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The Exposure Triangle is everything in photography.\u00a0 We spend our entire careers searching for, and adjusting, the light in our images.\u00a0 So much so, in fact, that we can become obsessed.\u00a0 And rightly so.<\/p>\nThe Exposure Triangle is everything in photography.\u00a0 We spend our entire careers searching for, and adjusting, the light in our images.\u00a0 So much so, in fact, that we can become obsessed.\u00a0 And rightly so.<\/p>\n
A question I often hear is, what does the phrase \u201ccorrect exposure\u201d mean?\u00a0 This isn\u2019t so easy to answer.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ve heard a number of explanations over the years.\u00a0 Some were technical, some were not.\u00a0 The best one, I think, goes like this:<\/p>\n
“The correct exposure is one where the overall image brightness preserves as much highlight detail as possible, and as much shadow detail as possible.”<\/p>\n
Think of it as a balancing act.\u00a0 Add more light (brightness), and you lose highlight detail (over exposure).\u00a0 Remove light, and you lose shadow detail (under exposure).\u00a0 Not too bad!\u00a0 But just wait, it gets worse.<\/p>\n
Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO must work together because they make up the Exposure Triangle.<\/p>\n
An aperture is the opening in a lens.\u00a0 It allows light to strike the film plane or sensor, and is measured in F-stops.\u00a0 The “F” in F-stop stands for focal length, and an F-stop is the ratio of focal length over the diameter of the aperture.\u00a0 Values, such as f\/2.8, f\/4, f\/5.6, f\/8, etc., are representative.\u00a0 The smaller the value, the bigger the opening.\u00a0 Each step, up or down, represents a halving, or doubling, of the light allowed through the lens.<\/p>\n
Shutter speed is the length of time the light is allowed to pass through the lens.\u00a0 It is measured in seconds, or fractions of a second.\u00a0 Common shutter speed values include 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.\u00a0 Inverting these values (1, 1\/2, 1\/4, 1\/8, 1\/16, etc.) determines the actual shutter speed.\u00a0 So, each step, up or down, represents a halving, or doubling, of the light allowed through the lens.<\/p>\n
ISO is an acronym that stands for International Standards Organization.\u00a0 It is a measure of how easy it is to capture the light that falls upon the film or sensor.\u00a0 Common ISO values include 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc.\u00a0 Each step, up or down, represents a halving, or doubling, of the light sensitivity.\u00a0 The higher the value, the more easily the film or sensor can be exposed.\u00a0 Looking at it another way, the higher the value, the lower light conditions you can take pictures in.<\/p>\n
All this great.\u00a0 But it gets confusing when you consider that for most images, there is more than one Exposure Triangle (Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO) combination that will give you a correct exposure.\u00a0 The difference between them is Depth-of-field, or the amount of subject matter in focus, in front of, and behind the principle subject.\u00a0 It is directly controlled by the size of the aperture selected.\u00a0 The bigger the f-stop, the larger the depth-of-field.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, the triangle value are not independent.\u00a0 Adjusting one, will affect one or more of the others.<\/p>\n
This is where the creative aspects of the photography come in to play.\u00a0 Controlling depth-of-field can drastically change the visual impact of an image.\u00a0 For example, let\u2019s say you wanted to take a portrait of a bird in its natural environment.\u00a0 A large aperture value (small opening) will increase the depth-of-field and place more of the background in focus.\u00a0 The end result is that the bird won\u2019t be a significant in the frame.\u00a0 Conversely, a small aperture value (large opening) will blur the background, and keep the bird in focus.\u00a0 The end result is that the bird will stand out in the frame.<\/p>\n
Get the idea?<\/p>\n
Unlike most techniques, the Exposure Triangle is central to photography.<\/p>\n
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