Don’t be afraid of *Exposure*!!

Here is the latest in the Photography series from our fabulous *Suite Chick* Mary – who is our resident Pro!  Another GREAT article on things we can do to improve our photographs ~ which just makes our pages better! 

So,  I’m late with my May article because I decided to change my topic last minute.  I had prepared a 4 series article on Action Photography.  I recently taught a class on Action Photography to some of our varsity baseball moms and realized – before I can get these ladies off auto mode they MUST learn the importance of exposure.  We started the class with exposure and there were several “ah ha” moments and “the light bulb just went on” comments.  THEN, we were able to move on to Action Photography.  Stay tuned for the Action Photography articles next month!

In one word – “exposure” – is what photography is all about. Exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the image sensor. In Greek, Photography means writing with light.  Exposure is the combination of three factors (ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture) that determine what the light writes… hence the Exposure Triangle. ISO measures the image sensor’s sensitivity to light. Aperture determines how much light enters the lens and is registered by the image sensor. Shutter Speed determines the amount of time the level of light enters the lens and is registered by the image sensor.

Why Does Exposure Matter?

Overexposed Images = loss of highlight detail, that is, when the bright parts of an image are effectively all white, known as “blown out highlights”.

Underexposed Images = loss of shadow detail, that is, the dark areas that are indistinguishable from black, known as “blocked up shadows”.

These terms are technical rather than artistic judgments; an overexposed or underexposed image may be “correct”, in that it provides the effect that the photographer intended.

The Exposure Triangle – ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture

Each one of the three elements of the triangle relate to light and how it enters and interacts with the camera. The combination of these three elements results in a given subject’s exposure value (EV). What is critical to remember is that any change in any one of these elements will cause a predictable impact on the other and consequently impact the final image (i.e. by changing the Aperture, you change depth of field; by changing ISO rating, you change the amount of light required to obtain an image, and by changing the Shutter Speed, you effect how motion is captured). You will never be able to independently control a given element, because you have to take into account how the other two elements will interact for the final exposure. Fortunately, the mathematics of photography just so happen to work in such a way that each element in the Exposure Triangle has a relative “stop of light” value. If you increase the light by one stop by reducing the Shutter Speed, you can regain the original EV by either decreasing the Aperture by the same stop value and/or adjusting the ISO rating accordingly.

A Little More Detail

ISO.  The measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to the amount of light present.

- The lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.

- Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light) – however the cost is noisier shots.

Aperture.
The size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken. The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light. The aperture is like a pupil.

Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’. You control the aperture by setting the “Aperture Opening”, also known as an F-Stop i.e. f/2.8,f/4,f/5.6,f/8,f/22 etc. Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the size of the amount of opening in your lens and therefore the amount of light getting through.

Smaller F-stops = larger openings. Larger openings = more light

Shutter Speed. The amount of time that the shutter is open.

Changing each element not only impacts the exposure of the image but each one also has an impact upon other aspects of it (ie changing aperture changes depth of field, changing ISO changes the graininess of a shot and changing shutter speed impacts how motion is captured).

Using Automatic or Manual Exposure?

Automatic Exposure (AE) mode automatically calculates and adjusts exposure settings in order to match (as closely as possible) the subject’s mid-tone to the mid-tone of the photograph.

Aperture Priority mode gives the photographer manual control of the aperture, whilst the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to achieve the exposure specified by the TTL meter.  

Shutter Priority mode gives manual shutter control, with automatic aperture compensation. In each case, the actual exposure level is still determined by the camera’s exposure meter.

Manual mode is where the photographer adjusts BOTH the lens aperture and shutter speed to achieve the desired exposure. Many photographers need to control aperture and shutter independently because opening up the aperture increases exposure, but also decreases the depth of field, and a slower shutter increases exposure but also increases the opportunity for motion blur.

Keep in mind that Aperture controls Depth of Field, Shutter Speed controls

focus/blur and ISO controls graininess.

So what is correct exposure?  When the camera effectively reproduces a subject on the image sensor where the most uniform amount of picture information is visible in the highlights, midtones and shadows. Most dSLRs today have an EV meter in the viewfinder that provides an EV on the subject that you are metering. An effective way of ensuring a correct exposure is to employ Exposure Bracketing. This is a technique in which you’ll be taking at least 3 exposures – one at the designated exposure value (EV), one 1/3 of an f/stop above, and one at 1/3 of an f/stop below. On some features-laden cameras, you set the ISO, f-stop and shutter to acquire an exposure value (provided by the TTL meter), and press the shutter release. The camera will automatically shoot the upper and lower bracketed exposure. When you review the bracketed exposures, you’ll be able to see subtle, but key differences in the images – most specifically if there is any over- or underexposure.

The wonderful thing about digital photography is that you can continue to experiment at no cost to you as you learn and master the three elements of the Exposure Triangle, going from semi-automatic to full manual. It takes a certain amount of practice and storing a great deal of information in your head… but master it you can!

Mary M.

Capture the Moment…

Last month we talked about the Rule of Thirds, the most well-known principle of photographic composition.  Now let’s talk about other aspects of composition…

Composition, the act of composing the image in the viewfinder, is the visual process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and pleasing arrangement.  It is largely a matter of personal taste. What one person finds pleasing, someone else may not. A composition that clearly and interestingly conveys the photographer’s intended meaning is an effective one. A composition that doesn’t or that confuses the viewer is not effective and can make or break an image.  Below are some popular composition guidelines:

Change Your Angle. Not only does changing your shooting angle impact the feeling of size of your subject but it can also have a real effect upon the light and shade and patterns on it.

(In these 2 images, I climbed higher than the boys so I could get a better view of what they were looking. If I would have taken the shot at eye level you would not have been able to see the rocks under water that they were looking at through their goggles.)

Fill the Frame. A person’s facial features tend to disappear when you move more than a few meters away from them. While it can be appropriate to take shots that put a person in context with the environment that they are in – they often get lost in the scene.

(Almost all subjects will look more interesting close up. Just look at the detail in the flower that you don’t notice in the image where the flower doesn’t fill the frame.)

Watch your Background. You don’t always want to fill the frame with the subject. Sometimes you want a little space around the subject, or you want to show the environment around your subject. But make sure you keep distracting, or unappealing things out of your viewfinder. Be sure that you don’t miss the occasional tree (or other object) appearing to stick out of your subject’s head. Simply moving the camera angle slightly usually eliminates the unwanted object. Look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and compose your shot so that it doesn’t distract or detract from the subject.

(These images of the boy swinging were taken on the same rope swing. I walked a few yards around the pond to get the view without all the distractions. How easy is that?)

Simplify. Don’t try to include too much in the image. The viewer won’t know what to look at. Try to keep only those things that are essential to the subject in the frame. Remember that the outer edge of the frame is also part of the picture and don’t let something distracting on the fringes take your viewers’ eyes away from your intended subject.

(I didn’t include the little girls face in this image because my intent was to focus on those adorable little chunky legs and that gorgeous sunlight in the background. Simple!)

There IS more to good composition than the placement of elements. Lighting, shutter speed, depth of field and other considerations contribute to a picture’s mood and clarity of what the picture is saying, and therefore the effectiveness of its composition. We’ll cover those topics soon!

Once you start observing the principles of composition, employing them will become second nature to you. The best way to learn and to improve your composition is by practicing and experimenting. With the dawn of the digital age in photography we no longer have to worry about film processing costs. As a result, experimenting with our photos’ composition has become a real possibility; we can fire off tons of shots and delete the unwanted ones at absolutely no extra cost. Take advantage of this and experiment with your composition – you never know whether an idea will work until you try it. Your images will greatly improve and people will start commenting on how great they look! So go ahead and… capture the moment.

~ Mary M.

CONTEST!
If you have an image that you feel is well-composed, post it on the Facebook page for our fans to see and our FANS get to be the voters! The top 5 winners will receive the textured images below via download from Mary Moseley Photography. Your images will also be highlighted on Mary’s Blog. If you have any composition tips of your own feel free to post them too!

Capture the Moment… The Rule of Thirds

I am thrilled to be writing a monthly article, Capture the Moment…, for My Memories Suite.  The article will focus on one photography tip each month and will be posted on the My Memories Suite Blog on the 1^st of each month. Without photos, scrapbooking would be nonexistent.  As the core element of our layouts, photographs inspire us and influence our design choices.  Great photos will make even greater scrapbook pages.  So, let’s dig in…

Do you consistently try to center your subject when taking photographs?  This topic has been coming up a lot lately.  It’s also my pet peeve! WHY does everyone think the subject needs to be centered?  I often have to shake my head (and not scream!) when friends/family look at images and say “I would like it better if he/she/it was in the middle” or “why isn’t he/she/it centered”.  C’mon, seriously? NOT centering images is done for a REASON!  Here’s a little “design” lesson.  Let’s see if it will change your mind about always centering your images.

The “Rule of Thirds” is a basic design principle that is the basis for well-balanced and interesting shots. The basic principle behind this rule is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have a 9 part grid as follows:

With this grid in mind, the Rule of Thirds now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image. The four points where these lines intersect are strongest focal points. The lines themselves are the second strongest focal points.  In theory, if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines, then your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images, people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points more naturally than to the center of the shot. Using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.

In learning how to use the rule of thirds the most important questions to be asking of yourself are:

What are the points of interest in this shot?

Where am I intentionally placing them?

The auto-focus mode on your camera may cause problems when shooting in Rule of Thirds style because it assumes the subject is in the center of the frame.  That’s when auto-focus lock comes in handy.  Simply aim your camera so that the auto-focus frame is positioned over your subject and push the shutter release button halfway.  By keeping your finger in place on the button, you lock in focus.  You can then re-compose your shot and shoot the image.

Don’t forget to keep the Rule of Thirds in mind as you edit your photos – cropping and reframing images so that they fit within the rules.  Experiment with some of your old shots to see what impact it might have.  You may be surprised.

(by using the rule-of-thirds principle, I was able to crop out the distracting girl in the background which brings the focus on the boy trying to hide his smile from me)

Rules, as we all know, are meant to be broken. Ignoring the Rule of Thirds doesn’t mean your images are unbalanced or uninteresting.  In certain situations, breaking the rule can actually result in some striking shots.  A very talented commercial photographer recently told me that if you intend to break a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your breaking of it is all the more effective.

(filling your frame with an image is the ideal time to break the rule)

So go ahead… I DARE you.  Do NOT center your images!  Apply the rule-of-thirds design principle and you may surprise yourself.  In the end, we love our favorite shots not for technical qualities (ok, maybe just a little), but because they’re meaningful and spark within us a certain feeling or memory.  Capture those moments… centered or NOT!

~ Mary M.

Do something with your photos!

Have you ever wondered what you were going to do with all the digital photographs you have sitting on your computer? Scrapbooking with paper and glue is not your thing, but you feel guilty that all your memories are stuff away in files or boxes and your family doesn’t get to enjoy them?

Read more