Comments on: Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson – a Reader Review

By: Jesus

Jesus — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:19:17 +0000

Hi Darren,
Just a few words to thank you for the website. It’s very very interesting.
Thank you.

By: Elena Gwynne

Elena Gwynne — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:59:38 +0000

Someone on the forum recommended this book to me, and I have to say I love it. I’ve had my camera for over a year now, and it was only yesterday, after reading the book that I started to play with the manual modes rather than just using it on automatic.

By: Ramón

Ramón — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:01:52 +0000

I agree! After a seven month loan to a budding photographer, she finally returned it this past Sunday, and I’m happy!!

Note to Bryan: There’s a incorrect reference on page 128; you were standing in Alamo Square Park, not Bryant Park, in San Francisco.

By: Gray

Gray — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:37:20 +0000

I purchased this book along with Sean Arbabi’s “BetterPhoto Guide to Exposure.” I quickly sold Peterson’s “Understanding Exposure” after realizing that Arbabi’s book is more timely, informative, and has much better aesthetics. Arbabi’s book doesn’t stop with exposure. If you are a beginner photographer, you will learn more with Arbabi’s book.

By: tom

tom — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:11:11 +0000

@photo styles and adam saxe — You might want to read John Shaw’s Nature Photography Field Guide . He has a chapter on exposure which may set the lightbulb off on why the Sky Brothers and Mr Green Jeans work. Remember that the spot meter in your camera is reading 18% gray at 0. White snow spot metered to 0 is grey card white which is not the correct exposure for white. But to the camera it is proper based on what it knows.

By: Photo Styles

Photo Styles — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:09:56 +0000

This was helpful thanks alot.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:25:33 +0000

I think this is an excellent book for folks that want to understand what you can do with exposure. The Sk brothers and Mr Green jeans are great crutches for tough exposures. Mr Green Jeans, landscape primarily green, meter with EV -2/3. So Greens are underexposed by -.67 or 2/3 of a stop. I have practiced this an it is a brilliant hint for metering.

Yes this could be redone for DSLR, but the concepts are there to make someone a but more effective and efficient photographer.

I believe his references to the smaller apertures are for creative exposures. Sharpness doesn’t always make for a better photograph. For example, the amusement park might be sharper at f11, but you would not get the shutter speed needed to show the motion of the ride.

By: nilo

nilo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:51:11 +0000

How can a book that talks for f/22 or even f/36 in different occasions and for different reasons e.g. sharpness (and this is repeated alot at the first half of the book) can be a 5 star book ?

If you are a beginner that you may have heard that the sharpest f for most lenses in digital age is mainly between f/8-f/11 then soon you will be lost with this book.

And i am talking for the revised edition.

The best thing for Peterson is to rewrite the book for digital because this one is a messy job.

And it is a pity because he can write.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:13:13 +0000

Picked up this book just after I bought my first DSLR. Highly recommended reading for anyone entering photography for the first time.

By: Januarius Regmalos

Januarius Regmalos — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:33:30 +0000

I love this book because at the time I was learning photography this came as a godsend! I also got this for $3 at a local booksale here in Manila.