The new third edition of Chicago commercial pro Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera
Quietly, under the radar (under mine, anyway—I already understand exposure, at least as well as I'm ever going to), Understanding Exposure has become a huge, vast, gargantuan bestseller, one of the best-selling how-to books in the history of the medium. It's a book for beginners and some intermediate photographers, but—well, beginners and intermediate photographers love it. Just take a look at some of the 763 (!) Amazon customer reviews for the second edition
Bryan Peterson (right). Photo by Jason Schneider.
The 176-page new edition is published in paperback by Amphoto books, and costs $25.99 at bookstores (or $17.15 at Amazon
Mike
*Or maybe some of us just need a refresher, or a bit of remedial work. Not long ago I bought a whole book on Layers
, because that's something I just don't understand very well for some reason. I'm going to read it, too, I swear.
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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
Featured Comment by Ben Mathis: "I have to admit that this book was an immense help to me when I was getting started in photography. It explained the why and how of the aperture/shutter-speed/ISO triangle so clearly. I now recommend it to anyone getting into photography."
Featured Comment by Jim in Denver: "I was at a photographer's store/gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyo., chatting to one of the guys there, and he mentioned that there is no one 'right' exposure for any given scene or photograph. That is the type of advice that can totally confuse a beginner but completely liberate an experienced photographer. That single, offhand remark as changed the way I look at photography, to a huge benefit."
Featured Comment by Jan Ignatius: "I can definitely vouch for the book (I have the second edition). When I was starting out with photography, Understanding Exposure finally made everything click for me regarding the 'exposure triangle' of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. It also taught me some new techniques like panning and zooming during exposure. Whenever a friend or a colleague asks me for guidance on getting started with photography, I happily recommend the same book."
Featured Comment by Matthew Miller: "It really pains me whenever I hear someone talk about an exposure 'triangle,' and because this book puts so much emphasis on that visualization, I don't recommend it.
"Not everything that has three properties is a triangle! Crucially, these particular factors are linked in a different way: they work like the dimensions of a cube (or rather, rectangular prism), where the volume is the resulting exposure.
"The triangle explanation, on the other hand, simply confuses the nature of the relationship. Let's say a triangle with dimensions 3, 4, and 5 corresponds to ISO 400, ƒ/4, and an exposure time of 5 seconds. Great, we can draw a nice diagram. Okay, now, increase the shutter speed to 10 seconds, and draw a proportional triangle...hey, wait! That's impossible!
"The same thing happens if you make the factors be the angles of each corner—it just doesn't work out. Even for triangles which happen to be valid, the change to exposure isn't illustrated at all by what happens when you change part of a triangle.
"The 3D visualization might be more difficult to present nicely in a printed diagram, but I'm pretty sure a decent graphic designer could handle it.
"Clearly 'it's a triangle!' works as an explanation for many people, but I don't think I'm just being pedantic in objecting to it. Having the wrong visualization may be fine for introductory understanding, but having that stuck in ones head can make moving beyond that harder. It'd be better for the book to talk about 'here's three unrelated things!' than to present it as a triangle."
Gordon Lewis replies: I get what Matthew Miller is saying about the inadequacy of a triangle to illustrate the relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO. For what it's worth, the analogy I like to use is that light is like water flowing out of a faucet. The shutter speed determines how long the faucet is open. The diameter of the faucet controls the volume of water flowing during any given duration. The size of the glass you hold under the faucet is the ISO; i.e., how much "water" it takes to fill the glass. The higher the ISO, the smaller the glass and therefore the less "water" it takes to fill it. A "correct exposure" fills the glass to the brim without causing it to overflow. I'm not claiming this is a perfect analogy, but at least it gets across the idea of what would happen if you make any one of the three factors smaller, larger, longer, or shorter.
Featured Comment by dale: "I will support Bryan's book, not simply for his explanation, but the way he presents it. I too had acquired the math back in the '60s probably around the same time Bryan did (we are the same age). But Bryan, who would be equally adept at selling Ginsu knives, has an appealing energy in his presentation and a solid interest in your success. I can credit him with a few lightbulb moments generated by his books and a significant one (Satori) in the first few minutes of a location workshop. I too had been uncomfortable with the term 'triangle' and modified it to 'triumvirate' whenever I felt the need to explain such stuff. Overall, as his success in print indicates, Bryan has a knack for instruction and is a good guy to hang out with, too."
I consider myself an intermediate photographer. I bought this book mostly because it was so highly recommended in Amazon. It's a good book for understanding basic concepts, and adopting thumb rules fo basic situtations. It's fluent and repetative, which makes it attractive for non-tech oriented photographers.
It's not a great book, though. It won't make you "Understand Exposure". That, of course, takes years of experience.
Posted by: Eyal | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 03:50 AM
I had the pleasure to see Bryan Peterson speak and he's very entertaining, well worth hearing him talk about shooting and also about the business of shooting stock. And yes, he does look like Nick Nolte.
Posted by: Keith Loh | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 03:55 AM
Maybe Bryan Peterson, but looks like Nick Nolte
Posted by: Magma | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 05:25 AM
When I first got interested in photography in the early 1980s, exposure was one of the first things one learned. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO (ASA at that time), and how the three worked together. Today, nobody seems to want to learn about exposure until they finally get so frustrated with what their auto-everything camera is giving them. I think people would enjoy their photography so much more if they had to start with something like the old K1000 for the first three months or so, before moving on to another model. Maybe this book will help some learn "the mystery" of exposure. It's really not that hard.
Posted by: John Roberts | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 06:07 AM
Well, it is a really good book. It lays the foundations for a practical understanding of how the exposure variables are going to affect your pictures quite well. From there it is up to you.
Posted by: Scott | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 06:39 AM
Yes, great book, even for the intermediate photographer; I thought I understood exposure but this book made me use exposure in a more conscious way.
Posted by: Hans | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 07:11 AM
Note to Bryan Peterson: Pete Turner called and said that he wants his saturation slider back and you can drop it off at Eric Meola's studio.
Yikes. I think my monitor is damaged.
Posted by: Karl Knize | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 07:19 AM
Mr. Peterson strongly resembles the actor Gary Busey.
Posted by: Mani Sitaraman | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 08:26 AM
First two editions are great. I attended a workshop with him at Adorama a few years ago and he is a great teacher. Turned me on to HDR and how to do it right.
Posted by: Bruce Appelbaum | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 09:58 AM
I have the older version and it is not that good book. But it is recommended by many of my key reference people like Thom.
But I guess it is hard to "understand" exposure and hence it is popular to get at least a few books.
Personally when I use digital camera if I must, just look at histogram is sometimes not enough in tricky situation. Leica M8 is a good way of implementation, as one can zoom in the highlight and the exposure chart is actually the small area you zoomed in. Hence you can expose to the highlight with easy way to visualise. No such feature for my D300. Also, the uniwb issue is quite difficult idea to grasp to deal with the RAW vs Jpeg difference. It is also supposedly to help the highlight exposure. Also, I did not like HDR even a bit. Should I get back the graduated filter?!
Once you passed the basic level and exposure is basically okish, it is hard to move one level up I find.
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 10:04 AM
Mike, I know what you mean about layers. I don't get them, either. Fortunately, good work is still possible without them.
Posted by: Andrew Kirk | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 11:28 AM
It's good to get back to basics - in music to hit the scales and etudes, in art to go back to gesture drawing and drawing from life. Amazing how much you can (re)learn from the basics.
I carried a National Geographic handbook around with me for quite a few years. You may be familiar with it: tall format, spiral bound, a grey card in the back. It had all the basics in easy to read language, plus filter indexes and pictures of pretty girls demonstrating the correct way to hold cameras. And this was when I had been working for 10 years or so.
It served to keep my ego in check, and we all have one of those!
Posted by: Robert Howell | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 11:30 AM
Am surprised by that Sony strap. Looked to me like a 4/3 or iphone type guy.
Posted by: Clayton | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 01:47 PM
Clayton,
It's not a strap. It's a "necklace" (I have no idea if they have a proper name) to hold a exhibitor badge or photo-show credentials on a clip. (See the guy in the middle for an example, although his is not from Sony.) Many of the manufacturers pass them out for free at the photo shows.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 01:53 PM
I still have this book, it was OK in my opinion, but the book the REALLY helped me get on my feet as a photographer was "Kodak 35mm Photography."
Posted by: Asad Masede | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 02:02 PM
I have what may be the first edition (it's the one with the kid and the pigeons on the cover) and like other folks here, I thought it was okay...but if you grew up with color film, you really had to have a fairly solid grounding in speed, aperture and ASA (ISO) even to function, so I didn't learn so much from it. I think it may be more important for people who are given sometimes hundreds of options in new digital cameras that are as much computers as light-boxes, and in which the basics of the "triangle" are neglected.
Just two days ago, I bought (and have already read) a pretty interesting book called "How Photography Can Make You a Better Painter" by Michael Weymouth, and he has an interesting observation that might be relevant for some kinds of photographers. That is, put your camera on "P" rather than Auto, and bracket using the "+" and "-" exposure control. With most DSLRs, I think, this can be done automatically, so that every time you push the button, you bracket. If you rip off five shots, one stop apart, on both sides of a "recommended" exposure, you'll get the shot...at least, if the subject is somewhat static. Then, delete the ones you don't want. In digital, you haven't paid the penalty in film. In fact, Weymouth spends as much time on white-balance problems as on exposure, as he seems to consider white balance a trickier problem. Pretty interesting and easy read.
And I feel a little like a Dummy for mentioning this, but I've been working through "Photoshop CS5 All-In-One For Dummies" and, unlike most of the Dummy books, which I find offensive for the seriously lame humor, this one is actually pretty straightforward and quite clear. It's $40.
JC
Posted by: John Camp | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 05:28 PM
Many years ago I was told that if you don't get the exposure right, everything you do after that is trying to fix that initial mistake. Now, with digital cameras there is no real excuse not to have a perfectly exposed photograph.
But then again, you have to be able to recognize the perfectly exposed photograph.
Posted by: Joe Lipka | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 07:21 PM
That's a lanyard :) The picture looks like it was taken in front of the Jacob Javits Center and Sony has provided the lanyards for Photoplus Expo the last year or two. You see people walking around Manhattan with bright yellow Nikon bags full of brochures on Expo days. (They usually take their lanyards off).
Posted by: Dennis | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 09:20 PM
I'll not besmirch this fine book, and I say that whatever helps someone helps someone... who am I to judge what allows someone to reach the eureka moment regarding exposure? That said, I don't find the triangle model particularly useful either.
When teaching, I explain "ideal exposure" as an exactly half-full glass of water. Shutter speed is the duration the faucet is on, aperture is the size of the opening of the faucet's spout (with the aperture's inverse ratio nature confusing everyone at first) and the ISO is the size of the glass (again with an inverse ratio). People understand pretty quickly that way that in order to keep the glass half-full, one needs to adjust more than one value at a time to compensate. Works pretty well, especially given that with most in-viewfinder meters, the "half-full glass" analogy makes visual sense too.
Then I blow their mind when I say that there are many times when you don't want a half-full glass...
Posted by: Will | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 10:33 PM
(Just so people reading this know--Gordon's and Will's comments about the faucets and glasses both came in more or less at the same time, and both were in before either went up. --Mike the Ed.)
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 11:27 PM
In defense of the triangle analogy, I don't think the point is that a change in one "side" of the triangle will proportionately change the other sides. I think it is just to enforce the fact that the three are tied together, without going too far beyond that basic concept.
Frankly, I've always thought that the easiest way to consider exposure is as a basic formula:
Aperture + Shutter Speed + ISO = Exposure
It should be clear that if you increase (in terms of light-gathering ability, not in terms of numbers) any variable on the left, you either (i) reduce one or both of the other variables on that side of the equation to compensate and keep your exposure constant, or (ii) wind up with a higher (brighter) exposure. This saves me from thinking in three dimensions or getting wet when my cup runneth over...
;-)
Adam
Posted by: amcananey | Friday, 13 August 2010 at 08:01 AM
I'm glad to see Bryan Peterson is having continuing success with this book. I learned exposure with his original volume. When I read it the photos were already outdated. The models had big 1980's hair and the clothes were horribly out of style. However, the writing was magnificent. "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson and John Shaw's "Nature Photography Field Guide" are the two best photography books for a beginner. Writing an interesting and easy to read technical book is an unappreciated art.
Posted by: Dave | Friday, 13 August 2010 at 09:37 AM
I've always thought that if I ever taught an organized photography class, the first session would be the "glass of water" demo - a great illustration.
Just as a wake-up call and "digital doesn't change the laws of physics" exercise, I recently bought the new? Gossen Starlight 2 handheld light meter - incident, flash, reflective, and spot-with a ZONE mode. I've used it in Zone mode 99% of the time. Wow, what a difference, and what fun it is to pay more attention to what you are doing, exposure wise; better out-of-camera raws, also.
As an aside, being on Adarama's mailing list, I get emails about Peterson's recommendations and classes. I must admit that I've been underwhelmed by his photo solutions:( YMMV
Posted by: Al Benas | Friday, 13 August 2010 at 09:59 AM
It has always mystified me what is there to say about exposure that requires 176 pages. IMO anyone who cannot get in 3 pages 95% of what there is to know about the balance between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO has no business using a DSLR in anything other than full auto mode (aka expensive and bulky P&S to compete with the Joneses).
Posted by: Boyan | Saturday, 14 August 2010 at 10:12 PM
I agree with Boyan. I don't understand why you need a book to learn exposure. I ordered Understanding Exposure thinking i could give it to a friend who got their first dSLR as a gift. When i received it, i flipped through it to see if there was anything i could learn from it since it was so highly and universally recommended. Not only did i find that there was nothing illuminating in there for me, i also thought it wouldn't be that great for my novice friend either.
The problem is that the book takes way too long to explain this simple concept. Learning exposure from this book requires way too much time commitment and focus. I know my friend would be bored to death, and this book would be sitting on her shelf gathering dust.
In fact, the only thing i found remotely notable in that book was that i found it a bit unusual that he put glamour shots of his wife in there.
Posted by: e_dawg | Wednesday, 18 August 2010 at 06:15 PM
I started doing this for ugh just a little under two score ago. For the non-history peeps a little less that forty years, score=20. The term was used by honest Abe in the Gettysburg address. I have found that I will look at books that I have on exposure at least once a year. Why, because I am still looking for the near perfect exposure. It is still coming and that is okay,it gives me a challenge that I look forward too.
Posted by: Ed Hamlin | Friday, 20 August 2010 at 07:13 PM