Exposure - What Is Good Exposure?
There is an extraordinary amount of literature concerning proper photographic exposure.
The vast majority of it concerns the technical aspects of exposure and consequently that is where most of the photographic discussion lay.
And with the advent of Digital Photography and the Histogram we have focused more on the technical aspect of exposure then at any time in the past.
In this article, I would like to explore the artist qualities of exposure and how they affect our compositions.
So let's talk a little about movies since it's something we are all familiar with.
Often a night scene in a movie is filmed in complete daylight.
By under exposing and keeping extra light on the main characters we, the viewer, get the feeling of night time.
Now there are a lot of other considerations for the filmmakers but you get the idea.
By controlling exposure, we change the look and feel for the viewer.
I do need to talk about the technical properties of a light meter for a moment to get us all on the same page.
I'll limit it to the in camera meter but the same applies to all meters in general.
Take two cork boards, one white and one black, and set them outside next to each other.
Fill the frame and focus on the white one and set your shutter speed and aperture for what the meter says is the proper exposure and take a shot.
Move to the black board and repeat.
A review of the two shots will reveal that both were taken at completely different shutter speeds and aperture settings, they are both a medium shade of gray, and they are very close to the exact same picture.
How could opposite ends of the light spectrum be so close in our captures? The experiment divulges what the meter is doing for us - adjusting the exposure for a mid point between what it would show as black or white.
Great photography is dependent on a fundamental understanding of this property of light and how sensors (or film) react to it.
I encourage you to try this experiment.
So with the above in mind, let's look at how we can use exposure to improve our compositions.
It's not unusual for me to purposely under expose a composition to give the viewer a different impression of the scene then what I am actually seeing.
Additionally, because I shoot exclusively in Camera RAW, I get an extra 4 stops of exposure compensation above or below my original capture in the post processing part of my procedure.
This is priceless as I don't often visualize what could be when I'm shooting.
By under exposing I can realize numerous emotions beyond just making it look like the shot was taken at night; fear, coldness, dread, anxiety, and the list goes on and on.
Normally, it is the content of what I am shooting that dictates when to deviate from what the meter tells me to shoot at.
I don't regularly over expose compositions.
This is probably due to the visualization process of my own mind.
I have an adverse reaction to a lot of pure white.
But I do over expose upon occasion.
I mention this simply to emphasize that the study of photography and the artistic expression of our photography often times is a study of who we are.
And by understanding who we are and what we like often times solidifies our compositions on an artistic level above what we have been previously achieving.
The common situation where I over expose is when there is a lot of light (sun high in the sky) but the scene is very dark, usually a lot of dark greens, and I want those greens to pop.
Because I do this less than under exposing, I tend to take more shots at different exposure.
Once again, the exposure compensation of Camera RAW comes in handy to get the right emotion in post processing.
I hope I have stimulated some thought, experimentation, and ideas with this article.
Our cameras are just the tools of our art.
The better we understand our tools, the better our range of abilities become and therefore artistic expression becomes more dynamic.
Happy shooting.
The vast majority of it concerns the technical aspects of exposure and consequently that is where most of the photographic discussion lay.
And with the advent of Digital Photography and the Histogram we have focused more on the technical aspect of exposure then at any time in the past.
In this article, I would like to explore the artist qualities of exposure and how they affect our compositions.
So let's talk a little about movies since it's something we are all familiar with.
Often a night scene in a movie is filmed in complete daylight.
By under exposing and keeping extra light on the main characters we, the viewer, get the feeling of night time.
Now there are a lot of other considerations for the filmmakers but you get the idea.
By controlling exposure, we change the look and feel for the viewer.
I do need to talk about the technical properties of a light meter for a moment to get us all on the same page.
I'll limit it to the in camera meter but the same applies to all meters in general.
Take two cork boards, one white and one black, and set them outside next to each other.
Fill the frame and focus on the white one and set your shutter speed and aperture for what the meter says is the proper exposure and take a shot.
Move to the black board and repeat.
A review of the two shots will reveal that both were taken at completely different shutter speeds and aperture settings, they are both a medium shade of gray, and they are very close to the exact same picture.
How could opposite ends of the light spectrum be so close in our captures? The experiment divulges what the meter is doing for us - adjusting the exposure for a mid point between what it would show as black or white.
Great photography is dependent on a fundamental understanding of this property of light and how sensors (or film) react to it.
I encourage you to try this experiment.
So with the above in mind, let's look at how we can use exposure to improve our compositions.
It's not unusual for me to purposely under expose a composition to give the viewer a different impression of the scene then what I am actually seeing.
Additionally, because I shoot exclusively in Camera RAW, I get an extra 4 stops of exposure compensation above or below my original capture in the post processing part of my procedure.
This is priceless as I don't often visualize what could be when I'm shooting.
By under exposing I can realize numerous emotions beyond just making it look like the shot was taken at night; fear, coldness, dread, anxiety, and the list goes on and on.
Normally, it is the content of what I am shooting that dictates when to deviate from what the meter tells me to shoot at.
I don't regularly over expose compositions.
This is probably due to the visualization process of my own mind.
I have an adverse reaction to a lot of pure white.
But I do over expose upon occasion.
I mention this simply to emphasize that the study of photography and the artistic expression of our photography often times is a study of who we are.
And by understanding who we are and what we like often times solidifies our compositions on an artistic level above what we have been previously achieving.
The common situation where I over expose is when there is a lot of light (sun high in the sky) but the scene is very dark, usually a lot of dark greens, and I want those greens to pop.
Because I do this less than under exposing, I tend to take more shots at different exposure.
Once again, the exposure compensation of Camera RAW comes in handy to get the right emotion in post processing.
I hope I have stimulated some thought, experimentation, and ideas with this article.
Our cameras are just the tools of our art.
The better we understand our tools, the better our range of abilities become and therefore artistic expression becomes more dynamic.
Happy shooting.