The Exposure Triangle – In Beginner Speak “The End of Auto Mode”

In previous beginner speak posts I have written about aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how they affect your photos. Understanding each of those aspects of photography is necessary to have creative control over your shots. “So what is this Exposure Triangle?” I hear you ask. The exposure triangle explains how the individual aspects of exposure (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) affect the final exposure of the photo.

What is exposure though?

The technicalities of exposure are rather convoluted and a bit mathsy, however the end result is that exposure refers to how bright or dark your photo is due to the amount of light that is recorded by your cameras sensor. A properly exposed photo should (normally) resemble the brightness of the original scene. A poorly exposed photo will either be too dark or too bright and may contain areas that are so dark or bright that they contain no detail (know as blown out). So how can we control the exposure of a photo? That is where the exposure triangle comes in.

What is the exposure triangle?

ISO – In Beginner Speak “Fast or Slow Film”

Continuing the series of posts where I try to explain some of the basic concepts of photography in “beginner speak”. If you like the concept, have anything to add, any futher questions or want to suggest another topic then let me know. Either add a comment below or email me.

ISO is often referred to when discussing the settings used to obtain a correct exposure but what is it, what affect does it have on your photos and when do you need to change it?

ISO actually stands for International Standards Organisation who are a group that define univeral standards in industry so that everybody is working from the same hymn sheet. What does this have to do with photography? Not a lot. The reason we use the term ISO is because the organisation defined the standard for the sensitivity of 35mm film called the ASA. Anyway enough of of pointless facts, what does it affect in my photographs.

Auto ISO – Arrrhhh

One of the first settings I changed on my camera was the Auto ISO setting. In my opinion it is one of the most anoying things the camera can fiddle with. It never seems to get the correct setting and you only ever notice after its too late. But what prompted me to make this change you ask? This…