Photography- it’s all about exposure. But what the heck IS exposure!? I am going to try and explain it to you in non-technical terms so that maybe it will “click” a little better. Exposure is all about figuring out a proper balance between three things- shutter speed (how long  your camera allows light to come through your lens) aperture (how big the opening is in your lens when it lets light in) and ISO (your camera’s sensitivity to light). There is no one “right” or magic combination- it changes according to how much light is available and what look you want to achieve in your photo.

I am going to get made fun of SO much for this…. but think about it terms of scenario one:

Congratulations, you are going on vacation. A luxurious, tropical vacation… but there’s one problem. You want to be a little less Snow White and a little more Pocahontas. Let’s say there is an exact shade that you have to be to go on vacation. So, you brave the threat of cancer and hop into a tanning bed. (Like I said…. people WILL roll their eyes at this exact moment haha). In the tanning bed there are three variables to consider-

1) How long you lay in the tanning bed and expose yourself to those cancer causing rays of faux light 🙂 (Shutter speed)

2) The power of the bulbs… how much light they put out (Aperture)

3) What lotions you may or may not use to enhance or prevent the tan from happening. (ISO)

First, you will consider what lotions you need to use. If it’s super bright you want to err on the side of safety so you need to put on some sunscreen (Lower your ISO so you are not as sensitive to the light). If the bulbs aren’t hardly putting anything out and it’s dark in there, you’d want to put some enhancing lotion on. (Raise your ISO a little or a lot depending on how dark it is.) The standard ISO is 400. The higher your ISO the more grainy your photo will look.

Next, you will consider the brightness of the bulbs. Since you are going on vacation you don’t want to waste time laying there forever when you could be at J Crew hitting up their resort wear 🙂 SO let’s say the bed we choose has super powered bulbs. I love using apertures that are “wide” because they isolate the subject from the background and make the background blurred and beautiful. I mostly shoot from f/1.8-3.2. If you are a beginner, try shooting in Aperture Priority mode. This will read an “A” or “Av” on your dial. GET A PRIME LENS (specifically 50mm) if at all possible. This will make such a drastic difference. The lens that came with your camera is likely to only go down to 3.5 or so. So now you’ve set your aperture and you know how much light you are going to let into your camera/to tan yo’self.

The final thing to consider is how long you need to stay in the tanning bed with the given bulb power. If you are shooting in aperture priority mode, your camera will choose the shutter speed for you. This is a great way to learn! If you want to take it a step forward and make an attempt at being a total BA, switch that dial over to “M”… the coveted manual mode. Pick your ISO. Choose your aperture. If you want just a little bit in focus, choose a low number. If you want a good bit in focus, move that number up. THEN look through your viewfinder (eye piece) and you will see something that looks something like this: +…|…- When you change your shutter speed, little lines will move towards the plus sign (showing it’s overexposed or too bright) or the minus sign (showing it’s underexposed or too dark). Move your shutter speed to where it’s dead center and then take the photo. That’s a “perfect” exposure. When I am taking portraits of people I always move the line a little bit towards the plus sign because I think that skin looks great when brightened a little.

Something to think about: Say you only had bulbs that don’t pack a lot of power. You have to figure out a solution because you have to achieve that precise shade of tan to go on vacation…. so what do you do? Wouldn’t it work the same if you just layed under the bulbs but for a longer period of time? Absolutely! When you are stuck with an aperture that doesn’t allow much light in, you just need to keep the shutter open for a little bit longer so that as much light comes in as needed. I have found that for me personally, I can’t shoot less than 80 or 100 holding it by hand and have it be sharp. When the shutter is open for longer periods than that, it detects even the smallest movements and your photo will be blurry. To avoid this problem, you can do one of two things. 1) Put your camera on a tripod. I would even put it on a self timer so that you won’t shake the camera by pushing the button. or 2) Up your ISO so that it’s more sensitive to light so that you can use faster shutter speeds. Voila!

There ya have it, friends. A totally ridiculous way to remember how to set exposure. Thoughts?