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Understanding exposure

on Jul 11, 2017

In this Photo Tip I will go through an invaluable concept with regards to photography, namely exposure. The exposure of an image can make it or break it and will decide whether it’s worthy of being kept or discarded.

In this series of images which do you find most appealing?

And again, in this series?

If your answers were the second image for the two series of images, then you already understand the importance of correct exposure. As you can see above, if it is under exposed, the image is too dark and looks flat and if it is over exposed, it becomes too bright and washed out.

The key to having a balanced exposure is making sure that all the elements in your picture are lit equally and are coming out in detail in your image. The best way to achieve this is by making use of the histogram your camera produces once you have taken your image. For the purpose of this photo tip I am using the one found in Lightroom.

07Balanced Exposure

If you look in the top right corner you will see a graph depicting many things but mainly it depicts the colour balance as well as exposure. We will be focusing on the exposure section. If you look closely you will notice that the line is pretty well spread across the centre of the histogram and makes a small bow in the centre with a low point on either end that does not intersect with either edge.

This is a neutral exposure and is what you will be looking for in most of your images. Over exposure pushes the graph to the left as seen below.

08Over Exposure

And under exposure pushes it to the right as seen below.

09Under Exposure

In some artistic cases, this general understanding can be manipulated to achieve certain effects but for now we are just trying to achieve the gradual, centralised bow in the histogram. A very good tip to remember as well is to expose for the bright sections of the image as when these are blown out white you can't recover them whereas you can lighten darker sections of your image quite easily using Lightroom.

Have fun using this new technique and don't just look through the viewfinder, look around...

  • By Sheldon Hooper (Bush Lodge Ranger)
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