Exposure triangle

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How the exposure triangle works

Exposure is how much light reaches the sensor. Three settings control it, and each one also changes something else about the picture. Getting a good photo means trading those side effects against each other.

• Stops

  Photographers count light in stops. One stop doubles or halves the light. Every step of the three sliders above is exactly one stop, so one step brighter on one slider can be undone by one step darker on another.

• Aperture

  The size of the opening inside the lens, written as an f-number. Smaller numbers mean a wider opening, more light and a shallower depth of field: less of the scene in focus. f/1.4 to f/2 isolates a subject; f/11 to f/22 keeps everything sharp.

• Shutter speed

  How long the sensor collects light. Fast speeds freeze motion; slow speeds let moving things blur, which can look like silky water or, handheld, like camera shake. A common rule: handheld, stay faster than 1 divided by the focal length.

• ISO

  How much the camera amplifies the signal. It doesn't add light; it brightens what was captured, and amplifies noise along with it. Shadows show the noise first.

• Exposure value and reciprocity

  Many combinations give the same exposure. f/8 at 1/125 equals f/5.6 at 1/250 equals f/11 at 1/60. The exposure value (EV) names that whole family; bright sun is about EV 15, a lit street at night about EV 4.

• ND filters

  Neutral density filters are dark glass that cut light by a fixed number of stops. They let you use slow shutters or wide apertures in bright light, like the 30-second silky water example.

• Camera modes

  In manual you set all three. In aperture priority you pick the aperture and the camera picks the shutter; shutter priority is the reverse; auto ISO lets you fix both and the camera raises or lowers ISO.

• Clipping

  A sensor can't record beyond pure white or below pure black. Overexposed highlights and underexposed shadows lose all detail; no edit can bring it back. The clipping overlay shows those areas in red and blue.