Key Terms: Exposure Parameters that control how a camera sensor is exposed to light. THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLE Aperture The aperture of a lens is the adjustable opening that controls how much light enters the camera, measured in f-stops. A lower f-number (e.g., f/2.8) means a larger opening that lets in more light and creates a shallower depth of field, while a higher f-number (e.g., f/11) signifies a smaller opening that allows less light in and produces a greater depth of field. Aperture is a key component of the exposure triangle, used along with shutter speed and ISO to control the brightness of an image. Shutter Speed Shutter speed is the length of time a camera's shutter stays open, which controls how long the digital sensor is exposed to light to create a photograph. It determines the brightness of an image and how motion is captured: a fast shutter speed freezes action with less light, while a slow shutter speed blurs motion and lets in more light. Faster shutter speeds are better for sports and other fast movements, while slower shutter speeds are better for low-light situations where open aperture is not enough and ISO can’t be raised without distortion. ISO ISO in photography is a setting that controls the camera sensor's sensitivity to light. A lower ISO number (e.g., 100) means less sensitivity, which is ideal for bright conditions and results in a cleaner image with less noise. A higher ISO number (e.g., 1600) increases sensitivity, making it useful in low-light situations but potentially introducing graininess or "noise" to the image. ISO is a tradeoff between signal and noise, where getting more signal also means getting more noise. To recap, Aperture controls how much light is allowed to reach the sensor, Shutter Speed controls how long the light is allowed to reach the sensor, and ISO controls how sensitive the sensor is to the light. OTHER KEY TERMS (applies to projectors too) Frame Rate Frame rate is the measurement of how quickly a number of frames appears within a second, which is why it's also called FPS (frames per second). Most motion pictures, TV broadcasts, streaming video content, and even smartphones use the standard frame rate of 24fps. But there are other frame rates like 30fps and 60fps. 60fps or higher is used in fast action scenes to make them look smoother, as well as slow-motion scenes because more frames allows you to slow the motion of the frames back down. For example, 60fps and its multiples (120, 240, etc.) can be slowed down to 30fps. The higher the frame rate you shoot in, the slower the motion will appear when you reduce it down to 30fps.