Exposure Tips

Although this Website assumes that you have some photography experience, we do think it is important to review some exposure tips in this section to ensure your success.

Since we usually work with print film, we have some latitude in getting the perfect exposure. If images are too light, the lab can print them darker, if they are too dark they can print them lighter (this is usually harder and less successful than the other way around). However, we try to to get the best exposure we can at the time we take the photograph. This is good practice for us, and makes our lab's job easier and more consistent.

That being said, I usually overexpose my print film by two-thirds of a stop. This helps to ensure that my images aren't too dark since it is much easier for a lab to make a print darker than lighter. You may or may not want to do this yourself and the amount you overexpose will depend on the film you use so practice and experiment with the film you intend to use and work with your lab until you are consistently getting good images.

Setting the correct exposure is one of the more challenging aspects of photography so we have tried to share all we can with you. We also encourage you to practice and read as much as you can about this topic from the many excellent books available.

Topics in this section include: