Exposure skills that photography must know.

Exposure skills that photography must know.

Exposure refers to the process that the light emitted or reflected by the photographed object is projected onto the photosensitive film through the camera lens, causing chemical changes and development. In photography, exposure is the combination of aperture and shutter.

1. Don't underestimate the power of program exposure.

The function of programmed exposure mode is often ignored and considered to be only used in a small number. However, if we don't want to focus on aperture or shutter, programmed exposure mode can help us pay more attention to composition and timing.

2. Programming exposure compensation adjustment parameters

When the camera is in program exposure mode, we can use the dial or wheel on the camera to control the combination of aperture and shutter, and do basic creative control on depth of field or motion blur without changing the exposure mode.

3. The background is bright

If the background brightness of the picture is much higher than the subject, direct shooting may lead to underexposure. In order to avoid this problem, it is necessary to set the exposure compensation to a positive value, such as+1 or +2, to ensure the correct exposure of the subject.

4. The background is black

Shooting in front of a dark background often leads to overexposure. In order to avoid this problem, it is necessary to set the exposure compensation to-1 or -2 to balance the picture exposure when using average metering.

5. Gradient gray filter

If the brightness of the picture is obviously uneven, you can use the gradient gray filter to balance the exposure difference between the top and bottom or both sides of the picture.

Use spot metering

Set the camera to spot metering mode and aim at the midtone scene we want for metering shooting. This measurement mode is very accurate.

7. Built-in HDR

If the camera provides HDR optimization, we can turn it on to get richer highlights and shadow details.

8. Surround exposure

By taking two or more photos of different exposure value and combining them together, we can overcome the strong contrast between light and shade in the environment.

Aperture priority mode is the most commonly used exposure mode. You can control the depth of field and the exposure of the picture at the same time. Setting the aperture below f/4 can effectively blur the foreground and background of the main body of the picture; Setting it to a value of f/ 16 or greater can ensure that the picture is consistent and clear, thus retaining more details.

10. shutter priority

We can achieve the effect of solidifying or blurring moving objects by controlling the shutter speed. Using a shutter of11000 seconds or faster can make a high-speed moving object look stationary, while a shutter of115 seconds or slower will bring obvious motion blur.

1 1. Observe the LCD screen.

Whether using aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode, it is necessary to observe whether the corresponding shutter speed or aperture size is appropriate. If the aperture or shutter reading on the LCD screen shows flashing HI or LO, it means that we need to change our settings.

12. exposure locking

After the subject fills the screen, hold down the exposure lock button to lock the current exposure. In this way, even if we adjust the picture composition to make the background too bright or too dark, it will not change the exposure of the subject.

13. Histogram

Histogram can provide us with detailed and useful information about the exposure of the picture, which should be viewed immediately after shooting.

14. Understand the histogram

There are a lot of blanks on the left or right side of the histogram, indicating that the photo lacks dark parts or bright parts, and the contrast needs to be improved.

15. Use RGB histogram.

The three-color histogram uses three independent histograms to reflect the exposure information of different colors, which is more accurate.

16. Raw data and histogram

Histogram is more accurate for JPEG information display, but it is only a reference for RAW.

17. Attractive scenery

In the face of bright scenery, it is necessary to appropriately increase the exposure compensation value of the camera to ensure the correct exposure. You can try from +2.

18. darken the scenery

Dark tone images contain a lot of shadow information. In order to ensure the correct shooting of such works, it is necessary to use a lower exposure compensation setting, such as -2.

19. Use manual exposure

If you have enough energy and experience to adjust the aperture size and shutter speed, you can set the camera to manual exposure mode. Most cameras provide auxiliary exposure reading display in manual exposure mode, but the best detection method is to actually take a photo and watch it in playback.

20. The same should be changed.

When the overall lighting conditions remain unchanged, but the framing brightness is constantly changing, compared with the automatic exposure mode, the manual exposure mode can get more stable results. Set the exposure according to the intensity of ambient light or the exposure of the subject to ensure that they are exposed correctly.

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