Here is what we need to know about exposure
What is exposure?
You need to start with the basics if you plan to take some breathtaking photos. Ask any photographer about what is the most important thing to learn when taking photos. And, a majority of them will mention something along the lines of exposure. They will also mention the Shutter Speed, ISO, and the Aperture. All of these settings combined will produce the correct exposure.
Learning about how to deal with the exposure the best way is a must-do thing if you want to take astonishing photos. This is one of the fundamentals of photography that if learned and practiced properly, will take you a long way in the field of photography. Let us learn all we can about exposure to take winning photos.
Exposure – What is It?
Exposure, in the simplest terms, is the amount of light entering your camera. Many people refer to exposure as for how bright or dark the captured photo is. It might sound like a simple thing to do, taking a picture with the right exposure, but in reality, achieving the right exposure is one of the trickiest things in the art of photography.
Components of Exposure
There are three main components that make up the exposure in your photos. These include
Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO
Let’s discuss them in detail one by one.
Aperture
If you want to understand aperture the simplest way, it is about the size of a window that controls the amount of light entering the camera. Lesser light is going to enter the camera when the aperture is small and vice versa. This means images taken with a lower aperture will be darker compared to the images taken with a higher aperture.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed denotes the amount of time light is allowed to enter the camera. To put it simply, it works as curtains on the windows. When they are open, more light tends to enter the room and when closed, lesser light. Thus, when you are taking pictures with a high shutter speed, expect them to be brighter because of more light entering the camera. On the other hand, a lower shutter speed means lesser light entering the camera and hence darker images.
ISO
ISO controls your camera sensor sensitivity to light. Your photos tend to be darker when the ISO number on your camera is low. With a higher amount of ISO, the images tend to be brighter but going overboard with it will make the picture grainy. Thus, when you are taking a photo, you need to make sure you choose the right ISO to get the perfect balance between light and dark photos and get the perfect brightness. Most modern cameras have a native ISO of 100, meaning that is the best ISO to use because all the pixels in your camera are being used. Try to stick to that but push it when you have to. It is better to have a grainy photo than not having a photo at all.
Conclusion
Achieving the right exposure to take the perfect photos is not an easy thing. It takes a lot of practice and patience until you can master the art of setting the right exposure for your photos. The aperture, shutter speed and the ISO all combine to form the exposure. You need to juggle their amounts to achieve the perfect amount of light for your photos that make them neither too bright nor too dull. Keep in mind that making any change in one of these three factors will have an impact on the other two factors as well. Therefore, you have to adjust all three simultaneously when changing any one of them.
While it does take time and practice to get the right exposure for your pictures, you will be able to get amazing results once you get it down.
Refer to our Photography Cheat Sheet.
