The science behind perfect exposure is as good as carved in stone. Science tells us that there should be a balance between the time the shutter is open, “shutter speed,” and the amount of light entering the lens. Both of these factors should be hand in hand with the ISO speed in either the film inside the camera or the digital camera setting itself.
When all of those factors work together, the exposure is considered “perfect”. But most people misinterpret perfect exposure by thinking that perfect images should be perfectly exposed.
Yes, there are rules in photography, but the nice thing about creative photography is that you can sometimes break these rules in order to achieve a photo in a unique way with great results. However, some also say there aren’t rules in photography. To an extent, I do agree with them, but we should never forget the basic fundamentals that differenti
ate professional photography from amateur “entry level” photography. When overexposing a photo, you will often realize that there are differences in the way color or black & white tones are represented; therefore, it’s important to understand what is happening exactly when more than enough light reaches the digital camera sensor or the film reel. With this kind of knowledge, spectacular imagery can be achieved.
We often see overexposure in commercial advertising. It tends to bring a nice light mood. When shooting portraits, the way the image looks is just as important as the mood of the images. Overexposure effectively manipulates both at the same time. Selective overexposure is shown on the images in this article. This technique is used to wash out or “wipe out” a portion of the image. With the right overexposed setup various moods can be achieved. Although there are important rules in photography, sometimes you have to break them.