All About Photography - Tuner-Junction

Tadashisan · #1 (**permalink**) March 4th, 2006, 12:57 AM

Photographic techniques
Those of us who truly have an interest in photography know there is a difference between taking pictures and making images. To make the most of your images it is vital to know and learn various techniques that will bring out a camera full potential.
In this thread I am asking everyone to share different tips and techniques you commonly use to bring new life to what may be by any other means mediocre.

A very important and very useful tool in creating an above average image is using composition to its fullest potential. Composition is the way you frame up the subject and the surroundings in an image. Something that seperates photographers and those who just point and shoot is how one will compose his image. Amateurs will often times use static images because they don't know any better. When in most cases a static image is looked down upon. By static I mean setting a subject in the direct center of the frame, and setting a horizon in the middle. By setting a horizon above or below center you can create a whole new feel to your photo. Also when looking at your subject think about your image to be seperated into 1/4's. It is often better to place your subject, not in the middle of the frame but into one of the quadrants. here are some examples.

In this image it is very obvious what the subject of the photo is. Yet by placing the lamp into a quadrant of the frame I've created an abstract and much more interesting image

Again I've set the phone(subject) off to one side of the frame to give the image a more interesting feel.

Of course there are times placing an image in a static position is useful and sometimes even considered better in the case of automotive photography. Many people will consider it right to place a car in full frame.

Showing Motion.

Subject Blur
A good way to implicate the feel of movement there are 3 techniques that come into a lot of use. These techniques are known as subject blur and pan, the only downside is that both of these techniques require low lighting situations as you need a long shutter speed.
As a general rule you can use a shutter speed as slow as 1/30 before needing a stable stand (such as a tripod) to avoid camera shake. So in the case of a subject blur and pan a tripod is very useful.

in this example I took for a photostory assignment I used a table top tripod and set a shutter speed of, I beleive, 1/8 of a second and obviously the aperature to compensate. Notice how the background is in relatively clear focus considering our subject is obviously blurred. so to capture a subject blur remember long shutter speed + tripod + moving object and you have yourself something fun to play with. This is common with photographs of lightning, and light trails from cars (very common)

Pan

Pan example

Obviously a pan is just a variation of a subject blur, but instead of keeping the background in focus we use camera movement to keep the subject in clear focus while the background blurs with the camera movement. To capture this photograph of the Skyline I used a monopod and as the car passed a tried to keep the subject in the center of the frame as it passed. Now many of us use SLR cameras and when you release the shutter you know we lose sight of the subject through the viewfinder. To help make that less of an issue it is usually better follow the vehicle in frame for a short time before actually taking the picture that way you get a feel for how fast it is moving in relation to your camera. When you feel you are following the subject at ample speed then you can release the shutter and continue to follow until the shutter closes back up. This will cause the background to blur, while the subject stays in relatively sharp focus. For sports photography it is common for the photographer to use a monopod instead of a tripod because of its lightweight features and ease of mobility, but like subject blur you still want a steady surface to make sure the background stays somewhat in order althought it is definatly not 100% necessary.

Zoom Blur
Another way to manipulate a blur try using a slow shutter speed and as you release the shutter zoom in or out on the subject with your lense to create a sort of a "tunnel vision". Again this is only possible with a slow shutter speed.
Zoom Blur example
*I will need to scan my example and I will post it once I have the chance*

Selective Focus

Aside from using motion to bring more to the subject of a photo, there is one other technique that is very common even if you don't realize you are doing it. This method is called selective focus. As you open up your aperature your depth of field will become more and more shallow. Selective focus uses this fact to pull a subject into focus while making everything else in different planes of focus soft.
remember:
f1 (f4 is more common) = shallow depth of field
f90 (f32 is more common) = deep depth of field
also a telephoto lense is very effective for selective focus

Tadashisan · #2 (**permalink**) March 4th, 2006, 12:59 AM

Understanding BDE
What is BDE?

BDE stands for basic daylight exposure, also known as the Sunny 16 rule.
it's the standard for finding the best exposure on a typical sunny day
I have just come to understand it and I know a lot of people do not understand it. BDE tells us what fstops will be best to use with the shutter speeds. obviously this is more important if you manually adjust your 35mm camera settings. Hopefully with this write up I can help some people understand.

let's start with the basics

BDE = 1/iso @ F16

for those who don't know iso is film speed

this involves the use of the iso table which is

3 6 12 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400
4 8 16 32 64 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 8000
5 10 20 40 80 160 320 640 1250 2500 5000 10000

now another thing we need is your shutter speeds. heres the typical shutter speeds

1sec, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000
as you move ---> you are reducing light that comes into the lense

and then the list of apertures

f1, f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f32, f45, f64, f90
as you move <-- you increase the amount of light that comes into the lense

NOW the fun part

Say we take Kodak triX film with the iso of 400 and we want to use the shutter speed of 1/125sec

there for we have the beginning of the BDE formula

.......1/125 @ f(?)

now to find the correct aperture we go back to the ISO chart

3 6 12 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400
4 8 16 32 64 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 8000
5 10 20 40 80 160 320 640 1250 2500 5000 10000

as you move right or left horizontally we more a full stop
as you move up and down in the columns you move a 1/3 of a stop

because we are moving from 400 to 125 we are obviously moving down one row and left two colums. therefore we are opening 2 1/3 stops

so if we remember that the bde = 1/iso @ f16

a 2 1/3 of a stop down from f16 = f 22 2/3

therefore our bde for

Kodak triX (iso 400)
shutter speed 1/125sec @ f22 2/3

remember you take the iso from the chart
and then find the shutter speed we want to use on the chart. then count the amount of stops it takes for you to go from the iso to the shutter speed

it took me a few hours alone and 2 people to try to explain it to me so any questions at all about this stuff please feel free to contact me and I can try to explain it better.

I am attending Brooks Institute of Photography so i will quickly be learning all the fun stuff.

you can AIM me at aPerfectFallacy and email me at Tadashiphoto@gmail.com

just remember that BDE will in most cases give you the best exposure on a sunny day

MrBB6 · #3 (**permalink**) March 7th, 2006, 01:32 AM

Very interesting! BDE is something i never really thought about before, but now it makes sense.

Tadashisan · #4 (**permalink**) March 17th, 2006, 01:22 AM

“There are only two problems in photography. One is how to conquer light. The other is how to capture a moment of reality just as you release the shutter.”
-Edward Steichan

Photography is essentially the use of light to capture a moment of time. Without light photography (and life) wouldn’t be possible. This write up will help you understand and hopefully better your photography by the ability to make light work for you whether it be in the studio or in our world.

In our world there are various qualities of light that help reveal different aspects of a image. These qualities include; texture, form, shape, color, emotions, and moods. These are qualities we see everyday but many may not recognize it. This is what we photographers pride ourselves in, That being the ability to see these phenomena in our world around us.

In term of light quality there are two categories. The first quality is the comparative light which controls the brightness, color, and contrast. This type of quality is what you could manipulate after exposing the image. When you adjust contrast or brightness on Photoshop or even the darkroom you are playing with the comparative light quality of the image. Yet the next quality is something that CANNOT be manipulated after the exposure, and that is Formative light. Formative light is the specular, diffused, and direction of the light in the image and is difficult to measure. The human eye can see it but it is hard to explain. Formative light also has a major role in revealing space, volume, shape, texture, and dimension.

Within the comparative light quality, to start off, brightness. Brightness is the intensity or quality of light reflecting or radiating. This is measured in Lumens. With brightness there are three levels within the field; high key, low key, and medium key. A high key lighting is an image that is very bright and is considered feminine, next time you look at a make-up add look what color the background is. Often times the back is white and the subject is very bright, or high key. Next we have a low key image which is considered a masculine image. A low key image is dark. A medium key image would be one that is “normal” everyday scene, or earth tones. In another note “photography only interprets brightness quality and seldom duplicates it” (Bradshaw). It is important to understand that the human eye can only see 20 stops (stops as in the aperture of a camera) of light, film sees 8-10 stops of light, and paper will only see 4-5 stops of light. Now maybe you ask, “what about digital”? A RAW image can only see 6 stops of light.

The next important part about brightness is how to measure this. When you have light that falls upon a subject, that light is referred to as illuminance. light that is reflecting off an object is is called luminance. This is very important as the light meter inside of you camera is a luminance light meter and IS NOT correct to the proper exposure. This is the reason that professional photographers use incident light meters. By metering the light from the source you will render a subject, or scene a proper exposure. In order to correctly use the light meter in your camera you must learn how to use it. Learning to use your illuminance light meter you must understand how to use the ZONE system in order to properly render a scene and I will do another write up on that soon.

Understanding Zones
http://www.tuner-junction.com/TJForu...8189#post18189

I’m pretty sure everyone knows contrast. Contrast is the difference between light and dark areas, self explanatory. A type of light that affects contrast is known as the ambient light, illumination which does not come directly from a primary light source. Ambient light has NO directional value and is NOT an available light. This ambient light also is what creates shadow detail in an image.

There are three types of formative light. First there is what is known as specular light, light that travels in a straight line from the source. Some examples of specular light include; flashlight, projectors, laser, household light bulbs, and even the sun. Specular lights, when cast on a subject, will project a sharp shadow. Next we have what is known as a diffused light, and generally the light source must be bigger than the subject to be considered a diffused light. An example of diffused light is light that is reflected from a building, grass, and sky. In contrast to the specular light, the diffused light creates soft shadows, places a strong emphasis on form of a subject, and helps hide texture. For example if you want to photograph a pool ball, the best choice of light would be a diffused light for the fact that the light will give the ball its round look. Lastly we have possibly the most important type of light and that is direction lighting. This light controls formation of shadows and helps place emphasis on texture, form, and a sense of spacial depth in the shadows.

When it comes to the surface of objects there are 2 types of surfaces. A Specular surface, such as a car body, reflects light. Therefore to best photograph a specular surface one would want to use a diffused light source to illuminate the subject. A Diffused surface absorbs the light much like, for instance, clothing. To properly shoot and expose a diffused surface you would want to use a specular light.

Lastly we have two more types of lighting that is used; emotionally passive and emotionally active illumination. Emotionally passive illumination is your flat, everyday lighting which create neutral color qualities, low contrast, and uniform moderate brightness. Emotionally active illumination is used to draw attention and has a strong directional quality coupled with strong contrasts. (specular lighting)

In photography, at least when it is not black and white, color has a major role in an image. Neutral color balance is the lack of color influence in any neutral tones. Collective color balance is the over all color balance within a scene, and this strongly depends on the type of film and light used. Local color is the color of objects and subjects and are expressed with localized lighting effects.

Color also has a large influence on emotion. Red (warm tones) is generally considered a warm, romantic color and is used for getting attention. With food the color red often implies the sense of something hot and/or sweet. Another set of colors would be those considered pastel colors. Pastels creates rich emotions and is popular amongst the older generations. Of course then we have the “cool” colors such as the blues and greens which create a soothing feel.

Within the studio different lights are used to light subject matter. The main source in a lighting scene is known as your key light. The key light can be specular or diffused and it establishes formation of shadows and highlights. It is normally the strongest lightin the scene. Then there is what is known as the fill light. Typically diffused, it simulates ambient light andis used to control highlight ratios. Lastly there is the background lighting which is used to control local areas within the scene. This helps seperate the subject from the background and add depth or the illusion of depth.

sources
Bradshaw, Robert. "Pho103 lighting notes." Brooks Institute of Photography March 16, 2006

Tadashisan · #5 (**permalink**) March 17th, 2006, 02:01 AM

If you read the write up i completed about lighting I mentioned the use of the camera metering system and it’s problems there in. As I mentioned the light meter within the camera is known as an lumination light meter, meaning it measures the light being reflected from a subject.
The problem of using your metering on your camera is the fact that it meters the light being reflected from a surface. The reading you get will meter anything you point it at as 18% gray. If you point your camera at a white wall, your camera will render that white wall18% gray. if you point the camera at a black wall, your camera will render that black wall 18% gray. Where as if you used a incident light meter, which meters the light from the light source instead of the reflected light.

Now you properly use a built in camera light meter you must learn how to read that meter and know how to adjust for that.

Here we must know the zoning system:

Zone 0 - Pure black
Zone I - Black
Zone II - Black with detail andNO texture
Zone III - Black with detail and texture
Zone IV - Dark Gray
Zone V - Middle gray (18% gray)
Zone VI - Light gray
Zone VII - White with detail and texture
Zone VIII - White with detail and NO texture
Zone IX - White
ZoneX - Paperbase

Now we look at a simple problem to work out in your head.

If you point your camera at a white wall and get a meter reading through your camera. Your camera immediatly renders that walls 18% gray

remember 18% gray = Zone V

Now, in order for you to render that wall white with detail and texture, you want to move from Zone V to Zone VII

you must consider the different from one zone to another as 1stop of light.

so in order to move from Zone V to Zone VII you are moving 2 stops (or two zones).

so once you find that meter reading on your camera you will want to OVER EXPOSE the scene by 2 stops.

Now you have taken a photograph that is rendered properly...easy huh?

--------------------------

i’ll leave you something to do on your own just so you can try it out

Now consider that you are photographing a black wall. When you point your camera at that wall your camera renders that wall 18% gray.

18% gray is what zone? _____

Now you want to render that wall black w/ detail and texture from 18% gray.

According to the zones you would be moving 2 zones.
So you would want to under expose the scene by how many stops? _______

There you go if you understood that then you now know how to properly use your built in light meter in your camera.

The answers are below.

Answers:

Q. 18% gray is what zone?
A. Zone V (5)

Q. According to the zones you would be moving 2 zones.
So you would want to under expose the scene by how many stops?
A. 2 stops