Today, I’ll show you how you can combine all that you’ve learned to create better photos.
To get the best exposure, you need to ensure that your sensor receives just the right amount of light.
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- Your photos will appear dark and gray if you allow in too little lighting.
- Your photos will look very bright if you allow too much light in.
The Exposure Triangle is made up of Aperture (or the aperture), Shutter Speed (or the shutter speed), and ISO. If you are unfamiliar with these terms, please read our previous tutorials.
Use your built-in light meter for the best exposure. The light meter on your camera will look like the one in the picture below. It will let you know if there is an imbalance with your shutter speed, aperture or ISO.
The goal is to have your light meter BALANCED in the CENTER.
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- If the light meter is moving towards the plus sign, your photo will be overexposed. You can move the light meter back to the middle by decreasing the amount of lighting entering the camera. This can be done either by closing the aperture, increasing shutter speed, lowering ISO, or a combination of all three. You can use any of these methods to let LESS LIGHT in, depending on your vision for the photo.
- If the light meter is moving towards the minus symbol, your photo will be UNDEREXPOSED. In order to move it back toward the middle you must increase the amount light entering the camera. This can be done by increasing the ISO or decreasing the shutter speed. All of these methods work. Choose the method that best suits your photograph.
You want to blur the background when you take photos of your kids outside ( shallow Depth of Field), and so you set your aperture at f/3.5.
Last time you took a picture, your shutter was set to 1/60th second. When you look through the viewfinder of your camera, you will see that several lines are moving towards the plus sign. You should be able to tell if there is too much light entering the camera by looking at this.
You must reduce the amount of time that your shutter is open to maintain balance. Turn the shutter speed up until the lightmeter is balanced. The shutter speed in this case is now 1/500th second and all is well for your shot.
It would have been equivalent to taking the photo at f/10 with a shutter of 1/60. The image would have been the same. The photo would look different, mainly because the background wouldn’t be as blurred that you wanted.
EXPOSURE TIPS YOU SHOULD REMEMBER
- Your light meter IS NOT perfect. Digital cameras allow you to see your photos instantly . Use the feedback you receive to make adjustments as you learn.
- Learn how your camera exposes. Your DSLR may consistently underexpose. You can adjust your camera if you know that the light meter on your camera will show 1 or 2 lines towards the plus sign.