7/27/2019 Exposure Values Chart ISO 6400
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Alexis Junio August 2011
Exposure Values and Light Conditions Chart
Exposure ValueSunny 16Exposure Subject
18 +3 - Bright reflections17 +2 - White or very light
colored/toned subject in bright sunlight
16 +1
15 0 - Subject is medium colored/toned in bright sunlight
14 -1 - Slightly overcast
13 -2 - Overcast
12 -3 - Heavy overcast
11 -4 - Sunset, Open shade
10 -5 - Landscapes just after sunset or before sunrise
9 -6- Landscapes 10 minutes after sunset/before sunrise- Neon
and lighted signs at night- Stage shows with bright lighting
8 -7
- Times Square at night- Store windows at night- Fires at night,
Stadium lighting- Interior with sunlight coming through window-
Interior with many florescent lights
7 -8- Bright street at night- Stage shows with average lighting-
Daytime interior with skylight
6 -9- Fairs and amusement parks at night- Daytime interior with
windows & no direct sunlight
5 -10 - Night interior with bright lighting
4 -11
- Floodlighted buildings, monuments, fountains- Holiday lighting
at night (indoor or outdoor)- Night interior with average lighting-
Candle-lighted close-ups
3 -12 - Street at night
2 -131 -14
0 -15 - Dim interior
-1 -16
-2 -17
-3 -18 - Rural landscape illuminated by a full moon
-4 -19
-5 -20
-6 -21 - Rural landscape illuminated by starlight
7/27/2019 Exposure Values Chart ISO 6400
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Alexis Junio August 2011
Facts about Exposure Settings
A. Aperture
1. Each time the aperture is decreased by one increment, the
amount of light entering is cut byhalf.
Example. F/2.8 has half the light of f/2. While F/2 has half the
light of f/1.4.
2. The bigger the aperture (f/1.4) the narrower the Depth of
Field (DOF). Narrow DOF blurs the background which is desirable in
portraits where you want to emphasize the subject and de-emphasize
the background.
3. The smaller the aperture (f/22) the deeper the DOF. Large or
deep DOF makes theforeground and background sharp which is
desirable when taking landscape photos.
4. A DOF calculator will estimate the DOF of a given aperture,
focal length and distance fromthe subject.
Example. An APS-C DSLR with a 50mm lens on f/1.4 aperture,
focused 10 feet away from asubject will have a DOF of 2 inches.
5. Photos are softest at f/1.4 and starts to sharpen until f/5.6
to f/8.0 and gradually softens againuntil f/22 due to
diffraction.
B. Shutter Speed
1. Recommended shutter speed should be 1 / focal length to avoid
blurring brought about byhand-held shots. This rule does not apply
to tripod-mounted cameras where hand-shake isalready
eliminated.
Example: A 50mm lens should not be set less/lower than a shutter
speed of 1/50 second.
2. A shutter speed of at least 1/125 of a second will usually
freeze ordinary human action. Faster activity like running people
or cars obviously requires a much faster shutter speed like 1/500in
order to freeze action.
C. ISO
1. The lower the ISO the less noise is introduced into the
picture [chroma noise colouredspecks, luminance noise black and
white specks]. Therefore, use ISO 100 whenever
possible.
2. ISO 6400 will produce a noisier picture but will allow you to
use a faster shutter speed indark situation. A noisy picture is
always better than a blurry picture.
3. Most modern cameras produce acceptable noise in the photo
from ISO 100 800. Higher
ISO 1600 3200 6400 usually requires noise reduction in
Photoshop.
