Manual Photography Exposure Cheat Sheet

Sunday, June 5, 2011

On my quest toward shoot-to-print, I've been having a lot of difficulty remembering the different aspects that influence exposure when using the manual features of my DSLR camera. So. I created a bit of a cheat sheet to remind me what all the numbers mean.


MakingItLovely has a few tips for better photographs of your home, but they work for lots of other situations:
  1. Use a tripod, when possible.
  2. Crouch down, to be head-on with your target instead of awkwardly over it.
  3. Proper exposure (i.e., probably not your camera's auto-features).
A few more necessary techniques:
  1. Photograph in natural light as much as possible.
  2. Set your camera's white balance properly, either manually or through its preset options.
  3. ISO, aperture, and shutter speed need to be balanced in order to achieve proper exposure. Most DSLRs have a little light meter in the viewfinder to tell you if your settings will result in proper exposure.
For some more information:I'm very much a visual learner, so all of these websites use diagrams.

5 comments:

Kaylia Payne said...

This is really helpful, thanks for sharing!

Kim said...

Ohh! How handy! Whilst I try and remember all these things, I do invariably forget from time to time :)

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Mikelle Jade said...

Ugh totally remember trying to figure this out when I first learning how to use my 35mm. Wish I would've had a cheat sheet like this one! Thanks for sharing :)

h said...

I'm glad people will get some use out of this :)

Elle said...

Was searching for a cheat sheet to carry with me since I just started a DSLR class - crazy yours came up in my image results :) Small internet world haha