Seriously: F-you, F-stops.

According to Amazon, I have owned this book for five years. I have read it approximately twice a year since I’ve owned it, so let’s say 10 times. Do I “understand exposure” yet? No: no I do not.  So this is a horrible book, right? No: It’s actually excellent, but for whatever reason, I just can’t get the information to translate from the pages of the book to my brain to my camera lens.

In all honesty, my statement about not understanding exposure yet is not technically true ~ I absolutely understand exposure better in the minutes immediately after reading the author’s explanations and examples and lush chapters. In the days and weeks after I’ve tried to apply what I think he means to my fancy-schmancy digital camera, I still feel like I pretty much understand the general idea of what’s going on.  However sometime between that point in time and the point in time that my newborn nephew is making a perfectly adorable face that must be captured but there isn’t enough light in the room to do it justice, I somehow forget Every. Single. Thing. About actually applying that knowledge and the picture I take is dark, or blurry, or both, and I am left frustrated.

Here’s the thing: I do not understand F-stops. And F-stops are not that confusing. I understand them in THEORY; I understand them in ABSTRACT; I even understand them in PRACTICE shots: But god forbid that I should actually try to access the part of my brain that stores that information when I am tracking a different nephew as he flies by on his ice skates, or my niece as she (purposely) tumbles off of the balance beam. That is apparently a skill set that I am not meant to have, and any good shots I get are purely accidental, I assure you.

Here’s the thing about the book, though: The author is obviously a professional photographer, and he does a pretty decent job of not being overly technical all the time, even when he’s explaining technical things. Although, back when I first bought the book, I just needed somebody to help me figure out how to not use always automatic, so I would estimate that I needed to look up about a third of the DLSR vocabulary, because I only had a standard point and shoot, and all this fixed lens/meter/telephoto stuff was waaay beyond what I was looking for.

But my initial mission – coming off of automatic shooting all the time – was soon accomplished: Peterson’s definitions about depth of field and exploring different angles of light were particularly well thought out and helpful, and definitely helped me moved beyond aim, point, click status. There’s some very jargon specific sections that I only understand now that I have a better camera, but you don’t need to know about those going in.  If you’re looking for a book that helps you understand exactly what exposure is, and why it’s so important, in relation to the creation of photographs, then this is definitely the book for you. It’s full of striking and lovely pictures that will probably make you jealous, and plenty of interesting information and exercises to use to help you explore your new skills and knowledge.

(And hopefully, your brain is better at the practical application part of the equation than mine is, because, it’s still pretty frustrating to see the shot in your brain and not be able to translate it to your camera. One of these days, that information is going to somehow come through for me when I need it.)