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Photography vocabulary · Exposure

Exposure

Meaning in photography, with examples

/ɪkˈspoʊʒər/nounCore term

In photography, exposure means: The amount of light that reaches the camera's sensor or film when you take a picture; it decides how bright or dark the final image looks.

In Turkish: pozlama, poz

How it is used

The most basic word in photography. You set, adjust, check or nail the exposure, and a photo can have a correct, bright or dark exposure. It also means a single frame, as in a 30-second exposure or a roll of 36 exposures.

Example sentences

  1. The exposure looks fine on the camera screen, but check the histogram before we move on.

  2. Bright snow often fools the camera's meter, which leads to a gray, dull exposure.

Common collocations

  • correct exposure
  • adjust the exposure
  • nail the exposure
  • exposure settings
  • apertureThe adjustable opening inside a lens that lets light through. A wider opening lets in more light and gives a shallower depth of field.
  • shutter speedThe length of time the shutter stays open to let light reach the sensor, such as 1/1000 of a second or two seconds.
  • ISOThe setting that controls how strongly the camera amplifies the signal from its sensor. A higher ISO makes the image brighter in low light but adds noise.
  • exposure triangleA simple model showing how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together to control exposure; changing one usually means adjusting another.
  • histogramA graph that shows how the tones in a photo are spread out, from pure black on the left to pure white on the right.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Exposure

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