In order to begin learning exposure basics, you will need to understand apertures and f-stops. Another name for the lens aperture on a digital camera is an f-stop. An aperture is the proper term for the opening within the lens, which the photographic photons pass through in order to transfer the image to a format that the technology can understand. The higher the lens aperture, the more light will be permitted to flow through the gap within a set period of time and vice-versa. When looking at the front of your camera the aperture area can clearly be seen by looking for the overlapping black leaves that adjust themselves when in use.

Depending on the type of photograph that you wish to take and the light levels available to use, you will need to manually adjust your f-stop setting to suit. There are three very important facts to remember about how f-stops work:

1. Much like paper sizes, the smaller the number, the higher the size. Where A4 paper is smaller than A3, the same occurs with aperture sizes. An f-stop size of f/2 is larger than f/4, with f/4 being larger than f/8.
2. One might assume that an f/2 aperture opening would let in twice as much light as an f/4 opening, but this is not the case. The amount of light used only doubles between examples such as f/2, then f/2.8, then f/4 and so on. This means that the difference between f/2 and f/4 is actually 4 times as much and not twice as much as previously assumed.
3. The reason f/2.8 is considered a half fraction rather than the usual 2.5 that you would expect to see is because the apertures are measures in 16ths, so half of a 16^th is an 8^th.

Understanding the fractions behind how f-stop measurements work is important in understanding how they should be used. Just as 1/16^th is less than 1/8^th, an f/16 stop is smaller than an f/8 stop size.

Shutter speeds are considered to work in a very similar way; if you chose to halve the shutter speed, it would give the same amendments in exposure as using an f-stop, which shrinks the aperture size in half and closes up more. It is also describe well by saying that by using an exposure double as long as usual will be directly proportional to a normal exposure length but using a double sized f-stop. They balance each other out and the same would work the opposite way around too.

Example: Most SLR cameras will automatically suggest an appropriate exposure setting for the current climate or light availability for the shot. If a suggestion is made of using 1/500 of a second with an f/8 aperture, you could also choose to use a 1/1000^th of a second at f/8 or a 1/500 of a second using f/11 (aperture half as wide). All provide you with the same results.

Once you have been able to learn these basic rules, making sense of your DSLR camera will become all the more natural and the quality of your photographs will change. No matter where you are or in what situation in this world, treating light and apertures correctly will help you to improve your photography skills immensely.