AWT3 – Worksheet on Exposure         Name:

Learn about exposure using the “Exposure” link on our website.  (www.art.aurorahigh.ca/AWT3/Exposure.htm)

You can work on this with a partner, but each student must have their own copy of the answers in his/her notebook)

  1. What do we mean by the word “exposure” in photography?
  2. In a given amount of light, what 3 camera settings affect the exposure?
  3. What does the “ISO” of a film mean?
  4. What ISO would you choose, and why, for a roll of film for these shots:

Situation

ISO

Reason

A basketball game in the gym

 

High

(1600)

 

Wedding pics to make big high-resolution prints from

low

clarity

A variety of shots at school, some in classrooms, some outdoors in sunlight

Medium 400

 

 

  1. What does the “aperture” have to do with exposure?
  2.  Is f/2.8 a wide or narrow aperture?   How about f/64?
  3. What are 2 methods used to set aperture?
  4. What does “depth-of-field” mean?
  5. Give examples of f-stops that would produce:

Deep Depth-of-Field   _____            Shallow Depth-of-Field   _____

  1. What is a “shutter”, and what does “shutter speed” mean?
  2. Explain why a shutter speed of 4 would make a hand-held shot blurry.
  3. What shutter speed would you try for to freeze a dancer in the middle of a jump?
  4. There’s a picture of some headlights on Wellington at the bottom of the “Motion Blur” link.  Think about the intent and the setting of the shot, and then explain why I used these settings:  8 second exposure (tripod used!), F/16 and low ISO.
  5. What  does the B setting on a shutter speed dial do?
  6. What’s a common shutter speed to start with for a typical daylight shot?
  7. What do you usually set first in low light:  the aperture or the shutter speed?  Why?
  8. What’s the main advantage and disadvantage of using auto exposure setting?
  9. What do most cameras have to help you determine the right exposure manually?
  10. What are two reasons for using an external light meter?
  11. A photographer finds that in a given lighting situation, a shutter speed of 125 and an aperture of 4.0 gives the correct exposure.  Use your equivalent exposure wheel to determine the F/stop and shutter speeds that would give an equivalent exposure for the same lighting with the following restrictions:

a)      A shutter speed of 60

b)      A frozen action shot

c)      The deepest possible depth of field.

  1. In a paragraph, sum up the process of getting a perfect exposure.

 

Table of Apertures and Shutter Speeds

Use this to figure out Equivalent Exposures (pairs of F-stops and Shutter Speeds that give the same exposure)

 

           Slower, more light let in                                                                         Faster, less light let in

Each increase halves the amount of light

Shutter Speed

1

2

4

8

15

30

60

125

250

500

Aperture

(F/stop)

 

22

16

11

8

5.6

4

2.8

1.8

 

    Narrower, less light let in                                                                              Wider, more light let in

Each decrease in F-stop doubles the amount of light let in

 

To get equivalent exposures, move the same # of spaces left or right on both scales from an F-stop and Speed known to be correct for a given amount of light.

e.g. if you know F/4 at speed 15 works, and you want a faster shutter speed,

Move 2 to the right on both scales, and you find that F/1.8 and speed 60 will give you the same exposure. 

Or another equivalent exposure pair can be found by moving 3 to the left, F/11 at speed 2.