Exposure Settings Guide

A camera takes a picture by allowing light through a lens to hit a sensor for a specified amount of time. We can adjust the camera settings to change the amount of light that makes it through the lens, the amount of time the sensor is exposed, or the sensitivity of the sensor; all of these things will impact the brightness (exposure) of the image - in different ways and with different artistic effects. 

There are 3 main settings that we need to worry about when shooting in manual mode on a digital or film camera; aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Manual mode can usually be entered by turning the primary dial on the top of the camera to M (manual) mode. A (aperture priority mode) allows you to adjust the aperture, while the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed and ISO to properly exposure photo. S (Shutter Speed priority mode) similarly allows you to adjust the shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture and ISO to compensate. M (manual mode) allows you to control all 3 of these settings. A and S modes can be useful when getting used to a new camera or a new environment so you can get comfortable influencing the composition of a photo while still having the camera to help with getting the general exposure correct. Ultimately, M mode will give you the most artistic control over the image, but will probably require repeated attempts at the same photo with small variations in these settings to achieve the desired effect.

*It’s not always intuitive, if you’re struggling with finding the right settings, put your camera on AUTO mode and look at the settings the camera chooses for the subject you’re trying to shoot. This will give you a good starting point, you can then adjust individual settings for cinematic feel/composition.

What do the settings do? 

Aperture (f stop): How narrow/wide the opening of the lens is - lower f stops (e.g. f1.2-2.8) are wider (sometimes called faster) and allow more light into the sensor. Higher f stops (e.g. f/11-22.0) have narrower openings and allow less light into the sensor. Wider Apertures create a shallow depth of field (meaning only a specific portion of the frame is in focus), while narrower apertures allow more of the frame to be in focus. Wide apertures are useful for creating background blur (bokeh) while narrow apertures are good for landscapes. 

Shutter Speed: How long (in seconds) the shutter is exposed to light. Fast shutter speeds (1/500-1/8000 seconds) are great for capturing fast moving objects but tend to require bright environments, wider apertures, and/or higher iso’s. Slower shutter speeds (1/60-30+ seconds) can be quite useful for low light environments but requires the camera to be extremely still to prevent blur (this can be mitigated by using a tripod). Any movement of objects within the frame during a long exposure will result in blur.

ISO: Controls sensor’s sensitivity to light. Lower ISO values (400 or less) tend to result in cleaner images. Higher ISO values (800-24000+) can be useful to increase exposure for low light environments, but will result in noticeable noise (pixelation). This creates more granular photos (essentially lower resolution; this can be aesthetic on film but is generally not desired on digital). The general rule of thumb is to shoot as close to your cameras minimum native ISO (usually 100) as possible to create the highest quality, sharpest photos.

There is actually a fourth setting but I try not to mess with it too much

Exposure (EV): This artificially increases are decreases the brightness of the image. You can use exposure to increase the brightness (+) or decrease the brightness (-) of your image, usually in increments of 0.3 or 0.5. I try to keep my exposure settings within +/- 1.5 EV to retain decent image quality. 

**Tip: balancing moderately low EV’s/ISO’s can be a good way to get fast aperture, fast shutter speed images in lower light environments. 

***Using ND (Neutral Density) filters will allow you to limit the amount of light entering the lens which can be especially useful if you want to shoot fast aperture and/or long exposure images in a bright environment.

Below I have included a bunch of images of the same subject (on a tripod) with slight variations in each setting so you can get a sense of how they affect the quality/ composition of the resulting photo. Keep in mind these photos were taken at ~midnight when there was very little light (under a new moon). I had to use significantly longer shutter speeds than you would use during the day (hence the tripod) to retain enough light for the image). This tends to only be possible (when shooting outside) on still nights when there is little to no wind to create blur within the image.

*Shot on full frame 28mm f2.0 FE lens with 42mp sensor in ‘fine’ quality mode. RAW files are the highest quality images you can take but also take up the most space. (Always shoot raw) ;)

All of these photos were taken on a tripod reduce image blur/ retain continuity between shots. Photos were taken during the middle of the day in a moderately low light environment so I did not need extremely long shutter speeds. The lens these photos were taken on is significantly sharper than that of the landscape photos and they were captured as RAW files (hence their higher quality)

*Shot on full frame 55mm f1.8 Carl Zeiss lens with 42mp sensor in Raw mode

So you’ve figured out (roughly) how to balance your basic settings in the camera while shooting, now it’s time to fine tune the images to your liking. You do not need expensive software like photoshop to perform basic post processing (I do all of mine on the photos app as it is easy to reference what changes I’ve made and it doesn’t crash my computer ;), but this software does help in performing advanced functions like adding or removing objects, coloring only certain objects, layering images, etc. 

This portion of the process is all about feel; start by adjusting individual settings in small increments to see how they affect the image - these changes can always be reverted. A good practice is to create and edit a copy of your original image - both to easily compare your edited & original image and just in case you need to start fresh.

Light settings (Brilliance, Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Brightness, Contrast, Black Point) affect the luminosity of the image

Color settings (saturation, vibrance, cast) affect the color of the image

Black and White will remove color from the image

Curves and Levels allow you to influence color schemes in the image

Selective color lets you edit individual color saturation and intensity in the image

Sharpen and Definition can be used to increase sharp appearance and better define edges but ultimately sacrifices image quality if over applied

Vignetting [vin-yet-ing] affects the darkness/lightness of the corners of the frame. 

I generally try to change settings as little as possible from the original image to prevent an ‘artificial’ appearance, unless there’s a specific style I’m going for. I have also found it’s easier to add brightness to a photo that is under exposed than it is to remove brightness from an over exposed image without sacrificing image quality.

Below are the final, post processed images I took

Ultimately, the settings you choose both during shooting and in post production should be the result of 2 things; the environment you are shooting in and the style in which you wish to create your final image. Having an idea of the type of shot you want to create before you start setting up your camera will give you a good starting place. Remember, your ISO should generally be kept low while you prioritize either aperture or shutter speed and adjust the other to compensate. The fun part is playing around with the settings until you achieve your desired effect. There is no ‘one right answer’ for a specific scene/subject; experiment, analyze, improve. Don’t be afraid to scrutinize your images on the camera in between shots (the playback zoom function is super helpful here) to determine what settings need to be changed to improve the image. If you aren’t taking at least 3+ shot per usable image you’re either very dialed into your camera or you aren’t getting experimental enough. Shots can always be deleted later, you can’t adjust your shutter speed/aperture/ISO after you’ve left your scene. 

“It’s the Photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.” - Eve Arnold

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” - Ansel Adams

“Adopt the peace of nature: her secret is patience.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every shot is a learning process; few great pictures are taken on the first try