by Photographers are those people who can capture magic with their cameras, and they do it even better if they know everything there is to know about photography. Although, you will definitely get a few steps ahead if you know about exposure in photography.
Once you learn everything there is to learn about exposure; you will be extremely close to becoming a really good photographer in whatever field you will choose.
Once you understand how you can use your camera for better exposure for the image you want to take, you will understand the value of light balance according to the composition of your photograph.
Before everything, you need to understand what exactly exposure is in photography, and you will learn everything you need to learn about it on this page.
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What is exposure in photography?
Starting with the simple definition of exposure in photography, you will learn a great deal about it. When the light is translated from the sensor of your camera, it is called exposure.
The exposure consists of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Exposure is important when it comes to capturing the light in your shot. On top of that, if you have not managed the exposure on your camera while capturing the image, you will not get good results.
It is obvious that if you have just started doing photography, you might get confused about all the different settings on your camera. The first ever setting that you should learn about your camera and photography is the exposure triangle.
As we learned that exposure contains three main settings of your camera shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, you will have to learn to balance these three things to get the perfect exposure that you need to get.
With perfectly suitable exposure, you will get clear and sharp images.
Let us have a quick look at the main three elements of exposure,
Shutter speed
The shutter of your camera is how fast your camera captures the light while clicking a picture; when the shutter closes, it means that the light is blocked.
The shutter speed is how fast this shutter opens and closes to let you capture the light. When you are capturing a shot of a moving item, if you have a camera with a good shutter speed, you will get good results.
There is one simple rule for shutter speed- if the shutter speed is slow, your camera’s sensor will capture the light for a long period of time, and if the shutter speed is fast, your camera will let you capture the light in the image quickly.
With that, you will also understand that if the lights hit the camera sensor for a longer period of time, you will get a brighter picture and if it less period of time, you will get a less bright picture.
Depending on the kind of photography you want to do, you can choose and adjust the shutter speed of your camera. Shutter speed is usually calculated in a fraction of a second. For example, a shutter speed of 1/1000s is considered fast. But 1/8000s is faster.
You will also notice once to get to know all the settings in your camera that shutter speed also affects the sharpness of the picture. It is one of the important parts that help you settle your exposure.
Aperture
Next, what you have to see while making sure of exposure in your camera is the aperture. An aperture is something that decides how much natural light to let in. If we were to put it simply for your understanding, the aperture is very much similar to your pupil.
You can see as much as you keep your eyes open, and with an aperture, you can capture as much as the depth of field based how you are keeping your aperture.
There are usually nine blades in the aperture, and each blade works in unison when you adjust your aperture. If you are new to photography, you need to know that mostly the aperture is measured in f/number. i.e. f/2, f/2.8, etc.
Using the aperture is simple, but you may find it hard at first because you will have to figure out how much aperture you have to keep for the kind of picture you want.
If there is low light and you want to capture a beautiful picture, the aperture is something that will help you capture the perfect shot.
Now, we all know how important it is when it comes to capturing light using an aperture, and because of the very same reason, it is an important part of exposure.
Not only is it an important factor for exposure and lighting in your shot, but with aperture, you will be able to manage the depth of field as well.
ISO
There are ways that you can capture the light from your camera, and then there is one essential thing that you need to make sure that your camera can assist you in.
ISO is basically a sensor that helps you translate and capture the light in the exposure. ISO literally tells you about the light sensitivity in your camera.
You can figure out this sensor easily based on your camera model. Low ISO means your camera sensor is less sensitive to light, and high means it is highly sensitive to light. Depending on the camera, you can even adjust the ISO setting from the camera that you are using.
If we were to talk about ISO in-depth, you would figure out why it is not an integral part of many simple clicks, but when it comes to exposure, you will have to learn everything you can about it.
There is something called the exposure triangle in which if you change any one of the above-mentioned factors that affect the exposure, you have to adjust the other two as well. You have to keep them balanced. You will learn more about each of these factors by experience.
How can you get the right exposure?
As we have learned so far, there are multiple things that affect the exposure of your image. The main question is how to manage your exposure and get it right for your image.
There are a few tips that we can give you to make sure you know how you can get the exposure right in your image. All the different cameras have different features and ways that you can use them to ensure the best result.
- You can switch to auto mode in your camera, keeping the aperture and shutter speed on priority. With auto mode, you will easily get the settings on your own.
- Figure out what kind of exposure is needed for the type of photography that you are doing. Usually, photography types have set criteria for the exposure in the shot.
- Always make sure that you are balancing the three elements mentioned above. Once you figure out a perfect balance among them, as it is called the exposure triangle, you will be able to get the right exposure.
- You can always use manual modes and experiment with the exposure to learn new things. As risky as it sounds to a professional photographer, it is also necessary to ensure that you are learning to use the manual settings for the perfect exposure.
- Double-check the exposure that you can set up for neutral shots, if the background and the subject are in the same color you cannot choose the exposure which you normally choose in the images. i.e., capturing a black animal in the night.
Conclusion
Camera technology has developed so much recently that you can get the exact same scene in a picture you are seeing with your eyes. One thing that you have to ensure is that you are setting the exposure correctly.
Without the correct exposure, your image might not turn out to be good. As we learned, it is important to have the correct exposure in your image for it to be good.
This article consists of everything that you need to know about exposure and how to use it to get the perfect image.
Truly, photography is an art, but compared to paintings, you will have to play with all different kinds of settings to achieve the beautiful results you have envisioned.
