Exposure: Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed

One of the hardest things a photographer has to overcome is learning how to make a good exposure. Having good exposure can either make or break a photograph, no matter how much photo editing you do. The "exposure triangle" is the correlation of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. Practically all digital cameras have the option to take photographs on "auto," which is which is where the camera itself is guessing what to set the exposure at. Along with "auto" comes "manual," where you the photographer has to decided how to set the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to meet the needs of the photograph.

ISO is the level of sensitivity of the outside light to your camera, typically measured in numbers. The lower the ISO number the lower the sensitivity of light to the camera.

Shutter speed is regarding to how long the shutter on your camera is allowed to remain open, changing how much light can be let into the camera. In low light conditions, a long shutter speed is wanted to let in as much light as possible while the opposite for a higher light condition, a fast shutter speed is desired. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second.

Aperture is regarding the hole within the lens that allows light to travel into the camera. Furthermore, the smaller the aperture, the less amount of light passes into the camera. Also, aperture deals with controlling the depth of field, which parts of the photo is the clearest and sharpest. If the aperture is very small, the depth of field is large, while if the aperture is large, the depth of field is small.

In this photograph that I took, the background behind the tree is completely blown out, showing only white behind the tree. My intent was to make the tree "glow" in front of the setting sun, however I haven't mastered the "exposure triangle" yet so the picture isn't ready to be printed.