order to keep the light coming into the camera the same.
Source: Apogee Photo
Learn more about the Exposure Triangle here.
And don’t forget that every decrease in shutter speed decreases the amount of light be half and every increment the aperture opens doubles the amount of light coming in. You can therefore use different combinations of aperture settings and shutter speed settings to achieve the exact same exposure levels. Look at the chart below to learn more about how to balance aperture settings with shutter speed settings.
Since shutter speed and aperture settings move in equal increments, you can trade shutter stops for aperture stops and have the same exposure. This gives you a range of aperture openings and shutter speeds that you can use.
This video is quite useful:
Video by Matthew Gore
This first video explains f-stops quite nicely: (three part series below is great)
Videos by YouTuber PhotoProTips
See also:
How To Shoot And Process A Super Long Exposure
ISO
The Exposure Triangle.
More photography resources.
More photography articles.