Lesson 2 · Days 6–10 · 7 min read
Exposure
Not too dark. Not too white.
Exposure means how bright the picture is. Too dark and you can't see anyone's face. Too bright and faces turn into white blobs. The Pocket 3 makes this easier than a big camera — the lens is stuck wide open, so you only have two and a half dials to think about.
Read out loud, so you can just watch and listen.
Watch it move — that's what you're aiming for.
What you need to know
The only test that matters
Point the camera at a person and look at the screen. Can you clearly see their face? Then you're done. Is it a dark shadow, or a glowing white blob? Then something needs changing.
The exposure triangle
Brightness has three controls with a team name: the exposure triangle. Shutter is how long each photo is taken for — we set it to 1/50 and never touch it. Aperture is how big the hole in the lens is. ISO is a brightness boost. Three ways to change brightness, one job.
Your aperture is already perfect
Here's the Pocket 3 cheat code: its aperture is fixed at f/2.0. You can't change it and you don't need to. f/2.0 is a big, hungry hole — great in dim rooms, and it's why the background goes soft behind a guest all by itself. One less dial to worry about.
The EV dial is your brightness knob
Because the aperture can't move, EV (exposure compensation) becomes your main control. It's a slider on the screen: drag it minus to darken, plus to brighten. Nudge it, look at the face, stop when the face looks right. That's the whole job.
Blurry background comes from distance
On a small camera you don't get blur from an f number — you get it from distance. Move your guest a few steps away from the wall behind them and get a bit closer yourself. Same creamy podcast look, zero settings.
Brightness boost has a cost
ISO makes the picture brighter without adding light, but push it high and it goes speckly and messy. On the Pocket 3, ISO 100–800 is clean and lovely. Above about ISO 3200 the noise starts showing. If it's still dark, turn a light on in the room instead of cranking ISO.
Bright day? Put sunglasses on the lens
Outside in daylight the picture goes white because the lens can't close down. The fix is an ND filter — a dark glass that clips over the lens like sunglasses. It lets you keep 1/50 and ISO 100 in blazing sun instead of a blown-out mess.
Too bright can't be fixed
A slightly dark clip can be rescued later. A face that has gone pure white is gone forever — there's nothing left to fix. So when in doubt, don't overdo the brightness.
On your Osmo Pocket 3
Exactly where to look
- Switch to Pro mode so you can see and set shutter, ISO and EV yourself.
- Set shutter to 1/50 on day one and leave it there all week.
- Start at ISO 100 in decent light — the Pocket 3's cleanest setting.
- Then fix brightness with the EV slider: minus to darken, plus to brighten.
- In a dim room, let ISO climb — but try to stop before 3200 and add a light instead.
- In daylight, clip an ND filter on the lens: sunglasses for the camera.
At Aura House
The big window problem
One Aura House studio has a huge window with the city behind it. The window is way brighter than the people sitting in front of it, so beginners point the camera and the guests turn into shadows. The fix is simple: drag EV up until the faces look right, even if the window ends up too bright. People always win.
Hands on
Try this in real life
- 1Put the Pocket 3 in Pro mode: shutter 1/50, ISO 100.
- 2Film a face, then drag EV down and up — watch the face go dark and bright.
- 3Move your guest away from the wall and see the background go soft.
- 4Dim the lights, let ISO rise, and find the point where it gets speckly.
- 5Now get a just-right face with a bright window behind them.
Three things to remember
- Shutter 1/50, ISO 100, then move the EV slider.
- Aperture is fixed at f/2.0 — blur comes from distance instead.
- Bright outside? ND filter. Dark inside? Add a light before you add ISO.
Fewer dials than a big camera. Move EV, look at the face, done.