A comprehensive guide to exposure settings: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.
It took me a while to put together this guide because I want to give as much details as I can without overwhelming you with information. So please let me know how I did in the comments and if you would like another post with more information.
On this post, we will be talking about:
Why Shoot in Manual Mode?
Have you taken a picture and thought why is the camera making this blurry? Or why is it not freezing the water the way I want it to? That's because when you are shooting in Auto mode you are letting the camera make all the decisions. If you want to take pictures the way you want, then there is only one way of achieving it (well, actually several ways but you get my point).
Shooting in manual mode empowers photographers with full control over their camera settings, offering unparalleled creative freedom and precision. By manually adjusting the settings, you can achieve the desired photos, resulting in more professional and artistic images. Manual mode will allow you to create, experiment and adapt to different lighting conditions, ensuring consistent results regardless of the shooting environment. Additionally, mastering manual mode enhances one's understanding of fundamental photography principles, enabling photographers to make informed decisions based on their artistic vision. Embracing manual mode may require practice and patience, but the rewards are boundless, leading to breathtaking photographs that reflect the photographer's unique style and expression.
Understanding Exposure
When we want to shoot in manual mode, the first thing we need to understand is exposure. According to Adobe, Exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera's sensor, creating visual data over a period of time. So essentially, exposure is what happens when your camera sensor is displayed or exposed to light. Now, keep in mind that nowhere in that definition “proper exposure” or “correct exposure” are mentioned. It is extremely important to understand that there is no magic equation that can tell you what the perfect exposure is. If you are into a dark and moody type of shot, then your proper exposure would be completely different than if you were going for a “light and airy” photo, but that will come with practice and experience.
There are 3 main things we adjust to achieve the desired exposure: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (I have not mentioned them in any particular order so I am not saying one is more important than the other). These 3 parameters form the “Exposure Triangle” and I will come back to this later after explaining each one of them.
Aperture
Aperture refers to how much light passes through the lens. Lenses have a diaphragm that closes or opens to let light in. F/stops is how we “measure” the aperture so this number represents the size of the opening in the diaphragm. Instinctively, we tend to assume that the larger numbers represent a larger aperture and this is quite the opposite. The larger the number, the small the aperture.
The “f” in f/stop represents the focal length of the lens, usually expressed in millimeters. This means that if we are using a 50 mm lens and have the aperture set to f/4, the opening in the lens diaphragm (the aperture) is 12.5mm in diameter (50 divided by 4). Don't panic!!! You don't really need to remember this, but this will help you understand the depth of field and how much more light we are letting in every time we change the aperture. The bigger the opening in the diaphragm (or diameter), the more light you are letting into your sensor.
Pro tip: “Stopping down” is a term commonly used by photographers and it means to decrease the lens aperture (remember that the bigger the number, the smaller the aperture).
As I mentioned before, the aperture affects the depth of field (DoF). In a nutshell, the DoF relates to the area in focus in a frame. By using a wider aperture (a smaller F/stop) we are able to get a shallower depth of field (see image on the left). If we use a smaller aperture (a greater F/stop) we will get a deeper depth of field (see image on the right). I have a lot to say about this topic so stay tuned for the next post.
Leo (my dog) helping out and posing for my blog. I used f/2.8 in the picture on the left and f/18 in the picture on the right.
Shutter speed
Shutter speed refers to how much of that light that went through the lens reaches the sensor. This parameter tells your camera how long the sensor will be exposed and it’s normally expressed in fractions of a second (e.g. 1/60th, 1/80th, 1/100th, etc).
The way the shutter speed works is by a set of "curtains" that cover the sensor and move to expose it for a period of time.
There are 2 types of shutters: mechanical (normally found in DSLR cameras) and electronic (found in the new mirrorless cameras although some of them can contain both) and they operate differently even if the result is the same. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the types of shutter operations, let me know in the comments and I'll write a post about this subject.
This parameter also helps us control how much movement we want to show in the shot. For instance, if we want to freeze and action - like a car at high speed- or a waterfall (see picture on the left) we use higher speeds (i.e. 1/500th and above - remember that these are fractions of a second which means that the larger the bottom number is, the less time it represents). If we want to show the subject moving or a body of water smooth as a cloud (meaning we are allowing the image to have motion blur) then we go to lower shutter speeds (see picture on the right).
Waterfalls in the Catlins, New Zealand. Photo on the left was taken with a high shutter speed while the photo on the right was taken with a slower shutter speed.
*Pro tip: I normally freak out thinking that my subjects are not going to be as sharp as I would like them to be so I have a rule for the minimum shutter speed. I normally do not go anything less than 1/60th or 2x the focal length. So for example, if you are you are using a 24mm it means that you should at least use a shutter speed of 1/48th in which case I would go for 1/60th. On the other hand, if you are using an 85mm then I would go for 1/170th.
ISO (International Standards Organization)
ISO is how sensitive is the camera sensor. The higher the ISO value, the more sensitive the sensor is. Be aware that as the ISO sensitivity increases, so does the noise.
Note that this is a simplified and easy way of explaining ISO but if you want a real in-depth explanation let me know.
Now, let’s get back to that exposure triangle.
Exposure triangle
As I said, there are 3 components to reach the desired exposure: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO (which we now know what they are and how they work) making up the three sides of the exposure triangle. This means that every component needs to be adjusted to allow the right amount of light to get to the sensor. If one of them changes, at least one of the others must also change to maintain the correct exposure. For example, if we ‘stop down’ (meaning the F/stop number becomes larger), then the shutter speed should be 1 stop slower.
Using your light meter
Your camera light meter can be found through your viewfinder and it looks like the picture below (circled in red). This might change depending on your camera brand so make sure to familiarize yourself with it because this will be your best friend in photography. There will be a little vertical line (you can see it under the zero in the picture below) indicating where your exposure stands.
IMPORTANT: I normally try to keep my ISO at 100. The settings shown in the following images are for demonstration only.
Canon and Nikon have the "-" and "+" on opposite sides (Nikon has the "-" on the left while Canon has it on the right).
A scene is "overexposed" when there is too much light going into the camera sensor. This means that your photo will be too bright (or maybe even white) and your light meter might look something like the picture below. Note that in this case, I have severely overexposed and therefore my light meter has a lot of lines on the right. this might not be your case if your exposure is not as extreme as mine is. This was only to show you how it might look.
Your scene is "underexposed" when (you guessed it) there is not enough light going into your camera sensor and your light meter might look like the picture below.
Getting ready to shoot in manual mode
Alright! Now that we are experts in the exposure triangle, let's get ready to shoot in manual mode.
What do I set up first?
You are going to set up the most important setting first. This will depend on your subject and what your overall vision is for your photograph and scene. For example, let's say you are taking a family portrait. This means that your aperture is more important than your shutter speed because unless it is a family of runners during a race, you can use a slower shutter speed (not too slow obviously so your pictures don't have motion blur). But if your subject is a really fast car, then your shutter speed will be more important than your aperture. The last setting I set up is the ISO.
So when I started I used to make these questions myself which should give you an idea of what to adjust first:
What is my subject?
Is my subject moving?
Am I working in low light? If so, do I need a tripod?
How do I want my background to look like? Do I want a blurry background or do I want to show the location?
Example 1
Now let's say I am taking photographs for some clothing brand:
My subject is a model.
She will be moving but not extremely fast.
I am using natural light and I won't be needing a tripod.
I want a blurry background so it doesn't distract the viewer from the subject.
This means that my top priority is the aperture and not the shutter speed. So I will set up my aperture first and then I will set up my shutter speed based on the information provided by the camera meter. If the vertical line is where I want it after adjusting the aperture and shutter speed, then I adjust the ISO. I always try to keep the ISO to the minimum but if my scene is too underexposed, then I just raise it until I feel comfortable with the exposure.
Don't be afraid to raise the ISO. There more you shoot in manual mode the more you'll familiarize yourself with your camera limits so you can minimize the risk of creating undesired noise.
Example 2
For this example, I'll be shooting a surf competition.
My subject is the surfers.
They will be moving very fast. Also, water is involved so I want to freeze the water movement in each scene.
I am using natural light but I will be using a tripod to reduce camera shake and obtain sharp images.
I want to show the background.
This means my top priority is the shutter speed as the background and depth of field will not matter if my picture is just a complete blur.
Example 3
My last example will be shooting the milky way
My subject is the milky way.
Nothing will be moving. Everything will be very still
Extreme low light situation. Tripod is required
No blurry background. Sharpness is key
In this situation, because there is no light, my top priority is an extremely slow shutter speed and subsequently a high ISO. The aperture will only be set up to have a deep depth of field so most of the scene is in focus.
I have to admit that I have simplified the process by a mile. You have to go into it knowing that this will be a trial-and-error situation until you get your exposure balanced and this means that most of the time there will be compromises. Sometimes you will go over 10 settings before reaching the one that works with you and that's ok. The important thing to know is that if you understand aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how they complement each other, then you will work it out.
Other camera modes
Now there are other camera modes that you may want to try out. Nevertheless, understanding these 3 settings (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) is the key to using any settings so familiarize yourself with them. Now, your camera should have 3 more shooting modes:
Aperture Priority mode (A for Av depending on your camera brand)
This mode prioritizes aperture (I know this is pretty obvious from the name but stay with me). Essentially you choose your desired aperture (remember a narrow aperture - big f/stop number - will give you a deep depth of field while a wide aperture - small f/stop number - will give you a shallow depth of field) and ISO and the camera will adjust the shutter speed to obtain an appropriate exposure based your camera's meter reading.
Shutter Priority mode (S or Tv depending on your camera brand)
This mode prioritizes the shutter speed. It works the same as Aperture Priority mode but it will adjust the aperture instead based on your selected shutter speed and ISO.
Program mode (P)
This mode is like an adjustable Auto mode (or at least that's what I have understood over the years). I have to admit I have never really used it because I haven't really needed it. But in a nutshell, once the ISO is set, the camera chooses the aperture and shutter speed. You can adjust your aperture in case you want a small aperture and the camera is setting it to something else or you can set it to a higher shutter speed (or lower shutter speed depending on what your subject is) and your camera will automatically adjust to let more light (or less light if it's a sunny day) to capture the image in the correct exposure based on the camera's light meter.
This is a very basic and very brief explanation of how these modes work. If you want more information on these modes, check out my post "Choosing the correct shooting mode".
Hopefully, you now have a basic understanding of how the exposure works and how to properly shoot in manual mode. I can go into more details if you guys feel like getting geeky with me but it is very important to understand that no matter how much information I give you, you’ll need to practice in order to fully understand it. Get out and shoot as much as you can and these concepts will start to make more sense.
If you have any questions, comment down below or contact me at info@belenradaphotography.com. I’ll be happy to help as much as I can.
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