So you bought yourself a camera and you’re really enjoying it. Now it’s time to get off Auto mode and dive into the world of photography. Which leads us to today’s lesson. Here are some terms every photographer should know. These are factors for affecting the exposure of a picture. Exposure refers to the lighting of an image. Overexposed means too much light hit the sensor and underexposed mean not enough light got through to the sensor.

ISO

It stands for International Standards Organization and it refers to the industrial scale of measuring light. Today it refers mainly to the sensitivity of a digital cameras image sensor. The higher the ISO the more sensitive your sensor thus allowing more light onto the sensor. And the lower the ISO the less light that strikes the sensor resulting in a darker image. However, you will need to use the ISO accordingly. Shooting at extremely high ISOs can make the finer details appear grainy in your photograph. Learning the settings will take practice so the best way is to just learn by trial and error. When shooting waterfalls in the middle of the day with lots of sunlight you need to use a low ISO. However, while shooting the night sky you will need to use a high ISO. All-in-all a higher ISO makes your photograph lighter, while a lower ISO will make your photograph darker.

Aperture

Aperture is measured in F-stops, this controls the opening in the lens that allows light to hit your sensor. Aperture can be adjusted and will play a big role in your photography. The lower the F-stop, the bigger the opening will be in your lens which will allow more light to hit the sensor. Lenses with a lower F-stop will cost more. Scenarios in which a lower F-stop will come into play will be for night time photography or quick action shots. Some scenarios for a small F-stop would be times when you might want a blurry moving object, such as wind in the trees. This can seem very similar to ISO, and while the two work hand in hand they are different. Remember that ISO refers to the image sensors sensitivity to light and aperture refers to the size of the opening in your lens that allows light to pass through and hit the sensor.

Shutter speed

This refers to how long your shutter is open. And this is the final factor in affecting your exposure. Depending on your camera model this can be very easy to adjust so it tends to be the first thing people learn about. The longer your shutter is open, the more light penetrates through the hole in your lens (f-stop) which means the sensor gets a lot of light striking it (ISO). You will learn how all of these come together to get you that perfect shot. One thing to remember is that the longer you leave your shutter open the more likely you have a blurry image. So a tripod will come in handy. You would use a fast Shutter speed at a rodeo to freeze the image of the bucking bronco without having a blurry image. You would use a slow shutter speed to get star trails.

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