The Exposure Triangle | Bergen County Photographer
If you ever wanted to take your camera off auto and take great pictures or maybe just understand what happens when you press that shutter button, you need understand the exposure triangle.
First let's talk about exposure. Exposure determines how light or dark your image will be when captured by your camera. This is determined by three camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed, the exposure triangle. By selecting some combination of these three elements, you will have your exposure.
Aperture - Determines how large the opening of our lens should be to allow the right amount of light into the sensor. The larger the opening, the more light is allowed in, the smaller the less light is allowed in. Aperture is measured in f-stops, such as f/2.8, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and so on. The smaller the number the larger the opening of the lens.
Aperture also, determines the depth of field of your image, how much of your image is actually in focus.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) - Determines the light sensitivity of your camera. The higher (800 or more) the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor on your camera is to light. Keep in mind that very high ISO can introduce a lot of noise to your image. For this reason is best the keep your ISO as low as possible.
Shutter Speed - The amount of time your shutter is open in order to record an image on your digital sensor. Fast shutter speeds are required for sharply photographing fast moving subjects. When you select a fast shutter speed, you freeze movement, whereas selecting a slower shutter speed allows you to blur movement, A good rule of thumb for sharp images is to keep your shutter at or above your focal length.
When taking a picture, think about your vision. Do you want your focus to be on your subject, and blur the background? Would you like to imply movement? Your vision is your guide to determine your exposure for any given composition.
Wide aperture, shallow depth of field
Slow shutter speed, Perceive movement