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Single Picture Explains How Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO Work In Photography
If you’re a beginner photographer, it can be helpful to have a simple guide that helps you understand the different settings that you can toggle on your DSLR camera. While this helpful exposure chart by Daniel Peters at Fotoblog Hamburg won’t explain HOW the optics of photography work, it will show you exactly what happens when you tweak your camera’s settings.
The three settings in this chart are part of what photographers like to call the exposure triangle. ISO is the digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. The aperture is a structure in your lens that works much like the iris in our eyes. It opens and close to let more or less light in, and also changes the depth of field, or how many different objects can remain in focus in the shot at the same time. Last is the shutter speed, which controls how much time the camera’s shutter remains open when taking a photo. A longer shutter opening will let in more light but may also cause blurring if any motion occurs while the photo is being taken.
You can download Peters’ chart here.
More info: hamburger-fotospots.de | Facebook | Twitter (h/t: petapixel)
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What do you think ?
BobGilchrist 9 years ago
Good start but this will confuse the uninitiated. It is also a missed opportunity to show the relationship in exposure between the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. People will assume some vertical correspondence in a chart such as this. Reversing the Aperture row would at least indicate that large apertures are related to fast shutter speeds and high ISO settings.
RonYorgason 9 years ago
Possibly, but the left side is entirely related to less light / less sensitivity, while the right side is all related to more light / more sensitivity. That seems to make pretty good sense to me.
Load More Replies...
David Damico 8 years ago
Hi and thank you for this pocket chart. I am a career teacher for 11 and 12th grade high school students. Is there a poster sized version of this pocket card? I think hanging it on a wall would be fantastic.
CharlieSawyer 9 years ago
Nice teaching tool but they missed key elements that could/should have been shown: All three of these parameters have other important effects. f32 (smaller hole) lets in less light so resulting exposure is relativly darker than f1.4; Shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second likewise lets in less light so image is relatively darker than 1/2 second; and small ISO (say, 100) needs more light for a good exposure than large ISO number (say, 1000, which allows pix in less available light while increasing graininess). These effects are integral to understanding this.
DavidStotz 9 years ago
I think this page shows an incorrect version of the image. I landed here from a post on facebook and oddly, the thumbnail in the facebook post has the aperture row reversed. It makes much more sense that way and would be much more useful to the beginning photographer, as it demonstrates reciprocity - a fundamental concept in understanding how your camera works.
ShanePinnegar 9 years ago
any chance someone can make one of these for shooting bands in dark venues? I always struggle with the light and am in no way a skilled photographer!
StephGoralnick 9 years ago
It's the same chart, it's just that the limitation of low light leaves you with fewer choices. Cover the first seven squares in each row, this is the chart you're now working with.
Load More Replies...
GabrielLandry 9 years ago
Extra credit: do you know what the F64 club was and what the 64 was for?
ShoghiShams 9 years ago
Although this is informative, I find the information incomplete. It does not explain the exposure aspect of it.
MarkGottesman 9 years ago
This is a great very Basic Explanation for beginners. I'm writing an article on Photography 101 on this exact topic for my photo blog. I'm linking this over for people to help them in trying to Understand this principle.
CochilețTeodor 9 years ago
firstly but the most important is that all of them are changing the brightness of the photo.. More ISO gives more luminosity while a fast shutter speed and a large aperture make photos darker.
FelCruz 9 years ago
f-stop progression is backwards. f1.4 at half a second shutter speed and 25600 ISO would be severely overexposed.
StephGoralnick 9 years ago
I think this chart is meant to be a bit more simplified that that. Judging from the fact that they're depicting 3 different subjects, it seems that each row is separate. The settings aren't combined vertically.
Load More Replies...
TomHawkins 9 years ago
Two things to add: 1. A longer focal length is just as effective as a wide aperture for throwing background/foreground out of focus. If your max. aperture isn't wide enough, then zoom in and take a few steps backward. 2. Apertures smaller than f16 won't do much to improve the focus of the background/foreground, but will soften your images due to diffraction of light passing through a narrow hole. f/11 should be enough for any landscape, unless you're zoomed in of course (when the first point applies).
LaviShpigelman 9 years ago
What about lighting? You'd think that one could combine a fast shutter with small aperture and iso to get a good picture. Got to trade off ..
jkling 9 years ago
This is great for aperature and speed, but the description of ISO is severely lacking- it looks like higher ISO=worse picture (commenters have already mentioned this). That's NOT EVEN REMOTELY the case. The illustration would be better shoing the far left as all black, by 800 you can see the contrast, 1600 would be a perfect pic, and by 6400 it being washed out and starting to show noise.
GregSkinner 9 years ago
Yes, but the sensitivity part is much more specific to the camera being used, as most of my recent shooting at a fan convention was at or above ISO 6400, and it looks as good or better than an older camera doing ISO 800.
AndrewDavid 10 years ago
Lower the F/Stop number the more light comes in and the higher the least amount comes in its great explanation and straight forward thanks.
AndrewDavid 10 years ago
Pretty straight forward. Everyone should use (M) Manual Mode, to get to know there cam better. Its easy enough Auto settings mess about load
LetíciaTeles 10 years ago
that makes me even more confused about ISO's use, I don't see the advantage
ScottMoore 10 years ago
I leave my ISO on Auto, but simply put; a low ISO =clear pic, requires more light a High ISO = more grainy pic, but requires less light
Load More Replies...
MickRadford 10 years ago
needs one for focal length, but otherwise very good simple explanation
CarlCalderon 10 years ago
It does now show the effects of each on lighting but it's quite accurate. :D
HenriqueBueno 10 years ago
If the image would be more detaled it would explain more, like being brighter when less speed and more iso.
BobGilchrist 9 years ago
Good start but this will confuse the uninitiated. It is also a missed opportunity to show the relationship in exposure between the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. People will assume some vertical correspondence in a chart such as this. Reversing the Aperture row would at least indicate that large apertures are related to fast shutter speeds and high ISO settings.
RonYorgason 9 years ago
Possibly, but the left side is entirely related to less light / less sensitivity, while the right side is all related to more light / more sensitivity. That seems to make pretty good sense to me.
Load More Replies... David Damico 8 years ago
Hi and thank you for this pocket chart. I am a career teacher for 11 and 12th grade high school students. Is there a poster sized version of this pocket card? I think hanging it on a wall would be fantastic.
CharlieSawyer 9 years ago
Nice teaching tool but they missed key elements that could/should have been shown: All three of these parameters have other important effects. f32 (smaller hole) lets in less light so resulting exposure is relativly darker than f1.4; Shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second likewise lets in less light so image is relatively darker than 1/2 second; and small ISO (say, 100) needs more light for a good exposure than large ISO number (say, 1000, which allows pix in less available light while increasing graininess). These effects are integral to understanding this.
DavidStotz 9 years ago
I think this page shows an incorrect version of the image. I landed here from a post on facebook and oddly, the thumbnail in the facebook post has the aperture row reversed. It makes much more sense that way and would be much more useful to the beginning photographer, as it demonstrates reciprocity - a fundamental concept in understanding how your camera works.
ShanePinnegar 9 years ago
any chance someone can make one of these for shooting bands in dark venues? I always struggle with the light and am in no way a skilled photographer!
StephGoralnick 9 years ago
It's the same chart, it's just that the limitation of low light leaves you with fewer choices. Cover the first seven squares in each row, this is the chart you're now working with.
Load More Replies... GabrielLandry 9 years ago
Extra credit: do you know what the F64 club was and what the 64 was for?
ShoghiShams 9 years ago
Although this is informative, I find the information incomplete. It does not explain the exposure aspect of it.
MarkGottesman 9 years ago
This is a great very Basic Explanation for beginners. I'm writing an article on Photography 101 on this exact topic for my photo blog. I'm linking this over for people to help them in trying to Understand this principle.
CochilețTeodor 9 years ago
firstly but the most important is that all of them are changing the brightness of the photo.. More ISO gives more luminosity while a fast shutter speed and a large aperture make photos darker.
FelCruz 9 years ago
f-stop progression is backwards. f1.4 at half a second shutter speed and 25600 ISO would be severely overexposed.
StephGoralnick 9 years ago
I think this chart is meant to be a bit more simplified that that. Judging from the fact that they're depicting 3 different subjects, it seems that each row is separate. The settings aren't combined vertically.
Load More Replies... TomHawkins 9 years ago
Two things to add: 1. A longer focal length is just as effective as a wide aperture for throwing background/foreground out of focus. If your max. aperture isn't wide enough, then zoom in and take a few steps backward. 2. Apertures smaller than f16 won't do much to improve the focus of the background/foreground, but will soften your images due to diffraction of light passing through a narrow hole. f/11 should be enough for any landscape, unless you're zoomed in of course (when the first point applies).
LaviShpigelman 9 years ago
What about lighting? You'd think that one could combine a fast shutter with small aperture and iso to get a good picture. Got to trade off ..
jkling 9 years ago
This is great for aperature and speed, but the description of ISO is severely lacking- it looks like higher ISO=worse picture (commenters have already mentioned this). That's NOT EVEN REMOTELY the case. The illustration would be better shoing the far left as all black, by 800 you can see the contrast, 1600 would be a perfect pic, and by 6400 it being washed out and starting to show noise.
GregSkinner 9 years ago
Yes, but the sensitivity part is much more specific to the camera being used, as most of my recent shooting at a fan convention was at or above ISO 6400, and it looks as good or better than an older camera doing ISO 800.
AndrewDavid 10 years ago
Lower the F/Stop number the more light comes in and the higher the least amount comes in its great explanation and straight forward thanks.
AndrewDavid 10 years ago
Pretty straight forward. Everyone should use (M) Manual Mode, to get to know there cam better. Its easy enough Auto settings mess about load
LetíciaTeles 10 years ago
that makes me even more confused about ISO's use, I don't see the advantage
ScottMoore 10 years ago
I leave my ISO on Auto, but simply put; a low ISO =clear pic, requires more light a High ISO = more grainy pic, but requires less light
Load More Replies... MickRadford 10 years ago
needs one for focal length, but otherwise very good simple explanation
CarlCalderon 10 years ago
It does now show the effects of each on lighting but it's quite accurate. :D
HenriqueBueno 10 years ago
If the image would be more detaled it would explain more, like being brighter when less speed and more iso.
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