Camera Exposures Explained

We have suggested on many occasions that you check out http://www.digital-photography-school.com/ and sign up for the weekly newsletter. This web site is huge and most of the information on it relates to taking photos. If you have not visited this web site, I suggest you do so now by simply clicking on the above link. If you hold the Ctrl key down as you click on it, the browser will open a new tab so you will not leave this club page.

I've had a number of questions come my way lately regarding the relationship between lens aperture (or f numbers), shutter speed, ISO setting, camera metering and exposure compensation. Yes, all of these are interrelated.  It's no wonder you have a problem setting the exposure even with a digital camera with a very excellent histogram display. But, it may not help much if you have no idea what the histogram is telling you about exposing your photograph. Did you know, for example, that your camera meter is calibrated to give neutral gray exposures of every scene? Hmmm!

So, please visit http://www.digital-photography-school.com/moving-toward-manual-settings-... and you may learn something. If you have actually read this material and are still confused, come see me so I can translate for you. You will note this article addresses setting your camera "Manually". Imagine that!! I think if many, perhaps even most, club members did not have automatic exposure settings on their cameras they would be totally lost. How could they possibly be expected to get a "perfect" exposure? Well, first of all there is no such thing as a "perfect" exposure. That implies there is one best exposure for a given photograph and nothing could be further from the truth. Until you understand the concept of "equivalent exposure", for example, it is difficult to explain depth-of-field selection or shutter speed selection for conrolling motion blur.

So read the article at the above link and maybe explore this web site some more. It's a photographic gold mine. If you need more help please contact Phil-Phlash at the meeting or write a note to me via the club Contact page. I'd prefer to not place my personal info here thank you.