PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSED

by John Peters A.R.P.S.



  

EXPOSURE

Exposure, one of the fundamental processes in photography and it can be Googled by anybody, with most web sites dealing with 'exposure'. My advice for the beginner, bump up your ISO to 400 and shoot on AUTO mode. 9 times out of 10 an acceptable result will be achieved. Don't become too concerned about achieving the correct exposure, learn to bracket your exposures instead.

TOP TIP Bracket, bracket, bracket. Get into the habit of bracketing. Forget about trying to get an accurate EXPOSURE for now. If shooting landscapes, bracket by changing your ISO or shutter speed or better still, use your exposure adjustment knob if your camera supports such a thing. It usually has a range of + and -ve adjustments in fractions of 1 to 3 stops . If shooting sports or a subject where the shutter speed is important, bracket by altering the aperture or the ISO. By shooting either side of what AUTO recommends and the recommended exposure, there is a good chance of getting a satisfactory exposure and HDR and blending are all options when you bracket. You can delete the extra photos later.

TOP TIP If you want to learn more about 'Exposure', it is usually mentioned alongside the 'Exposure Triangle' coupled with a lengthy description on how to use the APERTURE, the SHUTTER-SPEED and the ISO, the three things that make up the 'Exposure Triangle'. In my opinion, APERTURE and SHUTTER-SPEED do help control exposure but more importantly for me, they are two of the most important features in advanced COMPOSITION. APERTURE controls the amount of DEPTH OF FIELD in a photograph, SHUTTER-SPEED controls the amount of MOTION-BLUR in a photograph. This applies to an SLR camera, a DSLR, a mirrorless camera or a phone camera.

TOP TIP Let's be honest, most beginners start photography without a TRIPOD. Big mistake.

Let's say you've bought another car. The salesman offered a range of other cars much cheaper, but they only have 3 forward gears, not 4. Would you consider them - not likely. But you buy a camera with no tripod where you are hand-holding the camera where a shutter-speed of 1/60 sec or below is ill advised, for example: 1/60 sec, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, B. A good range of shutter-speeds that can't safely be used when hand-holding your camera. Buying a camera without a tripod is limiting your degree of control with that camera and limiting your potential for creativity.

TOP TIP When you buy a tripod, budget to buy a cable release as well. Manual or digital, it doesn't matter. Used with a tripod, the aim is to help reduce the chance of camera shake, which spoils many photographs.



top of camera layout

The photo above shows a camera with the shutter controls conveniently displayed on the top of the camera. Also, bracketing is encouraged by having an exposure adjustment dial on-top of the camera. Don't worry too much about producing an accurate exposure. Just bracket, select the best exposure for your needs, then delete the badly exposed shots. Bracketing is a good technique and should be connsidered when shooting JPEGS or RAW or both.

TOP TIP If you think your subject may trick your meter as it's set, don't rush to change settings maybe to select spot-metering for just one or two shots, just walk closer to your subject, fill the frame and viewfinder, meter, then use the exposure lock option if your camera has one or just note the settings that are recommended for aperture and shutter-speed. Much easier. These settings could be used later on to take the photograph if you are not using auto mode.


You can Google exposure where you will find many detailed explanations for APERTURE PRIORITY, SHUTTER-SPEED OR MANUAL modes. There is no one correct exposure and as I see some of these modes more as advanced compositional tools, I won't describe them here.