Lesson 3: Balancing Light – The Exposure Triangle: An Overview

Welcome to Chapter 2: Balancing Light. In our previous chapter, we talked about how to read and measure the light in an image by looking at your in-camera meter and your histogram. Up until now, if you are shooting in auto, your camera has been balancing the light for you to get a properly exposed photo. Now you are going to learn what your camera is doing behind the scenes to get what it thinks is a properly exposed image. This is also the chapter where I will wean you off using that auto setting solely. You will learn how to control each component in the exposure
triangle separately and by the end of this chapter you will understand how the components work together and how you can manage them in unison to create a much more stylish image. Ready?

So, as the name suggests, there are three components to the exposure triangle: Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO. To get a properly exposed image, you will need to balance all three together. Interestingly enough each component controls some aspect of how the camera handles light. You will learn this very quickly when you go to adjust one component and your exposure changes. You will have to adjust another component to compensate and keep your exposure balanced. Crazy! You didn’t know light was so complex, so deep, right? Ha! I didn’t either until I started studying photography … and honestly, the study of photography is really just the study of light. Since light is so complex, this may sound a bit complicated but its not and I will make it super easy. We will cover one component at a time in detail and then we’ll have some simple exercises you can do with your new camera to reinforce your learning. Let’s go…

Key Learnings
  • The study of photography is really just the study of light
  • There are three components in the Exposure Triangle: Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO
  • All three components must work together for an image to be exposed properly.
  • If you change one component, if you want to maintain the same exposure, you will need to also change another component to compensate
  • All three components controls some aspect of how the camera handles light

 

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