BASICS OF EXPOSURE

EXPOSURE
Exposure is controlled using three main factors:
1. ISO – Determines how sensitive film/sensor is to light and how grainy/noisy the image is
2. Aperture /F-Stop – Refers to the size of the lens opening, which determines how much light
exposes the film/sensor and also effects the Depth of Field range
3. Shutter Speed – Refers to the length of time the shutter is open, which allows light to expose
the film/sensor and also effects whether motion is stopped or blurred

ISO
ISO (International Standards Organization) is a system to measure photographic film’s
sensitivity to light. For digital cameras, the ISO determines how sensitive the sensor is to light.
The least sensitive ISO setting on most DSLRs is 100. The most sensitive is typically 6400.
Low ISO settings (ie. 100) requires longer exposure times (slow speed).
High ISO settings (ie. 1600) requires shorter exposure times (fast speed).
Low ISO has finer film grain (less “noise”)
High ISO has courser film grain (more “noise”)

Typical ISO ratings are:

100 200 400 800 1600 3200

Very fine grain Fine grain Average grain Grainy Grainy VERY Grainy
Sunny Day Sun & Cloud Cloudy Dusk Night/Indoors Night/Indoors

APERTURE | F-STOP
Aperture refers to the lens opening, which determines how much light enters the lens and
exposes the film/sensor.
F-Stop (focal ratio) also refers to the lens opening, but is the represented by a number that
describes the measurement of that opening. Focal Length/Diameter of the opening.
The terms aperture and F-stop are often used interchangeably.
The Aperture/F-stop not only determines how much light reaches the film, but also how great
the depth of field (a.k.a. DOF) is, meaning how great the range of focus is.

Larger Aperture (ie. F2) = More Light + Shorter DOF

Smaller Aperture (ie. F16) = Less Light + Deeper DOF
Note! The higher the F-Stop #, the smaller the aperture

Standard F-Stops:
Largest opening ______________________________________________Smallest Opening
F2.0 F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8 F11 F16 F22
The standard F-stops are each 1 stop apart meaning that each time you move one unit
in either direction you either double or halve the amount of light hitting the sensor.
For example, F4 allows half as much light as F2.8 and twice as much as F5.6.

SHUTTER SPEED

Shutter Speed determines the length of time light hits the film/sensor and effects the
appearance of motion (sharp or blurred).
Shutter speeds are fractions of a second, but are listed as just the denominator of the fraction
(ie. 1/60th of a second is listed as shutter speed 60). Therefore, a higher number shutter speed
is actually a shorter exposure time.
The shorter your exposure time, the more you can freeze motion, but this also means you need
plenty of light and/or a large aperture and high ISO.
1/60th of a second is a begins to stop motion.

Standard Shutter Speeds:

Long exposure____________________________________________________Short Exposure
8 15 30 60 120 250 500 1000 2000 2500

The standard Shutter Speeds are each 1 stop apart meaning that each time you move one unit
in either direction you either double or halve the amount of light hitting the sensor.
For example, 30 allows half as much light as 15 and twice as much as 60.

METERING | COMBINING ISO, F-STOP, SHUTTER SPEED TO MAKE A BALANCED EXPOSURE

How you choose your ISO, F-Stop, and Shutter Speed will depend on what your camera meter
tells you and what kind of image you want to create. The camera has a scale in the viewfinder
that looks something like this:

|
-2 -1 0 +1 +2
^
When your camera’s marker is on “0,” you have reached the correct exposure for the scene.
This means that whatever you are pointing your camera at will be tonally equivalent to middle
gray (18% gray).

If your marker is on the negative side (-1 or -2 stops), this means that the image will be
under-exposed, or dark. Open up the aperture (lower number), reduce the shutter speed
(lower number) or increase ISO sensitivity (higher number) to allow in more light.
If your marker is toward the positive side (+1 or +2), this means that the image will be over-
exposed, or too bright. Close down the aperture, use a faster shutter speed, or reduce ISO
sensitivity (lower number) to allow in less light.

It is recommended to set your ISO first according to the light available and only to adjust if you
can’t reach a balanced exposure by adjusting your F-stop or shutter speed.
If you are concerned with motion, set your shutter speed next.
If you are concerned with depth of field, set your aperture first.
If you are concerned with grain, make sure your ISO is a low number.

THE HISTOGRAM & EXPOSING TO THE RIGHT

Your light meter will help get you in the range of the correct exposure, but we are going to
practice a strategy called “exposing to the right” using the camera’s histogram. When shooting
RAW files, meaning files with no compression that gives us the most information to work with,
we want to make sure that the sensor gets as much light information as possible without
“blowing out,” or losing detail in the highlights. To do this, shoot an image and then view its
histogram on the camera’s LCD screen. The histogram should be falling as far toward the
highlights (the right side) as possible without “hitting the wall.”

Shadows_____________________Highlights