Exposure control is the process of making sure that you capture your image with the exactly the

right amount
of light needed to produce the effect you wish to obtain. You measure light levels with an exposure meter—
usually one that is built into the camera or a separate handheld meter—and with the aid of meter readings,
you adjust the shutter, aperture, and ISO settings. It is important to control exposure accurately and carefully,
as it not only ensures you obtain the best from whatever system you are using, but it also saves you the time
and effort of manipulating the image unnecessarily at a later stage. Measuring systems To determine
exposure, the camera measures the light entering the camera that is reflected from a scene. The simplest
system measures light from the entire field of view, treating all of it equally. Many cameras use a center-
weighted system, in which light from the entire field of view is registered, but greater account is taken of that
coming from the central portion of the image. This can be taken further, so that the light from most of the
image is ignored, except that from a central part. This can vary from a central 25 percent of the whole area to
less than 5 percent. For critical work, this selective area, or spot-metering, system is the most accurateA far
more elaborate exposure system divides the entire image area into a patchwork of zones, each of which is
separately evaluated. This system, commonly referred to as evaluative or matrix metering, is extremely
successful at delivering consistently accurate exposures over a wide range of unusual or demanding lighting
conditions. This is now widely used in modern cameras—from compacts and SLRs, to mirrorless cameras. As
good as they are, the exposure systems found in modern cameras are not perfect. There will be times when
you have to give the automation a helping hand—usually when the lighting is most interesting or challenging.
This is why it is so crucially important to understand what exactly constitutes “optimum exposure.” Optimized
dynamics Every photographic medium has a range over which it can make accurate records—beyond that, the
representation is less precise. This range, or latitude, is represented by a scale of grays on either side of the
mid-tone—from dark tones with detail (for example, dark hair with some individual strands distinguishable),
to light tones showing texture (for example, paper showing creases and wrinkles). If you locate your exposure
so that the most important tone of your image falls in the EXPOSURE CONTROL CORE SKILLS Exposure control
is the process of making sure that you capture your image with the exactly the right amount of light needed to
produce the effect you wish to obtain. You measure light levels with an exposure meter—usually one that is
built into the camera or a separate handheld meter—and with the aid of meter readings, you adjust the
shutter, aperture, and ISO settings. It is important to control exposure accurately and carefully, as it not only
ensures you obtain the best from whatever system you are using, but it also saves you the time and effort of
manipulating the image unnecessarily at a later stage.One effective way to work with colors is to ensure the
main colors in your pictures are complementary pairs—such as red–green, yellow– violet, orange–blue. Try to
capture subject matter with complementary colors; it is not as easy as you might expect. But you will find that,
with practice, complementary color pairs will catch your eye even if you are not consciously looking for them.
As you refine your technique, see if you can use color complementaries to separate out elements in your
image—use the language of color to express and communicate your response to a sceneCOLOR COMPOSITION
CORE SKILLS Color can be used to express emotion in an image. Pale, soft colors are restful and tranquil, while
rich, vibrant colors burst with energy and demand attention. Color is integral to visual experience, but in
photography it is almost a separate subject in itself. The basis of successful color photography is to use color in
its own right, instead of merely capturing the many hues of a scene. Color as subject One approach is to
photograph colors themselves rather than the objects they imbue—that is, to try to treat the subject as if it
were the incidental feature in the scene. You do not need to learn to see in color, but you do need to learn to
see colors for themselves—entirely separate from the thing that displays the color. This change of mental
focus could radically transform the entire way you photograph. You evaluate a scene not in terms of whether
it is a marvelous vista but in color analytic terms. You will observe that colors vary not only with hue—the
name given to a color—but also with intensity, or saturation. Soon, you will appreciate another quality: the
value, or brightness, of a color. With more experience, you will appreciate that certain colors can be captured
in their full richness, whereas others will appear weaker. Understanding each dimension adds to your ability to
compose with color. Color wheel The colors of the rainbow can be arranged in a circle (the “color wheel”): the
basic primary colors CHANGING VIEWPOINTS CORE SKILLS Always be on the lookout for viewpoints that give a
new slant to your work. Don’t ignore the simple devices, such as shooting down at a building instead of up at
it, or trying to see a street scene from a child’s viewpoint rather than an adult’s. Your choice of viewpoint
communicates subtle messages that say as much about you as they do your subject. Take a picture of
someone from a distance, for example, and the image carries a sense that you, too, were distant from that
person. If you photograph a scene of poverty from the viewpoint of a bystander, the picture will again have
that distant look of having been taken by an aloof observer. Lively markets are popular photographic subjects,
but what do they look like from a stallholder’s position? If you enjoy sports, shoot from within the action, not
from the sidelines. Practical points Higher viewpoints enable you to reduce the amount of foreground and
increase the area of background recorded by a lens. From a high vantage point, a street or river scene lies at a
less acute angle than when seen from street or water level. This reduces the amount of depth of field required
to show the scene in sharp focus. However, from a low camera position subjects may be glimpsed through a
sea of grass or legs. And if you look upward from a low position, you see less background and more sky,
making it easier to separate your subject from its surroundings. ▲ Less can say more At markets and similar
types of location, all the activity can be overwhelming—and the temptation is often to try to record the entire
busy, colorful scene. However, if you look around you, there could be images at your feet showing much less
but saying so much more. In Uzbekistan I noticed next to a fruit stall a lady who had nothing to sell but
tERCEIVED DEPTH OF FIELD Acceptable sharpness varies according to how much blur a viewer is prepared
accept. This, in turn, depends on how much detail a viewer can discern in the image, which, in turn, depends
on the final size of the image (as seen on a screen or as a paper print). As a small print, an image may display
great depth of field; however, as the image is progressively enlarged, it then becomes more and more obvious
where the unsharpness begins, thereby making the depth of field appear increasingly more limited. ▲ Right
aperture Even an ultra wide-angle lens will offer insufficient depth of field when objects are close to the lens
and very distant unless a small aperture is used. In this shot, the charm of the scene would have been lost had
either the château or foreground flowers been unsharp. The smallest aperture on this lens was set to give
maximum sharpness, but the long shutter time needed meant that a tripod was necessary. ▶FOCUSING AND
DEPTH OF FIELD CONTINUED CORE SKILLS Autofocusing (AF) Cameras are able to focus automatically on your
photographic subject by using one of two systems. The active system, which uses a beam of infrared (IR), is
now largely obsolete but was formerly much used in compact AF cameras. In the passive system, however,
sensors analyze the image to determine whether it is in focus and, if not, how best to bring it into focus. One
passive method detects the contrast of fine detail in the image: unfocused images present as low-contrast,
because they lack detail. The lens is then made to change focus so that contrast is at a peak, corresponding
with a sharp image. This method requires good light levels to work well. Another passive method samples a
part of the image, then splits it into two beams. When these beams fall on certain reference points in the
sensor (the beams are “in phase”), the lens is considered to be in focus. The crucial property of this method is
that the phase differences vary, depending on whether the lens is focused in front of or behind the plane of
best focus. This information enables the system to work very rapidly, even continuously. For best results, note
the following: ▪ For off-center subjects, aim the focusing area at your subject, “hold” the focus with light
pressure on the shutter or focus-lock button, then reframe. ▪ Extremely bright objects in the focusing region—
sparkling reflections on polished metal, for instance— could confuse the sensor and reduce accuracy. ▪
Photographing beyond objects that are close to the lens—for example, through a bush or between the gaps in
a fence—can confuse the autofocus system. ▪ Restless subjects, such as children or flowers in a light breeze,
may be best kept in focus by setting a distance manually and then adjusting your position backward and
forward to maintain focus.Effects of lens aperture The main reason for changing lens aperture is to adjust
camera exposure: a smaller aperture restricts the beam of light passing through the lens. However, the
aperture also alters depth of field. As you set smaller apertures, the cone of light passing through the lens
becomes slimmer and more needlelike. As a result, even when it is not perfectly focused, light from the
subject is not as spread out as it would be if a larger aperture were used. Thus, more of the scene within the
field of view appears sharp. In this illustration, lens focal length and focus distance remain the same, and
depth of field at f/2.8 covers just the depth of a person, whereas at f/8 it increases to 6ft (2m) in extent. At
f/22, depth of field extends from 5ft (1.5m) to infinity. ◀ Effects of lens focal length Variations in depth of field
resulting from focal length alone are due to image magnification. With our figure at a constant distance from
the camera, a long focal length (135mm) will record him at a larger size than does a standard lens (50mm),
which, in turn, creates a larger image than the wide-angle (28mm). To the eye, the figure is the same size, but
on the sensor or film, the figure’s size varies directly with focal length. Where details are rendered smaller in
the image, it is more difficult to make out what is sharp and what is not. As a result, depth of field appears to
increase. Conversely, longer focal length lenses magnify the image, so magnifying differences in focus. Thus,
depth of field appears to be greatly reducedFOCUSING AND DEPTH OF FIELD CORE SKILLS Depth of field is the
space in front of and behind the plane of best focus, within which objects appear acceptably sharp (see
opposite). Though accurate, this definition tells you nothing about the power that depth of field has in helping
you communicate your visual ideas. You can, for example, vary depth of field to imply space, to suggest being
inside the action, or to emphasize the separation between elements within the picture area. Varying depth of
field Your chief control over depth of field is the lens aperture: as you set smaller apertures (using f/11 instead
of f/4, for example), depth of field increases. This increase is greater the shorter the lens’s focal length, so that
the depth of field at f/11 on a 28mm lens is greater than it would be at f/11 on a 300mm lens at the same
working distance. Depth of field also increases as the subject being focused on moves further away from the
camera. Meanwhile, at close focusing distances, depth of field is very limited. Using depth of field An extensive
depth of field (resulting from using a small lens aperture, a wide-angle lens, distant focusing, or a combination
of these factors) is often used for the following types of subject: ▪ Landscapes, such as wide-angle, general
views. ▪ Architecture, in which the foregrounds to buildings are important features. ▪ Interiors, including
nearby furniture or other objects, and far windows and similar features. As a by-product, smaller apertures
tend to reduce lens flare and improve lens performance. A shallow depth of field (resulting from a wide lens
aperture, a long focal length lens, focusing close-up, or a combination of these) renders only a small portion of
the image sharp, and is often used for: ▪ Portraiture, to help concentrate viewer attention. ▪ Reducing the
distraction from elements that cannot be removed from the lens’s field of view. ▪ Isolating a subject from the
distracting visual clutter of its surroundings.
Chimping is short for “checking image preview” and seems very appropriate for photographers who
exclaim “Oo! Oo! Ah! Aah!” while reviewing their images on the camera’s LCD screen. If you allow yourself to
be distracted by the preview image, you will miss many shots. It also breaks the rhythm of shooting, and
interrupts the concentration you should be applying to the subject. Try to reserve your reviewing to rest
breaks and moments when you are sure nothing is going on. You do not have to go as far as some
photographers, who tape up their camera screens to wean themselves off the habit, but turn off the preview
and you will find you photograph more, and become more attuned to your subject.

Photographers have the good fortune to be able to build on the experience of centuries of painting and
graphic art with the unique visual tools of photography. Photographic composition arises through the joining
of elements such as angle of view, perspective, depth of field, color, and tone with the visual structures that
generations of artists have found effective in their work. Any photographic composition can be said to work if
the arrangement of the subject elements communicates effectively to the image’s intended viewers. Often,
the best way to ensure a striking composition is to look for the key ingredients of a scene and then adjust your
camera position and exposure controls to draw those elements out from the clutter of visual information that,
if left competing with each other, would weaken the photograph’s impact. Composition is not only about how
you frame the picture; it is also how you use aperture to control depth of field, focus to lead the viewer’s
attention, and expose to use light and shade to shape the image. If you are new to photography, it may help to
concentrate your attention on the scene’s overall