A guide to exposure triangle on smartphones and digital cameras

Smartphone cameras have gotten quite advanced over the last few years. They now come with incredible zooming capabilities, large sensors, computational photography, pro modes, and more in a compact form factor. This has bridged the gap between smartphones and digital cameras. However, they don’t exactly replace DSLRs for professional photographers, content creators, and those well-versed in the technical aspects. Digital cameras also offer versatility and superior image quality that is often required for print media. 

One key feature that smartphones have borrowed from digital cameras is the manual mode, which is called professional mode. It gives full control over three important camera settings that affect the final outcome. This is called the ‘Exposure Triangle’ and it comprises shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. It’s worth noting that the ability to control the aperture is most often found in premium flagship phones. 

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Whether you’re getting started with your photography journey or are halfway there, the exposure triangle is something that everyone must be aware of. The good thing is that it’s not rocket science. Additionally, in this article, we break down the term and settings in an easier-to-understand manner. 

What is an Exposure Triangle?

Photography is all about capturing light. In a dark or a low-lit environment, it would be impossible to click an image which used to be the case before the advancement of technology. Think about a photo that has come out too dark or blown out with a large amount of light. Hence, it’s important to understand how light interacts with your camera instead of just simply pointing and shooting. 

The ‘Exposure Triangle’ is a principle that determines the amount of light that reaches your camera sensor. It consists of three fundamental settings, as mentioned earlier – shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. This gives you greater control over shooting an excellent final image – one that has the correct brightness, sharpness, and details. 

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It’s worth noting that all three settings work in tandem. Adjusting one affects the other two. Hence, it is important to find the right balance for all elements. We will delve into each setting from here on. 

ISO

ISO means the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. This means that the setting’s value is entirely dependable on the lightning in the surroundings. ISO value is expressed as a number and it ranges from as low as 100 going above 100000.

A lower ISO is ideal in bright environments or harsh sunlight, whereas a higher ISO works in poorly light and dark surroundings. The former avoids overexposure while the latter prevents underexposure in respective scenes.

It’s also worth noting that a higher ISO value will result in increased noise in the final image.

Shutter Speed

The Shutter Speed is how long the camera sensor is open and exposed to light. It is measured in fractions of seconds. Setting shutter speed values depends on the type of subject you are shooting in a particular environment. This is categorised into two parts:

– Fast shutter speed (1/500 or higher): to freeze fast moving subjects like vehicles, animals, and sports action.
– Slow shutter speed (1/30s or lower): allowing motion blur for capturing subjects like smooth waterfalls or city light trails.

A faster shutter speed reduces the camera’s light intake, so you will be getting a darker image result unless you crank up the ISO value. However, this shouldn’t be a problem in brighter environments.

Aperture

Aperture refers to the size of the lens opening that lets light into your camera. It is measured in f-stops, which ranges from f/1.8 to f/11. Simply put, the larger the f-stop number, the smaller the opening, and hence, less light enters the camera. On the other hand, the smaller the f-number, the larger the opening, allowing more light.

Smaller f-number creates a blurry background effect called bokeh. A higher f-number results in a more detailed and sharp subject in focus. In short, the aperture affects both the brightness of the photos and the depth of field. It can be easily compensated with ISO and shutter speed.

Finding the right balance with the Exposure Triangle

Mastering the exposure triangle is a trial and error effort. It’s recommended to tinker around with the settings in various scenarios and environments so you can quickly learn to adjust the values in no time before your next big picture.

Having said that and cleared the three fundamental settings, here’s a quick breakdown of how ISO, shutter speed, and aperture affect each other.

– Higher ISO enables faster shutter speed to freeze a moment in low light but introduces noise.
– Slower shutter speed while keeping the ISO minimum captures more light but makes the camera unstable, so a tripod is required. This is recommended if you don’t want to photograph motion.
– The key is to find the ideal sweat spot for ISO and shutter speed values in a night scene.
– There’s no issue increasing shutter speed in bright lighting but make sure to keep ISO low.
– A slow shutter speed is rarely useful in daylight.
– The aperture setting depends on whether you want background blur or depth of field.
– Aperture values don’t affect the exposure triangle much, but if you use a small f-number, you might have to crank up the shutter speed or set the ISO to a low value.
– The same is true the other way around, i.e higher f-number = slower shuter speed or higher ISO.

Understanding how these three fundamental exposure triangles work in conjunction will help you capture clear and well-lit photos in any lighting condition. It’s worth noting that the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture values on the pro or manual mode on smartphones are often limited. Many third-party camera apps like Lightroom offer extended controls.