Photography Equivalent Exposure Chart

Let s say you have a certain ev exposure value made up of the two components of an f 2 8 aperture and a 1 500 second shutter speed.

Photography equivalent exposure chart. There are multiple different settings that can give the same exposure called equivalent. Another first basic of photography is equivalent exposures. The sunny f 16 rule for digital exposure. Shutter speed photography settings control two important factors within an image.

Exposure value ev is simply a way to combine shutter speed and aperture to a single value. Shutter speed photography settings combined with iso and f stop controls aperture give the photographer ultimate creative control over the photograph the exposure triangle. The concept of equivalent exposure can be a tricky one to wrap your mind around when you re just getting started in photography. That s an ev of 12 by the way.

The ev 15 row of the ev chart will show equivalent exposures typical of bright sun and iso 100. There are a number of combinations of aperture shutter speed and iso that can be used to achieve this equivalent exposure. This is a physical requirement that ensures a picture displays the correct color lighting. Download the free shutter speed chart pdf for reference while reading the in depth photography guide below.

For quick web reference you ll find a series of neutral density exposure charts below. Although shutter speed an aperture both carry a lot of side effects like motion blur and depth of field ev doesn t take those into account. Just follow the same colour diagonal on the chart to find equivalent combinations. There are 3 tables below.

The camera settings of iso shutter speed and f stop can match the exposure to that light reading. Exposure image brightness. This waterfall was photographed with two exposures one at f 22 at 1 15 sec and one at f 8 at 1 125 sec. An equivalent exposure is one that relies on the same amount of light for the proper exposure but juggles the aperture and shutter speed settings to yield different image effects.

How to calculate long exposure times. Long exposure charts for neutral density filters. F 2 8 and 1 500th second is equivalent to f 22 at 1 8th sec is equivalent to f 8 at 1 60th sec. The rule of equivalent exposure in the simplest terms allows you to make the exact same or let s say equivalent exposure using different settings for aperture shutter speed and iso.

The sunny f 16 rule or basic daylight exposure bde for short tells you that the proper exposure in digital photography for a frontlit subject is f 16 with a shutter speed of 1 iso that s 1 over the iso in use according to the sunny f 16 rule at iso 100 bde would be f 16 at 1 100 second and at iso 200 bde would be f 16 at 1 200 second. Using the correct camera settings a combination of shutter speed f stop iso the brightness of the image produced will match that of the scene being photographed creating the optimal exposure.