If you depend on your camera’s automatic settings or you rely on the inbuilt meter when you’re in manual mode, then don’t worry—you’re probably getting correct exposure every time. However, you’re often robbing yourself of unexpected, interesting photos that you could get with creative use of exposure. Don’t be afraid to leave the safe zone of average exposure and try getting creative with your pictures!

Today I’ll be taking a look at the art of improving a picture after the shot. I’ll be demonstrating how to emphasize the subject and remove distractions in an already well-exposed photo, using a series of careful post-edits.

Today we’ll once again be taking a look at fixing a specific picture—to help you bridge the gap from theory to real-world work on fixing real-world photos. This shot was taken in poor light conditions—under hard light. We’ll be softening the light to get a picture that’s easier on the eyes. We will use Zoner Photo Studio for all the needed edits. You’re very welcome to follow along with us—just download the photo above and then imitate our steps.

A camera’s built-in light meter measures the level of incident light and adjusts aperture, shutter speed, and ISO based on that. Your exposure mode setting determines how your camera will work with the light levels that it measures. Depending on the mode, the camera will either adjustments fully automatically, or leave you a certain amount of control over a photo’s final tonality. Meanwhile in manual mode, the meter has no effect on the exposure settings at all. What exposure modes do DSLRs offer and how are they useful? We’ll be answering these questions in today’s article.

You’ve probably heard of gray cards in connection with white balancing. But there’s also another use that, while it may sound strange, is perfectly sensible: getting a firm grip on exposure.

The exposure meters built into digital cameras generally do their work well and make your job as a photographer a lot easier. But in certain complex situations they can get confused. That’s why for precise exposure metering, you can either use aids that help the camera’s built-in light meter, or use external light meters. These, the higher-quality option, measure the light actually contained in the scene.

In our previous article on exposure settings we introduced the two most basic exposure settings—aperture size and shutter speed. They directly affect how much light falls onto the camera’s digital sensor. There are always multiple ways to combine shutter speed and aperture size to get a correct exposure. Which combination you should choose depends on your creative goals. The relationship between time, aperture, and also the third exposure parameter, ISO, is often called the “exposure triangle.”

The “exposure triangle” is a term for the 3 key exposure settings: aperture, exposure time, and ISO (the sensitivity). Two of these (aperture and time) are covered in our article on exposure settings. This time we’ll focus on the third exposure setting: ISO.

I’m sure you’ve heard the word exposure. But you might not be sure that you know what it means. And if you’re unsure, this article is for you. A photo’s success depends on many different things—such as light conditions during the shot. But it also depends on correct camera settings, and especially the three exposure settings: time, aperture, and ISO. You, the photographer, need to choose values that both give you correct exposure (how dark or light the photo is) and help you express what you want to express. These settings affect your expression because they influence how time and space are recorded in the photo.

Today we’ll take a look at how to improve a photo where the subject lacks emphasis. We’ll do it using basic tools in Zoner Photo Studio 17. We hope you’ll download the starting picture and follow along!