Exposure and the Exposure Triangle

Exposure

Overexposure: the recorded image or video appears too bright, and details may be "blown out" in a wash of white light.

Overexposed images may look too bright because they were captured with settings that allow too much light into the sensor: 

Underexposure: the recorded image or video appears too dark, and details may be hidden or lost in artificially deep shadows.

Underexposed images may look too dark because they were captured with settings that allow less than expected light into the sensor:

The Exposure Triangle

As you can see, there is a three-way relationship between these three important settings:

An adjustment to any one of these settings will impact the final exposure of the image. It is up to the photographer/videographer to set all three in balance, to achieve the desired depth of field, motion blur, exposure, and aesthetic look.

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Revision #19
Created 30 January 2025 18:25:09 by Nate
Updated 31 January 2025 19:38:37 by Nate