Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
.
Correct Exposure
19 slides
Digital Photography I
Correct Exposure
Normal Exposure:
1. Normal exposure is a combination of
science (histogram) and art (eyeball).
2. There is also special high-key (light) to
low-key (dark) acceptable exposures.
3. Ultimately, normal exposure is tied
directly to your story needs.
4. Although, normal exposure does have
a few technical requirements such as
maintaining important highlight and
shadow detail and to contain jet black
and crisp white in the image.
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Exposure Nomenclature: Photoshop lingo…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Deep jet black
Shadow with detail
Gray scale
White with detail
Crisp white
Blown out white
‘0’
‘0 to 9’ range
‘10 to 245’ range
‘246to 253’ range
‘254 to 255’ range
‘255’ paper white
Digital Photography I
Correct Exposure
Monitor Calibration Reference:
Grayscale : All the tones from 1 to 10
should separate. If 1 & 2 don’t
separate, your monitor is too dark.
If 9 & 10 don’t separate, your
monitor is too light. Not separating
can also be an issue with Contrast.
Coin: It should look as though it can
be picked off the screen. If it
doesn’t, your Contrast may be set
too low.
Hand/Grayscale: The hand color
should look believable. If it looks
too warm or cool, you will probably
have to adjust your monitor RGB
color settings if possible.
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Dynamic Range: See it…
Tonal values are easier to see when the
color is stripped from the image. Compare
example images 1 and 2. Notice that the red
blouse is vivid in color but it’s actually a dark
tone.
In example 3, the tones are skewed towards
high-contrast. It has more visual punch but
the highlights are blown-out and much of the
shadow details are lost. Now the red blouse
is black.
Don’t set your camera to shoot in B&W. It’ll
only gives you 1/3 the tonal information.
Shoot in full color instead and ‘Desaturate in
Photoshop’. This will give you a highly
detailed B&W image.
1
2
3
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
My Personal Style:
My personal tonal taste
runs in the high contrast
side as shown in the
example to the right.
This low-key ‘punchy’
style works especially
well for this ‘Friendly Persuasion’ story. Although this
style takes a lot of custom darkroom dodging and
burning to make it work.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Changing Brightness:
For the compact digital
user, controlling
brightness is about either adjusting aperture or the
shutter speed. ISO must not be changed.
DSLR users can adjust the ISO because
of their larger sensor chip which actually
has larger pixels too.
Increase the aperture size to brighten the image.
Decrease aperture size to darken the image. Slow
down the shutter speed to brighten the image. And
increase the shutter speed to darken the image.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Aperture: Lens opening
There are fixed points to lens opening called
f/stops. In a compact digital, it usually goes from
f/2.8 to f/8.
f/2.8 is wide open which let’s the maximum amount
of light into the camera. f/8 is fully stopped down
which lets in the minimum amount of light.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Aperture: Whole stop
The change between f/2.8 and f4 is a whole stop.
Whole f/stop change either doubles or halves the
amount of light entering the lens and reaching the
sensor chip. The compact digital is limited to a
three stop f/stop range.
DSLR usually has a five stop f/stop range.
Digital Photography I
Correct Exposure
Hard Facts: Aperture
The hard facts are that you
can’t let in more light than f/2.8.
And you can’t let in less light
than f/8.
Please remember this when
you are shooting. It’s especially
important when the light level is
low.
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Digital Photography I
Correct Exposure
Soft Facts:
There are other things that can be done
to alter the amount of light reaching the
sensor.
1. Place a neutral density filter over the
lens to reduce the amount of light.
2. Add light to the subject by using fillcards.
3. Decrease shutter speed to add
brightness and increase shutter speed
to darken the image.
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Shutter Speeds: Whole stop
4 sec
2 sec 1 sec ½ ¼
1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250
1/500
1/1000
To ‘effectively’ let in more or less light is to
change the shutter speed. The shutter speed has
a much broader range going from 30 full seconds
to 1/2000 sec. Better digitals have even wider
range going from 60 seconds to 1/8000 sec.
The recommended ‘safe’ shutter speed range is
colorized in orange.
1/2000
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Shutter Speed: 1/3 stop Increments
The 1/3 stop speeds are bold and colorized to orange.
1/30
1/40
1/50
1/60
1/80
1/100
1/125
1/160 1/200
1/250
Start paying attention to the shutter speed settings
when shooting. If you don’t see the information on the
LCD, toggle through the camera Display Options.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Aperture Increments:
1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 stop
1/3 stop is the default compact digital increment.
DSLR cameras often have 3 different (1/4, 1/3,
and 1/2) f/stop increments.
Example: EC -1.5
If the aperture is f/4, the correct EC adjusted
f/stop is between f/5.6 and f/8, which is f/6.7.
2.8
3.2
3.6
4
4.5
5
5.6
6.3
7.1
8
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Aperture Increments:
EC adjustment can affect both the aperture and
shutter speed. In the previous example, only the
aperture was changed.
Combined: EC -1.5 example
The camera might choose to take half-stop from
the aperture and the rest (1 more stop) from
the shutter speed (1/30 sec might be changed
to 1/60 sec).
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
EC Adjustment: Two stop range by aperture or shutter speed
+1
f/2.8
1/30
+.7
+.3
3.2
Aperture Changes Only
3.6
f/4
4.5
1/40
N
-.3
Shutter Speed Changes Only
1/50
1/60
1/80
-.7
-1.0
5
f/5.6
1/100
1/125
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
Beyond The Basics: Learn to see light…
1. Quality – use soft and forgiving light. Don’t
use hard direct sunlight which is hard to work
with.
2. Quantity – use bright light level. Don’t work
with dim light which will cause noise (grain),
lack of contrast, and poor color.
3. Direction – use side light for form. Don’t use
front light which is flat. Back and top light is
also on the not recommended list.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
See The Light: Keep it simple
If you can see the light, it’ll be easy enough to let
your expensive toy take care of the basic
exposure. Avoid challenging your tool with things
like:
1. Direct sunlight or harsh indoor lighting.
2. Black, white, shiny, or transparent subject or
background.
3. Light source like the sky, candle, hot reflection,
or any other bright thing in the composition.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
Correct Exposure
More Rewarding Challenges:
While the camera can set the exposure ‘by the
numbers’, only you can make the aesthetic and story
decisions about the exact f/stop or the shutter speed.
Getting beyond the basics can also mean to learn
from your camera ‘Scene Modes’. Use the scene
modes to shooti Portraits, Day or Night Scene,
Fireworks, to Sunset. And learn by studying the EXIF
information about the ‘so called’ best settings.
Digital Photography I
Teacher: Kenji Tachibana
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