Exposure part III: Getting Creative

In the final part of the series I want to show a few examples of when we want to intentionally over/under expose.

As this is the 'most advanced' part of this tutorial I will not get too much into technical stuff. I will assume you all know how to change the exposure and how to make sure you have enough light for whatever you are planning.

The key here, is planning. Although it is easy to just look at the screen and see what came out (or even use a bracket set - as explained below), when you start to know what you are looking for in an image is when these over/under settings really become part of the creative process.

Exposure part II: Know Your Limits

Today I will talk a little about unsharp pictures. Most people are happy with their camera and seem to get sharp, colorful images every time, even with a cheap point-and-shoot or a cell phone camera. At least, until they try to take a picture at a low light situation. This is usually when the blurriness starts.

Of course, buying a better (more expensive) camera might help. It might not (sometimes it's too dark). Maybe, just maybe, you just didn't make the right choice of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

I don't intend to specify what the "correct exposure" for every situation is. For that we have a built in light meter, and a little screen on the back of the camera.


I do want to show some examples of what kinds of blurriness or noise we get from badly chosen exposure settings. Once you know what they look like, you might be able to get sharper images in the same situation, or at least know when too dark is just too dark.