Photography 101: Learning The Basics Of Exposure

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by: designersong
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Word Count: 608
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 Time: 9:52 PM
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Everybody loves photos - whether they make us smile, laugh, sigh or cry, they are records of memories and emotions that will be with us forever. With the age of the digital camera, people are taking and storing more photos than ever before: millions of snapshots are taken around the world every hour.

However, although we are taking more shots, the vast majority of people don't really know how to use their cameras, other than pointing and shooting. This is a real shame, because if you take just a few minutes to sit down and learn about your camera, then the quality of your photographs will improve vastly.

So, take just a few minutes to read this guide, and you'll learn photography skills that you'll be able to use and show others - turning those red-eyed, blurry shots of your family into pieces you'd be proud to hang on the wall in your home.

Exposure: Learn The Basics

It sounds a little complicated, but it really isn't: ‘Exposure' is just the total amount of light recorded by your camera. Therefore, if your photo is coming out too dark, this means you are ‘under-exposing'. Conversely, if your shot is too bright, you have an ‘over-exposed' photograph.

Obviously, you want a photo that is in the middle - a properly exposed shot. This means that just the right amount of light has entered your camera, and, to get this, we can control three different elements:

1. Aperture. This just means the amount of light entering your camera at once. Think of the lens on your camera - the larger the lens can open (with is the aperture), the more light can enter.

2. Shutter Speed. Here, we're talking about the length of time your camera is receiving the light. So, a longer shutter speed, of, say, 1 second, will receive light for a lot longer than a quicker shutter speed of 1/2000 sec.

3. ISO. This is how sensitive to light your camera is. We can control this in-camera by choosing a low number, such as ISO 100, or a high number, such as ISO 3200. The lower the number, the less sensitive the camera.

Don't Worry - You Can Shoot In ‘Fully Auto'

If the above sounds daunting to you, then you needn't worry - just put your camera in fully auto mode, and it will work out the correct exposure for you. It does this by changing each of the above elements - aperture, shutter speed and ISO - ‘on the fly', sensing how much light is available, and then adjusting one or all of the above 3 elements accordingly. However, if you'd like to learn more, and thus start having creative control over how your camera takes the photo, then you can shoot in different modes.

Aperture Priority

Shooting in Aperture Priority mode means that you are telling the camera what aperture to use, and then it will use the appropriate shutter speed and ISO to correctly expose the photograph. This is the mode to shoot in if you want to control how out of focus the background/foreground is on your photo, as choosing a large aperture (such as f/2.8) means you'll get a shorter depth of focus.

Shutter Speed Priority

By shooting in this mode, you will tell the camera what shutter speed to use, and it will use the appropriate aperture and ISO. This is the mode to use if you are shooting fast-moving action, where you want to dial in a quick enough shutter speed to ‘freeze' the movement, ensuring a sharp photo.

By learning just those basics of exposure, you will be well on your way to improving your photography.

About the Author

If you want to make your photos look better, then why not learn photography tips from photography books and websites.