You’d be amazed at how much data is displayed in the viewfinder of your camera. In this article, we’ll revisit among the most crucial aspects of photography: exposure and show you how to expose a flawless photo using only the data displayed in your camera’s viewfinder!
Ideal Exposure
When I initially started learning photography, getting the hang of exposure settings appeared to be one of the most difficult concepts to understand. My typical process for getting good exposure was taking a picture, looking at the outcome, playing around with the settings somewhat haphazardly, and then attempting again, only to start the cycle repeatedly in the hopes of hitting upon a good result. This can be really difficult for a beginner. I didn’t really start capturing good pictures very readily until I really understood how well the exposure settings impacted the final product.
Exposure: The Core Concept
Everything that you need to understand about exposure was recently covered in great detail in our photography course (Fotokurs).
The term “exposure” is used informally to describe how much light is allowed to enter the camera’s sensor. The image will appear brighter as you let in more light. On the other hand, a darker image results from letting in less light.
Your shutter and aperture determine how much lighting is let in. Fragments of a second are widely used to express the shutter speed. Be your shutter speed, for instance, when you see a set that reads 1/125, 1/50, etc. The time it takes the shutter to open and let light in is known as the shutter speed.
Since the number represents a fraction, the longer the exposure, the lower the fraction (the number at the bottom). As an illustration, 1/200th of the second is substantially shorter than 1/10th of such a second. Therefore, compared to a shutter of a tenth of a second, a shutter of 1/200th of the sec will let in significantly less light and result in a much darker image. Also, keep in mind that any activity in the photo will get blurrier the longer the exposure.
The aperture setting, which is described in terms of focal length (f/x), regulates how much light is let in by adjusting the size and shape through which the lighting must enter. The size of the hole increases as the denominator of a focal length decreases; this results in much more incoming light from the camera and, as a result, a brighter image.
Also, keep in mind that the depth of focus is inversely proportional to the denominator of the focal length. This indicates that at f/11 and above, the region of the image that is in focus is rather large, and at f/3 and lower, it is relatively little.
Try to fine-tune your settings so that the Exposure (Exponering) Level Indicator in the viewfinder of your camera aligns properly in the center by paying special attention to it. Apply exposure bias as necessary if, for some reason, this still results in a picture that is too bright or too dark.
