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Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with any Camera
This newly revised edition of Bryan Peterson's most popular book demystifies the complex concepts of exposure in photography, allowing readers to capture the images they want.
With his trademark accessible style, Peterson instructs readers on how to achieve successful images in almost any situation, explaining the fundamentals of exposure and its component parts of light, aperture, and shutter speed. With an emphasis on getting the best exposure even in tricky situations, Understanding Exposure shows how to get (or lose) sharpness and contrast in images, how to freeze action, and how to take the best meter readings, while also exploring filters, flash, and light. With all new images, and updated captions throughout, this revised edition is sure to be as popular as ever.
With his trademark accessible style, Peterson instructs readers on how to achieve successful images in almost any situation, explaining the fundamentals of exposure and its component parts of light, aperture, and shutter speed. With an emphasis on getting the best exposure even in tricky situations, Understanding Exposure shows how to get (or lose) sharpness and contrast in images, how to freeze action, and how to take the best meter readings, while also exploring filters, flash, and light. With all new images, and updated captions throughout, this revised edition is sure to be as popular as ever.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
1250 people are currently reading
5512 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Peterson
76 books129 followersBryan F. Peterson has been a full-time commercial photographer since 1981, shooting assignments all over the world for many of the Fortune 500 companies, including Kodak, UPS, and American Expiress. He is also a contract stock photographer for Corbis and Getty. He has been a contributing editor at Outdoor Photographer Magazine and is currently a contributing editor at Popular Photography and Imaging Magazine. Within the photographic community, he is most noted as the author/photographer of four best selling “how-to” photography books, Understanding Exposure, Understanding Shutter Speed, Learning to See Creatively and Beyond Portraits, with two new books due out in the spring of 2009, Understanding Close-up Photography and The Field Guide to Photography. He is also the founder and one of the instructors at the world’s number one on-line photography school, www.ppsop.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 548 reviews
August 30, 2021
For reasons too complicated (boring?) to go into, I find myself in need of some photography skills beyond those of the selfie, snappy, or point-and-shooty. This is a problem because I’m not terribly interested in photography, even as a hobby, but needs must.
Like cars and computing, the world of photography moves at a cracking pace, so the DSLR that I bought on impulse ten years ago for 400 quid (Nikon D3100 for anyone who cares), and which has gathered dust in a box for much of that time, is now so obsolete that YouTubers regard it as some sort of antique curiosity. I will press on, however, as it would just be too wanton to buy an expensive upgrade when I can’t even use this one.
This book was recommended by those in the know and I must say it was a good call. Bryan Peterson is a professional photographer and experienced teacher. He has authored several books, all of which have received strong reviews. This book in particular has been a great starting place for a novice like me because Peterson so clearly explains the rationale for using particular camera settings. Already I have been in the garden taking rather nice pictures of my sunflowers. Importantly, he makes a clear distinction between a ‘correct exposure’ and a ‘creatively correct exposure’ which requires a decision about the desired image beforehand. This is a big step forward for me because I have read other books on the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, ISO) and retained the information for about five minutes. I am going to nitpick about the “with any camera” in the title, though, because at times Peterson does assume his reader is using an up-to-date camera with all mod cons.
The book also has a long chapter dedicated to ‘Light’ which covers things like different weather conditions, different times of the day or night, indoor conditions and when, how or if to use flash. He also discusses metering for scenes that are frontlit, sidelit or backlit.
This will be basic stuff for all you photographers out there but it is a revelation to me. The book has given me the confidence to click away from ‘Auto’ towards the M for ‘Manual’ and that’s a good start.
Like cars and computing, the world of photography moves at a cracking pace, so the DSLR that I bought on impulse ten years ago for 400 quid (Nikon D3100 for anyone who cares), and which has gathered dust in a box for much of that time, is now so obsolete that YouTubers regard it as some sort of antique curiosity. I will press on, however, as it would just be too wanton to buy an expensive upgrade when I can’t even use this one.
This book was recommended by those in the know and I must say it was a good call. Bryan Peterson is a professional photographer and experienced teacher. He has authored several books, all of which have received strong reviews. This book in particular has been a great starting place for a novice like me because Peterson so clearly explains the rationale for using particular camera settings. Already I have been in the garden taking rather nice pictures of my sunflowers. Importantly, he makes a clear distinction between a ‘correct exposure’ and a ‘creatively correct exposure’ which requires a decision about the desired image beforehand. This is a big step forward for me because I have read other books on the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, ISO) and retained the information for about five minutes. I am going to nitpick about the “with any camera” in the title, though, because at times Peterson does assume his reader is using an up-to-date camera with all mod cons.
The book also has a long chapter dedicated to ‘Light’ which covers things like different weather conditions, different times of the day or night, indoor conditions and when, how or if to use flash. He also discusses metering for scenes that are frontlit, sidelit or backlit.
This will be basic stuff for all you photographers out there but it is a revelation to me. The book has given me the confidence to click away from ‘Auto’ towards the M for ‘Manual’ and that’s a good start.
August 19, 2023
I've been an occasional photographer for years, with some serious spells however I've taken it far more seriously for something over 10 years now. For many years I found "exposure" rather haphazard both in my knowledge and in the images I took. In the past 10 years I've learnt a lot from a variety of sources. Had I found then it this book would have been a useful part of that learning. This book has a good introduction to the subject and the language is sensible and accessible in the main.
Looking at the book in detail it covers the three basics of exposure - shutter speed, aperture & iso - in detail and effectively. There is good use of sample photographs illustrating different settings with discussion on them. The no nonsense approach to shutter speed and aperture (f stops) is very welcome and would suit those with relatively limited knowledge of the subject very well indeed. Once the basics had been covered I felt there were very good good tips on techniques and ideas to try out. There was very good consideration of the way different types of light affect an image and the best way to take such images. There was coverage of filters and their use. There was also quite a lot on the use of flash and issues with using it as well as possible extra equipment to consider.
For those who have a fair amount of experience there will probably be some reservations about this book. The book was originally published many years ago when cameras were very different indeed. While this is a full revision of the book I found it a little odd for example that the author referred to “super-high” ISO settings as being questionable. 10 years ago the camera I had had fairly poor high ISO performance which was one of the reasons I replaced it. The three I've had since then have all had very good performance at high ISOs and the use of higher ISO settings does allow photographers to worry less about tripods which is great for travel. Similarly there is mention of the "cost" of shooting multiple exposure shots which really is not really an issue in the digital age.
Possibly more importantly there is no real discussion of shooting RAW and what may be done in the way of post processing. While this may be a rather more modern development photographers such as Ansell Adams achieved much of their renown in the darkroom. The simple concept of "correct" exposure is actually not that simple and there are those who advocate "exposing to the right" (ETTR) as a matter of course for example. Fundamentally the author criticises the light metering within the camera. I understand that although again modern cameras are far better than they used to be. However the author whole rationale in the book is almost solely on using those in camera meters manually.
Worth noting maybe that wildlife/sport get very little mention nor monochrome photography. In the end there is much sensible advice for less experienced photographers here and many would benefit from a better understanding of the subject which should be helped by this book..
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
Looking at the book in detail it covers the three basics of exposure - shutter speed, aperture & iso - in detail and effectively. There is good use of sample photographs illustrating different settings with discussion on them. The no nonsense approach to shutter speed and aperture (f stops) is very welcome and would suit those with relatively limited knowledge of the subject very well indeed. Once the basics had been covered I felt there were very good good tips on techniques and ideas to try out. There was very good consideration of the way different types of light affect an image and the best way to take such images. There was coverage of filters and their use. There was also quite a lot on the use of flash and issues with using it as well as possible extra equipment to consider.
For those who have a fair amount of experience there will probably be some reservations about this book. The book was originally published many years ago when cameras were very different indeed. While this is a full revision of the book I found it a little odd for example that the author referred to “super-high” ISO settings as being questionable. 10 years ago the camera I had had fairly poor high ISO performance which was one of the reasons I replaced it. The three I've had since then have all had very good performance at high ISOs and the use of higher ISO settings does allow photographers to worry less about tripods which is great for travel. Similarly there is mention of the "cost" of shooting multiple exposure shots which really is not really an issue in the digital age.
Possibly more importantly there is no real discussion of shooting RAW and what may be done in the way of post processing. While this may be a rather more modern development photographers such as Ansell Adams achieved much of their renown in the darkroom. The simple concept of "correct" exposure is actually not that simple and there are those who advocate "exposing to the right" (ETTR) as a matter of course for example. Fundamentally the author criticises the light metering within the camera. I understand that although again modern cameras are far better than they used to be. However the author whole rationale in the book is almost solely on using those in camera meters manually.
Worth noting maybe that wildlife/sport get very little mention nor monochrome photography. In the end there is much sensible advice for less experienced photographers here and many would benefit from a better understanding of the subject which should be helped by this book..
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
October 30, 2012
A few thoughts:
1) Not the fault of the book, but I knew much (maybe 50%) of the material already.
2) It has beautiful photos, with explanations on how each was made. This was very useful.
3) The writing is lousy, with silly and unhelpful analogies. ISO is like buckets under a running water faucet? And stupid attempts at humor or something resembling it: the author doesn't eat donuts, but he does eat bagels and so will sometimes use a ring flash. Get it? Bagels are round and a ring flash is round. Good one.
4) The tone often comes off defensive or at least trying to justify his viewpoint (e.g. setting WB to "Cloudy" as default). Also, it's interesting how he downplays the importance of light in making photographs. It comes off as, "Hey, everybody says light is the most important thing in photography. Well, it's not! Aperture and shutter speed control are what makes a great photo. Light is secondary. All those other guys have their priorities screwed up." This isn't a direct quote, of course, but I came away with this feeling.
1) Not the fault of the book, but I knew much (maybe 50%) of the material already.
2) It has beautiful photos, with explanations on how each was made. This was very useful.
3) The writing is lousy, with silly and unhelpful analogies. ISO is like buckets under a running water faucet? And stupid attempts at humor or something resembling it: the author doesn't eat donuts, but he does eat bagels and so will sometimes use a ring flash. Get it? Bagels are round and a ring flash is round. Good one.
4) The tone often comes off defensive or at least trying to justify his viewpoint (e.g. setting WB to "Cloudy" as default). Also, it's interesting how he downplays the importance of light in making photographs. It comes off as, "Hey, everybody says light is the most important thing in photography. Well, it's not! Aperture and shutter speed control are what makes a great photo. Light is secondary. All those other guys have their priorities screwed up." This isn't a direct quote, of course, but I came away with this feeling.
January 9, 2010
A true teacher and entertainer, Bryan Peterson writes as if he were walking students through a fun lecture course on photography. He introduces phrases that he uses again and again so that you, the student, start to fill in the answers before he finishes; he explains tricky technical details through memorable metaphor; he ties theory to his own photography, showing us just where he took his metering, and why. Halfway through the book you feel like a second semester student filling in all the jokes ahead of time and snapping away happily, picking up the extra details you missed before.
It made me giddy, that feeling, and I had to laugh and give the book a kiss in gratitude when I realized what had happened. I'd gotten it. I understood exposure; shutter speed and aperture were no longer mysteries to me. Depth of field, no problem; light metering, a cinch!
Focal length he skipped completely, and he rushed through filters as if the bell were about to ring, but for an explanation and introduction to exposure and stretching my camera skills, I give this book 5 stars.
It made me giddy, that feeling, and I had to laugh and give the book a kiss in gratitude when I realized what had happened. I'd gotten it. I understood exposure; shutter speed and aperture were no longer mysteries to me. Depth of field, no problem; light metering, a cinch!
Focal length he skipped completely, and he rushed through filters as if the bell were about to ring, but for an explanation and introduction to exposure and stretching my camera skills, I give this book 5 stars.
July 9, 2009
I couldn't put this book down! I read almost all of it in one sitting. I am a very amateur photographer and I learned so much from this book. I learned the value of the manual setting and how to properly use it. I learned from where to meter light. I had no idea there was a problem metering light from black and from white images. I learned many insights into creatively composed images and how to make them. Very informative and well laid out. Easy to understand.
April 5, 2021
Very simple and repetitive, outdated, poorly written. Contains some nice tips, but that's it. The whole thing could easily be condensed to an A4 paper. I am honestly shocked at how much this is praised.
February 21, 2021
Most of us beginners know the basics of exposure > how shutter-speed, aperture and ISO can have an effect on the exposure. But we, as beginners, have little idea about how to get the correct exposure. And when it comes to the creative aspect of it, we are oblivious. This short but rich book covers a lot on exposure, and how to use the various aspects of it to your creative advantage. The photos included, and the corresponding scenario and the decisions he made at that scenario, let us know what goes through the mind of professional photographer when he takes a shot.
A must read for beginners.
A must read for beginners.
November 2, 2022
a bit repetitive but gets the point across. as a complete beginner when it comes to the theory of photography i feel like a whole new world just opened up before me and i’m excited to explore it all for myself
May 4, 2013
This was an excellent book for beginners. It's also a great book for the more experienced. It is useless for a pro or advanced amateur photographer. The author gives a very easy to understand method for getting the correct "creative" exposure on any camera. He explains the three most important aspects and how to use them. They are ISO, aperture and shutter. He explains white balance. He explains the use of the flash. He tells you how to meter. He really helps get you out of using the "Auto" mode.
I already knew that a smaller aperture yields a larger depth of field and vice versa, but the author made me much more comfortable knowing which aperture to use in which situation. He explains what he calls the 'who cares' aperture settings of f/8 and f/11 and when you do want to use the and why.
It really is an excellent book for understanding exposure, which is at the heart of a good photograph.
The reason I didn't give it five stars is because there were some things that were glossed over and some things that were not as well explained as I thought they could be. Mind you, they were mostly minor.
For instance, I think he could have explained a little bit about the appropriate lens to use in different situations. He does do this a little, but I think it would have been nice if he had used different lenses in the same situation and compared the photographs as he did with white balance and F-stop. As an example, I've been having a problem shooting people moving about in an indoor venue. Going with a prime focus (not a zoom) lens with a lower F-stop would help this situation. Sure it won't cure the problem. Sometimes, you just don't have the light to do what you want, but he didn't even mention this. I think he could have had a whole section just for lenses.
It seemed that nearly all of his shots were done with a tri-pod. There was a brief explanation of what to look for in a tri-pod, but I think he could have been more in depth with that. Yes, it's not directly related to exposure, but considering his heavy use of the tri-pod, I think it would have fit into the topic.
He mentioned that he thought the histogram was highly overrated and said nothing more about it. I will have to seek that information elsewhere.
He does explain a bit about HDR photography. This stands for high dynamic range and involves combining multiple photographs of the same subject at different settings to yield a single photograph with more detail or special properties that cannot be achieved with a single photo. During this discussion, he mentioned using bracketing on the camera. I've heard of that but I have no idea what that means. I was hoping that would be something he would explain.
He explains a little about how he gets extreme depth of field for landscape shots. He says something like this, "I set my aperture to f/22, my lens to 35mm, meter on the sky to get the appropriate shutter speed. Then, in manual, I focus on my foot and shoot using that focus. It will be blurry in the viewfinder but everything from about 2 feet in front of me to infinity will be in focus after I take the photo." I like this because I had no idea that the viewfinder could be out of focus, but the picture would be in focus. I also like that he shows how to get a very high depth of field. This technique is called hyperfocus. He never mentions that term, but in theory, if you set your aperture differently or use a different lens setting, the focus would be different than his foot. You might have to focus 10 feet away. If you look up hyperfocus photography online, you will find charts and even phone apps that will tell you how far out to focus with different settings. Maybe it's not that important. I don't know because I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I think it was a missed opportunity for him to go into a little more detail. I was paraphrasing above, by the bye.
Every photo has information about how the photo was taken. I think he did a great job with this, but I do wish he would put all of the information for every photo. Every photo had the focal length, shutter speed and aperture, but he usually only included the ISO when he was discussing ISO. It would have been nice to have it on every photo. In fact, I would have liked to see what camera he used and some details about the lens, too.
As some others have mentioned, the humor was a little odd. I agree with this, but it's not so odd as to be creepy or anything and at least he tried to lighten the subject. I'm all for that.
I would like to emphasize that my complaints are minor and that the author does a great job of really getting into exposure.
The most important thing to know about this book is that it is called "Understanding Exposure," not "How to use your camera," not "How to take a picture." It's all about getting the proper exposure so don't expect any detail on purchasing decisions, specific set-ups (shooting cars, shooting babies, underwater photography, etc.). There are no diagrams in this book only photos. Some of them are truly stunning and he gives loads of information to help you produce similar photos. I highly recommend this book.
I already knew that a smaller aperture yields a larger depth of field and vice versa, but the author made me much more comfortable knowing which aperture to use in which situation. He explains what he calls the 'who cares' aperture settings of f/8 and f/11 and when you do want to use the and why.
It really is an excellent book for understanding exposure, which is at the heart of a good photograph.
The reason I didn't give it five stars is because there were some things that were glossed over and some things that were not as well explained as I thought they could be. Mind you, they were mostly minor.
For instance, I think he could have explained a little bit about the appropriate lens to use in different situations. He does do this a little, but I think it would have been nice if he had used different lenses in the same situation and compared the photographs as he did with white balance and F-stop. As an example, I've been having a problem shooting people moving about in an indoor venue. Going with a prime focus (not a zoom) lens with a lower F-stop would help this situation. Sure it won't cure the problem. Sometimes, you just don't have the light to do what you want, but he didn't even mention this. I think he could have had a whole section just for lenses.
It seemed that nearly all of his shots were done with a tri-pod. There was a brief explanation of what to look for in a tri-pod, but I think he could have been more in depth with that. Yes, it's not directly related to exposure, but considering his heavy use of the tri-pod, I think it would have fit into the topic.
He mentioned that he thought the histogram was highly overrated and said nothing more about it. I will have to seek that information elsewhere.
He does explain a bit about HDR photography. This stands for high dynamic range and involves combining multiple photographs of the same subject at different settings to yield a single photograph with more detail or special properties that cannot be achieved with a single photo. During this discussion, he mentioned using bracketing on the camera. I've heard of that but I have no idea what that means. I was hoping that would be something he would explain.
He explains a little about how he gets extreme depth of field for landscape shots. He says something like this, "I set my aperture to f/22, my lens to 35mm, meter on the sky to get the appropriate shutter speed. Then, in manual, I focus on my foot and shoot using that focus. It will be blurry in the viewfinder but everything from about 2 feet in front of me to infinity will be in focus after I take the photo." I like this because I had no idea that the viewfinder could be out of focus, but the picture would be in focus. I also like that he shows how to get a very high depth of field. This technique is called hyperfocus. He never mentions that term, but in theory, if you set your aperture differently or use a different lens setting, the focus would be different than his foot. You might have to focus 10 feet away. If you look up hyperfocus photography online, you will find charts and even phone apps that will tell you how far out to focus with different settings. Maybe it's not that important. I don't know because I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I think it was a missed opportunity for him to go into a little more detail. I was paraphrasing above, by the bye.
Every photo has information about how the photo was taken. I think he did a great job with this, but I do wish he would put all of the information for every photo. Every photo had the focal length, shutter speed and aperture, but he usually only included the ISO when he was discussing ISO. It would have been nice to have it on every photo. In fact, I would have liked to see what camera he used and some details about the lens, too.
As some others have mentioned, the humor was a little odd. I agree with this, but it's not so odd as to be creepy or anything and at least he tried to lighten the subject. I'm all for that.
I would like to emphasize that my complaints are minor and that the author does a great job of really getting into exposure.
The most important thing to know about this book is that it is called "Understanding Exposure," not "How to use your camera," not "How to take a picture." It's all about getting the proper exposure so don't expect any detail on purchasing decisions, specific set-ups (shooting cars, shooting babies, underwater photography, etc.). There are no diagrams in this book only photos. Some of them are truly stunning and he gives loads of information to help you produce similar photos. I highly recommend this book.
Read
September 1, 2025i guess this was useful to start to familiarize with some basic concepts but i was distracted by how cringe and tacky the author’s photos were.
November 2, 2015
Understanding Exposure is regularly touted as the bible for understanding exposure; I guess it's lucky that Peterson titled the book as he did. I've had my copy for a while now – a generous Christmas or birthday present some years ago – and had kinda delayed even looking at it; somehow expecting some weighty tome of technical explanations. The subject is one that I pretty much felt I already had a good handle on – especially after the excellent (but sadly no longer available) article by Ryan Brenizer on the Utata website. Obviously, I should avoid making these prejudicial decisions about my to-read books, as I'm so often proven wrong.
Instead, Peterson gives us a series of short, succinct, explanations of the three components of exposure – aperture, shutter-speed and ISO – and the relationships between them; along with plenty of photographic examples. When to use different apertures is explained through Peterson's concept of three ranges – the wide apertures for when you want shallow depth of field, the narrow apertures for deep depth of field and the "don't care" range for everything in the middle where you don't care about depth-of-field. Peterson keeps going back to this idea, selecting depth-of-field from the three ranges, then building shutter speed and ISO accordingly. It's pretty basic really, but this kinda makes sense, though it's a simple approach, and Peterson explains it well.
Peterson makes a great deal out of using metering as your starting point. He describes the various types of in-camera metering, all based on reflected-light metering, and frequently suggests that metering doesn't need to be in-camera, that handheld metering is also available. Yet, for some reason, he completely fails to describe any use of incident-light metering. He's happy to devote a chapter to the ever-tedious film vs. digital debate, but doesn't think the use of handheld meters worth even discussing.
Ultimately, I found the book a little too basic for my needs. I'm sure it's a brilliant explanation for people for whom the whole aperture/shutter speed/ISO thing hasn't quite clicked, but if it has there's little to pick up here. As such I wavered between two and three stars, but it's not Peterson's fault that this book isn't really for me, so I erred on the generous side.
Instead, Peterson gives us a series of short, succinct, explanations of the three components of exposure – aperture, shutter-speed and ISO – and the relationships between them; along with plenty of photographic examples. When to use different apertures is explained through Peterson's concept of three ranges – the wide apertures for when you want shallow depth of field, the narrow apertures for deep depth of field and the "don't care" range for everything in the middle where you don't care about depth-of-field. Peterson keeps going back to this idea, selecting depth-of-field from the three ranges, then building shutter speed and ISO accordingly. It's pretty basic really, but this kinda makes sense, though it's a simple approach, and Peterson explains it well.
Peterson makes a great deal out of using metering as your starting point. He describes the various types of in-camera metering, all based on reflected-light metering, and frequently suggests that metering doesn't need to be in-camera, that handheld metering is also available. Yet, for some reason, he completely fails to describe any use of incident-light metering. He's happy to devote a chapter to the ever-tedious film vs. digital debate, but doesn't think the use of handheld meters worth even discussing.
Ultimately, I found the book a little too basic for my needs. I'm sure it's a brilliant explanation for people for whom the whole aperture/shutter speed/ISO thing hasn't quite clicked, but if it has there's little to pick up here. As such I wavered between two and three stars, but it's not Peterson's fault that this book isn't really for me, so I erred on the generous side.
July 17, 2016
I really liked this book. I have an expensive camera that I don't know how to use effectively so this book was perfect for me! I was able to read it in one sitting and was kept interested throughout! After the read, I feel much more confident in using my DSLR. I'm obviously an amateur and I think this book is perfect for amateur's who want to better understand the manual mode of their DSLR. This book lays it out so effectively! I now better understand aperture, shutter speed, and white balance! The author wrote this book in a way that I was able to easily understand things that I could never quite understand! I'm not sure it would be as good for those readers who already have a clear understanding of those concepts. But, either way, I definitely recommend it!
NOTE: received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
NOTE: received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
February 22, 2007
This is easily the best introductory photography book I've ever read. It was a great refresher for the photography stuff that I've forgotten over the last 15 years, full of concise, easily understood explanations of useful photographic techniques. Some of the writing is corny, and the mnemonic devices get old pretty fast, but I'd still recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the basics of shooting with an SLR.
January 23, 2018
Some of the discussion of digital photography was a bit out of date in some ways. However the general photography topics of aperture, ISO, focal length, depth of field, manual exposure techniques, shutter speed (and many other topics) were expertly written and in some cases inspirational. I would recommend this as one of my top 3 books on photography for people who are serious about improving their image making skills.
April 18, 2022
In general, I think this book is great and contains a lot of valuable information, and is probably very appropriate for novice photographers, like myself.
The first four chapters are wonderful, and I went through them extremely quickly. These chapters contain what most seasoned photographers probably consider pretty "basic information", and even I, as a pretty novice photographer, was familiar with about half of the material. However, it's a very nice discussion on the exposure triangle, and the different uses of aperture and shutter speed. The chapter on light was a bit underwhelming, and could probably have been more illustrative.
The final two chapters "Special techniques" and "Electronic flash" were harder to get through, mostly because these aren't that interesting to me as a novice photographer. It was very interesting to see all the different things one is able to achieve, and I had never considered the use of flash in all the different ways, but, to me, this was definitely the more boring part of the book.
I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the style of writing either, which seems forced, and almost arrogant, at times.
I will definitely return to the first chapters of this book in the future -- to reference all the different valuable pieces of information written down.
The first four chapters are wonderful, and I went through them extremely quickly. These chapters contain what most seasoned photographers probably consider pretty "basic information", and even I, as a pretty novice photographer, was familiar with about half of the material. However, it's a very nice discussion on the exposure triangle, and the different uses of aperture and shutter speed. The chapter on light was a bit underwhelming, and could probably have been more illustrative.
The final two chapters "Special techniques" and "Electronic flash" were harder to get through, mostly because these aren't that interesting to me as a novice photographer. It was very interesting to see all the different things one is able to achieve, and I had never considered the use of flash in all the different ways, but, to me, this was definitely the more boring part of the book.
I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the style of writing either, which seems forced, and almost arrogant, at times.
I will definitely return to the first chapters of this book in the future -- to reference all the different valuable pieces of information written down.
December 17, 2023
Una de las principales fortalezas del libro es su claridad y concisión. Peterson explica conceptos complejos de manera sencilla y fácil de entender, incluso para los lectores que no tienen conocimientos previos sobre fotografía. El libro utiliza muchos recursos visuales, como diagramas y fotografías de ejemplo, para ilustrar sus puntos.
Otro aspecto positivo del libro es que ofrece consejos prácticos para fotógrafos de todos los niveles. Peterson proporciona información sobre cómo elegir la configuración de exposición adecuada para diferentes situaciones, cómo aprovechar al máximo la medición de la luz y cómo usar los histogramas para evaluar la exposición de una fotografía.
En general, "Understanding Exposure" es un libro excelente para aprender sobre la exposición fotográfica. Es una lectura obligada para cualquier fotógrafo que quiera mejorar sus habilidades.
Otro aspecto positivo del libro es que ofrece consejos prácticos para fotógrafos de todos los niveles. Peterson proporciona información sobre cómo elegir la configuración de exposición adecuada para diferentes situaciones, cómo aprovechar al máximo la medición de la luz y cómo usar los histogramas para evaluar la exposición de una fotografía.
En general, "Understanding Exposure" es un libro excelente para aprender sobre la exposición fotográfica. Es una lectura obligada para cualquier fotógrafo que quiera mejorar sus habilidades.
October 8, 2020
A clear explanation (if somewhat occasionally long-winded) on the topic of exposure. I already knew 95% of this stuff, but so far, if I had to recommend a book about exposure to a beginner, this would probably be it. His pages on (not fearing) diffraction have been particularly useful. If I had to find a flaw with it, it would be the fact the author does not mention the different types of aberration and optical phenomena such as vignetting occurring at different apertures, except for maybe the above mentioned phenomenon of diffraction. Bryan Peterson is such great a instructor though, and overall a kind human being, I recommend you follow him on Instagram (and elsewhere).
February 9, 2021
This was the most clear and helpful book I have ever read about photography. I have fumbled my way through countless books with tips for novice photographers and at the end of them remember very little, however, this book was easy to understand and concrete. If the information doesn't suck you in the pictures most definitely will. Bryan Peterson's work is absolutely stunning. It is a book to keep on the shelf for its beauty as well as for its knowledge.
March 26, 2021
Learned a lot from this book. Book is written in simple language with lots of example photos with creative exposure details. Feels like a must read for any beginner photographer.
October 21, 2017
Short and really insightful for people with no formal photography knowledge. A wealth of information on improving your photography. Skimps on more than a handful of things, flash photography being a big one. But the author says early on he was going to leave it out. And like I said, this is more for the beginner just getting into it.
February 5, 2019
I re-read this frequently and always find something new to do.
March 9, 2017
Worth the read
This was an entertaining and informative read for a novice. I imagine I'll often revisit certain sections of the book!
This was an entertaining and informative read for a novice. I imagine I'll often revisit certain sections of the book!
May 18, 2018
Really wonderful read for any beginner to fresh professional. Great tone.
July 2, 2014
I wanted to give this book four stars, but came up one stop short. It is by turns incredibly illuminating then completely opaque. I definitely have a much better understanding of exposure after having read it, so in that sense, it's a rousing success. But getting there could have been a better journey. A few thoughts / criticisms:
1. No infographics: A few well-chosen illustrations could help make a lot of things clearer. One example would be a handy-dandy reference diagram that shows a 1-stop (or finer-grained) f-stop scale. Print it inside the cover so the reader can reference it; most people can't remember a scale that's multiples of the square root of 2.
2. Outdated content: The world of digital photography evolves very quickly, so this book (at 4 years of age for the Third Edition) feels like it was written when DSLRs first came onto the market. In other words, it's pretty outdated.
3. Get content in the right order: A lot of basic terminology should be covered up front. For example, there are countless times when the author references "taking a light meter reading." He doesn't actually say what he means by this until you're 75% of the way through the book. Many digital cameras now have three light-metering modes. Which one should you use? What's the difference? Do you use one over others in different circumstances? It's confusing not to have some of this terminology up front.
4. Manual Mode mania: This is a super nitty-gritty complaint, but the author has a way of phrasing one particular thing that's so essential, he repeats it probably a hundred times in the book. Every time I had to stop and parse what he was saying. The phrase in question is something like "I set my shutter speed to 1/60th sec and then adjusted my aperture until f/22 indicated a correct exposure." He uses the same basic phrase when speaking about setting aperture first, then shutter. The reason it's confusing is because he assumes you're always shooting in MANUAL mode. If you shoot using Aperture or Shutter priority, then every time he utters a phrase like this, it makes no sense, because the camera is automatically choosing a value to get the "right" exposure.
5. Connect content to the camera: There is precisely one illustration in this entire book that shows you a display you might see on a digital camera. He references features and functionality of cameras all over the place, but never really talks about how to do X, Y or Z with your camera. The most important thing left to the imagination is taking meter readings (see my point above). If you don't know how to properly target your metering AND use Auto-Exposure-Lock (AEL), you're pretty much hosed.
6. Complete the triangle: The bulk of the book talks about aperture and shutter speed, but he spends precious little time talking about the third leg of the exposure triangle: ISO. Given the fact that new cameras are totally ISO crazy, this needs more discussion. Maybe this is just a function of the book being out of date?
Anyway, my complaints aside, I'm glad I read the book. There's a lot of good stuff in there, especially the sample photographs with settings and explanations of how he achieved certain effects. The comparison photographs with different settings were also great illustrations of technique combined with results.
1. No infographics: A few well-chosen illustrations could help make a lot of things clearer. One example would be a handy-dandy reference diagram that shows a 1-stop (or finer-grained) f-stop scale. Print it inside the cover so the reader can reference it; most people can't remember a scale that's multiples of the square root of 2.
2. Outdated content: The world of digital photography evolves very quickly, so this book (at 4 years of age for the Third Edition) feels like it was written when DSLRs first came onto the market. In other words, it's pretty outdated.
3. Get content in the right order: A lot of basic terminology should be covered up front. For example, there are countless times when the author references "taking a light meter reading." He doesn't actually say what he means by this until you're 75% of the way through the book. Many digital cameras now have three light-metering modes. Which one should you use? What's the difference? Do you use one over others in different circumstances? It's confusing not to have some of this terminology up front.
4. Manual Mode mania: This is a super nitty-gritty complaint, but the author has a way of phrasing one particular thing that's so essential, he repeats it probably a hundred times in the book. Every time I had to stop and parse what he was saying. The phrase in question is something like "I set my shutter speed to 1/60th sec and then adjusted my aperture until f/22 indicated a correct exposure." He uses the same basic phrase when speaking about setting aperture first, then shutter. The reason it's confusing is because he assumes you're always shooting in MANUAL mode. If you shoot using Aperture or Shutter priority, then every time he utters a phrase like this, it makes no sense, because the camera is automatically choosing a value to get the "right" exposure.
5. Connect content to the camera: There is precisely one illustration in this entire book that shows you a display you might see on a digital camera. He references features and functionality of cameras all over the place, but never really talks about how to do X, Y or Z with your camera. The most important thing left to the imagination is taking meter readings (see my point above). If you don't know how to properly target your metering AND use Auto-Exposure-Lock (AEL), you're pretty much hosed.
6. Complete the triangle: The bulk of the book talks about aperture and shutter speed, but he spends precious little time talking about the third leg of the exposure triangle: ISO. Given the fact that new cameras are totally ISO crazy, this needs more discussion. Maybe this is just a function of the book being out of date?
Anyway, my complaints aside, I'm glad I read the book. There's a lot of good stuff in there, especially the sample photographs with settings and explanations of how he achieved certain effects. The comparison photographs with different settings were also great illustrations of technique combined with results.
May 1, 2011
This book provides the basics of shooting in manual mode and getting good exposures in a consistent fashion. Peterson clearly explains how the elements of your camera work together to produce different kinds of "creative" exposures, rather than the "correct" exposure you would get if you left it in Auto mode all the time. I did learn quite a bit from the book, and several things were clarified and I am no longer clueless about Manual mode.
However--
Peterson himself seems to be an "aperture first" kind of guy. He picks the aperture he wants to use and adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. For him, this works well because he shoots a lot of landscapes, cityscapes, and outdoor things that do not require short shutter speeds. This method works less well when one is trying to shoot moving children, indoors, or anything where you only have a few seconds to capture a moment. While he goes in-depth about how to choose the appropriate aperture for your situation (as long as your situation is outdoors and landscape-y), he does not devote the same space to choosing a good shutter speed for a variety of situations.
Peterson's writing style kind of annoyed me, with frequent references to the awesomeness of his life as a globe-travelling photographer. He also makes dreadful analogies that are at best grating and at worst unintelligible. I personally found his pictures to be exactly what he sells them as-- stock photography. I didn't find them particularly inspiring or creative, and by the end felt almost as though this was a guide to producing good pictures that would sell as stock photography (when what I was looking for was getting my pictures to turn out when taking them of family and everyday situations).
This guy has sold a bizillion books and pictures and has his own (expensive) online photography school, so he must be doing something right. And his pictures are much better than mine, of course. But I can't say that I understand the rave reviews over this book, since the examples are for a narrow range of use.
However--
Peterson himself seems to be an "aperture first" kind of guy. He picks the aperture he wants to use and adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. For him, this works well because he shoots a lot of landscapes, cityscapes, and outdoor things that do not require short shutter speeds. This method works less well when one is trying to shoot moving children, indoors, or anything where you only have a few seconds to capture a moment. While he goes in-depth about how to choose the appropriate aperture for your situation (as long as your situation is outdoors and landscape-y), he does not devote the same space to choosing a good shutter speed for a variety of situations.
Peterson's writing style kind of annoyed me, with frequent references to the awesomeness of his life as a globe-travelling photographer. He also makes dreadful analogies that are at best grating and at worst unintelligible. I personally found his pictures to be exactly what he sells them as-- stock photography. I didn't find them particularly inspiring or creative, and by the end felt almost as though this was a guide to producing good pictures that would sell as stock photography (when what I was looking for was getting my pictures to turn out when taking them of family and everyday situations).
This guy has sold a bizillion books and pictures and has his own (expensive) online photography school, so he must be doing something right. And his pictures are much better than mine, of course. But I can't say that I understand the rave reviews over this book, since the examples are for a narrow range of use.
February 26, 2022
It's weird, sometimes you find yourself scratching your head and wondering why a book gets such good reviews. Don't get me wrong, it's genuinely not bad, but 5* is something that I'd leave for breathtaking, bookwise, and I'm pretty sure that this book isn't that.
So what's the problem? The title should be the first clue. Who uses film cameras these days? And yet, there it is in the title, which should tell you the book might tell you is a little dated. Don't get me wrong, it explains the concept of exposure (and the relationship between ISO and aperture) well, but I kind of feel any good you tube channel could do the job just as well these days, and the best of those channels have more modern books to support the concepts they are trying to explain.
Second it can go on some. Maybe I'm getting more impatient in my late middle age, but there were times I was thinking enough already, how about encouraging us to go out and do some actual shooting?
This said, it means well, and tries hard to get people to explain what's important about an element of "good photography" (I suspect composition it the most profound element in the subject).
So what's the problem? The title should be the first clue. Who uses film cameras these days? And yet, there it is in the title, which should tell you the book might tell you is a little dated. Don't get me wrong, it explains the concept of exposure (and the relationship between ISO and aperture) well, but I kind of feel any good you tube channel could do the job just as well these days, and the best of those channels have more modern books to support the concepts they are trying to explain.
Second it can go on some. Maybe I'm getting more impatient in my late middle age, but there were times I was thinking enough already, how about encouraging us to go out and do some actual shooting?
This said, it means well, and tries hard to get people to explain what's important about an element of "good photography" (I suspect composition it the most profound element in the subject).
March 4, 2013
"Understanding Exposure" is a must read for anyone venturing into the world of SLR photography for the first time. The 2010 update completely addresses, and, indeed, primarily focuses on, shooting digitally. Both Canon and Nikon are handled individually, while other notable manufactures get a mention here and there as well. Most surprisingly, within only the first 30 or 40 pages, I was able to shoot in full manual mode, and compose photographs that, while not prize-winning, were in focus and exposed properly. The only caveats I would add to this review are these two: the subtitle ("How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera") is misleading. This book will be of little or no use to you without an SLR or micro 4/3rds camera. Secondly, there is essentially no discussion of indoor photography. While many of the examples in the book can be applied to indoors and outdoors, the focus is nearly 100% on outdoor shooting. Nevertheless, I could not recommend this more highly!
April 7, 2017
I received a copy of this book from netgalley in return for a fair and honest review, and I'm grateful that I could take time to study every word. The opening statement is a hint to what kind of world is now available with my new skills: "Every photograph is a lie, but it is within that lie where a mountain of truth is revealed! And the climb towards that mountain of truth is greatly accelerated when one's steps are rooted in the simple understanding of exposure." We like to believe that digital cameras can do all the work, but what do they know? Only what we tell them; and if our communication skills are limited, then we still end up will dull tourist snaps. For so many years, camera exposure has been beyond my comprehension--notice that's a "was," because Peterson's explanations coupled with his straightforward exercises finally got through to me!
January 10, 2016
Don't go to the photo course, read this book instead.
If you like me had on and off relationships with cameras and want to finally understand better what's going on and how to make the picture you want, that should be good book for you.
Though If you already sophisticated in light-meters and exposure-triangles, then it is not your book ;)
If you like me had on and off relationships with cameras and want to finally understand better what's going on and how to make the picture you want, that should be good book for you.
Though If you already sophisticated in light-meters and exposure-triangles, then it is not your book ;)
June 13, 2016
*I requested from Blogging For Books*
Sharpening Skills
I always want to be better at photography and always wanting to sharpen my skills which is what this book has helped. I've picked up some new skills and a lot of things I had questions about and a LOT of things I didn't know. I will going back to review some things over when I forget.
Sharpening Skills
I always want to be better at photography and always wanting to sharpen my skills which is what this book has helped. I've picked up some new skills and a lot of things I had questions about and a LOT of things I didn't know. I will going back to review some things over when I forget.
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