Photography Tips

Here will follow a little bit of background information which some of you might find interesting:

We will mainly discuss the SLR and through the lens type of cameras. The medium format and digital cameras will be dealt with in the more advanced courses to follow.

This is the type of camera where the lens of the camera is replaceable by a different sized lens. The diagram below shows a picture of such a camera. Although this is a picture of the old manual types, it's basic functioning is the same than those of the modern automatic cameras.

The three main variables when taking a picture are shutter speed, aperture and focus.

Tip

A basic SLR camera is much more suitable for serious photography than a basic automatic camera.

For more advanced photography, get a SLR camera with a dept of field preview function.

It can be difficult and confusing to use a camera with too many special automatic functions.

Before you buy a specific brand of camera, first study the prices of its lenses and accessories.

Through the lens camera

This camera is also known as the instant camera, since it usually is fully automatic. It was originally designed for the beginner photographer, but as technology developed, it became much more sophisticated and today very good results can be obtained with this type of camera. However, the photographer has little or no control over the settings of the camera. It is therefore not necessary for the photographer to make any adjustments to the camera to ensure the correct exposure when shooting a picture.

The illustration below shows a basic instant camera. Nowadays more sophisticated cameras are generally available.

The image can be seen directly through the view finder. You will note that the image does not turn black when you shoot the picture. These cameras usually has an electronic shutter speed control mechanism which adjusts the shutter speed according to the lighting conditions. With a combination of a very small lens opening and a wide angle lens, it is possible for these cameras to get almost everything in the view finder in focus, without you having to adjust the focus. Modern cameras even adjust the aperture according to the lighting conditions and some even has a zoom and automatic focus lens. Much more successful results can nowadays be obtained with this type of camera than in previous years.

Tip

Beware that you do not put your finger or other objects in front of the lens while you are shooting a picture. Since the image visible through the view finder are not always the same as the image recorded on the film, you may not see when something is in front of the lens.

When a picture is shot very close to the camera, keep in mind that the lens of the camera and the view finder are not always on the same height. It may happen that the image that is recorded on the film is lower than the image visible through the view finder. You will have to make allowance for the difference between what you see through the view finder and what gets recorded through the lens. This allowance is known as parallax correction.

The blue image is what you see and the black image is what gets recorded on film. What you see is not always what you get.

The figure shown below represent the view finder of most of the instant cameras. The subject must be positioned in the brackets, not in the middle of the view finder. These brackets are positioned to allow for parallax correction. The parts of the subject visible outside the brackets may be cut off. With some cameras these brackets are centered in the view finder.

The cross in the middle of the brackets usually indicates the area on which the automatic focus function will focus. It may happen that you don’t necessarily want the subject you are focusing on to appear in the middle of your picture. Some cameras allows that, when the shutter release button is pressed down partially, the camera focuses on the image, and still keeping the button partially pressed down, you can move the position of the camera without the focus readjusting. When you have the subject in the desired position, the button can be fully pressed down and the picture is shot.

Tip

Most cameras with built-in flashes are prone to cause the well-known "red eye" effect. The more expensive models have a built-in function to prevent this from happening. The reasons for the red eye effect will be discussed more fully later on in this course.

Film and the process

It is interesting, and important, to understand the process film has to undergo to produce the end result.

Even though we use transparency film for our exercises during this course, we are going to concentrate on negative film to explain the process. Negative film is the film all of us buy at the shops and return to them for development.

Negative film consists mainly of a base material covered with a silver halide layer. This silver halide layer is light sensitive, which means that it reacts with light as soon as it gets into contact with it. That is why all films are sealed in light-tight holders. After the film has been exposed, it is developed through a process where the silver halide layer changes to silver metal. This process will be discussed in more detail in the Dark Room course.

As soon as you press the shutter release button on your camera, the shutter, which seals the film light-tight, moves away from in front of the film at a pre-determined speed and then closes again. In normal sunlight this action can happen in a two hundred and fiftieth of a second. This is indicated on the camera as 1/250. In this time that the shutter has moved away from in front of the film, the film has come into contact with light. The silver halide particles reacts with the light, some more than others, depending on the intensity of the light. When the film is removed and developed, the degree in which the particles react to the developer is influenced by the degree the particles has reacted to the light. This difference in reaction tempo and intensity creates the visible image on the film. The product of this development process is a negative. Basically the same process is repeated to print a photograph from a negative. Yes, you guessed it: the photographic paper are also light sensitive, as films are.

And there you have a photograph. A detailed description of the process is much more complicated than this and we will rather leave that for the people who strives to create better films and paper for us. We will rather concentrate on the right procedures to imprint the image on the film.

The sensitivity of the film is measured in an international scale namely ASA or ISO. A 100 ASA or 200 ASA is generally used. On the film holder there appears a DX code. This DX code allows the more advanced camera to determine the ASA scale of the film automatically and to adjust the settings of the camera accordingly. Should a film for one reason or another don’t have a DX code, the camera will assume that it is a 100 ASA film.

Black and white film only register black, white and the shades of gray in-between. Nowadays black and white film are used mainly by creative photographers, art photographers and scientists. With this medium the photographer can be more creative, especially due to the lack of color. The lack of color tends to focus the attention on the composition of the picture. Black and white film is, just like color film, also available in different ASA scales. During the development process of black and white film, different effects can be created by using different chemicals and conditions. For example, a courser grain can be obtained by developing the film at a too high temperature. Although the development process are subject to certain given conditions (e.g. development time, development temperature and the concentration of the developer), the black and white developing process is much easier, forgiving and flexible than the color development process. Black and white pictures can be printed from a color negative film, but usually problems are experienced with a lack of contrast. The lack of contrast can be compensated for by using contrast filters. Better results can be obtained when a picture of the color photograph is shot using black and white film. When this is done, the black and white film must have a low ASA value to prevent a course grain. There is special copy film available - usually a 24 or 50 ASA film.

To print a black and white picture in a dark room is often much more manipulate able than shooting the picture. Once you've developed a "feel" for dark room work it won't be surprising if you spend up to 4 hours just to get one photograph perfect. During the print of the photograph one area of the photograph can be exposed more or less than the rest of the photograph. This, for instance, can be used to eliminate problems with shades on pictures. We can also give more grain to a picture or even use two negatives to create one picture.

Two negatives were placed onto each other (montage) to create the photograph shown below. The picture of the aero plane was shot at an air show. It was an awful day for photography. There were no clouds in the sky. The original picture therefore showed just the aero plane on a rather dead back ground - not a good picture on its own. Because of this "faults" of the picture, it qualified admirably for a montage photograph. The second is a color photograph of Hartebeespoort Dam. The two negatives were put together into the negative holder of the enlarger to create the third photograph. Remember, film also has a certain thickness. To get the sharpest image with montage photographs, it is preferable that the negatives are put together into the film holder with the emulsion sides against each other. Note how the shade of the plane in picture 3 was enhanced during the print of the picture to make it more realistic for a sunset photograph.

This is the film we all know and use. Color film are also available in a number of ISO grades. The ISO or ASA scale is an international standard which indicates the light sensitivity of the film apposed to light. Therefore a 100 ISO or ASA will be less sensitive to light than a 800 ISO or ASA. The general beginner photographer will usually use a 100 or 200 ASA film. This film is suitable for outdoor photography. A sports photographer would rather use a 800 ASA film since it is more sensitive to light and can react faster. The development process of color film is influenced more easily by the conditions under which development is done, and these conditions should therefore be controlled very rigorously. This is also the reason why so few photographers do their own color developments.

Different films are also available for different lighting conditions, but generally we will use normal daylight balanced film. If daylight film is used to photograph an object under tungsten lighting (a normal globe) or in candle light, the picture will have a definite yellow glow. This glow can be used successfully to give the picture a warm atmosphere. Special color filters can also be used to correct color problems, e.g. the problem with a yellow glow on pictures shot under tungsten light can be corrected by the use of a 80 A blue filter. Hydrogen, halogen and fluorescent light causes each a different color casts.

Tip

When a picture is printed too light or too dark, you can, by looking at the negative, determine whether the error was caused during the shooting or the development of the picture. If the negative is very dark, the picture is over-exposed. Should the negative be too light, the picture is under-exposed. When all detail on the negative are clearly discernable and no unusual dark or light areas are present, then the negative was exposed correctly. Should the negative be exposed correctly, you can return your picture to the service provider who printed it for correction. Most of the photo laboratories, especially the one-hour labs, print the photographs on an automatic setting in order to print as many photographs per day as possible. Not many of us return photographs we are not satisfied with, and we are prone to assume that we made the mistake when we shot the picture. Always check the negatives and make sure they correct their mistake. When a negative is returned, the photograph is reprinted with manual settings and more effort is put into the process. You won't believe the difference this can make to your pictures.

Color transparency film is also generally available. This film is a positive film, which means after development the end result looks exactly like the printed picture you would get from the negative film, with the difference that this is in the same format as a negative of a picture.

Transparency film are generally used for publication photographs, since it can be scanned as a first generation image. Today, however, digital images are preferred to transparencies for a number of reasons. Transparency film allows less latitude for exposure than negative film. For example: With negative film your exposure value can be too high or too light with two or sometimes three values, but you will still be able to print an acceptable picture. With transparency film, however, a error of one, or even half a value will be detectable. The transparency film will thus be overexposed (too light/bright) or underexposed (too dark). The right exposure for transparency film is therefore very important. (More about this in the course).

Background

Be sure to purchase our book for a complete explanation of photography!

Film and the process