exposure Archives

Best Metering Mode for Landscape, Portrait, Wedding Photography

One of the most fundamental aspects of photography is to meter a scene. Metering denotes measuring the amount if ambient light in a scene and then using the camera’s exposure adjustment functions in order to find the right exposure value for an optimum exposure. The way scenes in real life are there is no way... Read more »

If you live anywhere other than in a remote cave, you’ve probably seen those movie posters where the guy has the trees growing out of the top of his head and, if you’re in the creative community then no doubt you’ve caught the influx of tutorials showing you how you, too, can achieve this effect called Double Exposure. Despite it’s being the latest technique du jour, double exposure is actually a very old technique, dating from the dawn of photography, occurring both accidently and intentionally, even as a way to fool people into believing their eyes. Read more...

Five Indicators That Reveal You Are a Photographer

These days with smartphones, camera phones and advanced pocket sized Point & Shoots everybody can aspire to be a photographer. As a matter of fact most do. Thanks to all the social media platforms that are also available now to fuel our ego these amateur photographers start to believe that they are real good at taking photos. Read more...

Summer in India is legendary for all the wrong reasons. So much so that there is actually a phrase “Indian summer.” I, like every other staunch Indian is never too perturbed about summer. Inside, though, I long for an escape to the cool breeze of the sea or the lower Himalayas for a week’s holiday. But taking a week’s break at this time of the year, is unimaginable. So, I do the next best thing- a short and sweet weekend trip. It just happens to be that I just came back from one such weekendbreak. Read more...

AF Tricks and Tips for Wildlife Photography

When it comes to wildlife photography, choosing the right auto-focusing mode can often make the difference between getting a perfect action photo and missing an incredible moment. Your digital SLR camera has a number of shooting options. Which, when activated, can be give you the leverage you need in order to nail a shot on the first attempt. I am referring to auto-focusing modes and the various custom AF settings on your camera. Read more...

Five features on your DSLR camera that you probably never use

Your camera comes with three handy metering systems. If you are using a Canon system camera yours have four to boast. Thus far you probably have been using only one – matrix metering; which was set as default in the camera. While I have nothing against this very intelligent and useful metering mode, it is unfortunately, however, not the best for all situations. In a tricky lighting situation, where you need to manually assign something in the scene as middle-grey, matrix metering shouldn’t be the obvious choice. Read more...

As a photographer, digital or otherwise, one thing that you need to have a good idea of is the camera metering mode. By metering, I am referring to the process of assessing the light that is reflected off a surface and then the evaluation of the right exposure values for a properly exposed picture. All modern digital cameras employ the reflected light method when it comes to metering a scene; meaning, it actually measures how much light is reflected and not how much light falls on it. This process has its own limitations, but, we shall not be delving deeper into that. Here, however, we shall be looking at how to use the right metering mode for a given scene. Read more...

The Basic Rules of Photography and Common Mistakes

Everyone, even professionals, makes mistakes, although their mistakes are rare and usually caused by lack of concentration. Many mistakes can be easily avoided by just remembering them, understanding their causes and following the basic rules of photography. Read more...

Understanding the Basics of a Good Exposure

Exposure is the key concept that governs all forms of photography where light in some form or the other is used. Regardless of the camera, lens or other gear you may have, or post processing skills you may possess, if you are unfamiliar with the concepts of exposure and are incapable of getting a good exposure 9 out of 10 times, in camera, you will never be a good photographer. Even if your concept is a good one, a poor exposure is going to ruin the image. Read more...

Everything You Wanted To Know About Neutral Density Filters

Neutral density filters are primarily used for balancing exposures. By balancing exposure, I mean adjusting the amount of light that enters the lens so that the scene appears uniformly lit across the frame and every inch of it is exposed properly. A properly balanced image will show a histogram that is clustered more towards the middle of the graph. Too much on the right and you have an over-exposed image and too much on the left means you have under-exposed.

Technically speaking, an under-exposed image is better than an over-exposed one, because you would still be able to salvage some details from an under-exposed image. You would need to shoot in RAW for that. However, getting the exposure correct in-camera is the best option by far.

The reason these filters are called as neutral is because they stop light across the spectrum equally, without any bias. Consider them as shades for your camera lens.