It has been a while since I have posted a blog. I have been very busy with photo and video's editing so a lot of work coming online soon and I am really proud of it! Today I wanted to go further in the basic photography tips with exposure as the subject of today. Exposure is one of the important factors of making a good photo, but what is exposure and how do you get a good exposure?
Exposure
Exposure is basically the amount of light you let into your camera. If you let too much light into the camera the photo will be washed out(overexposed) if you don't let enough light into the camera the photo will be too dark(underexposed). So you should find a balance between these two. The exposure is determined by 3 camera settings:
Aperture
ISO
Shutterspeed
Aperture The aperture determines how much light can pass through your lens. The aperture is coded as f-stop values. These f-stop values can be a little confusing sometimes beause the area of the opening increases as the f-stop decreases. This means that the lens is more open at f/2.8 than at f/11. The more open your lens is, the more blurry your background is. See the 2 figures on the right.
An example of a small and a big aperture
ISO The ISO determines the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to the available light. In contrary of aperture the ISO amount goes parallel with the sensitivity of the sensor, this means that the lower the ISO, the less sensitive the sensor is to light. ISO is one of the most important parts of a camera, because with a high ISO it allows you to make photo's in low light conditions without using a flash. Every camera has a 'border' in ISO from when they start showing noise, this can be from ISO 800 for a beginners camera to for example ISO 20.000 for a professional camera. So unlike the aperture and shutter speed a photographer always wants to keep its ISO as low as possible.
Shutter speed
The shutter speed is different for every object, for portrets the shutter speed can be lower than for action/sports photography. There are some guidelines for shutter speed but everyone has their own ideas about it, one likes to make portrets at 1/250 as the other likes to make them at 1/500. I usually play with my shutter speed and look what is possible for the subject, for example in horse photography, a horse that is modelling very good and which is standing still makes it able to have a shutterspeed of 1/250 but a horse which does not want to stand still requires a higher shutter speed.
Camera exposure modes
Most of the digital camera's have the settings Auto(green camera or square), Program(P), Aperture Priority(A or Av), Shutter priority(S or Tv) and Manuel(M). Personally I like to use Aperture Priority(A or Av) with this mode I can control my shutter speed by changing my aperture and ISO. BUT.. this preference can be different by any type of photography, if you do for example night photography Manuel(M) or Shutter prioriry(S or Tv) would be better.
I hope you have learned something from this blog, if you have any questions don't be afraid to send me an email via the contact page! Have fun photographing and play with your settings! That was the best way for me to learn adjust my settings because you learn what works and what doesn't work for your subject! Soon a next BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS will be following with Perspection and Composition!
XXX CU
“There will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”
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