Understanding Exposure - written by Bryan Peterson

Photographers new to SLR camera's are often frustrated by photo's that are either too dark or too light. Off coloring and blown out highlights are other common problems. Even photographers who have been around for a while, may come across difficult lighting situations where they aren't quite sure what camera settings they should be using when it comes to exposure. It's times like these, where the book 'Understanding Exposure' is most useful.

No doubt, it is one of the best books written, explaining how camera exposure works. This is the reason for it ranking #104 amongst Amazon's best sellers.

Good aspects of this book

• Easily teaches the basics of obtaining good exposure, using straight-forward information and corresponding illustrations so the reader can visually see what is being explained.
  
  
• At 160 pages it's not too large. You could easily read this book in a day. However, don't let this fool you into thinking it couldn't possibly contain enough information to be useful.
  
  
• Explains how to take photographs in numerous lighting situations. For example, how to expose for front, back and side-lit scenes. Or exposing for overcast skies, macro photography, motion, bright scenes such as snow and dark scenes such as night photography.
  
  
• Understanding Exposure is one of those books that you should read every few months. Depending on where you are in your photography experience, you will understand a little more each time.
  
  
• At under $15 USD, I personally found it one of the best value for money books available.

Any negative aspects?

• After giving this book to my partner to read, he was stuck on the first few pages for some time. Questioning him about this, he mentioned that the book didn't explain how to use your camera's manual exposure well, as it did not explain where the light meter was. I could see his point. For example, on page 15 it says:
  
  'focus on a subject, then adjust your shutter speed until the camera's light meter indicates a correct exposure in the viewfinder'.
  
  This one sentence could be confusing for a beginner who isn't sure where the light meter is, or how to recognize if it's showing the correct exposure. Considering most of the book revolves around changing the light meter to suit the conditions at any specific time, it is an area that could have been explained in more detail.
  
  If you buy this book and are not sure what the term light meter refers to, we have a short explanation on manually setting the camera exposure.
  

'Understanding Exposure', is most useful for photographers who:

• Own SLR camera's. Either film or digital. As most of the information revolves around SLR camera settings, it would not be of any use to those with point and shoot camera's.
  
  
• For beginners and amateur photographers. If you're new to SLR photography, this book will help you understand how numerous camera settings like aperture and shutter speed works.
  
  
• For those who want to forget the restrictions of auto modes and start using manual settings. It explains the relationship between numerous manual settings and how they work together to create a perfectly exposed photograph.
  
  
• It is also useful for intermediate photographers who want to learn a few neat tricks for sharpening their skills. For example, it explains how to shoot multiple exposures, or how to set your camera's exposure when using neutral-density filters.

Book Rating: 4/5

The only reason this book doesn't receive a 5 out 5 rating, is due to the negative aspect explained above. Once a photographer understands how to manually set the camera's exposure, it's a very useful read.

Read more reviews or Buy 'Understanding Exposure' at Amazon.