Understanding Exposure in Digital Camera part 2

Light and Exposure

Photo Tip Friday March 14, 2014

Exposure

In the last article I talked about Ambient (natural) light and the nature and quality of different natural light. In this article I am going to discuss why it’s important to know how to adjust the intensity of light. In the analogy of a painter and his tools, this discussion looks at selecting the correct brush sizes (exposure) to control the amount of paint (light).

What is a correct exposure?

One definition might be: the specific amount of light that must strike a media (film or digital sensor) to produce the best possible picture quality. It sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? But this answer creates other questions such as “How do I control the amount of light?” or “How do I know if the amount of light is perfect or not?” I do my best to answer these questions through out these series of articles, but if you want to learn more and get solid hands-on experience, register for our Digital Camera Bootcamp or Digital camera class for beginners.

 

How do I get correct exposures?

Exposure is controlled by shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

What is ISO?

Back in January I wrote an article about ISO. In brief, ISO is a measurement unit which measures the sensitivity of our media (film or digital sensor) to light. In simplest terms the higher the number the more sensitive the media is to light. Please check this link to read more about ISO:

http://omnilargess.com/2014/iso/

 

Next let’s look at the other two variables for correct exposures: shutter speed and aperture.

What shutter speed is and how it works

Shutter speed controls the duration of an exposure. Does it sound complicated? Well, yes it is and yet it isn’t really complicated! It is a simple control to understand which also plays a big role in photographic creativity. In our Digital Camera workshop for Beginners and Digital Camera Bootcamp you will learn more about shutter speed and how and why you should control it. Here are two examples of Fast and Slow shutter speed images:

 

How about Aperture?

Aperture is the opening of your lens. The wider the opening the more light passes through the lens. It works just like the iris in our eyes. Aperture not only controls the quantity of light but also the Depth of Field. In December 2013, I posted an article about Depth of Field and you can review it by clicking the link below:

http://omnilargess.com/2013/depth-of-field/

Here are some examples of the effects of different aperture settings:

 

That is all for now folks. Stay tuned for more tips in Digital photography!

Ted and the Omnilargess Team

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