Working Creatively with the Three Exposure Controls - Introduction

I have been asked about how to get better at taking photos, or rather, how to handle the camera better. I love that question, because it allows people to improve the way they are thinking with their camera, instead of just taking snapshots of random moments.

I always try to explain to people how to use the three exposure controls as the basis for their improvement and better familiarity with their camera. The shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO. These three controls help the photographer to make the right exposure, so the subject on the photo becomes clear and bright enough to see. Each of them can be adjusted to allow more or less light onto the sensor - which functions like the film of the analog cameras, though it has to be added that the ISO function doesn’t add light, but makes the sensor more sensitive to light, and that way making the image brighter. The idea is the same though, raise the ISO value, and the image will get brighter. Open the aperture and slow down the shutter speed, and the image will get brighter.

However, these three functions are not only helpful to control the exposure. They work in different ways, and through these ways they can be used creatively, when you’re making your photo. The aperture can help control how much will be in focus, or how blurred out your background will be. The shutter speed can help freeze action or introduce motion into the image. The ISO can add noise, giving a grungy feeling of film grain from the old days of analog photography. Knowing how to use these three functions can help you not only be able to understand your camera better, but also to use it much more creatively.

Since I get these questions every now and then, I thought that I would share my insights with all of you, so in the coming week I will be sharing three posts with a deep dive into each function as well as some examples on how they can be used creatively.