Ortega/ACS

Photography
Assignment- Exposure Control Exercise
Introduction
This exercise will allow you to demonstrate your understanding and application of the
principles of exposure in a technical shooting exercise.
Follow the instructions for setting up your cameras and scenes for the exercise and shoot
carefully to avoid camera shake or other technical problems that will affect the clarity of your
shots.

Exercise Objectives:

To demonstrate your understanding and control of light measurement and exposure

control by producing a series of photographs that clearly show the results of
measuring light from different tones and exposing different tones correctly.

Vocabulary
Ansel Adams / Zone System / mid-tone / Zone 5 / exposure / exposure lock / exposure
compensation / placing a tone / a stop / aperture / shutter speed / reflected light meter /
incident light meter / contrast / direct light / diffuse light / ambient light / balanced fill flash /
slow shutter flash

Procedure
Use spot metering to measure each tone in your scene accurately.
Set your cameras for their highest resolution (JPG fine) and file size and a low
ISO.
Use a tripod if shutter speeds used would produce camera shake.
Set up a simple scene that includes subject matter with very dark, mid-tone and very light
elements and make sure that the lighting in consistent for the whole scene. Below is an
example of a simple setup for your exercise work:

Once you have set up your scene, create the following photographs:
(Use spot metering, a low ISO, auto white balance, jpeg fine picture quality, and use a
tripod to avoid camera shake if necessary during your shoot. Check all other
important controls and set accordingly.)

USING MANUAL EXPOSURE MODE=

1. Measure the light from the mid-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is only
reading from the mid-tone element in your setup), adjust your light meter for what the
camera thinks is correct exposure, and take a shot that includes the whole scene.
2. Measure the light from the light-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the lightest element in your setup), adjust your light meter for what the
camera thinks is correct exposure, and take a shot that includes the whole scene.
3. Measure the light from the dark-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the darkest element in your setup), adjust your light meter for what the
camera thinks is correct exposure, and take a shot that includes the whole scene.
4. Measure the light from the light-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the lightest element in your setup), then adjust your light meter to
place the lightest tone correctly (add two stops of light), and take a shot that includes
the whole scene.
5. Measure the light from the dark-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the darkest element in your setup), then adjust your light meter to
place the darkest tone correctly (subtract two stops of light), and take a shot that
includes the whole scene.
USING PROGRAM EXPOSURE MODE=
IMPORTANT NOTE:
You will need to use the exposure compensation feature and the exposure lock
feature in this part of the shooting assignment.
These features are often used when shooting in Program or semi-automatic exposure
modes. Know how your camera sets these controls.
1. Measure the light from the mid-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is only
reading from the mid-tone element in your setup) use the exposure lock and take a shot
that includes the whole scene.
2. Measure the light from the light-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the lightest element in your setup) use the exposure lock and take a
shot that includes the whole scene.
3. Measure the light from the dark-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is
only reading from the darkest element in your setup), use the exposure lock and take a
shot that includes the whole scene.
4. Adjust your exposure compensation to add two stops of light then measure the light
from the light-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is only reading from the
lightest element in your setup), use the exposure lock and take a shot that includes the
whole scene.
5. Adjust your exposure compensation to subtract two stops of light then measure the
light from the dark-tone subject only (make sure that your spot meter is only reading
from the darkest element in your setup), use the exposure lock and take a shot that
includes the whole scene.

KEEP WRITTEN RECORDS OF WHICH SHOTS YOU ARE TAKING SO THAT YOU CAN
IDENTIFY THEM ALL LATER.
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS=
1. When you have finished your shooting exercise, download the assignment to your
classroom computer in a new folder called exposure exercise within your own course
folder. You should have a total of about 10 shots in total to cover the shooting
assignment.
2. Make a contact sheet of your shots, but set up the contact sheet to make only 3 rows and
3 columns only. Dont edit or adjust your shots in any way.
3. Print the contact sheets from the laser printer and then attach them in your workbook and
identify which photo is which in the exercise.
4. Look at the results and identify which shots resulted in correct exposure and which shots
resulted in incorrect exposure.
Discuss how your results match up to the theory of exposing different tones correctly by
using the Zone System principles.
If your results do not match up with the expected outcome, why do you think that is?

Turn in:

All assignment exercise shots saved in correct folders on your classroom

computer workstation
Printed contact sheets and written analysis

Assessment
The shooting exercise will be assessed for accuracy of exposure theory applied and for
producing a clear demonstration of your ability to control exposure when photographing a
variety of subjects.
Your written analysis will be informative in demonstrating your understanding of exposure
theory and how to apply it in different situations.

For further work:

You can repeat the exercise in different lighting conditions to learn more about how
tonal contrasts are affected by light quality and how that affects the way that you
might need to set exposure.
Doing the exercise under direct lighting will create stronger contrast between the tones and
may push the dynamic range of the scene beyond the limits of your camera to record both
highlight and shadow detail, while shooting in low contrast, diffuse light will make it much
easier for the camera to expose highlights and shadow tones correctly in the scene.

For Advanced work:

Investigate how to combine flash with ambient light exposures to create balanced fill
flash effects and slow shutter flash effects in photography and create clear examples
of each technique.