Exercise 26: Measuring Exposure

The first exercise in Part 4 has to do with exposure and is much like this one, in which we were asked to shoot a scene with different exposures to demonstrate how light effects color.  In this exercise the idea seems to be getting the "right" exposure in relation to a number of elements in addition to color, such as preserving detail in shadowy corners, or conversely erasing detail to create deep pockets of black, as in silhouettes. 

The exercise called for shooting five photos of five or six subjects, varying the exposure on each shot to get an idea of the range of exposure possibilities.  I chose to experiment with my camera's auto-bracketing system, which takes three images per bracket at fixed intervals determined by the operator.  The Nikon D5100 offers the following presets:  0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0.  I chose the middle setting of one stop.  All images were shot on tripod in Aperture Priority with Matrix metering using delayed release.  The first image the camera takes is the one set by the operator, followed by an image one stop down and then one stop up.  

Within each set there is first, at top, the exposure as I set it, followed below by the two bracketed exposures, one stop down on the left, one stop up on the right.  Except for the picture of the two men, in which the added exposure creates better skin tone (though more blown-out sidewalk), the remainder of the images look best in the original settings, before bracketing. The only post processing done on these images was lens correction and sharpening. 

The two gentlemen here identified themselves as sign maintenance workers.  They were cleaning road signs they intended to paint the following day.  The man on the left is from India, on the right from Bangladesh.  

These photos were taken at Satwa park and bus station.  

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