Mike's Camera | Exposure Values: An in-depth understanding of Exposure

Exposure Value is a fundamental building block of photography and needs to be fully grasped to advance your knowledge and skill in taking pictures and getting the results you seek in your images.

Exposure value denotes all combinations of a camera's shutter speed and relative aperture that result in the same exposure. Choosing among combinations of shutter speeds and exposures on your camera’s settings will not only help you achieve a proper exposure, but will also affect the resulting visual effect of your image.

Following the classroom instruction on EV, the group will take a walk or carpool to a designated location for an on-site group photo shoot.

This class will cover an in depth overview of the fundamentals of exposure to help you understand the intricacies of exposure and the ways in which this affects your images. Topics discussed include the three elements below that, working in harmony contribute to the final outcome of your images.

ISO (film speed)
Shutter Speed (time value)
Aperture (opening of the lens)

Although all camera settings with the same exposure value nominally give the same exposure, they may not necessarily give the same picture.

The exposure time “shutter speed” determines the amount of motion, or blur,
The relative “aperture”, opening of the lens, determines the depth of field; that is, the amount of foreground or background that is in focus in addition to the subject.
The light sensitive medium, such as the film image sensor in a digital camera may exhibit reciprocity failure; a point in the light necessary to produce a good exposure is no longer related with previous levels of exposure.

This is a fundamental building block program intended for the DSLR owner who is looking to advance from Auto or Program modes in the camera to mastering and controlling exposure.

What you’ll Need

A D-SLR or camera that allows you to manually adjust Aperture, Shutter Speed and Focus.Tripod and Cable Release or Automatic Timer are suggested.

Tuition $55.00

Colorado Registration

California Registration

Time & Date

View current schedule of classes

Class Size

Due to the very hands on nature of this workshop, class size is limited to 10 people.

Student Testimonials

“I greatly enjoyed getting out there with you. Up until now I've been a shoot first, correct later kind of photographer, but getting out there with you is helping and encouraging me to be a better photographer with a lot less post processing. Best class experience yet, thank you!"

“I did a little bit of touch-up and resizing. Unfortunately I wasn't too stoked with my results of the shots of the kids (personally), but I greatly enjoyed getting out there with you. Up until now I've been a shoot first, correct later kind of photographer, but getting out there with you is helping and encouraging me to be a better photographer with a lot less post processing. Best class experience yet, thank you!”

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