Defining Exposure

22 Jul

Understanding Exposure from Lucas Cobb on Vimeo.

Summary

Today every camera–be it film or digital–is nothing more than a lightproof box with a lense at one end and light sensitive film or a digital card at the other end. The same light enters the lens (the aperture), and after a certain amount of time (determined by shutter speed) an image will be recorded (on film or digital media). This recorded image has been called–since day one–an exposure, and it still is.

Sometimes, the word exposure refers to a finished slide or print: “Wow, that’s a nice exposure!” At other times, it refers to the film or digital card: “I’ve only got a few exposures left.” But more often than not, the word exposure refers to the amount, and act, of light falling on photosensitive material (either the film or digital sensor). And in this context, it comes up most often as part of a question–a question I’ve heard more often than any other: “What should my exposure be?” (In other words, how much light should hit the film/digital media and for how long?) And my answer is always the same: “Your exposure should be correct!”

Although my answer appears to be flippant, it really is the answer. A correct exposure really is what every amateur and professional alike hopes to accomplish with his or her camera.


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17 Responses to “Defining Exposure”

  1. Daniel 23. Jul, 2010 at 1:34 pm #

    Fantastic vid Lucas, didn’t know much about exposure and now I do. Excellent design btw!

    • Lucas Cobb 23. Jul, 2010 at 2:36 pm #

      I try Dan :D Getting better at the whole vid thing. Exposure is a beast and I just barely scratched the surface.

      I think my design kicks ass. I’m so happy with it. Not sure about the dots though. Still feeling it out.

  2. Ulrich 24. Jul, 2010 at 11:33 am #

    First of all – the light falls either on the film or in case of digital cmaeras the CCD or CMOS sensor. Not the card. The card just serves ad data storage. Exposure is the ammount of time the light falls on the CCD, CMOS or film. It is the time the shutter is opened. Exposure actually tells you the shutter speed. The time it takes from the moment the shutter openes to the moment it closes back again. In the mean time, when it is open, the light falls on the sensor or film. To truly understany what shutter speed (or exosure) really means for the photo you take one has to understand how a film/sensor gathers light.

    All in all your post is very superfitial and alltoghether wrong.

    • Lucas Cobb 24. Jul, 2010 at 2:30 pm #

      In the context of this post I was referring to the digital card as being the end storage device. As you can see I clarified that the light falls on the digital sensor (CCD) to make the exposure (image).

      In my posts I try not to get all technical so the broad mass of my readership can understand what I am writing. As I said in previous comments I barely scratched the surface with this post and was offering a broad understanding of what exposure is. I don’t see where I am wrong in my post but you are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.

      • Ulrich 24. Jul, 2010 at 4:52 pm #

        I’m just saying that the post is missleading and can cause some disinformation among the readers. In order to understand what exposure is and how it affects photography one has to know the subject in depth. Otherwise it might be missleading and do more damage than good.

  3. the Success Ladder 25. Jul, 2010 at 2:57 am #

    Wonderful site and theme, would really like to see a bit more content though!
    Great post all around, added your XML feed! Love this theme, too!

    • Lucas Cobb 25. Jul, 2010 at 9:15 am #

      thanks for the compliments and I’m glad you added my rss. Look forward to much more content in the future.

  4. jared thompson 27. Jul, 2010 at 11:09 am #

    Great to see another video and i think we all agree that the new lcd kicks ass!

    • Lucas Cobb 28. Jul, 2010 at 10:29 pm #

      Thanks for the kind words Jared and I think the new design kicks ass as well. I’m going to keep the video’s rolling out.

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