Category: Instant Engineering

ECOR 1100 Lecture 3: Understanding exposure value (EV)

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HISTORYinstant-university_yellow-border

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In 1950s, Friedrich Deckel, a German shutter manufacturer, first developed the concept of exposure value (EV). He attempted to simplify choosing among combinations of equivalent camera settings.

 

DEFINITIONinstant-university_yellow-border

Exposure value is defined as the exact amount of light hitting a photographic film or image sensor determined by lens aperture and shutter speed, to product a picture which is correctly exposed – neither too light nor too dark.

 

WHAT IS IT?instant-university_yellow-border

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In photography, EV is a numerical scale that represents a combination of a camera’s shutter speeds (determine the amount of motion blur) and f-numbers (determine the depth of field), such that all combinations that yield the same exposure have the same EV value.

Even though all camera settings giving the same EV, it does not mean that they give the same picture. For instance, if you fasten up the shutter speed, the aperture will become larger automatically for compensation, in turns your image maintain the same EV but with shallower depth of field.

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EV also indicates an interval on the photographic exposure scale, 1 EV equals to a standard power of 2 exposure steps, that is, an increment of one step on the EV scale indicates a one step (also called as a stop) increase in exposure, and vice versa.

 

WHEN?instant-university_yellow-border

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If you think your image is quite dark, you can increase the EV. Conversely, if the image is too bright, you can simply decrease the EV.

 

WHICH CAMERA?instant-university_yellow-border

In fact, many instant cameras provide the exposure controls, like Polaroid cameras and MiNT InstantFlex TL70. For example, the EV numbers on Polaroid Land camera Model 180 range from EV 5 to EV 22 while MiNT InstantFlex TL70’s offers EV +/-1.

ECOR 1100 Lecture 2: Understanding depth of field

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instant-university_ECOR1100-lecture-2-understanding-depth-of-field-iconTHE FOLLOW-UPinstant-university_yellow-border

Since last lecture, you have known an important element in Photography: the Exposure Triangle. You learn that the aperture value controls depth of field. In fact, there are
2 more critical factors affecting depth of field.

 

FACTOR 1: THE FOCUS DISTANCEinstant-university_yellow-border

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Focus distance is a calculation from the subject to lens. By changing the focus distance, you will get different depth of field of an image. If you are closer to the subject you are focusing on, you will have an image with shallower depth of field, and vice versa.

 

FACTOR 2: THE FOCAL LENGTHinstant-university_yellow-border

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Focal length (usually measured in mm) is a calculation of an optical distance from the convergence point in the lens to the sensor or film inside the camera, but IS NOT the actual length of a lens. Basically, the longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the more magnifying effect in your picture with shallower the depth of field, and vice versa.

**Shallower lens (e.g. 200mm) → longer focal length→ shallower view captured + shallower depth of field → telephoto effect
**Wider lens (e.g. 28mm) → shorter focal length → wider view captured + deeper depth of field

ECOR 1100 Lecture 1: Understanding exposure (aperture, shutter speed & ISO)

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INTRODUCTION
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If you have no idea about the Exposure Triangle, you are in the right place!

In this lecture, you will learn the relationship among shutter speed, aperture, ISO as well as the most important element – lighting. They are interrelated and by adjusting one of them, another component must be adjusted at the same time to compensate.

If you are unsure about the concept and this can cause a lot of problems to your photography: shaky pictures, or not getting everything in focus. If you learn this simple concept, you will know exactly how everything works and you will be able to fix those problems!

 

THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLEinstant-university_yellow-border

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Shutter speed, aperture and ISO are combined to form the Exposure Triangle. The trick is to balance the triangle by getting all three elements to work together. The more you can identify their role in exposure, the easier you know how to determine the exposure setting to achieve the effect that you want to.

 

Aperture

Role
• To control how much light to enter the camera
• To affect the depth of field (DoF) – how sharp or blurry the area behind your subject is

Aperture range

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Adjusting the aperture changes the depth of field, that is, how much of the shot is clear or blurry. The larger aperture, say f/2.8, the more light enters the camera, bringing a brighter picture and shallower depth of field, and vice versa.

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Demonstration

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f/5.6 (left) & f/22 (right)

 

Shutter speed

Role
• To control the duration of time the light is allowed to enter the camera
• To freeze the moment using faster shutter speed, or to capture long exposure using slower shutter speed.

As you adjust the shutter speed, the amount of light enters the camera changes, thus  exposure time and brightness of the picture change. The faster the shutter speed, say 1/1000s , the lesser light goes into the camera, bringing a darker but less blurry image, and vice versa. When you determine a longer exposure time, you need to hold the camera steadier or use tripod in order to obtain a clear image.

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Demonstration

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1/15s (left) & 1/2000s (right)

 

ISO

Role
• The higher the ISO is, the more sensitive it is to light, and vice versa
• To manipulate the shutter speed by adjusting ISO

By adjusting the ISO, the amount of light needed is affected. The larger the number, the higher the ISO, say ISO1600, requires less light then lower ISO 100. For example, when ISO is 1600, shutter speed is only 1/125s. While ISO is 100, shutter speed will become slower significantly to a few seconds.

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Demonstration

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ISO400 (left, more noise) & ISO100 (right, less noise than ISO400)