Understanding Exposure, Fourth Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera

by Bryan Peterson

This newly revised edition of Bryan Peterson's most popular book demystifies the complex concepts of exposure in photography, allowing readers to capture the images they want.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

1 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 9, 2023

About the author

Bryan F. Peterson has been a full-time commercial photographer since 1981, shooting assignments all over the world for many of the Fortune 500 companies, including Kodak, UPS, and American Expiress. He is also a contract stock photographer for Corbis and Getty. He has been a contributing editor at Outdoor Photographer Magazine and is currently a contributing editor at Popular Photography and Imaging Magazine. Within the photographic community, he is most noted as the author/photographer of four best selling “how-to” photography books, Understanding Exposure, Understanding Shutter Speed, Learning to See Creatively and Beyond Portraits, with two new books due out in the spring of 2009, Understanding Close-up Photography and The Field Guide to Photography. He is also the founder and one of the instructors at the world’s number one on-line photography school, www.ppsop.net.

Reviews

[Bipasana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handy book for absolute beginners. While in the beginning, some of the points on the exposure triangle may get a tad repetitive, particularly in the sections on shutter speed and aperture, in my opinion, the repetition really helps hammer the concepts into your brain if you, like me, are a complete newbie to the field of photography.
The author has also included many of his own photographs accompanied by a paragraph or two detailing the reasoning behind each shot. I'd say this is the most useful part of the book.
For the most part, this book is completely beginner friendly. I was only caught off guard a few times, once, for example, when the terms 'cropped-frame'/'APS-C' and 'full-frame' sensor came up, but in any such situation, a quick Google search easily cleared things up. So all in all, a satisfying beginner's manual.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of good tips, but it's really too wordy. It could be cut down to half the size by removing repeated information and unnecessary anecdotes. It's really dismissive of certain techniques and just doesn't cover them. It's far less an intro to photography and more expressing the personal preferences of the author

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a thorough text, nor a quick reference to keep on you at all times. However, it’s an excellent introduction to the basics of exposure, easy to understand and containing useful side-by-side shots with technical information. It also suggests some helpful exercises. I’ll be using it to supplement introductory photography lessons for my journalism students. Thank you, Bryan! This is just what I was looking for!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Whilst I felt I understood the key technical aspects of exposure this book helped me understand the finer aspects and how to achieve what I wanted vs what the metering system thought was correct.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beginner-friendly photography book that is definitely repetitive, but in a way that makes sense. If you are new to photography, the exposure triangle is one of those concepts you need drilled into your head until it finally clicks.

Some parts felt a little dated, especially considering how much camera technology and computational photography have advanced in recent years, but the fundamentals are still extremely useful. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, light, and creative exposure are not going anywhere.

Overall, this was a very worthwhile read and a strong foundation-builder for anyone trying to get more intentional with their camera. RIP Bryan Peterson. I wish I could have taken one of his workshops before he passed.

[Laurie Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant photography book for a beginner comprising both the technical aspects of 'the exposure triangle' (a term he invented) as well as advice on when to use different shutter speeds or aperture settings to create certain effects.

It's written in a very accessible way. I feel it's starting to become a teensy bit dated in parts as the advances in post production negate to my mind the need for some of the section on coloured filters he recommends but maybe that reflects my own lack of understanding. And even if I am right we're talkimg about 4 - 5 pages. It's a very, very good book indeed for any beginner.

If buying in ebook form, it's essential tomciew on a tablet or pc rather than an e-ink device so you can see the photos

[Mr. Mercedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

After doing a quite of a research, I bought this book and another one about cinematography. I was quite excited. I underlined the book with the intention of learning and making notes that could be useful to me.

It felt like a repetition of May 2018 when I started watching Youtube videos about graphic design and illustration. And also because I relate it with a sunny walk around San Agustín.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just tells you how aperture, shutter speed and ISO interact to create an exposure. I still don't understand what a good exposure is.

[Computeraccow · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome examples, awesome exercises and an awesome introduction to the basics of photography

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good primer for a beginner photographer or someone getting back into it. Covers most of what you need to know to get started with shooting manual, and explains it all in an approachable way.

[Kim Irmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really spelled out some basics of photography in a way I needed. I took lots of notes and have full switched to using my mirrorless camera in manual mode.

[Riley L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite helpful and practical, probably not tailored to my lens but still of reference value.

[Wenshin Pinkpi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool, learned a lot, but a ton of it was wayyyy to advanced and went right over my head. Actually get f/ now tho! so thats cool

[Alexis Barrera oranday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Está bueno
Super para principiantes (como yo).
Humor típico americano.
Está escrito con peras y manzanas y con muchos ejemplos