Canon EOS Rebel T6/1300D For Dummies

Chapter 4

Taking Charge of Exposure

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting a grip on aperture, shutter speed, and ISO

Exploring advanced exposure modes: P, Tv, Av, and M

Choosing an exposure metering mode

Tweaking autoexposure results

Taking advantage of Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

Understanding exposure is one of the most intimidating challenges for a new photographer — and for good reason. Discussions of the topic are loaded with technical terms — aperture, metering, shutter speed, and ISO, to name just a few — and your camera offers many exposure controls, all sporting equally foreign names.

I fully relate to the confusion you may be feeling — I’ve been there. But I can also promise that when you take things nice and slow, digesting a piece of the exposure pie at a time, the topic is not as complicated as it seems on the surface. The payoff will be worth your time, too: You’ll not only gain the know-how to solve just about any exposure problem but also discover ways to use exposure to put your creative stamp on a scene.

To that end, this chapter provides everything you need to know about controlling exposure, from a primer in exposure terminology (it’s not as bad as it sounds) to tips on using the P, TV, Av, and M exposure modes, which are the only ones that offer access to all exposure features.

Note: The one exposure-related topic not covered in this chapter is flash. I discuss flash in Chapter 2 because it’s among the options you can access even in Scene Intelligent Auto mode, ...