Video: A Simple Visual Explanation of Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO

If you need a simple, straight-forward explanation of how the digital camera captures photos, look no further. This creative little animation by YouTube channel Some Stuff Explained does a fantastic job.

The video breaks down the three points of the exposure triangle — shutter speed, aperture, and ISO—and shows you how each is controlled by your camera, visualizing light as particles bombarding your image sensor. But don’t let the simplicity of the animation fool you, it’s a more accurate explanation of the concepts than many we’ve run across.

The one knock against this video is the speed—even if you already know what’s going on, it’s sometimes tough to keep up with the narration. But you can always watch it at 0.5 speed by clicking the little gear icon on the bottom right of the video and adjusting “Speed.”

Give it a look for yourself and then send it to your friendly neighborhood photography novice. They’ll thank you.