Watch Photography Exposure Basics on YouTube
Ever wondered how your camera's exposure works? How to get the really shallow depth of field or stop a long jumper in mid flight? Read on! If you would like to improve your photography then you absolutely must know this, backwards, forwards and upside down. One day it should 'just click' and you get it, but until then watch this video a lot until you do.
Your camera does a great job of calculating the exposure with its built in light meter, BUT it has no idea what type of photograph you want to create. I mention in the video in my mind's eye I create photos in aperture priority, then transmit those settings to the camera. As you may know my primary subject matter is portraits and I prefer to have a shallow DOF (Depth of Field) and then set everything from there. ISO should be as low as possible, but not at the expense of a sharp image with a slow shutter speed. The magic number in shutter speeds is 1/60th of a second, which is usually fast enough to capture people standing still without any motion blur and will also keep camera shake to a minimum.

Comments
great video!! You explained everything nicely. But I think you forgot ISO 200 on your board..
Great work. Now I know what went wrong when I was experimenting with my new 50 1.8 last night. I look forward to the next one.
Great video otherwise. Looking forward to see some more advanced videos in the future. Thanks Greg!
Nice to see that you haven´t lost your touch making great videos :-).
Let them keep coming.
Thanks.
I like the white board - Having things written makes them easier to understand.
Clair
xxx
ps thanks for the add on flick
team factor
I think it was also smart to start with the foundation of exposure and build off of that too! Great video thank you for the time it takes to shoot/edit/post the video too.
By the way (an I am sure you know this but your viewers might not), the term "reciprocity" is used to describe the relationship between ISO, Shutter, and Aperture, and it is actually an inverse relationship (when one goes up, the other has to go down).
I agree with you about using manual mode to learn reciprocity. When I was a young guy, all that you had were manual cameras (and the film was rated in ASA!).
Again, great start.
best regards man!
But isn't 400 to 100 iso 2 stops?
Sorry did I miss something?
ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800...
Personally, I tend to shoot in aperture priority with ISO manually set - that way I control noise and DOF but let the camera sort out exposure.
One thing that maybe could have made things clearer would be reversing the order of ISO....
As it is left to right moving the aperture makes the image less exposed, moving the shutter speed makes the image less exposed but moving the iso makes the image more exposed.
Keep it up - looking forward to some more advanced stuff ;)
I certainly learned something - when you were talking about the 1/3 in front of the focal point and 2/3 behind it being in focus.
waiting for more advanced videos.
i usually do not leave comments but here that was full of information for me
I'm struggling to get a correct exposure in manual mode do you mean the best way to get it is to check the exposure in Aperture Priority mode for example and then apply changes in manual mode in function of the scene and the effect we are looking for?
Keep on!
Micha
Not exactly, your camera has a meter inside the viewfinder, use to get proper exposure in manual mode.
"Great first video. That basically covered 3 weeks of my photography class in 12 minutes. You should start giving small assignments at the end of each video and a place to post them so that we can practice what we learn. Good job."
Good advice.
Jared just do the assignment thing. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOL
Once again Greg is overwhelmed. He just can't keep up with Jared. He's far behind, and his 1 video per week just buried all he's ardor. Jared just stole the ideea and put it into practice . . . many ideeas will be lost by Greg, because he's to slow . . . to slow to keep it up.
I am not in competition with Jared, where do you get that idea? I am doing my OWN THING at my OWN PACE. If I wanted to have a forum/assignmen ts section on the website I could have it up in 2 hours. Jared and I talked about doing the assignments thing many months ago, I'm glad to see he's putting it into action. I on the other hand have a different take on things. If I start an assignment program that means I need to dedicate time to give the readers feedback which I don't know if I can do right now. I'd much rather give the information I can at my own pace than overextend myself and then my brand and viewers suffer. You tell me, which would you rather have me do? Something halfassed or be 110% dedicated?
I am not in competition with Jared, where do you get that idea? I am doing my OWN THING at my OWN PACE. If I wanted to have a forum/assignmen ts section on the website I could have it up in 2 hours. Jared and I talked about doing the assignments thing many months ago, I'm glad to see he's putting it into action. I on the other hand have a different take on things. If I start an assignment program that means I need to dedicate time to give the readers feedback which I don't know if I can do right now. I'd much rather give the information I can at my own pace than overextend myself and then my brand and viewers suffer. You tell me, which would you rather have me do? Something halfassed or be 110% dedicated?
My man, you are 5% (or less) dedicated to this right now. From 5% to 110% you it is a loooooooooong, loooooooong way ahead.
You don't know me or what I'm about. You also have no reason to think my dedication level is "5%". Just because I put up 1 video a week (better quality, less BS) doesn't mean I'm not dedicated. Come back to me in a year and see my dedication level.
It is OK if you want to do in a year what you can do in 2 weeks. See ya in ONE year. I'm so disappointed . . .
it seems like you don't catch the ideea. We all support you because we need that photo information TODAY. And you just told us to wait a year. THX, but I think I will get my answers elsewhere. Good luck with your ONE YEAR PROJECT. I will guide my childrens to your site, when they grow up. Until then you will finish your project. Good luck!
dont mind the distractors Greg.
yes i feel that you and Jared work better when you guys are together. but for someone to say you are behind Jared is really out of line specially if there is no competition between the two.
everyone has their own thing.
like Jared is more of funky guy that mess around in the videos to keep it more entertaining.
and you are more of the technical guy that explains the fundamentals really well and make it more precise (no BS as you said and all useful informations to make it simple)
personally i dont know what happened between you and jared. im gonna miss your collaborations specially in the RAW edit. but goodluck with your site my man.
so far you've been doing pretty well!
keep it up!
What happen to iso 200 and how does it work in there also what happens if you are at f3 etc. I always find samples are better to have during tutorials just saying.
But I am glad I found your site due to the way you explain things and your voice is very clear and English which always helps...lol
How about doing one with natural light, outdoors, window etc with cheaper lens that a beginner would being using because I don't think to many of us can afford $2000 lens. I only ask because it seems there is lots of videos showing us beginners how to take pictures but it just seems they are always shot with what we would never start out with.
I have a 50mm 1.8g - 18-55mm and a 200mm with a nikon d5000. I know that we can shoot great photos with these lens but just can't find any videos with the cheaper end of the photography scale equipment being used.
and the way of explaining very good
Thanks.
I am new to photography and going to buy a Nikon 3200 today. Of most the tutorials, I have watched on internet/youtub e, I find you the best teacher. Going to try to follow all your instruction and tips. Thankyou for your utmost knowledge sharing.