Exposure in Photography Explained

Introduction At the moment web is turning into custom photography, moving away from stock photos. For a web designer having some photography skills always helps. Getting a good photography can help web design look appealing and engaging. Hereby I am explaining some very basic terms in photography exposure. In photography, exposure refers to amount of […]

exposure in photography

Introduction

At the moment web is turning into custom photography, moving away from stock photos. For a web designer having some photography skills always helps. Getting a good photography can help web design look appealing and engaging.

Hereby I am explaining some very basic terms in photography exposure.

In photography, exposure refers to amount of light per unit area that is available or that can reach to image sensor of the camera.

Mastering the exposure is the key to taking a good photograph.

Think it as exposure as the way your skin behaves to the sunlight. If your skin is too sensitive, you will get effects sooner than your friends who have less sensitive skin.

In general exposure in photography depends upon 3 factors listed below:

  • Time
  • Amount of Light
  • ISO

Time

Time or shutter speed in photography refers to the amount of time the digital sensor of camera is exposed to light. For example 1/6 of a second will let half of light as compared to 1/3.

Aperture

Aperture in simple term is hole within the lens that will allow light to pass through camera body. Aperture is the amount of light that can pass through camera. The lower the aperture value the higher amount can pass through. For example lens with aperture 2.8 will allow more light to pass through compared to lens with camera with aperture 5.6. If you are doing low light night photography it’s advised to buy lens with low aperture.

ISO

ISO refers to sensitivity of camera to light available. Setting ISO to lower values adjusts camera to be less sensitive to light and vice versa.

ISO in normal cameras can be anywhere between 100 to 3200. The higher value you set, more sensitive is your camera to lights. Higher ISO can result to grains in the picture.