Exposure analysis

Exposure is crucial for a photographer. Once mastered, it becomes a way to tell and present your vision.

In this article I want to analyze with you four recent photos.

I shot in M with ISO 800 all the photos.

Open square, harsh light, wide depth

Here the exposure is technically correct. Subdued whites, present blacks, broad tonal range.

The point isn't whether it's right or wrong, but where I chose to be. Here I clearly exposed so as not to overexpose the square and the architecture. Result: the foreground is a touch more closed, but still legible.

If I had opened up half a stop, I would have gained presence on the subjects in front, but risked the sky. Here I chose order and structure. It makes sense for the kind of photograph I made.

Side street, girl in the foreground, strong contrast

Here we are at the most delicate point. The face is a hair under, but not wrong. I consider it a narrative underexposure, not a mistake.

The problem isn't the ISO, it's that I asked f8 + hard light + shadow to do it all together.

Here I had three options: to accept the darker face as a choice, to open to f5.6 or overexposing and lose some of the highlights behind it.

I chose the first. Consistent with my street photographer language, but in this photograph the limitation of the fixed ISO is most noticeable. With auto ISO I probably would have had the same file, just a little more elastic. But I like it strong this way, I like the extreme result that gives me drama and a sense of mystery.

Street food, steam, soft backlight

This is very well exposed. Really.

I've achieved to preserve the steam (what called me to shoot), the faces hold up, the whites don't explode. Here, the fixed ISO 800 works perfectly because the light is diffused and the contrast is manageable. It's a perfect example of when Auto ISO isn't needed if I do a good work in exposure.

I was in total control here, and it shows.

Military, mixed light, clean shadows

Again, solid exposure here, maybe they are a little bit underexposed but, again, it is always a compromoside in order not to burn details in the background.

The faces are legible, the uniforms retain detail, the asphalt doesn't collapse.

If we're being picky, half a stop more would have given the faces more body, but probably I would have started to lose separation in the mid-grays.

As it is, it's balanced and clean. Consistent with the black and whiteI am looking for.

In general my opinion here

I exposed well, in the serious sense of the word. Not "perfectly" according to the histogram, but consistently according to my language.

A fixed ISO of 800 given me solidity, forcing me to choose, and I should accept that not everything has to be perfectly open.

I would highlight that the limits that emerge are not errors but points at which I have to decide whether to accept the shadow, to open the aperture or letting the ISO go up.

And this is exactly where M + ISO AUTO could help me not to improve the exposure, but to reduce the number of micro-decisions while walking.To be clear: with a maximum ISO of 1600, these photos would have been almost identical but I would have had more mental breathing room. And this, on the street, is a huge resource to consider.