Lesson TWO

Exposure Triangle
October 01, 2014
Exposure Triangle: Now that everyone has taken time to practice using their
camera modes, lets look at why they do what they do. The modes are just
manipulations of how the Exposure Triangle works. The combinations the
camera creates are basically your cameras modes. Understanding what they do
and how they work together as a team is the heart of what is photography. The
definition of Photography comes from the Greek term meaning to draw or write
with Light. (Photo meaning Light, Graph meaning to draw.) Quite literally, that is
what the camera does, and the tools it uses to do this are the Aperture, Shutter
Speed and ISO. Each one of these directly works with light, working together to
form the perfect picture. (Refer to Handout a)
Lets look at them individually and then see if we can figure out how they
come together as a whole

Shutter Speed: I am going to start with the one that I think is the simplest, at
least in concept. What exactly is the shutter? A shutter is a device that allows
light to pass for a determined period of time, exposing a light-sensitive electronic
sensor to light, in order to capture a permanent image of a scene. Your eyes
equivalent to a shutter would be your eyelids.
So how much time are we talking about? Mere fractions of a second; the
bigger the denominator the faster the speed, so 1/1000 is much faster than
1/130. In most cases youll be using speeds 1/60 or faster because anything
slower and you will get camera shake. Shutter speeds available to you on your
camera will usually double approximately with each setting. (1/500, 1/250,
1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, etc)
This doubling is handy to remember as the aperture setting also doubles
the amount of light it lets in. You will find out this is no accident since they work
together as a team, as you will soon see. Some cameras will give you the option
of a very slow shutter speed. These are not fractions but instead measured in
seconds. (1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc) This is used for very low lighting
situations, or when youre going for a special effect, or if you are going for
movement. Shutter speed is all about movement. You either want to catch the
movement or you want to freeze it; the effect you are going for will dictate the
speed you will use.

Aperture: The aperture is a device within the lens that determines how much
light will be allowed through. Your eyes equivalent to the aperture would be your
pupils. The aperture size is measured in f-stops. (f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/16, etc.)
Moving from one setting to another will either halve or double the amount of light
passing through. As I already mentioned, this is the same for the speed of the
shutter. So I want you to think about this if you increase the speed of the
shutter, and then you decrease the size of the aperture the exact SAME amount
of light will come through the camera to create your photo. It is the SAME
amount of light, but you will have a slightly DIFFERENT photo! More on this later.


The larger the opening of the aperture, the smaller the f-stop number; so
f/2.8 has a larger opening than f/22. The main job of the aperture is to control
the Depth of Field (DOF). Simply put, the DOF is the amount of focus your photo
will have. A large DOF means that most of your image will be in focus and is
something you would see in a photograph of the Rocky Mountains. A small DOF
will mean that only a small section will be in focus and is common when
photographing a flower. Remember how I said that if you increase the speed but
decrease the aperture the same amount of light would get in but the photo will
be a little different? THIS is why. The photo will have the Same amount of
exposure but the DOF will have altered giving the photo a different feel and look.
(Refer to Handout b)
The aperture and the shutter speed are partners and cannot work alone.
How long your shutter remains open directly correlates to how much light the
aperture is letting in. On a nice bright sunny day if you want a slow shutter speed
but you have a large opening you will have an overexposed photo. Conversely, in
a low-lit room, with a quick shutter speed and small aperture you will end up with
an underexposed photo.
This is what the Automatic setting on your camera is for. It detects the
amount of light that is available and calculates the fastest shutter speed and the
largest aperture available; and for 99% of the snapshots you want, it will be
perfect. But your camera cannot think for you and if you want to push if a little
further and try to get something a little extra or different, you will need to be able
to work with your aperture and shutter. (Refer to Handout c)

ISO: The ISO is the third point of the triad. The ISO measures the sensitivity of
the image sensor. It is measured by sensitivity of 100, 200, 400, 800etc. You will
also note that the numbers double as they move. The lower the number, the less
sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. A higher ISO setting is
used in darker situation to get you a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture,
however it will be at the cost of a noisy photo. Photography is all about
compromises, I want a faster shutter speed, at the cost of a larger aperture, or
maybe I will just raise the ISO, but then the photo will be grainy.
The easiest way, and for many, the only way to manipulate the settings is
by choosing different modes. And it is by understanding what these modes, and
how the exposure is working, this is what will give you the greatest control over
your camera. When you pick a mode on your camera, your camera will be set to
a predetermined exposure. And it is by understanding what this exposure is and
knowing how your available light will affect it, this is where the drawing with light
and the art of photography begins. So, for a quick summary of what we have
covered so far, the shutter speed controls the movement in a photo, and the
aperture controls the Depth of Field and the ISO will set how sensitive the image
sensor will be. (Refer to Handout d)

Mode: Refer to handout e for a discussion on how the exposure is set for the
mode on your camera and some of the best ways to take advantage of it. These
are general descriptions for the more common scene modes. Each manufacturer
has its own variations.