A Dummies Quick Guide to The Exposure Triangle
So, you want to be a photographer? Or you want to know why your photos are too bright? Or why you’re photos so dark?
Well, the first thing you need to educate yourself on is the great “Exposure Triangle.”
Photography is considered to be the art of capturing life. If an image isn’t portraying life accurately, it can therefore be considered a bad photo. When taking photos often we make errors in the exposure of a photo. Exposure is the overall brightness or darkness of your image. It is determined by the ISO, aperture and shutter speed used when a picture is taken. As a novice this can be super confusing. In this article, I will be uncovering the hidden mysteries off the “Exposure” triangle and explain why it is important.
Life is all about balance. For anything there is a certain amount of balance that’s required. For example, plants. Plants require water, sunlight, and nutrients to grow. All 3 of these factors are necessary for. Furthermore, if you ever took biology or worked with plants closely, you’d know that the roots take food and water from the soil, the stem carries food and water and the leaf collects sunlight. The mechanism of the plant works together conjunctively to create life.
The same goes for a camera. The aperture, ISO, and shutter speed all work constructively to capture life. If the image is too bright, it is overexposed. If it is too dark, it is underexposed. If it is in-between, it is properly exposed. Congratulations you have mastered the yin and yang of photography.
Section 1: Shutter
So, first things first, we’re going to start with shutter. The shutter sits right behind the lens. Shutter speed is a control-setting on a camera that allows the camera holder to determine just how long they want the shutter to be open.
You may be asking, “What exactly even is a shutter?”
Well, the shutter is the mechanism that opens and closes the camera and it lies between the lens and film. When the camera fires (some photography vocab for you), the shutter opens and fully exposes the image sensors to the light that has passed through the lens of the camera. When the camera isn’t in use, the shutter blocks all light until you fire the camera.
To simplify things, the shutter controls the length of time the camera lets light enter. So basically, it’s a door for light entry.
When the shutter opens you can choose to have a slower shutter and have the image be more blurred or have a faster shutter to have the image be sharper. Some photographers like to use a slower shutter speed to emphasize the motion that’s happening in the photo. Other photographers may use a fast shutter speed to get a crisp frozen photo. When you’re indoors or it’s the evening you may want to slow down the shutter speeds to allow more light to come into the door. On the other hand, if you use a fast shutter speed, then you might want to make sure it’s already a bright day.
Overall, when determining what shutter speed to use, visualize what you want first and once you figure that out you can act accordingly. t
Section 2: ISO
ISO is simply a camera setting that will brighten or darken a photo. Think of it like the brightness on a TV. As you increase your ISO number, your photos will grow progressively brighter. For that reason, ISO can help you capture images in darker environments, or be more flexible about your aperture and shutter speed settings.
Inside the camera is a function called ISO. If you increase it, it will get brighter and decrease it, it will get darker. Every camera has a different range of ISO values (sometimes called ISO speeds) that you can use.
Quite simply, when you double your ISO speed, you are doubling the brightness of the photo. So, a photo at ISO 400 will be twice brighter than ISO 200, which will be twice brighter than ISO 100. If you’re taking photos in the evening you’d want to increase the ISO so it’s a bit brighter and you can see it more easily.
Although ISO can be great for illuminating or darkening photos, it’s important to be careful with using ISO because of the effect it has on an image’s quality. If you push the ISO too high the image quality will begin to look grainy. For that reason, many photographers keep their ISO low.
To give an example of two photos taken at different ISO values, take a look at the comparison below. Pay attention to the level of noise (graininess and blotchy colors) in the images:
If you look at the image you can see the difference is clear, or unclear. The image at ISO 3200 has much more noise than the one at ISO 100. In fact, you can tell that the brightness was probably brightened with a long shutter since you can see the drag of the object in the sky. Due to ISO’s noise and grain prone baggage I would suggest avoiding high ISOs whenever possible, unless you really need them.
Section 3: Aperture
Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is an easy concept to understand if you just think about how your eyes work. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil.
If you make the whole smaller there will be less light. If you allow the whole to be larger you allow more light. When your aperture is wide open it is a small number and as you close the aperture down, the number grows.
One of the pleasant things about aperture is that it can add dimension to your photos. The aperture is able to do this because of the manipulation of the hole. The hole size controls the depth of field. At one extreme, the aperture can create a super blurry background with a beautiful focus on a person; While on the other hand, it can create a sharp photo of the background with a blurry object. On top of that, it also alters the exposure of your images by making them brighter or darker.
Section 4: Examples
Now that you have the knowledge you may need to see how you can use this in actions. Here are 3 examples of how the exposure triangle settings would work together to achieve proper exposure of an image.
Remember: Taking a great photo is about balancing. Get the balance right and you get a great photo.
Example 1: Portrait Mode
To achieve a LinkedIn professional photo, you need to start by looking at a low F-stop value setting. This will create a shallow depth of field. This depth allows the focus to be on your subject. I would suggest an F-Stop anywhere between 3.5 to 6.5. if you’re still indecisive just go with 5.5. In conjunction to that, you’ll want a low ISO. Since you’ll be using these for the professional world, and/or the gram, you want to be able to flex with high quality photos and not grainy android images. Lastly, for the aperture. Since this is a portrait the person is going to be still either way but, if you’re dealing with someone who fidgets it might be ideal to capture the image at 1/250 to 1/500. Otherwise, 1/60 is fine.
Example 2: Landscape Mode
To achieve a instagrammable professional photo you need to start by looking at setting a high F-stop value. This will create a large depth of field. This depth allows the focus to be on the entire landscape to be in focus. I would suggest a F-Stop anywhere between 6.5 to 32. In conjunction to that, you’ll want an ISO that matches with what you’re shooting. If it’s sunny, set the ISO low. If it’s dark, set the ISO to anything above 1,600. If you need added light I would suggest manipulating the shutter speed for added light.
Example 3: Sports/Action Mode
Sets a low F-stop value, fast shutter speed, and higher ISO to capture an athlete or a moving subject. A faster shutter speed allows for a longer exposure time to capture an image. If you’re at an indoor sporting event I would suggest an ISO of around 800 and if you’re outdoor depending on the time of day, it may be lower or higher
Section 5: Canon 80D
Below I’ve briefly described how you would adjust shutter, aperture, and ISO on a Canon 80D camera. If you have another kind of camera the settings are pretty similar.
How to: Adjust the ISO
To change the ISO value on a canon camera. First you’re going to want to turn on your camera. Then locate the ISO Button, which is on the top of the camera. While looking at the LCD panel dial, you’ll see a variety of numbers scaling from low to high. Think about which option you’d prefer. Remember: If you increase it, it will get brighter and decrease it, it will get darker. Once you’ve figured out which one you want press “Set” and you’re done.
How to: Adjust the aperture
To change the aperture value on a canon camera. First you’re going to want to turn on your camera. Locate the aperture button marked “A/V” on the camera. Hold it down and turn the dial on the camera to the right or left until you find your desired aperture setting. Remember: The larger the number the smaller the hole and the smaller the number the bigger the hole.
How to: Adjust the Shutter speed
To change the shutter speed on a canon camera. First you’re going to want to turn on your camera. Locate the dial on the top of the camera. Remember: If you dial to the left it will slow it down and make the shutter speed longer. If you dial to the right it will allow for faster shutter speeds. Once you’ve chosen one to your liking you can feel free to resume shooting.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have just read the quick guide to exposure.
But, before you go I want to send you off with some more knowledge… When taking your pictures know that when you overexpose or underexpose a photo, you might not be able to fix the mistake, even if you have great software. Lastly, feel free to get yourself established first. The better a set you are, the set your photos will be.
Now that you’re armed with the knowledge of all great photography samurai’s. The only thing you need to do next is apply this esoteric camera knowledge in your photography.
P.S. Print this out and keep it with you as a cheat sheet. If can’t print it, pin this on pinterests!
