3 COMPONENTS OF EXPOSURE
1 – Shutter Speed
- Standard whole shutter speeds are
- 1 sec 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000 1/2000 1/4000 etc.
- More exposure (light) Less Exposure
- More motion blur More frozen movement
2 – Aperture or F-Stops
- Standard whole f-stops or apertures
- 1.4 2.0 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32 45
- Opening up – More exposure Closing or stopping down – Less exposure
- Less Depth of Field (DOF) More Depth of Field
3 – ISO (ASA, Film Speed, Sensitivity of Sensor)
- Standard ISO numbers
- 50 64 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400 12800
- Less sensitive to light More sensitive to light
- Need more light or flash Can shoot in darker situations
- Smoother tones and better color Noisy pixels and muted color
Bracketing
- 30
@ f8 will let in twice the light of 60 @ f8 and 60 @f8 will cut the light in
half from 30 @ f8
- Moving from 30 @ f8 to 60 @ f8 is called a -1 bracket (half the exposure)
- Moving from 60 @ f8 to 30 @ f8 is called a +1 bracket (twice the exposure)
- 125
@ f11 will let in twice the light of 125 @ f16 and 125 @ f16 will halve the
light from 125 @ f11
- Moving from 125 @ f11 to 125 @ f16 is called a -1 bracket (half the exposure)
- Moving from 125 @ f16 to 125 @ f11 is called a +1 bracket (twice the exposure)
Equivalent Exposure
- Your
meter gives you 125 @ f11 but you want a more shallow depth of field
- You move your aperture to f4 which is 3 stops more exposure
- You have to cut down on exposure by moving your shutter speed 3 stops faster
- Your new exposure is 1000 @ f4
- 1000 @ f4 is the same exposure as 125 @ f11 but now you have more shallow DOF and you also have the ability to freeze more motion
ISO Changes
- It is always best to shoot at the lowest hardware ISO setting of your camera for quality
- If you are in a low-light situation and need a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture then you should increase your ISO, but experiment ahead of time so you know the top ISO that limits noise