Focus and Exposure

What does focus and exposure do? How do you check to see if your subject is in focus when shooting? How do you check to make sure your subject is exposed correctly?

Camera focus adjusts the depth in which a subject is crisp and detailed. In order to check whether or not a subject is in focus when shooting, the camera operator must first zoom in as tightly as possible to the eye of the subject, then proceed to focus until all of the details of the shot can be identified. Focusing the subject can be done through rotating the focus ring in either direction. Finally, one must zoom out of the eye in order to reframe the shot. 

Exposure measures the amount of light that goes into the camera. In order to assure the image is exposed correctly, one must open or close the iris to adjust the exposure level. Although only practice can perfect exposure levels, recent cameras have a zebra stripe feature in the camera to help the operator judge the lighting.