HOW TO MAKE CORRECTLY EXPOSED PHOTOS. PART TWO: EXPOSURE MANAGEMENT
Following the definition of the subject, as described in the first article, it is very important to learn how to control the exposure. We list the factors that affect the exposure of a photograph:
shooting point
lens selection
timing (timing)
reading light
exposure settings
Note that “Exposure Settings” is at the end of this list, because this is just the most obvious aspect of exposure control, but you need to study how other items in the list affect the choice of settings.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
Shooting point
The place where you want to take a picture can significantly affect the exposure. Is there a light source behind the photographer? Behind the subject? On one side of the photographer and the subject? Moving, you control what exactly will be in the frame in the background and how it affects the amount of light entering the lens.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
In this photograph, most of the background is a glare of water. If the photographer in this case were not careful with the exposure, the subject could turn out to be underexposed. In this photo, the bright background is compensated for using the fill-flash technique.
Changing the shooting point when the lake is no longer in the background leads to a good exposure of the subject. Here, the light reflected from the surface of the water no longer affects the exposure, does not create a strong backlight, and therefore you do not need to use a flash in this photo.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
Lens selection
The composition of the frame partially depends on the selected lens. Using a telephoto lens will include less background in the frame. In doing so, you can more easily limit the light sources and bright areas of the composition. With a wider lens, you are more likely to include more sky or other bright areas in the frame that may have some effect on the entire exposure.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
If the photographer used a wider lens when shooting these rice fields, then he would have included the setting sun in the composition. This would definitely have a strong impact on the exposure and overall appearance of the photograph.
A photographer could completely eliminate the influence of the sun using a longer focal length of the lens. He could also tilt the camera slightly for this, but then the foreground would be less attractive.
Timing
The time you choose to shoot also affects the exposure. In landscape photography, you may have to wait until the sun is in a different place in the sky. Or you will have to catch the moment when you need to press the start button to avoid the bright headlights of a passing car, as in the photo below.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
Timing for blue hour photographs is especially important. Recall that the “blue hour” is the time immediately before sunrise or immediately after sunset. You have to wait until the surrounding light is balanced with any other light source available in your frame. This amount of time will vary depending on your geographical proximity to the earth’s equator.
The photo below was taken at Blue Hour in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This “blue hour” in this area actually lasts only about ten minutes, and it is very little time to capture the saturated blue sky with electric lights.
How to make correctly exposed photographs
Reading light
In order to adjust the exposure, you must use a light meter or let the camera itself perform calculations and settings.
Leaving this choice at the discretion of the camera is rarely a good decision, because the camera does not know what exactly you are photographing. Received photos may lack creativity.
Amazing artificial intelligence is built into the digital camera, but it cannot see with your eyes and discern what exactly is your main subject for shooting. Your camera will be under control if you leave the settings so that its exposure meter performs average metering and is in automatic or semi-automatic mode. You can use exposure compensation or set the camera to manually control exposure.
One of the easiest ways to read light is to use live view and look at the camera monitor. Some cameras do not have this feature, so you need to refer to the instruction manual and do some testing to find out if you can use this method.
Exposure check in live view works when the camera is set to manual. When changing aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, it is easy to observe changes in light on the monitor. It is recommended that you use this method in combination with a histogram so that you can check to see if shadows and lights are clipping.
