DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

A comprehensive visual guide to equivalent exposure

Dec 25, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

If you’re just starting out with photography, the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed is one of the crucial things to learn. However, it can be difficult to grasp if the concept is new to you. In this great animated video from Apalapse you’ll easily learn the relationship between the three parameters and how they affect the exposure and the look of your images.

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are three “ingredients” that all photos are made of. Shutter speed determines the amount of motion blur, aperture determines the depth of field, and ISO determines the amount of noise in your images. When you set the camera to manual mode, you get to choose how these settings work best for your situation and thus you control the exposure and the overall look of your image.

Equivalent exposures

In the video, you can see a comprehensive explanation of what equivalent exposures are, but I’ll try to sum it up briefly.

Let’s say you want to photograph a flower. Using the settings ƒ/8, ISO 100 and shutter speed 1/250 s will give you an image with correct exposure. However, while the exposure is right, the look of your image isn’t what you wanted – it doesn’t have a shallow depth of field.

To change this, you can open the aperture, let’s say to ƒ/2.8. But, if you leave the other settings intact, the image will be extremely overexposed. If the minimum ISO on your camera is 100 (like it is on mine), you can’t decrease it any further. So, you’ll need to increase the shutter speed. The aperture is increased by 3 stops, so you’ll need to adjust the shutter speed for the same number of stops: from 1/250 to 1/2000.

The look of the image

As you adjust the three parameters, it won’t only affect the exposure, but also the look of your images. The more you open the aperture, the shallower depth of field you’ll get. The more you increase the ISO, the more noise there will be. And finally, the more you slow down the shutter speed, the more motion blur there will be. So, you should make sure to set the parameters to get the optimal exposure as well as the optimal amount of noise, sharpness, and depth of field.

I tried to sum it up, but make sure to watch the entire video. It’s filled with examples and illustrations that make things clearer. And if you want to learn more about how ISO, aperture and shutter speed affect your images, on this link you’ll find plenty more useful resources.

[Camera Basics – Equivalent Exposures via FStoppers]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailThe Comprehensive Guide To Macro Photography The Comprehensive And Contemplative Guide On Creating Magical Smoke Composites Turning Day Into Night – A Comprehensive Photoshop Guide A comprehensive guide to corporate headshot photography

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: aperture, aperture setting, camera exposure, exposure, Exposure Triangle, exposures, ISO, shutter, shutter speed

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« The shadow game – the Lighting Series #5
Sigma releases Photoshop plugin to add X3F raw import »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy