Today, I’m biting off a bit more than I can chew. Yep, my eyes were bigger than my stomach here, but I’m going to stick with because I think this is one of the keys to getting amazing photographs. Realize that I’m trying to condense a subject that whole books are written about, and the very best is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Just buy it. You’ll be glad you did.

Also, this is one way to look at exposure…there are many, many more. In trying to be accurate, I’m pretty sure I’ve given myself a headache from studying a dozen different resources to make sure I’m “right” (only to find conflicting information everywhere I turn), stopped for a mind-clearing run, and almost decided to “forget Photography Friday!” (but I won’t).

Your camera comes with a variety of settings because no single setting is the BEST setting for everything. Settings are important because a camera takes a picture based on light, and light is never exactly the same from event to event. It’s important to know what each of the settings on your camera are & what they are for.

Hopefully your camera has a setting that is a manual setting (but not all cameras do, so check your manual (wow, how confusing is that?)). The manual setting allows you to have the most control over what your picture is going to look like because you can adjust shutter speed, ISO, and aperture (more on those soon).I shoot in manual mode 90% of the time.

In the picture below is what an exposure meter looks like on your camera. You may have seen this little scale & wondered what it was all about. Somewhere, if you can shoot in manual mode, you’ll find a similar meter. I can also see this meter through my viewfinder, because I shoot through the viewfinder, not from the back LCD.

This exposure meter measures exposure (I know, go figure!). On the left of this meter you see a “+” and on the right you see a “-“. Look to see how your meter is oriented, some have the “-“ on the left and the “+” on the right. The “+” end means the image is heading toward overexposed and the “-“ end means the image is heading toward underexposed. You aim to hit the “0” in the middle which means the image is properly exposed. The increments between indicate how much overexposed or underexposed the image is according to the meter.

That’s the basic “rule.” But, you have to know that there is so much more to exposure.

Play with that for a week: put your camera on manual, play with your aperture and shutter speed to control where the exposure lands (and indicated by the exposure meter of your camera). You may need to start off with your camera in program or auto mode so that the camera meters for you. Note the aperture and shutter speed, and switch to manual. Set your camera to the same aperture and shutter speed. Now, change the shutter speed to a stop faster and take a picture. Change it another stop faster and take a picture. Again, again, again. Reset the shutter to its orginal speed. Now, do the same but change aperture. Go look at your pictures and what happens. Next, choose different locations – outside, garage, inside. Set your aperture and shutter for each location using the exposure meter – the higher the shutter speed, the less light comes in (translation = bright outside, high shutter speed). Return to the original and change aperture – the smaller the aperture (higher the number), the less light comes in (translation = bright outside, you could narrow your aperture…but this will affect your image, and more on that when we get to bokeh).