Understanding Exposure Mode in photography

In photography “Exposure” means the brightness and contrast of an image. Therefore, if the exposure is too much or too little, the photo can be too bright or too dark. On the other hand, exposure can be controlled by ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture. ISO can be controlled via a dedicated setting. Ergo, the Exposure Mode provides us all the controls that we need to set set the exposure correctly.

Generally speaking, there are three different exposure modes, Fully Automatic, Semi Automatic, Full Manual. In this Article we are going to take a look into these exposure modes.

As I mentioned above, there are three major exposure modes:

Fully Automatic:

In this exposure mode, the camera makes all the decisions about the shutter speed and aperture and sets the exposure automatically. Basically, the photographer has little or no control over the setting of the shutter speed and/or aperture. The Fully automatic settings are A (Auto) or P (Program). There are differences between A and P that I will cover them in another article.

Semi-Automatic:

This exposure mode provides more control for the photographer. There are 2 major settings here, A/AV and S/TV modes. Let’s take a look into these modes:

A/AV-Aperture Priority:

In this mode, photographer can control the aperture value and camera controls the shutter speed to set the exposure. Therefore, this mode is suitable for Portrait and Landscape photography, where the photographer wants to control the Depth Of Field.

S/TV-Shutter Priority:

Shutter Priority, as its name states, provides control over shutter speed and camera controls the aperture value. Therefore, a photographer can make the decision whether to freeze the motion or make the movement blurry by increasing or decreasing the shutter speed respectfully.

M-Manual:

Photographer must set the shutter speed and aperture Manually and camera does not control either of them. This mode provides the most controls for avid photographers. However, it is the photographers responsibility to check for the exposure and make the correct one.

In the Digital Photography Class bootcamp I cover all of these settings in details. Our next Bootcamp program is scheduled for June 5th. There are few spots available for this bootcamp, register now to secure your spot.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for my next photography Tips. We love to hear from you. Let us know if you have any questions, feel free to send  us your questions and we will be more than happy to answer them. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more Free Tutorials and Tips.

Ted and the Omnilargess Team