The "photographic triangle" is a concept that Bryan Peterson uses to show how to combine aperture, shutter speed, and film speed to make more creative photographs. Understanding Exposure is a companion volume to his popular Learning to See Creatively explores that relationship in depth. Vivid, graphic comparison pictures illustrate every point and can help any photographer maximize the creative impact of his or her exposure decisions.
Peterson stresses the importance of metering the subject for a starting exposure, then explains how to halve and double f-stops, how to use various exposure meters, and how to work with different kinds of light. The book contains lessons on each element of the triangle and how it relates to the other two in terms of depth of field, freezing and blurring action, and shooting in low light or at night. A section on special techniques explores such options as deliberate under- and overexposure, double exposure, bracketing, and the use of filters.
Peterson's teaching method is based on the premise that the first step is to define the creative objective-then decide how best to expose the image. Understanding Exposure demonstrates that there are always creative choices about how to expose a picture-and that the decision is up to the photographer, not the camera.
About the Author: Bryan Peterson is a professional photographer with a regular photography column in many publications. He is also author of Learning to See Creatively.