Proper Exposure In Manual With a DSLR - Detailed Guide

[SpornyTheAlien]

This is mainly for beginner-grade DSLR's, but can be translated into the professional models as well. I do recommend you learning on something cheap first. That way you will learn to take the best shots you possibly can without having to rely on extra features. Once you figure out what type of photography you wish to do, you can upgrade to fit your needs. I will create a guide for picking out the right DSLR for you later.

Here is an exposure meter. See the big dot in the middle?



Notice the...

+. . . . . 0 . . . . . .-

The "0" is the center, proper exposed point on the exposure meter. When the "l" is under the "0" it means it is properly exposed. I call it the "happy place". To do this, spin the command dial till it is at the correct setting. By doing this you are changing your shutter speed. Shutter speed is how fast the camera takes the photo. The higher the shutter speed (in the above diagram - 1/320) the faster it will shoot, but it will also make images more darker, or lighter. You just need to watch the exposure meter while spinning the dial.

ISO (seen as ISO 100 in the first diagram) directly effects how sensitive your sensor is to light. It also allows you to get faster shots. The higher the ISO, the faster the shutter speed. The higher the ISO number means the more light that is let in. However the higher you raise your ISO setting, the more noise there may be on your images. Try and keep your ISO as low as possible. Noise in digital photos is caused by heat in the sensor. Astrophotographers that use long exposures often cool the sensor up to -20°C with a Peltier unit, just to avoid noise. (That is more technical than a beginner needs to know though.)


The aperture will control the depth of field and exposure. The aperture setting (f-number - as seen as F 5.6 in the first diagram) can make the aperture more narrow, or more wide. The widest aperture setting being the lowest f-number your camera will go, and the narrowest aperture setting being the highest number your aperture will go. This next diagram will show you how to control your aperture. Wide apertures allow more light to enter the sensor while narrow apertures keep light from coming in. The lower the aperture the more depth of field (blurry background) you will have.




For Canon users (such as myself), what is written above is essentially the same thing for Canon. Here is your diagram.

[SpornyTheAlien]

tl;dr

You expect something short from a professional that wishes to teach photography to people for free? If I am going to contribute my knowledge of photography, I am not going to post small baby-guides. This is for people that seriously want to learn.

[ajaxer]

Increasing the ISO does not make the sensor generate more heat. That only happens during long exposures.
A lot of astrophotographers will also stack images instead of using long exposures. This avoids the problem with long exposures and heat on the sensor.

The reason that kicking up the ISO generates more noise is because the little light that is coming in and being recorded is being amplified.

See: Image noise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SpornyTheAlien]

that's nice, but nobody asked you to.

I know. I enjoy helping people. I am sure there will eventually be members that will wish to learn photography.

[SpornyTheAlien]

Increasing the ISO does not make the sensor generate more heat. That only happens during long exposures.
A lot of astrophotographers will also stack images instead of using long exposures. This avoids the problem with long exposures and heat on the sensor.

The reason that kicking up the ISO generates more noise is because the little light that is coming in and being recorded is being amplified.

See: Image noise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Of course. I only added the heat thing for a little bit of extra knowledge of noise with long exposures. Photo stacking is a bit more complex than a beginner needs to know. I will write a full guide on it later. ^^ Right now it is much more simple for a beginner to raise the ISO to get night photos without star trails.

[Raivu]

Great tutorial dude!

I love all of you, but no need to be assholes.

"tl;dr" or "^" aren't posts contributing to the topic or discussion, so please try and keep it in the JY.
I don't mean to be an ass about it, but I don't want this forum to become another spam center

[SpornyTheAlien]

Thank you, Raivu.