Understanding the exposure triangle is one of the foundations of photography. It determines whether your image is properly exposed and helps you understand how your camera captures photos. So, what is the exposure triangle?
The Three Components
The exposure triangle is made up of three components: shutter speed, ISO, and aperture.
For proper exposure, each leg influences the others. As you increase your aperture, you can lower your ISO but this also effects your shutter speed. That’s why it’s a triangle. You need all three sides to interact appropriately.
I have put together articles going into greater depth on each of these particular aspects, which you
Think About What You’re Trying to Accomplish
What you want to accomplish can determine which of the three components is most important to your photo.
The key to shooting manually with your camera is visualizing the type of photo you want to take, and then and then choosing the appropriate settings to achieve that vision.
If you need great depth of field, you’ll want to stop down your aperture. You will then need to bump your ISO or decrease your shutter speed to compensate.
The same is true for wanting to ‘freeze’ action. You’ll want to have a very high shutter speed, which might require raising your ISO or opening your aperture up fairly wide.
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