The Exposure Triangle
Anyone can snap a photograph, but if you want to take your photography to the next level you first need to know what the Exposure Triangle is.

The Exposure Triangle simply put is using your camera’s Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO to create an image. Whether you shoot Manual or any of the Semi-Auto modes available to your camera it is important for you to learn how each of these elements of exposure work together in tandem to create an image.

First Let’s start with your camera’s Shutter Speed.
The Shutter Speed is the speed at which your shutter opens and closes to expose an image. When taking a picture your shutter first opens to receive light from your subject onto your camera’s recording medium and then closes.
The speed at which your shutter opens and closes determines whether your image is sharp or blurred. A faster shutter speed is generally used to freeze motion of your subject by allowing less light to reach your camera’s recording medium/sensor. A slower shutter speed on the other hand is used to introduce motion of your subject by allowing more light to reach your camera’s recording medium/sensor.

How do I know if my shutter speed is fast or slow?

When your camera shows a value of 1/100, 1/500, 1/1000 or above you’re shooting with a fast shutter speed.
Although using a fast shutter speed will increase your chances of freezing motion in you subject there is a trade off which is; by allowing the shutter to open and close quickly (less light reaching your camera’s recording medium/sensor) your pictures will likely become much darker thus requiring you to increase your ISO sensitivity or using a wider Aperture.  
Using a slower shutter speed of 1/20, 1/3, or 1 sec allows more light to reach your camera’s recording medium resulting in capturing motion of moving subjects and brighter pictures thus requiring a you to use a lower or less sensitive ISO value or narrower Aperture.

What is Aperture
The Aperture often referred to as the f-stop controls how much light is allowed to travel through your lens to your camera’s recording medium/sensor.

But do you know what else your Aperture control?

Your Aperture the sharpness between the nearest and farthest object in your frame otherwise known as the depth of field.

Note: The smaller the F-Stop number like F/1.4 the shallower the depth of field. Conversely the larger the F-Stop number such as f/18 the greater the depth of field.

If you shoot landscapes like myself you’ll generally want to use a larger F-Stop number such as f/11 or f/16 to create the most depth of field between your foreground and the background. However if you shoot portraits such as in wedding or product photography you’ll likely want to use the smallest F-Stop number of your lens such as f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2 or even f/5.6 for a shallow depth of field to emphasize attention on your subject and blur the background.

ISO – The Main Event
ISO measures the sensitivity to light of your camera’s recording medium. Aptly recognized as one of the most important elements of photography the ISO will determine what Shutter Speed and Aperture you can use to achieve a technically balanced exposure of your image especially in low light situations.

Given the fact that photography is an Art you will note that I used the word, “technically” and not correct exposure.

Digital ISO values will generally start at 100 ISO and can go up to as much as 102,400. However you should bear in mind that increasing your camera’s ISO sensitivity to it’s maximum can significantly increase image noise resulting in an unusable image.

Photography Is Light.
Whether you’re a beginner or professional photographer you need to continually train yourself to pay attention to where the light is and how it falls on your subject before you think about pressing the shutter. You need to be sensitive to the beauty of the light around you and how you can utilize that light to make a good photo. If you can’t see the light around you, regardless of how expensive your camera and lens is you’ll never make a good image. Sure you can take a snapshot but that’s all it will ever be.

Choosing the Best Light For Your Subject
For every country and location, the direction and time for the best light differs so you’ll need to do a bit of research based on where you are in the world. One of the tools I’ve found quite helpful on this subject is, “The Photographers Ephemeris”. As a Landscape Photographer I prefer to shoot at Sunrise between 5:30am to 7:00am and Sunset between 5:45pm to 6:30pm when the light is warm and more directional. If however I’m shooting Black & White for more contrast and overhead lighting I tend to shoot between 12pm to mid afternoon.

Where’s The Light Coming From?

Front Lit.
When the sunlight is behind your camera and facing your subject your subject will be front lit. Although shooting landscapes front lit creates less shadow which can result in flat image, shooting portraits front lit can result in a pleasing image as this type of lighting often hides any lines and wrinkles.

Back Lit.
Shooting back-light portraits when the sun is in front of your camera and behind your subject creates strong highlights separating your subject from the background. However shooting landscapes in a back-light situation increases the dynamic range within the frame often requiring the photographer to either use software to blend multiple files to create a HDR image in post processing or use Grad Filters in the field.

Side Lit.
For Landscape Photography and most genre of photography side light is recognized as the best type of lighting create both light and shadow on any subject which is perfect for effectively giving the photo depth thus creating a 3-Dimensional image on-to a 2-Dimensional plane.

Conclusion
You don’t need expensive gear. If you haven’t got a camera already there are so many brands and camera models for you to choose from. Notably one of the most affordable cameras I’ve found and have personally used is the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Many people may not know this but this trusty little camera was second digital camera I ever owned. In fact I used this camera paired with an 18-55mm kit lens as my main set up for not only shooting weddings and stock images but also during my first few years when I became a full-time Landscape Photographer.

Today you can pick up one of these cameras with that same kit lens on the Amazon website for as low as $479.00

Link Here

That being said, regardless of the kit you choose, the most important thing I’d love is for you to not only learn the importance of the Exposure Triangle but also how you can embrace the light available in your scene to create amazing images which will capture the attention of the viewer and take them along an enchanted journey as if they were standing in right beside you.

And guess what?

You’re not going to learn this sat behind the computer reading this article. You’re going to learn this by picking up your camera and using what you’ve learned to a picture.

It doesn’t need to be an award winning photo.
Whether it’s in your living room, dining room, kitchen or outside in your back yard, get up, get out there and don’t forget to have fun.

Happy Shooting and if you’re ever out and see me shooting, please don’t hesitate to come over and say Hi.