GoingManual.com It's time to take control!    Home    Tutorials    Photography Forum  Photography Tutorial Introduction Part I – Gear The Camera  -  Focus  -  Resolution  -  MegaPixels Vs Print Size  -  Sharpening Semi auto settings  -  Aperture Priority (Av)  -  Shutter priority (Tv) Zoom and Focal Length  -  A Note About Sensor Size Other Camera Features  -  Viewfinders  -  Lens Hood  -  LCD screen  -  White Balance Extra Equipment  -  Tripod  -  Cable Release  -  Filter systems  -  Polarizer and ND filter  -  External Flash  -  Studio Lighting  -  Reflectors Part II – Capturing The Scene Your First Manual Photo  -  It's All About Exposure  -  The Light Meter  -  Exposure Explained  -  Controlling Exposure Creative Effects  -  Aperture and Depth Of Field  -  DOF Preview  -  Shutter speed Putting it all Together  -  ISO  -  Ap. & Shutter Relationship  -  Stop for a minute  -  So What?  -  The Bulb Setting Metering the Scene  -  18% of Everything Metering modes  -  Matrix  -  Average  -  Center weighted  -  Spot or semi-spot Taking Meter Readings  -  Expose for your subject  -  Sunsets and sunrises  -  Reflecting sun  -  Night Exposures  -  Moon  -  Green Foliage  -  Bright or White Scenes  -  Dark or Black Scenes Understanding Your Histogram  -  Flash Metering Composition Lead in The Viewer Eye  -  Point of Focus  -  Fill the frame  -  The Rule of Thirds  -  Moving Subjects  -  Print and frame Sizes Different Styles Learn by doing  -  Giving and Getting Critique  -  Portraits  -  Groups  -  Children  -  Shooting Outdoors  -  Silhouettes  -  Macro  -  Products  -  Landscapes  -  Sports and Action  -  Panning  -  Rear Sync Flash  -  Abstract  -  Long Exposures  -  Black and White A few Other Useful Things  -  Blown Out Skies  -  Neutral Density Filters  -  Polarizing Filters  -  Electronic noise You're Half Way There! Part III The Digital darkroom  -  Computer hardware  -  Card Reader  -  Printers  -  Mouse Post Processing  -  The Ethics of Altering  -  Choosing Your Program  -  Tutorials   Photoshop Tutorials   Photoshop Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   The Gimp Tutorials   The Gimp Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   << Part II – Capturing The Scene Creative Effects >> It's All About Exposure The Light Meter The light meter is the needle either on the screen on the back or it's visible in the viewfinder when in manual mode. It tells you how much light is coming through the lens and is a crucial tool in going manual. This type of meter is abbreviated to TTL (Through The Lens). Usually it sits in the middle when the camera is set for a correct exposure. Half press the shutter release to activate it. Different cameras have different ways of representing how much light is in the scene. Consult your cameras manual to see how your does it. ExposureExplained A modern camera has a film or digital sensor to record the light but you or the camera's brain have to decide how much light reaches the sensor. Too much light and the picture will be too bright, loosing detail. This is called overexposure. Too little light and the picture comes out too dark or dull. This is called underexposure. We are seeking the correct exposure, where just the right amount of light reaches the sensor. Because this book is geared to digital photography, I'll talk about sensors but it's just a relevant to film users too. Tip: A camera's light meter is easily fooled. When we understand how to go manual, our brain can compensate where a camera's brain cannot. Controlling Exposure So how do we control how much light reaches the sensor? Three things work together: Aperture Shutter Speed & ISO Aperture is a mechanical iris that can be adjusted from a large (wide) opening to a pinhole size. The smaller the hole, the less light can reach the sensor. The size is variable because it allows us to create different effects. Intentionally blurry foregrounds or backgrounds are achieved because of the aperture. More about it's creative uses later - for now remember big hole equals more light reaching the sensor, small hole equals less light. Shutter speed is a bit more simple. The longer the shutter is open the more light reaches the sensor. A fast shutter speed will freeze action while a slow shutter speed is useful for low light and will also produce blur, which can be desirable sometimes. An example would be giving water a milky appearance on waterfalls. We use different shutter speeds depending on how fast the action is in our chosen scene and what creative effect we want to produce. The many creative uses will be discussed later. ISO stands for International Standardization Organization and is accompanied with a number 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc. Note the number doubles each time. The number represents how sensitive to light the film or sensor is. Each number increase represents a doubling of that sensitivity. The higher the number the more sensitive to light. Put these three things together and you can control how much light reaches the sensor. Imagine you're taking a picture of the scene outside your window. A fast shutter speed and wide aperture can let the same amount of light through as a small aperture and a slow shutter speed. Fast shutter speed=less light Wide aperture = More light Result = correct exposure Slow shutter = more light Small aperture = less light Result = correct exposure Of course the actual settings you use will depend on how much light is in the scene you intend to capture. << Part II – Capturing The Scene Creative Effects >>

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