Exposing Yourself – Understanding Camera Exposure [CR004]

The lesson follows on from CR003 “What the f?!?” – while it is not mandatory to have attended that lesson, you need to understand the topics covered in it.

In this session we look at exposure and how the three variables of aperture, shutter-speed and ISO work together.  We look at various techniques for how you can calculate the exposure for the image you wish to create.  We look at how the camera can help us, and how a camera can easily get it wrong – and what to do about when the camera does. (exposure compensation)

We look at some typical exposure problems, such as limited dynamic range and what to do about it.

We then look at the different exposure modes on your camera: evaluative, centre-weighted, partial and spot

This session in conjunction with CR001 – CR003, CR005 – CR008, make up what used to be our “Introduction to Digital Photography” Course.   This session may be taken as a standalone session or with the other 7 sessions.  As with all Academy Events – printed training notes will be provided.

Suitable for: Beginners, anyone who is looking to get their camera off auto.  You will need a camera with aperture priority (Av or A) mode, and shutter priority (Tv or S) mode to be able to put this into practice.  All DSLRS, bridge cameras, and ‘mirrorless’ cameras have these modes.  Many compact “point and shoot” cameras have these modes.  If you use your phone as your camera you may need to download an app that gives you that capability.  Almost all cameras have some form of exposure compensation (phone cameras may need to download a camera app to give them exposure compensation).  Not all cameras will have all exposure modes.