Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO | DP Week 2

Every photographer should learn from the beginning how to properly use the exposure triangle. The exposure triangle is made up of three camera components: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

• Aperture: the size of the opening in the camera's lens through which light enters. Usually measured in f-stops. A lower f-stop number indicates a wider aperture, allowing more light to enter the camera, while a higher f-stop number represents a narrower aperture, letting in less light. The aperture not only controls the exposure but also affects the depth of field in an image.
• Shutter speed: also known as exposure time, determines how long the camera's sensor is exposed to light. It is measured in seconds or fractions of a second. Shutter speed is crucial for controlling motion in a photograph. Fast shutter speeds freeze action, while slow shutter speeds can create motion blur.
• ISO: this measures the sensitivity of the camera's sensor to light. Lower ISO values result in less sensitivity and require more light to achieve proper exposure, while higher ISO values increase sensitivity and are useful in low-light conditions. However, higher ISO settings can introduce digital noise, which can degrade image quality.

Practicing these is as simple as just grabbing your camera and manually adjusting each component to see the different results.

Large/wide aperture

Small/narrow aperture

In these aperture pictures, you can see the difference in the depth of field, with the large aperture, one subject gets the focus, but with a small aperture, the focus goes on multiple subjects and the photo gets more light too.

Slow/Low shutter speed

Fast/high shutter speed

With a slow shutter speed, the water got a blurry effect, with a fast shutter speed, the water movement can be seen more clearly.

High ISO

Low ISO

With a low ISO, you get good light and clarity of the subject, with a too-high ISO, you can get digital noise and too much light if you do not compensate for the other two components.

This exercise, helped me understand better how the exposure triangle works, and why it is important. There are certain times in which we can't control every detail of a scenario we want to photograph, but we can control the exposure triangle and get great photo results. We can get the right amount of light, we can just focus on one subject we want, we can freeze or capture a movement, and more. And definitely, as a beginner photographer, I need to keep practicing with these interesting components.