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The following are two frequently asked questions during meetings with photographers during my group classes or private lessons while we're working in manual exposure mode:

"Is there a single "set exposure that'll work for every situation?"

and

"How do we know which aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to use?"

In answer to the first question:

No, a single "set exposure" that'll work for every situation isn't a good idea.

We determine our preferred exposure through the interrelation of aperture shutter speed and ISO, which gives us our preferred tonality.  

We decide the "right" setting combination based on the light we're working with and our compositional intent.

A fixed exposure setting won't work because:

Variable Lighting Conditions

The intensity and other characteristics of the light we work with change, sometimes subtly, sometimes drastically.

Sometimes Our Subject Moves, and Sometimes It Don't

We use fast shutter speeds to record motion as static (frozen) and slow speeds to record motion as blurred. How fast or slow we go depends on the speed of our subject's movement and what we want compositionally.

Controlling Apparent Sharpness (Depth of field)

The aperture (F-stop) controls the depth of field, where sharpness appears to start and where sharpness appears to stop, in front of and in back of the distance we focus on.

Controlling Noise

ISO affects noise.

In answer to the second question:

We don't know which aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to use until we understand the light's characteristics and our compositional intent.

In other words, we've gotta meter the light to know its intensity and observe and describe the different characteristics to figure out what we could do with our aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to understand our range of compositional possibilities.

Once we do that, we'll know what exposure and ISO settings we can use to get our intended composition, or if we can't get our intended composition, we'll use the settings to get the best composition we can.  

What We Want Creatively

We manipulate exposure and ISO settings to create different creative effects, such as more or less motion blur (shutter speed), shallower or deeper depth of field (aperture), and more or less noise (ISO).

Essentially, we've gotta consider our subject, the light we're working with, and our intended compositional outcome when adjusting our exposure settings to achieve the "correct" exposure.

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The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) class starts soon. 
  
More ways to study and practice photography with me are below.

Call me if you need help determining the best course for you.

I'll help you be a better photographer—study and practice photography with me. 

Currently scheduled classes are below.

Smaller classes mean better learning, so class sizes are limited to 5 participants plus me.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker, so sign up soon. 

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? Private in-person lessons suited to your schedule are always an option.

And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture daily.