Recognizing a Good Exposure

When you create a good exposure, it means that you’ve provided your camera’s sensor with just the right amount of light (or exposure) to record your subject’s tones correctly. And like the old adage of not knowing what great art is but “knowing it when you see it,” good exposures tend to resonate with quality — even if you’re not sure what’s creating that feeling. If you give the sensor too little light, you underexpose the scene and your subject appears darker than you remember it (or wanted it); subjects that would otherwise be bright, clean, and white appear gray and dingy. If you give the sensor too much light, you overexpose the scene, and all the tones in the pictures seem washed out and lack detail in the brightest or highlight regions. In the comparison shots of a giant saguaro cactus shown in 1-3, 1-4, and 1-5, for example, you can see how changes in exposure change the tonal range of the subject.