Confused with photography...?

Question

Okay, so I have a homework assignment I'm doing for my photography class. I have no idea what I'm doing. Here's the questions:

1) Find a light thing, a dark thing, and a grey thing.
2) Meter off the grey thing.
3) Make an exposure
4) Over expose 1/2 a stop
5) Over expose 1 stop
6) Under expose 1/2 stop
7) Under expose 1 stop

I'm sooo confused. Help me!

Answer 1

First, I think your instructor should have been more detailed. "Dark Thing" "light thing" and "gray thing" should have been, IMO, black, white and 18% gray. Your camera meter "sees" the world as 18% gray because that is the mid-tone of an average scene. Go to your local camera store and buy an 18% gray card. Then get a piece of black poster board and a piece of white. Tape them to an evenly lit wall with the gray card in the middle. Meter it, set the exposure and release the shutter.

If your reading was f8 @ 1/125 keep the shutter speed at 1/125 and set your f-stop between f8 & f11 which = -1/2 stop and make an exposure. Then set your f-stop between f8 & f5.6 which = +1/2 stop and make an exposure. For -1 stop set the f-stop to f11; for +1 stop set it to f5.6. You now have 5 exposures and have accomplished what is known as
"bracketing" an exposure.

Answer 2

Those are some of the basics! I am assuming you have to have a manual SLR camera? The first question is simple just find objects that fall into the three categories. Next you need to Meter the gray object, every manual camera has a meter if you don't know how to use it read the cameras manual. The meter will tell you the F stop to use, then you take a picture with that F stop. Next you adjust the F stop over 1/2 and 1 and you adjust it 1/2 and 1 under and take a picture on each stop. THEN the object of the lesson is when developed you can see the effect of the F stop and exposure.

Good Luck, Photography can be very fun!

Answer 3

well the first part is easy, you find something dark, light or gray, I suggest pavement or sidewalk. When you look through the camera you should be able to see some kind of meter. Turn your apeture setting (the part with the numbers, 4, 5.6 8 11 16, etc) until the meter is balanced. (if it's a manual camera the meter should end up in the middle) To over expose 1/2 a stop you go up half a number on your apeture, to over expose a whole stop, you go up a whole number. I guessing you're supposed to take pictures of both of these. Then to under expose you go back to your original apeture setting, and go down 1/2 a number and a whole number. In the end you should have taken at least 5 photos of something.
The apeture settings control how much light you are allowing through your lens, so it can make something appear lighter or darker than it really is. Usually to meter something you should do it on a neutral surface, like the sidewalk.

Answer 4

A tennis ball painted white.
A tennis ball painted grey.
A tennis ball painted black.

Take a meter reading of the grey ball.
Take a picture. Then another picture opening the lens 1/2 stop. Then another photo 1 stop open.
Then 1/2 stop under the original exposure.
Then 1 stop under the origial exposure.
What you will get to learn is to see how much detail you get in the three different balls when you over expose and under expose. you will see how white the white gets and how black the black gets and what happens to the grey.
Ansel Adams was the MASTER AT EXPOSURE.
GOOD LUCK.