Exposure - the deceptively simple concept at the very heart of photography - has always been a subject of fascination to aspiring amateurs and professional photographers alike. Recent developments in digital technology have transformed the ways in which exposures can be manipulated, and this in turn has forced photographers to think about what they can achieve by understanding the variables of aperture, ISO and time. Michael Freeman takes the reader through this difficult and fast-moving area with a lucid and accessible method, using histograms and clear, visual examples to explore the subtleties of the subject and enable the reader to shoot with confidence.

Michael Freeman, professional photographer and best-selling author, was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in Geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. In 1971 he made the life-changing decision to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures he came back with, he embarked on a full-time photographic career. Since then, working for clients that include all the world's major magazines, most notably the Smithsonian Magazine (for which he has shot more than 40 stories over 30 years), Freeman's reputation as one of the world's leading reportage photographershas been consolidated. Of his many books, which have sold over 4 million copies worldwide, more than 60 titles are on the practice of photography. For this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. Freeman's books on photography have been translated into 27 languages.