Take creative control of your images and master the essentials of proper exposure with this comprehensive guide to photography?s most fundamental skill. Reinvigorate your artistic enthusiasm by being able to recognise not just the "correct" exposure, but also numerous other creative options for how to capture any given scene. Your photography will stand apart from the crowd, and reflect your own unique vision of the world, all because you have mastered the best techniques for capturing stunning images.

In photography, every decision, creative and technical, rides on achieving a good exposure. When shooting portraits or products, landscapes or architecture, we must control our camera’s settings to ensure that just the right amount of light is allowed into the camera. When we strike the right balance in our exposure, we have a full range of tones, from pure white to deep blacks. We have rich visual detail. We have a sense of dimension. The colors and tones and contrast in our images weave the visual story of our subject and scene in a way that visually computes. As a result, we see just the image we strove to create, rendered perfectly in a way that satisfies our creative vision. In this book, Mark Chen shows you how to take full control over the science of exposure, providing you with the foundational skill-set you need to maximize your artistic vision.

Whether you're taking photographs in the dead of night or looking to create an ethereal effect with water or clouds during the day, long exposures are among the most challenging areas of photography. Very often there are physical obstacles to overcome, whether it's being unable to see to frame your shot or focus, an inability to predict movement during the exposure, or simply the need to hold your camera steady while the shutter is open. There are also numerous technical issues to resolve, such as striking a balance between ISO and noise, dealing with high dynamic range, and maintaining the best possible image quality when the laws of physics are working against you. Yet, just as the demands placed upon the photographer are exceptional, so too are the images that can be created when you push your camera to its limits. Packed with stunning photography throughout, the author's expert advice, tips, and tricks are augmented by Masterclasses from some of the world's leading long exposure champions, each sharing the secrets of their success. So whether you want to master star trail photography, shoot cityscapes at dusk, paint with light, or use blur creatively, this is the only book you'll need.

A complete guide to both the technical and creative aspects of exposure in digital photography. It uses a combination of discussion, examples and hands-on exercises that lead the reader through a progression of skills development covering the full range of photographic lighting situations.

Explains the fundamentals of exposure and how varying three parameters--shutter speed, aperture, and ISO--can be used creatively and practically to determine correct exposure, but deliver substantially different images.

Mastering Digital Exposure will take the "pro and aspiring pro" remit of the Mastering photography series into the little-understood realm of digital exposure. Of all the disciplines necessary for good photography, exposure remains the most challenging. Digital cameras have added to that challenge by introducing new considerations when dealing with exposure. These are sometimes complex (e.g. the linear nature of digital sensors, the occurrence of digital noise, mastering the digital histogram); often they are generic to photography but their application is different to that for film (e.g. white balance, ISO equivalency, dynamic range). A few will form the basis of the development of the next generation of digital cameras, in particular High Dynamic Range imaging. All of them need explaining and this book will be the first to do it, comprehensively, for the commercial digital user. Mastering Digital Exposure covers all aspects of controlling and managing exposure in-camera for commercially-viable results explored and discussed in language suitable for professionals and aspiring professionals. The book will include case studies form real-world projects and assignments, both studio and field based.

The first book in the Understanding Photography series, Understanding Exposure, was a runaway best-seller, with more than 250,000 copies sold. Now author Bryan Peterson brings his signature style to another important photography topic: shutter speed. With clear, jargon-free explanations of terms and techniques, plus compelling “before-and-after” photos that pair a mediocre image (created using the wrong shutter speed) with a great image (created using the right shutter speed), this is the definitive practical guide to mastering an often-confusing subject. Topics include freezing and implying motion, panning, zooming, exposure, Bogen Super Clamps, and rendering motion effects with Photoshop, all with helpful guidance for both digital and film formats. Great for beginners and serious amateurs, Understanding Shutter Speed is the definitive handy guide to mastering shutter speed for superb results.