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In photography, the exposure triangle explains the relationship between shutter speed, ISO and aperture. These are the three primary settings on most modern camera systems. These three factors are at the center of every photograph or video.
Understanding the exposure triangle will help you determine how a picture will look even before you take it. Knowing how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO work together to compose your image will make you a smarter, better photographer.
Information adapted from polaroidfilters.com
The Exposure Triangle
The Exposure Triangle
To produce a photograph or video you must use the exposure triangle in order to balance aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and as a result, control how long and how much light enters the camera sensor. Remember, when you change one setting, you have to consider if you need to change the other two as well.
Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed determines how long the lens stays open for, letting the specific amount of volume of light into the sensor determined by the aperture. A faster shutter speed, like 1/1000th of a second, has the effect of freezing motion, while a slower shutter speed, like 1/60th, will blur motion in a scene.
Much like in photography however, the exposure triangle can be used when filming as well. The 180 degree rule of shutter explains the relationship between shutter speed and frame rate when recording motion in video. In order to maintain continuity within the film and make the motion seem natural to the human eye, the shutter speed should be set to double your frame rate. Most cinematic videos are captured at 24 fps, so when you are filming you would want to double this number and change your shutter speed to 1/50th of a second.
In a camera the way a shutter speed is expressed might be confusing. For example when a camera displays a shutter speed of 60 this actually means 1/60th of a second. When it displays a 1" this actually means one second and so on.
This is a slow shutter speed image. Notice the beautiful motion blur of the dancer's clothes.
This is a fast shutter speed image. Notice how the motion is frozen. But also notice how the image needs a lot more light to be exposed correctly.
Aperture
Aperture
Like the iris of your eye, the aperture blades on the lens of a camera control how much light is let into the camera lens. The amount of light that reaches your camera’s image sensor will determine what the exposure looks like.
Each aperture setting on the lens is referred to as an f-stop, a fraction that indicates the diameter of the lens opening. Aperture also determines the depth of field and sharpness. Every lens has a “sweet spot” or “critical focus,” usually between f/4 and f/11.
Likewise, expressing aperture in a camera can be confusing. A "wide" aperture means that the iris is wide open but it is expressed with a low number like f1.8. A "narrow" aperture means that the iris is small but it is expressed by a high number like f11.
Wide aperture gives you a shallow depth of field, meaning that the background gets really blurry.
Narrow aperture gives you a longer depth of field, meaning that the background gets more sharp.
ISO
ISO
ISO is the international standard of measurement that determines how sensitive a photographic film emulsion or digital sensor is to light. In other words, when increasing your ISO it will bring light into dark images, but as a result can diminish the quality of the shot.
When shooting on your device, it is best to keep your ISO low in order to avoid noise; however, your determined ISO level is ultimately dependent upon the surrounding environment and lighting conditions. For example, if you are shooting in a low-light setting you will need a higher ISO to properly expose the photo and brighten up the film.
On the other hand, when you are in a very bright setting and trying to capture footage, a lower ISO would be appropriate in order to avoid noise getting into your photo or video.
These portrait is taken outside in a sunny day so the ISO has to be a the lowest setting of 100.
This portrait taken indoors might need a higher ISO, but only around 600-800 in order to increase the image brightness without introducing noise.
This is a very dark scene with a very fast shutter speed. Notice the noise in the image.
Other Camera Concepts to Keep in Mind
Other Camera Concepts to Keep in Mind
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