[ The Exposure Triangle ]
If you have no prior knowledge of photography, then you might be confused as to what the exposure triangle actually is. First, you need to know what exposure actually is. Exposure, in photography, is the amount of light that is hitting your camera sensor or your film (if you are using a SLR/Film camera). High exposure will lead to a very bright image (see the example below) and low exposure leads to the opposite.
Example:
High

Low

I didn't have two images with the same composition that demonstrated the difference clearly enough so I had to improvise. Please don't crucify me.
Anyway, as you can see, the image with a high exposure (this image is "over exposed" due to the extremely large amount of light in the image) is considerably brighter than the image with a low exposure. However, the image with a lower exposure conveys more of a mood and atmosphere and appears more naturalistic. Most of the time, you want to find a good balance with your exposure. You want to be able to create images that look natural, without being too bright or too dark.
This does not mean that using more extreme levels of exposure means your photos are bad. If anything, I encourage you all to experiment with less natural exposure levels and see what you can create. However, most day-to-day photoshoots use a balanced exposure, it is imperative that you learn how to adjust your camera to create that natural light level.
Now, there are obviously 3 parts to the exposure triangle.
Shutter Speed
Aperture
ISO
These 3 settings all affect how exposed your image will be. Most DSLR cameras have a completely auto-setting that will change these for you. However, once you learn how to account and change these for yourself, you'll find that the auto-setting isn't as accurate as you might have previously assumed. I'm going to be breaking down all 3 of these settings to help you understand how they are all interconnected and I'll also be explaining some pre-shoot techniques that I follow to ensure my photos are exposed correctly.
[ Shutter Speed ]Shutter speed is essentially what it says on the tin. Shutter speed is essentially the
amount of time the shutter is open and thus, how long your camera sensor/film is exposed to light. The
higher the number, the
less amount of time the shutter will be open. The
smaller the number,
the longer the shutter will be open. Larger numbers are known as
'fast' shutter speeds and lower numbers are known as
'slow' shutter speeds.Faster speeds are described using
1/[number]. This means that the shutter will be open for
less than a second. Slower speeds can be described using this
1/[number] term, however
slow speeds can last for
longer than 1 second and are usually described by just the number. Examples are below.
Eg.
Fast Speed: 1/
500 = Shutter is open for 1/
500th of a second
Slow Speed:
15" = Shutter is open for
15 seconds
Fast Speed: 1/
60 = Shutter is open for 1/
60th of a second
Slow Speed: 1/
4 = Shutter is open for 1/
4th of a second
Most people would consider
1/60 a good speed for
everyday photography as it isn't too slow but doesn't blur the subject.
Faster shutter speeds are often used to take pictures of
moving objects or in photoshoots where there is a
lot of light. They are often used to essentially
freeze the subject. Slow shutter speeds are often used in
low-light situations or to
intentionally capture motion blur. It is generally advised to
use a tripod when using a
slow speed as to
avoid unintentional blurring or, if you do want blurring, to
avoid creating an image with too much blurring.Some examples of their use are shown below.
Fast
Slow
It is best to
experiment with shutter speed, finding a speed that works for your
regular shooting and experimenting with more
extreme speeds and seeing what you can create.
In terms of exposure, if you have
both ISO and aperture fixed, shutter speed can have dramatic changes. Remember,
fast speeds let
less light in while
slow speeds let
more light in.[ ISO ]Without any prior knowledge of photography, you might look at 'ISO' and get nothing from it. It is fairly vague to beginners, but it is honestly very simple. ISO directly controls how
bright or
dark your photos are. The
higher the ISO setting, the
brighter your photos will be. The
lower the ISO setting, the
darker your photos will be. Simple.
Despite being part of the "exposure triangle", ISO DOES NOT CONTROL EXPOSURE. It simply controls the
brightness. Yes, those are different.
ISO numbers are shown in a fairly simple format, shown below
"
ISO [number] "
The
higher the number, the
brighter your photos will be.
The
lower the number, the
darker your photos will be.
Different cameras will have different ranges of ISO, however, a typical ISO range may look like this:
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400Each number here is
doubled every time it is increased. So, as you would expect, the
brightness is also
doubled.As you might expect, a
lower ISO is typically used in situations where there is a
lot of light to
ensure natural lighting. A
higher ISO is typically used in
low light situations to
compensate for the low light and to help combat
unwanted motion blur**I will link to an article that goes into more depth on how a high ISO combats motion blur. [
https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography ]
However, higher ISO's often come with a risk of lowered image quality.
Higher ISO settings (around 3200 and above) may often result in
grain. This is where the image looks more
gritty and
less sharp. ISO grain is often unwanted. There are ways to reduce
grain (also known as
noise), however it always varies on what you're shooting and the environment around you. I recommend
experimenting and finding out what level of
grain/noise is acceptable for
you.[ Aperture ]Aperture is, hands down, the hardest concept to grasp out of the three. It was the one I didn't fully understand for a long time. Most beginner photographers, and even some intermediate ones don't have a full understanding of what
Aperture is and how to use it. Having a solid understanding of
Aperture will give you real creative control over your camera and your shots.
Basically,
Aperture is the
opening in a lens that
light passes through in order to enter your camera. It works in a very similar way to our eyes, the pupil will enlarge to let more light in or will shrink to let less light in.
A
high Aperture will let a
lot of light into the camera as it produces a
larger opening in the lens. A
lower Aperture will do the opposite and let
less light into the camera as it produces a
smaller openingHere is an image showing what a
high Aperture and a
low Aperture looks like.

As you can imagine, a
higher Aperture will result in
higher exposure while a
low aperture will result in
less exposure.Aperture is displayed in the following format: "
f/[number] "
Eg
f/16Now, the confusing part about Aperture is that the numbers are actually backwards. A
smaller number will produce a
larger aperture and a
larger number will produce a
smaller apertureFor example, an aperture of
f/2.0 will produce a
large aperture whereas an aperture of
f/16 will produce a
smaller aperture. Once you learn that the numbers are essentially backwards, this isn't much of an issue.
Like ISO, Aperture comes in a range. These ranges depend on your
lens, not your camera body. Here is an example of an Aperture range:
Highest
f/1.4
f/2.0
f/2.8
f/4.0
f/5.6
f/8.0
f/11.0
f/16.0
LowestAperture controls more than exposure, it also
controls the depth of an image. This refers to
how sharp your image is from front to back. I don't currently have any examples to hand, but you can find image examples in this article:
https://photographylife.com/what-is-aperture-in-photographyLarge apertures will produce a
large amount of
background blur while, in contrast,
low apertures will produce
less background blur.Because of this,
large apertures are often used in
portrait photography where you want the subjects face to stand out against the background.
Low apertures are often used in
landscape photography to capture the whole landscape without blurring it. However, there is no set rule and you can use depth however you feel, if you believe it would be effective.
Like all settings, learning and understanding
aperture comes with practice. It's a lot harder to master, but it will give you a lot more creative freedom once you have.
[ Pre-Shoot Technique ]-