The Exposure Trio

APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, & ISO

 What is Exposure?

 The amount of light, and act of light, falling onto a photosensitive

material.
 A “correct” or “good” exposure occurs when you maintain as much
detail as possible in both the very bright parts (highlights) as well as
the very dark parts (shadows) of an image.
 How Do You Control Exposure?

There are three factors that control the exposure of your

image:
 Aperture
 Shutter Speed
 ISO
 Aperture

 An aperture is defined as a hole or

opening through which light is
admitted.
 Inside the camera lens is a system
of blades which open and close to
increase or decrease the opening
through which light passes into the
camera.
 Similar to the human eye.
 Aperture

 Often referred to as an f-stop, aperture is usually represented

by: f/1.8, or f/5.6
 A Smaller # means a wider opening and is referred to as a
larger value (ex: A large aperture of f/2, a small aperture of
f/22)
 The wider the lens is open (larger aperture value), the more
light gets in (you can use faster shutter speeds)
 Shutter Speed

 Indicates how long the shutter curtain is open, exposing

the image sensor to light.
 How long the camera “sees” the picture.
 Measured in fractions of a second. (indicates shutter
speed) down to 1/8000
 Each shutter speed represents a stop of light.
 Shutter Speed

 Fast shutter speeds will freeze the image. (1/250 and

faster)
 Slower shutter speeds will document traces of
movement with a blur effect. (1/15 or slower)
 ISO

 Refers to the light sensitivity of the sensor

 HIGH ISO value means the sensor will be MORE
sensitive to light, meaning it will take LESS LIGHT to get
the right exposure.
 ISO (international standards organization) rated each
film stock according to light sensitivity.
 ISO

 Typically ranges from 100-1600

 Newer Digital cameras have a higher range (up to 64000)
 Higher the ISO the less light is needed to create an image.
 Using High ISO values causes the sensor to produce much
more heat, which creates digital “noise” in images.
 ISO Analogy

If my camera is set for ISO 100, imagine I have 100 worker

bees whose job is to go out a gather light and bring it back
to the lens to create the image. If I change my settings to
ISO 200 I now have 200 bees gathering the light which
will increase the amount of light coming into the lens.
 Image Exposure Formula

 Aperture + Shutter Speed = Quantity of light available to

expose the image
 ISO determines how much the image sensor reacts to the
light and therefore, how much light you need to expose
the image.
 Remember...

One highly practical advantage to digital photography is that

it costs next to nothing to experiment with the camera’s
controls, so go out there and shoot away.
 Practice!!!

You want to become increasingly proficient with all three

elements of the exposure trio, so that you can make
adjustments on the fly and know exactly what the resulting
effect is going to be. The more you use it the better you will
get!