Langford’s Basic Photography

This seminal photography text, now in its 10th edition and celebrating its 50th anniversary, has been revamped, reorganized, and modernized to include the most up-to-date, need to know information for photographers. Ideal for students, beginners, and advanced users wanting to brush up on the fundamentals of photography, this book is a must have for any photographer's bookcase. The heart of this text, however, retains the same comprehensive mix of scholarly and practical information.

The new edition has been fully updated and includes:

an expansion and overhaul of the information on digital cameras and digital printing.

an emphasis on updating photographs to include a wider range of international work.

replacement of many diagrams with photographs.

Michael Langford was a renowned author, teacher, and practitioner. He inspired thousands because of his skill that balanced art and technique and taught many more as Photography Course Director at the Royal College of Art, London, UK.

Anna Fox is an internationally renowned photographer and is Professor of Photography at University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.

Richard Sawdon Smith is Professor of Photography and Dean of Media at Norwich University of the Arts, UK. He is an award-winning photographer, published and exhibiting worldwide for over 25 years.

Langford’s Basic Photography

The Guide for Serious Photographers

10th Edition

Michael Langford FBIPP, HonFRPS
Formerly Photography Course Director
Royal College of Art, London

Anna Fox
Professor of Photography
University for the Creative Arts, Farnham

Richard Sawdon Smith
Dean of Media and Professor of Photography
Norwich University of the Arts

Contributors

Andrew Bruce
Photography Lecturer
Canterbury Christ Church University

Marie-Josiane Agossou
Technical Team Leader
London South Bank University

Tenth edition published 2015
by Focal Press
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Focal Press
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Focal Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

The right of Michael Langford, Anna Fox, and Richard Sawdon Smith to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Ninth edition published by Focal Press 2013

Trademark notice. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Langford, Michael, 1933- author.
[Basic photography]
Langford’s basic photography: the guide for serious photographers /
Michael Langford FBIPP, HonFRPS, formerly photography course director, Royal College of Art, London, Anna Fox, professor of photography, University for the Creative Arts, Famham, Richard Sawdon Smith, dean of media & professor of photography, Norwich University of the Arts; contributors, Andrew Bruce, photography lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University, Marie-Josiane Agossou, technical team leader,
London South Bank University. -- 10th edition.
pages cm
Originally published under title: Basic photography.
Includes index.
1. Photography. I. Fox, Anna, author. II. Sawdon Smith, Richard,
author. III. Bruce, Andrew (Photographer), writer of supplementary
textual content. IV. Agossou, Marie-Josiane, writer of supplementary
textual content. V. Title. VI. Title: Basic photography.
TR145.L32 2015
770--dc23
2015004699

ISBN: 978-1-138-92538-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-71891-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-86778-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Bariol by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire

Dedicated to Michael and P. Langford

The first edition of this book, in 1965, was Michael Langford's first published title. In its tenth edition, representing fifty years in print, Anna Fox and Richard Sawdon Smith have brought his coverage of photography right up to date with contributions from Andrew Bruce and Marie-Josiane Agossou. This is a classic text and every photographer's bible.

Michael's original text has been expanded on and the spirit of the new text ensures that his influence lives on, providing guidance to everyone who shares a great passion for photography and wants to learn more.

Foreword

Langford's Basic Photography is a fantastic introduction to a wonderful subject. I can't see how my life could have been anywhere near as full or as rich as it has been without photography. It's been everything to me, the electricity in my life, the way to communicate with people, to fall in love, to vent my displeasure at the world, to articulate every fiber of my feeling. Photographing has allowed me to express all of this and to make some sense of it.

Photography's power is as a passport: it gives you permission to participate in a whole series of situations in life that you wouldn't be allowed in normally. Whether it's a car crash or a presidential election, society immediately accepts you into this event because you are a photographer. If you take away the camera you are just like everybody else. Photography, like poetry or philosophy, enables you to spend a lot of time scrutinizing the little details of life. It becomes a reason to live in a broader way.

Other people's pictures are enormously important as a way of solving problems: how someone else dealt with expressing great energy in their work, perhaps, or profound sadness. Photography is so accessible that it's very easy to produce images that seem to look as good as or similar in style or structure to existing work. What's slightly dangerous about this is that people quickly achieve these more or less adequate results and think 'I can do this' and then remain at that level, aping others' styles. This is a false way of rationalizing your own work, however. Photography is about yourself, how you feel about what you see. Trying to express your perspective through somebody else's feelings is a twisted way of communicating.

Equipment and image-manipulation don't matter in themselves; which camera or software I use is no more interesting than which pen a writer uses or microphone a rock star sings from. But you need to know the scope of the technology. Without full knowledge of your equipment's ability to articulate what you are trying to express, it's like trying to speak with a limited vocabulary. Experimenting with photographic imagery is age-old. Look at the work of Erwin Blumenfeld, the man who put his film in the freezer in order to expose it through ice crystals during the 1940s, or Man Ray, who toiled away in the darkroom during the 1930s, solarizing his prints. A huge amount of historical imagery suggests that many photographers—past and present—do not regard the point of image capture as the only creative moment in image-making. The entire process—right from conception, through construction and post-production to the moment of completion—is important.

I can't believe that anybody can claim to be aware of every single square centimeter of their photographs. My earliest pictures, done with a 35 mm camera and black and white film, were reportage shots of skinheads and potentially violent events as they unfolded in front of me. I remember taking pictures of two girls that I liked the look of who were standing against a wall in a dance hall. Only afterwards, when I looked at the contact sheets, did I notice that while one of them was holding a handbag, the other was holding a broken bottle.

Contrary to the principle of the 'decisive moment' that has dominated the understanding of photography, a photographer just isn't aware of the full image as it is taken. To describe the process, you force yourself into a situation in order to get the shot; you're experiencing a crescendo of heightened awareness, pushing and manipulating, doing whatever is necessary to balance circumstances: lighting, relationships with the sitter, whatever it is. Finally, you sense a whole bunch of energy flows converging, which is almost like a melody becoming pitch perfect. You respond much quicker than you ever thought you could, but the shutter goes down and the flash goes off in response to the moment prior to capture. The moment documented is not the moment that you see; therefore, it is the moment that you don't see.

Unfortunately photography has recently been held to trial for its lack of representation of reality. My own view is that photography never lied, but neither did it set out to tell the truth. It said, "You know nothing of this situation. I'll give you some of my thoughts on it." A far more crucial issue is that photographers have some moral responsibility for what they show us. Visual imagery is a very powerful medium of expression and some image-makers are guilty of firing it recklessly, like a gun, without looking at the impact of what they are doing. In a culture that can be so rich, we are so poor with our imagery. There is a whole range of people that just aren't included in our visual representation of beauty—excluded for their size, individuality, health, ethnicity, or sexuality. I believe it is our duty to use our images to acknowledge that the parameters we set for our image of society are too narrow, and reflect that these people have every right to be held up in adoration along with everybody else.

It is useful for all photographers to be shown that they are completely capable of screwing up. On any shoot, the first pictures that come out are almost certainly going to be a failure. Standing in front of someone who is supposedly meant to be the most beautiful woman in the world and then the initial shots aren't very good at all—that's a reasonably humbling experience. It tends to force photographers into repeated patterns of behavior, like: "Last time I did it this way, or that works; so playing this music and using this lens, talking a particular way to the model or using that light, et cetera, will achieve the same results." Those confidence tricks aren't ways of understanding what is happening in front of you; they are ways of reassuring yourself. You should be metaphorically naked in front of your subject, out of your comfort zone and fighting for a new vision that you've never previously imagined. If you can see it already, there is no point in taking the picture.

Nick Knight
Photographer

Introduction

"The camera is my tool. Through it I give reason to everything around me."

André Kertész

Basic Photography is an introductory textbook that has for the last fifty years covered the varied skills that lie behind photographic practice. It is intended for students of all ages and, beginning at square one, assumes that you have no theoretical knowledge of photography, or any scientific background. The book explains equipment and techniques, provides information on both digital and analog photography: shooting and image manipulation, materials, and processes. At the same time, the importance of visual content and meaning in photographs is also discussed with reference to many significant contemporary and historical photographers. In short, Basic Photography is planned as a primer to interest and inform professionals, students, and amateurs alike.

"Photography" (Literally translated as "drawing with light") is essentially a combination of technique and visual observation: it is a magical invention that creates 2D illusions of the 3D world. In order to make successful photographs you need to combine the development of your technical skills together with exploring your creative visual style—you learn a lot from looking at contemporary photographic work and the history of photography and finding photographers whose work you admire to start developing your own way of seeing. Learning the technical aspects of photography takes time and should be done step by step: once you have achieved a certain level, you are ready to put these skills into use creatively. Interesting photographs need to be built on interesting ideas as well as having strong visual content and technical flair, and looking at other photographers' work is an excellent way of thinking about ideas for photographs. Technical knowledge to the photographer is a means to a visual end, something that allows better control and self-confidence in achieving what you want to say.

Basic Photography opens with a broad look at photography—putting it in context as a versatile and important medium. Then it goes on to show how photography's components, procedures, and processes fit together. The chapters are laid out in the same order as image production, starting with chapters on light and lenses, and proceeding through cameras, subject lighting, and composition. (These "front end" aspects remain valid whether you use digital image capture or traditional photographic materials.) The book continues with films, exposure, processing, printing, and finishing.

Many students may begin photography using digital cameras, to build up confidence in camera-handling and picture composition before progressing to more technical aspects of darkroom work. Others begin with black and white photography, processing the results themselves and learning the analog craft skills right from the start. Reflecting both approaches, Basic Photography covers camera aspects of digital and analog photography as well as the use of both color and black and white materials, color film processing, and black and white processing and printing. (Color printing will be found in the companion volume, Advanced Photography, the history of technical and stylistic movements in photography is described in Story of Photography, also published by Focal Press.)

This tenth edition of Basic Photography represents over fifty years in print for this publication, which is brought right up to date with extended information on recent developments in digital photography. Research and development are still moving rapidly ahead and industry standards are being constantly updated. The use of computers to digitally manipulate pictures is now well established, and many photographers never go near a darkroom, preferring digital printing techniques even when using film. Digital imagery has largely taken over from traditional chemical-based procedures. That said, the older processes will still be practiced for their own particular qualities, just as black and white continues to be used alongside color.

The text remains in a form that we hope is the most useful for students—either for "dip-in" study or sequential reading. You will find the summaries at the end of each chapter a good way of checking contents, and revising. The Glossary and appendices at the back of the book are also very useful.

A.F. and R.S.S.

Picture Credits

1.1, 1.17, 4.18, 10.44, 11.31, 11.32, 11.33, 11.34, 11.35, 11.36, 11.37, 11.38, 11.39, 11.41 Richard Sawdon Smith. 1.2 Erik Kessels, Photograph by Gijs van den Berg. 1.3 Zanele Muholi, Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town & Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York. 1.4 Terri Weifenbach. 1.7 Tony Ray-Jones, Courtesy of the Science &. Society Picture Library. 1.8 Brian Griffin. 1.9, 10.46 Gareth McConnell. 1.10 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Courtesy of Magnum Photos. 1.11 Garry Winogrand, Courtesy of The Estate of Garry Winogrand and Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. 1.12 Joel Meyerowitz, Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery. 1.13 Christopher Stewart. 1.14 Joan Fontcuberta. 1.15 Sir Francis Galton, Courtesy of University College London Special Collections. 1.16, 6.38a, 6.40 Jason Evans. 1.18 Philippe Halsman, Courtesy of Magnum Photos. 1.19 Chino Otsuka. 1.20 Robert Demachy. 1.21 Paul Strand, Courtesy of the Aperture Foundation. 1.22 Gordon Parks, Courtesy of the Gordon Parks Foundation. 1.23 Ed Ruscha, Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery. 1.24 William Eggleston. 1.25 Stephen Shore, Courtesy of 303 Gallery, New York. 1.26 Stephen Dalton, Courtesy of Photoshot. 1.27 Grace Lau. 1.28 Katy Grannan, Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. 1.29 Julia Margaret Cameron, Courtesy of the Royal Photographic Collection at the National Media Museum & Science and Society Picture Library. 1.30 Uta Barth, Courtesy of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. 1.31 Hiroshi Sugimoto, Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. 1.32 Eadweard Muybridge, Courtesy of the Royal Academy of Arts. 1.33 Ori Gersht. 2.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.8, 3.11, 3.17, 3.35, 3.37, 3.42, 3.43, 3.48, 3.55, 4.1, 4.19, 4.20, 4.22, 4.23, 4.24, 4.27, 4.30, 5.3, 5.19, 6.21, 7.3, 7.6, 7.12, 7.13, 7.14, 7.15, 7.16, 7.21, 7.24, 7.35, 8.2, 8.3, 8.6, 8.8, 8.9, 8.14, 8.22, 8.23, 8.24, 8.26, 8.28, 8.29, 8.31, 8.37, 8.38, 8.47, 8.48, 8.53, 9.3, 9.4, 9.10, 9.29, 9.30, 9.34, 9.35, 9.39, 9.40, 9.43, 9.48, 9.53, 9.54, 9.59, 10.12, 11.20, 12.11, 12.16, 13.5 Andrew Bruce. 2.14 Roger Buchanan. 3.6, 3.14, 3.22, 3.26, 3.28, 3.31, 3.36, 3.39, 3.41, 3.47, 3.56, 3.58, 4.9, 7.8, 10.29 Peter Renn. 3.12, 3.57, 4.26, 5.2, 5.9, 5.13, 5.17, 5.24, 5.32, 6.5b, 6.35, 6.41, 7.2, 7.31, 13.2, 13.3, 13.7c Natasha Caruana. 3.27 Walker Evans. 3.29, 3.45, 6.3, 6.15, 6.25, 6.30, 6.37, 7.5, 8.27, 9.19, 9.23, 9.28, 9.31, 9.43, 9.48, 9.56, 9.58, 13.7d Anna Fox. 3.51 Christopher Smith. 6.1 Elliott Erwitt, Courtesy of Magnum Photos. 6.2 Russell Lee, Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 6.4 Mark Bolland. 6.6, 6.29 Christian Nolle. 6.7 Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 6.8 Jack Delano, Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 6.9 Paul Seawright. 6.10 Edward Weston, Courtesy of the Center for Creative Photography. 6.11 Bill Brandt, Courtesy of the Bill Brandt Archive. 6.12 Elmar Ludwig and John Hinde Ltd. 6.13 Susan Lipper. 6.14 Martin Parr, Courtesy of Magnum Photos. 6.16 Hunter Kennedy. 6.17, 6.36 Roger Bool. 6.20 Pierre Stoffel. 6.22 Daniel Meadows. 6.23 O Zhang. 6.26 Shino Kito. 6.27 Hannah Starkey, Courtesy of Maureen Paley, London. 6.28 Anthony Haughey. 6.31 Paul Reas. 6.32 Fay Godwin, Courtesy of the British Library. 6.33 Osamu Kanemura, Courtesy of Osiris, Tokyo. 6.38b Martin Salter. 6.42 Benjamin Stone, Courtesy of Birmingham City Library. 6.43a Trish Morrissey. 6.43b Jem Southam. 6.44 Jo Spence, Courtesy of the Jo Spence Archive. 6.45 Andy Fox. 6.46 Masumi Hayashi, courtesy of the Estate of Masumi Hayashi. 7.1 Olivier Richon. 7.22 Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York & London. 7.23 David Moore. 7.25 Tim Savage. 7.27 Steven Kenny. 7.36 Samuel Bradley. 8.30, 8.32 Shaun Vincent. 8.43 Courtesy of Hasselblad, Epson and Aztek Imaging. 10.1 Courtesy of Kodak. 11.16 Courtesy of Ilford Photo. 11.40 Melanie Manchot. 12.1 Eric Paré. 12.2 Will Ainsworth. 12.3 Daniel Olivier. 12.8 Courtesy of SanDisk. 12.10 Pelle Cass. 12.12 Christopher Packham. 12.14 Emma Phillips. 12.15 David Wright. 12.22 Anthony Berry. 12.23 Milos "Sholim" Rajkovic. 12.25 Lucinda King. 13.7a Toril Johannessen, Photo by Maya Oklund. 13.7b Benjamin Becker. 13.8 Sam Robinson. 13.9 Andy Adams. 13.10 Karen Knorr, Design by Studio Mothership.

Chapter One
What is Photography?

"What is photography?" may sound Like an easy question to answer but the potential replies could fill this book alone, especially when we consider all the digital alternatives that have transformed photography since this book was first published in 1965. In fact, in answer to this question the photographer Mishka Henner published a book (2010) called Photography Is. The book has no photographs but contains three thousand quotations edited down from 15.3 million hits when he searched online with the phrase "Photography is ...." The fact that photography can mean different things to different people is part of its enduring appeal. Photography is such a part of our lives that it would be incomprehensible to think of a world without it. We probably couldn't contemplate the fact of a wedding, watching the children grow up, or going on holiday without the camera. We are bombarded with and saturated by images constantly, on the Internet and television as well as in newspapers, magazines, and advertisements, yet we have an insatiable desire for more, especially now when so many of us carry a cameraphone (cellphone with camera) around with us (Figure 1.1). We are constantly uploading to Flickr, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, where alone it's estimated that we upload 350 million images a day (Figure 1.2).

1.1
Photographers and artists have always made self-portraits but the introduction of cameraphones has created a phenomenon known as the "selfie," which has contributed to the billions of photographs being taken every day. Built-in editing software and downloadable apps mean even post production (editing, retouching, filters) can be carried out in phone before an image is uploaded to any number of social media sites

So why take photographs? What is actually involved? How can you improve and become more professional in your own practice? What roles do photographs play in our life and relative to other forms of expression or communication? Does a photographer have responsibilities? Can we still call ourselves photographers if we all have sound recording and moving image functions on our digital cameras and smartphones? And what makes a result successful anyway? We will explore these issues and some of photography's possibilities over the course of this book. We use the term "photography" generically to encapsulate images created using either digital or analog (film) processes, with the understanding that photography is a combination of subjective thought, creative imagination, visual design, technical skills, and practical organizing ability. It is worth taking a broad look at what making photographs is about, as this can help to put into perspective and contextualize your own thoughts. On the one hand, there is the machinery and the techniques themselves, on the other you have the variety of approaches to picture making–aiming for results ranging from documenting an event or communicating ideas to a particular audience, to work which is socially, politically, or commercially informed, for the family album or sharing on social media, or perhaps work that is self-expressive, more ambiguous, and open to interpretation.

1.2
Making a comment on the number of images being constantly consumed by us on various social media sites Erik Kessels filled a gallery with thousands and thousands of images to represent twenty-four hours of Flickr uploads.

Why Photography?

Although it has been said that there are just two types of photographers, those that go out into the world to record it and those that photograph to project out into the world, there are still multiple reasons why we might use photography. In the book Photography Changes Everything (2012) nearly a hundred people, from artists to filmmakers, from scientists to garden photographers, talk about why photography is so important to them. Perhaps you are drawn into photography mainly because it appears to be a quick, convenient, and seemingly truthful way of recording something. All the importance lies in the subject itself, and you want to show objectively what it is, or what is going on (a child's first steps or a scratch on a car for insurance purposes). In this instance, photography is thought of as evidence, identification, a kind of diagram of a happening. The camera is your visual notebook.

Yet photography does much more than just record the world; it shapes and changes every aspect of our experience of it. The opposite attribute of photography is where it is used to manipulate or interpret reality, so that pictures push some "angle," belief, or attitude of your own. You set up situations (as in advertising) or choose to photograph some aspect of an event but not others (as in politically biased news reporting). Photography is a powerful medium of persuasion and propaganda. It has that ring of truth when all the time it can make any statement the photographer chooses. Consider the family album for a moment: what pictures are represented here—all of family life and experiences or just the good moments?

Another reason for taking up photography is that you want a means of personal self-expression to explore your own ideas, concerns, or issue-based themes, projecting out into the world. It seems odd that something so apparently objective as photography can be used to express, say, issues of desire, identity, race, or gender (Figure 1.3), or metaphor and fantasy. A photograph can intrigue through its posing of questions, keeping the viewer returning to read new things from the image, a way of capturing and interpreting the world. Sometimes it is just the everyday and the mundane that people find interesting but with a desire to reveal or highlight what is often overlooked. We have all probably seen images "in" other things, like reading meanings into cloud formations, shadows, or peeling paint that can make an intriguing image once photographed. So much can also be done by a quick change of viewpoint, or choice of a different moment in time. The way it is presented too may be just as important as the subject matter. The camera is a kind of time machine, which freezes any person, place, or situation you choose. It seems to give the user power and purpose. Other photographers simply seek out beauty as in sunsets and landscapes, which they express in their own "picturesque" style, as a conscious work of art or the simple enjoyment of the visual structuring of photographs. There is real pleasure to be had from designing pictures as such—the "geometry" of lines and shapes, balance of tone, the cropping and framing of scenes-whatever the subject content actually happens to be.

1.3
Even in the twenty-first century a simple black and white portrait can still have the power to captivate the viewers gaze Something so apparently objective as photography can be used to express issues of desire identity race or gender, as in this image "Mayita Tamangani, Harare Zimbabwe" (2011) by Zaneie Muholi, part of a series on African lesbians.

An attractive element of photography for some people is the actual process of photography–the challenge of care and control, and the way this is rewarded by technical excellence and a final object produced by you. Results can be judged and enjoyed for their own intrinsic photographic "qualities," such as superb detail, rich tones, and colors. The process gives you the means of "capturing your seeing," making pictures from things around you. Your interest in photography, however, could be more to do with the possibilities of postproduction that computer manipulation offers, constructing the image digitally.

These are only some of the diverse activities and interests covered by the umbrella term "photography." Several will be blended together in the work of a photographer, or any one market for professional photography. Your present enjoyment in producing pictures may be mainly based on technology, art, or communication. And what begins as one area of interest can easily develop into another. As a beginner it is helpful to keep an open mind. Provide yourself with a well-rounded "foundation course" by trying to learn something of all these elements, preferably through practice but also by looking and reading about the work of other photographers.

How Photography Works

Photography is to do with light forming an image, normally by means of a lens. The image is then permanently recorded by either:

digital means, using an electronic sensor, data storage and processing, and print-out normally via a computer, or

chemical means, using film, liquid chemicals, and darkroom processes.

You don't need to understand either electronics or chemistry to take good photographs of course, but it is important to have sufficient practical skills to control results and so work with confidence. The following is an outline of the key technical stages you will meet in digital and in chemical forms of photography. Each stage is discussed in detail in later chapters.

Forming and exposing an image

Most aspects of forming an optical image of your subject (in other words concerning the "front end" of the camera) apply to both digital and film photography. Light from the subject of your picture passes through a glass lens, which bends it into a focused (normally miniaturized) image. The lens is at the front of a light-tight box or camera with a light-sensitive sensor such as a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) facing it at the other end. Light is prevented from reaching the CMOS by a shutter until your chosen moment of exposure. The amount of exposure to light is most often controlled by a combination of the time the shutter is open and the diameter of the light beam passing through the lens. The latter is altered by an aperture, like the iris of the eye. Both these controls have a further influence on visual results. Shutter time alters the way movement is recorded (blurred or frozen); lens aperture alters the depth of subject (Figure 1.4) that is shown in focus at one time (depth of field).

1.4
Terri Weifenbach's photographs are careful observations of overlooked spaces and stolen moments–backyard gardens, a bee suspended in midair, the house across the street, open fields. Through her use of saturated color and by the very photographic nature of selective focus/depth of field we rediscover the wonder and lushness of nature

You need a viewfinder, electronic viewing or focusing screen for aiming the camera and composing, and a light-measuring device, usually built in, to meter the brightness of each subject. The meter takes into account the light sensitivity of the material on which you are recording the image and reads out or automatically sets an appropriate combination of lens aperture and shutter speed. With knowledge and skill you can override these settings to achieve chosen effects or compensate for conditions which will fool the meter.

1.5
The basic digital route from subject to final image Camera cards for image storage can be reused. Images may also be digitized from results shot on film, via a film scanner, or from prints via a flatbed scanner.

The digital or chemical route

Digital cameras. We look more fully at choice of camera in Chapter 4, but one of the main decisions in deciding which digital camera to buy is based around how many megapixels the sensor stores. Whether you are using a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera or a cameraphone, the exposed image is recorded on a grid of millions of microscopic-size light-sensitive elements, which is normally smaller than one frame of 35 mm film (top-end digital cameras will often have a full frame sensor for better quality). If you are only looking to view images on screen or to email to friends and family, then a 1 or 2 megapixel camera is adequate. If wanting to make prints from your digital files, the bigger the print you want to make, the higher the number of megapixels needs to be. A rough guide to the quality and size of prints possible from a digital camera will partly depend upon the number of megapixels available (although quality of lens and size of sensor will be other contributing factors). To provide "photo" quality prints up to 10 x 8 inches, you need a 3 or 4 megapixel camera. To produce images bigger than 10 x 8 inches, you need to have at least a 5 megapixel camera or higher (Figure 1.5).

Various image manipulation programs can be loaded into your computer, providing you with "tools" and controls that make it possible to crop the picture, alter brightness, contrast, or color, and make many other adjustments, including adding effects and graphics. Image files can be "saved" (stored) within the computer's internal hard disk memory or on a removable storage device. Abridged versions of manipulation programs may already be preloaded on the camera or downloaded as apps for cameraphones.

It is possible to have digital files transferred to film and then printed through the chemical route, or to have prints made by commercially available print processes such as Lambda and Lightjet that are printed on traditional photographic color paper.

Color and black and white film. You have to choose between different types of film for photography in color or black and white (monochrome). Visually it is much easier to shoot color than black and white, because the result more closely resembles the way the subject looked in the viewfinder. Black and white is seen as less lifelike, creating a distance between the "real" and its representation, and for this reason it appeals to a number of beginners and advanced photographers alike, wrongly or rightly being considered more interpretative and subtle.

Like sensor size and number of megapixels, film size is also important when wanting to produce high quality detailed large prints. Film and therefore cameras come in different sizes, from 35 mm to medium format to larger format—when just one sheet of film can be 10 x 8 inches (see Chapter 10). Films also come in different speeds, known as the ISO rating, from 50 ISO to 3200 ISO, which indicates how sensitive the film is to light, and these are printed on the film box. Digital cameras use the same rating but built into the camera controls. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the film is, i.e., the film needs less available light to make the correct exposure, although to achieve this the film will visibly show more grain in the final print and so lose some of the fine detail even if shot on larger film stock. In digital photography you also get a similar effect, and this is known as noise.

1.6
The basic route from subject to final photographic image using film. This calls for liquid chemicals and darkroom facilities.

Color films, papers, and chemical processes are more complex than black and white (Figure 1.6). This is why it was almost a hundred years after the invention of photography before reliable color print processes appeared. Even then they were expensive and laborious to use, so that until the 1970s photographers mostly learned their craft in black and white and worked up to color; there are of course many exceptions to the rule such as Tony Ray-Jones (Figure 1.7).

1.7
The British photographer Tony Ray-Jones originally went to America to study graphic art in 1961. There he learnt to be a photographer, all the time taking color photographs alongside his more famous black and white work. 'At the time color was considered vulgar and not the medium of serious photography but for Ray-Jones it expressed the excitement of America in a way that black and white could not."

Most of the chemical complexity of color photography is locked up in the manufacturers' films, papers, ready-mixed solutions, and standardized processing routines. It is mainly in printing that color remains more demanding than black and white, because of the extra requirements of judging and controlling color balance (see the companion book Advanced Photography). So in the darkroom at least you will find that photography by the chemical route is still best begun in black and white (Chapter 11).

1.8
Pictures for business magazines do not have to be dull Care over camera and figure positioning gives an eye-catching image of great simplicity. Much of Brian Griffins work was for Management Today magazine

Practical comparisons between making photographs by the chemical (film) route and the digital route appear in detail in Chapter 4. You will see that each offers different advantages, and there can still be reasons for combining the best features of each.

Technical routines and creative choices

With technical knowledge plus practical experience (which comes out of shooting lots of photographs under different conditions) you gradually build up skills that become second nature and so familiar that you are able to concentrate more and more on what you want to communicate, and there are a few skills you will need to acquire in order to do this in an interesting and successful way.

There are set routines where consistency is all important, for example the disciplines of inputting and saving digital image files, managing your digital workflow, or film processing and paper processing, especially in color. A consistency to your image making, both technically and conceptually, will help in developing your own style. There are also those stages at which creative decisions must be made, and where a great deal of choice and variation is possible. These include organization of your subject, lighting and camera handling, as well as editing and printing the work. As a photographer you will need to handle and make these decisions yourself, or at least closely direct them.

1.9
This documentary shot by Gareth McConnell was taken from a series of portraits of people living on what some might call the borders of society It relies greatly on the photographers ability to gain the trust of his sitter, and, by providing a non-judgmental response to communicating about their life, he accords them a dignified value and concern.

When you have more confidence about getting results, you will find that you can spend most time on developing the ideas and content as well as improving creative picture making problems such as composition, and capturing expressions and actions which differ with every shot and that have no routine solutions. However, it is still important to keep yourself up to date by looking at a range of work, including that of new and contemporary photographers, and finding out about new processes and equipment as they come along. It helps to discover what new visual opportunities they offer that could help your photography without slavishly following fashion for the sake of it.

Technical routines and creative choices give a good foundation for what is perhaps the biggest challenge in photography—how to produce pictures which have interesting content and meaning. Can you communicate to other people through what you "say" visually by simple humor, as in Figure 1.8 that replaces the boring corporate portrait with a more interesting use of composition and pose, or by some serious comment on the human condition such as that shown in Figure 1.9.

Picture Structuring

Composition is to do with showing things in the strongest, most effective way, whatever your subject Often this means avoiding clutter and confusion between the various elements present (unless this very confusion contributes to the mood you want to create).

The way you visually compose your pictures is as important as their technical quality But this skill is acquired with experience as much as learned. It involves you in the use of lines, shapes, and areas of tone within your picture, irrespective of what the items actually ore, so that they relate together effectively, with a satisfying kind of geometry (see Figure 1.10).

Composition is therefore something photography has in common with drawing, painting, and the fine arts generally. The main difference is that you have to get most of it right while the subject is still in front of you, and make the best use of what is present at the time. The camera works fast, although the computer and darkroom do allow for alternative compositions. Often good composition is just about looking more carefully through the viewfinder. How many times have you seen a photograph with people's feet cut off or a flowerpot growing out of someone's head?

We have all heard that "rules are there to be broken," as they encourage results which slavishly follow them but offer nothing else besides. As Edward Weston once wrote: "Consulting rules of composition before shooting is like consulting laws of gravity before going for a walk." Of course it is easy to say this when you already have an experienced eye for picture making, but guides are helpful if you are just beginning (see Chapter 6). Practice making critical comparisons between pictures that structurally "work" and those that do not. Discuss these aspects with other people, both photographers and non-photographers.

1.10
A Henri Cartier-Bresson picture strongly designed through choice of viewpoint to use line and tone, together with moment in time

1.11 Garry Winogrand's street scene ("Woman in a Phone Booth," New York, 1968) appears spontaneous and dramatic in composition and timing. However, it purposely expresses an offbeat strangeness, capturing the atmosphere of the city, demanding repeated viewings.

Where a subject permits, it is always good advice to shoot several photographs—perhaps the obvious versions first, then others with small changes in the way items are juxtaposed, etc., increasingly simplifying and strengthening what your image expresses or shows. You need to get used to moving your body more when taking a photograph; all too often people will simply stand in front of a subject and shoot from eye level. Get down low, move to the side, hang from a tree! You will be surprised how much small movements can dramatically change the composition. It's your eye that counts here more than the camera (although some cameras get far less in the way between you and the subject than others, another reason cameraphones have become so popular even among some professionals).

Composition can contribute greatly to the style and originality of your pictures. Some photographers (Garry Winogrand, for example: Figure 1.11) go for offbeat constructions which add to the weirdness of picture contents. Others, like Arnold Newman and Henri Cartier-Bresson (Figure 1.10), are remembered for their more formal approach to picture composition.

Composition in photography is almost as varied as composition in music or words and can enhance subject, theme, and style. Good composition will help the audience to "read" the photograph in the way you intended, communicating your ideas in a successful way. Every photograph you take involves you in some compositional decision, even if this is simply where to set up the camera or when to press the button.

The Roles Photographs Play

There is little point in being technically confident and having an eye for composition, if you do not also understand why you are taking the photograph. An example of bringing together the technical understanding of

1.12 Joel Meyerowitz's considered recording of Ground Zero demonstrates the changing role of photography in reporting the news, which is now dominated by constant roiling twenty-four hour news broadcast on television and the Internet. Photography often offers us a post-event contemplation of the action.

1.13
Christopher Stewart photographs people working in the security industry for his series Insecurities using traditional documentary practice but at the same time through the careful selection and editing of images, he appropriates the codes and conventions of the staged photograph.

photography and the power of photography to move people can be found in the work of photographer Joel Meyerowitz (Figure 1.12). However, the purpose may be simpler—a record of something or somebody for identification. It may be more ambiguous—a subjective picture putting over the concept of security (Figure 1.13), happiness, or menace, for example. A writer, for example, would not start tapping the keyboard without knowing whether the task is to produce a data sheet or a poem. Yet there is a terrible danger with photography that you set up your equipment and busy yourself with focus, exposure, and composition, but think hardly at all about the meaning of your picture and why you should show the subject in that particular way

People take photographs for all sorts of reasons of course. Most are as reminders of vacations, or family and loved ones. These fulfill one of photography's most valuable social functions, freezing moments in our own history for recall in years to come.

Sometimes photographs are taken to show tough human conditions and so appeal to the consciences of others. Here you may have to investigate the subject in a way which in other circumstances would be called prying or voyeurism. This difficult relationship with the subject has to be overcome if your final picture is to win a positive response from the viewer.

Understanding the best approach to the subject in order to create the right reaction from your target audience is also vital in photographs that advertise and sell Every detail in a setup situation must be considered with the message in mind. Is the location or background of a kind with which consumers positively identify? Are the models and the clothes they are wearing too up- (or down-) market? Props and accessories must suit the lifestyle and atmosphere you are trying to convey. Generally viewers must be offered an image of themselves made more attractive by the product or service you are trying to sell. In the middle of all this fantasy you must produce a picture structured to attract attention; show the product; perhaps leave room for lettering; and suit the proportions of the screen, poster, or magazine page on which it will finally be published

News pictures are different again. Here you must often encapsulate an event in what will be one final published shot. The moment of expression or action should sum up the situation, although you can color your report by choosing what, when, and from where you shoot. Until recently there was a long-held assumption that photographers are impartial observers, documenting events as they unfold. Reality is somewhat different, for no one can be completely impartial. Photographers have their own beliefs (social, cultural, political, or religious) and prejudices.

1.14
Joan Fontcuberta plays with the codes and conventions of different institutions of photography to make his "Fictions" From the series Fauna, this photograph of a constructed animal is shot as if caught in flight, suggested by the blurring movement of the tree to replicate the photography of early explorers bringing their trophies back for the museum.

Photograph a demonstration from behind a police line and you may show menacing crowds; photograph from the front of the crowd and you show suppressive authorities. You have a similar power when portraying the face of, say, a politician or a sportsperson. Someone's expression can change between sadness, joy, boredom, concern, arrogance, etc., all within the space of a few minutes. By photographing just one of those moments and labeling it with a caption reporting the event, it is not difficult to tinker with the truth; therefore the photographer has the responsibility of acknowledging their own beliefs and bias.

These subtle distinctions demonstrate how photographers have always manipulated the viewer The ease by which digital manipulation can add or remove picture elements seamlessly, described in Chapter 9, has further put to rest the old adage, which was never true in the first place, of "photographic truth" or "the camera never lies" (Figure 1.14).

Photography can provide information in the kind of pictures used for training, medicine, and various forms of scientific evidence. Here you can really make use of the medium's superb detail and clarity, and the way pictures communicate internationally, without the language barrier of the written word. However, again the history of photography is full of examples of "scientific" images manipulated to provide evidence of the photographer's beliefs. Certain photography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, was used to provide evidence that human traits were defined in the facial features of individuals, and the criminal, homosexual, diseased, and mentally ill were subjected to the controlling gaze of the photographic lens (see Figure 1.15). The purpose of this was so that they could be easily identified and removed from society to one form of institution or another, and you would then be left with a "pure" race.

Today there are still certain types of photography that are based on difference, often visitors photographing in exotic places on holiday—the cute little Indian beggar boy or an African tribesperson—or even closer to home, the homeless. These and a number of other subject matters, such as windows and doors, forms of decay such as graveyards, scrapyards, and even graffiti, enthrall the photographer for one reason or another. As someone new to photography you will have to negotiate your way through the obvious and understand how you can define why you are taking photographs.

1.15
Responsible for the pseudo-science of "eugenics," Sir Francis Galton thought that "types" of individuals could be predetermined through facial characteristics Composites are made by the layering of underexposed negatives on top of each other, as in this 1882 example of "criminals," so that the resulting image would show the strongest common features Therefore we do not have a photograph of a "real" person but the composite of different people

At another Level, entirely decorative photographs for calendars or editorial illustration (pictures which accompany magazine articles) can communicate beauty for its own sake—beauty of landscape, human beauty, and natural form or beauty seen in ordinary, everyday things (Figure 1.16). Beauty is a very subjective quality, influenced by attitudes and experience, and can change over time. But there is scope here for your own way of seeing and responding to be shown through a photograph that produces a similar response in others, without it becoming overdone in that it easily becomes clichéd and self-conscious.

1.16
Fashion shoot for i-D magazine by Jason Evans of a Helmut Lang tie The basic graphic quality of a simple composition and the detail and tone range offered by "straight" photography strengthen the subjects own qualities of pattern and form.

You might be looking for self-fulfillment and self-expression, and it may be a matter of indifference to you whether others read information or messages into your results—or indeed see them at all. Some of the most original images in photography have been produced in this way, totally free of commercial or artistic conventions, often the result of someone's private and personal obsession. Yet these personal expressions have found a resonance with the public and are now in great demand. You will find examples in the photography of Jo Spence, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Joel-Peter Witkin, Hans Bellmer, or Bernd and Hilla Becher.

There are many other roles photographs can play: mixtures of fact and fiction, art and science (Figure 1.17), communication and non-communication. Photography has played a major role in defining some artistic movements such as surrealism (see Figure 1.18) where a play on the real or presumed objective nature of photography is used to startling effect. Remember too that a photograph is not necessarily the last link in the chain between subject and viewer. Editors, art editors, and exhibition organizers all like to impose their own will on the final presentation. Pictures are cropped, captions are written and added, layouts place one picture where it relates to others. Any of these acts can strengthen, weaken, or distort what a photographer is trying to show. They can even sabotage you years later, by taking an old picture and making it do new tricks. It is also the case that many artists revisit old or found photography to update or make a contemporary comment on (Figure 1.19).

1.17 The Anatomical Man. This image makes references to both old portrait paintings of the medical profession and the anatomical drawings that are used to inform medical practice which in this case have been tattooed onto the skin. It is a playful image questioning the role of science in how we understand our own body.

1.18
In this portrait of the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, the photographer Philip Halsman suspended furniture on wires and then threw cats and water into the air while Dali jumped into the mix. The shot required over twenty "takes" before Halsman was satisfied with the result. The wires were then retouched out, and Dali painted cat legs and water on the canvas to match the composition of the photograph.

1.19
The photographer Chino Otsuka has manipulated her early childhood photographs to add her current self standing with her younger self in the scene twenty-three years after the picture was originally taken. The image here "Imagine Finding Me," was therefore created in 1982 and 2005.

Changing Attitudes Toward Photography

Today, photography is more popular in art than ever before, but an awareness and acceptance of photography as a creative medium by other artists, galleries, publishers, collectors, and the general public has not been won easily. People's views as to what photography can and can't do or for and against photography as art have varied enormously in the past, according to the fashions and attitudes of the times, and photography has had different roles since its invention. For a great deal of the nineteenth century (photography was officially invented in 1839; see Appendix G for a timeline of events leading up to the invention of photography and some important dates), photographers were often seen as a threat by painters, who never failed to point out in public that these apparently crass interlopers had no artistic ability or knowledge. To some extent this was true–you needed to be something of a chemist to get results at all, but a knowledge of art also helped with composition, lighting, and so on.

Art and documentation

In the first half of the nineteenth century several people tried to perfect photography, inventing different processes and techniques, butail had similar goals: to produce the most realistic and detailed pictures by fixing the image created inside a camera, or by making what are now called "photograms" (see Chapter 11). The first photographs were regarded as miraculous and praised for their beauty and detail; they also required lots of skill and knowledge to produce.

1.20
This photo etching by Robert Demachy from the 1895 London Salon is an example of pictorial (or "picturesque") subject and style. Demachy made his prints by the gum bichromate chemical process, which gives an appearance superficially more like an impressionist painting than a photograph.

By the end of the nineteenth century, equipment and materials had become somewhat easier to handle, and photography had spreadail around the world and was being put to use for artistic purposes and to document people, places, and things. Early in the twentieth century, snapshot cameras and developing and printing services for amateurs made black and white photography an amusement for the masses. Some "serious" photographers felt the need to distance themselves from all this and gain acceptance as artists, so they tried to force the medium closer to the appearance and functions of paintings of the day These photographers were also attempting to recapture the "handmade" feel of early photographs at a time when photographs were becoming mass-produced machine products. They called themselves "pictorial" photographers, shooting picturesque subjects, often through soft-focus camera attachments, and printing on textured paper by processes which eliminated most of photography's "horrid detail" (see Figure 1.20).

Other photographers were more interested in photography as a new and modern way of producing images, and focused on what they thought photography could do better than other, traditional, forms of representation. They utilized new techniques for mechanically reproducing photographs on the printed page and were influenced by new popular culture (such as film and picture magazines) and by modern art as it became increasingly abstract. Photographers saw painters concentrating on the particular qualities of painting (surface, texture, and so on) and decided to concentrate on what photography could do, instead of trying to make pictures that looked like paintings. As a reaction to pictorialism, "straight" photography came into vogue early in the twentieth century in Europe and America with the work of photographers such as Walker Evans, Paul Strand (see Figure 1.21), and Albert Renger-Patzsch. They made maximum use of the qualities of black and white photography that were previously condemned as artless: pin-sharp focus throughout, rich tonal scale, and the ability to shoot simple everyday subjects using natural lighting and transform them into beautiful pictures. Technical excellence was all important and strictly applied. Photography had developed an aesthetic of its own, something quite separate from painting and other forms of fine art. This aesthetic was pursued by photographers such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Imogen Cunningham, and their sharply focused studies of details and textures set the standards for art photography until the 1960s.

1.21
Pin-sharp focus throughout, rich tonal scale, and the ability to shoot simple everyday subjects using natural lighting and transform them into beautiful pictures were the aesthetics of modernist photographers such as Paul Strand.

The advent of photographs mechanically printed into newspapers and magazines opened up the market for press and candid photography. Pictures were taken for their action and content rather than any greatly considered treatment. This and the freedom given by precision hand-held cameras led to a break with age-old painterly rules of composition.

1.22 Gordon Parks' example of early color photography, "Department Store, Mobile, Alabama," was taken in 1956. Although color photography at the time was being used for commercial purposes and this was for a magazine commission, it was still rare as an artistic practice The importance of "color" in this image is multilayered and complex, creating a strong and challenging image.

The 1930s and 1940s were the great expansion period for picture magazines and photo-reporting, before the emergence of television. They also saw a steady growth in professional aspects of photography: advertising; commercial and industrial; portraiture; medical; scientific and aerial applications. Most of this was still in black and white. Use of color gradually grew during the 1950s (see Figure 1.22) but it was still difficult and expensive to reproduce well in publications.

New approaches in the 1960s and onward

Rapid, far-reaching changes took place during the 1960s. From something which a previous generation had regarded as an old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy trade and would-be artistic occupation, photography became very much part of the pop culture and consumerism that had boomed since the Second World War. New small format precision SLR cameras, electronic flash, and custom laboratories to hive off boring processing routines, not to mention an explosion of fashion photography, all had their effect. Photography captured the public imagination.

Young people suddenly wanted to own a camera and use it to express themselves and depict the world around them. The new photographers were interested in contemporary artists, but neither knew nor cared about the established photographic clubs and societies with their stultifying "rules" and narrow outlook on the possibilities of photography. As photographs had become so universal in people's contemporary lifestyle, they became integrated with modern painting, printmaking, even sculpture, and a generation of young artists that included Bruce Nauman, Robert Smithson, and Ed Ruscha (see Figure 1.23) began using photography as just another of the tools available to them. They saw photography very differently from the art photographers that had come before them and were less interested in the crafts of photography, enjoying its quickness, its ability to capture events and performances, and the fact that it seemed to be part of the everyday world of popular culture, not art.

1.23
These images are taken from Ed Ruscha's seminal book Twenty Six Gasoline Stations, which was a milestone in the history of photography and pop art. He said about the photographs: "I was after that kind of blank reality that the subject matter would present. I was met with a little skepticism from some people and usually those people were more intellectual... but someone who worked in a gasoline station would say 'Hey this is great!'."

Photography began to be taught in schools and colleges, especially art colleges, where it had been previously downgraded as a technical subject. The USA led the way in setting up photographic university degree courses, and included photography in art and design, social studies, and communications. Nevertheless, few one-person portfolios of photographs had been published with high quality reproduction in books. It was also extremely rare for an established art gallery to sell or even hang photographs, let alone for public galleries to be devoted to photography. As a result it was difficult for the work of individuals to be seen and become well known. Even magazines and newspapers sometimes failed to credit the photographer alongside his or her work, whereas writers always had a published credit.

By the 1970s, though, all this had changed. Adventurous galleries put on photography shows which were increasingly well attended. Demand from the public and from students on courses encouraged publishers to produce a wide range of books showcasing the work of individual photographers. Creative work began to be sold as "fine prints" in galleries to people who bought them as investments. Older photographers such as Bill Brandt, Minor White, and Andre Kertész were rediscovered by art curators and brought out of semi-obscurity, and their work was exhibited in international art centers, while photographers such as William Eggleston (see Figure 1.24) and Stephen Shore (see Figure 1.25) became the first to exhibit color photographs in major museums.

1.24
William Eggleston is one of the early pioneers of color photography as an art form. Before his groundbreaking and controversial 1976 show at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) color photography was often confined to advertising and product catalogs His work has been described as "ordinary and loaded with meaning, utterly simple and yet endlessly complex."

1.25
Stephen Shore is another of the influential photographers to use color photography as an art form and exhibit his work in major museums He is known for a series of cross-country trips, making "on the road" photographs of American and Canadian landscapes and recording details of the everyday on these trips, such as hotel rooms and diners.

The 1980s brought color materials which gave better quality results and were cheaper than before. Color labs began to appear, offering everyone better processing and printing, plus quicker turnaround. The general public wanted to shoot in color rather than black and white, and gradually color became more and more popular among artist photographers too. Color became cheaper to reproduce on the printed page; even newspapers started to use color photography. Martin Parr's (see Figure 6.14} first photography book in color, The Last Resort: New Brighton, was published in 1986, but he was still seen as somewhat unusual for using color when he joined Magnum Photos in 1994. From the 1980s it also became possible to produce large-scale color photographs, prompting a new generation of artist photographers to create images that were closer to the size of Old Master paintings, billboard adverts, and cinema screens than to the book or magazine pages and small prints more commonly associated with photography.

Digital cameras, scanners, and the internet, along with smartphones and tablets, have made it possible to distribute photographs more widely and faster than ever before, and photography continues to expand as technologies and ideas change. The availability of less daunting, user-friendly camera equipment, including cameraphones, combined with a much bigger public audience for photography, encourages a broad flow of pictures. Galleries, books, and education have brought greater critical discussion of photographs and digital images—how they communicate meanings through a visual language of their own.

While painting size photographic prints are still very popular in the gallery, we are now likely to view a photograph at a more intimate size, on a phone, tablet, or computer screen. Galleries are also introducing banks of screens as a way to view both static and moving images, which are becoming more interactive. Rather than a fixed sized, we are constantly zooming in and out of the screen to view a photograph, which might even be animated or have links for further information embedded within it (see Chapter 12), resulting in what has been coined the "convergence generation" as digital technology dismantles the barriers between different disciplines. Most photographers will have a website to promote their work, and the introduction of digital printing presses, print on demand (POD), and ebooks means that now anyone can publish a photography book (see Chapter 13). There are so many ways in which photography is used by different individuals that it has become as varied and profound as any other art, if not more so. A greater understanding of the languages of photography and the advent of new technologies have encouraged a wider appreciation of photography as a medium that documents the world and is expressive at the same time.

Personal Styles and Approaches

The "style" of your photography will develop out of your own interests and attitudes, and the opportunities that come your way. For example, are you mostly interested in people or in objects and things you can work on without concern for human relationships? Do you enjoy the split-second timing needed for action photography (see Figure 1.26), or do you prefer the slower, more soul-searching approach possible with landscape or still life subjects?

1.26
Lacewing taking off, a rapid sequence of three ultra-fast flash exposures made on one frame and shot by Stephen Dalton in a specially devised laboratory setup Time-and-action record photography provides unique subject information for natural history and education; see also Figure 1.32.

If you aim to be a professional photographer, you may see yourself as a generalist, handling most photographic needs in your locality. Or you might work in some more specialized area, such as natural history, police forensics, scientific research, or medical photography, combining photography with other skills and knowledge. Some of these applications give very little scope for personal interpretation, especially when you must present information clearly and accurately to fulfill certain needs. There is greatest freedom in pictures taken by and for yourself. Here you can best develop your own visual style, provided you are able to motivate and drive yourself without the pressures and clear-cut aims present in most professional assignments. However, by building your own distinctive portfolio of photographs, the aim is that you will become more successful in the long run, as you are able to provide new and interesting ideas for clients rather than rehash what is already available in the marketplace.

Style is difficult to define, but recognizable when you see it. Pictures have some characteristic mix of subject matter: mood (humor, drama, romance, etc.), treatment (factual or abstract), use of tone or color, composition ... even the picture proportions. Sometimes style can be created for you by applying postproduction filters or downloading particular apps, but be careful not to overuse these; if you can apply a prepackaged readymade style to your work, think of the thousands of others who are probably doing the same to their photographs. Technique is important too, from choice of lens to form of print presentation. But more than anything else style is to do with a particular way of seeing.

A word of caution; style over content is never advisable in any professional assignment, whether as a commercial or a fine art photographer. Many photographers have found themselves trapped by being defined as "such-and-such" a photographer and lose the initial enjoyment that brought them to photography in the first place when forced to repeat the work they are best known for by yet another client.

Content and meaning

Your approach to photography can be enhanced by looking at the work of others but it comes out of doing, refined down over a long period to ways of working which best support the things you see as important and want to show others. It must not become a formula, a mold which makes everything you photograph turn out looking the same. The secret is to coax out the essence of each and every subject, without repeating yourself. People should be able to recognize your touch in a photograph but still discover things unique to each particular subject or situation by the way you show them.

in personal work the content and meaning of photographs can be enormously varied. A major project, "21st Century Types," by Grace Lau explores identity and how people in one part of the world view people in another. Lau set up a studio in Hastings, southeast England, to photograph passersby and explore connections between China and Europe by using found props. Regarding Figure 1.27, Lau says she is "making an oblique comment on Imperialist visions of the 'exotic' Chinese and by reversing roles, I have become the Imperialist photographer documenting my exotic subjects in the 'Port' of Hastings."

Katy Grannan's striking portraits examine the desire of her subjects to offer themselves up to the camera lens. Her early series (see Figure 1.28) comprises portraits of strangers Grannan met through newspaper advertisements. Her pictures are not documentary but staged. Her people are posed, and content and meaning are based on acute observation and meticulous planning. The landscapes and neighborhoods of her photographs were informed by her own experience living in the American northwest, and when photographing models in their own surroundings Grannan pays meticulous attention to the elements of each domestic setting, highlighting the mundane but often telling details. The subjects choose to remain clothed or model nude, working with Grannan to arrive at a pose resulting in an image that maintains a delicate, yet increasingly charged, sense of intimacy.

1.27
Photographer Grace Lau draws upon research looking at photographs taken in China between the decades from the Opium Wars to the Boxer Rebellion in which Victorian colonialists recorded the Chinese in studio portraits, and missionaries and scientists documented their subjects and categorized "types." In a role reversal she constructed a Chinese portrait studio in Hastings and photographed twenty-first century "types" of exotic tourists and locals

1.28 Katy Grannan photographs strangers but, for a brief time, she and they become intimate strangers, mirroring each other's motivations and creating a drama that draws us in as the viewer and gives us a prominent role to play. These are encounters that supersede the so-called documentary impulse in photography

Many other contemporary photographers have gone to extremes to create staged images that look real, such as Jeff Wall, Joan Fontcuberta (see Figure 1.14), Hannah Starkey, or Gregory Crewdson, creating tableaux (pictures of constructed events) where the subject has been replaced with actors or whole sets (re)created to look like real locations. Although the tableau has a long history, the constructed photograph has existed since the invention of photography.

Victorians like Julia Margaret Cameron (see Figure 1.29) and HP. Robinson produced many photographs narrating stories. This "staged" approach has always of course been present in movies, and in most fashion and advertising still photography.

Sometimes the content of personal work is based on semi-abstract images in which elements such as color, line, and tone are more important than what the subject actually is. Meaning gives way to design and the photographer picks subjects for their basic graphic content which he or she can mold into interesting compositions, although in other hands even the simplest images of shape and form can carry meaning, as in Figure 1.30 where the image doesn't show any detail but suggests a relationship between photography and memory.

1.29
Portrait of Mary Ryan, "Study after the Manner of Francia" (1865), by Julia Margaret Cameron, who was particularly adept at using long exposures, soft focus, and atmospheric lighting conditions to create powerful portraits and allegories She is recognized as one of the most experimental and influential photographers of the nineteenth century

1.30
"Ground #70." Bordering on abstraction, this photograph by Uta Barth was created by focusing at a close distance leaving the background as an ambiguous blur, in order to foreground the activity of looking and to question how we look at familiar spaces While not addressing the literal subject matter of the image but rather vision itself, Barth's photography can have the effect of making the overlooked and everyday beautiful.

Look at collections of work by well-known photographers (single pictures, shown in this book for example, cannot do them justice): Henri Cartier-Bresson's love of humanity, gentle humor, and brilliant use of composition (see Figure 1.10); Hiroshi Sugimoto's austere and highly refined presentation of seascape (see Figure 1.31); or Robert Demachy's romantic pictorialism (see Figure 1.20). Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Martin Parr, Keith Arnatt, and Mari Mahr are photographers who each have dramatically different approaches to content and meaning. Their work is distinctive, original, and often obsessional.

In the fields of scientific and technical illustration the factual requirements of the photography make it less simple to detect individuals' work. But even here high speed photography by Dr. Harold Edgerton, the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge (Figure 1.32), and medical photography by Professor Dr. Killian stand out, thanks to these experts' concern for basic visual qualities too.

1.31 "Caribbean Sea, Jamaica" (19801 a graphic seascape by Hiroshi Sugimoto, ignores the golden rules of composition but offers a black and white interpretative image of great simplicity. It was seen and photographed straight but printed with very careful control of tonal values

1.32 Frozen action. Eadweard Muybridge uses the camera for his motion studies (1886) as a form of scientific discovery to reveal something too brief for the human eye alone to see and yet quite rich and beautiful in its own right.

Measuring Success

There is no formula that can judge the success of a photograph. We are all in danger of "wishful seeing" in our own work, reading into pictures the things we want to discover, and recalling the difficulties overcome when shooting rather than assessing the result as it stands. Perhaps the easiest thing to judge is technical quality, although even here "good" or "bad" may depend on what best serves the mood and atmosphere of your picture.

Most commercial photographs can be judged against how well they fulfill their purpose, since they are in the communications business. A poster or magazine cover image, for example, must be striking and give its message fast. But many such pictures, although clever, are shallow and soon forgotten. There is much to be said for other kinds of photography in which ambiguity and strangeness challenge you, allowing you to keep discovering something new. This does not mean you have to like everything which is offbeat and obscure, but by looking you should be able to develop your ability for critical analysis.

1.33
Ori Gersht, a professor of photography continues to earn his living as both an academic and a photographer. This image from the series entitled Blow Up, depicting elaborate floral arrangements, based on a nineteenth century still life painting, at the moment of exploding using a digital process, which captures each shattering still life at a speed of 1/6000th of a second. Gersht explores questions concerning optical perception, the conception of time, and the relationships between the photographic image and objective reality.

Reactions to photographs change with time too. Live with your picture for a while (have a pinboard wail, display at home), otherwise you will keep thinking your latest work is always the best. Similarly, it is a mistake to surrender to today's popular trend; it is better to develop the strength of your own outlook and skills until they gain attention for what they are. Just remember that although people say they want to see new ideas and approaches, they still tend to judge them in terms of yesterday's accepted standards.

A great deal of professional photography is sponsored, commercialized art in which success can be measured financially. Personal projects allow the most adventurous, avant-garde picture making—typically to express preoccupations and concerns. Another route is that of the academic who is enabled by his or her institution to pursue their own practice, normally termed as research, alongside their teaching and administrative duties (see Figure 1.33). They, like other artists, may also be supported by grants and funding from a diverse range of awarding bodies, which is another way of measuring success. Artistic success is then measured in terms of the enjoyment and stimulus of making the picture, and satisfaction with the result. Rewards come as work published in its own right or exhibited on a gallery wall. Extending yourself in this way often feeds commercial assignments too. So the measure of true success could be said to be when you do your own self-expressive thing, but also find that people flock to your door with appreciation or to commission and buy this very photography.

Summary

> Photography is a medium—a vehicle for communicating facts or fictions, and for expressing ideas. It requires craftsmanship and artistic ability in varying proportions.

> Technical knowledge is necessary if you want to make full use of your tools and so work with confidence. Knowing "how" frees you to concentrate on "what" and "why" (the photograph's content and meaning). The more you get right at the start, the less you need to rely on postproduction.

> Explore new processes and equipment as they come along. Discover what kinds of image they allow you to make.

> The image of your subject formed by the camera lens is recorded either by electronic digital means, and the results can also be manipulated digitally using a computer, or on silver halide coated film. Processing of film is by liquid chemicals, working in darkness.

> If using film, camera work in color is visually easier than in black and white. Color is more complex in the darkroom.

> Photography records with immense detail, and in the past had a reputation for being essentially objective and truthful But you can use it in all sorts of other ways, from propaganda to "fine art" self-expression.

> Taking photographs calls for a mixture of: (a) carefully followed routines and craft skills, to control results, and (b) creative decisions about subject matter and the intention of your picture.

> Photographs can be enjoyed/criticized for their subject content, or their structure, or their technical qualities, or their meaning, individually or together.

> The public once viewed photography as a stuffy, narrow pseudo-art, but it has since broadened into both a lively occupation and a creative medium, exhibited everywhere.

> Developing an eye for composition helps to simplify and strengthen the point of your picture. Learn from other photographers' pictures but don't let their ways of seeing get in the way of your own response to subjects. Avoid slavishly copying their style.

> Success might be gauged from how well your picture fulfills its intended purpose. It might be measured in technical financial, or purely artistic terms, or in terms of how effectively it communicates to other people. In an ideal world all these aspects come together.

Projects

When you are working on projects, it is helpful to maintain your own visual notebook. This might be a mixture of scrapbook and diary, containing written or sketched ideas for future pictures, plus quotes and work by other photographers, writers, or artists which you want to remember (add notes of your own), and can be a physical book or electronic; many students keep a blog or use software such as Evernote. It can also log technical data, lighting diagrams, and prints relating to shots planned or already taken.

The projects below can be completed in either written or verbal (discursive) form, but they must include visual material.

1. Find and compare examples of people photographs which differ greatly in their function and approach. Some suggested photographers: Cecil Beaton, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Yousuf Karsh, Dorothea Lange, Elliott Erwitt, Julia Margaret Cameron, August Sander, Martin Parr, Jo Spence, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, Bettina von Zwehl, Tom Hunter, Ryan McGinley.

2. Compare the landscape work of three of the following photographers in terms of their content and style: Ansel Adams, Franco Fontana, Bill Brandt, Alexander Keighley, Joel Meyerowitz, Fay Godwin, John Blakemore, Jem Southam, John Davies, Dan Holdsworth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joel Sternfeld, Ingrid Pollard.

3. Looking through newspapers, magazines, books, photography websites, etc., find examples of photographs: (a) which purport to provide objective, strictly factual information; and (b) which strongly express a particular point of view, either for sales promotion or social or political purposes. Comment on their effectiveness.

4. Shoot four examples of photographs in which picture structure is more important than actual subject content. In preparation for this project, look at work by some of the following photographers: Ralph Gibson, Andre Kertész, Lee Friedlander, Paul Strand, Laszlo Moholy Nagy, Barbara Kasten, Karl Blossfeldt, Jason Evans.

5. Find published photographs which are either. (a) changed in meaning because of adjacent: text or caption, or by juxtaposition with other illustrations; or (b) changed in significance by the passing of time.

6. Find, compare, and analyze how different artists have used photography, looking at surrealism, constructivism, and performance art as a starting point.

7. Now start preparing your own projects. It's not always as easy as you might think, and you will need to choose something you have a passion for to make it sustainable over a period of time. As Bill Jay recommends in his article "The Thing itself," make a list of all those subjects that fascinate you and that you find interesting in life. Then start to cut them down, removing subjects that are not particularly visual, impractical, or inaccessible; ideally you want something you can shoot at available hours and at weekends. Also avoid a subject if you are ignorant of the issues (until you've done in depth research). Hopefully you will be able to reduce the list until you have two or three possible projects, all of which fire your enthusiasm, lend themselves to images rather than words, and are accessible, and finally to decide on one and choose a subject that others would also be interested in seeing.

Chapter Two
Light

How Images are Formed

You don't have to understand physics to take good photographs, but understanding how light behaves and how lenses form it into images gives you a broader view of the possibilities of photography. The principles involved are very simple and easily demonstrated.

We start with light as it is the very essence, the basic substance, of photography. What precisely is light, and which of its basic features are helpful to know about when you are illuminating a subject, using lenses, and learning about color? From light and color we go on to discuss how surfaces and subjects look the way they do, and how light can be bent (refracted) with glass to create a usable image.

The lens is the heart of any camera or enlarger. Starting with a simple magnifier lens, you can begin to see how photographic lenses form images. Later this will lead us on to other key components of camera equipment and allow us to understand what is important in making high quality photographs.

Light Itself

Light is fundamental to seeing and making images. The word "photography" itself means "drawing with light" or "light drawing." Yet we are so familiar with light that we almost take it for granted–it is a struggle to sit still and just watch the light change in a daylight scene, but if you take time to do it then it is an extraordinary experience. Light is something your eyes are sensitive to, just as your ears relate to sound and your tongue to taste. Light translates the world for us to view through our eyes. Using light in a controlled manner, you can show up selected aspects of a subject in front of the camera, and suppress others. Visual information is transmitted as modulated light via the camera lens onto photographic material, and light reflected from the final result (the print) allows us to see and appreciate it. At this moment light reflected off this page carries the shape of words to your eyes, just as sound would form the link if we were talking. But what exactly is light?

2.1
Light travels on a straight-line path but as if in waves, like the outward movement of ripples when a smooth water surface is disturbed.

Visible light is a stream of energy radiating away from the sun or similar radiant source. It has four important characteristics:

Light behaves as if it moves in waves, like ripples crossing the surface of water (Figure 2.1). Variations in wavelengths give our eyes the sensation of different colors.

Light travels in a straight line (within a uniform substance or medium). You can see this in light "beams" and "shafts" of sunlight (Figure 2.2), and the way that shadows fall.

Light moves at great speed (approximately 300,000 kilometers or 186,000 miles per second through the vacuum of space). It moves less fast in air, and slightly slower still in denser substances such as water or glass.

Light also behaves as if it consists of energy particles or "photons." These photons bleach dyes, cause chemical changes in films and electronic response in digital camera sensors, etc. The more intense the light, the more photons it contains.

2.2
Light travels in straight lines, as illustrated in this photograph. The sun is in the top-left corner of the frame, and on the opposite side to the sun a perfect shadow is cast of the figure.

Wavelengths and Colors

What we see as light is just part of an enormous range of "electromagnetic radiations." As shown in Figure 2.3, this includes radio waves with wavelengths of hundreds of meters through to gamma and cosmic rays with wavelengths of less than ten thousand millionths of a millimeter. Each band of electromagnetic radiation merges into the next, but has its own special characteristics. Some, such as radio, can be transmitted over vast distances. Others, such as X-rays, will penetrate thick steel or destroy human tissue Most of this radiation cannot be "seen" directly by the human eye, however. Our eyes are only sensitive to a narrow band of wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm approximately (a nanometer or nm is one millionth of a millimeter). This limited span of wavelengths is therefore known as the visible spectrum.

2.3
Some of the electromagnetic spectrum (left) and the small part of it forming the visible spectrum of light (enlarged, right). Mixed in roughly the proportions shown in color here, the light appears "white"

When a relatively even mixture ofail the visible wavelengths is produced by a light source, the illumination looks "white" and colorless. But if only some wavelengths are present, the light appears colored. For example, in Figure 2.3, wavelengths between about 400 nm and 450 nm are seen as dark purple-violet. This alters to blue if wavelengths are changed to 450-500 nm. Between 500 nm and 580 nm the light appears to be more blue-green, and from about 580 nm to 600 nm we see yellow. The yellow grows more orange if the light wavelengths become longer; at 650 nm it looks red, becoming darker as the limit of response is reached at 700 nm. So the colors of the spectrum–violet, blue, green, yellow, and red–are really all present in different kinds of white light (sunlight, flash, or studio lamps for example; Figure 2.4).

2.4
Most sources of light produce a mixture of wavelengths differing in color and expressed here in very simplified form.

The human eye seems to contain three kinds of light receptors, responding to broad overlapping bands of blue, green, and red wavelengths. Whenail three receptors are stimulated equally by something you see, you tend to experience it as white, or neutral gray. If there is a great imbalance of wavelengths–perhaps the light contains far more red (long) waves than blue (short) waves–stimulus is uneven. Light in this case may look orange tinted, just as happens every day around sunrise or sunset.

Try to remember the sequence of colors of the visible spectrum. It's useful when you need to understand the response to colors of black and white films, or choose color filters (see Chapter 3) and darkroom safe-lights. Later you will see how the concept of three human visual receptors together responding to the full color spectrum is adapted to make photographic color films and digital sensors work too.

Shadows

Light radiates in all directions from a small or point source and travels outward in straight lines. A small light source such as a bare light bulb or a candle produces harsh looking light with deep, sharp-edged shadows. The sun (or indeed the moon) in a clear sky has a similar effect as its great distance from us makes it appear as a small source. Small flash units or torches can also produce similar effects. It's a useful exercise to try this yourself using a small desk lamp or similar. Figure 2.5 shows how having all the light issuing from one spot must give a sudden and complete shutoff of illumination at the shadow edge. Only the parts of the subject directly in the light's path are illuminated. Everywhere else remains in darkness.

2.5 A compact, distant light source used direct makes objects cast a sharply defined shadow (a). A larger source—simply formed here by inserting a large sheet of tracing paper—gives a soft, graduated shadow (b).

But look what happens when you place tracing paper in the light beam (or block the direct light and reflect the remainder off a matt white wall, as in Figure 2.6). The tracing paper passes light but also diffuses it. The light passed through the paper scatters into new straight lines proceeding in all directions from every part of its large surface area. The object you were illuminating now casts a softer-edged, graduated shadow, and the larger your diffusing material and the closer it is to the light source, the less harsh and contrasty the shadow becomes. This is because light from a large area cannot be completely blocked out by the subject; most of the parts previously in shadow now receive at least some illumination. The same happens with sunlight on an overcast day; clouds act as diffusers, spreading the light source over a wider area.

It's very important in practical photography to recognize the difference between direct, harsh lighting and soft, diffused lighting, and all the stages in between. Shadow qualities greatly influence the way subjects and scenes look Bear in mind this is not something you can alter in a photograph by some change of camera setting or later manipulation, though some digital postproduction programs do now offer a range of lighting effects you can add (the effects are not necessarily the same as when created in camera). Understanding and controlling lighting are discussed in detail in Chapter 7. It is important to really start to observe light and lighting changes in your surroundings.

2.6
Just as a large sheet of tracing paper diffuses light to create soft shadows, a lamp, flashgun, or sunlight directed entirely onto a matt white surface such as a wall or large card will reflect to also give soft, diffused shadows.

When Light Reaches a Surface

When light strikes a surface—maybe a building, or a landscape or face—what happens next depends upon the texture, tone, and color of the material, and the angle and color content of the light itself.

Opaque materials

If the material is completely opaque to light—metal or brick, for example—some light is reflected and some absorbed (turned into heat). The darker the material, the smaller the proportion of light reflected. This is why a black camera case left out in the sun gets warmer than a shiny silver one.

If the material is also colored, it reflects wavelengths of this color and absorbs most of the other wavelengths present in the light. For example, blue paint reflects blue, and absorbs red and green from white light. But if your light is already lacking some wavelengths, this will alter subject appearance. To take an extreme case, when lit by deep red illumination, a rich blue will look and photograph almost black (Figure 2.7). You need to know about such effects in order to use color filters (Chapter 3). Color alteration can also be done at a later stage; if you are scanning the negative and digitally printing, then work can be done using various types of postproduction software (see Chapter 9).

Surface finish also greatly affects the way light is reflected. A matt surface such as eggshell, drawing paper, or dry skin scatters the light evenly. The angle from which light strikes it makes very little difference. However, if the surface is smooth and shiny, such as glass or gloss paint, it acts more like a mirror and reflects most of the light back in one direction. This is called specular reflection.

2.7
Light reflection. Top: Light reflected from a matt surface scatters relatively evenly. Center: From a shiny surface light at 90° is returned direct. Oblique light directly reflects off at the same angle as it arrived (incident). Bottom: Colored materials selectively reflect and absorb different wavelengths from white light. However, appearance changes when the viewing light is colored.

If your light strikes the shiny surface at right angles, it is reflected backward along its original path. You get a patch of glare, for example, when flash-on-camera shots are taken flat on toward a glass window or gloss-painted wall. But if the light is angled, it reflects off such surfaces at the same angle from which it arrived (Figure 2.7). So if it is vital to avoid glare spots, try to arrange your lighting direction or camera viewpoint to bounce glare light away when photographing a highly reflective surface. (If you are using built-in flash, angle your camera viewpoint)

2.8
Light transmission. Top: Diffusely transmitting materials (milky plastic, ground glass) scatter light fairly evenly Center: Clear materials pass most of the light directly. Angled light is partly reflected, mostly refracted. Bottom: Colored materials pass only selected wavelengths from white light. When the viewing light is a color different from the material no light may get through.

Transparent or translucent materials

Not every material is opaque to light, of course. Clear glass, plastic, and water, for example, are transparent and transmit light directly, while tracing paper, clouds, and ground glass diffuse the light they transmit and are called translucent. In both cases, if the material is colored, it will allow more light of these wavelengths to pass through it than other kinds. Deep red stained glass transmits red wavelengths but may be almost opaque to blue light (see Figure 2.8).

Since translucent materials scatter illumination, they seem milky when held up to the light and look much more evenly illuminated than clearer materials, even when the light source is not lined up directly behind. Slide viewers and light boxes work on this principle. The quality of the light is similar to that reflected from a white diffused surface.

Refraction

Interesting things happen when direct light passes obliquely from air into some other transparent material. As was said earlier, light travels slightly slower when passing through a denser medium. When light passes at an angle from air into glass, for example, its wavefront (remember the ripples on the water, Figure 2.1) becomes slowed unevenly. This is because one part reaches the denser material first and skews the light direction, like driving a car at an angle into sand (Figure 2.9). A new straight-line path forms, slightly steeper into the glass. The change of light path when light travels obliquely from one transparent medium into another is known as refraction.

2.9
Refraction. Light slows when passing from air into glass (a). Wavefronts slow unevenly if light reaches the denser medium obliquely (b). The effect is like driving at an angle from the highway onto sand (d). Uneven drag causes change of direction. Light striking the boundary at right angles (c) slows but does not alter direction.

You can see refraction at work when you poke a straight stick into clear water; it looks bent at the water surface. Thick window glass can cause similar distortions. This is significant because, by using refraction, lenses bend light and so form images, as we will see.

Remember that refraction only bends oblique light. Light that strikes the boundary of two transparent materials at right angles slows minutely but does not change direction. And most light reaching the boundary at a very Low angle (very oblique) is reflected back off the surface.

The whole picture

2.10
Imagine you are standing looking at this scene in reality. Light would be communicating information about its different parts to you in a mixture of ways. The water jets transmit and refract light. Glittering parts of the lake surface specularly reflect, while the gray stone diffusely reflects light. What little light there is from the sky reaching the shadowed areas beneath the fountain is mostly absorbed by the blackened stone. Your eyes and brain turn all this into information about the objects before you. This photograph re-presents the information to anyone who views it.

Everything we see in the world around us appears the way it does because of the mixture of effects it has on light—diffuse and specular reflection, some absorption, often transmission and refraction too (Figure 2.10). An apple side-lit by direct sunlight, for example, reflects colored wavelengths strongly from its illuminated half. Most of this is diffusely reflected, but part of its smooth skin reflects a bright specular highlight, just where the angle of the sun to the surface matches the angle from this point to your eye. The shape and relative darkness of the shadow to one side of the apple give you further clues to its form. From experience your eyes and brain recognize all these subtle light "signals" to signify solidity and roundness, without you actually having to touch the apple to find out. This is essentially what "seeing" is. Photography allows us to make the image permanent and portable so others can experience it. Film cannot translate exactly how we see light with our eyes, and different film types record light and color in different ways. As you become familiar with the type of film you use, you will begin to understand how it responds to light and shade. With a high specification digital camera you can alter color intensity and type in the controls; however, the camera still cannot record exactly as you see and this is part of the magic of photography: that it transforms the world we see into an image.

Light Intensity and Distance

The closer a subject is to a small light source, the brighter it will be illuminated. Halving the distance from light to subject makes the illumination four times brighter. This is because the light is concentrated into an area one-quarter the size (see Figure 2.11). For example, if you are using a small flashgun or studio lamp to light a portrait, halving its distance from the subject gives you four times the light. Similarly, moving the light away to twice the distance causes a fall-off in illumination to one-quarter the brightness. A similar effect applies to printing exposures when you alter enlarger height (Chapter 11), and in close-up situations (see p. 147).

In practice this "inverse square law" (twice the light source distance = one-quarter the illumination) means that you must be especially careful when lighting a number of items at different distances in a small studio, especially using a harsh compact light source. It may then be difficult to achieve good lighting for items nearest and farthest from the light at any one exposure setting. A solution is to move the light source much farther away, so the ratio of nearest to farthest distance becomes less (p. 211), or change to multiple light sources or diffusers which will give you much less illumination "fall-off" effect.

2.11
The inverse square law: direct light from a compact source (such as a small flash unit or studio lamp) illuminates your subject at one-quarter of the intensity when you double the lamp-to-subject distance. The same light spreads over four times the area.

The same problem does not arise with direct sunlight outdoors. The sun is so far away that any two places on earth—be they seashore or mountain peak—are almost equal in distance from the sun. Brightness variations in landscape photography may be created by local atmospheric conditions but not by the sun's distance. If you are photographing indoors, however, using sunlight entering through a small window, the window itself can act like a compact light source. Intensity will then alter with distance in much the same way as if you had a lamp this size in the same position

Making Light form Images

Suppose you set up and illuminate a subject, and just face a piece of tracing paper (or film) toward it. You will not of course see any image on the sheet. The trouble is that every part of your subject is reflecting some light toward every part of the paper surface. This jumble of light simply illuminates it generally.

One way to create order out of chaos is by restricting the light, for example by placing a sheet of opaque material such as a sheet of card with a small hole in it between subject and paper. Since light travels in straight lines, those light rays from the top of the subject able to pass through the hole can only reach the bottom part of the paper. And light from lower parts of the subject only reaches the top of the paper (Figure 2.12). As a result your paper sheet shows a dim, rather fuzzy upside-down representation of the subject on the other side of the hole. This is a "pinhole" image.

The best way to see a "pinhole" image is to be in a totally darkened room, with foil or black paper over the window facing a sunlit scene outside. Make a pin-size hole in the foil and hold up tracing paper about 300 mm (12 inches) in front of it to receive the image. You are literally inside a camera. Move the tracing paper back and forth to see how the image is captured.

You can easily take color photographs using a pinhole if your camera has a removable lens. (See Project at the end of this chapter.) So the business of actually forming an image is not particularly complicated or overly technical.

2.12
Left: A sheet of paper just held up toward an illuminated subject receives a jumble of uncontrolled light rays, reflected from all its parts. Right: A pinhole in an opaque screen restricts rays from each part of the subject to a different area of the paper, forming a crude upside-down image.

2.13 Pinhole versus lens. Pictures taken using a 35 mm SLR camera body fitted with (a) tin (aluminum) foil having a 0.25 mm diameter pinhole; (b) a simple plastic magnifier "stopped down" to f/8 with a hole in black paper; and (c) the cameras standard 50 mm lens at f/11 (see Figure 3.6). Based on the camera's TTL light readings, the pinhole needed 20 seconds, the magnifier 1/60 s, and the lens 1/30 s exposure. When focused for the center, the magnifier gives the poorest definition of all near-picture edges. The pinhole gives slightly unsharp detail everywhere.

Practical limitations to pinhole images

Pinhole-formed images lack clarity and tend to have a soft, hazy feel to them (see Figure 2.13). None of the image detail is ever quite sharp and clear, no matter where you position the tracing paper. This is because the narrow "bundle" of light rays reflected from any one part of the subject through the pinhole forms a beam that is diverging (gradually getting wider). As Figure 2.12 showed, the sharpest representation you can get of any one highlight or point of detail in the subject is a patch or disk of light. What should be details become many overlapping disks of light that give the image its fuzzy appearance; pinhole photographers use this quality to create their particular style of imagery. Figure 2.14 shows effects achieved by artist Roger Buchanon using a pinhole camera in the landscape.

2.14
Roger Buchanon, "Meathop Moss." An example of an artist using a pinhole camera to create an "impressionistic" view of the landscape.

You'll also have noticed that the pinhole-formed image is very dark. You can brighten it by enlarging the hole, but this makes image detail even less sharp and clear. (And if you make two holes, you get two overlapping images because light from any one part of the subject can then reach the paper in two places.)

2.15
Lens evolution. Top: Using a non-parallel sided glass block (prism), refraction at each air/glass surface (compare with Figure 2.9) causes an overall change of direction. Think of a lens shape as a series of blocks which bend many light rays to a common point of focus.

Even if you accept a dimmer image and try to sharpen detail by using a still smaller hole, those disks of light can obviously never be smaller than the hole itself. And you quickly get to a point where further reduction actually makes results worse because of an optical effect known as diffraction. The smaller and rougher the hole, the greater the percentage of light rays displaced by this effect, relative to others passing cleanly through the center.

Using a lens instead

The best way to form a brighter, sharper image is to make the hole bigger (allowing more light through), then bend the broad beam of light you produce so that it narrows (converges) instead of continuing to expand. This is done by using refraction through a piece of clear glass Figure 2.9 showed how light passing obliquely from air into glass bends at the point of entry to become slightly more perpendicular to the surface. The opposite happens when light travels from glass into air, as air is less dense. So if you use a block of glass (a "prism") with sides that are non-parallel (Figure 2.15), the total effect of passing light through it is an overall change in direction.

in practice, a shaped piece of glass that is thicker in the center than at its edges will accept quite a wide beam of diverging light and convert it into a converging beam. By grinding and polishing a disk of glass so it is this shape, you make what is effectively an infinite series of prisms, all bending light rays toward a common point. This is a simple converging lens. If you have such a lens (a magnifier is ideal), you can try it out

2.16
A converging lens bends diverging beams of light to a point of focus However, if the lens-to-screen distance is incorrect, either too near or too far (as shown right), images consist of fuzzy "circles of confusion." (This is why out of focus highlights become disks—Figure 2.12.)

When you make images using a lens instead of just a hole, the upside-down picture on your tracing-paper screen appears much brighter, but details are only sharply resolved when the paper is at one "best" distance from the lens. If you position it too close or too far away, the light rapidly broadens out (Figure 2.16) and points of detail turn into disks even larger than that given by a pinhole. The result is a very unclear "out of focus" effect. So a lens has to be focused precisely; the correct image position will depend on the light-bending power of the lens, and the distance between lens and subject (Figure 2.17). Having tried a magnifier, compare it with your camera lens if it is detachable.

2.17
This image was made with a wide diameter lens focused for one droplet on the barbed wire Droplets closer (left) and further away (right) become unsharp patches of light at this focus setting. Notice how each patch takes on the shape of the lens diaphragm.

Focal length and image size

The light-bending power of a lens is shown by its focal length. As shown in Figure 2.18, the focal length of a simple lens is the distance between the lens and a sharply focused image of an object at infinity. (In practice this generally means something on the horizon.) Focal length takes into account the type of glass (its refractive index) and its shape.

2.18
Focal length. In the case of a simple lens, focal length is the distance between the lens and the position of a sharp image of an object at infinity.

A lens with a long focal length has relatively weak bending power—it needs a long distance to bend light rays to a point of focus. A lens with a short focal length has stronger bending power. The picture detail with a shorter focal length lens is also smaller in size than the same subject imaged by a longer focal length lens (see Figure 2.19).

Photographing closer subjects

The lens-to-image distance you need for sharp focus changes as the subject gets closer. The rule is: the nearer your subject, the greater the distance required between lens and film plane (see Figure 2.20). This is why you often see camera lenses move forward when set for close distances, and for really close work you may have to use a macro lens or fit an extension tube between body and lens (see p. 72). This is not a problem with simple single subjects but what about scenes with a mixture of both distant and close detail, all of which you want in focus? Luckily camera lenses allow this with aperture controls, as we will see in the next chapter.

2.19
Focal length and image size The longer the focal length, the larger the image This is why cameras taking large format pictures need longer focal length lenses to include the same amount of your subject.

2.20
The closer the subject is to a lens, the greater the distance it needs in order to bring the light into sharp focus Light rays from a distant subject point are more parallel, so the same lens bending power brings them to focus nearer to the lens

Check out these focus effects for yourself, using your magnifier and a piece of tracing paper. Use a single bright object such as a desk or table lamp in an otherwise darkened room. Notice how the focusing distance between lens and paper varies when you move nearer to or further from the subject. It is always helpful to know (at least roughly) where and what size to expect a sharp image, especially when you are shooting close-ups, or printing unusual size enlargements. Ways of calculating detailed sizes and distances are shown in Appendix A.

Summary

> Light travels in straight lines, as if in wave motion. Wavelengths are measured in nanometers (nm). Visible light forms a small part of a much wider range of electromagnetic radiation. It transmits energy in the form of "photons."

> Your eyes recognize wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm as progressively violet, blue, green, yellow, red—the visible spectrum. All colors if present together are seen as "white" light.

> Subjects illuminated by a relatively compact direct light source cast harsh, hard-edged shadows. Light from a large-area source (including hard light diffused) gives a much softer edge to shadows.

> An opaque material absorbs some of the light striking it and reflects the rest.

> Smooth, shiny surfaces give specular reflection—direct light is largely reflected all one way. Oblique illumination bounces off such a surface at an angle matching that of the light received. Matt surfaces scatter reflected light more evenly in all directions.

> Transparent materials directly transmit light; translucent materials diffuse it. Light passing obliquely from one transparent material to another of different density is refracted (bent) more perpendicular to the surface in the denser medium.

> Colored materials absorb and reflect or transmit light selectively according to wavelength. Appearance varies with the color of the light source illuminating them.

> The amount of illumination received by a surface from a direct, compact light source is quartered each time the distance from the light is doubled.

> Because light travels in straight lines, a pinhole in an opaque material forms a crude upside-down image of an illuminated subject.

> A converging lens gives a brighter, sharper image than a pinhole, by bending a wide beam of diverging light from your subject so that it converges to a point of focus. The position of sharp focus depends on the refracting power of the lens, and subject distance. The brightness depends on the lens diameter.

> Lens power is shown by focal length. In simple optics this is the distance between the lens and a sharp image of an object at infinity. The longer the focal length, the larger the image produced.

> Close subjects come to focus farther from the lens than distant subjects. A subject two focal lengths in front of the lens is imaged same-size two focal lengths behind the lens. Magnification is image height divided by subject height.

Projects

1. Take pinhole color slides. Remove the lens from a single-lens reflex 35 mm camera and tape tin (aluminum) foil in its place (it is easiest to tape it across an extension ring which you then simply attach or detach from the body or to make a small hole in a body cap and cover this with a small piece of foil). Pierce the foil with a needle to give a hole of about 0.3 mm diameter, free of bent or ragged edges. You should just be able to make out the image of a bright scene through your camera viewfinder. Set your internal exposure meter to manual mode. If the image is too dim to get readings, set the camera's ISO scale to its highest rating or the exposure compensation dial to the most extreme minus setting. Then multiply the exposure time shown by either the set ISO divided by the actual ISO, or the equivalent effect of the compensation setting. You may have to experiment with different settings if exposure times are longer than a few seconds.

2. Take pictures using a magnifier in place of your regular SLR camera lens. Fit a collar of black paper around the rim of the glass to prevent direct light entering the camera. Try some shots after adding black paper with a hole in it over the lens to reduce its diameter by half. Compare the results, and also compare with the results of Project 1.

3. Practice forming images on tracing paper with a magnifier, or the lens detached from your camera. Work in a darkened room and use a lit desk or table lamp as your subject. Check out image size as well as position when the subject is in the various distance zones shown in Figure 2.21.

2.21
Conjugate distances. The positions where subjects at different distances from a lens are sharply imaged.

Chapter Three
Lenses and Filters

Controlling the Image

Having been introduced to the fundamentals of how lenses create images, we can now explore the ways that the controls on a camera lens allow you to alter the image. The principal control is the aperture (commonly referred to as f-number). The aperture adjusts how much light is let in, how much of the scene is in focus, and how sharp the areas in focus actually are. It is very important in image making to know when and how to create total sharpness, or to localize image detail.

Photographic Lenses

As we have seen, a simple glass lens creates a higher quality image (in terms of sharpness) than a pinhole. When you look closely at Figure 2.14 (p. 38), image sharpness is poor and not maintained equally over the whole picture, even when the subject is all at one distance. Simple single lenses often distort shapes, create odd color fringes or give a general "misty" appearance. Such results give a very particular impression that has sometimes been described as "atmospheric" or "romantic," in the sense that they are more removed from reality than the classic sharp detailed photograph and can seem "other-worldly." Cameras such as the Lomo or the Holga have simple single lenses and have become popular recently, along with cameraphone applications that mimic the effect of these simple lens cameras. This is not always what one wants from an image, so usually you will want to use a lens capable of producing high quality image clarity and detail. Some of the effects created by the pinhole camera or single lens can be achieved by adding diffusers or filters to the camera or by later manipulating results digitally (Chapter 9) or at the printing stage (Chapter 11). However, there are differences and you should explore all options before deciding on your approach.

3.1 Single lens elements can be made in a great range of shapes and glass types. Those in the top row here converge light. Those in the bottom row, which are all thinnest in the center, cause light to diverge. Diverging lens elements are combined with (stronger) converging elements in photographic lenses to help counteract optical defects.

The main principle of photographic equipment design and manufacture is to produce lenses that minimize optical defects (known as "aberrations") while at the same time gaining the highest possible resolution of detail. In order to achieve this, camera equipment manufacturers use a range of special optical glasses, each type of glass having different refraction and dispersion properties. A photographic lens has a "compound" construction, containing a series of elements of different shapes and made from different glass types to help neutralize aberrations. In fact, a camera lens of normal focal length typically has five to eight elements (Figures 3.2 and 3.3). Their centering and spacing within the lens barrel is critical, and can be upset if the lens is dropped or roughly knocked. However, even the number of elements causes problems, as the tiny percentage of light reflected off every glass surface at the point of refraction multiplies as scattered light. If uncorrected, the result would be images that lack contrast and sparkle–like looking through a window with multiple double-glazing. The best lenses therefore have their elements surface-coated with one or more extremely thin layers of a transparent material that practically eliminates internal reflections under most conditions. However, light may still flare if you shoot toward a bright light source just outside the picture area and fail to use a lens hood; see the section on lens care (p. 74). If you are buying older secondhand lenses you need to check that the lens is actually multicoated (it will be noted on the lens if it is) as this affects image sharpness and color/tone.

3.2
A typical 50 mm lens made as the normal focal length lens for a 35 mm camera. It combines seven lens elements, five converging and two diverging light, ensuring a distortion-free image which is equally sharp all over.

Your camera or enlarging lens is therefore a relatively thick barrel of lens elements, all of them refracting light but together having an overall converging effect. Almost all photographic lenses have their focal length (usually in millimeters) clearly engraved around the lens barrel or front-element retaining ring.

Focusing

The cheapest simple cameras have lenses which are so-called focus-free. This means the lens is fixed in position prefocused on subjects about 2.5 m from the camera. The assumption is that this is a typical situation for snapshots, and items slightly nearer or farther away will appear reasonably sharp due to depth of field (p. 50). This keeps costs down but is not ideal due to the limitations.

All manufactured camera lenses include some means of adjusting their position forward or backward for focusing subjects closer or more distant respectively. Typically the whole lens shifts smoothly by a centimeter or more within a sleeve (or internal elements alter position). Focus is manually adjusted by rotating the lens barrel, or via a motor under the control of an automatically controlled focus sensor that detects when the image is sharp (see auto focus, p. 111).

3.3
Engraving around lenses. Top: Name of lens, f/6.8 maximum aperture 360 mm focal length, and multicoated optics. Bottom left: Manufacturer, lens mount, 50 mm focal length, and f/1.4 maximum aperture. Bottom right: "Super Multi-Coated" optics, lens mount,f/1.7 maximum aperture, and 50 mm focal length.

Often point-and-shoot auto-focus compact cameras show no distance markings on the lens. Lenses on cameras offering greater control (all single-lens reflexes, for example) show a scale of subject distance that moves against a setting mark (see Figure 3.4). It is therefore possible to set the focus without looking through the viewfinder at all by estimating the subject distance or actually measuring with a tape (a method widely used in the movie industry). Normally this is unnecessary but it can be useful in very low lighting situations.

All lenses can be set to focus for infinity (∞) for the most distant subjects. On most lenses this means anything more than a few tens of meters away. The closest subject distance offered depends on a number of factors. Mechanically it may be difficult to shift the lens further forward. The longer the focal length, the greater the physical movement needed for adjusting focus settings. Close-up focusing may be purposely prevented because the lens is part of a camera with a separate direct viewfinder (p. 95). This grows increasingly inaccurate in framing up your picture the closer you work. Sometimes the lens may not maintain the same high image optical resolution at close distances (see macro lenses, p. 73).

3.4
Lens focusing movement. Top right: Typical focusing ring on a manually focusing 35 mm single-lens reflex camera. Bottom right Focusing ring on an auto-focus SLR, rotated by hand when switched to manual Left: Two kinds of larger format sheet-film camera. They have longer focal length lenses which need greater physical focusing movement; a focusing knob on the camera body shifts the whole lens-carrying front panel.

Normal lenses for large format cameras need more focusing movement to cover a similar range of subject distances, owing to their longer focal length. The whole front unit of the camera moves independently of the back, the two being joined together by bellows. There is seldom any scale of distances on lens or camera body; focusing is done by checking the actual image on a ground glass screen at the back of the camera (see p. 95).

Aperture and f-numbers

Inside most photographic lenses you will see a roughly circular hole or "aperture" located about midway between front and back elements. Usually a series of overlapping black metal blades called an iris diaphragm allows the size of this aperture to be narrowed continuously from full-lens diameter to just the center part of the lens. It is adjusted with a setting ring or a dial on the camera body. You may not see the aperture actually alter when you turn the ring, unless you first detach the lens from the camera (see p. 100) and then turn the aperture ring on the lens. The aperture usually stays wide open (so the viewfinder is as bright as possible, allowing you to focus and compose easily) until the actual moment of exposure, when it closes down to the set value (Figure 3.5). There may be a "preview" button on the camera or lens that allows you to close the aperture down in advance to check the effect.

3.5
A typical f-number sequence. Large apertures (such as f/2) will produce a shallow depth of field, while small apertures (such as f/16) will produce a larger depth of field. A large aperture will let in more light than a smaller aperture so requires a shorter shutter speed. Many lenses open up beyond f/2, or stop down beyond f/16.

Here is a series of relative aperture settings:f/1f/1.4f/2f/2.8f/4f/5.6 f/8f/11f/16f/22f/32. Looking at Figure 3.5, notice that the smaller the relative aperture the higher the f-number.

The f-numbers follow what is an internationally agreed standard sequence relating to the brightness of the image. In the sequence above, f/1 is the widest aperture, allowing the most light through. f/32 is the smallest, letting only a fraction of the light through.

Each change to the next highest number (for example from f/4 to f/5.6) halves the amount of light passing through the lens. On the other hand, changing the aperture from f/5.6 to f/4 doubles the amount of light passing through the lens.

We call this doubling or halving of light one stop, so f/4 lets one stop more light in than f/5.6, while f/22 lets two stops less light in than f/11. For a fractionally more accurate exposure, almost all cameras allow you to adjust the exposure in half stops: f/1 f/1.2 f/1.4 f/1.7 f/2 f/2.4 f/2.8 f/3.3 f/4 f/4.8 f/5.6 f/6.7 f/8 f/9.5 f/11 f/13 f/16 f/19 f/22 f/27 f/32. Most DSLRs allow you to adjust exposure in one-third stop increments: f/1 f/1.1 f/1.2 fl1.4 f/1.6 f/1.8 f/2 f/2.2 f/2.5 f/2.8 f/3.2 f/3.5 f/4 f/4.5 f/5 f/5.6 f/6.3 f/7.1 f/8 f/9 f/10 f/11 f/13 f/14 f/16 f/18 f/20 f/22 f/25.3 f/28.7 f/32.

The f-number system means that any lens set to the same number gives a standard image brightness, irrespective of the focal length or the camera size. You can change lenses or cameras, but as long as you set the same f-number the image brightness remains constant (provided your shutter speed and ISO film rating are also constant).

How f-numbers work

The actual f-numbers themselves denote the number of times the effective diameter of the aperture divides into the lens focal length. So f/2 means setting an aperture diameter one-half the focal length; fl4 is one-quarter, and so on. The system works because each f-number takes into account two main factors that control how bright an image is formed:

3.6
The basis of f-numbers. Each time the diameter (D) of a circle is doubled, its area (A) increases four times

Distance between lens and image. For a distant subject (lens focused on infinity) the image is formed at one focal length from the lens. The inverse square law of light (Figure 2.11) shows that doubling the distance of a surface from a light source quarters the light it receives. Therefore a lens of (say) 100 mm focal length basically forms an image only one-quarter as bright as a lens of 50 mm.

Diameter of the light beam. Doubling the diameter of a circle increases its area four times (Figure 3.6). So if the diaphragm of the first lens passes a beam of light 12 mm wide and the second only 6 mm wide, the first image is four times as bright as the second.

3.7 Image brightness. These lenses differ in focal length and therefore give different-size images of the same distant subject. But by having diaphragm diameter effectively one-eighth of focal length in each case the images match in brightness. Both lenses are working at f/8.

3.8
This collection of lenses–for a variety of different camera systems–shows the diversity of different lens sizes and shapes along with the ways in which information on aperture, focal length, and maker appears

Now, in the example in Figure 3.7 you find that both lenses are working at near-enough relative apertures of fl8 (100/12, and 50/6), which is correct since their images match in brightness. So:

f-number = lens focal length / effective aperture diameter

In practice the f-number relationship to brightness breaks down when working very close-up, because the lens-to-image distance will then differ greatly from one focal length (see Figure 3.38 on p. 72).

You will find in practice that upper and lower limits of the f-number scale vary with different lenses. Most small format camera lenses stop down to f/16 or f/22. Larger, sheet-film camera lenses are designed to continue down to f/45 or f/64. Smaller apertures are useful for extra depth of field (see below), but if taken to extremes diffraction (where detail is lost due to light rays bending to fit through a particularly small hole) starts to destroy fine image detail. This is why no lens will stop down literally to pinhole size.

The f-number of your lens's maximum aperture, together with its focal length, name, and individual reference number, are engraved on the lens rim (Figure 3.8). You may find that, of two lenses identical in make and focal length, one is almost twice the cost of the other because it has a maximum aperture one stop wider; it may also be physically larger and heavier because of the larger optical elements inside the lens designed to let the maximum amount of light in. This can be a high price to pay but may be essential if you are looking to shoot in poorer light or use faster shutter speeds.

Depth of Field

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest parts of a scene that can be considered sharp or in focus.

Widest aperture {smallest f-number, for example f/1.4)–opening of the lens–gives least depth of field, while smallest aperture (highest f-number, for example f/22) gives the greatest depth of field. There are two other significant effects: (1) depth of field becomes less when you are focusing on something very close, and greater when you are focusing on something far away; (2) the longer the focal length of your lens, the less depth of field it gives, even with the same aperture and subject distance (Figures 3.9,3.10, 3.11, and 3.24). For example, if you are using a 300 mm lens, you might have to use a very small aperture of around f/22 to get a similar depth of field as when using a much shorter 50 mm lens at just f/4. For this reason, achieving significant depth of field when using medium and large format cameras (that need longer focal length lenses) or when using telephoto lenses can be a great challenge.

Practical significance

3.9
Why aperture diameter alters depth of field. Right: When you focus a lens for a close subject, it images each point on a more distant item as an unsharp disk of light. Left: Stopping down to a smaller lens aperture narrows all cones of light. Although still not in critical focus, other items begin to look sharp too.

3.10
Depth of field at different apertures when a 50 mm lens is focused for 7m (left) and for 1.5m (right). The symbol denotes infinity Depth of field is greatly reduced with close subjects.

It is very important to be able to control depth of field and make it work for your pictures, not against them. By choosing shallow depth of field, you can isolate one item from others at different distances. You can create emphasis and "suggest" surroundings without also showing them in such detail that they clutter and confuse. Such pictures are said to be "differentially focused" (Figure 3.12). But remember that minimizing depth of field with a wide aperture also means you must be very accurate with your focusing.

3.11
The practical effect of changing depth of field. The focus setting of the lens remained the same for both shots. (A slower shutter speed was needed for the top version to maintain correct exposure because the aperture was smaller and so was letting in less light.) f/22 top and f/2.8 bottom.

3.12
Shallow depth of field. Using a wide aperture (f/2) limits detail and concentrates interest on an element at one chosen distance–the pollen-covered flower tip.

On the other hand, by choosing greatest possible depth of field your picture will contain maximum information. An image that is sharp throughout allows the viewer to decide what to concentrate on rather than being directed by the photographer.

Nearly all SLR cameras show the image at the most wide-open aperture as this makes the image as bright and easy to focus as possible. But it also means that you are seeing the smallest depth of field. The lens only stops down to the set aperture at the moment of exposure. Some cameras allow you to preview the stopped-down image by means of a lever or button on the lens or camera body; this is sometimes known as the depth of field preview button. It is a very useful function as it allows you to check the extent of the focused zone. Alternatively there may be depth of field markings on the lens barrel (Figure 3.13).

How Depth of Field Works

To understand why the aperture affects depth of field, we need to look again at how a lens focuses an image point at one distance only, depending on how far the lens is from the subject. Other parts of the subject nearer or farther from the lens come to focus farther away or nearer, forming disks instead of points of light. They are known as circles of confusion. Large circles of confusion that overlap (Figure 2.16) give a blurred image. However, provided the circles are relatively small, they can appear sharp, since our eyes have limited resolving power.

3.13 Using zone focusing. The lens has a depth of field scale located between focusing and f-number scales. To zone focus first visually focus the nearest object you want sharp (left), noting the marked distance. Then do the same for the most distant part (center). Using the depth of field scale set the lens for a distance which places both near and far parts within the zone of sharp focus at a small aperture. Here f/16 is needed (right). Remember to set a slower shutter speed to maintain the same exposure.

When viewing a final print, you rate an image acceptably sharp even when tiny disks are present instead of dots. The upper limit to what most people accept as sharp is taken to be 0.25 mm diameter on the final print. (The same applies to the dot pitch on a computer screen.) Lens manufacturers for 35 mm format cameras assume that if 25 x 20 cm (10 x 8 inch) enlargements are made (film image magnified x8) to this standard, then the largest acceptable circle of confusion on film is 0.25 divided by 8 = 0.03 mm.

By accepting disks up to this size as sharp, subjects slightly nearer and farther away than the subject actually in focus start to look in focus too. And if the lens aperture is made smaller, all the cones of light become narrower, so that images of subjects even nearer and farther are brought into the zone of acceptable sharp focus. Depth of field has increased.

Again, if you move farther back from the subject or change to a shorter focal length tens, the positions of sharp focus for images of nearest and farthest subject parts bunch closer together. Their circles of confusion become smaller, again improving depth of field.

Remember that you produce greatest depth of field when:

• f-number is high (the lens is stopped down)

• subject is distant

• focal length is short.

With subjects beyond about ten focal lengths from the lens, depth of field extends farther behind the subject than toward the lens. Hence the photographer's saying: "focus one-third in," meaning focus on part of the scene one-third inside the depth of field required. With close-up work, however, depth of field extends more equally before and behind the focused subject distance.

Using depth of field scales on lenses

You may find that your camera lens carries a depth of field scale, next to its scale of subject distances (Figure 3.13). The scale gives you a rough guide to the limits of depth of field and is useful if you are "zone focus-ing"–presetting distance when there is no time to judge focus and depth of field visually. Scales also show how you can gain bonus depth of field in shooting distant scenes. For example, if the lens is focused on infinity (losing half your depth of field "over the horizon"), focus on the nearest part of the subject and read off the distance halfway between this and infinity. This is called the "hyperfocal distance" for the f-number you are using. Change your focus to this setting and depth of field will extend from half the distance through to the horizon (see Figures 3.14 and 3.15).

3.14
Maximum depth of field. This scene has important elements at several different distances and was shot at f/16 to produce sharp detail throughout.

Remember that depth of field limits don't occur as abruptly as the figures suggest–sharpness deteriorates gradually. Much depends too on what you regard as a permissible "circle of confusion." If you intend to make big enlargements, you will find that the Level of sharpness is reduced and so the depth of field also appears reduced, though this can change depending on the viewing distance of the print. Even if your camera allows you to preview depth of field effects as previously described, you should work well within the limits of what looks sharp, or you may be disappointed with the final print. Some photographers will want to achieve grainy prints for deliberate effect. Different types of grain can be achieved in a variety of ways: high ISOs have a larger grain structure or digital noise than low ISOs; grain can be added in digital postproduction; a large-scale print made from a small negative will be grainy; harsh grain can be created through special film processing methods (see Chapter 10).

3.15
Using hyperfocal distance. For maximum depth of field with distant scenes, first set the lens to infinity. Note the nearest distance still within depth of field for the f-number you are using. here 10 m (left). Then refocus the lens for this "hyperfocal" distance (right). Depth of field will extend from half this distance to infinity.

Depth of Focus

Depth of focus is often confused with depth of field, but whereas depth of field is concerned with the way the lens focuses the light reflected off a particular subject (so some areas of the scene are sharp and "in focus" and other areas are soft and out of focus), depth of focus is concerned with the way the lens focuses light on the camera's film plane or sensor. Depth of field is external to the camera and depth of focus is internal.

3.16 Depth of focus. Unlike depth of field, this is concerned with focus accuracy between lens and image e.g., in the camera or enlarger. The smaller the lens aperture and the larger the maximum permissible circle of confusion (C), the greater the depth of focus. (Think of this focusing latitude as the distance you could freely move a ring along two cones positioned apex to apex.)

By positioning the film plane or sensor perfectly parallel to the lens with a great deal of precision (as is the case on nearly all cameras), we can be sure that the plane of what is in focus is consistent over the whole image area. However, if our film plane/sensor or lenses are not perfectly aligned, then we may find that a part of the film plane/sensor falls outside of the depth of focus so that not all of the points of light come into focus consistently over the film plane/sensor. This is what is happening when we use a large format camera's tilt movements, or when we use specialist tilt lenses.

As Figure 3.17 shows, both depth of field and depth of focus increase with smaller apertures. However, this is where the similarities end. Depth of focus becomes greater the closer your subject is to the lens and also the longer the focal length of the lens. This is because by focusing on something very close, or when using a longer focal length lens, the lens is positioned farther away from the camera's film plane or sensor, making the cones of light narrow. This is illustrated in Figure 3.18.

In practice this means that:

3.17
A 300 mm lens fitted to a 10 x 8 inch large format camera creates a "standard" field of vision, but on the significantly smaller 35 mm film or sensor format a 300mm lens creates a very narrow field of vision. This diagram demonstrates the way a lens projects an "image circle" and how different size image formats (10 x 8", 5 x 4", 6x7 cm, and 35 mm) would each see very different fields of vision when all fitted with the same focal length lens

3.18
Angle of view. All the lenses here give a similar angle of view. They each differ in focal length but are used on different format cameras, maintaining a close ratio of focal length to picture format diagonal. Each combination will therefore include about the same amount of your subject in the picture.

• Small format cameras need their lenses to be much more accurately positioned relative to the film plane or sensor than a large format camera due to the small format camera's shorter focal length lenses as well as its smaller acceptable maximum circle of confusion. This is why large format cameras are often made of wood and aligned simply by eye; they do not need the same precise level of engineering as a small format camera due to the larger depth of focus. Specialist super-precise "technical" large format cameras and "vacuum backs" that suck sheet film perfectly flat do exist for when an exceptional level of precision is necessary.

• When you focus your image (on a camera's sensor or when using an enlarger), always have the lens at its widest aperture (this is done automatically on most cameras). This minimizes the depth of field and depth of focus, making it easier to see the sharpest point.

• When using your camera to focus very close subjects (macro photography), it is easiest to focus the lens roughly so that your subject is approximately the correct size in your image. Then to get your subject perfectly sharp, move your whole camera backward and forward instead of using your lens's focus ring. You will be exploiting the shallow depth of field (caused by focusing on something very near with possibly a longer focal length lens), rather than struggling with a very large depth of focus that may have you finely adjusting the lens's focus ring with no apparent change to the focus.

3.19 Depth of field when standard focal length lenses for different formats are used at an identical aperture (f/4 here). All were focused for 7 m. Larger format cameras produce less depth of field because they use longer focal length lenses.

Using Different Focal Length Lenses, Camera Kits

Whether you are using an SLR or view camera with interchangeable lenses, or a compact with a permanently attached zoom, you will soon want to explore the use of different focal lengths. Almost all camera types can be fitted with accessories–from tripods and other supports to flashguns and camera bags–many of which are worth considering as useful practical kit for your kind of photography.

Focal length and angle of view

3.20 Holding an SLR to one eye with a lens fitted that is roughly the standard focal length for the camera format keep both eyes open and notice how the camera's standard lens mimics your eyes' natural magnification.

Lenses can capture varying amounts of the scene before them from a very wide angle to an extremely narrow view. The natural field of view of the human eye covers approximately 45° and so a camera lens covering this angle is regarded as normal or "standard." It is approximately equal to the diagonal of the camera's picture format. In other words:

• For a 35 mm or digital full frame (24 x 36 mm) camera, a 50 mm focal length lens is standard.

• For a 60 x 45 mm rollfilm camera or digital medium format, a standard lens is 75 mm.

• For a 60 x 60 mm rollfilm camera, a standard lens is 80 mm.

• For a 60 x 70 mm rollfilm camera, a standard lens is 90 mm.

• For a 60 x 90 mm rollfilm camera, a standard lens is 105 mm.

• For APS-C (17 x 30 mm) picture size cameras, the normal lens is 30 mm.

• Compact digital cameras generally have tiny sensors of around 4.8 x 6.4 mm. A standard lens is typically only 6-10 mm.

• For a 5 x 4 inch camera, a standard lens is 150 mm.

• For a 10 x 8 inch camera, a standard lens is 300 mm.

As Figure 3.17 shows, the shorter the focal length, the smaller the image the lens produces. But a lens of short focal length used with a small format camera gives the same angle of view as a lens of longer focal length used in a bigger camera. You are just scaling everything up or down. All the combinations above therefore give an angle of view of about 45°, and so each camera set up to photograph the same (distant) subject will include about the same amount of the scene (see Figure 3.18). For example, if you were to place a 35 mm camera with a 50 mm lens next to a 6 x 9 cm camera with a 105 mm lens, both cameras would give the same field of view. The use of lenses giving a wider or narrower angle of view is discussed later in this chapter. See also Figure 3.32, which shows equivalent focal lengths for varying camera formats.

Lenses for “cropped frame” digital cameras

Some SLR lenses are specifically designed for cameras with "cropped frame" sensors (these sensors are generally around the APS-C size that is slightly smaller than 35 mm size). Because the sensor and therefore the camera's reflex mirror are smaller (than a standard full frame 35 mm sensor), these specific lenses can recede further into the camera body, allowing for a better functioning lens (especially when the lens is wide-angle). However, these lenses will not work with 35 mm frame cameras and there is a risk of damaging your 35 mm camera if one of these lenses is fitted.

Why Change Focal Length?

Lenses of fixed focal length (i.e., not zoom), regarded as standard for cameras reviewed in the last chapter, are typically 50 mm for 35 mm, 28 mm for DSLR, 100 mm for 60 x 70 mm format, and 150 mm for 5x4 inch. As Figure 3.18 showed, most of these combinations give an angle of view of about 45°.

To help understand why 45° is considered normal, try looking through a 35 mm SLR fitted with a standard 50 mm lens, holding the camera in upright format and keeping both eyes open. Compare picture detail on the focusing screen with the subject seen direct. Your naked eye sees a great deal more of your surroundings, of course. But within the area imaged by the standard lens and isolated by the picture format the relative sizes of things at different distances match normal eyesight.

If you keep to the same format camera but change or zoom the lens to a longer or shorter focal length, you can:

alter angle of view (enlarge or reduce image detail and so get less or more subject in the frame);

disguise how far or how close you are from/to the subject and so suppress or exaggerate the effect of perspective in your picture.

Each of these changes has an important influence on how your picture is structured.

Getting less, or more, subject in

Changing the lens in your camera to a longer focal length (or zooming to "tele") makes the image detail bigger–so you no longer include as much of the scene, and the angle of view becomes narrower (Figure 3.21). At first sight you seem closer to your subject but this is only an illusion due to enlargement (see Figure 3.22). This is useful if you cannot get close enough to your subject.

Any slight movement of the camera is also magnified, so if you are using it hand-held, consider picking a faster shutter speed to avoid blur. Other changes include less depth of field for the same f-number. A 100 mm lens gives half the angle and twice the image magnification of a 50 mm lens, assuming distant subjects.

3.21
Changing focal length but keeping the same picture format alters the combinations angle of view, and hence the area recorded in the frame Compare with Figure 3.18.

Changing instead to a shorter focal length lens (or zooming to "wide") gives all the opposite effects. You include more of the scene, noticeably foreground and surroundings, everything is imaged smaller, and there is greater depth of field. A wide-angle lens is particularly useful for cramped locations, especially building interiors where a standard lens seldom seems to show enough. Also, many documentary photographers like to get close to their subjects and so select wide-angle lenses to do this. Similarly, you can shoot views, groups, or any large subject where it is otherwise impossible to get back far enough to get everything in. The lens must be designed as a wide-angle for the camera you are using. Don't try to take a standard 50 mm lens from a 35 mm format camera and use it as a wide-angle in a large format camera–the picture will probably look unsharp and dark at the corners (see Figures 3.23 and 3.24).

Altering perspective

It is important to remember that lenses themselves do not alter perspective, as this is only affected by your choice of viewpoint. By changing focal

3.22 Bottom left: Angles of view given by lenses of different focal lengths used on a 35 mm format camera. Left: The same view photographed using different focal length lenses without changing the camera position.

3.23
Lens coverage. The total circular image patch formed by an 85 mm lens designed to cover 35 mm format. Used as a normal angle lens on a 6 x 6 cm format camera, edges begin to darken. On attempting to use it as a wide-angle on a 4 x 5 inch (outer frame lines), uneven illumination and corner "cut-off" become obvious, particularly when the lens is stopped down. See also camera movements, Appendix B.

3.24 Enlarging part of the 28 mm lens image proves that lens change alters magnification, but not perspective. All shots were taken at the same aperture Note the 28 mm blow-up has greater depth of field, but enlarged grain gives poorer detail than sharply imaged parts of the 135 mm lens version.

length together with your distance from the subject, you exert a powerful influence on the perspective of your pictures. Perspective itself is concerned with the way objects at different distances appear to relate in size, and how parallel lines seen from an oblique angle apparently converge toward some far-off point–all of which gives a strong sense of depth and distance in two-dimensional pictures of three-dimensional scenes.

As Figure 3.25 shows, if you look obliquely at an object of uniform height, the nearest end appears much taller than the far end. The difference between these two "heights" is in direct ratio to their distances from you, so if the near end is 3 meters away and the far end 12 meters, ratio in height is 4:1 But move back until you are 10 meters from the near end and the far end will be 19 meters (10 m + 9 m) away. The ratio becomes only 1.9:1, and the object's visual perspective is less steep.

Perspective therefore alters according to the distance of your viewpoint from the subject. But if you can change lens focal length, you can include as little or as much of the subject as you need. Looking at Figure 3.25, you can see that, when using a 50 mm lens, the nearer end of the monument appears larger than the farther end. Changing to a 135 mm lens and stepping back so as to keep the whole subject in the frame result in less difference between the near and far ends and less appearance of depth. On the other hand, using a 28 mm lens means the camera has to be brought closer to make the subject fill the frame. At this short distance the difference between the nearest and farthest points is exaggerated.

Use steep perspective (close viewpoint plus wide-angle lens or shortest focal length zoom setting) whenever you want to exaggerate distance, caricature a face into a big nose and tiny ears, or dramatically emphasize some foreground item such as an aggressive fist by exaggerating its relative size. Similarly, use it to create a dynamic angle shot looking up at a building and exaggerating its height.

Use flattened perspective (distant viewpoint plus telephoto lens or longest focal length zoom setting) to compress space, to make a series of items one behind the other appear "stacked up," adding a claustrophobic effect to a traffic jam or a crowd. In landscapes it helps to make background features dominate over the middle distance,

3.25 Controlling perspective effects. Each picture here was taken with a lens of different focal length (35 mm format), but the camera distance was altered each time The near end of the monument remains about the same height but the scale of detail farthest away is dramatically different, changing your impression of depth and distance.

3.26 Exaggerated scale gives dramatic emphasis A 10 mm wide-angle on a DSLR elongates the motorway bridges and tilts the supporting columns to give an impression of movement and scale.

3.27
Walker Evans' choice of a long focal length lens and distant viewpoint made these industrial chimneys of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, echo the stones in the workers' graveyard. Technique strengthens a powerful human statement.

or merge both into a flat pattern (Figure 3.27). Portraits tend to be more flattering, with nose and ears shown in proportions closer to true size, so use a slightly longer lens than standard.

Explore these controls over perspective and learn how they can help make the point of your picture. But if overdone (the two extremes of focal length giving either telescope or fishbowl effects) they easily become gimmicks that can overwhelm your subject matter. See also digital manipulation of perspective, Chapter 9.

The appearance of perspective in a photograph also depends finally on its finished size and the distance from which it is viewed. Strictly speaking, the image appears "natural" in scale and perspective if your ratio of picture width to viewer distance matches the ratio of subject width to camera distance when the shot was taken. This means that if something 4 meters wide is photographed from 8 meters (ratio 1:2), the print will look normal seen from a distance twice its width. In practice you tend to look at all small-scale prints from a "comfortable" reading distance of about 25-30 cm, which makes the perspective look seemingly natural when shot with a standard lens. But reading wide-angle close shots and long focal length distant shots from the same viewing position makes their steepened or flattened perspective very apparent. If you want to exaggerate the illusion of compressed space and flattened perspective, print long focal length (narrow-angle) shots big, and hang them in enclosed areas where the viewer has to stand close (see Figure 3.28).

3.28
Dealing with wide-angle distortion. Note how the lighthouse appears to lean over when on the edge of the frame (left). Recomposing the picture so it is more central makes it appear more upright (right).

Interchanging lenses in practice

On Large format cameras the lenses have built-in shutters and are changed complete with mounting boards. When you fit a wide-angle, the lens has to be quite close to the focusing screen to give a sharp image. This may mean changing to a recessed lens panel, or removing the regular bellows from a monorail and using shorter, more flexible "bag bellows" instead (Figure 3.29). On monorails and view cameras some parts project in front of the lens and care should be taken so they don't appear in the picture with a short lens. Longer lenses simply require more bellows extension. Some of these lenses are dual or even triple focal length. By removing, or changing, elements the focal length can be altered. These are identified by having two or three sets of focal length and aperture markings, usually in different colors, engraved on them.

The greatest variety of interchangeable lenses today are made for sin-gle-lens reflexes, especially 35 mm cameras (Figure 3.30). Originally their range was very restricted by the need for wide-angles to be placed close to the film, where they fouled mirror movement, and the awkward physical length of long focal length lenses. (This distancing problem is now solved optically by making long focus lenses of telephoto construction and wide-angles of inverted telephoto construction.) Most small and medium format wide-angle optics today are of inverted telephoto design, and virtually all long focal lengths intended as narrow-angle lenses are telephotos. This is why photographers tend to use the word "telephoto" to mean the same as long focus.

3.29
When using a wide-angle lens with a view camera, you risk including either the front part of the rail on a monorail camera or the baseboard of a field camera in your picture (a). This is especially apparent when the lens is stopped down (c). To avoid this, arrange the rail of the monorail camera to project behind rather than in front of the lens, or, if using a field camera with the requisite movements, drop the baseboard (b). To focus the lens close enough to the film, you may need to use flexible bag bellows or fit a recessed lens panel.

Lens coverage. As Figure 3.23 shows, there are limits to the area a lens will cover with an image of acceptable quality. Designed for a 35 mm camera, it will certainly perform well over a patch at least 43 mm diameter. But used on a 6 x 6 cm format picture corners show poorer definition, and on 4 x 5 inch the edges become dark. Any lens is designed to "cover" a particular picture size. You could possibly use it in a smaller format camera, but not a larger one. In practice you cannot make mistakes on small and medium format cameras because their lens mounts prevent you attaching unsuitable optics.

3.30
New York from the top of the Empire State Building, taken using a 35 mm camera with a 150 mm lens. From such a distance, perspective and scale change between foreground and background elements are minimized, heightening the grid-like pattern.

The lens mounts for these camera sizes also differ depending on the brand–you cannot fit lenses from a Nikon to a Canon body, and so on. Each maker also has different (patented) mechanical and electrical couplings between body and lens to convey information about the aperture set, to control auto focus, etc. Occasionally, when a maker develops a new body, lens mounts are changed –but this is done as rarely as possible to keep faith with previous purchasers of their equipment.

Independent lens makers produce optics to fit a range of cameras; you specify the type of body and the lens comes fitted with the appropriate coupling. The quality of the independent lenses varies more than for lenses supplied by the camera manufacturer. The latter have to reach a minimum optical standard common to an entire range. The best independent brands are consistently good too, but the cheapest lenses undergo less rigid quality control and may be anything from quite good to poor. Consult independent reviews for comparisons.

Lens Kits

There is no doubt that standard lenses (normal focal length) represent best value for money. Made in large quantities, they tend to be cheaper and have wider maximum apertures than wide-angles, longer focal length lenses, and zooms. Most photographers, however, soon wish to increase their range of options by having one or more additional lenses. Often the most useful second lens is a wide-angle, giving about 70-80° field of view–a focal length of 28 mm for 35 mm format (40 mm for 60 x 60 mm, or 90 mm for 4 x 5 inch). Using lenses wider than 80° (24 mm focal length on a 35 mm camera) begins to introduce "wide-angle distortion," making objects near the corners and farthest edges of your picture appear noticeably elongated and stretched (Figure 3.31). It is like having additionally steep perspective in these zones, although you can help to disguise the effect (if you do not want it) by composing plain areas of sky, ground, or shadow here.

3.31
Using a wide-angle (45 mm on 60 x 70 mm rollfilm) lens allowed the tall light poles and lots of sky to be included and exaggerated the size of the foreground platform.

Another feature of a wide-angle lens is that it gives greater depth of field than a standard lens at the same aperture. This can be an advantage, but also makes it more difficult to pick out items by differential focus. Extreme wide-angles need little focus adjustment and record almost everything in focus–from a few inches to infinity (Figure 3.32). Also they may no longer accurately image vertical and horizontal lines near picture edges as straight, becoming "fish-eye" lenses (Figure 3.33).

3.32
Angle of view given by different combinations of lens focal length and camera format diagonal. Lenses must be capable of fully covering the picture format.

3.33 Fish-eye lens distortion. Inside an antique British telephone box, taken with a 35 mm camera and an 8 mm fish-eye lens designed to give a 220° angle of view. This extreme lens forms a circular picture with vertical and horizontal lines increasingly bowed according to their distance from the center.

Long focal lengths. While short lenses are useful for getting more into the picture, longer lenses allow you to select a smaller area of the scene than a standard lens. A moderately long focal length, such as 100 mm on 35 mm format (24°), is conventionally known to make a good portrait lens. It will allow you to fill the frame with a face from a distance of about 1.5 meters, which avoids exaggerated perspective effects and a dominating camera presence. Longer lenses will be needed for any scene you want to shoot from a distance to show a compressed perspective effect (see Figure 3.27): subjects such as wildlife, fast moving activities, or anything that you cannot approach closely.

Working in the studio on still lifes, moderately long focal length lenses are again an asset. With food shots, for example, such a lens allows the camera to be kept back from the subject, avoiding any elliptical distortion of plates, tops of wine glasses, etc.

In general, lenses with angles of view of less than 18° begin to make you conscious of "unnatural" scale relationships between nearest and farthest picture contents. This is more like looking through a telescope than seeing the scene direct. The longer the focal length, too, the more difficult it is to get sufficient depth of field and avoid camera shake when using the lens hand-held. As a general rule the longest safe shutter speed that you can use when hand-holding your camera is the nearest fractional match to lens focal length, e.g., no slower than 1/250 second with a 200 mm lens, 1/500 with 500 mm, etc. Image-stabilized lenses help overcome this problem (see p. 71).

On longer telephotos (over 300 mm on 35 mm format) the image contrast is frequently lower than with a standard lens, especially in landscape work where atmospheric conditions such as distance haze take their toll. Image definition is easily upset in pictures taken through window glass. Another problem is the size and weight of long focal length lenses; beyond 500 mm it is usual to have to mount the lens on a tripod or monopod, with the camera body attached.

Wide-angle and telephoto "converter" attachments are available for some SLR lenses. A wide-angle device fits over the front of the lens and typically reduces focal length by 40 percent. A tele attachment fits between lens and body and typically doubles the focal length. Provided the tele attachment is a multi-element unit designed for your particular lens, image quality should not fall off appreciably. A x2 tele-converter has the effect of doubling the focal length but reduces the image brightness by two f-stops. Wide-angle attachments are more prone to upset the image definition near picture edges–always use them well stopped down for better definition.

Fixed focal lengths, or zooms?

A zoom is a lens of variable focal length–altered by shifting internal glass elements. They are built into most modern compact cameras where the lens cannot be removed. However, for cameras such as SLRs you can decide between a chosen set of "prime" lenses (fixed focal length) and having one or more zoom lenses. The focal length is altered by moving a ring on the barrel on SLR lenses, or by a switch operating a motor that drives the lens backward and forward on a compact camera.

Good quality zooms are optically complex–the focusing point must not change when you alter focal length, and the aperture diaphragm must widen or narrow to keep the f-number constant. Also, aberration corrections must adjust to maintain acceptable image quality throughout the entire range of subject distances and focal lengths. The best quality zooms compare very well with fixed focal length lenses, but the cheap zoom lenses are not advisable to buy as they have a wide range of problems. With all zooms care must be taken at the ends of the zoom range as image quality tends to deteriorate. Limits to aberration correction at the extremes of zoom range typically show up as straight lines near frame edges bowing inward or outward, and edge sharpness may fall off slightly. Perhaps handiest of all are zooms that range more moderately either side of standard, such as 28-80 mm.

The practical advantages of a zoom lens are as follows:

A continuous change of image size is possible within the limits of the range–far more flexible than having several interchangeable fixed focal length lenses.

Ability to frame up action shots, wildlife, and sports pictures where things can happen unexpectedly, and you may be too far away or too close with any regular lens.

No risk of losing a picture because you were changing lenses at the decisive moment.

Fewer items to carry.

Ability to zoom (or change image size in steps) during actual exposure, for special effects.

On many zooms, there is a "macro mode" facility for ultra-close work (see p. 73).

A zoom's disadvantages are the following:

Widest aperture is about one to one-and-a-half stops smaller than a typical fixed focal length lens, e.g.,f/3.5 instead of f/2.

It is more expensive and often bigger than any one fixed lens within its range.

The continuous focusing scale does not usually go down to close subject distances.

Many cheaper types give poorer image contrast and definition, and distort shapes when used at either limit of their zoom range.

Zooms can make you lazy about using perspective well. It is tempting to just fill up the frame from wherever you happen to stand. Instead, always try to choose a viewpoint and distance to make best use of juxtapositions, or give steep or flattened perspective. Only then adjust focal length to exactly frame the area you want.

Even high quality zooms may change their maximum aperture between the extremes of zoom range, for example giving half or one stop less light at the longest focal length setting (maximum aperture is then engraved f/3.5/4.5, or similar). This is unimportant provided you are using a through-the-lens meter, but remember to allow for it if you are shooting at the lens's widest settable aperture and working with a separate meter or a non-dedicated flashgun (p. 153).

Depth of field always changes throughout the range, unless you compensate by altering the f-number. It is greatest at shortest focal length, so whenever practical focus your zoom at its longest focal length setting, making critical sharpness easy to see–then change to whatever focal length you need.

Far fewer zoom lenses are designed to cover larger rollfilm or digital medium formats. Not only is the market smaller, but size and weight greatly increase if the lens is to have a usefully wide aperture. (A 100-200 mm f/4.8 zoom may easily weigh 2180 g, against 480 g for an 80 mm f/2 fixed focal length lens.) Also, photographers using these larger formats generally favor the higher image quality that is more readily achieved with a fixed focal length lens (sometimes known as a prime lens) than a zoom lens.

Other lenses worth considering for a small or medium format camera kit are a shift lens (Appendix B, Figure B.1) and a macro lens (see p. 73). Unless you are a specialist, it is seldom worth buying lenses of extreme focal length. For example, a 600 mm f/4 lens for 35 mm can cost over thirty times the same maker's 50 mm standard lens! Instead, it is possible to hire them for unusual jobs, when optical distortion and unnatural perspective are perhaps an essential element in a picture. For most work such devices are a distraction, and can become monotonous with overuse. You will often do better by moving either closer or farther back, and using more normal optics (Figure 3.36).

3.34 Some camera-body/lens kits. Each includes normal, wide-angle, and long focal length types designed for the format: 5x4 inch (top), 35 mm (center), and 6 x 6 cm (bottom).

3.35 By carefully choosing zoom lenses with focal lengths that complement each other, you can put together a relatively compact kit that will cover most situations (17-35 mm, 24-70 mm, and 70-200 mm).

Image Stabilization

Image stabilization (also known as vibration reduction) is available on some SLR camera lenses. A system of motion sensors detects the movement of the camera and compensates for it by moving an optical element inside the lens, or by moving the sensor itself. This system reduces the effects of camera shake, allowing slower shutter speeds to be used, handheld, while still giving sharp results. Lenses with image stabilization built in cost more than conventional ones–the increased sharpness, particularly on telephotos, is significant.

3.36
A 75-300 mm zoom used at its focal length extremes (top and center) and when zoomed throughout a 0.5 s exposure (bottom).

3.37
This lens features image stabilization. The switches on the side allow you to turn image stabilization on and off (for example when using a tripod and stabilization is not needed, switching stabilization off will conserve battery life) and even features two modes of stabilization: 1 for normal hand-held use and 2 for when taking panning photographs. The manufacturer claims this lens features four stops of image stabilization. This means that you should be able to hand-hold this lens and use a shutter speed four stops slower than a non-image-stabilized lens while still maintaining the same sharpness.

Close-up Equipment

The closest you can approach a subject and still focus a sharp image depends on how far the lens can be spaced from the film relative to its focal length. Typically this subject distance is about ten times the focal length. A 35 mm camera with standard 50 mm lens focused out to its closest subject distance gives an image about one-tenth life size. This can also be written as a ratio of 1:10, or magnification of 0.1.

Most 5x4 inch monorail view cameras have bellows which will stretch to at least 360 mm. Used with their standard (150-180 mm) lens, this allows you to approach close enough to get an image up to life size–a ratio of 1:1 or magnification of 31. Anything larger calls for cumbersome extra bellows (Figure 3.38). To shoot close-ups using a small or medium format camera you can expect to need some extra equipment. There are various options (Figure 3.39):

Adding one or more extension rings, or a set of bellows, between camera body and lens.

Changing to a "macro" lens with its own built-in, extra-long focusing movement.

Using a zoom lens set to "macro."

Fitting an accessory close-up lens or close-up filter adaptor over the front of the standard lens (however, this will affect image quality).

Extension units for 35 mm cameras

Extension tubes or "rings" are the most popular type of extension unit made and used today. By placing a tube between the camera body and lens you can focus closer than the lens normally would allow. Many extension tubes maintain the electronic connection between the camera body and lens so auto focus, aperture control, and the camera's through-the-lens metering are maintained. By using a combination of extension tubes, you can control how close your subject is and so how large it is within the frame (see Figure 3.40).

3.38
Bellows extension needed for close-ups. (a) View camera focused on distant subject. (b) Imaging the subject life size requires bellows twice the lens focal length. (c) The same lens needs two sets of these bellows and an extension rail to image the subject three times life size. See also Figure 2.19.

3.39
Alternative ways of sharply focusing close-up subjects with a 35 mm camera.

Simpler "Macro extension bellows" provide a significantly cheaper alternative to extension tubes. These flexible bellows allow you to precisely control the distance that your lens is from your camera body along a supporting rail, so giving you the flexibility of several extension tubes. However, extension bellows generally do not have the necessary electronic connection to use auto focus or maintain aperture control. With older cameras where you change the aperture by rotating a ring on the lens this is not a problem, but when using newer cameras where the aperture is set by rotating a dial on the camera's body, you will lose all control of the camera's aperture and will be forced to shoot with the lens at its widest aperture. This makes extension bellows a poor choice for using with most modern cameras and lenses.

3.40
This set of extension rings (1,2, and 3) can be used in seven different combinations Added to the normal focusing adjustment of the 50 mm camera lens, they allow an overlapping sequence of sharply focused subject distances, from 38 cm (nearest focusing for the lens used alone) down to 10.5 cm.

Both extension tubes and bellows are designed to fit specific camera mounts as they have to lock into the camera's lens mount and then have the lens mount onto the front of the bellows or extension tube, so make sure you are buying the correct fitting system.

In all instances, the camera's through-the-lens meter still gives an accurate exposure reading. If you are using any other form of metering (such as a hand meter), the exposure shown must be increased to compensate for the effect of the unusual lens-film distance (see p. 148).

Macro lens

Macro lenses are designed for close-up purposes, computed to give best performance and maximum correction of optical aberrations when subject and image distances are similar. (The word "photomacrography" refers to imaging at 1:1 scale or greater.) They cost more than regular lenses, and also stop down further. Typical focal length, for 35 mm format, is either 50 mm or 100 mm, with an aperture range of f/2.8-32.

The focusing movement on a general macro lens takes it continuously from infinity setting to 1:1 ratio or beyond. This range, plus its aperture preset facility, make it very convenient to use. Such macro lenses give acceptable results with distant subjects too, but for close-ups offer better definition than a normal lens used in conjunction with bellows or rings. If you do a lot of extreme close-up photography, then a dedicated macro lens is a good investment.

Macro zooms

Most zoom lenses, when set to shortest focal length, allow you to select a "macro" setting that repositions internal elements. You can then achieve sharp focus within a narrow range of close distances. Typical magnification ratios are around 1:4. Some zooms give quite poor quality close-ups, showing image softening toward corners of the frame.

Zoom macro lenses for 35 mm cameras that allow you to zoom, for example, from 70 mm to 170 mm while working just 150 cm away from your subject, often deliver high image quality but can be very expensive to buy.

Close-up lens attachment

If you attach a converging "close-up lens" over the front of your standard lens, its focal length is changed. Or, to put it another way, the combination allows you to focus on a subject at a distance equal to the attachment's focal length, when the prime camera lens is set for infinity. Attachments are usually calibrated in diopters such as 11,12, etc. The higher the diopter, the greater the magnification, and the shorter its focal length. A diopter, or dioptre, is a unit of measurement of the optical power (strength) of a lens (or curved mirror), which is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length measured in meters (that is, 1/meters). For example, a 3 diopter lens brings parallel rays of light to focus at 1/3 meter.

3.41
A T-type mount used to attach a 35 mm camera body to an astronomical telescope.

Adding a close-up lens means you can work without having to extend the normal lens-film distance, or alter exposure. It therefore suits cameras with non-interchangeable lenses. Close-up lenses either clip over the front element or screw into the filter thread. They are often sold by filter manufacturers as well as the makers of camera lenses.

Attaching specialist optics

It is possible to attach the camera body to specialized optical equipment such as telescopes and microscopes. This is most widely done using 35 mm or digital bodies via a standardized adaptor known as a T mount. This mounting is a threaded collar that typically fits in place of the eyepiece of the telescope (or whatever) and is sold by the manufacturer of the equipment.

A T adaptor is then required which allows it to be joined to your camera's normal bayonet lens fitting. T adaptors are available for all major camera brands (see Figure 3.41). Small digital cameras can also be used with a "Digiscope" attachment that allows them to be clamped direct to the eyepiece of a telescope or microscope, and photograph by means of eyepiece projection.

Lens Care

Your lens is the most important part of the camera or enlarger. It is important to prevent damage to its glass surfaces. On a camera you can help to do this with some form of lens cap, or a clear glass UV filter (p. 83). A small speck on the glass is relatively unimportant–it just minutely reduces illumination–but a greasy finger mark, scratches, or a layer of dust will scatter and diffuse light, so your images have less contrast and detail.

Loose dust and debris is best puffed away with a blower brush or gently guided to the rim of the lens. Grease or marks left by spots of rain may have to be removed with a soft tissue moistened in lens-cleaning fluid. Serious dirt can be removed by specialist lens-cleaning solutions that dry to form a plastic-wrap-like material that is peeled off, taking deposits with it. A scratched lens may be able to be repolished but the cost is likely to be prohibitive. Sometimes particles of dust may get inside the lens, but do not become overly concerned about this as often these will make no visible difference to the optical quality of the lens.

Don't become too obsessive about cleaning lenses. You will do far more harm than good if you rub away the top coating or inadvertently scratch the glass with a dirty cloth. Prevention is much better than cure. The internal elements of the lens should remain free from dirt but poor handling or storage can allow dust or moisture to find its way inside. There is a kind of fungus (Aureobasidium pullulans) that actually grows on glass, etching the surface with spidery lines and ruining lenses–look for this carefully when buying secondhand.

Lens hoods are useful for controlling stray light that can cause flare or lower image contrast, but they are also excellent for protecting the front element from rain, dust, or odd knocks.

Essentials and Extras

Choosing other accessories for your camera kit is mostly a matter of personal selection. One of the most rewarding pieces of equipment you can buy, in terms of increased picture quality for its price, is a good tripod. Having the camera firmly attached to a fixed base has obvious effects on image sharpness, and it often tends to make you focus and compose the image with greater care. Match the tripod to the camera's size and weight; Lightweight and compact tripods are easy to travel with, but the benefits of a heavier and taller tripod may well outweigh the benefits of the smaller, lighter tripod. For support in action photography–especially when you use a telephoto lens–try out a monopod (more portable and less obtrusive than a tripod).

If your camera has no built-in exposure meter, you must have a hand meter (see p. 143). You may also need filters for black and white and color photography, plus some form of filter holder to suit the front diameter of your set of camera lenses. The holder can form part of a lens hood, an accessory always worth fitting to reduce flare when your subject is lit from the side or rear. It can also protect your lens. However, the hood must not be so deep that it protrudes into the field of view.

You will probably need a portable flashgun (also known as a speed light) for use on location. See also studio flash, Chapter 7.

There are several worthwhile accessories for view finding and focusing. An SLR viewfinder eyecup helps to prevent reflections and stop sidelight entering the eyepiece, which can confuse the meter system on some models. A right-angle unit is helpful for low viewpoints and when the camera is rigged vertically for copying. A few 35 mm and most 120 SLR cameras allow the pentaprism to be interchanged. You can then fit a waist-level finder or a high magnification finder that allows you to see the image from a range of distances and angles. You can also change focusing screens to suit the work you are doing–perhaps fit a cross-line grid screen for architectural work to help you organize the lines of the building.

Provide yourself with plenty of film holders for a view camera, or film magazines for cameras that accept interchangeable backs. Instant picture (self-developing) film backs used to be used extensively for large and medium format professional work; it is now more likely that tests would be done on a DSLR or you would just be shooting on DSLR. It is vital, with large format shooting, to have a final visual check on lighting, critical layout, and exposure, and to confirm the correct functioning of your flash and shutter equipment. Fuji still produce instant film if you are interested in using this. If you are shooting digitally, you will need plenty of memory cards and/or a portable computer that you can back up to.

All the leading camera brands offer dozens of other accessories, ranging from backs which light-print words and numbers on every frame, to underwater camera housings, and radio or IR remote shutter releases and flash triggers plus other relevant wiring. (See also digital backs, p. 117.) A changing bag is a useful standby if film jams inside any camera or magazine, or for reloading sheet film holders on location. Other "backup" includes a lens-cleaning blower brush, lens cloths or tissues, and spare batteries. You may also need masking and gaffer tape.

You will also require one or more cases for your camera kit. There are three main kinds. Large metal cases with padded compartments are good for the various components of a view camera outfit plus accessories. This kind of case has the advantage that you can stand on it–when, for example, you are focusing the camera at maximum tripod height. A smaller, foam filled metal attaché case suits a medium or small format kit and is designed for you to cut away lumps of foam to fit your own choice of components.

A tough waterproof canvas shoulder bag with pouches and adjustable compartments is one of the most convenient ways of carrying a comprehensive 35 mm or DSLR outfit. There are several excellent companies that make numerous different types of bag, including a vacuum-sealed bag enabling totally safe transport via airline (in the hold). Portable lighting kits usually come with their own bags, as do some tripods.

Which Kit Works for You?

No two photographers will agree on the contents of an "ideal" camera kit. Your equipment collection is likely to build naturally as you expand the range of photographic subjects you cover and/or the way you want to approach your subjects. It is not a good idea to go out and buy a whole lot of gear in one go; instead build up the kit as you go along. Sometimes it may be more economical to hire the equipment, especially when working on a commercial job and equipment hire can be factored into the costs. Figure 3.42 is a typical photographer bag packed and ready to go. For more narrowly specialized subjects the equipment will vary; for example, many professional sports or wildlife photographers would regard a long focal length zoom of 300-1200 mm as almost essential.

3.42
An example of a photographer's kit bag packed full of camera gear and accessories to cover a wide range of situations

3.43 Effects attachments. Left: A screw-in polarizing filter. Once attached to the camera lens, the filter is designed to rotate to alter the polarizing effect. Right: A camera with a filter system attached. A filter system allows multiple filters to be used at once. A round polarizing filter is placed in the system with a rectangular graduated neutral density filter in front. The "ND Grad" filter is dark at the top and clear at the bottom, darkening the top part of the image by two stops of light, perfect for darkening skies that would otherwise be bleached out. The design of the system allows you to move the graduated filter up and down so you can position it perfectly in line with the horizon.

Filters — How They Work

Deceptively simple pieces of colored glass or plastic, filters are extremely versatile photographic tools, allowing the tones and/or colors of an image to be changed very subtly or by extreme amounts or somewhere in between. This last section of Chapter 3 discusses just what an optical filter does. Certain wavelengths of light are absorbed, while others pass through freely, allowing the photographer to use just the type of light to suit the subject and if necessary shift the emphasis.

The rule is that a filter allows light matching its own color to pass through it, and absorbs (darkens) other colors–particularly those farthest from it in the spectrum (see Figure 3.46). To check out filter effects, first find yourself a bold, multicolored design–a book jacket or cornflake packet perhaps, or a motif like that of Figure 3.46. View it through a strong red filter (a sweet wrapping will do). The whole subject appears red, but check how light or dark the original colors now appear. Strong blue and green subject areas are relatively darker in tone, almost indistinguishable from black areas. This is because very little of their colors makes it through the filter.

Red parts of the subject, however, look much paler than before, practically the same as white areas since they reflect as much red light as the white areas do (the other colors that white reflects are absorbed by the red filter). The same tonal changes occur when the light source illuminating your subject is filtered (instead of your camera lens), so a red filter over your studio lights or flashgun will have the same effect.

Colored filters help you to alter the relationship between the gray tones made by monochrome film (see Figures 3.47 and 3.48). When you are working with color film in an analog camera, they allow you to shoot using light sources for which the film is not balanced (e.g., daylight film in tungsten light) without getting an overall color cast (Figure 3.44). By using paler filters you can gently "warm up" or "cool down" color images when the subject or lighting color is not ideal. Most digital cameras give you a range of "lighting type" settings to use so that when you shoot indoors, for example, you set the camera to tungsten light. Nearly all the effects that can be achieved using filters can also be created in digital postproduction; however, many photographers still seem to prefer to use filters and make the alterations at the shooting stage.

Filter types. Photographic filters are made in three main types. The simplest are very thin flexible squares of dyed gelatin or polyester that you either hold over the lens or fit into a filter holder. These are relatively cheap but soon pick up finger marks and scratches if used often. The majority of dyed filters are manufactured in optical (CR 39) resin, square in shape to slip into a holder. Unlike the gelatin type these are not flexible and will crack if dropped, but they resist scratching much better. The third type is made in glass and sold in circular mounts that screw into the front rim of the lens. These filters tend to be the most expensive as they are usually made from optical glass and frequently treated with anti-reflection coatings like camera lenses. Remember that the filter is the first thing the light passes through and therefore it needs to be as clean and free from damage as possible. A glass or resin filter may slightly alter the position of sharp focus, so always focus with your filter in place, especially if shooting at wide aperture. It's difficult to fit a filter over the front of a wide-angle lens without corners of the picture darkening ("cut-off").

Because a colored filter absorbs part of the light from the image, it reduces the amount of light coming into the camera through the lens. If you are using a hand-held light meter, this can be an issue as the meter will not factor in the light lost due to the filter–so you will need to calculate the exposure change by a "filter factor" shown in the table in Figure 3.49 or on the box of your filter (see also p. 148). If you are using an SLR camera with a

3.44 Color films, especially slides, exposed to subjects lit by a source of the wrong color temperature show a cast. You shoot using an appropriate conversion filter (Note: 3400 K tungsten lamps, regularly used for TV and movie lighting, require filtering on both daylight and tungsten type stills-photography film.)

3.45 The use of a graduated filter tinted blue only in its upper half and placed over the camera lens to add vibrance to an otherwise dull gray sky (see p.87).

3.46
Top: Simplified color wheel, based on the spectrum of light "bent" into a circle Oversize segments blue green, and red are the primary colors of light. Yellow, magenta, and cyan are complementary colors, and (for filtering purposes) the most opposite to each primary Bottom: A colored filter absorbs most of the spectrum, allowing only certain wavelengths through.

3.47
Filtering to enhance/change sky detail. The left picture was shot on pan film without any filter. A deep red filter was added for the right picture. Notice how filtering has darkened the mid-blue sky. The filter factor was 38 so the exposure was increased by three stops.

3.48 Effect of colored filters on black and white film: (top) color image no filter, (below) shot in black and white no filter, (next down) shot in black and white with yellow filter–notice how the yellow sweets now appear much lighter, and (bottom) shot with a blue filter–see how the blues are now much lighter and the yellows are darker.

3.49
Color filters with black and white film; color chart photographed on panchromatic film through a deep green (top), deep red (middle), and deep blue filter (bottom).

"through-the-lens" exposure meter, the exposure change will be taken into account as it will be read through the filter.

Using color filters in black and white photography

Clouds and blue skies often barely show up in a black and white photograph unless you photograph through an orange or red filter. Much of the blue sky light is then absorbed by the filter, making white clouds stand out boldly against what is now dark sky (Figure 3.47).

No change takes place if the whole sky is white with clouds, and there is Little effect if the sky is only weak blue (containing a high proportion of white light too). You should also consider any other colors present. If the sky is part of a landscape with green foliage, for example, the green darkens as well. If you use a deep green filter here instead, this will darken sky tone almost as much but lightens the foliage. The table in Figure 3.49 lists the typical uses of other filters.

Colored filters are very useful to emphasize certain parts of the picture while suppressing others. Other examples are photographing autumn leaves through a yellow or orange filter to make them stand out more in a black and white print, or photographing portraits through a red one to lighten and reduce the appearance of skin blemishes.

Digital filter effects

Many digital cameras have options in their software to record black and white images, emphasizing certain colors over others and giving the effect of a red, green, or blue filter over the lens. You will have better results shooting the images in color and converting them to black and white in the postproduction stages (see Chapter 9).

Using color filters with color materials

Color filters are used in color photography either for correction or for special effects.

Correction filters. There are two kinds of color correction filters. First, a small number of often quite strong "color conversion" filters (Figure 3.44) allow you to shoot film balanced for one color temperature in lighting of another. The second group consists of a wide range of mostly paler "color compensating" (CC) filters in six colors and various strengths. These allow you to "fine tune" adjustments toward warmer or colder results and so compensate for film batch variations, working conditions, non-standard light sources, etc.

Conversion filters with odd reference numbers are yellowish or orange, for lowering the color temperature of the light (Figure 3.50)–these were mainly used for tungsten films and so are rarely needed today. Filters with even numbers are bluish and raise the color temperature. These conversion filters change a particular light source by the amount required for a particular film type (in analog cameras) or daylight type in digital cameras.

An 80A and an 80B filter (even numbers, both blue) change 3200 K and 3400 K tungsten lighting respectively to match daylight and so suit daylight-balanced film. These are particularly useful filters (for analog film users) because tungsten balanced films are no longer made.

If subject lighting is mixed (a tungsten lamp used to "fill in" and reduce contrast in a daylight-lit interior, for example), you can use the filter in sheet acetate form over one light source to match it to the other. (Avoid using a lighting acetate for the lens; its poor optical qualities will upset image definition.)

Color compensating filters, on the other hand, are best bought as gelatins of various tints and strengths. The most useful ones are yellow, red, and magenta, in CC10 and CC20 strength (used together these form a CC30).

3.50
Color conversion filters.

Filters are most often needed on the lens:

• when using light sources (such as some fluorescent tubes) for which no one color conversion filter exists:

• to help counter the effect of reflective colored surroundings-green vegetation, room decorations, etc.–which may otherwise tint your subject;

• to give the scene an intentional slight all-over color bias that can affect mood or color design.

Colorless filters, used for both monochrome and color

Several important filters are equally useful whether you are shooting in black and white or color.

Ultraviolet

UV-absorbing filters look like plain glass because they only absorb wavelengths our eyes cannot see. The sun's short-wavelength radiation is most readily scattered by particles in the atmosphere–a reason why distant haze in landscapes has a bluish appearance to the eye. On films or digital sensors, however, this scattered UV records as well, increasing the mistiness of haze and, on color images, exaggerating its blueness. The effect is especially notable with landscapes at high altitude and near the sea. Many camera lenses often incorporate a UV absorber within their optics. A UV absorbing filter can help record the subject appearance you actually see.

Better still, for color photography, use a 1A "sky light" or "haze" filter, which has a barely perceptible pink tint (if you are using a warm-colored filter, this will also act as a UV absorber). A lot of photographers use a 1A sky light filter to protect the front element of their lens.

Neutral density

These are gray, colorless filters that affect all wavelengths equally and just cut down the image brightness. They are made in various strengths in increments of one-third of a stop (see Figure 3.52). An ND0.3 or ND0.6 filter is useful when you are using a high ISO but want to have a slow shutter speed (to create blur) or a wide aperture (for shallow depth of field) or if wanting to make especially long exposures (see Figure 3.51). ND filters can be combined to increase their strength.

3.51
Christopher Smith subverts the "still life" genre with his long exposures recording flowers as they slowly wilt. In this photograph a ten-stop neutral density filter was used to achieve an 11-day-long exposure.

“Black” filters

Infrared-sensitive materials are usually used with a "black" filter that appears to be opaque but in fact only allows the non-visible wavelengths to pass through it, giving the most extreme effects possible with infrared film or DSLRs that have had their infrared filter removed (in order to take digital infrared photographs). On SLR cameras the picture needs to be composed and focused before fitting the filter.

3.52 Neutral density filters.

Polarizer

A polarizing filter also looks gray and can be used as an ND filter, but has unusual extra properties that give it several applications. As Figure 3.53 shows, normal light waves vibrate in all planes at once at right angles to their direction of travel. Plane polarized light is restricted to one direction. Unlike some creatures, our eyes cannot tell the difference between polarized and unpolarized light, but polarized light exists around us–in light from parts of blue sky at right angles to sunlight, for example, or light reflected off any shiny non-metallic surface at a low angle (about 33° to the surface). When using a polarizer to darken the sky, remember that the strongest effect is at right angles to the sun, and the effect may not be uniform if you use a wide-angle lens.

A polarizing filter has a special molecular structure. Think of its effect on light waves as like an egg slicer or narrow parallel railings: when its "lines" are parallel to the plane in which polarized light is vibrating, light is transmitted, but when they are at right angles the polarized light cannot pass. In practice you look through the filter, rotating it until an unwanted reflection disappears, or the sky darkens, and so on.

Whole lake surfaces or every window of an office block can be cleared of reflected sky light if you have the right viewpoint. Blue sky can be darkened in color as well as in black and white photography making clouds prominent. The color of glossy objects such as glazed ceramic or shiny plastic becomes more intense when the sheen they reflect from surroundings is removed (see Figures 3.55 to 3.57). If you are copying subjects like paintings behind glass, a polarizing sheet over each light plus another on the lens allows specular reflections off any surface, and at any angle, to be controlled (Figure 3.54).

Circular polarizers. Regular linear polarizing filters work fine on most cameras; however, on some SLR cameras they can upset the exposure-reading or focus-sensing mechanisms. If this happens, you must use

3.53
Polarized light. Top: Unpolarized light, shown vibrating in two of many directions at right angles to its path of travel, becomes restricted to one plane when passed through a polarizing filter. (It would be polarized this same way if reflected off a shiny non-metallic vertical surface.) Bottom: Polarized light stopped by a polarizing filter turned 90° to the lights plane of polarization.

3.54 Using a polarizing filter. Left: To absorb light reflected from a glass window–most strongly polarized at 33° to the surface. Light scattered from the matt-surfaced wood remains unpolarized and passes through the camera filter. Center: Rotating the polarizing filter darkens parts of blue sky at right angles to the sun's direction. Right: All reflections removed from glass by polarizing the light from the lamps and fitting another filter (turned 90°) over the camera lens.

3.55
The effect of a polarizing filter suppressing reflections on water is dramatic. Left: A sunny day creates bright reflections on the water surface. Right: The same view shot using a polarizing filter rotated to the position giving maximum effect, which suppresses the reflections, making the water appear translucent.

3.56 The effect of a polarizer on blue skies. Left: No filter. Right: With polarizer rotated to give the maximum darkening effect. Note how only the sky is affected.

3.57
The effect of a polarizer on glass. Left: No filter. Right: With polarizer rotated to give the maximum reduction of reflection in the glass.

3.58 A rainbow or "colorburst" diffraction attachment adds a graphic effect to the brilliant spill of sunlight topping a simple post. (Take great care not to dazzle your eye looking through an SLR eyepiece unless the lens is fully stopped down.) An intense highlight in relatively dark surroundings is ideal for giving brilliant spectral patterns, but can be used in a variety of ways.

a circularly polarized filter instead (they have a similar effect on the image). Circular polarizers are more expensive so check your camera handbook for more information on whether your camera requires one.

Special-effects filters and attachments

There are dozens of different color filters for special effects. Some are so strong and assertive that for many they are little more than novelty items that can distract from the picture rather than improve it, but others are more widely useful. "Graduated" filters have a tint that fades off into clear glass halfway across the surface. They allow you to tint just the sky (or ground) in landscapes (see Figure 3.45). Graduates that are almost colorless or gray are the most useful for reducing light from the sky and so allow bright cloud detail to record at the same exposure needed for the foreground.

Always check the effect through the lens at your chosen f-number, because the aperture setting affects whether the change of color will be very graduated or more abrupt. (Such filters cannot be used precisely with cameras where you are not looking through the picture taking lens.)

Colorless special-effects optical attachments (they do not strictly filter anything out) include multi-image refractors, diffusers, and "starbursts" (Figure 3.58). None of them calls for an increase in exposure Such attachments must be deeply hooded from stray light, or image contrast will suffer.

Diffusers spread light parts of the image into dark parts, diluting shadow tones and colors, lowering contrast, and helping to give an atmospheric, often high key effect, like faint mist. "Starbursts" have a grid of finely etched lines that turn brilliant highlights into radiating spokes of light like a star. The number of "rays" depends upon the number and angle of the lines. Diffraction sometimes adds a slight color effect too.

Other lens attachments have finely etched Lines to create "rainbow" effects around brilliant highlights by diffraction of light (Figure 3.58). It is vital to have one or more really intense point light sources in the picture–the sun, spotlights, or speckled reflections from water–otherwise these attachments just give a slightly diffused low contrast image.

Summary

> Photographic lenses are assembled from multi-elements to help correct optical aberrations produced by single elements. Glass surfaces are coated throughout to minimize reflections. Smallest and largest aperture settings are also restricted to help reduce aberration effects.

> The image is not quite at its sharpest at either end of the aperture scale.

> The optimum setting for best performance is usually somewhere in the middle of the available range.

> A typical "normal" focal length lens for a camera has its focal length approximately the same as the diagonal of the picture format. It must also be designed to give an image of satisfactory quality over the whole of this area. The smaller the camera, the shorter the focal length lens it uses.

> The longer the lens focal length, the greater the physical focusing movement needed to cover a range of subject distances.

> An out of focus image of a point on the subject broadens into a "circle of confusion." Provided this is relatively small (typically 0.25 mm or smaller on the final result), it will still look acceptably sharp.

> Focusing (manual or by auto focusing mechanism) ranges from infinity setting down to a closest subject distance determined by whether the lens still maintains satisfactory image quality and the accuracy of the camera's viewfinder.

> Relative apertures are given f-numbers. Each number is focal length divided by diameter of effective aperture, so the lowest f-number denotes the widest aperture setting. Each f-number change either doubles or halves image brightness. Typically the scale runs f/1 f/1.4 fl2 f/2.8 fl4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 fl22 f/32 f/45 f/64 f/90.

> Depth of field is the zone between nearest and farthest subjects which are all acceptably in focus at one distance setting.

> Depth of field is increased by "stopping down" to a small aperture. It is also greater when you focus on distant subjects or use a lens of shorter focal length.

> Control over depth of field allows you either to isolate and emphasize or to give maximum information by resolving detail throughout. Preview the effect visually by checking the image itself if the camera allows.

> As a guide, focus on an item one-third inside the total depth of field you need. For distant shots, focusing for the hyperfocal distance will give you depth of field from half this distance to infinity.

> Small format cameras give greater effective depth of field than large format cameras, assuming normal lenses are used under the same conditions of distance and f-number.

> Take care of your lenses by protecting them from scratches, finger marks, and dust. Clean only when necessary. Learn to remove dust and slight marks safely, and leave the rest to experts.

> Changing the focal length of a camera's lens alters angle of view.

> A longer focal length concentrates on a small part of the scene, gives narrower angle of view and less depth of field, and exaggerates blur from camera shake.

> A shorter focal length (wide-angle lens) includes more of the scene in the frame, makes image detail smaller, increases depth of field, and diminishes blur from camera shake. Extreme wide-angles begin to distort the apparent shapes of objects farthest from the picture center.

> Perspective in pictures depends on your camera's viewpoint and distance relative to different elements in a scene. Results are also influenced by final print size and viewing distance.

> To exaggerate perspective effects, move closer and change to a wide-angle lens. To flatten perspective, move farther back and change to a longer focal length.

> Extreme focal lengths give very "unnatural" looking images. The most versatile kits contain moderately wide and telephoto lenses plus a normal lens, or (small format cameras) one or more zooms covering all these focal lengths.

> Zooms provide a continuous focal length range, avoid wasted moments when lens changing, and offer zoom effects and macro focusing. But they have a smaller maximum aperture and tend to be bulkier than fixed focal length lenses.

> You can focus very close subjects by increasing lens-film distance using rings, bellows, or a macro focusing lens. Recalculate exposure if you are not using through-the-lens (TTL) metering. Alternatively, add a converging element close-up lens to an existing camera lens. Rings and bellows can affect image quality.

> The most useful other camera accessories include a tripod, cable release, filters, hood, flash, a separate meter, spare batteries, and memory cards. Also: extra film holders, magazines and spare bodies, viewfinder aids, and carrying case.

> Color filters (gelatin, glass, or acetate) lighten the tone of subjects their own color, and darken complementaries when used with black and white film. The richer the color of the filter and subject, the stronger this effect.

> Color correction filters are used with color films to convert the color temperature of the subject lighting to suit the color balance of the film.

> Color compensating (CC) filters allow you fine adjustment of color balance for correction or mood. Graduated, split, color spot, diffraction, and other tinted lens attachments give special color effects.

> UV, neutral density, and polarizing filters, and many colorless effects attachments such as multi-image units, diffusers, and starbursts, are usable for both black and white and color work. Polarizers can darken polarized light from a blue sky, or reflections off shiny (non-metallic) surfaces. The effect varies according to the direction of your subject lighting and the angle you rotate the filter to on the lens.

Projects

1. Visually check depth of field. Use a single-lens reflex camera fitted with a depth of field preview button (or work with a large format camera). Arrange a scene containing well-lit objects at, for example, 1 m, 2 m, and beyond 3 m. Focus for 2 m and view the result at widest aperture. Next set the lens to f/8, press the preview button if using an SLR, and ignoring the dimmer image see how nearest and farthest objects have improved in sharpness. Test again at f/16. Also compare the effects of focusing on closer or more distant groups of objects.

2. Bright, out of focus highlights spread into approximately circular disks of light because lens and diaphragm are nearly circular. Cut out a star or cross shape from black paper and hold it against the front of your SLR camera lens, set to widest aperture. View a subject full of sparkling highlights (such as crumpled foil) rendered out of focus, and see the change of appearance your shape gives.

3. Using your camera on a tripod, compose a picture containing detailed objects over a wide range of distances, from about 0.5 m to the far horizon. Take a series of shots at (1) widest aperture and (2) smallest aperture, with the lens set for: (a) infinity, (b) the hyperfocal distance for your aperture (read this off the depth of field scale), (c) a foreground object, (d) the same object as (c) but with the camera twice as far away and refocused. Compare results for depth of field changes. Remember to adjust exposure time for each change of aperture. It is useful to keep notes when doing a test like this.

4. Test your lenses for optimum aperture. Make a simple test target from a full sheet of broadsheet newspaper. Choose a page that has as much small print all over the page as possible (financial pages are good for this). Position the camera on a tripod so as to fill the frame with the page, with the camera square on to the paper. Having focused very carefully, take a series of photographs of the newspaper at each aperture on your lens using a low ISO. Note down the apertures used and, as in number 3 above, remember to adjust exposure time for each change of aperture. View the resulting images zoomed in on a computer screen or enlarged on an enlarger or in print form. You will find the image is slightly less sharp at the extreme ends of the aperture scale and most crisp somewhere in the middle of the range. The f-stop which yields the best result is known as the optimum aperture.

5. Get some practical experience of a range of lens types for your camera. Compare the size of image detail, the depth of field (at same f-number), the balance and weight of body plus lens, and the degree of image movement produced by camera shake when hand-held. Check out the closest subject distance you can focus.

6. Prove that lenses alone do not have an effect on perspective. Select a subject containing several relatively distant objects such as people, animals, and trees in a landscape. Take two photographs from the same viewpoint, one on a wide-angle lens and another on a telephoto. Print both images, then enlarge the center of the wide-angle frame until it is the same size as the telephoto shot. You will see that even though there may be differences in depth of field, the objects will be the same relative sizes as the viewpoint was unchanged.

7. Take full-face head shots of someone you know, using each of a range of lenses from wide-angle to telephoto or different settings of an equivalent zoom. For each focal length, adjust your distance so that the subject's head is imaged the same size in every picture. Compare the perspective in your results. Also try one shot from above and one from below. Compare the difference in these two portraits.

8. Try zooming during exposure. Use shutter speeds around one-quarter second or longer. Have the camera on a tripod and either zoom smoothly throughout exposure or add a brief static movement at the start or finish. Make your center of interest dead center in the frame, and include patterned surroundings.

9. Check to see what is the slowest shutter speed you can use holding the camera by hand, particularly with long lenses. Photograph a static subject at a variety of speeds and examine the results very closely. If your lens has image stabilization, try with the system both switched on and off. Some people are better at holding a camera steady than others, and a heavy camera is often easier to hold steady than a lighter one. If you aren't very good, practice! A tip would be to click the shutter while you exhale (breath), it may also be helpful to brace your arms against your chest

10. Check the visual effects of color filters. Set up a slide projector in a darkened room and either use its light to illuminate a colorful poster or simply project a slide containing many strong colors. Use a series of deep color filters in turn in front of the lens and notice which parts of the poster or slide image darken/lighten in tone.

11. Explore the effects of a polarizer. First simply view things through the filter, then shoot pictures with and without the filter for comparison.

Chapter Four
Cameras

This chapter takes you from the lens alone in the previous chapter to the camera as a whole. It explains the main camera components and shows how—put together in different combinations—they make up today's mainstream camera designs. It also compares the advantages and disadvantages of various camera types as well as some practical differences between digital and film cameras—differences in cost and design; the way your picture is stored and retrieved; and what to expect in terms of image quality Before we look at the range of different camera types, it is worth making note of the essential elements that apply to all cameras; later we discuss in more detail how digital images are captured.

The Essential Components

Whatever its picture size or type of design, a camera should offer the following controls and adjustments, either manual or automated:

A means of accurately aiming the camera to focus precisely and compose the picture.

A shutter to control the moment of exposure and how long light acts on the sensitive surface

An aperture to control image brightness and depth of field.

A meter to measure the light and indicate or set the exposure needed for each shot.

Composing and focusing

All digital cameras have a liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen (see Figure 4.1) to review your pictures—on compacts this is usually the only means of viewing the scene. Few compacts have an optical viewfinder any more, but on a single-lens reflex camera, digital (DSLR) or film, the optical viewfinder is the camera's most distinguishing feature; rather than look at a screen on the back of your camera, you look through an eyepiece to view the image. A 45° mirror and a prism assembly is used to show you the exact view through the lens (Figure 4.2). The image is bright, clear, and almost like looking at the subject itself. The viewfinder enables you to compose and focus, and displays some shooting data, but it doesn't show the effect of exposure and other settings on your image. Most DSLR viewfinders only show around 95 percent of what the sensor will record, missing out the very edges, but some more expensive models show 100 percent.

4.1
A typical LCD screen at the back of a digital camera. Not only does it allow you to view and compose the image but the menu buttons also make it possible to search for images already stored in the camera or on the storage card. The menu options also allow you to make a range of adjustments to the image.

LCD screens on the back of your camera vary in size. Larger screens make viewing easier but size isn't the only factor; resolution affects the sharpness and clarity, and how much detail you can see. The brightness and the quality of the anti-reflective coatings determine how easy the screen is to use in bright sun. Some LCD screens can tilt and swivel and some, but not all, DSLRs enable you to use the LCD screen to shoot with—a feature known as "Live View"—although DSLRs can be rather heavy and not best used at arm's length. Live View is best used for shooting at high and low angles where it isn't possible to see through the viewfinder, or when you've set up on a tripod, focused, and are waiting for the right moment to press the shutter.

4.2
Sequence of exposing actions in a single-lens reflex camera. (1) Composing and focusing. (2) When you press the release, the aperture first closes to its presetting and the mirror rises. (3) Shutter in front of the sensor/film fires. (4) Mirror returns and aperture reopens, ready for the next shot.

Another alternative that is becoming much more common is the electronic viewfinder (EVF), found on Micro System cameras and some fixed lens cameras. Essentially it is a tiny screen inside the camera that does away with the need for a mirror and prism. This means they can be smaller but show the same information as the LCD screen. EVFs also enable you to see the effect that changing the exposure, white balance, and other settings will have on your picture before you take it; however, they lack the degree of connection with your subject that DSLR viewfinders give you.

Another arrangement, dating from early amateur cameras, is to have a Line-of-sight viewfinder built into the body of the camera, generally found in film compacts (see Figure 4.3) as they do not have an LCD screen. It gives a separate direct view of the subject and is masked to have the same angle of view and aspect ratio as the picture given by the camera lens. The trouble with this direct vision viewfinder is that although it exactly frames up distant subjects, when you photograph closer up what you see through the finder becomes increasingly displaced and inaccurate (see Figure 4.4). Since this fault is due to the separate, parallel viewpoints of camera lens and viewfinder, it is known as "parallax error" (see Figure 4.5). Within the viewfinder window a correction line has to show the true top of your picture when shooting at your closest focusing distance.

The oldest, and most awkward, way to accurately compose and focus your picture is still used in large format view cameras for professional photography. A ground glass screen at the back of the camera allows you to see and focus the actual image formed by the lens (Figure 4.6).

Shutter

4.3
A typical direct viewfinder compact camera. (A) Shutter release and power wind-on. (B) LCD panel displaying frame counter, battery state, etc. (C) Front window of viewfinder. (D) Windows for IR auto-focus system. (E) Light sensor for auto-exposure setting program. (F) Flip up or pull out flash. (G) Lens zooming control

The shutter is designed to control the amount of light entering the camera and is used in conjunction with the aperture to provide the correct exposure. A front or "between-lens" shutter (see Figure 4.7) has several thin opaque blades which rapidly swing out of, and back into, the light beam to make the exposure when the release is pressed. In this central position the shutter has an even effect on the whole image, and only a small movement is needed to open and close the light path. It is also easy to synchronize this action with flash: contact is made to the (electronic) firing circuit the instant the blades are fully open.

4.4
Direct viewfincling accuracy. The separate positioning of viewfincling (V) and taking lens (T) causes framing variations between what you see and what is photographed. This parallax error increases greatly at dose subject distances (exaggerated here).

4.5
Correction lines for parallax The viewfinder in this compact camera suffers both horizontal and vertical parallax errors, due to its location relative to the lens. Extra lines in the viewfinder display show the top and sides of the picture limits (broken lines) at closest focusing distance.

4.6
Photographing procedure with a view camera, (a) Composing and focusing on the ground glass screen, (b) Stopping down while visually checking depth of field, (c) Closing and setting the shutter, (d) After inserting a film holder, withdrawing the darkslide covering the film, (e) Firing the shutter.

A rear or focal plane (FP) shutter is more practical in cameras with interchangeable lenses, as it covers the image sensor or film when you change lenses. Focal plane shutters in small format cameras often have sliding metal blades. Alternatively there are two roll-up fabric blinds. One blade or blind opens to start the exposure, the other follows to block out the light again. For short exposures, the two follow each other across the film so closely that they form a slit which actually exposes the picture. After each shot the blades or blinds are wound back, this time overlapped to avoid further exposure, ready for the next picture.

4.7
Bladed, between-lens shutter. The lower drawing shows how the blades (simplified here to three) rapidly open or close when the ring is part-rotated.

Having a focal plane shutter also means that light can be allowed to pass through the lens and provide an image for viewfinding and focusing via a reflex system, as discussed previously (Figure 4.8). And since one shutter will serve a range of lenses of different focal lengths, you don't have to have a between-lens shutter in each. In some recent digital cameras the shutter action is done by the image sensor turning itself on and off, so doing away with the need for an actual shutter (see Chapter 5).

The usual range of shutter speeds, on both types of shutter, is:

1, ½, ¼, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 s

The shutter speeds (the length of time light is allowed to pass through to the image sensor or film) are denoted in seconds, and while the list of shutter speeds is still commonly used, digital cameras allow for much finer control with additional stops in between these times. Cameras with FP shutters may continue this series down to 1/8000 s. Most single-lens reflex cameras use electronically timed FP shutters offering settings up to 30 s, or B (see below). Large diameter between-lens shutters for view cameras have big, cumbersome blades to move and may not operate faster than 1/250 s.

4.8
For centuries before photography artists used the reflex camera obscura to form a right-way-up image on glass, convenient for tracing.

These times represent the doubling/halving progression of shutter settings (figures rounded up or down in some instances) and complement the aperture f-number scale in terms of exposure given to the film. In other words, 1/60 at f/8 is the same exposure as 1/125 at f/5.6 or 1/30 at f/11 (Figure 5.1). Actual choice depends on the depth of field (f-numbers) you want (Figure 3.11) and whether movement (shutter speeds) should record frozen or blurred (Figure 4.9) The shutter speeds listed above make a wide range of exposures possible. Combining them with a similar range of apertures on a lens means a very wide range of subject brightness conditions can be covered. Typically this means a range of 1:64,000 or more, which should encompass anything from candlelight to the brightest summer day.

If you want an exposure longer than offered by the scale of shutter speeds, you may find that your camera has the setting "B." (B stands for "brief" or "bulb" after early photographers use of an air bulb and tube system to hold the shutter open.) On B setting the shutter opens when you press the release button and remains open as long as you keep it pressed down, normally using a cable release.

4.9
The effect of shutter speed on a moving subject. Top left: 1/1000 s renders the planes sharp but gives no sense of motion, making them look more like models than real aircraft. Top right: 1/8 s exaggerates movement at the expense of detail Bottom left: "Panning" the camera reduces the cars movement relative to the frame so it appears sharp even at a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/125 s. The background, however, is blurred in the direction of motion, adding to the sense of speed. Bottom right: A fast shutter speed of 1/1000 s freezes everything in the frame, but the essence of motion is retained by the spray being thrown up.

Flash can be fired by a between-lens shutter atail marked speeds. FP shutters are slightly more difficult here because the flash must only fire when the entire film frame is uncovered (Figure 4.10). Otherwise only part of your picture will appear. Contact to fire the flash is made when the edge of the opening blind gets to the far end of the frame. Providing you use the sync speed for your camera, or any speed slower, the second blind will not yet have started to travel and the full frame is uncovered for exposure. (Check your camera manual, but in general don't exceed speeds of 1/200 or 1/250 depending on the make of your DSLR or 1/125 with most 35 mm film metal blade FP shutters; or 1/60 with large 6x7 cm blind FP shutters.)

4.10
A focal plane shutter. One blade or blind follows the other horizontally The sequence also shows how flash is usually triggered when the first blind has fully opened—at this point the film frame receives the full image.

After a shot is taken, all focal plane and most between-lens shutters, mechanical or electronic, have to be retensioned before they can be fired to take the next picture; this is done automatically with digital or electronic film cameras. Often in older mechanical cameras the cocking mechanism is set by winding on the film and so is hardly noticed. Larger film format cameras usually have a tensioning lever beside the shutter, and this must be activated before you fire the shutter with another lever or a cable release (Figure 4.11).

4.11
Shutter and lens unit. Typical view camera (5 x 4) lens unit with mechanical bladed shutter. The panel it is mounted on makes it interchangeable with other lens units.

As mentioned before, cameras will feature intermediate shutter speeds. As well as the "classical" settings listed above, you may find other numbers in between so the sequence looks (in part) like this:

1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250 ...

These interim numbers represent one-third stop increments, allowing a wider range of options, but they are not essential for fine control of exposure since the lens aperture is usually adjustable to half or third stop accuracy. Alterations in shutter speed and ISO rating can also be used to fine tune exposure, particularly if you have decided on a specific aperture being necessary to achieve a certain depth of field.

Aperture

Physically, the diaphragm system used for lens aperture control differs little from camera to camera. As shown in Chapter 3, a series of overlapping sliding blades forms a hole of continual variable diameter. Sometimes, however, when the camera has a between-lens shutter, shutter and diaphragm are combined. The shutter then has six suitably shaped blades designed to open only part way, temporarily forming a hexagonal aperture of the correct size according to the f-number preset. This reduces the mechanism needed and is very suitable for linkage to the exposure setting in fully automated compact cameras.

In cameras that allow you to compose and focus the actual lens image, as with single-lens reflex cameras, the aperture can be preset This means that you (or the camera's auto exposure system) set the required/-number but the lens still stays fully open for brightest image viewing until just before the shutter is fired. This last-minute stopping down is triggered automatically from the shutter release mechanism.

In all cases you will probably want to check depth of field effects at different shooting apertures. On some cameras there is a special aperture preview button on the camera body or lens; so long as you keep this pressed the diaphragm responds to any setting made on the f-number scale (see Figure 4.12).

Light measurement

Practically all cameras have some form of built-in system to measure the brightness of light from the subject and so assess correct exposure. This signals when you have manually set a suitable combination of f-number and shutter speed, or else it automatically sets (a) the correct shutter speed for an aperture you have set (known as aperture priority or Av mode); or (b) the correct aperture for a shutter speed you have set (shutter priority or Tv mode); or (c) a suitable combination of shutter and aperture settings chosen by the system from a built-in program. The practical advantages and disadvantages of each are compared on p. 140.

4.12
Depth of field preview. Lenses on single-lens reflex cameras have apertures which remain fully open before exposure for easiest focusing and viewfinding (left). If the camera offers a preview button, this will stop down the lens to the taking aperture. The image on the focusing screen now becomes darker (right) but shows you the actual depth of field you will record.

A tiny light-sensitive measuring sensor may be located on the front of the camera body pointing directly at the subject from close to the lens, or sensors can be positioned inside the camera, sampling the light which has come through the camera lens itself. An internal sensor system is more accurate and works equally well with any change of lens or filter over the lens.

All modern exposure-measuring systems need to be powered by a battery. This is usually tapped off the same power circuit for auto focus and shutter timing. Large format cameras seldom have light-measuring arrangements built in, and you have to add a metering attachment or use a hand-held meter instead (see Chapter 5). (Alternatively, if you are working with a medium or large format camera without a meter, take readings with a small format internal-meter camera and then transfer the settings displayed.)

Camera Types—Which is Best?

So far we have looked at the basic components present in some form in every camera system—for aiming, focusing, controlling depth of field, capturing movement, and exposure. Different camera types approach these tasks in a variety of ways, so how do you decide which is the right one? No one camera is ideal. Some are extremely versatile but something of a compromise, not matched to any one kind of photography. Others are specialist tools that enable you to tackle a narrow range of tasks in ways that would be impossible with any other equipment.

Digital cameras retain most of the optics and mechanisms needed in film cameras, although, as we will see, alternative digital cameras are being designed at a pace; however, the arguments for and against different camera designs raised here are largely on common ground. Modern small format cameras are internally very sophisticated, requiring least knowledge of photographic technicalities to get acceptable snapshots. Many photographers find the manual film cameras far more straightforward to use than some of the high end digital versions which have highly complex setup procedures with numerous details to fix in the menu settings before shooting. Most film medium and large format cameras have fewer automated aids, even with digital backs attached, so you must understand photographic principles more thoroughly to operate these cameras successfully.

I here is no doubt that certain cameras fit certain jobs and, on top of this, different cameras can give varying impressions to your client or subject. You should try to select the most appropriate camera for the job you are doing, i.e., the one that will give you the best results. The way your subject or client responds to your camera can affect the quality of the photographs; your choice of equipment may well be affected by this knowledge. When you are commissioned for a commercial job and turn up with a standard DSLR outfit not dissimilar to the client's own, the effect can be less impressive than medium or large specialist-looking equipment. If working on the street or in a confrontational space, war zone, or demonstration, a small discrete camera might be more appropriate to avoid reactions from the subjects.

If possible try to get "hands-on" experience of different camera types. Compare convenience, toughness, and reliability as well as image quality. Decide what sort of camera controls feel right for you in your hands. With film cameras more so than digital, whether the size and proportions of the picture a particular camera gives are best suited to your work. Differences in film size (Figure 4.13) obviously mean that different size cameras are needed to house them.

4.13
Picture formats. The picture areas given by large (4x5 inch} medium (120), and small (35 mm and APS) format cameras, drawn here life size 120 rollfilm and 35 mm provide different formats according to the camera design.

Getting Started with Digital Cameras

While cameras come inail shapes and sizes, all digital cameras have a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensor or a CCD (charge-coupled device; Figure 4.14), which consists of a grid of phototransistors to sense the intensity of the light across the plane of focus. CMOS sensors are slightly different from CCD sensors in that they generally use less power and have a different kind of light-sensing material.

4.14
CCD image sensor. An image area of 23.7 x 15.6 mm containing a grid of 3008 x 2000 pixels (6 megapixels); a color filter array is placed on top of the sensor to capture red, green, and blue (RGB) parts of the light.

On exposure, electrical, charges are generated in proportion to how much light each pixel receives. A color filter array is placed on top of the sensor to capture red, green, and blue (RGB) parts of the light and, via the built-in analog to digital converter or ADC, changes these into a stream of digital signals—each picture creating a "file." The larger the number of pixels, the bigger the file size and the higher the resolution of detail in the image. Captured image files are the equivalent of exposed film frames.

Unlike analog where you have a choice of color or black and white film, digital cameras only take pictures in RGB. On some you can, however, use a black and white setting (on a number of cameras you have additional effects, including sepia), but the image is converted to grayscale via built-in software after you have shot it. This is useful when you wish to see the immediate result of the effect (Figure 4.15) but you have far greater control over an eventual conversion in postproduction; for more details see Chapter 9.

4.15
The effect of in camera "filter" settings on the color of the image (a) Normal RGB (color) image (b) Warm effect, (c) Cold effect, (d) Black and white, (e) Sepia.

4.16 (a) Photographs taken with a digital camera can be downloaded to the computer by connecting the camera directly using a USB/ FireWire cable (b) Memory cards are usually contained in the camera at the bottom or on the side. Remember to turn your camera off before inserting it or ejecting it. (c) You can also use an external card reader to download your photographs from your memory card. These can be connected to the computer via a USB/ FireWire cable, (d) With older card types (in this case a microdrive) you may have to insert your card into a card adaptor before you insert into a card reader, (e) An external card reader with a memory card mounted in an adaptor, (f) On this DSLR the CompactFlash card is inserted at the back of the camera.

You can view the pictures before, while, and after shooting on the LCD screen. At this time too, any shots you have taken but don't want may be deleted and their vacated file space used for new pictures, time and again. The quantity of pictures a full memory card can contain depends upon the size of each file (higher resolution images contain more pixels) and the capacity of the card you have in your camera. At any convenient time pictures can be downloaded from the camera, usually via a USB cable supplied with the camera or, more often, from its memory card directly into a computer (Figure 4.16). You can then save your files prior to any necessary image manipulation, and print them out. Or files can also be transmitted (e.g., by cellphone or wirelessly from the camera itself) to, say, a newspaper picture-editing desk on the other side of the world.

The megapixel debate

The output size and to some degree the quality of a digital camera are measured in megapixels. A megapixel is 1 million pixels and can be calculated as the number of horizontal pixels multiplied by the number of vertical pixels in an image—such as 4000 x 3000 pixels = 12,000,000 pixels or 12 megapixels (MP) (Figure 4.17).

The pixels of a digital image are laid out in a rectangular grid. When you magnify a digital image, you can see each individual pixel clearly (Figure 4.18), which is not like the magnification of film where grain appears irregular, unless you're shooting on a tabular grain film such as T-Max where the grain takes on a different shape. The human eye picks out regular patterns more readily than granular patterns, particularly since curved or diagonal lines in the image start to show jagged, staircase-like edges known as aliasing.

The number of megapixels your camera has dictates to a certain extent the output size of your final print Prints carry a variety of output resolutions—a default of 300 dots per inch (dpi) is considered normal for a digital print to appear indistinguishable from prints from film. This assumes normal eyesight and average print viewing distance. It must be pointed out that 300 dpi is just a guideline and will vary depending on the type of printer you are using.

4.17
This table lists different megapixels and their corresponding output. These are rough estimates and not based on any particular camera models but they should give you an idea of the relationship between megapixel file size, and print output sizes at two different resolutions.

It should also be noted that the larger the image, the lower you can allow the resolution to go. For billboard-type prints, a dpi as low as 150 is often used. This has to do with the viewing distance. You don't look at a billboard close-up; therefore it is not necessary to print it out with the same amount of detail per inch as, say, an A4 print—because on the billboard the detail is spread over a much bigger area.

One thing not to lose sight of is that (for the same aspect ratio) you need to quadruple your megapixel count to double the resolution. This means that a 12 megapixel sensor has more or less twice the resolution (horizontally or vertically) of a 3 megapixel sensor. As megapixel counts continue to climb, it is becoming harder and harder to demonstrate a significant resolution advantage. For instance, the megapixel count difference between a 10 MP camera and a 12 MP is minimal. Don't always go for the camera with the highest megapixel count; there are a lot of other factors to consider. To get an idea of how megapixels relate to print sizes it is important to make a couple of calculations. For this example we will be using the above 12 megapixel camera as the starting point.

4.18
An enlargement of a section from a larger image As the image size is increased, the pixels that make up the picture become more obvious.

At 4000 x 3000 pixels we can output the image on a printer at 300 dpi to 338 x 254 mm (13.3 x 10 inch). Dots in dpi refers to the density of "dots" (how close together they are) that the printer can print within one square inch. A 22 megapixel camera, with pixel dimensions of 5356 x 4056, can output a 300 dpi digital print at 17.8 x 13.5 inch. What's noteworthy here is the fact that even though we have almost doubled our megapixels, the size of our print is less than a third bigger. A higher-end medium format camera with an 80 MP digital back will let you print a 300 dpi file at 34.4 x 25.8 inch. If you were happy to compromise on the dpi and print at 200 dpi, you would then be able to print at 51.6 x 38.7 inch. These measurements of course refer to outputting a physical print; if you are only ever going to view the image on screen, say as part of a website design, then 72 dpi is perfectly acceptable and a much lower 2-4 megapixel camera is all that is required.

Sensor sizes

APS-sized sensors

One of the other key options about image quality and scale of reproduction is the size of the sensor itself. To develop and manufacture high quality sensors with incredible precision is very costly and therefore the sensors found in most digital cameras are much smaller than a standard 35 mm film frame. While the aspect ratio of an APS sensor is the same as that of a 35 mm frame (3:2), some are as tiny as 7.5 x 5 mm. This is not a problem for cameras with fixed lenses. It raises, however, a couple of issues with DSLRs. The sensors in most low-end and mid-end DSLRs are comparable in size to the now defunct APS film format, 25.1 x 16.7 mm. The sensors in these are called APS-C or APS H and vary in size depending on manufacturer. Some are slightly smaller and others bigger than the APS format. This difference in size between a 35 mm frame and an APS frame is called focal length multiplier and is a ratio of either 1.5 or 1.6 depending on the size of the sensor. This results in a "cropped field of view." Say you are photographing an object with a 50 mm lens on an APS sensor, the lens now acts as an 80 mm lens but the object is still the same size it would have been had the photograph been taken with a 50 mm lens on a full frame camera.

Focal length
on 35 mm
camera
Equivalent focal
length on DSLR
with APS-sized
sensor

24 mm
384 mm

28 mm
448 mm

35 mm
56 mm

50 mm
80 mm

90 mm
144 mm

18–55 mm
288–88 mm

18–70 mm
288–112 mm

18–135 mm
288–216 mm

24–105 mm
384–168 mm

28–135 mm
384–216 mm

The table on the left shows a variety of lenses and their focal lengths on a 35 mm camera compared with what they approximately would be if used on a DSLR with an APS-sized sensor.

Due to the popularity and affordability of cameras in the low- to mid-end DSLR market, manufacturers are increasingly producing lenses made for the APS format that do not suffer from the ratio issue—a 50 mm lens is a 50 mm lens. Generally these APS lenses do not work properly on most full frame (see below) DSLRs. Nikon, however, has developed a mode that allows you to use an APS lens with a reduction in the megapixel output.

Full frame sensors

Camera manufacturers have always produced DSLRs with a full frame sensor, i.e., a sensor of the same size as a 35 mm frame, 36 x 24 mm. Traditionally these were reserved for the very high end models but prices have dropped, making them far more affordable models. With these you can use any compatible 35 mm lens without a cropped field of view. The full frame sensor is also comparable to the frame size used for motion pictures, which are shot on 35 mm film, resulting in the increasing popularity of DSLRs used for video making (see Chapter 12).

Noise and pixel density

The digital equivalent of film grain is noise, and you will find noise in every image captured by a digital camera. Noise is generated when heat from the electronics frees electrons from the image sensor; these are "thermal electrons." The smaller the CMOS sensor in the camera or the higher the ISO, the more likely you are to have large amounts of noise.

When the size of the sensor remains the same but the megapixel count keeps climbing, with more and more transistors sitting side by side there is less room for excess heat to escape, which can result in increased noise being generated. This can be an issue with some compact digital cameras, as some manufacturers try to keep their size small while increasing the megapixel count and adding features. The higher the sensitivity of the CMOS (the ISO), the more noise it generates.

Lots of cameras have built-in noise reduction algorithms that generally are very capable of reducing the noise. You can also remove most noise in postproduction with built-in noise reduction functions or by using specialized plug-ins. The noise generated also differs greatly from camera to camera, but as a general rule you will find more noise at high ISOs and with long exposures (Figure 4.19).

4.19
(FACING) Examples of increased "noise" in the digital image when the sensitivity of the image sensor is heightened by increasing the ISO setting: (a) 100 ISO, (b) 1600 ISO, (c) 25600 ISO.

Optical and digital zoom

The digital zoom is not reaiiy a zoom but a crop of an image. With optical zoom, the lens elements move around to zoom in or out by changing focal length. A digital zoom combines optical zoom with a technology called "interpolation" or "resampling." When you use digital zoom and you hit the outer limit of the optical zoom area, the camera then starts its digital zoom software which crops in on the detail. The end result is an image with a crop of the maximum optical zoom image, which has been "interpolated" back to full size. This in most cases results in the degradation of the overall image quality by increased pixelation and muddiness (see Figure 4.20). You should only use digital zoom under special circumstances, such as when it is impossible to move any closer to the subject. On most cameras you can disable this feature so you don't use it accidentally. If you require a camera lens with a good zoom, check the optical zoom and ignore the digital zoom factor.

4.20
Digital zoom is in fact a crop of the image (a) and entails a reduction in quality as opposed to the same image shot only using (b) optical zoom.

Image stabilizer

Another feature often mentioned when digital cameras are advertised is optical image stabilization (OIS). You may have seen its effects without realizing it, as more and more cameras now come with image stabilization. If you are photographing in low light conditions and are unable to use flash, the resulting images may show signs of camera shake. Optical image stabilization is designed to counteract this, enabling you to take sharp pictures in low light. The camera achieves this by a moving element in the lens compensating for small movements (shake) detected by solid state positional devices (see Figure 3.37).

Bit depth

A bit is essentially the smallest unit of data: it is either 0 or 1, black or white, on or off; 8 bits is a byte and can therefore represent 256 different states, 2^8th. To make matters more complicated, 8 bits is sometimes also referred to as 24 bit, as it is a composite of red, green, and blue (3 x 8).

4.21
In Photoshop you can convert between different bit depths. There is no point converting upward as it is impossible to add "new data" to an existing photograph.

Most of the digital world operates in 8 bit—your monitor and printer, for instance. If you are shooting in the RAW file format, newer cameras can produce images in either 12, 14, or 16 bit depending on the camera used.

Instead of using 8 bits, i.e., 256 Levels, to represent a single color, newer cameras utilize 65,536 levels for 16 bit. What this gives you is a potentially amazing increase in color detail throughout your image. Having this additional detail available to you in postproduction allows you to adjust your image to display additional detail throughout. When done, you can then convert the image to 8 bit for printing or Web usage, as most printers and screens are unable to display the full color range of a 16-bit image (Figure 4.21).

White balance

The white balance (i.e., color temperature) of your image is normally calculated automatically by the camera (Figure 4.22). It adjusts its color temperature (set in Kelvin degrees) according to the kind of lighting you are shooting under. On most cameras you can also preselect your white balance from a list, i.e., cloudy, sunny, flash, indoor, etc. Additionally, it is very common to be able to custom-set your white balance value. You simply take a picture of a "neutral area," for instance a white wall, and then let the camera calculate the white balance based on the neutral area.

Color modes

On an increasing number of digital cameras, compacts as well as DSLRs, you can now specify what color space you wish to operate in, both of them RGB.

RGB is an additive color model where red, green, and blue are mixed together to reproduce a broad range of colors. Within the RGB spectrum there are two sub-modes you should be aware of: sRGB and AdobeRGB (1998). sRGB was developed by HP and IBM and is best suited for images that are intended for screen use, such as on a website or in a digital slideshow. For images aimed at printing you should use AdobeRGB. An image captured in the AdobeRGB mode is also better suited for conversion to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), the color space used for offset printing.

4.22
(a) A scene shot using the daylight white balance function (b) The same scene shot with the camera white balance set to tungsten.

Digital Cameras

Choosing a camera will Largely depend on your aspirations as a photographer, whether you simply wish to improve your holiday or family photos or are considering a career, and if that career is, say, as a high end fashion photographer, photojournalist, or fine artist. It is also worth considering what the end usage of your photography will be, whether the images are for a website, newspaper, or exhibition, etc. The size and scale of your final prints will determine the type and quality of the camera you choose, as will the requirements of studio portrait photography versus location work or the ability to capture fast moving action or work with still lifes. Luckily there is something for everyone (Figure 4.23).

Cameraphones

More people have cameras than ever before, and we are taking more pictures than ever, Largely due to the popularity of the cellphone. While it may seem odd to consider cameraphones seriously, many professional photographers actually use their cameraphone to shoot assignments, including the fashion photographer Nick Knight and the New York Times photojournalist Damon Winter. Images from cameraphones, such as those shot in Afghanistan by Winter, have won international photojournalism prizes, and there are even exhibitions now dedicated solely to camera-phone photography and "iphoneography" groups.

4.23
Digital cameras, including (top left) a DSLR, (top centre) a digital compact camera, (top right) a High Definition video hand-heid camera., (bottom left) an advanced mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, (bottom right) a digital medium format SLR.

Built into most phones you will often find an increasingly sophisticated digital camera with on average up to 13 MP, some even reaching 20 MR Recently, Nokia brought out a small range of cellphones with a staggering 41 MP camera. While most cameraphones used to have CCD chips, the majority of cellphone cameras are now using CMOS sensors, smaller but the same as those in professional cameras. Cameraphones can feature zoom functionality, ability to record video, and much more. Some even come with a flash or light source. Smartphones will have a variety of photo tools available to download as apps to enhance the camera's functionality as well as the postproduction capability They are usually shipped with software and cables that enable you to download your photographs, which are mainly saved in the JPEG format, onto your computer or to upload them wirelessly. They often allow an unobtrusive way of capturing otherwise hard to photograph places and situations and are replacing point and-shoot compact cameras for many people.

Compact and point-and-shoot cameras

The aim of these cameras is to make photography of "typical" subjects simple. They achieve a high technical success rate, even under quite a wide range of shooting conditions. They house the smaller APS-sized sensor and smaller lenses so image quality is unlikely to be as good as with a DSLR camera. Photographers with little interest or skill in controlling results can expect to get dearly recorded images, provided they work within limitations such as not too close, holding the camera steady, and not trying to light a huge landscape with flash. The "auto-almost-everything" features put compact cameras well ahead when you make a quick decision to take actuality pictures of an event. There's no delay over settings—although there can be shutter lag between pressing the shutter release button and the taking of the actual image—and you can even hold the camera up over your head in a crowd and get sharp, well-exposed results. Also you are more likely always to carry a camera with you when it is smaller and fits better in your pocket than a reflex type.

4.24
A typical compact digital camera. All digital cameras have an LCD screen at the back. The screen is used as a viewfinder, and via the menu buttons you can adjust a variety of settings such as white balance quality (raw or JPEG), and ISO (sensitivity).

Compact cameras (Figure 4.24) come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from very small pocket-sized cameras, the point-and-shoot variety being the simplest to operate as you have no control over the settings, to more bulky versions with features that are very close to those of DSLRs. Increasingly camera manufacturers have removed the viewfinder altogether, leaving you only with the LCD screen to compose and review your pictures, although they can consume quite a lot of battery power and be somewhat difficult to view under certain light conditions.

The features offered (or lack of them) on compact cameras vary considerably from the more "point-and-shoot" models to those where you can manually adjust all variables from exposure compensation to focusing.

4.25
Infrared AF system. When the shutter release is half-pressed, a transmitter (T) scans center of subject area. Detector (D) senses when the reflected signal is strongest. Processing circuit (P) relates this to the position of T. halting the camera lens focusing motor at the step giving correct setting for the distance.

Auto focus (AF). Most auto-focusing systems are "active," meaning that they use diodes transmitting and receiving infrared wavelengths (like those used for TV remote controls). These operate through two windows in the camera body (Figure 4.3). The system sends out a beam of invisible IR rays from one window and has a narrow-angle sensor behind the other. First pressure on the shutter release button causes a motor to adjust the camera lens focusing and scan the beam across your subject (Figure 4.25), within the mid-frame target area. Both stop when a strong return signal is detected. In practice, the lens is "stepped" through a series of settings between infinity and closest focusing distance. Cheaper cameras may work using only seven setting stages. Others have one hundred or more stages, which allows the auto focusing to be much more precise.

An IR system will even focus in darkness, but it can be fooled sometimes if you are photographing through a window or shooting toward a bright source of light. Watch out too for situations when your main subject is not in the center and the AF measuring area fails entirely on background or foreground (see Figure 4.26). Some cameras have an "AF lock" button to deal with this—you first aim the measuring area at your main subject, auto focus with a half pressure on the shutter release, and then apply the lock and recompose your picture as you want it with main subject off-center but now remaining sharply focused. However, the procedure takes time and it is tempting to shoot subjects center frame instead.

Zoom lens. Compact cameras do not have interchangeable lenses like DSLRs. Apart from the cheapest models, it is usual to have a zoom (variable focal length) lens. Control buttons then provide you with a smooth optical adjustment that enlarges or reduces how much of your subject fills the frame—in other words, narrowing or widening angle of view. Remember that digital zoom is not the same as optical zoom, as a digital zoom crops and enlarges a section of the image, resulting in degradation of the overall image quality (Figure 4.20).

Auto exposure (AE). Shutter speeds and aperture settings are determined and set internally by a program. This takes into account the light-sensitivity rating of the image sensor, what ISO is programmed, and the brightness of the subject you are photographing as measured by a light sensor facing it from the front of the camera (Figure 4.3). A good compact camera may make settings ranging from 1/8 s at f/2.8 to 1/500 s at f/16, but not actually display what its choices are. If conditions demand speeds of 1/30 s or slower, a signal warns you to use a tripod or change to flash; some cameras automatically switch the flash on.

4.26
Using AF lock, (a) When the main subject is not positioned center frame the background becomes auto focused instead, (b) Briefly recompose the picture auto focus, and apply AF lock, and then return to your chosen picture composition (c) before exposing.

Built-in flash. Flash built into a compact camera body is typically only powerful enough to give correct exposure at subject distances up to about 3 m, enough for a portrait or small group shot but not enough for landscapes or, say, photographing an entertainer on stage if you are sitting at the back of a concert hall. The closer and more reflective a subject is, the shorter the flash duration will be (see p. 153). The flash is triggered by the shutter and is followed by a recharging delay of up to 10 seconds in some less expensive cameras after each exposure. You have to wait for a "flash ready" signal in or beside the viewfinder before taking the next shot.

An inherent problem with compacts is "red-eye" caused by the closely positioned flash illuminating the retina pattern at the back of a subject's eyes. To minimize red-eye, the flash is housed as far to one side of the camera lens as possible. Some designs use a fold-up or pull-out arrangement to achieve this. Other systems fire a burst of several flashes in quick succession just before the actual exposure. The idea is to cause the subject's pupils to contract with the bright light, allowing less flash to be reflected from the retina.

Navigation buttons next to the screen allow you to bring up any picture you have taken, zoom in to ensure it is in focus, erase it, or review tiny thumbnails of each of your images. Here you can also change all kinds of picture settings using the menus. You can set up modes specifically for portrait or night photography, etc. On more advanced models you have the ability to change the file type (raw, JPEG) and color space you're working in and review the histogram (see Chapter 9).

The size, weight, and ease of use make compact cameras a good choice for day-to-day recording of events. Good quality ones allow you some control over your settings and incorporate lenses from prestigious manufacturers that give you above average image quality. As with any camera, it is important to pick one with a good lens; for example, Carl Zeiss, Leica, and Schneider Kreuznach lenses are used on many digital compact cameras. They are, however, limited in their performance by their smaller image sensors and lack of control or interchangeable lenses.

Digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs)

DSLRs look and behave almost exactly like their film-based counterparts. Some descend directly from them and others are complete new builds (Figure 4.27), so much of the general information here, as in the case of compact cameras, would apply to both film and digital versions. A range of models are offered, from entry level to mid-range to high end DSLRs aimed at the professional market. Because of their versatility and range of lenses they are the main camera of choice for both the serious amateur and the experienced professional. What sets them apart from the compact camera range is the ability to change lenses and the quality of lens, plus speed of frames per second and potentially larger image sensors. A DSLR from Nikon, for instance, is also backward compatible with older Nikon lenses. This, however, does not offer you the best integration between camera and lens. To achieve complete harmony between a DSLR and its lens you need to purchase specially made digital lenses. These contain a digital chip that communicates with the camera, have improved resolution and better color correction, etc. The quality of the lens (Chapter 3) is one of the most important factors in image quality. You can have an expensive body, but if you use poor quality optics you will not be getting the most out of your photography technically; hence you will find a massive range of prices for what, on the surface, look like similar lenses.

One of the differences between DSLRs and digital compact cameras is the lack of shutter delay (or noticeable delay—the delay is in milliseconds). To counteract the delay, DSLRs have a built-in buffer, enabling you to shoot continuously for a set amount of frames. The buffer acts as a temporary storage space between the CMOS chip and the memory card. This is very useful for sports photography or photojournalism when you are trying to capture fast changing action. It is useful to check the specifications of your camera so that you know how many frames per second (fps) it can do.

DSLRs often offer a host of features, such as the ability to record High Definition video and Live View. Live View allows you to use the LCD screen as your viewfinder, as one would with a compact. This makes it possible, for instance, to take photographs under unusual circumstances, such as holding the camera above your head, while still keeping an eye on what you are photographing. Professional DSLR cameras can be tethered or linked to a computer by a cable which allows all the functions of the camera and lens to be controlled from the computer, even firing the shutter. Thus a large screen can be used to view and focus the image, for example with a laptop on location.

As mentioned in the Composing and focusing section at the start of the chapter, one of the important design features of SLR cameras is that a hinged 45° mirror reflects the image up to a horizontal focusing screen but flips out of the way just before the shutter fires. The distance between lens and focusing screen, via the mirror, equals the lens-to-image sensor distance. So what is sharp on the screen will be sharp on the image sensor. The pentaprism above the screen corrects the image left to right and reflects it out through an eyepiece at the back of the camera, so you see the subject as it might be seen direct (Figure 4.28).

4.27
(FACING) (a) The layout of buttons and dials on a modern DSLR (b) At the back of the camera there is a built-in LCD screen where you can quickly see current camera settings or configure more advanced camera settings review the images that you have taken, and delete unwanted images (c) More advanced DSLRs feature a secondary LCD screen (displaying the current camera settings) on the top of the camera. Also on the top are spinning dials and buttons for quickly changing the mode, aperture/shutter value, ISO, and auto-focus settings.

Cameras wilt often have some dioptric adjustment built into the eyepiece to allow you to remove your glasses if you wear them and bring your eye close enough to view the entire screen, still seeing the image clearly. Turning the dial slightly can make viewing more comfortable even if you don't wear glasses. You can buy an accessory dioptric corrector lens which fits over the camera eyepiece if not already fitted.

Most auto-focusing DSLRs use a passive electronic system to detect when the image is sharp. Some of the center part of the picture is directed down onto a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor (Figure 4.29). With unsharp images, the system also detects whether the [ens should be focused toward or away from the camera body. It may respond by signaling which way you must manually turn the lens, alongside the focusing screen ("focus confirmation"). More often it controls a motor within the camera body or lens which fast-shifts your focus setting by the required amount (full AF). Focus detection can be linked to the shutter release, so that you cannot shoot until the image has come into focus—useful in action photography (but sometimes a handicap too).

4.28
How a pentaprism works. This shaped block of glass reflects light across its "roof" so that the (laterally reversed) image formed on the reflex camera's focusing screen is seen by the eye as the right way round and the right way up.

Exposure is read through the lens (TTL). The camera body contains light sensors which view subject brightness on the focusing screen, or else read it via light reflected off the shutter blind at the moment of exposure (Figure 5.5). The readings made are translated by the camera's circuitry to give semi-automatic, fully automatic, or manual exposure settings (see p. 140). Also the light is measured to control the duration of a flash unit. The flash may be a "pop-up" built-in type or, more usefully, an add-on "dedicated" unit which links into the camera circuitry, as described on p. 154.

4.29
Typical auto-focus arrangement in an SLR camera. The system samples some of the lens-focused light passed through a semi-silvered part of the main mirror. Below aperture F (the same distance from the lens as the film) a pair of separator lenses bring the beam to two points of focus on a CCD sensor (S). The sensor's many segments detect the relative spacing of the two points of light, and control motor (M) to adjust the camera lens focusing position. The system works with a range of interchangeable lenses.

The focal plane shutter, and reflex design, make this an ideal camera to use with a range of interchangeable lenses of fixed or variable (zoom) focal length, described in Chapter 3. You can change lenses quickly with a positive bayonet-fitting twist action, the focusing screen revealing every image alteration given by change of focal length, the use of close-up extension tubes, adjustment of special effects attachments, etc.

There are many advantages of using a DSLR camera. You can precisely frame up the picture, focus, and (on models with preview) observe depth of field, and there is a choice of methods for setting correct exposure by using through-the-lens exposure measurement (including flash). DSLRs generally have larger image sensors than compact cameras, and key items of information, such as correct exposure and focus, shutter speed, and/-number, are signaled direct to your eye from alongside the focusing screen. A wide range of lenses and accessories are available. This makes SLR outfits versatile "unit systems" that are able to tackle most photography well, and fully AF models adjust the lens faster than you can focus it by hand—particularly useful with subjects on the move (sport, natural history, etc.).

However, it is worth considering that DSLR cameras are electronically and mechanically more complex than some other designs. Relative to a compact they are more bulky, heavier, and tend to be more complicated to use. Technically you cannot see through the viewfinder at the moment of exposure. This can be a nuisance during long exposures or when panning at slow shutter speeds (see Figure 4.9), and when you are viewing at open aperture (having set a small aperture) it is easy to forget the changes that increased depth of field will make to your picture. The use of passive auto-focus sharpness detection relies on sufficient ambient light and subject contrast, so at times the camera has difficulty focusing on the subject.

Hybrid cameras

There is a number of digital cameras on the market that are neither compacts nor SLRs but a mixture of the two. It has been a problem that some DSLRs are simply too big and bulky and that the features on some compacts are not good enough. Hybrid cameras, sometimes referred to as bridge cameras, are often similar in weight and size to small DSLRs; they generally do not feature interchangeable lenses and therefore are also known as fixed lens cameras. They come fitted with an optical zoom lens, in some cases a retractable one to make it more compact. Because of their small image sensors, fixed lens cameras can have lenses which cover a large focal range. Current models have lenses that can cover an equivalent focal range of 24-200 mm (sometimes up to 1000 mm or more) with a resolution of about 20 MR Most will now also support HD video.

As mentioned in the Composing and focusing section (p. 96), electronic viewfinders (EVFs) are found on some fixed lens cameras. As the tiny screen inside the camera does away with the need for a mirror and prism, it means they can be smaller than DSLRs but show the same information as the LCD screen. More manufacturers are taking advantage of this technology and introducingmirrorlessinterchangeable lens cameras (DSLM or MILC) with full frame sensors and advanced camera controls, yet maintaining the compact size and weight.

Medium format cameras and digital backs

Medium and large format cameras are generally but not exclusively used by professional photographers. They have a particular relevance in film photography, as the names come from the size of film being used. A medium format camera, for example, may house a standard square frame 6 x 6 cm rollfilm or, in large format, 5 x 4 inch or even 10 x 8 inch sheet film. Cameras obviously have to be bigger to accommodate the larger film. In digital, these differences are not so clearly apparent but the terms still exist to indicate larger image sensor sizes. Another form of hybrid camera involves the use of digital backs on cameras that can also shoot film

Digital medium format cameras tend to be of the single-lens reflex variety and so have the same advantages as the standard versions, although generally they are much bigger and heavier. Digital backs, situated in place of the film holder, can be used with large format film cameras. The image sensors in the medium format cameras tend to be 44 x 33 mm or 54 x 40 mm in size, or thereabouts, and about 40-80 megapixels. It is, however, the sensor that makes it a larger format camera, not the megapixels; a 41-megapixel cameraphone with a much smaller sensor cannot produce the same quality of output that these cameras can.

This type of high end digital equipment is primarily aimed at the professional market, with specification and a price to match (Figure 4.30). Although manufacturers are releasing medium format models on the market for around US$7,000, you can still expect to pay over US$40,000 for some makes. Their film camera equivalents therefore still make a cheaper alternative.

Manufacturers such as Leaf and PhaseOne produce a range of medium format digital backs (still not a cheap option) that can be mounted on Hasselblads, Mamiyas, or other host cameras just as one would a film back. This allows you to switch between shooting via digital or on film using the same camera body (Figure 4.30). Other models scan the image with a narrow sensor strip "array" of CCDs like a flatbed scanner, or even take a sequence of three exposures through changing red, green, and blue filters. In these last two instances, image capture times can be in minutes rather than seconds, so scanning or tri-exposure backs are restricted to still life-type subjects and archival use and require the use of non-flickering lights. These scanning backs offer a much greater resolution than any competing system (up to 384 MP).

4.30 An analog Hasselblad camera body can be fitted with its standard medium format film back or with a digital medium format back. The two backs are almost identical in size and shape.

Higher resolution sensors produce bigger files. You can buy medium format digital systems where you can mount an external hard drive at the bottom of the camera, which offers you up to 250GB of storage space, or, as with your DSLR, you can shoot direct to computer giving what is called a tethered image, which is standard practice in studio photography.

In the end, medium format digital cameras offer an amazing platform from which to work, but at a high cost. Not only do you need to invest in expensive camera equipment but also in appropriate production equipment in order to handle the big files. If you have already invested in a medium format or large format film setup, it is possible to use a digital back in parallel with the film back with relative ease.

Film Cameras

Film cameras come in as many shapes and sizes as digital cameras, if not more (Figure 4.31). So you will find, although rare these days and often secondhand, examples of point-and-shoot, compact, single-lens reflex (even twin-lens reflex), rangefinders, medium format, large format view cameras, etc. As mentioned before, many digital cameras are descended from their film counterparts and so much of the information discussed under the digital camera section in relation to compact and SLR cameras applies to the film versions too. There are obviously some notable differences to consider, in particular the size of film you will be shooting on, as each film size will require a different camera. The general understanding is that the larger the film, the better the quality of the print that will be produced from it. It is expected that most people seriously studying photography would have a DSLR or 35 mm SLR to work with. Those that are more ambitious and want to take their photography further might also invest in a medium or potentially a large format camera.

Film housing

Unlike digital cameras, a film camera must allow you to load and remove light-sensitive material without having it fogged by light (see Chapter 10).

4.31 The main types and formats of cameras using film. (a) Large format monorail and (b) baseboard view cameras (c) Medium format rollfilm single-lens reflex and (d) direct viewfinder cameras (e) Manual and (f) advanced small format 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras Also (g) APS compact camera (now out of production).

4.32
Three of the four main forms in which light-sensitive film is loaded into cameras of differing sizes Left to right: 4 x 5 inch sheet film, part-inserted into a double-sided film holder; cassette of 35 mm film; 120 rollfilm. The film notch tells you which way up the sensitive surface is facing (see Figure 10.6). The cassette auto-sensing code sets the camera's exposure system for the film speed.

The traditional way to achieve this is to have separate sheets of film in a light-tight holder—a system still used for large format view cameras. The double-sided holder (Figure 4.6) slips into the back of the camera, displacing a focusing screen, and one side is then opened to face the (shuttered) lens. Smaller cameras, however, use film in lengths (35 mm wide, or 62 mm wide 120 rollfilm — medium format) to allow many exposures at one loading (Figure 4.32). The film passes from feed to take-up compartments behind a metal frame, flattened against it by a spring-loaded pressure plate. It is protected from light during loading and unloading because the film is contained in a cartridge or a cassette, generally a metal light-tight container having a velvet "light trapped" feed slot. Rollfilm is just tightly rolled up on a spool together with opaque backing paper.

Between exposures regular 35 mm cassette film is wound through the camera onto a permanently fitted open take-up spool. It must be rewound back into its light-proof cassette before you open the camera to remove the film for processing. Rollfilm does not need rewinding; it winds completely onto an identical, removable, take-up spool in the camera and is protected by the last few inches of backing paper.

Sheet film holders (Figure 4.32) allow you to change what is in your camera from one film type to another at any time. If you want to do the same with a 35 mm or rollfilm camera without wasting frames, it is quickest to use either two bodies, changing the lens from one to the other, or a camera designed with interchangeable film magazines. Most cameras with magazine backs also accept pack holders for instant picture film.

Lengths of film are shifted through the camera either by an electric motor triggered immediately the shutter closes after each exposure, or by hand using a wind-on lever. The wind-on, shutter-cocking, and exposure release are normally interlocked, so that you cannot take another picture until the previous shot has been wound on, and vice versa. Some cameras offer a button to override the system for special superimposition effects. Older medium format cameras do not wind on automatically; you have to remember to wind on after each shot—a small window in the film back shows you the number of the shot you have taken and you may have to put a darkslide back (as you do in a 5 x 4 camera) in between exposures to prevent light reaching the film. Cameras with a built-in motor drive normally power-rewind the film back into its cassette when the end of the film has been reached.

Format shape

Another important consideration is format shape (see Figure 4.13). Height-to-width proportions have a strong influence on picture composition. With digital cameras there is often more flexibility for in-camera cropping, so the same camera might offer different formats ranging from square to panoramic. With film, it generally means having a different camera for the different formats.

Most formats are rectangular, a 35 mm regular frame having a ratio of 2:3. At first sight a square format would seem the easiest to work with; you don't have to choose between vertical and horizontal shapes when framing a shot. But then you don't have the up/down or sideways (vertical or horizontal) push that they can add to your picture either. Conventionally, landscape photographers work with a horizontal frame, while portrait photographers shoot vertically; hence the terms portrait and landscape referring to the shape of the frame—it is interesting to see what happens when you break these codes. The majority of photographs taken are rectangular, which says something about the way human beings view the world. Some photographers have tested out oval or round framing shapes, which can either be done at the printing or at the mounting stages of production.

4.33
Specialist purpose direct viewfinder cameras Top: A wide-angie 6 x 17 cm rollfilm camera (focus by distance scale only). Bottom: Architectural "shift" camera accepting a roll or sheet film back.

Of course, during enlarging you can crop off unwanted image parts, but you Will find that the original camera format still influences your picture making. Similarly, some shapes are definitely more "comfortable" to compose subjects within than others. A few panorama wide-angle roll-film cameras (Figure 4.33) offer ratios of 1:2 or even 1:3. These long thin negatives, up to 6 x 17 cm, must be enlarged using a large format enlarger. 35 mm and 6 x 9 cm negatives offer a picture ratio of 1:1.5, which is close to the 1:1.618 ratio claimed by Renaissance artists and architects to be "the ideal format," also known as the Golden Section. 5 x 4 inch and 10 x 8 inch negatives provide a picture ratio of 1:1.25.

Manual or automatic?

With film cameras, you have a greater selection of camera bodies, from purely manual (including wind-on) to multimode automatic. A manually set camera (see Figure 4.34) is not only cheaper but having to select the three key controls—focus, aperture, and shutter speed—soon teaches you the technical principles which help enormously in creative image making. The manufacturer's range of film lenses will fit all their SLR bodies, so you can use the highest quality "pro" optics on a relatively cheap body.

Electronic cameras still offer you a choice of program modes, giving settings the manufacturer considers best for coping with "landscapes," "portraits," "action scenes," etc. Again, you can customize such a camera to suit your preferred way of working, using a menu of twenty or more settings (from the length of the self-timer delay period to whether a new film advances when you close the camera or press the shutter button).

4.34
Typical manual 35 mm SLR showing basic internal structure. E: Eyepiece at rear of camera. P: Pentaprism. F: Focusing screen. M: Hinged mirror. S: Shutter (film behind). W: Film wind-on mechanism. D: Tensioning drum for shutter blinds. C: Typical sensor position behind the lens for exposure measuring. For external controls see Figure 4.35.

Although automatic SLRs are fast and reliable for set subject conditions, you may be buying a lot of modes which spend their time shut off once you have customized your camera (see Figure 4.35). Again, if something does not perform as you expect, you may have to stop and thumb through a thick instruction book to discover what settings to use.

4.35
Typical 35 mm SLR external controls. Top: Manual focus and wind-on type camera. Bottom: An auto-focus multiprogrammed model. R: Release for shutter. S: Shutter speed control. P: Preview button. A: Aperture setting. X: ISO setting. RW: Rewind crank. C: Exposure compensation control. H: Hotshoe for clip-on flash unit. E: Eyepiece. L: Manual wind-on lever. F: Frame counter. Z: Power film rewind. With an advanced model changes are made by selecting the mode or program you need on command dial CD, and then operating electronic input dial ES. Settings produced appear on body-top display panel (D), and are also presented to your eye alongside the focusing screen.

Finally, don't overlook the fact that most automatic or semi-automatic SLR cameras, and certainly all professional models, give you the option, like DSLR cameras, of switching to fully manual mode for lens focusing, exposure settings, etc. You can therefore choose between complete control and varying degrees of programmed assistance, depending on circumstances.

Alternative cameras

Twin-lens reflex (TLR). Reflex cameras can be traced back to one of the earliest forms of camera obscura used for sketching views (Figure 4.8). With a mirror fixed at 45° behind the [ens, the image is reflected up to a horizontal surface and becomes right way up. Soon after the invention of photography this reflex arrangement was mounted on top of a basic plate camera to act as a fu[[-size focusing viewfinder. The combination was ca[[ed a twin-lens reflex (TLR). A few medium format versions of twin-lens reflexes are still made, more as a novelty such as the Lomography Lubital, and secondhand ones are available, but development resulted in the now universal single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, which offer a much more accurate and informative image checking system.

4.36 Twin-lens reflex. A: Aperture and shutter setting controls. B: Bladed shutter release. F: Focusing knob, shifts entire twin-lens panel R: Rollfilm spool W: Film wind-on handle (folds out). M: Fixed mirror. S: Focusing screen. E: Focusing magnifier. V: Push-in hood section, forms direct viewfinder with rear eyepiece.

The top lens of a TLR has a fixed aperture, the same as or wider than the maximum given by the diaphragm of the lower lens (Figure 4.36). This produces a bright image and minimal depth of field for easier visual focusing. The image on the screen is the right way up but reversed left to right, a feature which makes it difficult to follow moving subject matter. There is therefore a simple fold-in direct viewfinder in the metal hood. However, since this viewpoint is 75 mm (3 inches) or more from the taking lens, parallax error is even more extreme.

TLR cameras are designed to give square medium format pictures using rollfilm. This is because the camera is awkward to use on its side—the image on screen goes upside-down. Some models have a built-in exposure meter, located behind a semi-silvered area of the mirror.

Direct viewfinders. This term covers cameras using direct vision (also known as real image) viewfinders, notably small format "compacts." Unlike view cameras or reflex cameras which allow you to see the actual image formed by the lens, they have a separate window set into the camera body through which you look at your subject directly (see Figures 4.4 and 4.5). Based on early user-friendly cameras invented to overcome the prolonged practical procedures that large format view cameras demand, they are typically small, pocket sized, and fully self-contained.

Rangefinders. Professional direct viewfinders, often referred to as "rangefinder" cameras, were intended mostly for the professional market and priced accordingly. They include some 35 mm format cameras such as the Leica and Contax, several for medium format rollfilm, and a few large format hand-held cameras (see Figure 4.37). Viewfinders are mostly "parallax-corrected," meaning that optics slightly shift the frame lines downward the closer you focus (Figure 4.38).

An attraction of these cameras is their quiet shutters, and reduced weight relative to single-lens reflexes offering the same picture format (Figure 4.39). They are also rugged and have high precision optics. In the case of the Leica, it has an almost soundless focal plane shutter (popular for photojournalism) and a modest range of interchangeable lenses. The viewfinder automatically changes its frame lines according to the lens you fit. Exposure reading is made through the taking lens by a hinged light sensor just in front of the shutter blind, which moves out of the way immediately before you shoot. The popularity of these cameras means that digital equivalents are still made today.

4.37
Direct viewfinder cameras for mainly professional usage (a) Contax 35 mm compact, with manual/auto rangefinder. (b) Leica manual rangefinder 35 mm with some of its interchangeable lenses (c) Baseboard 4x5 inch camera with coupled rangefinder. (d) Rollfilm 6 x 4.5 cm format camera with an auto-focus zoom lens

4.38
A manual rangefinder focusing system. This uses an optical rangefinder containing glass (S) with a semi-silvered spot, and a pivoting mirror (M) controlled by the camera lens focusing mechanism. In the viewfinder you see a second image center frame The two coincide and merge when rangefinder (and lens) are set for the distance of this subject; see broken line at M.

Medium format direct viewfinder cameras often have the same features of interchangeable lenses and range-finding focusing, or they have a zoom lens and auto focusing. Everything of course is scaled up in size—if the format is 6 x 7 cm, the standard lens is likely to be 80 mm, or a 55-90 mm zoom on a 6 x 4.5 cm camera. They are popular with some professionals for both editorial and studio-based work where both formal groups and more spontaneous pictures will be needed. Wedding photographers used to regularly work with medium format cameras, but more recently most have converted to high end 35 mm digital cameras as these offer the vital preview facility and the safety of knowing you have got the shot!

4.39
Single-lens reflexes, all based on 1920s plate camera design (a). Modern versions use formats 6 x 6 cm (b), 6 x 4.5 cm (c), 6 x 7 cm (d); 35 mm SLR cameras (e) are similarly related.

Specials. A few direct viewfinder rollfilm cameras are designed for more limited, special applications. They include wide-angle cameras giving a panoramic-type format such as 6 x 17 cm, and highly portable "shift" lens cameras for architectural photography which allow you to raise the lens to control perspective effects (see Appendix B). Some baseboard view cameras also accept a direct vision finder matching the lens in use, and have an optical rangefinder linked to the focusing track mechanism. You can then take hand-held pictures on 4x5 inch sheet film or change to medium format pictures by attaching a rollfilm back.

Large format

View camera design relates back directly to the earliest form of photographic plate camera, as used by pioneers such as Louis Daguerre (Figure 4.40).

Equipment then consisted of two boxes, one sliding inside the other for focusing, and having a lens at the front and a ground glass screen at the back. Today's view cameras are still large format, but designed for sheet film. The most usual size is 4 x 5 inch, but also 8x10 inch is available. You can adapt down from these sizes by fitting an appropriate back or adaptor for smaller sheet film, 120 rollfilm, instant picture material, or digital recording.

The camera Lens with its between-lens shutter is mounted on a clip on a panel that fits over the camera front You can quickly change to lenses of different focal lengths, also ready mounted on panels. The front of the camera is connected to the back by an opaque concertina bellows that allows the lens and film to be placed at a wide range of angles and distances from each other. A finely etched glass screen at the back captures the lens image (upside-down) for focusing and composition. This back can be rotated from horizontal to vertical format. As the screen is spring-loaded, when you push in a film holder between glass and bellows, the film surface becomes located in exactly the position previously occupied by the etched surface of the glass (Figure 4.6). It takes time to get accustomed to the upside-down image, but if you use the camera enough you will stop noticing it eventually.

4.40
View cameras. Both monorail (center) and baseboard (right) designs are derived from wooden sliding-box plate cameras (left) used by pioneer photographers in the 1840s.

The lens-carrying front of the camera can be tilted, or offset sideways, up, or down, independently from the back. These "camera movements" are important for professional architectural (Figure 4.41) and still life photography. They allow you extra control over depth of field and shape distortion, as explained in detail in Appendix B.

4.41
Rising front. A view camera offering this camera movement is still often used for architectural subjects where most elements are well above the lens center Tilting a normal camera upward would make vertical lines converge Instead, the camera back here was kept upright and the front lens standard raised to include more arch top and less road (see also digital manipulation of perspective p. 325).

There are two main types of view camera design, monorail and baseboard. Monorail types are constructed as a pair of frames {called standards) attached to a bar. To focus you move either the front (lens) standard or rear (focusing screen) standard along the rail Having such an open unit structure, a monorail offers the same camera movements front and back, allowing an enormous amount of offsetting. Monorails are virtually impossible to operate hand-held and so are always used on a stand or tripod.

The baseboard type of view camera, also called a 'technical camera; is a box-like unit with a hinged front. On opening this flap, you find you can putt the tens standard out onto it, on runners. Then by turning a mitted knob at the edge of the board you move the runners, focusing the lens backward or forward while you check the image on the focusing screen. A baseboard camera is quicker to set up on its stand and use than a monorail type. However, it offers less comprehensive movements, especially on the back (Figure 4.42).

4.42
Left and center: Monorail view cameras are unit constructed, allowing different lengths of bellows, rail, and size of back, as well as independent movements of lens and film. Some cameras have U-shaped standards, others are L-shaped (Figure 4.40). Right: Baseboard type view camera folded, and open for use on a tripod. The lens pulls forward onto a focusing track; flaps which fold out at the back shade the ground glass focusing screen.

Withail view cameras you need a fold-out hood or an old-fashioned focusing cloth over your head and the camera back to block out ambient light, so you can clearly see the image. Figure 4.6 shows the typical prolonged sequence needed to take a picture. Exposure is most often measured with a separate hand meter (Chapter 5).

Large, medium, or small format?

The larger the format, the finer the quality your final image is likely to have—better definition, less grainy pattern, subtler tone and color gradation. The 4x5 inch format, for example, has around thirteen times the area of the regular 35 mm format; you can make enlargements to 16 x 20 inch before image quality becomes worse than an enlargement to only 4x6 inch from 35 mm. When you make large exhibition prints, these differences become very noticeable.

Pictures shot on small format cameras have greater depth of field than pictures on large and medium format cameras (standard lenses, same f-number) even when enlarged to the same size. In other words, you can shoot at a much wider aperture and still get the same depth of field.

The larger the camera, the more it physically intrudes between you and your subject. A small camera gives you greater freedom of viewpoint, is more mobile and much faster to set up and use, and allows you to shoot pictures in quicker succession. Note though that the slower setup and shooting rate of a large format camera is cited as an advantage by some users as it helps them make more "considered" images; also to note is that a large format camera is often taken more seriously than a 35 mm camera, and when photographing people this can be a huge advantage. Often people associate the 35 mm camera with the photojournalist or the paparazzi photographer, which can create problems for the photographer.

Small format cameras are often fitted with lenses that are "faster," i.e., have larger maximum apertures. Among other advantages, the brighter image makes it possible to shoot at hand-held shutter speeds under dim lighting. 35 mm camera systems have a vastly greater range of lenses and accessories available too (see Chapter 3). Where equivalent items exist for medium or large format kits, they are much more expensive. There are relatively few medium format zoom lenses, for example.

Some specialized light-sensitive film materials are made only for large format cameras. Having sheet film holders allows you to change from one film to another with ease, and you can process pictures individually. However, a small format camera kit makes it easier to shoot and process a large quantity of pictures. 35 mm is ideal for making projection slides.

Large format cameras offer you a wide range of "camera movements" (see Appendix B) for image control

Enlargers and digital film scanners are more costly the larger the film format they accommodate.

The table below gives a comparison of analog and digital cameras.

Analog
Digital

Speed of response
(shutter lag)
Film cameras have a delay of some 10
milliseconds.
There may be a noticeable delay between pressing the shutter and taking
the picture in cheaper compact cameras, but this differs greatly from camera
to camera. You also have to factor in that you first have to turn your digital
camera on.

Predictability
You don't know what you've got until you
develop your film. You can shoot instant film in
parallel to make sure you get what you require.
Because you're given almost instantaneous feedback, you can adjust your
picture and reshoot your subject accordingly.

Cost of purchase
The most competitive purchase would be a
top of the range medium format camera that's
capable of shooting both analog and digital by
using different backs.
Entry level compact cameras are very competitively priced, but high end
digital cameras tend to be quite a bit more expensive than their analog
counterparts and you may need to buy new equipment every couple of years
to stay up to date.

Viewfinder
Traditional cameras, especially 35 mm, will
have a viewfinder you use with just one eye,
while with a waist-level viewfinder, normally
found in medium format cameras, you are still
composing using both your eyes, but the image
is laterally reversed.
Some compact digital cameras no longer have a viewfinder. You only have
the LCD display to work with. Using the LCD screen you are composing your
picture with both eyes, unlike a traditional viewfinder.

Costs of operation
Film stock, processing, and associated darkroom
expenditures.
After the initial investment in equipment there are very few costs involved.
DVDs and/or external hard drives will be required for long-term archiving,
although you may need to update the postproduction software programs
from time to time.

Sound
The sound of the shutter opening and closing
and the film being forwarded.
Digital cameras are mostly silent as no film is in use and they have almost
no moving parts. By default some are configured to play back the sound of a
camera taking a picture, but this can in most cases be disabled in the camera
menu. If you are using an SLR, you still have the sound of the mirror going up
and down.

Battery life
Some analog cameras do not need a battery at
all; others have just one to power the light meter,
or for the motor drive and/or auto focus, etc.
Digital cameras are quite power hungry, with the LCD screen using the
most—and they cannot function without a battery Battery consumption
tends to be much greater under extreme weather conditions, i e, either very
cold or very hot, so always carry spare batteries.

Output size
If you enlarge an image up high enough, the
grain will become apparent, but may still be
acceptable.
If you enlarge a digital picture, it will eventually turn pixelated and/or muddy
in appearance, but may still be acceptable.

Long exposures
Film can handle exposures up to hours without
any problems, but reciprocity failure can be an
issue with long exposures.
The sensor in a digital camera sometimes has problems handling
long exposures. Noise and loss of detail in shadow and highlight areas
are common. Built-in noise algorithms help, and a lot can be done in
post production On some cameras the longest exposure you can make is
fixed.

Storage
Under proper conditions, and if properly
fixed, negatives and slides can potentially last
hundreds of years.
The long-term life of a DVD or hard drive can be problematic as any scratch
or drop may render it unreadable, so make multiple copies and store these
in separate locations. The hardware that you depend on may also be
discontinued. Storing your work on external hard drives or online is a safer
option.

SUMMARY

Digital cameras

> The CMOS sensor carries a microscopic grid of pixels, to convert the image focused on it by the camera lens into a stream of digital electronic signals. The more pixels, the higher the resolution of the digital image and the greater its recorded "file" size.

> All cameras carry an LCD screen to display the picture before and after exposure.

> Unwanted shots can be deleted. Image files are stored on removable cards. Final image quality depends upon factors such as CMOS pixel count (megapixels) and any compression made of the image file; for instance, as a JPEG it will increase card storage capacity but decrease quality of eventual output.

> Advantages include immediate assurance of results, and no darkroom, chemicals, or film or lab costs. In digital form, images are easy to retouch, manipulate, and send elsewhere electronically.

> Disadvantages relative to film are mainly higher capital costs, including computer and printer. LCD screens absorb battery power and can be difficult to view.

> To match the appearance of traditional photo-prints, digital images should be printed out at around 300 dots per inch (less for screen usage or newspaper reproduction).

> The higher the ISO, the more noise you are likely to see in your image, which may degrade the quality of the image.

> CompactFlash cards rival secure digital cards as removable, reusable image storage devices. SD cards are a lot smaller. CompactFlash (CF) cards are generally more durable and faster than SD cards and are mostly used on DSLRs.

> Digital camera equipment offering high quality image resolution is still relatively expensive, but it allows you to review all pictures on the spot, and when necessary transmit them rapidly elsewhere.

> Results can be immediately edited on a computer.

> TTL metering systems accurately read image light from inside the camera and work with all lenses and attachments. Most compact cameras have a simple measuring sensor facing the subject direct. You need a separate hand-held meter for cameras without built-in exposure reading.

> No one camera is the perfect tool for every job. You will probably need at least two cameras, complementing each other in format or design features.

> All cameras using a separate lens for viewfinding suffer from parallax error. Even if there is parallax correction of framing, accurate alignment of objects in the frame is difficult, especially for close-ups.

> A rangefinder system allows accurate auto or manual focusing of subjects down to about 1 m only.

> A focal plane shutter works with all lenses and allows reflex image viewing.

Film cameras

> 35 mm or 120 rollfilm magazine backs, an additional 35 mm body, or separate film holders (sheet film cameras) enable you to shoot a subject: on more than one type of film.

> The larger your camera format, the better the image detail and gradation in big enlargements, the less the depth of field, and the more camera movements that may be available.

> Smaller format cameras are less obtrusive, more flexible, have "faster" lenses and allow rapid sequences to be shot.

> View cameras are basically simple, offer large-screen composition and focusing, depth of field check, and camera movements. But they are bulky and slow to use, need a tripod, and give a dim upside-down image. They remain practical for architecture and still life because they can perform movements and have features that encourage very considered compositions.

> Compact all-in-one cameras offer complete exposure and focus (AE and AF) automation and can be brought into use quickly. Their direct viewfinding system is bright, but has parallax inaccuracies and cannot show depth of field. The bulit-in lens is usually a zoom type. The camera's built-in flash tends to give "red-eye" if there is no other means of positioning the flash unit. They are good for situations where you need to be unobtrusive as they are small, quick, and quiet to use.

> Twin-lens medium format reflexes allow full format image focusing and composition, up to and during exposure. But the finder shows images reversed left to right, suffers parallax error, and normally cannot show depth of field.

> Single-lens reflexes provide critical focusing, accurate viewfinding and (if pentaprism) correct-way-round composition. Most 35 mm types offer multi-option TTL exposure automation, plus auto focus and auto wind. A manual model is probably your best choice when first learning photography. With your cameras you can have an extensive range of interchangeable lenses and accessories.

> SLR cameras lose the viewfinder picture during exposure, and there are restrictions on flash shutter speeds and camera movements. But they tackle most subjects well, within the limits of format size (35 mm or rollfilm).

> Remember, cameras are only a means to an end. They are tools to make photographs—learn to use them thoroughly, but concentrate on the photography.

PROJECTS

1. Organize for yourself "hands-on" experience of different camera types. Compare their practical features such as weight and balance (handheld cameras) and the ease of working fingertip controls. Do you feel at home with their format proportions, the clarity of focusing, and the ability to frame up shots? Check prices, including any extra lenses and accessories you will eventually need, plus the film processing and enlarger equipment necessary if using film cameras.

2. Make a comprehensive list of the technical features you consider (1) essential, (2) useful but additional, and (3) unnecessary. Decide on two or three competing models (similar price range) and compare them for each item on your list.

3. Try to output a photograph taken with various quality settings, such as raw, JPEG (low, normal, and fine), and compare them.

4. Photograph the same scene under different lighting conditions, first using the default automatic white balance setting, then intentionally setting it wrong, and lastly manually setting the white balance.

5. If you are using a compact digital camera, experiment with the various built-in effects, such as black and white, sepia, and others. Compare these later with what you can accomplish in postproduction.

6. Photograph a moving activity using all the different shutter speeds on your camera; take notes recording the shutter speed used for each frame. Also try panning the camera with the movement of your subject at: a number of different shutter speeds. Compare the results, looking at how the different effects change the composition.

Chapter Five
Exposure Measurement

This chapter looks at what "correct" exposure means and working in different lighting conditions. It discusses equipment for measuring and setting exposure, their different modes of use, and how to avoid mistakes with problem subjects. Shooting with flash brings in its own exposure features, discussed toward the end of the chapter. Understanding exposure applies equally to digital cameras and working with film, but at the end of the chapter we explore exposing different film types.

Digital image sensors or films need to receive just the right amount of light the photographer intended to record an image. If insufficient light reaches them, they record nothing or a dark, partial picture. Similarly, too much exposure results in a bleached, washed-out image or just a white blank. Strictly speaking, "giving the correct exposure" means capturing the correct amount of image light (photons). In practice it is much more than this. Exposure can be used to give emphasis by deliberately over- or underexposing parts of the scene such as backgrounds to draw the eye toward the main subject or particular areas and therefore affect composition (see Figure 10.46). Exposure control is also the key to getting fine tonal qualities in your final pictures. Finally, the actual way you calculate exposure, via chosen permutations of lens aperture and shutter speed, has important effects on the image. As shown in earlier chapters, these strongly influence the appearance of things at different distances and the way that movement is recorded.

The exposure measuring and setting help provided by the camera itself varies considerably. At one extreme, a fully automatic compact will measure the light and instantly set controls according to a built-in program, without even telling you what is going on. Total automation ensures a high percentage of accurate exposures with "average" subjects, but it takes many creative decisions out of your hands.

At the other extreme, most large format cameras offer no light-measuring facilities, leaving you to make all the decisions on shutter and aperture settings by measuring the light with a separate hand-held meter. The middle ground, and what the majority of people studying photography will use, is catered for by cameras with in-built meters but with manual (or semi-automatic) controls.

Digital camera image sensors are sensitive to light over a wider range of intensities than film, giving them a broader dynamic range. Slight over- and underexposure is therefore less problematic than with digital, particularly if shooting raw images, but note that image color, contrast, and "noise" all deteriorate with incorrect exposure. All but the most basic digital cameras also have settings which allow the sensitivity to be set manually, typically known as the ISO or film speed rating in the range of ISO 100-800 or more (see Chapter 10).

Factors that Determine What Exposure to Give

The main factors that should be taken into account when measuring light and setting exposure are:

Lighting. The intensity and distance of the light source, including any light loss due to diffusers, acetates, etc., or atmospheric conditions between source and subject. The range of brightnesses (contrast) needs to be within the dynamic range of the image sensor's or film's tolerance if full detail is to be recorded. While digital has a broader dynamic range than film, it still cannot recover details from blown highlights, although that is why it is always better to shoot on raw as it has the ability to maintain more highlight information that JPEG capture blows out. Film has the same issue but at the opposite end with a loss of shadow detail.

Subject properties. How much your subject reflects the light—its tone, color, surface, from a black cat on tarmac to a white car in snow. The meter cannot tell what the subject is and so its readings need to be interpreted so that light and dark subjects such as these are recorded well. This is one reason people use a hand-held meter for an incident reading, a reading taken of the average light falling on a subject, or a reflective reading from a gray card that gives an average 18 percent reflection.

The ISO speed rating used—the sensitivity of the image sensor or film.

Unusual imaging conditions. Light absorption due to lens filters and attachments, or an image made dimmer by extending the lens forward to focus close-ups (see p. 148). If using film, alterations will be necessary due to color sensitivity relative to subject light source or when extremely long exposure times are required (see reciprocity failure, Appendix C).

On top of these come important interpretative or subjective considerations. For example, would it improve the picture to expose wholly for the brightest parts of the scene and make darker parts black, or to expose for shadows and let light parts "burn out"? These judgments can only be made by you, and are carried out by overriding the camera's settings.

The chosen exposure is delivered by a combination of:

Intensity (image brightness): controlled by the lens aperture. Bear in mind that this choice will affect depth of field, and to some extent definition.

Time: controlled by the shutter speed. This influences the way any movement of subject or camera will reproduce, and the spontaneity of expression or action.

5.1
Aperture/shutter speed relationships. Identical exposure can be given through a range of intensity/time settings For example, each combination here will give the correct exposure, whether that is f/4 at 1/250 or f/16 at 1/15. With a manually set camera you can choose between them, paying attention to depth of field and blur effects.

Putting into context the information on "aperture and f-numbers" in Chapter 3 (p. 48) and the "shutter" in Chapter 4 (p. 95), one of the most important things to remember about setting exposure is the relationship between the two. As Figure 5.1 shows, intensity and time—aperture and shutter—interrelate. Within limits (Appendix C), halving the intensity (f-stop) and doubling the time (shutter speed) maintains the same total of photons of light energy reaching the sensor or film, as would twice the intensity and half the time. If we put Figure 5.1 into practice, we can see the result that these ranges of settings have on two very different situations. The same overall exposure level occurs and therefore we can say that they are all the "correct exposure."

5.2
The effect of different apertures on the same still life photographed at (a) f/3.2, (b) f/9.0, (c) f/22, demonstrating an increase in the depth of field—how much of the image is in focus; in particular look at how the background has become sharper.

5.3
The effect of shutter speed on a moving subject. The slower the shutter speed, the more likely it is that the subject will become blurred; the faster the shutter speed, the sharper the subject appears: (a) 1/320th, (b) 1/25th, and (c) 1/4th.

In Figure 5.2 we have a static subject, a still life photograph; the camera is fixed on a tripod to reduce the possibility of camera shake at slow shutter speeds. For this image the priority is depth of field and how much of the subject is required to appear in focus in the final photograph. In the second set of images (Figure 5.3) the priority is shutter speed because we are dealing with a moving subject. The subject is running in a flat plane across the camera lens, and although depth of field will play a role, on the whole with this image the figure should be in focus across the range of settings we use. For this test the camera is again fixed on a tripod to reduce camera shake at slow shutter speeds; however, the effect of these different shutter speeds is, unlike in the still life image, made apparent in the final photograph. The faster shutter speeds manage to freeze frame the action in mid-flow, while the slower shutter speeds mean that the subject appears as a blur. In your normal day-to-day photography it is unlikely that you will have to deal with such extreme subjects, but you will have to decide on a balance between time and intensity, making a decision as to whether depth of field or movement is the key concern.

Measuring Exposure for Continuous Light

The normal way of finding correct subject exposure is by measuring with some form of light meter inside the camera or a hand-held meter. Learning how a hand-held meter is used will help you understand the built-in meter as they both work along similar lines.

Using built-in meters—how they work

5.4
The light-measuring cell of the meter built into a basic compact camera. This gives a direct, overall reading of your subject. (Take care not to obstruct it with your finger or the camera will overexpose.)

An exposure meter built into the camera has a tiny electronic light-sensitive cell measuring your subject, or the image itself, and is able to transfer its readout direct to aperture and shutter settings. In most compact cameras the cell faces the subject from behind a window alongside the lens or view-finder (Figure 5.4).

Single-lens reflex digital or film cameras measure image light directly through the lens (TTL), so taking into account the effects of close working, filters, etc., as well as metering exactly the area of the scene framed. Several cell positions can be used within an SLR body. One or more cells may view the image on the focusing screen, while another below the mirror looks up toward the film. The "off the film" (OTF) cell views the image as it appears on a reflective pattern on the front of the shutter blind, and on the emulsion itself after the mirror has risen and during exposure. This allows it to measure and control the period of a time exposure as it actually takes place, as well as flash exposures (p. 150). In the commonest design, light passing through a semi-silvered part of the main mirror is reflected downward to light sensors located in the base of the camera (Figure 5.5).

5.5
Various light-measuring cell locations designed for through-the-lens metering in SLR cameras (A) Viewing most of the image from above the SLR eyepiece or pentaprism. (B) Reading through a semi-silvered part of the mirror. (C) Reading light reflected off the shutter blind or sensor/film once the mirror has risen.

DSLR cameras work in the same way of metering the exposure through the lens, but reading off the image sensor is not so successful as its reflectance properties are less reliable than film, so the metering module is located in the roof of the camera.

Usually you switch on the meter with a half pressure of the shutter release (it switches itself off later after a timed period). Some compact cameras have a lens and viewfinder shield you slide open to switch on the meter and unlock the shutter release. Output from the light-sensing cells feeds to an internal microchip central processing unit (CPU). This also receives information from other parts of the camera, namely the ISO speed, any exposure compensation setting you may have given, the f-number, and/or the shutter speed chosen. The CPU computes this information and typically sends control signals to aperture and/or shutter, as well as displaying the required settings alongside the internal focusing screen and on top of the camera body (see Figure 5.6).

5.6
Some of the ways the settings made by a light reading are signaled in the viewfinder (or LCD body top panel) of different SLR cameras. Top left: Camera in aperture priority (Av) mode—the meter needle shows what shutter speed it has set. Top right: Manual mode—you alter either shutter speed or aperture, until OK signal (green diode) lights up Below center: Alternative way of displaying (in green) the meter's setting in Av mode. Below right: The same display when in shutter priority (Tv) mode. You set shutter speed and the camera now sets aperture. The red signal here warns of the risk of camera shake at 1/15 s.

To make full use of built-in metering it's helpful to understand (a) the area of your picture being measured, and (b) the effect of different "modes" your camera offers to translate light readings into shutter and aperture exposure settings.

Alternative built-in meter systems

There are now many alternatives to the traditional SLR camera that houses a mirror which flips up and down when the shutter release is triggered. Sony SLT offers a fixed semi-transparent mirror used for continuous phase-contrast auto focusing, but the introduction of electronically sending light to an LCD viewfinder, found in digital compact cameras, has done away with the need for a mirror altogether. More manufacturers are introducing mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (DSLM or MILC) with full frame sensors and advanced camera controls, yet maintaining the compact size and weight.

To complicate things even further, simple digital point-and-shoot cameras often use an interline transfer sensor allowing the "light reading" capability of the image sensor to be turned on and off electronically, making redundant the need for a mechanical shutter. However, these sensors tend to have lower sensitivity and higher noise levels than high end DSLR full frame sensors. A more efficient, simpler, and less expensive sensor can be used when a mechanical shutter does the work for it. You will of course find that there are hybrid cameras that use both shutter systems, mechanical and electronic; one benefit of these is that this can allow for faster and more accurate flash sync speeds. As most cameras, apart from the point-and-shoot variety, stilt maintain a mechanical shutter, it is useful to understand how these work and their impact on exposure.

TTL meters that are built into 120 rollfilm cameras or form add-on accessories to view cameras are less comprehensive than 35 mm types. Most medium format SLRs, for example, offer a system providing center-weighted measurement and a choice of either manual or aperture priority setting modes; for the most part, medium and large format cameras are still used in conjunction with a separate, hand-held exposure meter.

In the end, though, with all these systems the principle of setting the correct exposure by adjustments of shutter speed and aperture, in line with the four factors mentioned earlier, remains the same.

Measuring area

5.7
Multi-sensor chip located in the base of an SLR. This evaluates image brightness based on 21 sampling areas. According to the mode you pick light measuring ranges from overall averaging to center spot reading.

Film and DSLR exposure meters generally function in one of three ways: multi-zone metering, center-weighted, or spot metering. They have a honeycomb of several cells arranged to measure different parts of the image area (Figure 5.7), giving them different priorities; Nikon call this "matrix metering" and Canon "evaluative metering." It allows a range of metering modes to be used, more in the center than in the corners for example. And by selecting spot metering mode, only the very center cells sample light, so you can measure from a small chosen area.

Advanced systems measure by multi-zone (matrix/evaluative) metering. The various outputs from different parts of the frame are then compared against an in-built computer program based on thousands of sample images from manufacturers' field trials. "Fuzzy logic" fills in gaps in the sampling process, essentially guessing what sort of picture you are taking. For example, a dark object in the middle of the frame with much brighter areas above and either side is likely to be interpreted as a back-lit portrait. The meter software therefore biases the exposure more toward the center of the frame as it thinks this is the most important subject area.

5.8
Exposure meter measurement area. "Contour lines" show the relative distribution of light sensitivity across the picture format. Here the system is center-weighted—most influenced by subjects composed centrally.

Most meters built into compact cameras take a "center-weighted" averaging light measurement of your subject. This means that the reading is influenced more by central areas and least by the corners of the picture. The precise layout of this "sensitivity map" (Figure 5.8) varies in different cameras—some pay more attention to the bottom of the (horizontal) frame to reduce sky influence in landscapes. Overdone, though, this creates problems in other, upright, pictures. Center-weighted measurement is surprisingly successful, but you must still remember that the largest areas of tone in your picture have greater influence than smaller areas. Learn to recognize your composition's key tone, such as face skin tone in a portrait. Then if necessary make it fill up more of the frame just while the reading is taken (see p. 149).

Some cameras additionally offer you the option of spot metering, which measures only within a small area shown by a circle or rectangle in the center of the focusing screen. You can then align this spot and get the camera to hold this reading. Or take separate readings of the darkest and lightest key elements (Figure 5.9) and the metering system averages between the two. (See also spot meters, p. 147.) Spot metering creates a reading from just 1-3 percent of the image (Canon also have "partial metering," inherently the same as spot metering but approximately 6-8 percent of the viewfinder area) as compared to the 60-80 percent range of center-weighted metering.

Exposure setting modes

Fed by the light measurements and other exposure information it needs, the camera's central processing unit (CPU) makes its choice of settings in various ways, according to "mode" (Figure 5.10). Some cameras offer only one (typically auto program) mode, others a choice of four or five that you select according to shooting needs and personal choice. Each offers its own advantages.

So-called manual mode is the most basic and flexible arrangement. You dial in the camera aperture and/or shutter speed controls, and the meter signals when a combination will give correct exposure. For instance, you can set the shutter to 1/125 second (for hand-holding) and then change apertures until a signal—such as a green light beside the focusing screen—lights up. Or you could set f/16 for depth of field and then change shutter speeds until the same OK signal is given. Importantly, manual mode allows you to over- or underexpose the shot you are taking as much as you like. The meter will advise what it thinks is correct exposure, flashing red or amber lights, or + or - signs, if it disagrees with your choice, but the camera will always fire on your settings as you are in charge (see Figure 5.6).

5.9
Spot reading. In this mode you must carefully choose and align one or more subject areas you wish to read—reading was focused in this case on skin tones and shoulder highlights, otherwise the background would have unbalanced the reading.

5.10 The main components in a multi-mode exposure setting system built into a camera (top). Below left: Set to "aperture priority" mode. Light reading, ISO speed, and your chosen f-number are input, and the CPU translates this data into the correct shutter setting. Your aperture and the camera's chosen shutter speed are also displayed. Below right: Set to "program." The CPU inputs light and ISO data, and outputs a figure to a program (see Figure 5.11), which then sets the most suitable shutter/ aperture combination.

Aperture priority goes a step further—saving time if you must work at a particular aperture, perhaps after having checked depth of field with the [ens preview button depressed. In this mode you set the aperture and the camera automatically sets the shutter speed required for correct exposure. The arrangement can be very helpful for close-ups, where depth of field is critical, and also for night-shot time exposures (most cameras can set up to 30 seconds or so). This mode will also handle a very wide range of light-intensity conditions, since cameras offer far more potential shutter settings than f-numbers. However, you may easily discover that you are hand-holding the camera at a slow shutter speed, resulting in blur.

Shutter priority mode works the other way around. You set shutter speed and the camera selects the lens aperture to be used when you take the picture. (As with most modes, a signal warns if the exposure required is over or under the setting range available to the camera, in which case you should set a different shutter speed.) Shutter priority is useful for sports work and any action or interpretative photography where you must maintain control over the appearance of movement. Or it may be just that you prefer to shoot a hand-held series at a safe 1/125 second, or 1/250 second with a longer lens, and accept whatever depth of field lighting conditions permit.

Programmed modes allow the camera to take over both shutter and aperture settings, running through an intelligent program—from shortest time/smallest aperture to longest time/widest aperture—according to inputs of light reading and ISO rating (shown in Figure 5.11 as exposure values). The chart illustrates a typical standard lens program in which there is a progression of both shutter and aperture changes until, with decreasing light, the lens's widest aperture is reached (in this instance f/1.4). From here onward exposure time only increases, usually accompanied by a camera shake warning light at speeds slower than 1/30 second (Figure 5.6).

Programs like this are often built into compact cameras as hidden systems which do not reveal to the user any technical information other than giving "shake" and "out of range" warnings. They are sufficiently effective for most general photography subject conditions.

On SLR cameras, however, having one standard program may not be suitable when you use telephoto or wide-angle lenses. Some cameras therefore offer two additional programs—"tele" and "wide." As Figure 5.11 shows, on tele the camera reacts to decreasing light by maintaining fast shutter speeds for as long as possible, to counteract the ever-present risk of image blur with long focal length lenses. When wide is selected, the camera makes equal alternating changes of aperture and shutter speed, bearing in mind that camera shake is less likely. This choice of program is either left to the user or may be selected automatically when you fit on a telephoto or wide-angle lens.

Other modes (often indicated by little icons of people, mountains, athletes, etc. on basic cameras) offer bias for portraits (hold the aperture as wide as possible to blur backgrounds), landscapes (meter reads off the whole scene, shutter speed range biased for a static subject), and sports (fastest shutter speeds held for as long as possible to freeze action), etc.

5.11
Typical exposure auto program for a camera with f/1.4 standard lens. Working from top to bottom of the green graph line, as scene brightness drops (the exposure needed increases) the program progressively widens the aperture and slows the shutter speed. Note speeds safest for hand-holding are retained until f/1.4 is reached. Camera may signal "shake" or "use flash" at 1/30 second and slower. If you select "Tele" program instead (shown here for a lens of f/2.8 maximum aperture), shutter speeds of 1/250 second or faster are held as long as possible. "Wide" program (f/2 lens) pays equal attention to aperture and shutter changes.

In practice, having a multimode AF camera will probably mean that you rarely use more than two or three of these options. The most popular modes tend to be manual and aperture priority. A fully auto program is handy for rush situations, while shutter priority is preferable if you do much action-freezing photography or use telephotos hand-held. In all modes it's helpful if the camera displays what lens and shutter settings are made, to allow you to previsualize and if necessary override the effect of aperture and shutter on picture appearance.

Using a hand-held exposure meter

Hand-held meters are simple to use and can be very useful for achieving accurate exposures from images with complex lighting, although they are most commonly used when working with large or medium format cameras that don't have built-in meters. They also allow you to take reflective and incident readings. Reflective readings are simply readings of the light reflected off the subject; this is how all camera built-in meters work. Incident readings are taken from the light falling on the subject. Many give readings for a continuous light source (what is generally meant by a hand-held meter) as well as being designed to work with electronic flash (generally known as a flash meter, see p. 155). With most models (Figure 5.12) you feed in either the f-number or the shutter speed you want to use and the ISO speed, and then a digital display on the meter shows the appropriate shutter speed or f-number with which they should be paired.

5.12
Hand-held meter. Top: A light-sensitive cell behind a circular window in the center of the front end gives general, reflected light readings. The white plastic dome slides over this window for making incident light readings. Bottom: The large calculator dial must be programmed for ISO speed. The numbered light reading shown by the needle is next set in the "SCALE" window. You can then read off shutter settings against f-numbers at top of dial. Note that some models also measure flash and/or have digital displays (see Figure 5.30).

A traditional basic meter is a self-contained unit with a small light-responsive cell behind a lens-shaped window. This sensor forms part of a circuit including a battery and current-measuring device. Essentially you program the meter with the ISO speed, point it toward the subject, and read off the exposure required. To do this last part you note the number picked out by a needle moving over a scale, and set this against a pointer on a large dial. The dial lines up a complete series of f-numbers against a series of shutter speeds. Each combination will give correct exposure—you are left to choose any of these paired settings according to depth of field and image movement considerations.

Reading the light

There are several ways to take readings with a hand-held meter, according to working conditions and personal preference. These are: (1) a general or "integrated" reading of the subject, (2) two or more "brightness-range" readings of the subject, (3) a gray card reading, or (4) an incident light reading of the light source. (Methods 1-3, which all measure reflected light, can also be carried out with a TTL camera meter.)

For a general reading, you just point the meter from the camera position toward your subject. The meter's angle of view usually approximates that of a standard lens, so it "sees" a similar area of the scene. The meter takes an average from all the various light values, from the brightest areas to the deepest shadows. It then gives an exposure reading that would place this single imaginary "average brightness" about midway between under- and overexposure on the characteristic curve.

5.13
Conditions which often fool a general or "center-weighted" exposure reading. Although the figure in all these pictures received the same lighting, in (a) the large area of dark background causes the meter to give a low reading and so make settings which overexpose the face. Coming in close (b) and reading only off the face ensures correct portrait exposure (c). Similarly, (d) a bright background leads to underexposure of the face unless you take a close-up reading to get result (e). When working with an auto-exposure camera, AE lock must be applied.

5.14 This sort of subject (left)—with more or less even distribution of light, dark, and midtone areas—is ideal for exposure reading by either general or center-weighted measurement. Right: In this shot the most important element is the distorted reflection, occupying only about 25 percent of the frame. A general reading here would underexpose the reflection. It is better to take a spot reading off the reflected building, or briefly recompose it to completely fill the screen while taking a general or center-weighted reading. (If necessary, set Exposure Lock to stop the camera reverting to a faulty measurement when you finally recompose to shoot.)

As when using a compact camera with an overall reading meter, the trouble with a general reading is that the most important element in your picture is not always the largest. The face in a portrait may occupy less than 50 percent of the picture area, the rest being background (Figure 5.13). In one version you might use a dark background and in another a much lighter one, without any change to the illumination on the face. Yet the meter, taking over 50 percent of its reading from the background in each case, will give a low reading for the first shot, and so overexpose face skin tones, and a high reading for the second, making the face underexposed.

A general reading is therefore only satisfactory if your shot has a fairly equal distribution of light and dark areas in which you want detail, subjects like Figure 5.14 (left), for example. It often works with softly lit landscapes (tilt the meter down slightly to read less sky and more land, if this is where details are more important). Another problem is that zooming or changing to a different focal length lens can make camera and meter have very dissimilar angles of view. Used from the camera position, the meter then reads a larger or smaller area than is included in your picture.

2 For a brightness-range reading, you first decide which is the lightest and which is the darkest part of the scene where detail must still just record. Take separate readings of both, bringing the meter sufficiently close in each case to exclude everything else. (Don't cast a shadow onto what you are measuring, however.) You next split the difference between these light measurements to set an exposure midway between the two extremes. For example, you set the shutter speed (or aperture) you want and take readings that give you, say, f/2.8 at 1/250 and f/11 at 1/250, a five stop range; the middle, average, reading would be f/5.6 at 1/250.

Brightness-range readings therefore make the best possible exposure compromise between subject extremes, and also remind

5.15 Alternative methods of using a hand meter. (a) Direct, general reading from the camera. (b) Close separate measurements of lightest and darkest important areas, then averaging the two light readings. (c) Reading off a mid-gray card receiving the same lighting as your subject. (d) Incident light reading through the meter's diffusing dome; meter here points from subject toward camera.

5.16
Using a gray card to read exposure when copying drawings (1) Covering the whole subject imaged by the camera. If the original is larger than your card, move your camera closer (2) until the card fills the frame. But don't refocus or cast shadows. (3) Finally keep to the exposure settings made, remove the card, and copy the whole drawing.

you how much contrast is present. If shadows require over six stops more exposure than highlights, consider reducing lighting contrast by adding a reflector or flash, or wait for changing conditions, or alter your viewpoint. As a last resort, be prepared to accept loss of detail at one or other end of the scale, and pick which is less objectionable. The trouble is that two readings take longer than one and you may not be able to approach parts of the subject close enough (but see substitute readings, p. 149).

3 For a gray card reading, you measure from a mid-gray card, held so that it receives the same light as your subject. You can buy a standard 18 percent reflectance card for the purpose from most good photography stores. Exposure given according to this one reading should coincide with the average of darkest and lightest areas. You must use a card large enough to fill the meter's field of view (Figure 5.15), and avoid casting a shadow on it when reading. A gray card can be used on location, or most commonly for studio work, particularly copying (see Figure 5.16).

4 For an incident light reading, the hand-held meter has a white plastic diffusing dome which is used to cover its measuring window (Figure 5.12). Then you hold the meter in the same lighting conditions as for the subject, pointing toward the camera. It therefore takes into account all the (scrambled) light reaching the subject, rather than the subject's reflective properties. The plastic dome transmits 18 percent of the light, so you end up with much the same situation as a gray card reading, but in a more convenient form. Enthusiasts for incident light metering point out that it is simpler than most other techniques, being used extensively in studios, especially for portraits, where a quick lighting check can be taken whenever a light has been moved.

Spot meters

A spot meter (Figure 5.17) is a narrow-angle version of a reflected-light meter. It has an eyepiece for aiming the meter from the camera position, through which you see a magnified view of part of the subject, with a small measuring area outlined. The meter's angle of view over this area is typically only 1-3°. Having set your ISO speed, you press a trigger-like button to get a reading, and the exposure settings are displayed inside and/or outside the meter. Spot meters are extremely convenient for taking brightness-range readings if you cannot easily approach your subject, and when shooting close-ups. Spot meters should be used with care, as their readings need to be interpreted rather than simply followed. They are ideal when using the zone system (see Advanced Photography).

Conditions hand-held meters do not consider

All the above methods of meter-reading exposure for a subject should give you the same result, if used properly. Bear in mind though that a hand meter does not take into account:

Close-up focusing conditions. Increasing the lens-to-image distance to focus sharply a close subject makes the image darker. Inside the camera, this is like moving a projector farther away from a screen (the image sensor). The projected image grows bigger but less bright, following the rule that twice the distance gives twice the image size and one-quarter the light over the image sensor area. You must therefore increase the exposure that the hand-held meter suggests, as nearly as possible by the factor shown in Figure 5.18. (Increases here are based on the formula shown in Appendix A.)

5.17
A spot meter. The eyepiece shows you part of your subject magnified, a small center circle marking the light measuring zone. Once the ISO film speed has been programmed, the meter displays the exposure either on the side or within the viewfinder.

5.18 Close-ups shot using a camera without TTL metering need additional exposure—see table. To measure magnification, have a ruler alongside your subject. Divide this into its image size shown on the focusing screen.

Magnification
(Subject height divided into
the height of its image)
Increase
exposure
by

03
˟17

05
˟23

07
˟29

08
˟32

09
˟36

10
˟4

13
˟53

15
˟63

17
˟73

Use of filters. Most filters used over the lens cut down the light, so increase the exposure shown on the hand-held meter by the factor printed on the filter rim or quoted by the manufacturer. An unknown filter factor may be checked by comparing readings with and without the filter in front of the meter. With strong color filters, however, the response of some measuring cells slightly mismatches film color sensitivity and so creates variations. This generally isn't a problem for built-in camera meters as they read the light that passes through the lens and therefore take into account the use of filters.

The subject matter. It is easy to overlook the fact that no meter made, built-in or hand-held, can know what kind of picture you are making, and that meters are calibrated to an average 18 percent reflectance—whatever the subject matter is that you are photographing. If you are photographing unusually light or dark objects (Figure 5.19), such as the white car or black cat already described, then you need either to interpret a reflected reading or to use the gray card or incident light dome methods. Also, you may want to deliberately overexpose the whole image to give a so-called high key effect, or reduce a distracting background by underexposing it to a clean black void. Understanding how meters work gives you the confidence to override them when you need to for creative control.

5.19
Scenes made up of predominantly very dark or very light tones can confuse the cameras built-in exposure meter. The camera meter assumes that most scenes will be made up of roughly equal amounts of shadows and highlights and accordingly adjusts the exposure until the scene is an average "18 percent gray." Scenes that should be lighter than an average 18 percent gray (for example a snowy landscape or this mostly white still life scene) will be underexposed by the cameras light meter (left image), while scenes that are mostly darker than 18 percent gray will often be overexposed by the meter. By holding up an 18 percent gray card (center) in front of the subject to fill the majority of the camera's viewfinder and taking a meter reading with the camera, we essentially force the camera to consider how bright the light hitting the subject is, rather than how light or dark the tones of the subject itself are. The gray card also makes for a useful reference when it comes to setting the white balance of the photograph. The right image shows the results of using the gray card to ascertain the correct exposure settings, displaying an increase in exposure of one-and-a-half stops.

Practical Exposure Tips

Point-and-shoot cameras apart, an exposure measuring system (built-in or hand-heid) allows you choices and control at three main points: (1) the ISO speed, (2) the parts of the subject you actually measure, and (3) the alternative ways of dividing exposure between lens and shutter.

Always think carefully about what area(s) of the subject you measure. The meter sees the world as an average 18 percent gray (the reflectance of gray card) and as such you, as the photographer, are responsible for where you point the camera. Decide the priorities between various tones of your picture. If there is only one really key tone, and the camera does not have spot reading, try to make it fill up the whole frame. With a close-up you can do this by just moving forward (don't refocus—extra extension may change the reading). If your key subject is inaccessible, take a substitute reading from something convenient that matches it in tone. The eye is good at judging comparisons. A gray card has already been suggested, but potentially you can read off your hand, though obviously that depends on your skin tone, lining it up and turning it at angles in the light to match a far subject tone (Figure 5.20); alternatively, find some part of the ground or sky with the right-looking tone. Some cameras have an "auto-exposure lock" (AE-L) button, but if yours does not, keeping the shutter button half-pressed will hold this exposure setting when you pull back and recompose the picture, or use manual exposure mode (see above).

5.20
Making a substitute reading off your hand, for a distant face. Both must be in the same lighting and similar skin tone. By turning your hand you can match both lightest and darkest parts, and so make brightness-range readings.

Photographing flat objects such as line drawings, photographs, paintings, etc., often brings problems over how best to take a reading. Areas of dark and light are unlikely to be equal. Sometimes you can "home in" on a midtone of sufficient size in a photograph or painting, but the best approach is to read off a gray card (or take an incident light reading). You can see how important that is when using a built-in metering system, in that it allows you to take a reading and then retain the settings unchanged after reframing the picture, removing the gray card, and so on. You will have to activate the auto-exposure lock or use manual exposure mode, otherwise the meter goes on taking new measurements.

A more specialist problem concerns exposure reading when using a moving light source to "paint with light" an architectural interior or still life, spreading the light and forming a softer, more even source. Provided the lamp is moved in an arc maintaining the same subject distance throughout the exposure, you can accurately read the light when it is still.

Whatever your technique for measuring the light, deciding on the best way to deliver the exposure by means of aperture and shutter controls is always something of a balancing act. Each shot has to be considered on its depth of field versus movement merits. Occasionally, requirements and conditions work together to give plenty of options, as in the case of a scenic landscape with all its elements static and distant, in strong sunlight. At other times, they all conspire against you, as in a dimly lit shot of moving objects at different distances which must all record in detail. In this instance you must think how to improve conditions—perhaps by adding supplementary lighting, or altering camera viewpoint to reduce the range of distances, or up-rating to a faster ISO setting but still keeping within noise tolerances.

Another emergency routine to remember is the following: Use one divided by the ISO (arithmetic) speed as your nearest shutter speed. Then set f/16 for bright sun, or f/8 for cloudy-bright conditions or their equivalent, e.g., with ISO 100 film use 1/100 or 1/125 s at f/16 for a sunny day, opening up to f/8 for cloud. This is sometimes known as the "Sunny 16 rule" or f/16 Rule.

Measuring Exposure for Flash

Getting exposure correct when you light by electronic flash (p. 218) differs in several ways from continuous light source techniques. Electronic flash goes off instantly when fired, its light duration ranging from about 1/500 to 1/30,000 second according to type and conditions of use (see Figure 5.21). So provided your shutter is synchronized to have the image reach the image sensor or film at this moment, it is primarily the flash that determines exposure time rather than the shutter itself (Figure 5.22).

5.21
The control panel on the back of a small monoblock type studio flash head. (A) Flash power control, which allows full (250 Ws) or four fractional levels of flash down to 1/16 power. (B) IR/light sensor which acts as a slave trigger.

It is common for cameras to incorporate focal plane shutters that operate just in front of the image sensor itself, which can present potential problems of shutter lag. The shutter blades do not move fast enough on the fastest settings, meaning that the closing blade follows behind the opening one, effectively giving exposure through a moving slot. This is no problem with continuous light but, when used with flash, the blinds or blades block out part of the picture at high speeds (Figure 4.10). This is why the shutter's fastest "safe" speed often has a different color on the setting scale on film cameras, or is marked () or X. On programmed cameras this speed (or a slower one) is automatically set when you switch on the dedicated flash unit.

5.22
Flash equipment. Studio units and add-on portables, showing light sensor and synchronized firing controls Power comes from batteries (B) or (studio units) household supply which charges capacitors (C). These discharge through flash tube (F) when the circuit is closed by camera synchronizing connections, test button (T), or light-sensitive slave M: tungsten modeling lamp S: sensor, measuring the light off the subject and self-regulating the duration of flash.

If the shutter is built into the lens, as on many large and medium format cameras, you can use flash at any shutter speed. Some older shutters, such as between-lens types on view cameras, have an "X/M" selector switch near the flash synchronization lead connection. This must be set to X. ("M" is for old-style single-use flashbulbs and is virtually obsolete.)

You can always use an "open flash" firing routine too, provided your subject and camera are static and any ambient light around is quite weak. Open flash involves holding open the shutter on B, if it has such a setting, or a timed exposure of a few seconds, and firing the flash by its test button. Several repeated flashes can be given this way if your flash equipment is not powerful enough for the aperture you need to use. It is also a technique used to light up a very large subject, such as working outdoors at night, to give even light coverage, or it can be used to give multiple images in the same frame (see Figure 5.23). If you black out the studio and have a model walk across the face of the camera, by repeatedly firing a very directed flash with the lens open on B setting the model will be illuminated separately on each occasion while the background stays dark (see Figure 5.24).

Working from guide numbers

The most basic way to estimate flash exposure is to use the guide number, GN (or "flash factor"), quoted for the unit. The GN is the distance between flash and subject, multiplied by the f-number required, when using a given ISO speed. Unless otherwise stated, figures are always quoted for ISO 100/21°, and for distances in meters. So using a flash with a guide number of 36 you set f/8 for a subject 4.5 m (15 ft) from the flash, or f/11 for 3.3 m (12 ft), using ISO 100/21°. This might be built into a calculator dial like that shown in Figure 5.25, which can also include other ISO speeds and the use of the flash at fractions of full power, if this is possible. Self-regulating flashguns set to "manual" work with a similar kind of calculator or table. Guide numbers are also quoted to compare the output of different flash units.

5.23
Multiple flashes on one frame of film. A sequence of six flashes fired from a hand flashgun in a darkened room, from one side of the model. The camera shutter was locked open on B throughout. This flashgun was totally separate from the camera, and fired manually using the test button. Notice how the almost stationary trunk and legs build up exposure, while hands and fingers receive only one flash each. Set an f-number for halfway between these extremes.

5.24
Single frame with three different shots taken in the studio, firing the flash three different times in the dark, with the shutter speed set on "B" for continued exposure.

The much greater power output of studio flash units is more frequently quoted in "watt-seconds" (5 joules). The guide number of a typical 1500 Ws power pack unit is 160 (meters) using the head with a bare tube and reflector. This ratio varies with the head design, GN often being reduced to one-fifth when the same head is set behind the diffusing material of a softbox, for example (see Figure 7.25). Studio flash working from a generator (power pack) can also feed several heads, in which case output is divided by the number of equal power heads.

5.25
Simple exposure calculator dial based on distance x f-number, for a flashgun with a guide number of 36 (meters).

Disadvantages. In practice guide numbers alone do not take sufficient account of the reflective properties of your particular subject and its surroundings, and whether flash is direct, bounced, diffused by a softbox, or coior-filtered. Also, the manufacturer-quoted number tends to apply to favorable conditions, such as direct lighting of a pale-skinned person in a small room with pale-toned walls.

Example guide number calculations for flash (ISO 100):

Guide number
Flash 2 meters
from subject
Flash 3 meters
from subject
Flash 4 meters
from subject
Flash 6 meters
from subject

12
f/5.6
f/4
f/2.8
f/2

24
f/11
f/8
f/5.6
f/4

32
f/16
f/11
f/8
f/5.6

48
f/22
f/16
f/11
f/8

Note: Guide no divided by distance = f/stop. Note that some values have been "rounded up" to the
nearest aperture number for clarity

Using a self-regulating flash

Battery flash units—add-ons or built into the camera—mostly incorporate their own exposure reading system. In an add-on gun, this typically consists of a fast-acting sensor set behind a small window on the main body of the unit, facing your subject. The sensor has an angle of view of about 20°, and so reads the flash illumination reflected back from everything within the central area of your picture. The flashgun has to be set for the ISO speed and the f-number you intend to use.

In the case of a compact camera with built-in flash, the camera's own next-to-lens light sensor may act as the flash sensor and is already fed with ISO speed and aperture information (Figure 5.26). (Alternatively, auto-focus cameras set aperture based on subject distance measured by the AF system, simply working to a guide number.)

5.26
Three forms of self-regulating flash exposure control Left: A compact camera's light sensor beside the lens measures and controls the duration of its built-in flash. Center: Similar sensor system within a clip-on gun (must be programmed for ISO and aperture set). Right: The same gun, if dedicated to the particular SLR, uses the camera's "off-the-film" exposure reading circuit instead.

According to the light received back from the subject, the unit instantly regulates flash duration during the exposure. For example, it might clip flash to 1/30,000 second if the subject is close or bright and therefore gives a strong light reading, or extend it to full (typically 1/500 second) duration with a distant or dark subject. Most units have a "test" button, allowing you to fire the flash manually. If the built-in sensor receives enough light to regulate the exposure, an "OK" light comes on briefly to confirm that the system is working and the subject is within range.

The range of subject distances over which a self-regulating flash will maintain correct exposure is reasonably deep but, as Figure 5.27 shows, the wider the lens aperture set, the further the working range moves away from the camera. Distances double for every two stops' change of aperture, as with guide numbers. Most of the time a setting about midway in the f-number scale gives a good working range unless you are shooting from very close or far away. With the exception of the smallest units, electrical energy is returned to storage when shorter flashes are used. The shorter the flash, the less time you have to wait for it to recharge (Figure 5.28).

Disadvantages. Although a self-regulating unit is a quick, convenient way to control exposure, its method of measuring light reflected from your subject is fairly crude. It is overinfluenced by the relative areas of light and dark objects within your picture, like any other general reading meter. Also, the constant angle of view measures a larger or smaller proportion of your picture area if you use tele or wide-angle camera lenses. When shooting close-ups, no account is taken of light loss in the camera system owing to close focusing conditions (p. 147).

5.27
Self-regulating flash. Distance S to L shows the self-regulating working range of a typical small flashgun (set for ISO 100/21°) at various apertures S: shortest flash duration, L: longest duration.

Dedicated flash systems

A "dedicated" flash takes self-regulation one important stage further for SLR cameras. Multi-circuits between a suitable add-on flashgun and camera allow them to communicate with each other. As long as the camera has TTL exposure measurement, this internal metering takes over the role of the flash unit's sensor, with the bonus of automatically taking into account f-number, ISO speed, close-up imaging, filters, etc. You also have use of the camera's exposure compensation dial to cope with difficult subject conditions. The SLR camera's focusing screen of course shows how much subject is being measured, whatever the lens focal length. The flashgun may, in return, communicate data such as "charge ready" and "exposed within range" confirmation signals directly into the display you see alongside the focusing screen.

5.28
Comparing light output and performance. A cross-section of commercial flash units, from a small unit built into a compact camera, to powerful, generator-type studio equipment.

TTL is the general term used here and can apply to a range of through-the-lens metering systems, but can specifically refer to film cameras. The camera measures the full flash from the surface of the film after the mirror is up, stopping the flash once enough light for the correct exposure has hit the film. D-TTL works slightly differently due to the anti-aliasing filter; rather than read off the film surface reflection, the camera meters a hotshoe pre-flash reflection from a gray painted closed shutter, once the mirror has been raised. The flash power is then calculated and preset, firing enough light for the correct exposure. A third form of through-the-lens metering called iTTL is specifically employed by Nikon. Using the RGB meter in the viewfinder, a low powered flash is set off before the mirror is raised and a calculation is made to set the appropriate power level of the flash. This system also offers a balance mode (TTL BL) that turns the flash down to balance the flash with the ambient light. The iTTL system has advantages in that it is wireless and allows the use and control of multiple flashes. Canon have their own similar system called E-TTL II.

5.29
Using several flash heads at once. Top: Two dedicated flashguns controlled from their "off the film" metering camera by direct wiring. Bottom: Setup using self-regulating guns set to manual, the two off-camera units being triggered by light slaves fitted below their heads. These respond to light from a small flash used on camera. (IR triggering could be used instead if you don't want the direct frontal lighting the central flash would produce.)

Disadvantages. You cannot use any choice of add-on flashgun and camera—they must be matched to each other. Extra flash heads must all be connected to the camera using matching data cables or infrared or wireless triggering systems, which adds to the cost (Figure 5.29).

Flash meters

A flash meter (see Figure 5.30) is used in a similar way to a hand-held incident light exposure meter. In fact many models have dual functions, acting as continuous light source exposure meters too. These are the most versatile, not only because you only need to carry one meter but also because they can take ambient light into consideration if using slow shutter speeds.

5.30
Typical hand-held flash meters. Some models will also measure continuous light sources. All these meters are normally used as here in incident light-reading mode at the subject facing back at the camera.

You set it for ISO speed and point it at the subject, a gray card, or back at the camera using the incident light dome, as with continuous light meters (Figure 5.15). Meters are generally used with a "sync" (synchronization) cord, a long cable linking meter and flash unit so that you press a button on the meter to fire the flash, although you will also find infrared or wireless triggering systems. Alternatively, you can get an assistant to push the test firing button on the flash if it is beyond arm's length. Most meters are extremely accurate, being able to distinguish brightness differences of as little as one-tenth of a stop. These models allow you to have either an incident light reading that calculates the exposure required from the amount of light falling on the subject or a reflective reading that calculates the exposure from the amount of light being reflected from the subject.

Disadvantages. A separate flash meter is really only practical where time and conditions permit you to take a trial flash reading before shooting—it is ideal in the studio, for example. Meters are also rather costly, and you have to remember that they do not automatically take into account camera filters or close-up focusing conditions which affect exposure in the camera.

Practical Flash Exposure Tips

Bounced flash

As discussed in Chapter 7, bouncing flash off a ceiling, wall, or similar large surface area is a convenient way of softening lighting quality and improving evenness; ideally this surface needs to be a neutral white or you will get a colorcast. However, you greatly reduce its intensity. When working by guide numbers the rule for a white bounce surface is: (1) halve the regular flash guide number, and (2) divide this new number by the total flash distance (i.e., flash to surface to subject) to discover your f-number. Flash meters, and dedicated flash, will take bounce light conditions into account in measuring exposure. It's very important with a self-regulating flashgun that the sensor faces the subject when the flash is directed upward or sideways onto a bounce surface. This is usually taken care of in gun design, where the part containing the flash tube pivots and twists but the sensor remains facing toward the subject (Figure 5.31).

Fill-in flash

Flash on the camera is a good way to lower subject contrast in side-, top-, or back-lit ambient lighting situations (Figure 5.32). Of course, you cannot expect to fill in whole buildings this way, but it is useful for portraits and average-size room interiors. (Remember, when shooting in color, that flash and ambient lighting might not be the same color temperature—overcome this by placing an adjustment filter over the flash, unless you want to use the difference between the light sources as part of your design for the image.) Diffuse and direct the flash from close to the lens to avoid casting additional shadows, and arrange to underexpose the flash, aiming for a flash/existing-light ratio of about 1:4.

5.31
"Bouncing" flash. The light sensor must continue to face the subject direct. Illuminate the ceiling above the camera, not subject—otherwise you risk shadowed eyes.

5.32 Fill-in flash. Left: Existing light only no flash, 1/60 second at f/11. Right: Same exposure with the addition of flash from the camera set to one-quarter correct power for this subject distance. You need a powerful flashgun for fill-in flash outdoors beyond about 2.5 m, unless shooting early or late in the day.

Advanced compacts and SLRs often offer a "fill-flash" mode by which settings are made for the existing light but the camera's bulit-in flash also fires, at around one-quarter power.

Using more than one flash head

As with any other controlled lighting, there will be times when you want to use two or more flash sources from different positions, especially in the studio (Figure 5.33).

One arrangement is to use a number of completely separate units, either battery powered or connected to the mains supply. One head is connected to the camera by the synchronizing lead so it fires when the shutter opens. The other units each have a light-sensitive "slave" trigger either built in or plugged onto the synchronizing lead socket. This ensures that the additional flashes fire in instant response to the one linked to your camera. Other systems involve using a small infrared or radio pulse transmitter mounted in the camera's hotshoe.

5.33
Some two flash-head setups in the studio. Left: A pair of monoheads. The one shown on the left here is triggered when its slave sensor (S; see center) reacts to light from the unit sync wired to camera. Center: Two more powerful generator type flash units, each wired to its own power pack. An alternative (right) uses two heads from a single generator. Maximum power light output is then split. In each case one unit is synchronized to the camera via a cable the second unit being fired from the "slave" synchronized unit.

These synchronized units can then be moved around in the studio with the freedom of constant lighting. Most flash heads can be turned down to half or quarter flash power and modeling lamps dim pro rata to show you the effect of having sources at different intensities. Another arrangement is to have just one generator, plug several heads into it, and place them in different positions. Just one link from the pack is needed to your camera which fires all the lights. Remember, though, that power output from the pack is then split {for example, a 1500 watt-second unit gives 750 Ws each to two heads).

The best way to measure exposure when using several heads is by flash meter. But if you use a guide number system instead, work according to the GN and distance of your main light flash source only, ignoring the others. A flash meter allows you to exactly measure the lighting ratio between main and fill-in units. First, turn on the main flash source only, and fire it with the meter near your subject, facing the light. Second, turn on the fill-light only instead, and read this facing its light. The difference between the two shows the light ratio. To avoid excessive contrast, it's best not to go beyond five stops difference (four stops if using slide film).

With smaller battery-operated flashguns (Figure 5.22), you will need several complete units on stands wired or slaved to the camera. If the guns are dedicated, you must have each one wired back to the camera with the correct cable to control their output. Then exposure measurement is simple—you just use the camera's TTL meter for flash as normal.

Speedy recycling

The faster your flash unit will recharge (recycle), the more rapidly you will be able to take pictures (see Figure 5.28). This is important in most action and press photography, where any delay waiting for the flash to come up to power could lose you an unrepeatable image. And it is vital if you are shooting a sequence by motor drive.

One way of working is to use a powerful flash unit turned down to a fraction of its full output. For example, one such unit allows you to select 1/100th of full power, and then recycles in 0.25 second, giving an extremely brief flash.

Regular studio flash units on full power take around 1-3 seconds to recycle (see table, Figure 5.28). They easily overheat if you try to make them fire and recycle in continuous sequence. Special models are therefore made with rapid-firing facility, but give a fraction of normal output.

Exposing Different Film Types

While the principles of measuring exposure remain the same for digital and analog, the effects of light on different film types can have marked differences. Film manufacturers aim for a product which gives you good image quality and wide tolerance (to exposure errors, wrong color lighting, etc.) and records the picture in such a way that it is easy to successfully print onto paper. But the requirements for best exposure vary according to film type—monochrome or color, negative or slide. It would also be useful to explore the color balance of different cameras' image sensors to understand that the outcome, whether film or digital, is all perceptive.

5.34
Simple exposure guide—for an ISO 100/21° in case the meter doesn't work. With experience you can fine tune this approach but it will always be part guess work.

Tables and guides. Don't overlook that simple table of recommended exposure settings packed with your film (see Figure 5.34). Some day your meter or camera may not be working, although the trouble with tables and guides is that they deal with subjects and situations only in the broadest terms. Tables that try to be more comprehensive often end up becoming incomprehensible. Once you are familiar with your camera and get to know the film you use most regularly, it can become easier to make your own judgments on exposure if necessary.

Black and white negatives

The more exposure this film is given, the denser the image tones in the processed negative become, until all the image silver is retained and it becomes completely black. Figure 5.35 shows how progressive increases in exposure make all tones grow darker. Subject highlights, such as skies and bright reflections, are the first to become solid and lose their details. Then this quickly spreads to midtones and finally to shadows. You often find too that, when enlarged, grain is more apparent in overexposed negatives, and general light spread throughout the emulsion reduces sharpness.

Going the other way, underexposure makes subject shadows reproduce so "thin" they Lose their detail, becoming indistinguishable from the clear film edge ("rebate"). Then the same fate occurs to midtones, and finally to subject highlights too.

Results like these can be shown on a graph called a "characteristic curve" for the film (see Figure 5.36 and Appendix C), with image light intensity values from shadows to highlights along the bottom axis ("Log relative exposure") and final tonal density from palest up to darkest parts of the negative along the other. "Correct" exposure should place all the

5.35 (FACING) How exposure affects image appearance. In these three strips, each image was given four times the exposure of the one to its immediate left, (a) is grossly underexposed and (e) is grossly overexposed. The subject is correctly exposed in (c). Top Color negatives. Notice how shadow details become indistinguishable from clear film ("off the toe of the curve") in (a). In (e) highlight detail and colors are choked. Middle Color slide film. Being a reversal material underexposure (f) gives dark, detail-less shadows which also lack color. Overexposure (j) bleaches all but the subjects darkest shadows. Bottom Monochrome negatives. Like the color negative, subject shadow details in (k) are missing—these areas will print as flat gray. Overexposed (o) has flattened contrast, midtones and highlights too dense.

5.36 Characteristic curve of a monochrome negative film. Every image is a range of light intensities so highlights are shown farther right than shadows on the exposure scale here When an image is overexposed, its shadows-to-highlights values all shift right and so record as denser on the negative, although shadows may still just fall within the ideal range. When it is underexposed, values shift left, showing resulting densities are too weak, although highlights may still be acceptable. Compare with Figure 5.35.

image light intensities as densities on the lower part of the curve, yet not below the point where it flattens out, showing that densities are no longer separable and detail disappears.

The higher the contrast in your scene, the more accurate the given exposure must be—for it will then take less overexposure error to bring highlights into the state of being too dense, and less underexposure to make shadows too thin (see Figure 5.37). These conditions are said to offer least exposure latitude.

Color negatives

A correctly exposed color negative should meet requirements broadly similar to those for a black and white negative. However, if anything it is even more important to avoid underexposure—thin negatives are difficult to print, empty shadows often print with a different color cast, and since there is limited choice of contrast grade with color paper (see Advanced Photography) it is difficult to prevent thin negatives printing gray and flat. Processed color negatives are also deceptive in appearance. The presence of the overall orange mask tint makes you think the image is denser than it really is. It may help if you assess negatives while holding a piece of processed, unexposed film (as at the start of a film) close to your eye as a filter.

Published data for color negatives shows three color negative characteristic curves (Appendix C), one for each of the blue, green, and red responding layers. If the film were to be exposed to light of the wrong color balance without a correction filter, one emulsion would become effectively faster than another. Within limits this may be corrected by filters during color printing, or more so by scanning and digital postproduction. However, with a wide-tone-range (contrasty) scene, shot at incorrect color temperature, it may even be possible for one of the emulsions to have underexposed, low contrast shadows, while at the same time another has overexposed highlights. Printing will not correct the distortion this gives. So bear in mind that color negative films when shot in lighting of the wrong color have less exposure latitude than black and white negative films. Color films are relatively tolerant of overexposure, many photographers exploiting this deliberately to improve color saturation, but care should be taken with subjects with bright highlights such as pale skies or they will "burn out" (see Figure 5.35).

5.37
Exposure latitude. This is the amount you can alter exposure but still (just) get a negative that will give an acceptable print. The more extreme the difference between shadows (S) and highlights (H/L) in your image the less latitude you have in exposing without exceeding ideal limits.

Slides and transparencies—color or black and white

Positive images on film are much easier to judge for exposure, as the picture does not need the second interpretive step of scanning or printing. You can also make a direct comparison with what you remember of the original scene. As Figure 5.35 shows, the more exposure you give reversal-processed films, the lighter your result—with highlights especially very quickly becoming bleached of color and tone. Underexposure has a darkening effect, particularly of subject shadows, where colors eventually become engulfed in black. Of the two, overexposure is generally more objectionable than underexposure. This is partly because we tend to "read" pictures by their light parts and accept dark shadows more readily than burnt-out highlights. Again, a dense transparency is more acceptable for color printing or scanning than one where light parts of the image are literally missing.

The published characteristic curves of reversal materials (Appendix C) slope the opposite way to those of negative films, and have a steeper angle. In practical terms this means they are more contrasty, which is desirable in images that must look bright and rich in tone when projected as slides or displayed with back-lighting. However, such a characteristic means you have less room for exposure mistakes. Slides and transparency materials demand more accuracy in measuring exposure—they offer less exposure latitude than regular color or black and white negative films. And as with all films, this shrinks still further when the picture you are recording contains strong contrasty lighting.

“Bracketing” and clip tests

The simplest insurance against error, if circumstances permit, is to make several "bracketed" exposures—a range of shots of the same image at slightly different exposures. This applies to digital as well as film, although as you have instant access to your images it is easier with digital to adjust your exposure as you go along; with film you need to wait until the films are processed to see the results (Chapter 10). With black and white film, take one picture using the settings you expect to be correct, and then shoot others one stop either side, giving half and twice this exposure. With color negative film, bracket using closer increments, and shoot one frame a half stop underexposed, plus frames half a stop and one stop overexposed. For slides and transparencies, bracket at half stops too, but erring more toward underexposure than overexposure. If your camera has an exposure compensation dial (p. 154), the quickest way to bracket is by turning this to the required + or - settings. Better still, for difficult scenes several cameras offer "auto bracketing," as with DSLR cameras, and can bracket at one-third of a stop. In this mode one press on the release exposes a burst of three or five frames in quick succession, each at a different exposure setting. You preset the increments ranging from one-third of to twice the measured "correct" exposure.

Further modify your bracketing routine according to the exposure latitude. For example, a contrasty image (strong lighting and/or a subject with strong inherent contrast) will give absolutely minimal latitude. You should therefore take more bracketed exposures with smaller differences between each. Reverse this approach if exposure latitude is exceptionally wide.

With most materials you can gain further protection by planning out all or part of one film as test exposures, to be processed and examined first. Use an extra 120 magazine back, a separate 35 mm body, or marked sheet film holders to accumulate one extra anticipated "correct" exposure of every subject you shoot during a day's location work, additional to your main run of exposures. Process this test set of shots normally and check them to decide which, if any, films will need adjusted processing (p. 368). Alternatively, make sure you include three bracketed exposures at the start of a 35 mm film or the end of a 120 roll. These are then easily clipped off and test-processed (a service offered by most professional labs) to decide on any changes required for the remainder of your film.

Summary

> The principles of measuring light for the correct exposure apply to both digital and film. Exposure level alters image tonal and color qualities; it can be used to give emphasis and help interpretation.

> The exposure needed depends on lighting, subject characteristics, ISO speed rating, and imaging conditions.

> The degree of exposure is determined by the combined effects of the intensity (aperture) of the image light and the time it acts on the image sensor or film emulsion (shutter speed). Exposure can be quoted in f-numbers and shutter speeds, even though some digital cameras, mainly point-and-shoot types, employ an interline transfer sensor that doesn't require a mechanical shutter.

> A camera meter located behind the lens may read light directly off the image sensor or film surface during time exposures, and for flash. Here it takes into account changes in focal length, close-up focusing, and filters. Reading patterns range from center-weighted averaging to spot.

> Camera settings may be made by the meter direct, working through a program, or you can choose from manual, aperture priority, and shutter priority modes. A fully programmed AE system gives a high number of correctly exposed pictures—but not necessarily with the visual qualities you had in mind.

> Your three main exposure decisions are the ISO rating, the subject parts you measure (emphasis), and how exposure is distributed between shutter and aperture (movement and depth of field effects).

> Substitute readings, and recomposing different areas of the subject within the frame just while you measure exposure, often improve accuracy.

> Since view cameras (and many 120 rollfilm cameras) have no built-in meter, you will need to use a hand-held meter. Remember then to increase exposure for extreme close-ups and for any filter used.

> General, overall readings are quick and convenient, but inaccurate when important areas are relatively small. Gray card or incident light readings measure exposure independently of the subject. Averaged brightness-range readings (ideally taken by spot metering) take longer but reveal scene contrast, too.

> Flash exposure can be based on guide numbers (f-number x distance), measured by flash meter (most practical with studio units), or a sensor on a self-regulating flashgun, or the camera's TTL system in circuit with a dedicated gun.

> Electronic flash synchronization (X sync) suits between-lens shutters at all speeds. Focal plane shutters often impose a limiting top speed.

> Self-regulating flash units, independent or dedicated, give shortened flash (and faster recycling) when there is a strong reflected-light measurement from the subject.

> When you bounce flash, halve its guide number at least; remember to measure the total light-path distance. Avoid colored ceilings/walls.

> With multi-unit setups, synchronize one studio flash to the camera and "slave" the rest. Set self-regulating units to manual; have them wired or slaved to the camera. Check exposure (and lighting contrast) by flash meter, or work with the GN for the key light only. If you have dedicated flash units, wire them all to the camera, and then use the TTL camera meter.

> Fast-recycling flash is essential for rapid sequence work. Use a powerful gun at fractional setting, or a specially designed flash unit.

> To fill in and reduce the contrast of ambient lighting, use on-camera flash set to fill-flash mode. If this is not offered, make the camera settings correct for existing light and reduce the flash to 25 percent correct output.

> With negative films, avoid underexposure, which produces empty flat shadows. Slight overexposure is less of a problem. Severe overexposure gives grainier, less sharp results and loss of highlight detail. If you are shooting on reversal materials—slides and transparencies—exposure is much more critical, especially with contrasty scenes which allow you least exposure latitude. Overexposure is more of a problem than underexposure. Where possible, intelligently bracket your exposures as insurance.

> The response to light by a film is published as a performance graph or "characteristic curve" (Appendix C). The areas where the graph flattens out (tones merge) at bottom and top represent under- and overexposure zones.

Projects

1. Set up a number of difficult lighting situations, such as white on white, black on black, or a person inside a room in front of a bright window. Try the various methods of taking a reading shown in Figure 5.15 and compare the results.

2. Set up a number of difficult situations to explore movement. Pick a moving subject, person, animal, or machine that you can repeatedly photograph, with the camera on a tripod, using a number of different shutter speeds, such as 1/8, 1/60, and 1/250 s.

3. Create a tabletop setting with an arrangement of objects to explore depth of field, and shoot using a range of apertures such as f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11, and f/32.

4. In the studio, or at night, create multiple images on one negative by holding the lens open continuously (B setting on some cameras) and fire off three or four flashes at a moving subject before closing the shutter.

5. Buy a photographic gray card and alternate between taking a reading from the gray card, using your camera's built-in light meter or a hand-held one, and taking a reading straight from the subject. Make sure you write down which images were taken with the different methods so that you can compare the results when the film is processed.

6. Test the effects of under- and overexposing using your digital camera set on manual mode; the same can be done for color print, slide, and black and white film to compare how much latitude you have to achieve an acceptable picture.

Chapter Six
Organizing the Picture

This chapter is concerned with composing the image of your subject as a picture. It deals with recognizing and exploiting visual features of scenes and framing them in the strongest possible way. The chapter also deals with organizing where pictures go and how they might be used, their potential context.

Sometimes a photograph has to be composed in an instant, as some fast-changing action is taking place, so that exactly what you include and how it looks are changing every fraction of a second. Or your picture may be constructed quite slowly, as with a still life shot painstakingly built up item by item. Most photography lies somewhere between these two extremes, but whatever the conditions there is always the need to make decisions on picture structuring. Basically you have to pick out, from a mixture of three-dimensional elements, an image that works in two dimensions (perhaps translated into black and white too) and is enclosed by corners and edges. You need to develop a way of seeing the world through the camera.

A photograph can be successful on different levels and in different ways. If you want to make a picture that is strong enough to go on the wail (at home or in a public place) or into the pages of a magazine or book, then you will want it to express or interpret more than if you were actually there—you should aim to transform the subject in some way. To achieve this you need to be a good organizer—being in the right place at the right time with suitable equipment, and perhaps an assistant/collaborator, props, models, lights, etc. You should also understand your tech nique—best use of perspective, lighting control, depth of field, exposure, etc. But perhaps above all you need the ability to know when all the visual elements look right and "hold together" in a way that gives an outstanding visual result. You have to practice photographing to discover how these things work.

Frequently, to compose a good picture and to have a balanced picture structure, the photographer has to be able to simplify a chaotic scene. Sometimes you may want to disrupt this and achieve the opposite, choosing imbalance and awkwardness, a kind of off-beat confusion which is the point of the picture or the way you decide to interpret the subject. Sometimes you might move things within the picture frame, or perhaps you will move around the subject with your camera until you have the right point of view. Picture structuring is very subjective—open to individual style and original interpretation—so there are strong arguments for not having rules of composition. However, long-established guidelines are still very valid and often used to make successful pictures—it is worthwhile trying to achieve taking a conventionally composed image before trying to invent your own rules. It is difficult to be a revolutionary until you know what you are revolting against.

Noticing Subject Features

We tend to take the things around us for granted. There is too little time to spare. It is easy to get into a state where we no longer really look at objects, but just accept them for what they are or do. Have you really examined that bowl of fruit, the arrangement of your living room, or what goes on in your front garden? Imagine that you have just arrived from another planet, and, having never experienced these items before, set out to evaluate them. Try jotting down a list of basic visual qualities you notice about the bowl of fruit, for example. It has its own particular shape; it may have texture, pattern, form, and color and tone values. Think about the background story to the subject—the bowl may contain particular types of fruit, purposefully selected; some of it might be old or it may have only just been bought.

Every subject has individuality in this way and everybody can form their own analysis, deciding which are, for them, the strongest visual features, the ones they want to emphasize when taking the picture. There are no academic "rights" and "wrongs" about such an assessment. It is personal to you—an opening to express feeling as a photographer, not just pointing and clicking without thinking.

Like most people, you are probably stimulated by a change of environment—a trip abroad, or just a visit to an unfamiliar building. Here you are seeing new things, therefore making new evaluations. After a while the environment becomes commonplace; objects are accepted and grow less interesting. A young child examines (looks, bites, and presses) each new material it meets, naively making an analysis—hard or soft, rough or smooth. A good photographer retains this ability always to look freshly at the visual content of what is in front of their lens. A good photographer is also naturally inquisitive and will have discovered something about their subject that has inspired them to be interested in it. A good starting point for reinventing your style of photographing is to take a new point of view; see Figure 6.1, for example.

6.1
The humor in Elliott Erwitt's visual pun is partly the subject itself, but comes mostly from his clever use of viewpoint, which exploits shape, scale, and cropping.

Point of view and perspective

When someone first starts taking photographs, they often simply lift the camera to their eye and point and click. There is nothing "wrong" with this approach except that it can turn out predictable images and frequently, if photographing people, the new photographer maintains a "polite" distance, say of about 3 meters or more. So testing different distances and points of view is vital to discovering new picture making possibilities. The North American photographer Gary Winogrand was well known for tilting his camera on a slight angle, making his photographs look more dynamic and giving the impression that things were slipping out of the picture plane. Paul Reas later adopted a similar approach in his images from the project I Can Help, where he observed consumer culture in Britain through photographing shoppers (Fig 6.31). The angle disrupts the calmness of the regular "straight" shot image and creates a kind of chaos in the photograph that in turn affects how we read meaning into the work.

6.2
"An Eastern Texan," Russell Lees documentary portrait, works strongly through its use of a bold, simple shape, and the subjects direct relationship to the camera.

Shape, texture, and pattern

A bold shape or outline is one of the strongest ways of singling out an object or person, giving it a sense of separation from its environment. This kind of separation can be done dramatically using a silhouette or a shadow. A shape can be just a single item or formed collectively by a mixed group of objects. In Figure 6.2 it is the shape of the hat and wearer's face that gives this portrait its stark framework. Having several strong shapes in an image invites comparison, and may relate otherwise quite dissimilar elements, as in Figure 6.13.

One way of repeating shape is by hard, cast shadow. This can produce interesting variations, as when shadow fails on oblique or undulating surfaces. Hard sidelight may cast the shadow of one elevation of something alongside another (for example a face-on portrait with a profile shadow cast on a nearby wall). Shadow shapes also tell you about things outside your picture area (Figure 6.6).

6.4
Mark Bollands photograph of a sphinx might suggest ruination and decay history and mythology

The best way to stress shape is through your viewpoint and lighting. Use both to simplify and isolate subject outline against a contrasting, preferably plain, tone. Shallow depth of field will also help you disentangle shape from background details. If you are working digitally, you will be able to add shadows and silhouettes in the postproduction stage using photo manipulation programs.

Texture is concerned with surface—for example, the tight smooth skin of an apple, or the pitted surface of corroded metal. It can vary in scale from the rugged contours of a distant mountain range to a brick in close-up. The visual appearance of texture suggests the character of particular materials, and reminds you how they would feel to your touch. Skin and fabric textures can be highlighted if your photograph is very detailed; they can also be simplified and details removed, especially with strong lighting. Subjects containing a rich mixture of textures are especially rewarding because of the ability to contrast one surface with another

6.3
This portrait of the Dutch Christmas character Black Pete uses the square frame to help contain the subject in a dignified and painterly manner.

Figure 6.5 shows how textures can be revealed by oblique lighting from the side or rear. Unless you are dealing mainly with a single surface, try to work in lighting that is not excessively contrasty, to avoid empty distracting shadows. To suppress texture, use either predominantly frontal lighting or backlight which throws the subject into total silhouette. Again, you would be able to create some of these effects digitally after the photograph has been taken (see Chapter 9 where digital manipulation techniques are discussed).

6.5 (a) The natural lighting on this close-up image highlights all the texture in the paint and on the wall surface (b) Flashlight from the side helps to highlight the texture of the graffiti cut into the tree in this photograph by Natasha Caruana.

6.6
Shadows can be used to suggest and exaggerate an invisible presence as in this self-portrait by Christian Nolle.

6.7
Pattern is often created by a mixture of actual forms and cast shadows. Light traveling through the window (behind this plant leaf) passes through a net curtain, throwing a shadow of its pattern onto the leaf of the indoor plant.

6.8 Jack Delano's very careful choice of viewpoint for this shot of Stonington, Connecticut divides the frame into three bands of pattern. Flat-on lighting also contributes greatly in setting the relative values of fence and sky. Instead of receding, the picture seems all on one flat plane.

Pattern is appealing to the human eye, whether repetitive and formal or irregular and off-beat (Figure 6.7). By finding and exploiting a visual pattern in a scene, you can create a point of interest. Using digital manipulation, patterns can be created out of almost any image by a simple process of copying and repeating (see Chapter 9).

Pattern can be created by a number of different things: shadows, textures, plant forms, multiples of shapes, or groups of people. Strong patterns, the kind you find in rows of houses or displays of goods, when photographed from the right angle can give you a very formal image where everything appears ordered and repetitive. You can experiment with viewpoint, focal length, lighting, and use of filters to help exaggerate your pattern. There are no ground rules for lighting. Sometimes three-dimensional subjects, harshly side-lit, create a bold pattern of shadowed and lit areas. Sometimes shadow is cast all over your subject from an unseen patterned element, disguising true shapes. In other instances, soft, frontal illumination is best to show detail and suppress confusing texture in what is turned into mainly two-dimensional pattern (Figure 6.8).

Patterns are like musical rhythms which you can use as either dominant or background features of your images. They can help organize, or disorganize (if disrupted), the formal aspect of your photograph. In a sense every photographic image has a pattern to it–colors or tones alone can create patterns (see Figure 6.9)–and patterning assists the viewer to make sense of the image.

6.9
Color from artificial street lighting reflected off trees helps to create a strong, menacing patterning effect with the branches against the night sky. From the series The Forest by Paul Seawright.

Form

Form is to do with an object's volume and solidity. It can be shown in two-dimensional photographs through tone gradation (shading), although shape contributes greatly too. A photograph can include a single form, a number of forms, or, occasionally, no forms at all (as in the case of the empty landscape). Forms are everywhere; they include things as diverse as the human figure, the monumental form of a giant boulder, or the minute form of a grain of salt. Forms range from the everyday objects found in a kitchen, curvaceous and sharp, or the flowing curves of a simple vegetable (see Figure 6.10), to the more complex geometric structures of buildings. Some dramatic-looking forms are transient and not really solid at all; storm clouds, waves, or the briefly held form of wind-blown washing are all of this type.

6.10
Form revealed by sympathetic lighting and richness of tone preserved in exposure development, and printing. Edward Weston took this famous photograph of a pepper softly lit by daylight.

6.11 Dark, somber, black and white tones set the low-key mood of Bill Brandt's 1930s view of Halifax. (This documentary shot is often printed as a fine-art image with the top half much darker, and road and railway highlights picked out with chemical reducer; see Chapter 11, p. 411.)

Learn to recognize form in objects irrespective of their actual function. A pile of old oil drums or a simple crumpled ball of paper can be as interesting and inspiring to photograph as a beautiful horse or a superbly designed object. Often this is the challenge—to make something that seems ordinary and familiar to others take on a new intensity of appearance. It is handled through your use of camera angle, perspective, lighting, and the qualities of your final print.

Color and tone values

Thinking about color and tone values is vital in order to develop an understanding of composition; color and tone both contribute greatly to emphasis and to mood Since the mid-1980s color photography has been fully accepted as an artistic form alongside black and white photography. In the 1960s and 1970s photographers such as the Italian Luigi Ghirri and the Frenchman Francois Hers pioneered the use of color in their very modern looking images of everyday life. Prior to this, most color photography was made for advertising and editorial purposes only; the innovative advertising photographs made by the John Hinde studio in the 1950s and 1960s have been very influential for contemporary British photographers {Figure 6.12). The relationship of object colors themselves, plus any predominant color in the lighting (due to surroundings or the light source itself), can assist in creating a particular atmosphere (Figure 6.16). Colors close to each other in the spectrum tend to blend, while widely separated colors contrast.

6.12
Butlin's Ayr Lounge Bar and Indoor Heated Pool (Ground Level), Elmar Ludwig © John Hinde Ltd (circa 1970).

6.13
The shapes in this photograph, by Susan Lipper, from the series Grapevine, echo one another—the lampshade the oval photo mount, and the cowboy hat aii bounce off one another and encourage the viewer to make connections between the objects in a humorous way

Color scheme is important too. Muted colors give an overall feeling of flatness or softness, whereas high contrast colors are vivid and loud (see Figures 6.43b and 6.14). Notice how any element with a contrasting color, or forming a small area of intense color among muted hues (see Figure 6.15), will appear with great prominence, but remember it may lose this emphasis in black and white. Unwanted areas of color can be subdued by cast shadow or shot against the light, or simply obscured by some close foreground object. Color can be altered relatively easily in digital postproduction, and an analog color printer can give your print a warm or a cool feel.

Different types of film all have different color balance and tone. For example, high speed color films are grainy and have a soft or subtle color range, slow-speed color films give brighter color with more contrast, while amateur color films are quite different from professional color films and tend to be more vivid. Many color photographers expose their color film in their own personalized way in order to achieve the color result that they want; overexposure of color negative film is common, particularly when working indoors or when wanting good shadow detail. Figure 6.43a and b (p. 198) show different exposures used by different photographers to achieve their own particular desired effect. Different makes of film have different characteristics; for example, some color films are warm, some cool, and some neutral You should test different films until you find one that suits you. Most film manufacturers provide descriptions of each of their different films, giving suggested uses (you don't have to follow these, just use them as guides for what the film is like). When you are shooting digital, all the controls for color balance and type are in the camera settings, and you can also select the speed of your film which will affect the grain and brightness of your image. You can emulate the color type of film both in camera controls and in postproduction.

6.14
Martin Parr's use of vivid color in this photograph from the series Common Sense is achieved through a combination of low speed amateur color film and flash lighting.

6.15
This photograph taken in Les Landes, France, shows how the light before a storm can really pick out and highlight certain colors, even when they are a really small element within the whole image

The range and distribution of tone values (scale of grays) contained in a scene has its own effect on mood. Large areas of dark are easily associated with strength, drama, mystery, and even menace. Scenes that are predominantly light in tone suggest delicacy, space, and softness. You can exaggerate tonal values in a picture, especially in black and white photography (because colors are not then distorted too). Use their influences to help set the scene. There are also trends in terms of printing style and these change with time—a curator will look at the printing style when evaluating the date of a print

If the lighting is contrasty, you have the option of showing your main subject in a small lighted area and setting exposure only for this (p. 147) to give the rest of the scene a "low-key" effect. Or if the subject can be in a small area of shadow and you expose solely for this instead, lit parts become bleached out, helping to give "high key." Remember to choose a viewpoint or arrange the subject so that the main tone of background and foreground help along the scheme of your shot. Color filters on black and white film can help too (Figure 3.47) by darkening chosen colored areas, such as blue sky.

6.16
Aerial perspective. The visual impression of distance given by changing tone values is a powerful feature of this shot of Loch Shiel, Scotland, by Hunter Kennedy

Notice how the distribution of tone values adds to your impression of depth and distance too, especially with landscape (see Figure 6.16). Atmospheric conditions often make objects look paler in both tone and color with distance. Overlapping hill folds, trees, buildings, etc., at different distances appear like a series of cut-out shapes in different tones—an effect known as aerial perspective.

Movement

Movement is very apparent to the eye (even at the extremes of our field of vision we are highly sensitive to movements, probably for self-preservation). Fast movement makes subjects appear like streaky shapes, especially if they are close. When looking out the side of a moving vehicle, for example, close parts of the landscape whizz past while the horizon moves hardly at all. Movement seen against other movements in differing directions gives a sense of dynamic action, excitement, or confusion.

6.17
This photograph by Roger Bool captures Canadian basketball player Joey Johnson going in for a basket against the USA in the finals of the Wheelchair Basketball Gold Cup World Championships 2006. It was shot using a 70 mm, 2.8 L lens exposed at 1/200th of a second. The film speed was ISO 800.

In still photography, movement is highly subjective. Images on the move often record as unfamiliar forms and shapes, not as when you were watching the subject at the time. This is because the exposure was much longer or shorter than the eye's own perception of events. Fast movement can be frozen, like the basketball player in Figure 6.17, or the movement of a fairground wheel (Figure 6.18) can appear as if sped up. Eye and brain read such images of movement against our experience of the relationship of blur to speed. You can similarly deceive the viewer about speed and degree of movement by panning (Figure 6.19) or zooming. Since movement and time are so closely linked, a sequence of frozen images like frames from a movie or a comic strip also reads as action. Try making a series of cioseiy related images that show changes only in the position of figures against the same background detail Presented as a panel of matched prints, they read as actions and movement happening over a period of time. Alternatively, a whole bunch of sharp or blurred images can be superimposed within just one frame. The more numerous the overlapped images, the more movement seems to be taking place. Bear in mind too that even though you shoot a picture to show frozen action, it can later be digitally manipulated.

6.18
Moving fairground rides take on new dynamic forms when spread and blurred by an exposure several seconds long. By having the camera firmly supported, stationary objects record sharp, to contrast with the exaggerated movement and give a spectators eye view

6.19
Panning a moving subject. The cyclist, right, had 1/15 s exposure while the camera was smoothly panned sideways as shown above. Start the pan early to achieve a swing of the right speed when the shutter is released (S), and then follow through. Notice how in the foreground and background vertical details disappear and horizontal highlights spread into lines. The picture gives an impression of moving with the cyclist. In bright light, shoot with slow film and stop down fully; you may also need a neutral density filter to avoid overexposure at this slow shutter setting.

Flash lighting can be used to freeze movement when there is not enough light available to use a fast shutter speed, or even to capture movement so fast that even your camera's fastest shutter speed cannot completely freeze it. Using flash lighting with a moving subject and a fairly slow shutter speed can also be interesting (see Figures 6.20 and 6.21). Parts of the image will be seemingly frozen by the light of the flash, while other areas just illuminated by the ambient light blur with movement due to your slow shutter speed; this is called flash blur or shutter drag. The effect is dependent on how fast your subject is moving and how slow the shutter speed is set. The light that the flash emits illuminates the subject for several thousandths of a second (the duration of time that the flash of light is emitted, and so it's quality to freeze movement, depends on the model of flash that you are using and also the power setting that the flash is set to). The effect will be different depending on whether you use first or second curtain sync—different effects are created when the flash is fired at the beginning (first curtain sync) or the end (second curtain sync) of the exposure. Nearly all cameras fire the flash as soon as the shutter opens (first curtain sync), and any blur caused by a moving object will appear in front of the sharp flash-lit part of the image. High end digital and analog cameras or sophisticated radio triggers allow you to choose either first or second curtain sync. If your camera or trigger does this, you can set the flash off just before the exposure ends (second curtain sync), which results in the flash occurring after the blurred image has been formed. The result is a flash-lit image with motion blur behind it—a bit like the "whizz lines" used by cartoonists to suggest motion (see Figure 5.3). You would set first or second curtain sync in the camera or trigger settings before you shoot

6.20
Pierre Stoffel made this photograph on a long exposure using a portable lighting kit. The photograph shows paparazzi photographers at work, and their flashlights also help to light the image

When it comes to freezing very fast movement, as a general rule it is best to turn your flash to its lowest power as this will result in the fastest "flash duration." Very high end flashes often boast the fastest flash durations, so excel at freezing very fast moving subjects, although this performance comes at a premium price. However, many small flashguns offer among the fastest flash durations possible for a fraction of the cost A relatively standard flashgun will often have a flash duration of up to 1/50,000th of a second when set to its lowest power, which is fast enough to capture a speeding bullet!

6.21
While a flashgun freezes the expression on the cyclists face the use of a relatively slow shutter speed (1/3Oth of a sec) and a panning motion creates a blurred background, reinforcing the speed at which the cyclist is moving.

Content and meaning

Most of the subject features discussed so far have been concerned with narrow physical detail. Shape, texture, color, etc., all have a combined effect on the appearance of things, to be stressed or suppressed according to their interest and importance. But these are only components of your photography's much wider content and meaning.

6.22
Daniel Meadows' portraits were taken in 1974 (left) when he traveled around Britain in a double-decker bus The portraits came to prominence when they were published in Notional Portraits in 1997. Later, in 1995 (right), he was commissioned by a national newspaper to trace his 1970s subjects and rephotograph them.

Meaning can be simple or highly complex; it is determined by content and how this content has been photographed. Meaning changes with time: straightforward portraits may appear relatively ordinary when they are taken but, looked at twenty years later, they can become a fascinating document on the style of the time and therefore valuable (see Figure 6.22). Meaning can be created in numerous ways: a simple juxtaposition of objects, in a single image, will create a narrative; equally, a meaningful story can be created through editing together a series of photographs. The classic documentary picture story is composed of a series of images that build upon one another, letting the story unfold; some of the photographs in a picture story will be powerful single images and some will be useful linking images. The viewer of the photograph also brings meaning with them, and different photographs can mean different things to different people

6.23
O Zhang uses a low point of view to create power in her portrait of a child in Horizon 22.

Objects can have many meanings, from obvious literal meanings through to more complex ones that may have been invested in them through historical stories; see Figure 6.4 for example. They can also have meanings that are personal to you. If you want your audience to understand the meaning of your picture, you must make sure that you are photographing your subject in a way that conveys this meaning. Gestures and expressions can also give meaning to a picture: capturing a strong expression in a conversation reveals something about the relationship between people (see Figure 6.25). Often meaning can be communicated quite simply through a straightforward choice of viewpoint, as in Figure 6.1 (Elliott Erwitt) and Figure 6.23 by 0 Zhang, who uses a low angled viewpoint to create an unusually powerful portrait of a child. Sometimes (and this is usually more challenging for the photographer, and interesting for the final viewer) it operates through subtle use of symbols. For example, Figure 6.4 might suggest ruination and decay Use of "old against new" can say something about ageing, irrespective of your actual subject.

Choosing content is an opportunity to express concepts and emotions and/or to impart information about something. Meaning is also invested in a photograph through its title or caption, or the story that accompanies it. Look at the difference between the captions used with photographs in magazines and the titles accompanying photographs on a gallery wail. Some artists have become known for using text in their images; this is generally referred to as "image-text-based" work, and you can find examples in the work of Canadian artist Ken Lum and the American artist Barbara Kruger.

6.24 Use your hands, or a color slide mount, to estimate how a scene will look—isolated and composed within a picture format. Position your eye the same distance from the slide mount as your camera lens's focal length to see how much is included. Alter this distance to preview other focal lengths.

Visual communication, whether based on symbol, metaphor, or (simply) "gut reaction," is central to photography. Develop your ability first to notice and then select basic subject qualities that best help you to make statements—rather like choice of words.

Try creating meaning in single images and then in a series of images (as in a classic photojournalistic story). Pick something you feel strongly about, perhaps an environmental or social issue. Then build up a volume of work, with pictures that strengthen each other. The total can be a visual statement with powerful meaning. Look out for examples of the work of individualistic photographers such as Sally Mann, Martin Parr, Pushpamela, Zuholi Manelleli, or Phillip Jones Griffiths, who have each pursued (very different) obsessions through the content and meaning of their pictures.

6.25 The expressions on the faces of these women suggest how they are feeling while chatting with each other.

Structuring Pictures Through the Camera

You can only go so far in looking at the subject direct. Picture composition must be done looking through the camera, because this brings in all kinds of other influences. Some are helpful, others less so. Of course different types of photography allow for different amounts of time in terms of composing a shot; the documentary photographer is generally on the move fairly rapidly so does not get time to contemplate the composition of a shot in the same way as a photographer working in a studio, for example. With digital cameras (and occasionally still Polaroid backs) you can see what your chosen composition looks like before you click the shutter. This is very useful when dealing with commercial clients and art directors or if you are particularly unsure of what you want in the frame. Many photographers who use medium or large format will use a Polaroid back and test the composition and exposure with instant film first. Today the vast majority of photographers working on commercial commissions and editorial jobs will shoot with digital cameras—it makes far more sense to shoot digitally as it is economical, there is less risk involved, and you can previsualize shots far more effectively and work more easily in a wider variety of lighting conditions.

The most obvious change when you start composing through the camera is that you now have to work within a frame with distinct edges, corners, and width-to-height ratio. The viewfinder or focusing screen is like a sheet of paper—you don't have to be able to draw onto it, but you must be able to see and structure pictures within its frame and give due thought to ait the elements in the frame: proportions of tone or color, the use of lines, best placing of your main feature, and so on. Some viewfinder systems make composition much easier than others. A poorly designed direct-vision finder, or the upside-down picture on a view camera screen, takes more time and practice to "compose through" than the viewfinding optics of a modern SLR camera. A digital camera with viewing screen provides the clearest way of viewing your picture before it is shot; it also gives you the opportunity to shoot more photographs, so offering a greater chance of getting the picture you want, particularly in fast-moving situations. The digital camera viewing screen can also be used to show potential clients: it gives such a clear view of the image, but beware—it is usually one or two stops out in terms of exposure, so the final quality may be slightly different.

Using your camera as well as your eye also means that you add inail the techniques of photography, such as shallow or deep depth of field, blur, choice of focal length—usually to strengthen rather than detract from the points you want to make.

Proportions

Most cameras take rectangular pictures, so your first decision must be whether to shoot a vertical or a horizontal composition. Sometimes this choice is dictated by the proportions of the subject itself, or by how the result will be used (horizontal format for TV or computer screen, vertical to suit a show-card layout or magazine cover). Often, however, you have a choice, and you also might decide to alter the proportions in the postproduction stage—though this is less likely as it is in fact more difficult.

6.26
This photograph by Shiho Kito was taken in the industrial city of Gurgaon that has grown up around New Delhi, India, and uses a series of horizontal lines to steer our gaze through the length and breadth of the frame

Of the two formats, horizontal pictures tend to be easier to scan (with your eyes, i.e., read as images), possibly because of the relationship of our two eyes, or the familiarity of movie and monitor screen shapes. Horizontal framing seems to intensify horizontal movements and structural lines (Figure 6.26), especially when the format is long and narrow. In landscapes such as that in Figure 6.16, it helps increase the importance of skyline and in general gives a sense of panorama, and of stability.

6.27 Frames within frames—the mirrors in this photograph by Hannah Starkey have been used cleverly to highlight the characters and exaggerate the psychological dimension of the image Mirrors, windows, and doorways are all useful devices to help relate one element or character to another; look out for other photographers using such devices in their images

Vertical pictures give more vertical "pull" to their contents. There is less ground-hugging stability, and this can give a main subject a more imposing, dominant effect. Vertical lines are emphasized, probably because you tend to make comparisons between elements in the top and bottom of the frame rather than left and right, and so scan the picture vertically.

Square pictures are entirely different and conventionally the square is used as a portrait format Each corner of the square format tends to pull away from the center equally, giving a balanced, symmetrical effect. Many photographers will avoid the square format but, when used successfully, it is very effective. Movement is particularly difficult within the square, but Figure 6.28 by Anthony Haughey shows how the square format can be used to create a dynamic effect and a sense of movement within the frame. Portraits such as that in Figure 6.3 really gain strength from the way that the format holds the head and shoulders tightly in the frame.

You are of course not always restricted to a particular picture shape by the height-to-width proportions of your subject. A predominantly vertical subject can be composed within a horizontal format, sometimes by means of a "frame within the frame"—showing it within a vertical area naturally formed by space between trees or buildings, or through a vertical doorway, window, or mirror. It is also possible to crop any picture to different proportions during enlarging, producing either a slimmer or a squarer shape. Digital images can be cropped either in camera using the crop function/ mode (not all digital cameras, especially among those at the lower end of the market, offer this facility) or in postproduction.

For many years some leading photographers argued strongly against any such "manipulation," even to the extent of printing a thin strip of the film rebate all round the frame to prove it remained exactly as composed in the camera. Today, with the mass development of digital imaging and manipulation, these ideas have largely been left behind, and many photographers feel that keeping every picture to camera format proportions is monotonous and unnecessary. Professionally you may often have to produce results to proportions strictly imposed by a layout. It is interesting to consider why we don't see more round or oval images these days as in postproduction any shape is possible.

6.28
Anthony Haughey uses the whole space of the square frame for his vivid portrayal of Irish family life, and despite the hectic action he always contains everything within the frame

Balance

Your combination of subject and the camera's viewpoint and framing often divide up the picture area into distinctly different areas of tone, color, and detail. Frequently these are the shapes and proportions of objects themselves, but sometimes they are formed by the way edges of the frame "cut into" things: a cropped building or person. Think of these "parts" as areas or bands of tone, pattern, color, etc., which to some extent you can alter to different proportions, move around, and make to fill large or small portions of your picture, all by change of viewpoint or angle; this in turn affects meaning too.

6.29
This photograph of an airplane taking off from Heathrow airport is dependent on a low viewpoint to create the imposing relationship between the plane and the settee

The main division in a scene might be the horizon line, or some foreground vertical wail or post which crosses the picture, or even the junction of wall and floor in an interior. With a distant landscape, for example, tilting the camera will shift the horizon and might alter your picture content from the ratio one part sky to three parts land, to the reverse (see Figure 6.29). When most of your picture is filled with dark land detail, there is an enclosed feeling, and the added foreground makes scale differences and therefore depth more apparent. With most of the picture area devoted to sky, the impression is more open and detached.

6.31
In his series I Can Help, Paul Reas shoots at an angle to create a chaotic scene where shoppers appear to be slipping off the edge of the world.

A central horizon, dividing the picture into two halves, splits the picture into areas of equal weight with neither predominating. Much depends on the range of shapes, colors, and tones in each half. Complete symmetry is unusual in photography and, when used, it creates a strong overall pattern, often surrounding and leading to a centralized main subject. Photographers who use digital manipulation are freer to create repetitive pattern through building up repetitions of symmetrical shapes. Figure 6.30 is an example of repetitive pattern created through digital manipulation: cutting, copying, then pasting (the original image was a miniature section of a flower).

The best placing of divisions depends on the weight of tone, strength of color, and pattern of detail they produce in different parts of the picture. One approach is to go for a balanced effect where weight of tone allows the center of the picture to "pivot" like a set of scales, but without being monotonous and over-symmetrical. On the other hand, a picture intentionally structured to appear imbalanced can add tension and will stand out among others. A slight movement of camera angle can create an extraordinary sense of chaos; in Paul Reas' photograph from the series / Can Help it seems like the world is slipping away from us (Figure 6.31).

Line

6.30
Repeating an image using digital manipulation tools can create an interesting patterning effect.

The use of strong lines in any photograph can help draw attention to certain subjects or features, and this could improve the composition. They also have an effect on the atmosphere of a picture.

Lines need not be complete outlines but a whole chain of spaced or overlapping shapes—clouds, hedges, a blurred movement, a background shadow—which your camera's single viewpoint sees as attached or linked together. In fact lines occur wherever a clear boundary exists between tones or colors, with strongest lines where contrast is greatest. Subject lighting is therefore influential. Lines can help to hold things together or push them apart; they can affect the sense of movement or stillness in a landscape, connect a group of disparate still life objects, or relate/separate things in different parts of the frame (see Figure 6.32).

6.32
Linear flow. Thanks to the cameras single eye lines can be built up within a composition from a whole chain of different objects at various distances Fay Godwin shows this marker stone on the old Harlech road from a viewpoint which links it into criss-cross stone waiting spanning the Welsh hills.

6.33
Osamu Kanemura observes the chaos of power lines in a Japanese city street, from the series Today's Japan.

The general pattern of lines in a picture has an interesting influence. Well-spaced parallel lines and L shapes have the most tranquil, stable effect. Triangles, broad ovals, or S shapes seem to offer more "flow," encouraging you to view the picture more actively. Pictures with long, angled converging lines (formed by steep perspectives, for example) rapidly attract your eye to their point of convergence. A mass of short lines angled in all directions helps to suggest excitement, confusion, and even chaos (Figure 6.33).

Why we experience these reactions probably has a scientific explanation. Use them constructively and test out different combinations of line pattern within your images, if you want a dramatic, powerful image, shoot it from a high or low angle, with steep perspective and bold contrasts. If your intention is to create a gentler picture, the same approach would be destructive; instead, flowing open shapes and graduated tones will be more effective.

Emphasis

Try to ensure that everything included in the frame is what you want within the frame and that itail in some way supplements and supports (rather than dilutes or confuses) your main theme. The trouble is that photography tends to record too much, so you must be able to stress your chosen main element (or elements) relative to the rest of the picture—this often means that particular elements need to be exaggerated or emphasized. There are several well-proven ways of doing this. One is to choose a viewpoint that makes lines within the picture "lead in" to the main subject. You can also make your center of interest prominent by showing it breaking the horizon or some other strong linear pattern. Often gestures lead from one to another, and the viewer's eye is drawn through the frame by the gestures.

6.34
Top: The so-called Rule of Thirds. Dividing each side of the frame by three and drawing intersecting lines forms four alternative locations for strongly placing the main subject. Bottom: The classic Golden Mean of ideal proportioning (for the format itself or composition of subject areas within). Starting with a square a line drawn from the center of one side to an opposite corner becomes the radius of an arc. This defines the base line of the final 5:8 ratio rectangle.

Another method of emphasis is to show your main element against a background, or framed by foreground, which strongly contrasts in tone or color. Choice of lighting is again important, and camera techniques help to untangle subjects from surroundings too. Use shallow depth of field if things are at different distances; if one is moving relative to the other, try panning.

The traditional guide to the strongest positioning of your main subject within the frame is known as the Rule of Thirds (see Figures 6.34 and 6.35). This places an imaginary grid over the picture area, creating four off-center intersections that tend to be strong locations—many photographers today like to break conventions like these in order to create their work with a greater degree of originality. (A similar guide, much used in classical architecture and painting and called the Golden Mean, uses ratios of 5:8 instead of 1:2.) Other references that relate to emphasis include Roland Barthes' theory of the punctum in photographs (see Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes) and Cartier Bresson's ability to frame "decisive moments," drawing the viewer's eye straight into a particular point of a picture.

It is always worth learning and knowing about these guides, but don't let them restrict and cramp your style Sometimes the formality, or the tension, of your image will be better served if the main element is placed centrally, or against one edge. A shot can also be given two points of emphasis, and you can attract attention by placing them at opposite extremes of the frame so that the viewer scans from one to the other, making comparisons, conscious of distance and space. Of course, with digital manipulation, objects within the photograph and whole areas can be cut out and moved or removed entirely; you will need to learn very precise blending skills in order to make these kinds of transition seamless.

6.35
Natasha Caruana uses the Rule of Thirds to divide the structure of her images in her highly constructed photographs from the series The Other Woman.

Framing movement

You can alter your impression of active subjects by picture composition and choice of moment. Think of the frame as a stage, if the action is moving across the frame and you show the main subject at one side, facing inward, the activity seems just to have started. But if the activity faces outward with all the space behind it, the same subject seems to have completed the action.

You can make movement appear more dynamic and aggressive by composing it diagonally across the frame, angling vertical and horizontal subject lines, and if possible converging them too. Remember that even when no strong lines are present, a slow exposure (p. 71), plus zooming and panning if necessary, will draw out highlights into powerful blur lines. Digital manipulation allows you to create similar effects after shooting. Too many effects can also destroy an image, particularly if they become more significant than the content of the photograph.

6.36
Both these photographs were made from the same negative by Roger Bool Cropping highlights and exaggerates the action.

The moment chosen to photograph moving objects and rapidly changing situations can make or break a picture Fast reaction may allow you to select and capture one brief (decisive) moment, summing up a whole event or situation. This could be a momentary expression, a key action (like breaking the winning tape in a race), or just two elements briefly included in the same frame and signifying something by their juxtaposition. Shooting at four pictures per second would seemingly cover every eventuality. But the vital moment can still fall between frames. There is no substitute for split-second manual timing. Cropping as in Figure 6.36 can also help to highlight significant action or events. Most documentary photographers covering subjects that are moving very quickly, or events where a lot is happening, do tend to shoot a lot of film in order that they can get the moment that they need (see Figure 6.37); with digital, you can see at a glance when it has been achieved, although there is something lost when selections are made this quickly. Frequently a photographer has considered an image worthless when shot, and then rediscovered it as a successful photograph years later. So don't erase your digital files too quickly. A photographer might shoot up to 30,000 frames (digitally) before getting the photograph that they want.

6.37
A contact sheet from a documentary shoot: many different images are shot but only one is used—the thick pen marker surrounding the image highlights the selected frame

Scale and placing

When using a large format view camera (or even a medium format camera with an accessible focusing screen), being able to mark on the focusing screen with a thin black grease pencil (also known as a china marker, chinagraph, or wax pencil) can be incredibly useful in order to keep a consistency between your exposures. For example, if you wanted to make a series of photographs where the subjects were always in the same part of the frame and the same scale, then you could mark out the points on the focusing screen. Architectural and still life photographers regularly do this to check perspective or to ensure placing is repeated. As well, if your picture is to fill a space with fixed height-to-width proportions, it makes sense to mark up the camera focusing screen accordingly, and compose within this shape. As Figure 6.39 shows, by drawing a frame with the necessary proportions on paper and adding a diagonal, you can scale it down to fit within any camera format. This is where it helps to have a camera that has easy access to the focusing screen (such as view cameras, medium format SLRs, or 35 mm models with removable pentaprism).

6.38
(a) "Roxane in red skirt" was shot for i-D magazine in 2004 by Jason Evans The styling is by Simon Foxton. The clothes were chosen for their emblematic quality; the photographer and stylist were interested in seemingly arbitrary fashion poses, and inventing their own. (b) Pre-match drinks. An editorial photograph by Martin Salter taken to illustrate a magazine story titled "Behind the bar"—an article about bar staff.

6.39
Scaling. Transferring picture proportions from a (larger) drawn layout to a medium format camera focusing screen. (1 and 2) The page designers specified picture shape is traced and a diagonal added. (3) This tracing is aligned with the bottom left corner of the cameras focusing screen, and the diagonal now shows you the position for the top right corner of the format. (4) A wax pencil (also known as a chinagraph or china marker) line drawn at this point gives you the scaled down format needed. Similarly if you are shooting digitally, you can use this method to find and mark the format on your cameras LCD screen, using two strips of tape over the LCD to mark the format.

Use a thin black grease pencil to trace the new outline accurately onto the viewing side of your screen. In the same way, you can mark out the precise areas where text or other images must finally appear within the completed illustration. Digital camera viewing screens are not usually easy to draw on, and they are usually easier to view proportions on anyway—or if you are shooting tethered (with digital), you can do a mack up of a page on the computer screen to check the layout and scale of everything within the frame.

Preplanned proportions are not practical with most documentary, candid, or press photography. Here they tend to follow on from picture contents rather than lead them. However, an art editor will usually be grateful if you cover the same subject in both vertical and horizontal formats. Ideally, too, avoid tight framing, and leave sufficient content around the edges to allow cropping to slightly different proportions according to layout. (Of course you are then in the hands of the editor, who may have a very different idea about composition than you—some photographers purposely make pictures that cannot be cropped as they want complete control over how their image is used!)

Size

The smaller your final picture is intended to be, then the simpler its image should be if you want it to be easily read and understood. If it is to be reproduced little larger than a postage stamp (or on coarse paper), aim for a bold, uncluttered composition, perhaps with a plain and contrasting background. The larger the reproduction and the better the paper, the more detail and tone graduation will be preserved. If you know that your final result will be displayed as a large photographic enlargement, for example, it is probably worth changing to a larger format camera (the same goes for both analog and digital) or at least finer-grain film (which in digital you can set in the menu; in analog you would buy a lower ISO film)—that is, if you want a fine-grain, fine-focus effect. Sometimes a large-scale grainy image can look fantastic and it is possible to blow up 35 mm analog negatives to very large-scale prints; however, small digital files simply pixelate as they grow too large as prints. If you choose to use a small format camera and make big enlargements, the result will be very rough, with coarse grain (analog) or greater pixilation (digital), and if you want the exposure and tonal values to remain good, you may well need to overexpose your film when shooting (negative film on analog cameras only). With digital photography, the file size affects the size you can blow an image up to, and you need to know right at the start of the shoot what the final possibilities will be. Take special care over limitations of size if you work with a digital image—whether it is shot with a digital camera or scanned from film (see p. 106). When you work with analog photography, you are freer to leave the printing scale choice until later on.

Where Photographs Go

if you are producing pictures purely for yourself, there may be no one else's requirements to take into consideration. But if you are a professional photographer given an assignment, producing an exhibition, portfolio, or publication, it is vital to know who your audience is and how you can convey your (and/or possibly your employer's) message, and sometimes even completely adapt your approach to the needs of the commission or job.

Photography is a very versatile medium and photographs are every-where—we see them on billboards, on magazine and newspaper pages, in family albums, in medical and architectural journals, on mantelpieces, in museums and galleries, and even in courtrooms. Where would we be without them? A photograph can be a record of an event, an exhibited artwork, a promotional shot, or a passport identity portrait. One of the most astounding things about photographs is that they can be reproduced over and over again. In some contexts, such as the art marketplace, this reproducibility has had to be curtailed in order to give value to the photographs on sale. Photographers selling their work in large commercial art galleries limit the edition of their prints to give them a greater value.

Commercial photography

Most photography has a commercial aspect to it or is produced to serve a purpose, like promoting an idea or an ideology. The world of photography is massive, and you really need to decide which areas you want to work in before putting together a portfolio to take to show people.

Editorial and advertising photography

When doing an editorial or an advertising job, you may be given a precise brief/assignment that couid be considered as problem solving. The problem will have technical aspects to work out, like how to get a detailed informative picture under difficult conditions. Or it might be much more subjective, perhaps concerned with creating atmosphere, mood, or a particular style. On other occasions you may be freer to produce a body of work without a tight brief, and sometimes this can be more difficult as you really have to work it out for yourself. When you are given a brief/ assignment, you should start off with a clear, accurate idea of all aspects of the problem via a consultation with the client, designer, or editor What is the subject, the purpose of the picture, and its intended audience? You also need to know practical details such as final proportions and size, how the picture will be physically shown or reproduced, and what will appear around it. This affects what equipment you choose and how you shoot the job. Editorial and advertising assignments involve working with a wide range of different types of photography, from constructed imagery through to documentary, in a wide range of arenas, from a band you might cover for a music magazine through to a car you might shoot for an advertisement. A large percentage of advertising and sometimes editorial photography briefs are commissioned by design groups and advertising agencies, and many photographers seeking commercial work will join an agency to promote themselves in this field (Figure 6.38). There are numerous agencies representing photographers; it is the agent's job to build a network for their photographers and to get them work.

Managing the job

Having established the needs of the job—the creative possibilities as well as specified layout, content, and approach—you can get down to planning. If you are working in the studio, what are the most appropriate accessories to include? Will some form of set need building or hiring? If it is a location job, the right place has to be found and hired if necessary. Models can be shortlisted through an agency, interviewed, and chosen; some photographers use their own selected models, often people they just meet on the street (Figure 6.40) and occasionally their friends. Assistants will often be required to work the lighting, find the locations, and/or look after the models. A stylist could also be required, particularly for fashion or food shoots; stylists are rarely acknowledged but they have played a major role in the history of fashion and advertising photography.

6.40
Mounir 2005. Fashion photographers do not always look for models in model agencies—they often use friends or simply people they spot in the street. The photographer Jason Evans met Mounir in the street in Casablanca in 2005 and then made this photograph for Hanatsubaki magazine. The stylist was Simon Foxton.

Lighting has to be planned. If you are going to rely on natural light, consult weather forecasts for your location. Existing artificial light needs checking for its technical suitability.

Lighting units, and special equipment such as a wind machine, smoke machine, or portable generator/batteries, may have to be hired. It is rare today in either editorial or advertising jobs to shoot on film, as it is so easy to check how things are going when you shoot digitally, and even more so if you shoot tethered to the computer.

On the day of your shoot, with all necessary items brought together, you can start to build and work with your set and subjects to create the images you will finally use. There are numerous aspects that you will need to consider playing with and altering as you work: viewpoint, lighting, framing, the relationship between subjects, how to highlight one thing in the frame, and how all these technical aspects can affect the actual meaning of the image.

Working digitally on an advertising shoot (in particular) is highly advantageous as the images can be checked and revised constantly. Photographers working with film will use a digital back or separate camera to check the results before shooting on film. Later one roll or sheet of film typical of the shot will be test-processed, and then the remainder put through, incorporating any modifications suggested by those first results.

Working in advertising or editorial is demanding, and you need to be continuously investing in both updating your portfolio as well as taking it round to show art directors, designers, and picture editors on a regular basis (or getting your agent to do this for you). You may need/want to use assistants, and you will find it useful to be connected with professional organizations such as the Association of Photographers (AOP) in London that give support and advice to photographers. There are a wealth of design groups and advertising agencies, in particular, who are always on the lookout for new talent. There are also numerous photo libraries that will store your photographs on file and promote them to a range of commercial users at a designated price. The library would ask for a particular number of photographs, and themes vary according to their remit; they will also take a percentage of the sale. With a photo library, it is essential that you check the contract and make sure that you are happy with all the conditions within it. Agencies such as Magnum and Vu are world famous and very competitive to join. Others, such as Photoink (India), Drik (Bangladesh), and Autograph (UK), often operate in specific areas and with particular types of photography.

Publishing in books, magazines, and on the Internet

Photography has always had a huge presence in books and magazines, and more recently on pages of Internet magazines and websites. There are numerous monographs about both contemporary and historical photographers. The first photographic monographs are considered to be the albums produced by Anna Atkins in 1843, followed by The Pencil of Nature (Fox Talbot) in 1844. Today the monograph is still one of the most successful ways of getting photographs out into the world, and the marketplace for photographic books has expanded the world over (despite the advent of the Internet and, most recently, the new ebooks). Perhaps as a reaction to the amount of photography viewed on computer screens nowadays, there has been a recent trend toward photographers self-publishing their own photography books. Companies such as Apple and UbyU and Blurb (http://www.blurb.com/) offer easy book-designing software and relatively inexpensive printing, and in some cases even on-demand distribution of your book. Organizations such as Self Publish Be Happy help photographers to distribute and publicize their own self-published books— http://wwwselfpublishbehappy.com/.

Specialist bookshops, predominantly in the USA, Europe, and Japan, sell only photographic books and magazines, and a wide range of specialist photography publishers, such as Aperture (NY), Steidl (D), Photoworks (UK), Actes Sud (Fr.), Lunwerg Editores (Sp.),and Apeiron Photos (Gr.), regularly publish new titles. As well as this, some of the bigger publishing houses, such as Phaidon, Thames &. Hudson, Manchester University Press, Hatze Cantz, and Roli Books, do publish some photography monographs and history books. The printed page lends itself very successfully to the showing of photographs; unlike reproductions of paintings, reproductions of photographs can be extraordinarily faithful to the original print, and there is a big market for collecting photography books. Photography magazines are published all over the world and some titles (e.g., Aperture and the British Journal of Photography) have long histories dating back to the 1950s. Creative Camera (UK, 1964 to 1999) was hugely influential in the development of contemporary European photography and regularly published the work of young or emerging photographers. New magazines such as the Scandinavian journal Objektiv and Chinese Photography magazine are beginning to reach larger audiences, and photographs are published in the widest range of non-specialist magazines, for example weekend supplements, fashion magazines, and travel magazines; in fact, most magazines use photographs to help tell their stories. The Internet is also quickly becoming an easier and very interesting place to publish work. Ebooks are the latest thing and publishers such as MACK London are working to develop a range of new titles as ebooks. Looking at work on the screen is very different from turning the pages of a book or magazine, and a number of publishers are creating online magazines and projects such as Foto 8 (http://www.foto8.com/live/) and www.5b4.blogspot.com.

The art marketplace

The marketplace for photography in the art world is a relatively recent phenomenon in Britain, whereas in the USA photography has been accepted as a saleable art form for many more years. New markets for the sale of photographs as art are opening up in India and China, and markets in other parts of the world are also starting. Getting your work into this arena is not easy, and there are different ways of promoting your work or approaching galleries:

Make sure you send them updates onail new developments in your work—invitations to exhibitions, etc. Draw their attention to your website.

You couid do a regular newsletter, making sure it is well designed and interesting—don't overload people with unnecessary information about what you did last week; rather it should be a taster of something new you have in the pipeline.

A personal approach is feasible with some of the smaller galleries, but the larger, better known galleries generally prefer to spot their own talent.

Once you have attracted some interest, you should send an appropriate curriculum vitae (include exhibitions, grants, commissions, and collections that may have bought your work) together with an artist's statement which may include digital illustrations of your work—this should be presented in a smart folder.

A visit to Photo London or Paris Photo (Paris and Los Angeles) where all the galleries show and sell their work (once a year) will allow you to take in the range of galleries and the type of artists and photographers that they represent. It is also a good idea to get your work seen at portfolio viewings. Several organizations do this and probably the best known are Rhubarb Rhubarb in Britain (www. rhubarb-rhubarb.net), Houston Fotofest in Texas (www.fotofest.org), Rencontres de la Photographie in France (www.rencontres-arles. com), and the Delhi Photo Festival in India; all of these have annual or bi-annual events where you can take your portfolio to show to a range of experts, get advice, and get noticed. Figure 6.41 shows curators looking at portfolios at the Rencontres de la Photographie in Aries.

6.41 This photograph shows curators looking at portfolios at Rencontres de la Photographie in Aries, France 2008.

If you are successful in organizing an exhibition of your work, there are many things that you need to consider, including size of images, how they will be presented and hung, publicity for the exhibition, and organizing the opening night (preview or private view).

Size is particularly important when working toward an exhibition, as this is the one time and place where you really do have space to work with. You should take time to examine the space and think about the color of the walls (white cubes are not always best!), leaving space around the images, and the importance of titles and information about the work, and how this should also look good on the wall. There are exhibiting trends and although you should not necessarily follow these, you should be aware of all the possible presentation methods. Most importantly, you should consider what is best for your photographs in relation to the space you are exhibiting in (see Chapter 13).

Photography for museums, independent galleries, and organizations

This is a distinct category of photographic work that, although paid, is not normally highly commercial in the sense that the financial rewards are not high and the work does not generally go out to a mass audience in the way that images made in advertising might. Museums, galleries, and photography organizations (among others) can commission photographers to make new bodies of work, usually in response to a set theme or an archive A commission is likely to be advertised in a photography magazine, on the Web (sites like http://fotofolios.org/), or in Artists Newsletter (UK), and to apply for a commission you would usually be asked to write a proposal based on information they have given you about the theme. Photographers are given details of the demands of the commission, including the time limit set for creating the work and what form the work should ideally take when finished This type of project usually allows the photographer a considerable amount of time to develop their work, and the commission may result in an exhibition and sometimes a publication. There is also a number of organizations worldwide that provide grants for artists and photographers. Applications are made by either the photographer or a gallery/ museum wanting to exhibit or publish their work; guidelines are clear and advice can usually be sought from the awarding body, in England the Arts Council England has supported a number of photographers to create new bodies of work or prepare the work for exhibition. In the UK, France, and Germany, the British Council, L'lnstitut Français, and the Goethe Institute, respectively, have also been active in providing grants to promote their own photographers abroad and sometimes to bring significant foreign work into their own countries.

Archives

An archive is a collection of photographs, usually based around a theme or a place or taken by a particular person or group of people at a particular time. Archives are valuable sources of information and are fascinating to uncover and research into. If you have been commissioned to make a body of work, it is likely that some of the resulting photos will go into the archive of the commissioner. An archive or collection is stored in a particular place and often looked after by a curator—that is, if it is a recognized and collected archive. An archive can be well known and housed at a significant museum or company, or it may be little known, in a small town museum, for example, or even unknown in somebody's attic. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a huge archive of photographs by well-known photographers that can be viewed in the Print Room at the museum under archival conditions. An archive often includes photographs taken over a long period of time and will be of historic interest and importance. Large companies and most museums have archives of one sort or another, and sometimes it is surprising to discover where things are. The Benjamin Stone Archive is stored at the Birmingham City Library and is a fascinating series of images documenting, among other things, rural customs from the late nineteenth century through to the early twentieth century (see Figure 6.42). The Alkazi Foundation in New Delhi owns an archive of early photography of India, primarily studio portraiture and architecture.

All the major newspapers have their own archives, and most important archives are now digitized. Universities worldwide own archives of photographs, and some have photography research centers that have collections and may commission new work from time to time. The University of the Arts, London (UAL) has a unique research center, Photography and the Archive Research Center (PARC), that works with photography in a variety of archive contexts.

6.42 This image of Sherborne Pageant was made by the prolific photographer Benjamin Stone in the early 1900s. It commemorates an attack of the Danes in AD 845. Benjamin Stone documented many English customs and his work is archived in Birmingham City Library

Family albums and other domestic settings

6.43
(a) Trish Morrissey overexposes her color film by up to four stops and then processes as normal to achieve fine detail in these low-lit interiors Her work concentrates on the re-presenting of the family; by staging her parents within their own home fictional (yet very ordinary) narratives are constructed. (b) In this color photograph from the series A Raft of Carrots, Jem Southam uses 1/2 to one stop underexposure to decrease the color contrast and achieve a level of tonal flatness He always prints this work as optical C-type handprints (made in the darkroom), preferring the subtle detail to the harsher contrast of digital printing.

Most of us take family snapshots and then place them on mantelpieces, in boxes, and/or in family albums. Learning to take better photographs will improve the look of your family archive Many artists and photographers have questioned the value of family albums and in particular explored new ways of picturing the family. In the early 1980s Jo Spence wrote the book Beyond the Family Album that included many of her ground-breaking images, all reworking memorable family moments. Figure 6.44 shows a photograph by Jo Spence from her series investigating family roles. This body of work was composed of a set of self-portraits in which Jo acted out roles that she remembered her mother playing in "real Life." Jo was replaying these roles with her own response to them embedded in the performance. More recently, Trish Morrissey became fascinated by documenting (all the images were restaged documents) the lives of her mother and father in their home in Ireland and the very particular way in which they lived (see Figure 6.43a). A family photograph represents a group of people at a certain time and in a certain place, and you can make these photographs at any time, not just at the predictable moments (on holiday or at family events). Family photographs are valuable documents/fictions and are usually archived in albums or boxes; wedding photographs too are usually placed in an album. (Figure 6.45 shows a contemporary wedding photograph made in a documentary style.)

6.44 These photographs by Jo Spence come from a series of self-port raits in which Jo acted out roles that she remembered her mother playing in "real life" (She re-played these roles with her own response to them embedded in the performance)

6.45
A contemporary approach to wedding photography: 'A Dutch Wedding," 2009, by Andy Fox.

Summary

> Picture creation starts with an enthusiasm to experiment with the camera and explore picture structure and making.

> Recognizing the basic visual qualities of your subject and the needs of your picture, then emphasizing or suppressing, and composing these elements in the strongest: possible way allows you to start to understand how to control different elements within the picture plane.

> It is vital to experiment with picture making; trying out new points of view and angles can bring a completely new visual approach to your photography and assist you in determining your style.

> Look out for subject qualities such as shape (identification, framework), texture (feel and character of surface), pattern (harmony, rhythm), form (volume and solidity), color and tone (mood, emphasis), and movement (time-based action).

> Subject appearance is part of what carries through the meaning and purpose of your picture. Expressions and relationships between people or objects or spaces, and the way we read things into objects and situations, affect meaning.

> Context can also affect meaning.

> Using a camera means working within a frame. Consider picture shape and proportions, balance of tone and color, the use of lines to give structure and emphasis, and the positioning of your main subject.

> Always have structural composition in the back of your mind while shooting, even though you might have to think and shoot fast. After a while, how you compose your pictures becomes almost a reflex-keep advancing your understanding of composition, don't rely on the same approach all the time. Avoid falling into the trap of following convention unless you have decided that this is vital to your picture series.

> Most commercial/professional photography is visual problem solving. You need to: (1) understand the purpose of the picture, (2) evaluate subject qualities in the light of this purpose, (3) compose the subject into a meaningful image within the frame, (4) choose the right technical controls to carry through the idea, and (5) organize all aspects of the shooting session in a professional manner.

> Photography is a medium with multiple applications.

> The art marketplace is a place for artists and photographers to sell fine art prints and exhibit their work.

> Commercial photography is a massive world that includes advertising, fashion, and editorial photography. Photographs made for the commercial sector may appear in company brochures, on billboards, on the Internet, in photo libraries, or on magazine pages.

> Photographs are published in numerous books and magazines all over the world. Photography has illustrated editorial stories since the late 1800s, and photographic monographs are popular collectable books. Publishing a book of photographs is an excellent way of promoting work to a wide audience. You can publish books on the Internet, and ebooks have started to come out.

> A commission for a museum or gallery may enable you to develop a new body of work and can often be worked on for periods of time between three and twenty-four months.

> An archive is a collection of photographs that might have been saved for many different reasons and uses. Archives can be found in all sorts of places, from museums to attics.

> Family photographs are most often taken at celebratory events such as parties and holidays, and are then kept in albums or boxes; it is an interesting challenge to attempt to photograph the family outside of these conventions.

Projects

1. Take the interior of your own home and rediscover it through photographing it from new points of view: look up, look down, look underneath things, get really close-up to things with a wide-angle lens, get on a ladder and get a bird's eye view, and try taking pictures without looking through the lens. Now try the same thing with people in the pictures, either inside your home again or on the street.

2. Shafts of light—created by sunlight through leaves, slatted windows, half-open doors, etc.—have inspired some photographers and artists. Look at some examples and produce photographs based on your own observations of interiors (naturally or artificially lit).

3. Choosing an appropriate subject in each case, produce four photographs. One must show that you have observed and highlighted texture, one shape, one form, and one color—exclude the other visual qualities as far as possible.

4. Produce four pictures which portray one of the following concepts: power, growth, or action. Take your favorite one and transform it into a) a photograph for an art exhibition, and b) a poster advertising a product or an event. Consider what you need to add to the photograph to make it fit a different context and also how it might appear in each context.

5. Take several pictures with the main element (or elements) composed close to the edges or corners of the frame. Consider how this unusual positioning contributes positively to meaning in your results.

6. Look through books of photographs and find pictures that you really enjoy. Consider the structure of the pictures and how they are divided; are there shapes, colors, tones, or textures that are vital to the picture? Try placing a sheet of tracing paper over the image and tracing the key lines or shapes within the photographs—what does the pattern of the picture look like when you take the tracing paper off?

7. Investigate your local museums and find out if they hold any type of photographic archive. Research the photographers who made the images (if that information is available) and try to build a picture of the conditions that the photographs were made in. Make a dossier that collects your findings.

8. Write a proposal for a long-term project that you would be interested to do in your local area. In the proposal, include information on the subject that you want to photograph, how you might do it, and the way that you envisage resolving the project: is it an exhibition or a series ready to be archived or even published? Think about the reasons why the work might be valuable in a particular context.

9.

Decide to photograph your family in an original way and try two new approaches to family snap shooting. Carry your camera with you at all times and photograph as many different things as you can that happen over one weekend. Ask your family to try to ignore the camera and to definitely avoid posing for the photograph. Don't always photograph everyone from the front, and alter your viewpoint as well as your distance from your subjects. Shoot on digital so you can show your subjects instantly what you are doing and record their responses. Print the photographs and present them as a diary of the two days.

Find a painting of a group of people in a domestic setting. Using members of your family, try to restage the painting in your own home. Props and furniture cannot be identical but can have similarities. Encourage the group to look at the painting and to take up a pose in the spirit of the image, and try lighting the photograph to imitate the lighting in the painting. See what happens when you move elements in the background to help you frame your image. This is most easily done using a digital camera so you can observe what is happening in the image as you alter the lighting.

10. Shoot a panorama, or a "joiner." For the panorama, shoot from one position with a normal or long focal length lens, panning the camera between shots. The subject content of each frame should overlap that of the next by at least 30 percent-do not use a digital camera to do this. A joiner (Figure 6.46) can be more loosely structured, varying the viewpoint slightly to give more of an impression than a record. Make a series of prints matched in tone and size, and mount them to give one composite picture—you can also try to do this digitally by scanning the negatives and joining them in a suitable software program. Make a test print of the digital image as well.

11. Find a simple white or whitish object—a jug for example—and place it outside on a table in a well-lit place (i.e., where light falls most of the day). Set your digital camera up on a tripod on the south side of the object (simply use a compass to find out where south is) and start photographing the object at daybreak and continue to photograph it from the same place every hour until nightfall. Keep your aperture roughly the same (let's say between f/8 and f/16) and change the shutter speed and/or the ISO to get the correct exposures. You can try the same idea with different colored objects and also with film (though with film you would not change the ISO during the process so the number of hours you can shoot may be reduced).

6.46
Joiners are not intended as accurate depictions of space If you want to make the joins invisible you can do this digitally. This image created using multiple photographs by Masumi Hayashi is of the "Minidoka Relocation Camp, Root Cellar," 1992 (one of the relocation camps used to house the Japanese in the USA during the Second World War). Hayashi used joiner image techniques for her series American Relocation Camps to explore her own personal relationship to the spaces where she had been interned as a child with her family

Chapter Seven
Lighting

Principles and Equipment

In this chapter we look at the key features of lighting: diffusion, color, intensity, direction, and size of the light source. We will discuss how lighting can be used to create different effects and atmospheres. We will cover essential lighting equipment, working with available and mixed lighting as well as solving lighting problems.

The way you choose to light a subject is highly creative and individualistic— in fact you will find lighting one of the most stimulating and exciting aspects of photography. Many photographers' individual styles can be identified through their use of lighting, and you have probably noticed how often a studio portrait or a movie can be "dated" by the way it was lit

It is useful to read this chapter in conjunction with Chapter 2, as the characteristics of light discussed there form the fundamentals for the practical lighting information that this chapter offers.

Much can be learned about lighting from observing the natural light all around you; start to observe the harsh and dark shadows cast on a sunny day, compared to the softer and much less intense shadows of an overcast day. Because the sun is so far away to us it appears like a small but very bright spot of light, causing harsh shadows, but on an overcast day the clouds have the effect of diffusing that very small point of light and spreading the light out so that it's a much larger and closer source of light, and shadows are less prominent. The effect is the same as when you attach a softbox to a flash head. The softbox acts just like the clouds, spreading the small source of light out and enlarging it, softening the shadows.

While a great deal of this chapter concerns specialist lighting equipment, if you don't have access to this kind of equipment, it is still possible to learn a great deal about lighting. Place your camera on a tripod and experiment with a still life subject on a table in a room blacked out as much as possible. Make sure there is ample room to position reflectors anywhere around all four sides of the table, and watch the effect of using different kinds of surfaces as reflectors (sheets of white paper or tin (aluminum) foil make for great reflectors); pay attention to the changes made by how you position the reflectors in relation to the subject.

Basic Characteristics of Lighting

Quality

The best way to describe the "quality" of a light source is in terms of the type of shadow it makes an object cast. The shadow of a light source may be harsh and hard or soft and graduated, or somewhere in between. As Figure 2.5 shows, this quality depends on the size of the source relative to its distance from your subject.

The smaller the light source, the harder the light, for example torches, spotlights, flashguns, a lit match, or the light of the sun on a clear summer day. (Of course the sun is vast in size, but because of its immense distance from us it appears as a relatively small, intense source in the sky.) All of these light sources vary enormously in intensity and color, but when used direct they all make harsh hard-edged shadows (see Figure 7.2).

7.1 Olivier Richon approaches his compositions from a painterly direction. By using a single relatively diffused flash to illuminate his subjects, he references the "chiaroscuro" look of old master paintings When he positions an object in a way that protrudes off a table, he is making reference to the way still life painters, such as Chardin, display their understanding of perspective

The softest light comes from large, enveloping sources, for example an overcast sky, a large frosted window, or a flash with a large softbox or umbrella fitted.

7.2
Lighting quality. Left: Illuminated by a distant, compact light source these bails of wool cast dark, hard-edged shadows. Right: The light source is effectively enlarged by inserting tracing paper close to the subject. Softer edged shadows and more subtle modeling then appear. This "soft, directional" lighting looks less dramatic to the eye but often gives best results when photographed. (Outdoors the same differences in lighting quality are created by direct sunlight and by cloudy conditions.)

7.3 You can make a large soft light source give hard illumination, in this case by almost closing opaque window blinds even when the sky outside is overcast, creating dramatic lines to this composition.

You can make any hard light source give soft lighting by placing a large sheet of diffusing material, such as tracing paper or white fabric, between it and the subject, or by reflecting the light off a large reflective surface (for example an umbrella, a Polyboard, or white ceiling or wall). The bulb of a studio flash is a very small source of light, so will nearly always need some form of diffusion.

You can make a large, soft light source give hard illumination by blocking it off with black card, leaving only a small hole, or by moving it very far away from the subject so that it's relative size to the subject is greatly decreased, creating a much harder shadow. If you almost close opaque window blinds, you can produce fairly hard light even when the sky outside is overcast (see Figure 7.3). The opposite is also true; by moving a small source of light very close to a subject (and so increasing its relative size), you can soften the shadows created.

The size and distance of your light source also alter the character of reflections on glossy-surfaced subjects. A hard light source gives a small, brilliant highlight. Typical of this is the little point of light ("catchlight") in the eyes of a portrait (see Figure 7.26). Remember that these highlights in glossy surfaces are essentially mirror reflections of the light itself and so take on the shape of the light. This is why portrait photographers often prefer to use rounded "octoboxes" rather than rectangular "softboxes"—while the way they soften the light is essentially the same, the circular reflection of the octobox, visible as a round reflection in the eye of the person being photographed, looks more natural than a rectangular reflection. The highlight from a soft light is a reflection of the large, diffused source, giving a paler, spread highlight, which may sometimes dilute the underlying color of an entire glossy surface, making it look less rich.

Direction

The direction of your light source determines where the shadows will fall on both the subject and its surroundings (Figure 7.4). This in turn affects the appearance of texture and form. Since a light can be placed anywhere

7.4 Lighting direction. The same object changes greatly in apparent shape and form according to the relative position of the light source (see central key).

around your subject, particularly when you have free movement of a light source in the studio, there are infinite variations in the lighting direction you can employ. If you are using fixed, existing light, you may be able to move or rotate your subject instead, or perhaps plan out the right time of day to catch the direction of sunlight you need. The time of day can have an incredible impact on your photograph. If you are photographing a landscape with rolling fields and hedgerows, a photograph taken at midday, when the light is from above, will produce a rather flat image, as everything is bathed in the same light. The same scene shot earlier on in the day when the sun is just rising or later in the day when the sun is setting has a more directed light that produces highlights and shadows revealing texture, so that potentially every blade of grass could stand out.

We tend to accept lighting as most natural when directed from somewhere above; after all, the light from the sun and from the light bulbs in our homes all comes from above. This is why photographers nearly always position their lights slightly higher than the subject they are photographing, or why "bouncing" the light of a flashgun off the ceiling, so that the light reflects off the ceiling to illuminate your subject below, creates such a dramatic difference. Placing your lights beneath your subject tends to give a macabre, dramatic, or even menacing effect. Compare (C) with (H) in Figure 7.4. Frontal light from next to the camera (G) illuminates detail, gives small shadows, minimizes texture, and flattens form. Reflective surfaces seen flat on flare light straight back toward the lens. This effect can also be seen when you use direct flash from the camera (see, for example, Figure 7.5). Lighting from above or one side of the subject helps to emphasize texture in surfaces facing the camera, and shows the form of three-dimensional subjects. Backlighting can create a bold edge line and give you a strong shape (B), but most of the subject detail is lost in shadow that also flattens form. All these changes of direction work with both hard and soft light sources, but they are more marked with hard light because of its sharply edged shadows.

Contrast

Lighting contrast is the ratio between the brightness of the most strongly lit parts of your subject and the brightness of the darkest (shadowed) areas. Photographic film and digital sensors cannot accommodate as wide a range of brightness (luminance) in the same scene as the human eye can. Often this means that when you expose to get detail in the lightest areas of the scene, then the shadow areas become blocked-out blacks with no detail recorded at all, even though you could see details from the lightest point to the darkest point with your eyes. Alternatively, exposing to show detail in the shadows "burns out" details in the lighter areas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; by understanding how the camera captures a more limited range of light you can create beautiful enigmatic images.

7.5
Anna Fox balances the brightness of the flash with the ambient light from the sun, producing vivid color and illumination throughout the entire scene.

The problem of extreme light contrast is greatest with hard side or top lighting; although the lit surfaces then show excellent form and texture, there are often large and very prominent dark shadow areas. If you want to improve shadow detail, then you might be tempted to add an extra light source from the opposite direction to "fill" these shadows with some light, but this often forms an extra set of "cross-shadows" which can look unnatural Often a much more effective and simpler solution is to use some kind of reflector to slightly illuminate the side in shadow, bouncing back some of the main light as soft, diffused illumination. This is known as shadow-filling. For relatively small subjects such as portraits and still life scenes you can "fill" using white card, fabric, or a nearby pale-surfaced wall (Figure 7.7). With large subjects in direct sunlight you may have to wait until there is

7.6 By mixing flash with a long exposure at night, Andrew Bruce creates mysterious photographs that seem to paradoxically freeze a moment while simultaneously recording star trails go by, all without any image manipulation.

7.7
Controlling lighting contrast. All three pictures are lit by one diffused floodlight about 90° from one side. Left: No fill-in. Center: A large matt white reflector is added left, directly facing the light. Right: Using red instead of white reflector board.

cloud elsewhere in the sky to reflect back some soft light, or until the sun itself is more diffused by clouds. With fairly close subjects you can use flash on the camera, preferably diffused with care to add a little soft frontal light without overwhelming the main light. This is known as "fill flash" and is especially useful for reducing the harsh shadows formed under the nose and eyes when photographing people in hard sunlight (see pp. 155-6).

As a guide, an average subject with the most brightly lit parts lit ten times as bright as the shadowed parts (a lighting contrast of 10:1) will just about record with detail throughout in a black and white photograph. That represents three-and-a-half stops difference between exposure readings for the most illuminated and those for the most shaded subject areas of inherently equal tone. The equivalent for a color shot is about 3:1 (see also p. 161).

Unevenness

Lighting unevenness most often happens when you use hard lighting from an undiffused light or flashgun too close to the subject, so that elements of the picture nearest the light source are much brighter than elements farther away (Figure 7.30).

When you double the distance between your subject and light source, the illumination at your subject drops to one-quarter of the brightness; this is because of a feature of the way light falls off known as the inverse-square law. It means that if you have a still life setup 1 meter wide and then sidelight it from a position 1 meter away, the illumination across your subject will be four times (two stops) brighter on the side closest the light than on the side farthest from the light If you want to avoid unevenness (with minimal effect on lighting quality), just move the light source further away from the subject. At 2 meters the variation across the 1-meter wide still life setup becomes one-and-a-quarter stops between the side closest to the light and the side farthest from the light, and at 3 meters the variation becomes just two-thirds of a stop (see Figure 7.8). Alternatively, add an additional light source, diffuse the light, or help yourself by positioning the darkest, least reflective objects nearest the light source.

For an example of totally even lighting, see the section on copying (Figure 7.35) where two lights of identical intensity are placed at equal distance on opposite sides of the subject. Figure 7.29 shows how harsh sunlight from one side creates an uneven light that is useful for highlighting textured surface.

Color

Most light sources used for photography produce so-called "white" light, a mixture of all colors. They are said to have a continuous spectrum, although its precise mixture may vary considerably from an ordinary domestic light bulb, which is rich in red and yellow but weak in blue, to electronic flash containing relatively more energy in blue wavelengths than red. As Figure 7.9 shows, most sources can be given a "color temperature"; the higher the Kelvin (K) value, the cooler the light, and the lower the K value, the warmer the light.

7.8
Distance and evenness. Left: A hard Light source positioned obliquely at A is too close to the subject—the nearest part of this model car receives four times more light than the farthest end. Right: Pulled back to position C, three times the original distance this ratio is reduced to 1.7 times. The subject is much more evenly lit and easier to expose correctly.

7.9
The color—expressed as color temperature Kelvin (K)—of common "white light" sources Daylight-balanced film (D) needs a blue 80A filter for use with 3200 K lamps. Tungsten film (T) must be used with an 85B filter for daylight or flash, for correct color rendering. See also Figure 3.44.

When shooting digitally you can alter the Kelvin of the camera to match the Kelvin of the light source; this produces images that look faithful to how our eyes see the world. Nearly all digital cameras have "auto white balance" features that allow them to judge (reasonably accurately) the correct white balance for different situations. More complex digital cameras will also have preset white balance settings for different situations (daylight, tungsten lighting, fluorescent lighting, etc.) or allow you to dial in the exact Kelvin number. Our brains essentially do the same thing as the camera's auto white balance feature so we do not truly perceive how drastic the changes in color temperature are from one light source to another. See Chapter 8 for details on setting your digital camera's white balance on the camera or in the raw processing stage.

Color film is designed with a "daylight" color temperature of around 5500 Kelvin that is fixed and cannot be altered. So when shooting with film you must be careful that your light source roughly matches the 5500 K of your film.

7.10 Typical cast created when subject shadows only receive light from a clear blue sky. The silvery colored Chrysler Building appears almost the same color as the background. The building would appear more neutrally colored if shot when there was sufficient cloud around to reflect back "white" light, or at a different angle or time of day.

If your light source doesn't match the 5500 K of the film, you can use a tinted correction filter to bring the light source and film's color temperature into alignment, such as an 85B or 80A filter (their effect is shown on p. 228). If all of your subject is lit by the same source with the same color temperature, then adjusting the color temperature using a filter will work perfectly; however, if the scene you are photographing contains a mix of light sources with different color temperatures—daylight and tungsten lamps, for example—and you want even, consistent color, you can place a filter over one of these sources (for example wrapping a blue "gel" filter over the tungsten lamp's bulb) to match it to the daylight color temperature in the scene, as well as the film's daylight color temperature.

Some light sources, such as sodium street lights and lasers, do not produce a full range of color wavelengths and so can never be filtered to give a perfectly white light result.

Often it is undesirable to "perfectly" match the white balance of your film or sensor to the light source; instead, creating an image that is slightly cool or slightly warm produces a result with greater atmosphere.

The color content of your light source is much less important when shooting black and white film, although strongly colored light will make the colors of your subject record with distorted tone values (in red light, for example, blues look and record almost black, while reds record as very light tones; see Chapter 10).

The intensity of the light

Light intensity (brightness) is independent of contrast, evenness, etc. This is worth remembering as the human eye can often be fooled by extremely bright or very dim conditions.

The light intensity of continuous lighting sources such as tungsten and fluorescent studio lamps can be quoted in watts. High wattage tungsten lamps of around 800 watts and above are so intense in brightness and heat that they are generally uncomfortable to use in the studio. Alternative lighting systems that do not suffer from such high temperature issues are fluorescent and LED lights, although neither can get close to the maximum intensity of tungsten lighting. So, for example, when shooting outside where you require a light intense enough to match or even overpower the ambient light of the sun or when lighting large spaces, tungsten lighting is often the only solution. If you are shooting moving image, then you will have to decide what type of continuous lighting is best for your subject depending on how intense the light needs to be. However, if you are shooting stills, then flash lighting offers significantly better control of intensity. Flash lighting generally allows you to control the intensity of the light from very low to very high, as well as offering a much greater maximum intensity.

Confusingly, flash lighting is also often quoted in watts. However, this is very different from the "watts" quoted for the continuous lighting systems. Technically flash lighting is measured in watt-seconds or "joules." Using a measurement of electrical power to measure light intensity is by no means the most accurate way of recording intensity (in fact one manufacturer's 500 joule flash may be slightly brighter than another's 500 joule flash), but it is roughly accurate enough to judge light intensity most of the time (see also "Working from guide numbers" p. 151). The most powerful flashes can produce 8000 joules, although slightly less powerful 3000 joule flashes are far more common, allowing you to light incredibly large spaces or use very small apertures (especially useful when using large format cameras). As small format DSLR's that use relatively large apertures and can shoot at higher ISOs without any great loss in quality are increasingly ubiquitous, many flash manufacturers have started making flashes that are far less powerful than the flashes that used to be standard. Now flashes that range between 250 to 1500 joules are most common, and many photographers are even using small flashguns to create lighting setups.

Flash intensity can be reduced from full power right down to a tiny fraction of full power with a turn of a dial Tungsten lighting, however, generally does not have a "dimming" system as this cannot be done without altering the color temperature of the light; therefore, the best way to dim tungsten lighting is by fitting a gray neutral density acetate or wire gauze "scrim" (Figure 7.11), or by moving lamps further away from the subject. Fluorescent lighting systems often have several bulbs with switches that allow you to turn on and off each bulb individually, making it possible to alter the overall intensity of the light. LED lighting systems, like flash systems, offer a full range of dimming options and do not suffer from any great change of color temperature with changes in intensity.

7.11
Tungsten lamp units which give hard lighting: compact coiled-filament lamps (a) used in a focusing spotlight (b) or open-fronted reflector lamp (c). Lamp head attachments: barn doors (d), wire gauze "scrim" (e), acetate filter holder (f) and snoot (g).

Lighting Equipment

As already indicated, lighting kits divide into two main types—continuous lighting and flash. Continuous lights provide a continuous intensity of light to illuminate your subject, and are of course a necessity if you are shooting moving image. They allow you to view precisely how the light falls on your subject. Flash lighting, on the other hand, only illuminates your subject for a fraction of a second, so to view how the light is falling on your subject you need either to take a photograph (digitally or using instant film) or, by using flashes with tungsten "modeling lights," to preview how the light falls on your subject. The modeling lamp is essential when carefully positioning your flash; however, they are not designed to be left on for long periods of time like dedicated tungsten lamps. Because flashes illuminate the subject only for an instant, they avoid the problems of heat and glare inherent in the use of tungsten continuous lighting. Flash can create a far greater intensity of light than any tungsten lamp, but just for a brief instant.

The color of flash matches that of daylight. Studio fluorescent lighting systems and LED systems also match daylight color temperature, while tungsten lighting systems tend to be warmer, although nowhere near as warm as the standard tungsten bulbs we have in our homes.

Flashguns, being battery powered, free you from the need for mains electricity supplies when working on location, outdoors, etc., although they use up traditional batteries very quickly and you would be advised, if you intend to do a lot of Rash photography, to invest in a battery pack that is rechargeable and offers a longer-life supply of power

Both tungsten and flash equipment will allow you to create hard or soft quality illumination. And unlike working with sunlight, they offer you complete freedom to pick the height and direction of your subject lighting.

Triggering flash

Unlike continuous lighting that is a constant source of light, flash lighting needs to synchronize with your camera so that the flash is fired at exactly the same moment as the shutter opens. The most basic way to do this is with a "sync lead." The sync lead is attached to the flash (using a 3.5 mm, 6.35 mm, or amphenol jack depending on the manufacturer and model of the flash) and then connected to the camera via either the hotshoe or a PC (Prontor-Compur) socket When the flash is switched on, it creates a circuit between the flash and the camera. The camera breaks the circuit when the shutter is fired, signaling to the flash that it must fire. Be careful when using older flashes as in the past the voltage used to create the circuit between the flash and the camera was far higher than is used in contemporary flashes, and can damage modern cameras not designed for such high voltages.

A far more popular way of triggering flashes is by using radio triggers (Figure 7.12). Just like sync leads, these fit into the flash with a jack and fit onto the camera using either a hotshoe or a PC socket; however, they are not physically linked by a cable and instead use radio to trigger each other (or as many receiving triggers attached to flashes as you like). Radio triggers eliminate the problems of long trailing cords that restrain where you can place your flashes and can be trip hazards. If you are using older flashes, your camera is also protected from unsafe voltages, as it is never physically connected to the flash.

7.12
A radio trigger attached to the hotshoe of a camera, and the receiver attached to a monoblock flash head through the 6.35 mm jack.

Radio triggers vary greatly in price. Basic triggers will have limited range and will not work reliably with fast shutter speeds, so generally it is not advisable to use them with shutter speeds faster than 1/125th of a second. More expensive triggers (notably those made by Pocket Wizard) will have far greater range, and should work reliably with the fastest of shutter speeds. They will often have greater functionality, allowing you to control precisely when the flash is set off in relation to the shutter speed as well as being able to set off multiple cameras and flashes at the same time.

Another method for triggering flashes is infrared. Many flashguns have infrared triggers and receivers built into them. The benefit of using these infrared systems in combination with a flashgun mounted on the camera's hotshoe is that the infrared can be used to auto focus the camera in complete darkness. However, when using infrared to set off multiple flashes, you must remember that the system is using a beam of invisible infrared light, so if you place one of your flashes behind something, or too far away, it will not be able to "see" the beam of infrared light to trigger it.

Shutter types and sync speed

Leaf shutters (as used in the majority of large and medium format cameras) open and close in a very precise manner whereby the entire scene is exposed at exactly the same time, meaning that you can use your flash at any shutter speed, however slow or fast. This is especially useful when you want to balance flash light with ambient light on a sunny day, as you can use a very fast shutter speed to limit the amount of ambient light recorded while not affecting the light of the flash. This is because only ambient light is affected by changing the shutter speed; the light of the flash is not altered in any way when you change shutter speed.

Focal plane shutters (as used in the majority of DSLR and 35 mm cameras), while having many advantages over the leaf shutter design, are not so straightforward when it comes to synchronizing with flash. The focal plane shutter works by having one "curtain" move across the film or sensor plane to open the shutter (see Figure 7.13). When the curtain reaches its fully open position, the flash is fired; this is known as first curtain sync. Then a second curtain moves across (following the first curtain) to close the shutter and end the exposure. (The effects of first and second curtain sync are shown in Figure 7.16.) The curtains can only move so fast, so when you use an especially fast shutter speed, the first curtain will begin opening and before it has fully opened, the second curtain will have to start moving across to close the shutter (illustrated in Figure 7.14). This has the effect of creating a small strip-like gap between the two curtains that then moves across the film or sensor plane. Although it happens in a fraction of a second, this means that the film or sensor is not exposed at exactly the same time, so if a flash fires, then part of the shutter will be covering the film or sensor, resulting in only part of the image being exposed to the light of the flash (Figure 7.15). There is therefore a specific shutter speed, depending on the camera, that is the fastest shutter speed that can be used with flash; this is called the "sync speed." While you can still use your camera with flash at any shutter speed slower than the sync speed, the sync speed is the fastest shutter speed that you can use with flash, i.e., the fastest shutter speed where the entire film or sensor is exposed to light at exactly the same time, and so won't result in part of the image not being exposed to the light of the flash.

It is good to know what your camera's sync speed is. Some older cameras have the sync speed marked with an X on the shutter speed dial. If you do not know your camera's sync speed, most cameras have a sync speed of around 1/125th of a second so this is normally a safe setting to use.

7.13
The first "curtain" of a focal plane shutter moves up to open the shutter. When the first curtain reaches the top, the shutter is completely open; this is the moment when your flash will fire if you are using one Then the second curtain moves up to close the shutter.

7.14
In the case of an especially fast shutter speed, for example when you are trying to freeze movement, the second curtain will start closing before the first curtain has fully opened the shutter. This means that there is no point when the shutter is fully open at exactly the same time. This presents a problem when using flash as the shutter will block the light of the flash from reaching the entire sensor or film.

7.15 The results of using a camera with a focal plane shutter set faster than the sync speed.

7.16
(a) First curtain sync. The camera or trigger sets off the flash when the first curtain reaches its fully open position, effectively setting off the flash at the start of the exposure freezing the shuttlecock; as the shutter stays open a fraction of a second more, the shuttlecock blurs as it continues to move through the air. (b) Second curtain sync. The flash is set off just before the second curtain moves to close the shutter, effectively setting off the flash at the end of the exposure.

Flash units

Electronic flash produces its light when a relatively high voltage pulse is discharged through a gas-filled tube. The flash is typically 1/1000 second (but may be slightly slower or significantly faster) and matches the color of "daylight." There are two forms of equipment—a flashgun either built into or mounted on the camera, and generally for hand-held use, and a free-standing studio unit that you can move around. These also come in portable versions with batteries so can be more easily taken out on location.

Battery powered flashguns (Figure 7.21) range from the tiny units built into camera bodies to those that are attached to the lens through clip-on accessory guns, which are brighter and capable of tilting. These all have short flash tubes and highly polished reflectors that give hard quality light when used directly unless some form of diffuser is fitted or the light is bounced (Figures 7.18 and 719), creating a softer and more even light. A plastic "beam-shaper" condenser lens over the flash window often allows you to narrow or widen the light beam, to match the different angles of view of tele or wide-angle camera lenses These types of flashguns do not have modeling lights.

Ring flashes are literally a circular flash with a hole in the center for your lens to fit through {Figure 7.26). There are large and powerful studio

7.17 Focusing spotlight. Top: Shaped "Fresnel lens" bends illumination like the fatter lens (left) but is less bulky with larger cooling surface. Bottom: Shifting the lamp position in a focusing spotlight adjusts the beam width. The broadest beam gives the hardest, most point-like lighting; see also Figure 2.5.

7.18
Tungsten lamp units for soft illumination. The larger the unit, the more diffused the light. They use 3200 K diffuse-glass floodlamps in (a) matt white open-fronted reflector, (b) wider dish flood with direct light shield, and (c) large opal plastic-fronted box giving lighting quality similar to overcast light from a window.

7.19 Producing soft, diffused lighting from a relatively hard source Left: "Bouncing" illumination from a spotlight off a large area of matt white wall, or (lower) directing it through tracing paper. Right: Spreading light from a small flood by reflection from a white overhead canopy or (lower) by moving it in a wide arc over your subject during a time exposure of several seconds.

ring flashes and far less powerful hotshoe-mounted ring flashes which are used mostly in macro photography (where the flash is so close to the subject that it does not matter that it is not very powerful and its proximity to the subject means that it becomes a relatively very large source of light, so taking on the appearance of daylight). By placing the flash as close to the lens as possible, any shadows caused by the ring flash are hidden at an angle that the camera cannot see. In portraiture the ring flash accentuates the shape of the face in generally a very pleasing way, and it is quite often used by itself as a single light in fashion, where it creates a stark and very modern look that is simultaneously flattering. The ring flash can also be used in a far more subtle way in conjunction with other flashes, where it can help with filling shadows to lighten the face, especially reducing the shadows around the eyes in a portrait. The ring flash's most distinctive feature is the circular catchlight {Figure 7.27) it creates in the eyes of a subject, as well as the subtle "dark halo" shadow it can create on the wall behind a subject.

7.20 Tungsten lighting for use on location. (a) Battery-belt powered "sun gun." (b) Suitcase lighting kit containing three tungsten-halogen lamp heads and stands, (c) Lightweight lamp head on clamp, (d) Dyed acetates, (e) Cable and multi-sockets, (f) Folding lightweight reflector surfaces.

7.21
Battery and powered flash units. A compact camera with pop-up flash; a DSLR with a pop-up flash; a larger full-frame DSLR that does not have a built-in flash but has a flashgun attached to its hotshoe. All these flash units give hard light, unless bounced or diffused.

There are all sorts of interesting effects that can be achieved with a portable flashgun, and you can construct your own bounce card (or buy one) that needs to be attached at a 45° angle to the upright pointing flash head instead of simply bouncing light off a white ceiling. A bounce card can be used outside to help soften flash when used in daylight or at night. (The portrait in Figure 6.3 was made by underexposing the ambient light in the background and using an upward pointing flashgun and bounce card at 45° to illuminate the face.) A snoot could also be constructed over the head of your flashgun so the flash would be directed to a very specific small area of the image. In Figure 7.23 (by David Moore from the series The Velvet Arena) you can see how the photographer used the smallest type of portable flashgun with a synchronized lead so that he could light up a very small selected area of the image.

Studio flashes are mains powered and come in two types—generator systems or monoheads also known as "monoblocks." In a generator system the bulk of the electronics are housed in a generator or "pack" that is plugged into the mains. You can then attach multiple flash heads to the generator. You can normally attach a maximum of between two and four flash heads to each generator. When attaching multiple flash heads to a generator, on some systems the power will be distributed equally between each of the heads (this is known as a symmetrical generator); however, most modern generators allow you to finely control how the power is distributed between the flash heads (this is known as an asymmetrical generator). In

7.22 From Philip-Lorca diCorcias series Heads, where he took pictures of people walking in Times Square unbeknown to them, rigging lights and focusing his lens on a spot 20 feet away from him.

7.23 In this dramatic image by David Moore, from the series The Velvet Arena, he has used a portable flashgun on automatic setting with an extendable sync lead (so the flashgun is handheld off the camera) so that he could light up small selected areas of his photographs of his choice

7.24
Flash units requiring an electricity supply Each has a tungsten modeling lamp, allowing you to preview its lighting effect. Left: An especially powerful generator-type flash system, powering one of up to three heads. Right: Monohead or "monoblock" type unit, with both generator and flash-tube built into the head.

7.25
Head detail and fittings for studio flash. Left: Tungsten modeling lamp surrounded by the flash tube. Center: White-lined umbrella reflector. Right: Fabric "softbox" attachment. Both these heads give soft, diffused lighting.

7.26 Ring flash unit with battery power pack. Right: The soft-edged rim shadow here is typical when using ring flash with the subject close to the background.

7.27
The trademark lack of shadows that the ring flash provides makes them invaluable pieces of kit for police and medical photographers where creating evenly lit descriptive photographs is vital. In this photograph by medical photographer Steven Kenny made to record the exact color of a subjects iris, a ring flash was imperative to avoiding any shadows falling on the eye from the eyelid itself.

7.28 Layout of a typical general studio. Window has a removable blackout. Main set, using 3 m wide background paper, is equipped with a flash soft box (window light) head. A separate monohead unit has an umbrella. Two tungsten floods are in use for copying with a 35 mm camera on pillar stand. Other lighting, stored in the foreground, includes a boom stand with lamp head. The adjustable camera stand in the center is an alternative to a tripod and easily supports even large cameras. Card, glass, blocks, clamps, tape, and tools are all stored near to hand on shelves.

monohead units all of the electronics that would normally be housed in the generator are placed within the flash head itself along with the flash tube and modeling light, and then the monohead is plugged into the mains. Monoheads are generally slightly larger and heavier than the flash heads that run off generators, simply because the monohead has to hold the electronics normally contained in the generator as well as the flash tube (see Figure 7.24).

There are advantages and disadvantages to both generator and monoheads. Generator systems can produce a greater maximum power or intensity of light, and often boast superior charging speed (the speed it takes for the flash to be ready to fire again after it has flashed once) as well as superior flash durations (for superior freezing of movement). However, you are limited by the cables attaching your flash heads to your generator. Monoheads give you greater freedom to position your lights farther away from each other (as long as you have a wall socket nearby or use an extension lead) and ultimately allow for a finer level of power control.

Both kinds of studio flash use a small tungsten modeling lamp (see Figure 7.25). The modeling lamp is generally dimmed to match the flash output of the particular head if you adjust the power from full to fractional power On some models of flash you will have to adjust the modeling lamp's power manually to preview any changes you have made to the power of the flash. This is important when you are using several heads set to different outputs.

On the flash heads of both generator systems and monoheads you Will be able to attach a range of different light modifiers (umbrellas, reflectors, softboxes, etc.). These generally slot into the head or attach via a bayonet-type fitting. Generator systems allow you to use specialist heads such as striplight heads, ring flashes, and bi-tube heads (used for fast flash durations to freeze movement).

In the studio be aware that some light modifiers can be heavy and unbalance the flash head. If you are using stands, then make sure the stand is angled so that one of the legs lies directly underneath the weight of the modifier so that the stand does not tip over; you may have to use extra weights to balance the stand. When shooting on location, be very aware that light modifiers can catch the wind easily (especially umbrellas!), so sandbags are a necessity to anchor down the flash; in relatively heavy winds you will need someone to hold the lighting stand at all times.

When making still photographs, the greatest advantage of using flash over continuous lighting is its "movement-freezing" quality. The short duration of time that the flash illuminates the subject acts just like a fast shutter speed, helping to freeze movement. This allows you to achieve sharp "frozen" photographs not only when you are photographing movement, but also when you are hand-holding the camera. The duration of time that the flash is illuminating the subject varies slightly from one flash model to another, and also depends on whether you are using your flash at its full power or a lower power. Generally, setting your flash to a lower power will provide a faster flash duration (although this is not always the case; notably on the flashes made by the brand Elinchrom this rule is reversed), which will be more suitable for freezing very fast movement. The amount of time that the light of the flash illuminates and bounces off the subject back into the camera can be incredibly brief, such as 1/60,000th of a second (this is known as "flash duration"). In fact flash can be used to freeze movement faster than any shutter could freeze it. (See also practical flash exposure tips, p. 156.)

Continuous light sources

Tungsten lighting systems are warmer than flash light (normally around 3200 K) but not as warm as domestic tungsten lighting. The color temperature of tungsten lights changes as the power is altered, and so because of this most tungsten lights have very little or no control over the light's intensity. Tungsten lights also become very hot when used for more than a few minutes. The heat is enough to spoil makeup, flowers, or food, and you must be careful only to use attachments specially designed to withstand the extreme heat. Be careful also to let the lamps cool down before packing them away.

Fluorescent tubes can form useful studio light sources for black and white photography. You can group them vertically, in clusters, to softly light standing figures, still lifes, etc. If you are shooting in color, they will create a greenish light which is likely to be overwhelming—you could get daylight balanced tubes or try a correction filter. They are not recommended for critically accurate results, but often on location you are forced to work with them—when they form the existing light in shops, for example.

In such cases, a pale magenta fluorescent daylight correction filter can be used if you do not like the color cast caused by such lighting; sometimes it can be a very useful tool to create atmosphere in an image. If you find that you are shooting somewhere lit with a mixture of different tube types (or tubes and lamps), if possible you can swap them around to get greater uniformity. Alternatively, use your own portable studio lighting kit or kits.

There are also specialist fluorescent lighting kits that, while not having the same maximum intensity of tungsten lights, feature a daylight color temperature and do not heat up anywhere near as much as tungsten lights. These typically consist of an array of small fluorescent tubes. They take several minutes to "warm up" and reach full brightness, and the power can be varied by turning on and off individual tubes.

LED (light emitting diode) lights are a relatively recent addition to the market and although they are not very powerful, they do emit a perfect daylight color temperature. Containing hundreds of tiny LED bulbs in very close proximity in a grid, these lights produce exceptionally even and soft lighting, and they do not heat up and can be precisely positioned by just watching how the light falls on the subject Often several of these rectangular grids of LEDs can be coupled together to form a larger grid, altering the quality of the light. LED lights can be dimmed without changing the color temperature; however, because of the lack of absolute light intensity often they are only suitable for use with digital cameras, where fine results can be achieved when using higher ISOs and larger apertures can compensate for the lights' lesser power.

Lastly, consider hand flashlights (torches) that use a number of white light LED bulbs. The light produced has a color temperature that is generally quite cool, but these units can be useful for black and white photographs of small setups.

Lighting accessories

As well as the attachments described on p. 214, backup items for your lighting might include collapsible doth reflectors or homemade ones made from white card with crumpled tin foil on one side to give different effects. Builders' merchants sell large sheets of polystyrene foam designed for insulation (also known as Insulation Boards or Polyboards); these make ideal large, lightweight studio reflectors. You may also need supports for paper backdrops, a boom light stand, clamps, adhesive tape, and both white and black card. "Bulldog" or "crocodile" clips are invaluable for attaching accessories to lights or sets, as are wooden clothes pegs (which have the advantage of being highly resistant to heat). Blue acetate or blue-dyed "daylight" lamps, to make tungsten lighting match the color of daylight when two kinds of light have to be combined on location, can be useful. Similarly, orange acetate, fitted over flash, can match it into a tungsten-lit environment.

Have sufficient cable to link your units to the nearest supply (unless you have a portable battery), and do not exceed its fuse rating. Remember: one 250 V wail socket fused at 13 A will power a maximum of 3250 W of lighting. When servicing the equipment, check that your lighting units and plugs are all properly grounded (earthed). If you are using an extension cable with a length of cable wrapped around a reel, it is best to unwind this fully before passing current through it, or the coils will overheat. If using very long extension cables, remember that the voltage will drop due to the resistance of the wire. Consider using a portable generator instead but ensure it has sufficient power.

Check out the electrical hazards advice in Appendix E. Finally, don't jolt lamps while they are hot—especially tungsten-halogen types which easily short out their closely coiled filaments and are expensive to replace.

Practical Lighting Problems

7.29
Direct evening sunlight skim-lights a Cotswold cottage wall. Hard light directed so obliquely dramatically shows up texture, provided that the subject is all on one plane.

Think carefully about what your lighting should actually do for your subject, other than simply allow convenient exposure settings. Perhaps it must emphasize the form and surface textures of a building (Figure 7.29), or a small product or set in the studio. It might heighten features in a dramatic character portrait, or conceal blemishes. Your lighting will often be the best way to emphasize one element and suppress others, or to reveal extreme detail throughout It can "set the scene" in terms of mood and atmosphere and alter your composition by attracting the eye to a certain point of the image, or simply solve a technical problem such as excessive contrast in an existing light situation.

Existing light

Learn to observe "existing light," noticing what is causing the lighting effect you see, and how this will reproduce in a photograph. For example, look up from this book for a moment and observe how your own surroundings are lit. Is it hard illumination or soft? Even or uneven? Which areas are picked out by lighting direction and which suppressed? Are any textures or forms emphasized? Try narrowing your eyes and looking through your eyelashes—this makes shadows seem darker and contrast greater, a good guide to their appearance on a final print.

Daylight. The lighting quality of daylight ranges from intensely hard (direct sun in clear atmospheric conditions) to extremely soft (totally clouded sky in an open environment). Color varies from an 18,000 K intense blue when your subject is in shadow and only lit from blue sky, to an orangey 3000 K around dawn or dusk; think of those popular sunset shots bathed in warm orange light. (Strictly speaking, "daylight" color film, or the daylight setting on a digital camera, is balanced to give correct color reproduction at 5500 K, this being a mixture of direct noon sun plus some sky light.) We barely notice these differences as our eyes and brains constantly compensate for them. You can see this most clearly by standing in an ordinary tungsten-lit room at dusk. Everything looks natural, but if you glance out of the window, the world outside looks very blue indeed. If you step outside at this point, your eyes quickly adjust to the prevailing light and looking back through the window from outside shows a very orange-looking interior. Through practice you will soon become used to understanding how light will affect your color photographs, how flash, tungsten, and daylight are linked through color temperature measured in Kelvin. Color daylight film, the daylight setting on your digital camera, and flash units are balanced at 5500 K to match direct noon sun, and tungsten lights are balanced at 3200 K, which matches the orangey tone of dawn or dusk.

The direction of daylight changes throughout the day as the sun tracks in an arc from east to west, being at its highest point at noon. This point is highest in summer and truly overhead only at the equator. Considered use of daylight for subject matter such as architecture and landscapes calls for planning, patience, and the luck of getting all the aspects you need together at one time.

The varied character of natural daylight is often an important feature in pictures shot outdoors: the orange tint of a setting sun can add to the impression of an evening atmosphere if it is a realistic impression that you want to achieve. Remember as well that light quality and temperature are quite different in different parts of the world, as well as being different in urban and rural settings.

7.30
The same principle of single-source skim light as in Figure 7.29, but using an overhead desk lamp in a darkened studio. Note the depth of the shadows.

Supplementary daylight Often when you are working with existing light, you will need to modify it in some way. When shooting a black and white portrait outdoors, you may find direct sunlight too harsh and contrasty, but the light changes completely if you move your subject into the shadow of a building. However, this can give an unacceptable blue cast with color photography, so then it may be better to remain in sunlight but work near a white wall, or have a reflector board (p. 210) or even just a newspaper to return light to the shadow side. Another way to soften harsh shadows with close subjects such as portraits is to use a diffused flashgun on the camera. Since the latter is likely to be a battery-operated flash unit, you cannot see the effect created if you are working on film (see "Fill-in Rash," p. 156), so results have to be worked out by careful calculation of exposure or by using instant film.

Supplementary light is often necessary when you shoot an architectural interior using existing daylight. There may be excessive contrast between views through and areas near windows and the other parts of a room. You can solve this by bouncing a powerful light source off a ceiling or wall not actually included in the picture, to raise shadow-area illumination to a level where detail just records at the exposure given for brighter parts (Figure 7.31).

7.31
Supplementing uneven existing light, (a) Correctly exposed for the daylight-lit parts of the room, using 1/60 at f/8. (b) Flash bounced off ceiling above the camera set to auto-flash exposure; resulting in overlit foreground, (c) Flash positioned as per (b) but set on manual mode and reduced to one-quarter the power; exposure settings as per (a). The result shows realistic balance of 4.1 daylight/flash.

The artificial light source might be a portable Ql lamp or a flash unit. If you are shooting in color, ensure any tungsten supplementary lighting is filtered to match the daylight, and be careful not to bounce off tinted surfaces such as colored walls. Sometimes a dimly lit interior can be "painted with light" to reduce contrast, by moving a lamp in a wide arc over the subject during a long exposure. In extreme cases when it is very dark and you are lighting a very large space, it is possible to set your camera on a tripod to a very long exposure and walk through the space you are photographing, setting off a flashgun repeatedly at different angles and pointed at different parts of the scene. As long as you keep moving and make sure the flashgun is concealed from the view of the camera when it goes off (otherwise you will have a very bright point of light in your image), you should remain invisible to the camera while creating a wonderfully lit scene.

If you are looking for an even light source in your photograph, mixtures of existing light sources that have different color temperatures can be a problem when shooting in color. You may be able to switch off, or screen off, most of one type of illumination and use the correct filter for the other. Otherwise, decide which of the two kinds of lighting will look least unpleasant if uncorrected. A scene lit partly by daylight and partly by existing tungsten lighting often looks best shot on a daylight setting. The warm cast this gives to tungsten-lit areas is more acceptable (to most people) than the deep blue that daylight-lit parts will show if your camera is set on a tungsten light setting. However, much depends on what you consider to be the key part of your picture (see Figure 7.32).

Fully controlled lighting

If you are working in the studio, or some other area where you have complete control try to build up your subject lighting one source at a time—each unit should have a role to play. It is useful to keep the camera on a tripod so you can keep returning to it to check the results from this viewpoint every time you alter the light.

7.32
Mixed lighting. Mass celebrated at a tungsten-lit altar, with daylight illuminating the surrounding interior. In this instance the best compromise was to shoot through an 80A blue filter onto daylight film (see p. 213) or use tungsten-balanced film if available. Either gives this result showing the key area in the correct color, but an exaggerated blue cast elsewhere. On daylight film without a filter the central area would reproduce as orange and the surroundings the correct color.

Starting from darkness, switch on your main light (soft or hard) and seek out its best position. When it comes to adding a second light, make sure you switch off the first light so that you can see precisely what the second light is doing.

If you are just showing a single textured surface—such as a fabric sample or weathered boarding—try a hard light source from an oblique direction. By "skimming" the surface it will emphasize the texture and undulations. But take care if this means that one end receives much more light than the other—move your light source farther away.

A single hard light will probably exaggerate dips in the surface into featureless cavities. Also, if the picture includes other surface planes at different angles, some of these may be totally lost or confused in shadows. One solution is to introduce a second or "fill" light, but if this creates a second set of hard shadows, the scene will tend to look "staged" and theatrical because we are rather conditioned by seeing the world lit by one sun, not two. If you want to avoid this, try adding very diffused light—perhaps just "spill light" from the first source bounced off a white card reflector—sufficient to reveal detail in what still remain shadows. The reflector will have to be quite large, and probably set up close to the camera to ensure it redirects some light into all shadows seen by the lens. If you cannot produce enough fill-in in this way, try illuminating your reflector card with a separate lighting unit. Another approach is to change your harsh main light to something of softer quality, perhaps by diffusing it.

If your picture contains a more distant background, you can light this independently with a third source (maybe limited by barn doors) so that the surface separates out from the main subject in front. Again, be wary of spreading direct light into other areas, as this creates criss-cross shadows which will be confusing in the sense that they will look "unreal." In fact, when you have a great mixture of objects and separate planes to deal with in the same picture, there is a lot to be said for using one large, soft, directional light source (i.e., from one side and/or above). This can produce modeling without excessive contrast or complicated cast shadow lines, giving a natural effect like overcast daylight from a large window or doorway (see Figure 7.33). You may want to create light that looks completely unnatural, in which case you simply need to define what you want and test the lighting until you achieve it, or simply experiment and test.

7.33
Complex still life arrangements can be illuminated to reveal forms without confusing shadows by using a large diffused light source across the top and side of the set. Here a window light from top left is used with a second diffused light from the right.

Much the same kind of build-up can be applied to formal studio portraiture. Decide on viewpoint and pose, then pick the direction of your main light, watching particularly for its effect on nose shadow and eyes. With a "three-quarter" head shot (Figure 7.34), think carefully whether the larger or the smaller area of face should be the lighter part. Consider how much, if any, detail needs restoring in shadows by means of a reflector. If you want to stress an interesting outline, you could light the background unevenly, so that darker parts of the sitter appear against the lightest area of background, and vice versa. It is often a good idea to light backgrounds completely independently as it allows you much greater control.

7.34
Lighting build-up. Left: One diffused flood main light from the side the sitter is facing. Center: A second flood added to lighten one side of the background and pick out the head outline by "tonal interchange" Right: The farther addition of a large matt white Breflector board softly fills in some shadow detail.

You could even add a further low powered or distant spotlight to "rim-light" hair, shoulders, or hands from high at the rear. If you "overlight" your subject, then she or he may have to stay still for a long time—this can create a great deal of tension and difficulty for the person being photo-graphed—which in turn can affect the feel of the image. Good lighting takes time and patience. On the other hand, if you keep the lighting simple, then you have more opportunity to play with pose and expression. One way to get around this problem is to test lighting techniques prior to your shoot. It is a useful exercise to keep detailed diagrams of each of your "light setups" so you can refer back to and evaluate them, or re-create them with ease in the future.

The build-up approach to lighting applies equally to tungsten units and flash sources. Studio-flash modeling lamps will show you exactly what is happening at a comfortable illumination level, changing only in intensity when the flash is fired. (See also flash exposure technique, p. 156.)

Special Subjects

Copying

The main aim when copying flat-surfaced originals, such as photographs and drawings, is to create totally even lighting free from reflections off the surface of the original. Figure 7.35 shows the best way to approach this, using two floodlights at about 30°, each directed toward the far edge of the subject. Use a light meter to read the light intensity at each corner and at the center of the subject you are photographing; keep repositioning the lights until your light meter gives you the same reading at every point. Black card around the camera will prevent its shiny parts reflecting and showing up in your picture With care, even pictures framed under glass can be copied this way. (See also polarizing filters, p. 84.)

Note that this basic setup is also very useful for lighting backgrounds where you want good, even, fiat illumination. Unless the background is highly reflective, you can increase the angle of the lights to about 45°.

Macro work

Sometimes in extreme close-up photography you want flat-on frontal illumination to light every tiny detail of a coin, for example, or some recessed item such as a watch mechanism or electronic layout A ring flash is sometimes the answer, but you can also work with a piece of clean, thin, clear glass set at 45° between lens and subject. A snooted spotlight or similar hard light source is directed at 90° from one side so that it reflects off the glass and is directed down onto your subject, sharing the same axis as the lens (see Figure 7.35).

7.35
Flat-on lighting setups. Top: Setup for copying artwork, etc. Lamps are at 30° to subjects surface distanced at least twice the width of the artwork and directed toward its opposite edge. Black card near camera blocks reflections. Center: Coins on a black card photographed through (G) thin glass at 45° (see diagram, bottom). The camera lens (C) looks down the same path as the light from the lamp illuminating the subject (S).

Transparent/translucent subjects

Glassware, etc., is often best lit from the rear (see Figure 7.37). Either use a large white background spaced behind the objects and direct your lighting evenly onto this, or direct lights onto the glass from the sides or rear so that the background remains dark. The former gives a dark outline to the glass against a predominantly light ground. The latter produces a white outline against dark. If the glass has a glossy surface, you can suggest this quality by adding a rectangular-shaped light source from near the front, simply to appear as a window-like reflection.

Highly reflective surfaces

Subjects with mirror-like surfaces, such as polished silver or chrome bowls, spoons, or trays, impose special problems. They tend to reflect the entire studio in great detail, confusing their own form. You can treat them with an aerosol dulling spray (either from specialist photographic suppliers such as Tetenal or simple hairspray) but this may suggest a matt rather than a polished finish and can damage objects. Often the best approach is to enclose the subject in a large, preferably seamless, translucent "tent" such as a white plastic garbage bag or sphere, or improvised from muslin or tracing paper. Cut a hole just wide enough for the camera lens to peer in, remembering that the longer its focal length the farther back it can be, giving a smaller and more easily hidden reflection. Illuminate the outside skin of the tent using several lights, or move a single lamp over this surface, painting it with light, throughout an exposure time of several seconds (Figure 7.38). Lighting errors can be corrected in postproduction, but it can be difficult and exceptionally time consuming, so it is inevitably best if you can create your perfect exposure in-camera.

7.36 Samuel Bradley created photographs, only to then rip them up and collage them, working with the art director Alistair Hanson. The collages were then rephotographed to create a fashion editorial piece for Wonderland magazine.

7.37
Lighting simple glassware Left: Using a separately lit white surface some distance behind the glasses to get a silhouette effect. A spotlight, shielded from the glasses direct, illuminates white card to reflect soft highlights, suggesting the roundness and sheen of the glasses. Right: The same set re-lit to give a more delicate, luminous look to the glass. Gray card covers the background seen by the camera, and soft lighting is directed through the glasses from side and rear. A frontal reflector board returns some light to help reveal form and surface.

7.38
"Tent" lighting. For this shot of highly reflective silver tableware a large sheet of tracing paper formed a canopy over the set, and was evenly illuminated from above by floods. In this instance, to prevent dark reflections, the camera was shielded behind white card, leaving a hole for the lens.

Summary

> Particularly hard light is produced by a small or distant (so that it becomes relatively small) light source. Soft lighting is created by a large, or close enveloping, diffused source.

> The direction of the light controls which parts of your (three-dimensional) subject will be in light or shade. It strongly influences the appearance of form, and also the direction and length of shadows.

> Lighting contrast needs to be kept within bounds if you want to show detail from highlights through to shadows.

> To improve evenness between the highlights and the absolute brightest point, increase the distance from the light source to the subject, or diffuse or bounce the light so that it becomes spread and less of a "point source" in character.

> The color of your light source, referred to as a color temperature (measured in Kelvin), should match the color temperature of your color film or digital camera's white balance settings, or be brought into line by using a color filter over the light or lens.

> Tungsten lighting units—Ql lamps, focusing spotlamps, individual floods, or larger window-light units—mostly operate at 3200 or 3400 K.

> Electronic flash is equally versatile with hard direct light, soft bounce light, window light, focusing spotlight, and ring-light units. Studio flash systems have modeling lamps that allow you to preview their effects. These are essential when you want to position a light very precisely, for example when you are trying to minimize the visibility of a certain shadow.

> The color of regular daylight and most flash suits "daylight" color film or the daylight setting on your digital camera, balanced for 5500 K. Try to avoid mixed color temperature lighting conditions, except for effect.

> When lighting a subject, build the light by introducing one source at a time, and consider what each light is doing. It is good advice to keep things simple to start with, especially while you are learning to use lighting, aiming mostly for a natural daylight effect. It is incredible what you can do with just one light by carefully positioning it.

> In the studio, consider lighting foreground and background with separate lights, as it is much easier to control the effect by the building method described above than to make one light do two jobs.

> Learn to recognize the technical pitfalls of existing light—excessive contrast, unevenness, mixed color. Be prepared to improvise to control contrast and color, or to return at another time for the lighting quality and direction you need.

> Certain lighting "formulae" are helpful for special subjects; for example, 30° lighting for copying, ring flash or 45° glass for maximum detail macro work, backlighting for transparent subjects, and a light-diffusing tent for polished objects.

Projects

1. Experiment using an ordinary desk [amp, tracing paper, and card to light a simple three-dimensional still life subject such as a bowl of fruit, a selection of bottles, or a toy. See how much you can vary the quality of the light, from hard to very soft.

2. Photograph a white box in the studio on a white background, to show its top and two sides. Choose and arrange your lighting so that each of the three box surfaces photographs with a different tone.

3. Take two photographs of either tennis balls or eggs. In one they should strongly reveal their rounded three-dimensional form; in the other make them look like flat two-dimensional disks or ovals. You will achieve this through moving the light sources.

4. Check out the appearance of subjects when they are lit by direct or bounced flash. Try bouncing the flash light off different surfaces (such as white card or tin foil) as well as bouncing it in different directions (maybe one shot bouncing off the ceiling and one off the wall). (See exposure, p. 156.)

5. Set up a still life group consisting of two or three neutral or pale-colored, matt-surfaced items, lit either by daylight or by tungsten lamps. Have the camera on a tripod. Take color pictures in pairs, demonstrating radical differences due to each of the following changes in subject lighting: (a) quality, (b) direction, (c) contrast, and (d) color. Measure and set correct exposure for every picture, but make no other alteration. Compare results.

6. Collect a few examples of portraits from magazines or books that show different styles of lighting. Attempt to re-create them in the studio. Remember that careful study of the shadow of the nose and highlights in the eyes, in particular, can give you valuable clues.

7. Take a photograph of running water close-up with a flashgun at full power (adjust your exposure settings to get the correct exposure), then turn your flashgun to its lowest power, adjust your exposure settings, and repeat the photograph of the running water. Notice how the second photograph (with the flash at its lowest: power) freezes the droplets of water much better than previously. This is because, by turning it to its lowest power, you are forcing your flash to produce its shortest "flash duration," which is most suited to freezing movement. This is true of nearly all flashes.

8. Set up a portrait shot in a studio with a plain background. Set up two flash heads or flashguns at equal distance from the subject on either side of the camera, about 5 feet away from the camera on each side. Take three photographs; the first with only the left light on, the second with both lights on, and the third with the right light: on only. Compare the different effects. Try the same method outside by using portable flashes or an extension cable, and underexpose the background by one and then two stops by changing your shutter speed—this will help to heighten the effect of the light of the flashes so you can see the differences more clearly.

9. Try photographing especially reflective objects with studio lighting, attempting to keep unsightly reflections to a minimum. Glass bottles and drinks tumblers, for example, make for challenging objects to light. The photographs used to advertise perfume, aftershave, or makeup often require incredibly elaborate lighting setups with multiple reflectors to control extravagantly designed bottles with highly reflective surfaces.

Chapter Eight
Digital Workflow

For many people, the joy of digital photography comes from its immediate feedback; that you can see your photograph essentially as soon as you take it. The whole process of making photographs seems to have been brought into the light (out of the darkroom) and made visible. However, many aspects of the digital workflow can in fact seem anything but clear and visible. It is in the nature of digital photography that many aspects will be hidden–concealed by layers of coding and technology that most of us could never dream of understanding. In this chapter we will attempt to make clear exactly what is happening in the camera or computer at these moments, from what file format to choose before even taking your first photograph, to downloading your images and then safely archiving your work.

It is important to understand that there are many different ways of organizing your digital workflow, and no single right way to go about it. Over time you will find the process and systems that work best for you and your work (see Figure 8.1 for examples of various different digital workflows).

Before Making your First Photographs

The following information is all beneficial to know and understand before you start shooting digitally. The terms and concepts explained in the first section will be referenced later in the chapter, when covering downloading and processing your images, so it is useful to get a good grasp of these ideas before reading on.

Hardware

Working with photographs (especially complex retouching or working on large image files) requires a great deal of computing power, so can be taxing (or even impossible) on a computer not equipped with sufficient memory or processing power.

When looking at a new computer, we recommend a machine with an absolute minimum of 4GB or RAM (Random Access Memory), although ideally 8GB of memory or more (such as 32GB or 64GB) is much more suitable. You will also need at least 400GB of hard drive space (you can use high quality external hard drives and RAID to save your work to as your image library grows), a fast processor (Central Processing Unit or CPU) of at least 3GHz and a large monitor between 15 and 30 inches (specialist monitors made for digital imaging will have an increased resolution and display a wider range of colors but come at a premium price).

8.1
Digital workflow diagram.

If you are intending to work on just one computer, we recommend a desktop computer rather than a laptop, as the larger size screen makes working on your images easier and generally you will be able to buy a much more powerful desktop for the price of a low-spec laptop.

Many photographers use graphics tablets when retouching their images. These take a while to get used to, but persistence often pays off, rewarding you with faster and more precise retouching (especially when using brushes, as the pen can sense the pressure you are putting on it and mimic the way a real brush would react when pressure is increased).

Windows PC or Apple Mac?

There is no reason why a powerful PC should be any less suitable for working with images than a powerful Mac. The Mac operating system has some features that benefit the user working with imagery, but these are subtle differences and nearly all major imaging software is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems, and generally files can be transferred between the two systems seamlessly.

The great majority of those in the photography and creative industries use Apple Macs as standard, so if you are not familiar with the Mac operating system, then it is worth familiarizing yourself with it, and for most people this is a good enough reason to purchase a Mac rather than a PC.

File formats

Raw

The raw format refers not to a particular file format (different companies have their own proprietary raw formats: Canon have CR2, Nikon have NEF, Hasselblad have FFF, Adobe have DNG, to name but a few, and even different camera models made by the same manufacturer may have different raw formats), but instead it refers to the fact that it is the raw data straight from the sensor, and no processing (compression, sharpening, altering the color or contrast, etc.) has taken place. Raw files themselves look very strange (see Figure 8.2), like mosaics made up of red, green, and blue pixels (and twice as many green pixels as there are red or blue pixels); this is due to the "bayer sensor" design which nearly all digital cameras use to record color. The raw file also appears very flat tonally and, when inspected closely, is very soft due to the anti-aliasing filter in front of the camera's sensor (this filter actually blurs the image slightly to help the camera's sensor reproduce fine detail).

8.2
(a) Close-up of the raw file "mosaic." (b) After the demosaicing algorithm has been applied to the raw file, (c) Extreme close-up of the red, green, and blue "bayer" pattern.

To transform the raw file into something that looks like a normal photograph, it needs to be "processed" into a TIFF or JPEG format. This involves the camera looking at the brightness and darkness of these red, green, and blue squares to calculate precisely what color the sensor saw–not just red, green, and blue but a multitude of different shades and colors; this is called the demosaicing algorithm. The camera will also apply "compensatory sharpening" to combat the effect of the blurring anti-aliasing filter; this involves increasing the contrast in areas of the image where tones change significantly to create a visibly sharper looking image. The camera may also adjust how contrasty or saturated it thinks the image should be It is becoming increasingly common for the camera also to take note of what lens and what aperture were used to make the image, and to adjust the image to try to correct for any known flaws or unwanted characteristics associated with that lens. All of these adjustments to the image are made by the camera's built-in processor and the camera usually does a very good job, a feature that helps many amateur and professional photographers today achieve exceptional results.

Absolutely all digital cameras make photographs in raw format and then go through the procedure of "processing" the raw data into a JPEG or TIFF file. Most then discard the raw file immediately after processing, so in a way you would never know it had even existed.

Cameras aimed at more advanced users will allow the user to save the raw file itself, allowing you to process the raw file into a TIFF or JPEG later, using raw processing software on your computer. When you open your raw file using raw processing software, it will automatically apply the demosaicing algorithm so that you see your image looking like a normal photograph (rather than the strange red, green, and blue mosaic); however, crucially you are also presented with a multitude of other controls, for example exposure, sharpening, saturation, and contrast–effectively making it possible for you to control how the raw file data is interpreted when it is demosaiced, and handing over this control to you rather than leaving it to the camera.

The raw file is often called the "digital negative," comparing the file format to negative film, and it is a fitting analogy. Like a negative, the raw file is not exactly a final finished photograph in itself, but it has all of the information needed to create a photograph. When a photographer shoots on film, there is still a multitude of different decisions that can be made in the darkroom about how to print the negative; they can choose how light or dark, contrasty, or cool or warm they want the image, and there is no set right or wrong way to go about this. One photographer may print a negative completely differently from another, and how the photographer chooses to print the negative may be just as crucial to the image's success as its content. You can think of the raw file in the same way–it is unfixed, it can look however you (and the limits of your software) want it to look–so if creating a certain "look" or style is important to you, then processing your raw files can be an incredibly important stage.

Most digital cameras can record 12,14, or even 16 bits of color data in raw format {bit depth tells us how many different possible colors can be recorded and is explained in greater detail later in this chapter); this compares with a JPEG file which can only record 8 bits of color data. In a very simplified way, this means that the raw file contains much more color data than is actually visible, which makes the raw file incredibly malleable (much more so than any JPEG or TIFF file, which will to some degree degrade when extreme adjustments are made), so any alterations to tone, contrast, and saturation are best made in the raw processing stage where you can make the most of this extra color data and guarantee the best possible tonal quality. Practically, one of the most important uses of this extra color data is if there are slight errors in exposure; for example, if you underexpose an image, what may look like pixels that are completely black and devoid of detail might actually hold some detail that can be brought out and rescued in the raw processing. Of course nothing beats a perfect exposure in the first place.

Raw is a very archival format as any changes you make to the image do not actually alter the raw file itself, meaning that no change is ever permanent and you can always revert to how the file originally looked. Instead, your raw processing software saves a "sidecar" file (such as Adobe's XMP format or Capture One's COS format), which is a very small file that effectively holds the "recipe" of how you processed the raw file. This recipe can then be used to process other raw files or even to "batch process" whole folders of raw files. The only possible problems with the archival stability of raw files emerge if the sidecar file is lost or separated from the raw file, or if in the future the codec for converting your particular raw file is no longer supported, but there are normally ways to work around this.

The various software types available as well as the procedures for processing and managing raw files are covered later in this chapter.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

The JPEG is by far the most popular file format for photographic images. It is usually the default format for saving images on cameras and software so is the most widely recognized image file format. The strength of the JPEG lies in its ability to compress the image file to a very small size without a major visible loss in quality. This makes it an ideal format for sharing images on the Internet (where large file sizes can translate into lengthy download times or websites that are slow to load) and for the fast previewing of images. However, it is critical to understand that the JPEG is a "lossy" file format, meaning that every time a JPEG is saved, data is irretrievably lost due to the compression process. Whenever saving a JPEG (in camera or when using software), you will be given a choice as to how much compression to apply to the file. The larger the number (or terms such as "fine" quality), the higher the image's quality and the larger the file size.

8.3 The left-hand image shows the standard file. The right-hand image shows the degrading effects of JPEG compression after being saved one hundred times

The JPEG format only supports 8-bit color depth, so even if the camera can record much more color data, it will be forced to cut much of this data to fit within the 8-bit color depth of the JPEG. This also means that any attempts to alter the color or contrast of a JPEG will quickly result in an image with poor tonal rendition and "clipped" colors. (Clipping refers to the colors or tones that fall outside, or are pushed outside through image manipulation, of what can be recorded, for example areas of "blown out" pure-white highlights.)

8.4 A file saved to the JPEG format in Photoshop, but at maximum quality (the least amount of compression), will be visibly no different from a "lossless" file format such as a TIFF or PSD, but the file size will be significantly smaller, making sending the file much easier. However, manipulating the JPEG or saving it multiple times will eventually degrade its quality

While JPEG is a "lossy" file format, it must be understood that saving an image as a JPEG does not necessarily decrease image quality (especially if you save with very little compression). In fact, many digital printers require you to convert your image to JPEG format before printing. This is best done at the very last moment, after you have made all of your adjustments to the raw, TIFF, or PSD file; then save a duplicate of the file to the JPEG format to send to the printer.

PSD (Photoshop Document)

PSD is Adobe Photoshop's very own file format. PSD is a lossless file format (meaning that you can open and save the file as many times as you like with no loss of quality) that supports 8-bit and 16-bit color depth. The PSD format has been in use for over twenty years and, thanks to the ubiquity of the Photoshop software, is compatible with most imaging software (even software made to rival Adobe's Photoshop).

In Photoshop, when making adjustments to an image, we will often have several "layers" to that image (Photoshop layers are explained in detail in Chapter 9) and, while layers cannot be saved in the JPEG format, they can be saved in the PSD format.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

Like PSD, the TIFF format is a lossless file format that supports 8-bit and 16-bit color depths, saves Photoshop layers, and is compatible with a great deal of imaging software.

Some cameras allow you to shoot directly to TIFF. In the same way that a camera's built-in processor converts its raw file to a JPEG, the camera converts the raw file to a TIFF However, TIFF file sizes are notably larger than raw files, so not only will you be able to save fewer images on a memory card in TIFF format than raw format, but you will also lose the extra control over the raw processing that shooting straight to raw gives you.

TIFF files can also be compressed losslessly on Photoshop, resulting in smaller file sizes with no loss of quality; however, there can be compatibility issues with older or alternative software when saving this way. The compression schemes for TIFF files in Photoshop are LZW or ZIP; both achieve similar compression rates but ZIP is recommended when saving 16-bit image files. Select "IBM PC" byte order rather than "Macintosh" for better compatibility across both PC and Mac platforms.

8.5 This table shows the different file types and vastly different file sizes of just one photograph taken on a Canon 5D Markll camera with a 21 million pixel sensor.

Both TIFF and PSD file formats have a file-size limit of 4GB. When working with exceptionally high resolution 16-bit film scans or large format film, or panoramic digital photograph files containing many layers, you may need to save an image file larger than this. For cases like these, Photoshop offers the PSB or "Large Document Format" file, which allows an almost unlimited file size to be saved.

Memory cards

There are many different types of memory cards, but the great majority of cameras use SD or CF cards. Be careful when buying a new card because some older cameras will not accept cards with a capacity larger than a certain number of gigabytes. There are also slight changes over time in the standards of these card formats. For example, the new SDXC (extended capacity) will likely not be compatible with cameras made before the standard was brought out.

8.6 A Secure Digital card and two CompactFlash cards in a hard plastic case designed to protect them from damage when stored.

CompactFlash (CF) cards

This is the most common card type for use in professional DSLR bodies. Its larger relative size means it often boasts faster file read and writing speeds and a larger capacity.

With the introduction of DSLRs that shoot full HD video, there has been a push to make CF cards with much larger capacities (up to 256GB at this time) as video files can take up huge amounts of storage space. For most photographers it makes more sense to have a couple of smaller-capacity CF cards (8GB or 32GB)–this way a single shoot may be spread over more than one memory card, so if something should happen to one of the cards, at least you still have the images on another card.

CF cards are often split into amateur or professional categories. The professional category cards generally boast higher read and write speeds. Faster read speeds quicken download times and can speed up browsing through your images on the camera's LCD screen. Faster write speeds can make a difference if you are continuously shooting images at great speed (something you might encounter if photographing sports); if your camera's buffer fills up, then you will have to wait for the camera to write its files to the card before you can take another photograph. Fast write speeds are essential if using your camera to shoot moving image footage. (See Chapter 12 for more information on using your camera to shoot video and more details on high speed cards.)

Some professional category cards also offer a better warranty or offer some kind of free backup software for rescuing images, should something go wrong with the card. Generally though many photographers can make do without spending the extra money on a professional category card.

Some professional level DSLRs allow files to be saved simultaneously to an SD card as well as a CF card, adding an extra level of security, should something go wrong.

Secure Digital (SD) cards

SD cards are physically much smaller than CF cards so are the default card for smaller DSLRs and compact cameras. Like CF cards, SD cards are often split into professional and amateur categories, but the capacity and read-write speeds of SD cards are always lower than those of CF cards. At this time the largest capacity available in an SD card is 64GB. There are two new versions of the SD card standard: SDHC (High Capacity) and SDXC (Extended Capacity)–check that your camera supports the new SDHC and SDXC standards before making your purchase. There are also physically smaller types of SD card (MiniSD and MicroSD) that should not be confused with the standard SD card.

Color models in photography

RGB

The RGB color model works by mixing the three primary colors, red, green, and blue, in differing amounts to create a complete spectrum of color. We now know that the human eye seems to use the RGB color model, and nearly all digital images are made or displayed using this color model.

8.7 The RGB color model (top) and CMYK color model (bottom).

Your computer monitor display works by using the RGB color model, as does your camera's sensor (see Figure 8.2). By using the color picker in Photoshop, we can see exactly how much red, green, and blue is used to make the particular tone of a single pixel. White is made by adding all three colors at full strength (255, 255, 255), which means that RGB is an "additive" color model.

8.8 (a) The Photoshop eyedropper shows me exactly how much red, green, or blue is used to create the tone of a specific pixel in the image The eyedropper is hovering over a small area of gray on the side of the bird. Looking at the RGB values in the Color Picker menu on the right, we see that the pixel is made up of 83 red, 83 green, and 83 blue, which tells us that this specific gray pixel is completely neutral, (b) The eyedropper is now hovering over an area of the bird that is much more blue; the exact tone of the selected pixel is 104 red, 118 green, and 134 blue. So the pixel is made up of mostly blue and green, with blue being the dominating color. If I were to click on the absolute black area of the image surrounding the bird, the RGB reading would be 0 red, 0 green, and 0 blue.

8.9 An incredibly close-up photograph of a computer monitor reveals the red, green, and blue "subpixeis" that create the tones we see on a monitor.

Your computer display works by having three "subpixels," one red, one green, and one blue, that make up each individual pixel on the screen. When your computer display shows absolute white, it is in fact because the red, green, and blue "subpixels" are all equally glowing at their absolute brightest, and when it displays black they are all at their dimmest. By combining the brightness and combination of subpixels, millions of possible colors can be displayed. If you hold a magnifier or loupe up to a monitor, it is possible to make out these individual red, green, or blue subpixels.

CMYK

By mixing the four colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (the K which denotes black stands for key color), it is possible to replicate a good amount of the color spectrum–although significantly less than the RGB color model. Black is made by mixing cyan, magenta, yellow, and black at equal strength, which means that CMYK is a "subtractive" color model.

CMYK was designed for printing, so printers have one C, M, Y, and K ink each and rely on the paper being white to reproduce absolute white. In fact, it should be possible to produce black just by mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow equally; however, inconsistencies in inks mean that this does not always produce satisfactory results, necessitating the use of a black ink.

High quality printers often actually have more than just the C, M, Y, and K inks, and in fact have CcMmYK inks (with a light cyan ink and a light magenta ink extra) to help with producing fine detail.

Image editing software will often allow you to convert the RGB images that your camera makes to CMYK. It is best to work with your images in RGB mode though, as this provides a significantly larger range of colors. If you convert your image file from RGB to CMYK you will actually irretrievably lose color detail, even if you convert back to RGB.

Sometimes, for more industrial printing processes, you will be asked to provide copies of your image in CMYK format If this is the case, then make a duplicate of the file and convert it to CMYK only after all of the tonal changes that you want to make have been finished.

For high quality photographic printers you should send the printer your image in RGB mode, and the printer will then convert your RGB image into the CMYK color of the inks, making use of as much of the RGB information as it can possibly reproduce. Color managed printing and previewing is covered later in this chapter.

Color spaces/color profiles

Now you should understand the difference between the CMYK and RGB models, and that photographers are far more interested in the RGB as it provides a significantly superior range of colors.

However, RGB simply tells us how the image is formed; it does not specify color in an absolute way. To determine this we need to assign what are called color spaces (or color profiles) to our images and devices. This is important if we want to keep the color and tonality of our images consistent from one device to the next (from one screen or projector or printer, etc., to the next), and also for us to understand whether one device can accurately display every color and tone of our image or whether it can only display a smaller percentage of them.

Color spaces are used all around us (in our televisions, projectors, cameras, computers), often without us ever thinking about them. However, it is important that we understand how we can make use of color spaces to control and maintain color accuracy (while preserving the maximum amount of color data), from the point of making the photograph right through to printing it.

In photography we assign color spaces to our images, embedding the color space within the image file. Embedding the color space in the file increases the file size ever so slightly (essentially a negligible difference); however, the color space can make a huge difference to the range of colors that your photograph contains. The three color spaces we most commonly assign to our photographs are sRGB, AdobeRGB, and ProPhotoRGB. Color spaces primarily define the range of colors (known as the gamut) that a device or image can produce, sRGB having the smallest gamut, AdobeRGB significantly more, and ProPhotoRGB having the largest gamut. If you were to have the same photograph, one assigned with the sRGB color space and the other with the ProPhotoRGB color space, they could take up exactly the same amount of space on your hard drive (as the RGB numbers stay the same), but the ProPhotoRGB will have a far superior range of colors. This means that using large color spaces (such as AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB) is indisputably one of the most important and pronounced ways of making the most of your camera. It should be noted that if you convert from a smaller color space (such as sRGB) to a larger color space, you won't be able to gain back any of the gamut you lost by first assigning the small color space.

In your camera's menu you can specify what color space is assigned to the JPEG or TIFF files processed by your camera. Generally the option will be between sRGB and AdobeRGB. (For nearly all situations it is advised that you use AdobeRGB over sRGB.) If you are shooting straight to raw format, then whichever color space is selected in the camera makes no difference as you will only assign a color space to the file when you process it to a TIFF or JPEG.

sRGB

sRGB can be thought of as a screen-only color space. It defines what colors the average monitor can reproduce. It is the standard color space used by most web browsers, so it is a good profile to assign to images going on the Web.

8.10
A particular computer monitor (represented by the gray net) completely encapsulates the sRGB color space (represented by the colored net), illustrating that the monitor can reproduce the entirety of the sRGB color space and even some colors that fall outside of the sRGB color space.

In Figure 8.10 we see that rny computer monitor (represented by the gray net) encapsulates the entire sRGB color space (represented by the colored net) and a little more. This tells me that as long as my monitor is accurately calibrated then it will be able to display all of the colors of a photograph reproduced in sRGB; likewise, if I put my sRGB-assigned images on the Internet, I can be confident that others will be able to accurately see all of the tones that make up my image (although, unless they are also using calibrated monitors, how accurately their screens may display these tones is another matter). If I were to put an image on the Internet that was assigned with the larger gamut AdobeRGB, it is unlikely that all of the tones would be reproduced on people's screens (see Figure 8.12) and even more likely the web browser would convert my image to sRGB or discard the color space causing color abnormalities.

8.11 The sRGB color space (in color) within the much larger AdobeRGB color space (in gray).

Although in some cases it may be useful to shoot straight to an sRGB-assigned JPEG (for example, if you are expecting to upload your images straight to the Web), it is not recommended that you use the sRGB color space in your camera as you are seriously limiting the gamut in your image, since you are nowhere near making the most of all of the colors your camera's sensor can capture, and so your file will be of a substandard quality for printing or making changes to contrast or tone in Photoshop.

AdobeRGB

AdobeRGB is the most popular color space for photographers as it has a significantly larger gamut than sRGB, especially in the greens where the human eye is most sensitive to tone.

AdobeRGB has a gamut slightly wider than most good quality monitors; in fact, at this time the highest quality monitors can only just reproduce 99 percent of AdobeRGB. So when viewing an AdobeRGB-assigned image on your monitor, there will be colors in the file that the monitor cannot reproduce; there are tones that will not exactly be visible to you, and in these cases your software will decide what the closest color that the monitor can reproduce is and it will show you that.

AdobeRGB covers the majority of tones used in today's high quality photographic printers.

ProPhotoRGB

8.12
The Spyder screen calibration utility calculated that this iMac monitor only displays 80 percent of AdobeRGB.

ProPhotoRGB covers a vast range of colors. In fact it has a far greater gamut than any monitor or printer can reproduce at this current time, so as in the case of AdobeRGB your monitor will display the nearest color that it can display, rather than the exact color. So why use ProPhotoRGB? Most DSLR sensors record enough color information that their gamut is in fact wider than AdobeRGB, so processing your raw file to AdobeRGB actually decreases the gamut of your image slightly, whereas ProPhotoRGB does not. There are also some combinations of paper and printer with a larger gamut than AdobeRGB, in which case by using ProPhotoRGB you avoid clipping your colors when printing with these printer/paper combinations. But the main reason for using ProPhotoRGB is that the gamut of colors that printers and screens can record is growing as each year goes by, so by using the largest possible color space you are future-proofing your images, should the facilities one day be available to make the most of that extra tonality.

Also, while you can always convert your image to a smaller gamut color space (for example, you might convert ProPhotoRGB to sRGB when displaying an image on the Internet),you cannot convert a smaller gamut color space like AdobeRGB to a larger gamut color space like ProPhotoRGB and reclaim any color detail, so using the largest possible gamut color space makes sense from an archival perspective.

It is especially important that when using ProPhotoRGB you save files at a 16-bit color depth (rather than 8-bit) to fill its especially wide gamut and avoid "color-banding" occurring (see Figure 8.16).

8.13 The AdobeRGB color space (in color) is dwarfed by the huge ProPhotoRGB color space (in gray).

In general, remember that if you are saving your image with the largest possible color space assigned, you can always convert it to a smaller color space. However, if you convert from a smaller color space to a larger one, there is no increase in gamut, as you have already lost the tonal data.

Screen calibration

Possibly the most important step in creating a color-managed digital workflow is calibrating your monitor.

Unfortunately, without calibration your computer has no idea whether a specific tone is being displayed correctly or not by the monitor–what you see may not be what is the genuine tone. As the weeks go by your monitor will generally imperceptibly start to display a slight color cast. Neutral colors may start to show a hint of cyan, or maybe your screen is set too bright so you are unwittingly altering all of your images slightly darker than they should be. LCD monitors are especially susceptible to these changes and generally need adjustment every few weeks or every month depending on usage.

ColorSync Calibrator on Mac OSX and Adobe Gamma Utility (supplied with Photoshop for Windows) are two easy ways of calibrating your monitor manually by eye.

If you want a truly accurate calibration, then you have to invest in a proper calibration package such as the Datacolor Spyder, Pantone Huey, BaslCColor Display, or X-Rite ColorMunki. These calibration systems involve a piece of software that you run every few weeks or months (you can set the software to remind you after a certain period of time) that flashes specific tones of color on screen while a spectrophotometer or colorimeter that you hang over your screen calculates how accurately that specific color tone is displayed. The software then creates a custom color profile for your monitor that ensures it is displaying color and tone accurately. The whole process takes between 5 and 10 minutes. Often these calibration systems allow you to calibrate more than one monitor, allowing you to be sure that all of your monitors are displaying correctly.

When choosing the position of your monitor, try to place it where the ambient light is not too strong as typically, for best results, your monitor should be set somewhere in the middle of its brightness settings. Try to avoid working under lighting that has a strong tint, such as tungsten light, as any ambient light falling on the screen and also around the periphery of the screen will affect not only the way the screen displays color tones but also your judgment of tone.

8.14 This Apple iMac is going through the calibration process using a Datacolor Spyder Colorimeter. An optional monitor hood is fitted to keep the screen in shade for optimal viewing conditions.

It is also possible to calibrate your scanner and printer using similar systems; however, this isn't something many photographers find they need to do. Most printers or paper manufacturers or print labs a allow you to download "canned profiles" that are effectively custom color spaces that allow you to "softproof" –that is, to preview in Photoshop how your image will look on that specific combination of paper and printer. We will look at softproofing later in this chapter.

Bit depth

While your color space defines the gamut of your image, operating like a boundary that defines the most saturated or the brightest or darkest colors your image can be made from, bit depth refers to the number of distinct colors that fit between those boundaries, that fill the expanse of the color space.

A bit or "binary digit" is the most basic building block of electronics–1 bit is a piece of information that is either 1 or 0, on or off, present or absent A 1-bit image is just made up of two colors, black and white. In photography we nearly always talk about "bits per channel," the channels being the three colors that nearly all digital images are made of: red, green, and blue. A 1-bit per channel image has two variations per channel (so is made up of six colors). Most images are 8 bits per channel. This means that there are 8 bits for each of the red, green, and blue channels, meaning that each channel can produce 256 different intensities (256 different greens, 256 different reds, etc.). Any of these 3 x 256 different colors per channel can be combined with one another to create a specific colored pixel. This means that each pixel could be 16,777,216 different possible colors, also known as 24 bits per pixel (as every pixel is a combination of three 8-bit channels).

16-bit images provide us with an incredible 281 trillion possible colors! However, bit depth is not to be confused with color gamut (which is defined by the color space assigned to your image or device, for example sRGB or ProPhotoRGB). The gamut of an sRGB 8-bit file are the same as the gamut of an sRGB 16-bit file. Instead, think about the graduation in tones from one color to another; a 16-bit image has many more tones at its disposal to create a perfectly smooth gradient than 8-bit does.

Most camera sensors record 12 bit or 14 bit (or even 16 bit for high end digital medium format backs) of color information. If you shoot straight to JPEG (which is only 8-bit compatible), all of that extra color information is simply discarded. But if you process your raw files yourself, then you can make the most of this extra color information when processing or even keep this extra color information by converting your raw file into a 16-bit TIFF or PSD file.

8.15 Bit depth illustration.

The extra bit depth is useful when altering the color, contrast, and scale of your image after the raw processing procedure. Practically it means that you can further manipulate the tonality of your image before banding or color clipping occurs. It is also very helpful when enlarging your images to create large prints (this is called interpolation or "upscaling"). If, however, you are not manipulating the tones of the image, there will be no visible difference between the 16-bit image and the 8-bit image.

16-bit files are twice the size of 8-bit files, so can take up considerable space on a hard drive. It is also worth noting that some Photoshop filters are not available when working on a 16-bit image, and that you will nearly always have to convert your 16-bit files to 8-bit files when printing them, it is recommended that you save a duplicate of your 16-bit file and then convert this to 8-bit. While there is a loss in data, there should be no real visible loss in quality as long as you make all of the tonal manipulations that you wanted to make (thus making the most of all of the 16-bit color data) before converting to 8-bit.

8.16
After exporting a raw file to an 8-bit TIFF, extreme changes to the tonality of the image were made in Photoshop, resulting in banding (as can be seen in image A, which is a small crop of a much larger photograph). In image B the same process was repeated, only this time exporting the raw file to a 16-bit TIFF. Due to the extra color information in the 16-bit file, the banding has not occurred.

Pixels, dots, and resolution

Digital images are made of pixels (or "picture elements"). Pixels are essentially the building blocks of every digital image, the individual points of color positioned in a grid that come together to create the image.

In photography we refer to pixels in a variety of different ways: the number of pixels on a camera's sensor, the pixels per inch on a print, the number of pixels that make up a screen, and even how many pixels per inch we want to record when scanning a document or some film. Understanding what pixels are and how we can use them to express resolution and scale over a range of different media can seem daunting at first, but it is really quite straightforward and essential to your understanding of digital imagery.

A photograph from my camera is 3744 x 5616 pixels. If I multiply 3744 by 5616, I get 21,026,304 pixels–this is the total number of pixels that make up my photograph. This tells me that my camera has a 21 million pixel sensor (also known as mega-pixels).

You can view (and alter) the size of your images in Photoshop by going to the Image Size menu (Image > Image Size) and looking at the dimensions.

8.17
The Photoshop Image Size menu. Notice the pixel dimensions near the top of the menu.

However, pixels don't actually tell us anything solid about the scale of an image, as a pixel is not a fixed size (the sizes of pixels vary greatly from camera to camera and from camera to screen or screen to screen, etc). To be able to define the physical scale of an image we need to assign another unit that will tell us how large each pixel is going to be: the pixel density–we do this by assigning ppi (pixels per inch), which refers to the total number of pixels that make up one inch in the horizontal or vertical direction of an image. Having this extra unit of data allows you to define the exact scale of your image. Practically this means that you can confidently make a print of a file on one printer (for example 3744 x 5616p at 300 ppi), and then print the same file (3744 x 5616p at 300 ppi) on another printer and know that both prints will be the same scale, because the pixel size has been defined and is the same. Because of this, Photoshop (and virtually all image editing software) automatically assigns a ppi to all images.

8.18 A 15 ppi grid (a) and a 5 ppi grid (b).

8.19 The same photograph viewed in Photoshop's Image Size menu as seen in Figure 8.17; however, the ppi has been changed from 300 to 150, halving the number of pixels per inch. This has the effect of doubling the width and height of the image, but the pixel dimensions and image size (at the top of the Image Size menu) stay the same, because it is only the pixel density that has changed. It is a common misconception that a lower ppi simply means lower quality, but, as we see here, this is not necessarily the case.

A typical screen on a smartphone is around 2 x 3.5 inches and contains perhaps 640 x 1136 pixels. Because this is a lot of pixels in a very small space, the pixels themselves have to be very small and densely positioned, so the smartphone has 326 pixels per inch. If we took the very same 640 x 1136 pixel image that we were looking at on the smartphone screen and printed it on a billboard measuring 3.5 x 6.5 feet, because the image is printed so large the pixels will also have to be much larger, so there would only be 15 pixels per inch. In both cases we are looking at the exact same photograph, the exact same information, the same number of pixels, the only difference is the pixel density, the ppi.

Because smartphones are so small we often hold them close to our faces; by having very small pixels, it means that however closely we look, it is virtually impossible to see the pixels. By comparison, if you look very close-up at your computers monitor, you may see the individual pixels because computer monitors are not designed to be viewed so close-up A billboard, on the other hand, is designed to be viewed from a much greater distance, but if we were to look closely, we would clearly see the pixels that make up the image. It is generally agreed that the human eye cannot perceive details beyond around 300 ppi, so for this reason photographic prints are nearly all made at 300 ppi and in fact many photographic printers cannot print at a higher ppi than 300. Sometimes you may be asked to send files at a certain dimension at "print resolution," which refers to 300 ppi. Ppi is often erroneously referred to as dpi (dots per inch), although they are not to be confused; dpi in fact refers to the number of different colored dots of ink that an inkjet printer can place on paper to create different tones.

As stated earlier, my 21 million pixel camera produces images that are 3744 x 5616 pixels, if I print these 3744 x 5616 pixels at 300 ppi, my printed image would measure 12 48 x 18.72 inches.

But what if I want to print larger than this? To do so, I will have to either use a higher resolution camera (for example a digital medium format camera or scanned large format film) or print at a lower ppi than 300. Alternatively, I will have to interpolate (to add pixels to my image), which is explained later in this chapter. For example, if I were to print my image at the slightly lower ppi of 240, then it would measure 15.6 x 23.4 inches.

Depending on the image itself and the viewing conditions, if someone is looking very closely at my print, it may be that they start to see the pixels that make up the image. There is an argument for stating that if you produce a larger print, then people will stand farther back from it, so even if dots or other artifacts are larger and more visible, this should not be an issue as people should not be looking closely enough to see them, as is the case with the huge photographs printed on advertising billboards. Of course it is impossible to stop everyone from getting up close to a print and looking at it closely, and there can be something incredibly impressive about creating a print that is both large in scale and rich in detail however close you view it.

A very high end digital medium format back such as Phase One's IQ280 has an 80 million pixel sensor, producing images that are 7760 x 10,328p–so printed at 300 ppi this camera could produce images measuring up to 25.867 x 34.427 inches.

An 8 x 10 inch negative drum-scanned at just 2000 ppi will give a spectacularly detailed file surpassing anything that any digital camera can currently produce. The resulting file will measure around 15,960 x 19,750 (315 million pixels) and could be printed at 300 ppi at 53 x 66 inches.

While we can completely accurately define the size of our photographic prints from printer to printer by setting the same ppi, things are not so simple when it comes to defining the size of images displayed on screens. One computer monitor may have a very different ppi from another, and, unlike in the case of printers, this ppi is outside of our control. Images will display smaller on a monitor with a very high ppi than on a monitor with a lower ppi. Although there is no difference in the amount of detail, only the pixel density has changed, which creates an extra challenge when it comes to web design, as the scale that looks right on one monitor may not be how the website is scaled on another monitor.

While it used to be fairly standard for screens to display 72 ppi, with specialist high ppi screens, tablets, and smartphones there are now such variations of screen ppi that it would be pointless to try to define a standard ppi. Because of this, we discard working with ppi for images that are saved to be viewed on screens and focus only on the images' pixel dimensions themselves.

In Adobe Photoshop, the easiest way to save images to be viewed on screens is to use the Save for Web function. This allows you to set the file format (normally JPEG), the level of compression, and most importantly the pixel dimensions. Remember that the size of the image on your screen is dependent on how many ppi your own screen displays, and so the same image may display smaller or larger on screens with different ppi's.

8.20 Photoshop Save for Web menu is found by going to File > Save for Web or on Photoshop CC then File > Export > Save for Web. To maintain as much detail as possible it is recommended that you apply little compression to your JPEG, convert and embed the sRGB color space and use the Bicubic Sharper scaling setting.

Film scanning resolution

When scanning film, your resolution is measured in ppi. This refers to how many pixels will represent a certain area of film. By scanning a piece of film (which is after all relatively quite small) at an incredibly high pixel density (up to 11,000 ppi), we can retrieve a wealth of information. When it comes to printing this information, we will of course print at a significantly lower ppi (probably around 300 ppi) so this information is effectively spread out, the pixels are less dense; this is how we digitally make an enlargement of film.

For example, scanning a 5 x 4 inch sheet of film at 3200 ppi will produce a huge file of 12,200 x 15,400p (over 150 million pixels) that could then be printed 40 x 51 inches at 300 ppi. Smaller film formats (such as 35 mm or medium format) typically need more enlargement, especially if they are to be printed at large sizes, so are often scanned at higher ppi's than larger format film.

Photoshop color settings

Before undertaking any work in Photoshop, check that your color settings are set up for correct color management; this only needs to be done once. The color settings are found in: Edit > Color Settings. We recommend that you use the settings shown in Figure 8.21 (although if you are based in the US, select CMYK: U.S. Web Coated SWOP v2).

8.21
Photoshop Color Settings.

During the Shoot

White balance

White balance refers to the temperature of color–how warm or cool or tinted light is. Color temperature can be a confusing idea to understand at first as our brains are very good at correcting color temperature Even in situations where there are multiple sources of light with different color temperatures, our brains do a great job of making the color of these different lights relatively neutral white.

8.22 The white balance presets from a camera. In this case, the cloudy preset most accurately depicts this relatively cloudy landscape scene.

Next time you are indoors in a room lit by a tungsten light in the early evening, glance out of the window and notice how exceptionally blue the light outside is (this blueness is amplified by the way our brains are correcting for the especially warm tungsten light in the room). If you step outside into the evening light, it won't appear anywhere near as blue as it did from inside.

To make sure our photographs look just as we see the light with our eyes, we must set the correct white balance; an incorrect color balance will result in images with a "color cast" and this will cause a significant loss in image clarity.

Color temperature is measured in Kelvin. For the accurate depiction of a scene, a camera must be set to roughly the same Kelvin as the light of the scene. A lower Kelvin number will produce accurate tonality when shooting in warm light (for example a sunrise or under tungsten light), while a higher Kelvin number will produce accurate tonality when shooting in cool light {for example, the light before sunrise or in heavily overcast skies). Most cameras have a selection of white balance presets for different lighting scenarios (tungsten, fluorescent, daylight, cloudy daylight, flash light, shade, etc.)

8.23 Situations with two different color temperatures make for tricky subjects, but can also produce unexpected or surreal results. These two streetlights emit drastically different color temperatures. It is possible to manually select a Kelvin that corrects one light (making the other look especially warm and orange), or a Kelvin that corrects the warm light but throws the other into an especially blue cast.

Most cameras also have an auto white balance setting which generally does a very good job of selecting the correct white balance. If it is important that your photographs have a uniform look, it might be worth your while trying to find the best possible white balance preset (to avoid any slight changes in white balance between images made by the auto white balance setting changing from image to image).

It is also common in more advanced cameras to be able to manually select what Kelvin you wish to use or even to take a photograph of something white or neutral in color and allow the camera to use this photograph to select the white balance for the light.

If you are shooting straight to raw, you do not have to worry about your white balance as this is set in the raw conversions stage–it is, however, useful to make sure you have roughly the correct white balance as whatever the white balance your camera is set to will affect the preview image on your camera's LCD screen, so a way-out white balance might affect your judgment of the photograph. Being able to decide on (and perfect) your white balance after shooting is certainly one of the most useful features of shooting raw.

8.24 The same image with different white balance settings. Neither can be said to be absolutely correct, but the difference in warmth or coolness has a dramatic effect on the mood of the image.

LCDs and histograms

Just as a monitor that is not calibrated may not give you an accurate representation of your image, so your camera's LCD screen can be similarly inaccurate. Camera LCD screens are a notoriously poor means of determining the quality of your exposure. Some of the highest quality digital medium format backs feature especially poor LCD displays.

8.25 The Canon 5D Markll LCD most accurately reproduces my images when set one point brighter than the midpoint.

If your camera's LCD screen is set to automatically adjust its brightness depending on the ambient light (as the screens of most smartphones and laptops do), we strongly recommend that you disable this function and set your camera to a fixed or "manual" brightness level. Depending on the camera model, this will normally be around the midpoint.

It is often better to check your exposure accuracy using the histogram. The histogram is a graphical representation showing the distribution of tones in your photograph. The very left point represents absolute black, and the far right point represents absolute white. Normally the histogram can be brought up while reviewing your images by pressing "Info" or "Display."

We use histograms a great deal, not only to assess the exposure at the time of making the photograph but also later in postproduction, when adjusting contrast and even when altering the color balance of the image. It is essential to be able to understand and read what the histogram is telling us. This is covered in much greater detail in Chapter 9.

Tethered

Another method that can help greatly with the accuracy of your exposure is shooting tethered. Of course shooting tethered isn't suitable for a lot of situations, but if you are working in the studio or making slow and meticulous images on location, then tethering can be a superb way of checking many important aspects of the photographs (critical focus, depth of field, lighting) with much more accuracy and speed than using your camera LCD screen.

8.26 (a) shows five histograms and their associated image. The middle histogram has the best exposure with few to no "clipped" highlights or shadows. A good histogram typically looks like a mountain range perfectly spanning the width of the graph, but dropping down at the peripheries. An overexposed or underexposed image will be one-sided and at its worst look like a cliff edge (representing extreme areas of clipped highlights or shadows). (b) shows a histogram with gaps, representing gaps in the tonal data of the image. Often this is caused by drastic color or contrast manipulation and is characterized by banding in the colors.

If you are shooting for a client or working with an art director, it can help them to be able to really understand what you as photographer are working toward. Capture One and Phocus allow the photographer to share what they are shooting with other devices (laptops, smartphones, and tablets) on the local Wi-Fi network.

Most DSLRs have a USB 2.0 port that allows them to be tethered using a USB lead, while most digital medium format cameras have a FireWire port for faster download speeds. The newest digital medium format cameras have USB 3.0 ports for even faster download speeds.

If you are using a very early digital medium format camera, it may be that your camera only supports tethered shooting and does not shoot to a memory card.

There are several ways to "wirelessly" tether a camera–either using an additional piece of hardware that attaches to your camera (made by the camera manufacturer or a third-party manufacturer) or via Wi- Fi equipped cards. Eye-Fi makes popular and reliable Wi-Fi equipped SD cards for cameras that can sync with a machine up to 90 feet away, integrating with applications such as Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom.

8.27 A photographer shooting tethered in the studio.

Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, and Apple Aperture all support tethered shooting for the majority of DSLR and digital medium format cameras, while Canon's EOS Utility and Hasselblad's Phocus provide tethered shooting for only their own brand of camera (but are free and can be downloaded or come on a disk when the camera is purchased).

Some of the more advanced software solutions for shooting tethered (notably Capture One) allow you to effectively start batch processing your raw files during the shoot. You can make the desired changes to white balance, contrast, etc., and set these to apply to every new image shot as it downloads to the computer. This is especially useful if a client is present, as every image file that comes up on screen is effectively "optimized" before viewing.

8.28
A digital operator surrounded by several assistants observing her process the files, allowing them to check how the lighting is taking shape and what needs to be changed.

It is common procedure to have an assistant working as a "digital operator" who will stay with the computer, monitoring and managing the files as they are downloaded from the camera, and making sure they are adequately saved (and backed up to an external hard drive). The digital operator may also make alterations to the raw file processing and, perhaps most importantly, keep alert for any issues with the photographs that the photographer may not be aware of (clipped highlights, out of focus images, etc.), relaying these issues back to the photographer (Figure 8.28).

Downloading your Images

If you are not shooting tethered, it is most likely that at the end of a day's shooting you will download all of your images from your memory card(s) to a computer, which you can use to select and then process or retouch your chosen images.

While an analog workflow could take up significant amounts of physical space, with archival boxes containing negatives and contact prints, a digital workflow can take up vast amounts of disk space. Not only do many photographers simply shoot more photographs than they ever would when using film, but also it is standard archival practice to have several versions of a particular image. For example, you may have the original raw file (along with its particular "sidecar" recipe file), the exported TIFF, a black and white retouched version, and a print-ready JPEG—all of the same image. Because of this we may find our image libraries expanding at an exponential rate, so we must take great care when it comes to "managing" our libraries, and small changes such as carefully renaming files can make a huge difference to the "searchability" of your image.

While most cameras can be plugged in (via the USB or FireWire port) to a computer and the files downloaded using an application, we recommend that you use a card reader. Card readers will often download images much faster than by just plugging in your camera and can be used rnid-shoot without taking the camera or photographer out of action. Plugging the camera into your computer (effectively using the camera as a card reader) is slow and exhausts the camera's battery fairly quickly–and a camera running out of battery mid-download can corrupt image data.

8.29 Card readers are relatively inexpensive and are often designed to read many different memory card types.

Using a card reader allows you to simply drag and drop image files onto your computer—meaning that you are not reliant on a particular application to download your images. This is especially useful if you are using someone else's computer and it doesn't have any image management applications.

However, if you are using your own computer or a computer with an image management application installed (such as Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, Apple Aperture, or Capture One), we recommend using these to download your images. Such applications allow you to rename image files and possibly even add data such as copyright metadata or keywords or tags to the files right at the point of download, which can be used later to search for image files.

Most digital cameras number their files from 0001 to 9999, before resetting the counter back to 0001. We recommend that when renaming your image files you add a unique extra reference {for example the date: 0008_26032013.jpg) to avoid having multiple files on your hard drive with the same name that could possibly cause confusion when searching for a certain file. If you are using multiple cameras during a single shoot, it might also be useful to add a camera reference to the file name. When naming the folders that your images go into, it makes sense to name them either by date or by some kind of reference to the shoot, or a combination of the two.

Digital asset management

After a year or two of serious digital production, the average photographer may have compiled tens of thousands of image files. The problem with having so many image files is that inevitably when you attempt to find a single image or series that you have shot previously, it takes a great deal of time to locate it and involves trawling through hundreds of image previews. The remedy to this problem is either a database image management system or a sophisticated image browser such as Adobe Bridge.

Database management systems/“all-in-one” applications

In the past few years "all-in-one" image management software that utilizes a database system, such as Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, and Capture One, which will import your photographs from your tethered camera or card reader, database them alongside your entire library of previously imported photographs, allow you to review, examine, convert raw files and edit metadata, and make basic retouching adjustments, have become increasingly popular These applications have in mind the professional photographer who is regularly shooting large amounts of imagery.

The applications are known as "all-in-one" because instead of using several different programs (one program to download, another to organize, another to process, another to retouch, etc.) they provide a start-to-finish workflow. With each new release of these applications more new features are added, meaning that more of your workflow can be completed within that one application, and less work (or even none) needs to be completed in Photoshop or other specific applications.

8.30 The Lightroom workspace.

These "all-in-one" applications emphasize batch processing—working on whole shoots in a quick and efficient way–whereas Photoshop's emphasis is on meticulously working with one image at a time.

Using the folder system built into your computer's operating system can be limiting for photographers. This is especially true if you shoot a great deal of work regularly, which often results in multiple folders within folders that very soon become confusing and slow to navigate. Generally, operating systems allow you to search for file names, but that is the extent of the search function, which renders them relatively ineffective unless you know the exact file name.

Database image management systems bypass the basic folder system of your operating system. Your images are still saved on your hard drive in folders, but instead of accessing them this way you use your all-in-one application. This allows you to organize your images in a much more sophisticated way. For example, the same image can exist in multiple folders (without having to save duplicates of the file) and if you have multiple versions of the same image, they can be put in a "stack," so they are grouped together (Figure 8.32). Files can be given multiple keywords that can be searched for and also rated using star and color coded systems. Database systems will also generally save a small preview image within the database–this means you can search and preview images saved on external hard drives that are not even currently connected to the computer.

8.31 The Capture One workspace

The database is like a map that tells the application where on your computer particular image files can be found and also extra information about that file, such as keywords detailing where and when it was taken or what it contains, what other images it is associated with, what changes you have made to it, etc.

It is important to understand that the database is effectively "hidden" from the user. It is built into the framework of the application. For this reason, if you choose to switch to a different all-in-one application or if you want to share a series of images with someone else on a different computer, it is unlikely that you will be able to completely transfer all of the information over to the other user or application without some loss of data. So you may then become involved in the strenuous process of going through and adding keywords and tags to all of your images again. This means you are effectively "tied in" to the system. Not every photographer is comfortable with this idea, or with handing over the organization of their images to an application, and indeed for many photographers who do not shoot especially large numbers of images, or perhaps have a more multimedia creative output (shooting mostly on film, or working with moving image as well as still), an all-in-one application is probably not necessary or may even hinder their workflow.

For photographers producing high volumes of imagery where speed and efficiency are key, and where their image library grows at great speed, all-in-one systems are the perfect solution.

8.32 Photographer Shaun Vincent utilizes the "stacks feature in Lightroom to group together the multiple versions of the same photograph in his project documenting small independent shops in England.

Adobe Bridge—image browser

An alternative to managing your image files using an all-in-one database system is to use an image browser, notably Adobe Bridge. Adobe Bridge is bundled with Photoshop–so if you have Photoshop, then you also have Adobe Bridge.

Bridge was designed to work as a "bridge" between all of Adobe's Creative Suite programs, so it will open a huge number of file formats, including text documents and moving image files, so really it is much more than a simple image browser. This makes it a great application for bringing together mixed media.

Bridge has many of the features of the all-in-one applications but it does not use a database–rather it simulates the features of a database. For this reason, if you are not sure about whether you want to step into the all-in-one database workflow, we recommend that you use Adobe Bridge for a while and then make your choice.

As Adobe Bridge doesn't use a database, essentially you still have to work through your operating system's folders to find images, so it is in your interest to keep your folders and image files organized in a logical system. Bridge makes this as easy as possible, allowing you to assign searchable keywords to images, to review your images in the review mode, to rate your images using star or color codes, and to create collections of images from different folders (without duplicating files).

8.33 The Adobe Bridge workspace

Bridge allows you to rename files during download {so you can add extra data to your image file's name) as well as adding important copyright data to your file. If you want to rename files already downloaded to your computer, then you can do this by going to Tools > Batch Rename.

8.34 "Get Photos" from camera menu from Adobe Bridge.

The Review Mode (View > Review Mode) allows you to go through a folder of images full screen–you can scroll through your images by pressing left or right and assign a star system or a color to individual images. You can use your keyboard 1 to 5 to assign stars and 6 to 9 to assign colors, or a combination of both; for example, five stars assigned to a good image and a certain color assigned to a particular subject. If you want to remove an image from the review pane, then simply press the down arrow on your keyboard and the image will be deselected. The Review Mode is a great way of making selections from a series of images.

8.35 Adding keywords to this image in Adobe Bridge.

8.36 The filter on the left-hand pane of Adobe Bridge allows you to search for images in a great number of ways not only by keyword but also by camera, by lens, by aperture, etc

8.37 Adobe Bridge review mode

Once you have made your selection of images, you can simply double-dick a file and it will open in a more specialized application. The default settings are for Bridge to open TIFF and JPEG files in Photoshop and raw files in Photoshop's Adobe Camera Raw, but these can be changed if you prefer to use a different raw processing application or image editor.

Processing Raw Files

Like Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw is bundled with Photoshop. Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is a powerful and effective raw converter. Due to its ubiquity and the fact that it shares many of its features with the various other raw processing applications (such as Apple Aperture, Capture One, DXO Optics, Canon Digital Photo Professional, Hasselblad's Phocus, Nikon's CaptureNX, and Adobe's Lightroom, to name but a few), we will focus on using Adobe Camera Raw in this book.

Before reading on about the raw conversion process, it is essential that you first understand the various terms explained at the start of this chapter concerning file formats, bit depth, and color space.

Adobe Camera Raw supports a Huge number of cameras, but if you find that ACR cannot open your camera's raw file, this can nearly always be remedied by updating your Camera Raw plugin (in Photoshop go to Help > Check for Updates, or the plugin can be downloaded from Adobe's site manually). The only problems that can arise are if you are using a version of Adobe's Creative Suite that is several years old (so no longer supported) along with a camera that is very new (and so will require a new raw file codec to be processed). Adobe's solution for this is DNG Converter, a free application that you can download which converts your camera manufacturer's raw formats to Adobe's very own raw format, DNG (Digital Negative)–which you can then process in Adobe Camera Raw (or most other raw processing applications) as normal. If this doesn't work, you will have to seek out a different raw conversion application or update your Adobe Creative Suite to the most recent version (Adobe launched its continually updating subscription-based service "Creative Cloud" in 2013).

You can open single files or whole folders of images in ACR. Simply drag the files into Photoshop and if they are raw format, they will automatically launch in ACR. If you open up many files, they appear on the left-hand side of the ACR window in the film-strip mode.

Workflow options

When you open your image in ACR, the first task is one that is easy to overlook. You must set the Workflow Options, found by clicking on the text at the very bottom center of the window. This is where you define the color space, bit depth, and possibly adjust the resolution of your image, it is important to set these first rather than last, as altering them may result in slight changes to the preview image that you are viewing when making your adjustments.

Setting the color space here refers to the color space that will be assigned to your JPEG, TIFF, or PSD file once it is processed.

For absolute archival quality we recommend using ProPhotoRGB color space, 16-bit depth, 300 pixels per inch (print resolution), and Sharpen For set to None. Notice that in the Size menu there is an option to make your file slightly larger than it really is–this is "interpolation." If you believe you may be making very large prints of your file, then it is best to interpolate at this point, rather than later using Photoshop.

8.38 The Adobe Camera Raw workspace

Now you can start the real job of crafting your photograph. We recommend that you convert your raw files by going through the settings in the following order.

First, rotate, straighten, or crop your image as this will help you visualize your image when making adjustments to the exposure and tonality. Remember that because this is a raw file every change you make is non-destructive, so none of the raw file is lost when cropped–all that happens is that the sidecar file notes the position of the crop and when you eventually process a JPEG or TIFF file from your raw file, they are produced with that specific crop.

There are two rotate buttons in the toolbar above your image. They will rotate your image through 90° either clockwise or anti-clockwise.

The crop and straighten tools can also be found in the toolbar ACR will show you a preview of your crop (with the parts of the image to be cropped grayed out) that you can accept by pressing enter or simply clicking on a different tool.

If at any point you want to alter any of the changes that you have made using one of the tools in the toolbar, then simply click on that tool again–you will once again be shown a preview of the change made with that tool, which you can then adjust or clear completely by pressing delete.

8.39 ACR Workflow Options menu set to AdobeRGB, 16 bit, and no interpolation.

Black and white

If you are converting your image to black and white, we recommend you open the HSL / Grayscale tab on the right-hand side of the image and tick the Convert to Grayscale box. You can then use the color sliders to adjust your grayscale tones in a very controlled manner.

Basic tab

Color balance

Color balance makes a huge difference to an image, not only affecting the contrast of the image but also its mood.

The White Balance tool can be found in the toolbar. Click on an area of the image that should be a truly neutral color. The white balance will be adjusted so that where you clicked is now completely neutral.

Often it is useful to carry a neutral gray card (or even more advanced white balance hardware such as "color passports") that can be captured in one photograph and then used as a reference for setting white balance.

There are also White Balance presets in the menu to the right of the image in the Basics tab. Select "Auto," "Daylight," "Cloudy," etc., just as you would on your camera if you were shooting to JPEG or TIFF.

Just below this are the Temperature (measured in Kelvin) and Tint sliders. You might want to use these if none of the previous methods have provided you with your desired white balance, but more often than not because you want to fine tune your white balance. The correct (completely accurate and neutral) white balance is not necessarily the most visually pleasing one. Often it is beneficial to make an image slightly warmer or cooler, and the Temperature and Tint sliders give you the control to do so carefully.

When making slight changes to the sliders in ACR, it is useful to note that you can click on the slider and then use the up and down buttons on your keyboard to slowly move the slider just one point at a time.

The Preview button in the toolbar allows you to toggle between the current and original settings made in whichever tab is open at the time

Exposure slider

If there are any slight errors in your exposure, there is the Exposure slider (measured in stops) below the White Balance sliders.

Highlights and shadows

The Highlights and Shadows sliders are both very effective ways of rescuing details either in the highlights or shadows (areas where you want to bring back detail into the highlights or shadows or rescue areas of possible clipped details).

In the Histogram (top right of the window) there are two triangles; if you click these, they will highlight the areas that are either absolute black or absolute white. It is beneficial to use these in conjunction with the Highlights and Shadows sliders to attempt to gain as much detail as possible. It is also useful to check back every now and then that you have not made any changes that might have caused unwanted amounts of clipping.

Clarity

Lower down the Basics tab (to the right of the image) is the Clarity slider. It is often necessary to add some clarity to digital images to make them feel a little more three-dimensional. Clarity enhances the contrast between pixels of similar tone.

Vibrance

Vibrance increases the saturation of only the more muted colors, leaving already saturated colors alone. This is an effective way of making your colors more punchy without colors in the scene that are already saturated being clipped or starting to look artificial.

Tone Curve tab

If you change from the Basics tab to the Tone Curve tab (one to the right of Basics), you have a standard curve.

Some photographers prefer to use the raw processing stage to create a relatively flat file that is rich in tonal detail, which they can export as a 16-bit TIFF and carefully work on in Photoshop to selectively alter the contrast of certain areas of the image. In this case you might want to apply only a very subtle "S" curve, or even none at all.

The Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows and sliders help to very accurately control an "S" curve.

8.40 Curves are a powerful tool A single line is placed above your images histogram; by clicking on the line above a particular point of the histogram, you can selectively brighten or darken specific tones in the image, or create more or less contrast. The left-hand side controls the shadows and the right-hand side controls the highlights By clicking and moving points along the line up (to brighten) or down (to darken), you can alter your image in a very specific and controlled manner, (a) shows a subtle "S" curve, and (b) shows a curve used to darken the midtones slightly.

Other photographers may wish to make all of their adjustments at this stage, in which case changing from the Parametric Curve to the Point Curve allows much greater control.

Spot Removal

If there is dust on your sensor or some other small artifact in the photograph, there is a Spot Remover tool in the toolbar. To use this, select the tool, click on the problem area and drag out; this will enlarge the brush size. When the brush is large enough to cover the desired area, release and the transformation will be applied.

It is generally better to use the Spot Removal tool in Heal rather than Clone mode (in the right-hand tab) when dealing with dust removal.

If the Spot Removal tool does a bad job of removing an issue, then you can click on the highlighted problem area again and press delete to remove the transformation.

Lens Correction tab

Move to the Lens Correction tab. ACR Will often recognize exactly what camera and lens combination you were using, and the specific flaws of that lens (possible distortion or vignetting); by clicking and going into the submenu Profile and selecting Enable Lens Profile Correction, you can see what changes ACR thinks will benefit the image. If, however, ACR's automatic lens correction option is not available, then you can manually control these elements.

ACR also features an automatic perspective correction feature in this menu called "Upright," sometimes called the "keystone" settings. These allow you to select whether you want the distinct horizontal or vertical lines (or both) in your image to be made parallel (perhaps correcting perspective).

Often when lenses are used at their largest apertures, some vignetting occurs. The Lens Vignetting sliders can be used to correct this or even emphasize it.

Chromatic aberrations (colored halos or "fringes" in between areas of contrast) are common when using wide-angle lenses. Zoom in to 100 percent or 200 percent to check whether your image has any of these issues; if it does, identify the color of the fringe and adjust the slider accordingly.

Detail tab

Noise reduction

Of course it is best to shoot with the lowest ISO possible so that noise or grain is kept to a minimum, but this is not always possible. We recommend reducing noise in the raw conversion, as any adjustments you make later in Photoshop to alter the contrast or sharpen will accentuate any visible noise.

Depending on which version of ACR you are using, there will be more or fewer sliders to control your noise reduction. The most important two sliders are Luminance and Color Noise. Luminance noise seems to coat your image in a speckle-like texture. Color noise colors your image in a speckle-like texture, and also blocks of this texture have seemingly random shades of red, green, or blue. Zoom in to your image at 100 percent and, depending on the extent to which your image is afflicted by either luminance noise or color noise, adjust the sliders to reduce the noise. There is often a balancing act between reducing noise and losing sharpness or details.

Sharpening

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the camera's anti-aliasing filter slightly blurs every image that your camera makes. While we recommend that sharpening is the very final step that you perform (for example, just before printing or uploading to the Internet), many photographers like to add a little "compensatory sharpening" to compensate for the sharpness lost due to the camera's anti-aliasing filter.

When you open Adobe Camera Raw, the default settings are intended to add a little sharpening:

Amount: 25

Radius: 1.0

Detail: 25

Masking: 0

8.41 (a) is an example of color noise; (b) is an example of luminance noise

Generally these default settings are very acceptable for achieving compensatory sharpening

Batch processing

If you are working on a batch of images, there are often images taken in the same location or under the same lighting that would benefit from exactly the same adjustments that you have just made to your first image. Notice that the image you have been working on and are currently viewing has a blue rectangle around it in the film strip on the left-hand side. Next you can CMD + click (or CTRL + click on a PC) to highlight the images you would like to apply your raw settings to (or click Select All) at the top of the film strip. Notice that the image you have been working on is still highlighted with a blue rectangle around it–indicating that it will be used as the model to apply the same settings to the other highlighted images. Click Synchronize at the top of the film strip, select what settings you want synchronized, and then click OK. Sometimes you might want to apply only single settings such as white balance or noise reduction.

Saving/exporting

Once you have finished, you need to process and save your images. If you are working on a batch of images, click "Select All" at the top of the film strip. Now click Save Images at the bottom left of the ACR window.

At this point you can chose a location or select the same destination as your original raw files, rename your files, and choose what file format you want to save them to (JPEG, TIFF, or PSD).

8.42 Having made my adjustments to the file highlighted with the blue rectangle around it, I then select two similar files below and click "Synchronize" I want to apply nearly all of the adjustments I have just made to the previous file (except the crop, spot removal, and local adjustments) to the two files selected.

When you click Save, ACR will start processing your raw files to your selected file format, as well as saving the "recipe" XMP sidecar file. If you are saving numerous files, it may take several minutes to complete this process.

If you have been adjusting your raw files but are not yet ready to process them out to JPEG/TIFF/PSD files, then simply click "Done" at the bottom right of the window, and your adjustments will be saved to the XMP files, but no output images will be made.

Digitizing Film

If you wish to digitize film, there are three different types of scanner: specialist flatbed scanners, dedicated film scanners, and drum scanners.

Specialist photographic flatbed scanners (such as those made by Canon and Epson) are flatbed scanners that can scan documents and photographic prints, but as well as having a sensor and a light that moves underneath the glass that your document or films sits upon, they also have a light source in the lid above the glass. When in film-scanning mode, the light is shone from above the film so that the light passes through the film and into the scanners sensor.

These scanners are relatively small and are by far the cheapest and most readily available. They are favored by many as they can be used not only for film scanning but also for regular document scanning. Often their interface is very simple to understand and they are easy to set up and use

They often accept film sizes from 35 mm to 120, but some will take 5x4 inch film and even 10 x 8 inch film.

In general, they lack the absolute quality to make exhibition-grade scans; however, premium models such as Epson's V750 Pro can produce spectacular results if used carefully.

Often it is desirable to use third-party software (made by specialist companies such as VueScan, ColorNeg/ColorPerfect, and Silverfast) to gain more control over the scanning process. There are myriad different ways that you can scan film using such third-party software, even involving procedures such as scanning negatives as negatives (rather than letting the software invert them) and then using a Photoshop plugin to control the inverting process.

The greatest downfall of this kind of scanner is that the film may not lie perfectly flat exactly in the line of focus However, again there are third-party solutions that allow you to mount your film very carefully and to move the film up and down until the optimum distance for sharpness is found.

Dedicated film scanners such as those made by Nikon are generally slightly more expensive than flatbed scanners, and of course they lack the ability to scan standard documents. The Imacon/Hasselblad scanners are significantly more expensive than flatbed scanners, often out of the price range of the single photographer. However, they are ubiquitous in colleges, labs, and rental facilities due to the great quality results they produce, but also because they are relatively easy and straightforward for photographers to use themselves. These scanners do not suffer from the same focus issues as flatbed scanners, as they generally employ lenses that will auto focus on the film. The Nikon scanners will scan 35 mm and 120, but the Imacon/Hasselblad scanners will accept up to 5 x 7 inch film.

8.43 A high end specialist CCD film scanner, a flatbed-type film scanner, and a specialist drum scanner

Drum scanners are specialist, sometimes huge, machines that require significant knowledge and patience to work with. Ideally the film is "wet mounted," where a small amount of special fluid is placed between a clear plastic wrap, the film, and the "drum" (a clear tube). Wet mounting has the effect of focusing the light on the emulsion itself (rather than on any imperfections on the film's surface), greatly improving clarity. Drum scanners use photo multiplier tubes (PMTs) rather than CCD sensors (like all other types of scanner), meaning they are more sensitive to subtle changes in tone, and significantly more effective at capturing shadow and highlight detail. Many film photographers (especially those producing large-scale exhibition prints) feel drum scanning still provides a significant boost in quality over all other types of scanner, even if it means a significant extra cost in having the film scanned by a specialist lab.

The scanning process

Below is a step-by-step guide to scanning a negative. Although the steps may be slightly different depending on what scanner/software you are using, the basic theory and workflow procedure are essentially the same.

First, select the frame size of the film you are scanning {35 mm, 6x6, 6 x 12, 5 x 4 inch, etc.). On some older Imacon/Hasselblad scanners, selecting the wrong frame size can cause the scanner to crash.

Select your color space (RGB and 16 bit is highly recommended).

Select your film emulsion (Kodak Portra 160 or Ilford FP4+, etc.); this is letting the scanner know what the natural contrast curve of the film is and how it reacts to certain colors–some photographers place a lot of emphasis on achieving the "look" of that particular film, including having color profiles made for specific films on their scanner, while other photographers are happy to treat the scan like raw data to be altered as they would any digital file.

8.44 Imacon/Hasselblad FlexColor software and Epson Scan software workspace

Click Preview.

At this point a fast low-resolution scan is made. The Preview scan is effectively like a raw file–it is exceptionally malleable and allows you to preview any adjustments that you might make changes to, before making the final high resolution scan.

Use the rectangular selection tool to make a selection of your image-be sure not to include any of the black negative or mask border as the black area will register as part of the image, which will lead to an incorrect view of the histogram and may throw off any auto adjustments made.

After color and tonal corrections are made, before your final scan you can drag out the border again to ensure the maximum amount of film is scanned. It is often easiest to scan with a small amount of black area around your negative and then carefully crop the black area later in Photoshop.

Click Auto.

The scanner will attempt to automatically adjust the white balance, white and black points, and possibly other aspects of the scan.

View the Histogram.

It is essential you check that no highlights or shadows are being clipped. Often Auto will correctly place the black and white points at either end of the histogram without clipping, but sometimes it may clip subtle details.

It is often beneficial to treat your negative scanning as you would a raw file, and to try to get the maximum amount of detail out of it for you to work on in Photoshop, even if this means producing an image that looks slightly flat.

If the Auto button did not correctly color balance the image, then you can use the middle Eyedropper tool to click on a neutral tone in the image in order to try to find a better color balance.

If this also fails, because maybe you have no neutral areas to click on in your image, then bring up the red, green, and blue individual histograms. By moving the middle points on each histogram (and possibly slightly moving the end points–being careful that you are not clipping detail in certain colors), you should be able to achieve the perfect white balance.

8.45 After carefully placing the rectangular selection tool so it is just inside the image border (and no white or black areas outside of the image are selected, so as not to skew the softwares reading of the histogram), use the middle eyedropper in the Levels palette

Just as when converting a raw file, it is very important that you find the correct white balance when scanning your negative, rather than later in Photoshop where color data will be lost.

View the curves.

We recommend that you keep your scan slightly less contrasty than you might instinctively want, as this will allow you to capture as much data as possible. However, a very slight "S" curve will not hinder the detail captured in your file.

Finally, choose your output resolution and scan.

As with converting raw files, we recommend you save your files as 16-bit TIFF files with a large color space such as AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB.

Imacon/Hasselblad 3F scanning

Imacon/Hasselblad allow you to scan to their 3F raw format. Not only does this give you an archival and data-rich file, but also, if you are working on a shared or rented scanner (as is often the case with these expensive machines) where time is short, it allows you to make scans at greater speed because instead of adjusting white balance and contrast, etc., prior to the scan using the preview, you instead make these adjustments to the 3F raw file after scanning, so they can be made on another computer (away from the scanner) using Imacon/Hasselblad's FlexColor software (which can be downloaded for free from their website). As a result, you can spend much more time carefully making your adjustments.

First, open FlexColor.

Select the frame size of the film you are scanning.

8.46 Using the individual red, green, and blue levels to achieve the best white balance.

Click Preview–this is simply to check that your film is loaded in the frame straight and that it is not dusty or dirty.

In the top left of the window, click 3F–decide on a file name and location.

Film Type: make your selection (Color Negative or Color Positive–if you are scanning black and white film, it is also recommend that you set the selection to Color Negative).

Setup: Negative RGB Standard.

Frame: Select the film frame size of the film that you are scanning.

Crop: Full Size.

Scanning Resolution: 100%.

Set Output ppi at the maximum allowed on your specific scanner.

Click Scan.

You can repeat this process for as many negatives as you wish to scan. Once your negatives are scanned, you can place your files on a hard drive and move them away from the scanner.

You will use the FlexColor software to process your scanned raw files so this must be installed on whatever computer you use. The 3F format cannot be converted using standard raw conversion software, like most camera raw flies.

Open FlexColor and click on the Open/Close Thumbnails window icon in the top left.

Locate your 3F file and open it.

Now you can repeat all of the steps made to adjust a normal scan (auto, histogram, curves, etc.), except you are now using these adjustments to optimize your raw file before conversion.

As with all raw conversion, you want to extract as much detail as possible, and to get your color as close to perfect as possible while in the raw format, before converting to a TIFF.

Filing for Output

Contact sheets

Often it is beneficial to look at your images in printed form rather than on a screen, especially when making selections of images or when seeking the advice of others. Adobe Photoshop provides a simple contact sheet-making facility:

File > Automate > Contact Sheet II

You can then select the images you wish to print, the paper size, the number of rows and columns, and specify whether you want to label the image with the file name or not.

8.47 A digital contact sheet using Photoshop's "Contact Sheet II" function.

Final sharpening

Sharpening should be the final step in the editing of your image. It is important to understand that sharpening is device dependent; a large-scale print will need different sharpening treatment than a small JPEG viewed on the Web.

Sharpening is an essential part of any digital workflow; as discussed earlier, all digital images go through a filter that softens them slightly, so to neglect to correct this is to not realize the true potential of your camera's sensor.

Sharpening is not to be confused with resolution; you are not gaining any detail and you certainly cannot make a blurred or out of focus image look sharp or in focus. But correctly applied, sharpening will greatly enhance the look of your image. Sharpening works by looking in the image for areas of sharp contrast or edges (for example the edge of a green leaf photographed on a blue background, where the green of the leaf meets the blue of the background) and selectively increasing the contrast at this point. The term for edge contrast in photography is acutance.

Sharpening is a challenging process. It is easy to not sharpen enough so that an image appears flat or hazy, just as it is easy to over-sharpen and cause halos or harsh exaggerated noise.

8.48 Photoshop Unsharp Mask, (a) has no sharpening applied, and (b) has final sharpening for print applied.

There are many specialist plugins and applications offering different methods of sharpening. The most commonly used method of sharpening in Photoshop is the Unsharp Mask. Nearly all other sharpening methods are a variation of these controls, so you should feel free to experiment.

Create a duplicate layer in Photoshop by dragging the top layer onto the Create New Layer icon–this is so we can compare our sharpened layer with the unsharpened layer below and also, if we do make a mistake, or for example over-sharpen, often this is rectifiable by simply reducing the opacity of the top sharpened layer to display more of the layer which has not been sharpened.

Open the Unsharp Mask found in the Filter menu: Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. The Unsharp Mask window shows you a preview of part of your image zoomed in at 100 percent, but often it is useful to zoom in to 100 percent on another part of your image in the background.

The Unsharp Mask has three sliders:

• Amount: Controls the level of contrast applied to the edges. Typically you will set the amount between 50 and 150.

• Radius: Controls how wide an area (how many pixels) either side of what Photoshop perceives as the edge are affected by the increased contrast. Most of the time your radius should be set very low, between 0.3 and 1.5, but images of higher resolution (where the number of pixels that make up the edge of an object will be high) may require your radius to be slightly increased too.

• Threshold: Controls what Photoshop considers an edge: how great the difference in tone between one pixel and another should be in order to be considered an edge that needs to be sharpened. A lower number means that nearly every tiny difference from pixel to pixel will be exaggerated, and a higher number (a higher threshold) means that only pixels with an already relatively high contrast will be sharpened. This is very useful when looking at a subject on a flat background as you can choose a threshold that should sharpen the subject but not the flat tones of the background, which inevitably leads to exaggerating any noise present. A threshold of between 2 and 10 is typical.

8.49 Areas of low contrast (such as a flat blue sky) can be problematic when sharpening, as sharpening can exaggerate pixels and noise There are various ways of selectively sharpening certain areas and not others which can resolve this issue.

As a methodology, you may find it useful to first set the amount to a very high value and the threshold to 0. Then set the radius, keeping an eye out for halos appearing around certain edges.

Next, adjust the amount, making sure that the image looks natural. It might help to zoom out to 50 percent and even to look at the image as a whole when setting the amount.

Finally, adjust the threshold by moving the slider up from 0. Typically you will find you are performing a balancing act where a lower threshold looks wonderfully sharp but noise is unacceptably exaggerated, while with a higher threshold sharpness is slightly softened but noise is much less distinct.

Interpolation and upscaling

When you want to print your image larger than the file will allow at 300ppi then the solution is to interpolate (sometimes called "upscaling").

When we want to make a very big enlargement of a negative in the darkroom, effectively we can print our negative as large as we want to; the larger we print it, the more visible the grain will be and the softer the image will become.

When we want to make a very big enlargement of a digital photograph, however, we run into problems; instead of our image simply getting softer and softer, we will start to see the jagged edges of square pixels, and tonal graduations will start to separate. The solution to this is to upscale through interpolation. This is a process of adding more pixels to your image; think of it like adding pixels in between pixels to soften your image when greatly enlarged. By doing this, you are not adding or rescuing details (you can never regain details that were not present in the original file) but you are stopping individual pixels from becoming visible.

8.50 Photoshop Image Size menu while interpolating to upscale an image using Bicubic Smoother.

The best time to interpolate is at the raw processing stage, so if practical we recommend working this way.

If that is not possible, there are several Photoshop plugins that have been developed to produce especially precise upscaling through complex algorithms, such as Perfect Resize (formerly Genuine Fractals) and Alien Skin's Blow Up application. A plugin is a software component that can be installed into an existing application (such as Adobe Photoshop or Apple Aperture) and offers new or possibly improved features. Think of them as applications within applications. Plugins are often made by third-party manufacturers, but one of the most commonly used plugins is Adobe's Camera Raw Plugin in Adobe's Photoshop, which updates as new cameras are released so that their specific raw files can be converted using Adobe Camera Raw, negating the need to update the whole Photoshop application. Some plugins are free, but many advanced plugins are only available for purchase.

However, interpolation can also be accomplished in Photoshop's Image Size window. Open your image (if you're working on a 16-bit image, this is best) and sharpen your image so that it looks ready for printing.

Open Image > Image Size.

Check Constrain Proportions and Resample Image.

Select Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargements).

Now change your document size to the size that you wish to print, for example: 40 x 20.5 at 300 ppi.

Click OK.

Then sharpen your image once more so it is ready to print.

Softproofing

Just as a color space tells us what gamut and tonality a certain device (such as a monitor) can reproduce, we can choose specific color spaces to preview how a particular photograph may look on a particular paper when using a particular printer before a single print is even made. This is called softproofing.

As a screen emits color while a print reflects color, the print nearly always has a smaller gamut than the "digital" image. This means we often have to deal with moving our images from a large color space (like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB) to a smaller color space when printing. Not only this, but different papers will react differently with different images; a glossy paper, for example, will appear more contrasty than a matt paper as the gloss surface is more reflective. Also, different papers can be more or less white than others, and of course no paper can ever be as brilliant bright white as the white displayed on a computer screen, so the white point of an image will change when printed on different papers. These are just some of the issues that can affect the gamut of a paper, before we even take into account issues relating to the printer such as the number of inks, and therefore the range of different tones that the printer can produce.

Custom color spaces can be downloaded from the websites of quality photo paper manufacturers–but note that they are specific to printer models and will only be accurate if you use your printer's genuine ink cartridges (rather than refills or third-party cartridges). Quality photo labs will also have color spaces available to download for their inkjet and C-type printers, and often they will give instructions on how to provide files for printing.

To softproof, once you have downloaded your color space (often this will be in a ZIP folder that you will have to extract), you will need to move the Profile into the correct folder for Photoshop to recognize it.

On Mac, you must drag the file into the Profiles folder, found by going to:

Users > Library > ColorSync > Profiles

On newer Mac operating systems, the Library folder is hidden from everyday use. To access it, in Finder, click on Go in the Menu bar. If you hold down ALT, then Library appears in the list of destinations and you can continue to ColorSync > Profiles.

On Windows, you can right-dick on a profile and select Install Profile. You will then have to restart Photoshop if it was previously running

8.51 Softproof window.

8.52 Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric rendering intents. The Perceptual rendering intent deals with the problem of moving from a larger gamut color space to a smaller gamut color space by shifting all of the tones as much as necessary. Because all of the tones are shifted, there is often a slight shift in color (that will need to be corrected in the soft proofing stage) but both highlight and, critically shadow detail are preserved. The Relative Colorimetric rendering intent deals with the problem of moving from a larger gamut color space to a smaller gamut color space simply by clipping all of the areas that fall outside of the new color spaces gamut (replacing them with the closest tone that the color space can reproduce); however, it does not touch the midtones, so there is no shift in color. If your image has very little in the way of shadow or highlight details, Relative Colorimetric will probably accomplish the change from one color space to the other flawlessly.

Open your image in Photoshop:

View > Proof Setup > Custom

In Device to Simulate, find the color profile that you have downloaded.

Keep Preserve RGB Numbers unticked.

Rendering Intent: Try either Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric and decide which most accurately displays your image (click on the preview tick box to switch between a softproof-view and the standard image). Generally, Perceptual does a better job of displaying shadow detail, although there may be a slight color shift, while Relative Colorimetric may lose some shadow detail, although it doesn't suffer from the same color shifts as Perceptual

Tick Black Point Compensation but make sure Simulate Black Ink and Simulate Paper Color remain unticked.

Click OK.

Now your screen is simulating how the color space suggests that your print will look. It is worth going to View and ticking Gamut Warning–any colors that will be clipped because they are outside of the printer's/paper's gamut will be highlighted in gray. Once you have noted any problem areas, untick Gamut Warning.

It is often useful to duplicate your image (Image > Duplicate) and leave one image as it is, and have the other to view the softproofing, so you can compare the original and the softproof version side by side.

Make sure your duplicate image does not have Proof Colors selected (in View, check that Proof Colors is unticked).

You can then start to adjust the contrast and color of your proof color image so it comes as close as possible to your non-color proofed image. Once you have made your adjustments, check Gamut Warning once again to ensure that there are no critical problem areas.

8.53 Matching the softproof image (on the right) to the colors of the standard image (on the left). In this case the bright blue represents the colors failing outside of the gamut of the soft proofed color space which are clipping. These trouble areas are mostly found in the yellows so I have brought up the Selective Color adjustment, and I am decreasing the yellow to pull back the yellow tones and stop them from clipping.

If you are sending prints to a lab to be printed, after softproofing using downloaded custom color spaces often you will finally have to convert your images to the specific color space (that you have been softproofing). To do this go to Edit > Convert to Profile Photoshop will automatically match all of the settings (the color space, rendering intent, and black point compensation) to match the settings that you have been using to softproof. Click OK to convert.

As long as your image is resized and carefully sharpened for print, you are now ready to save. Save your image as a new file so as not to overwrite your original image file, using JPEG format set to the highest quality. Then send your file to the printer.

Alternatively, some labs specialize in a more personal way of working or offer an "art service," where they will handle the softproofing and conversion process, using their expertise to make these alterations. Often this service comes at a slightly higher price, but it is one less element for the photographer to have to worry about.

Remember that a screen emits light while a print reflects light, so no matter how accurate the softproof preview, there will always be an element of translation in making a print from an image on a screen. It is therefore often wise or even essential that you make a few "test strips" (parts of the print produced at full scale) before making the final exhibition print. These test prints are "hard proofs" as opposed to soft proofs. A quality lab will have several levels of service–their top level should allow you the freedom to be able to produce several test strips until you are completely happy to make the final print.

8.54 Comparing the gamut of the Adobe RGB color space with the gamut of a custom color space for Fujifilm's matt digital C-type paper (downloaded from a photo lab).

Make sure you view your prints/hard proofs flat on the wall (so light is reflecting off them at the correct angle for normal viewing) and that the light is neither too warm or cold, nor too bright or dark. Generally this means moving away from windows. A quality lab will have a special viewing area with neutral (around 6500 Kelvin) white lights of an optimized brightness.

8.55 Photoshop's Print menu setup ready to print after careful softproofing.

Printing at home

If you are doing the printing yourself using Photoshop, then you need to make sure you have selected Printer Manages Colors, and select the Printer Profile and Rendering Intent that match what you have just been softproofing. You may have to go into the Print Settings of your printer's specific driver to disable any automatic adjustments it might make to the color settings when printing.

Archiving

Once you start to amass great numbers of digital images, it is essential that you keep your work safe. Hardware failure or a virus can wipe out years of hard work.

We recommend that you store your images on your computers built-in hard drive or to a high quality external hard drive connected to your computer using the fastest available port (such as FireWire 800, Thunderbolt, or USB 3.0).

It is important that you keep an absolute minimum of 10 percent of your computer's hard drive space free so that your computer can run fast and reliably. Programs like Photoshop will use free hard drive space like a kind of virtual memory space when performing complex adjustments that require more memory than your computer has, so in time it may be essential that you start saving files to an external hard drive to keep valuable space free on your computer's internal hard drive.

8.56 Hard drive "daisychain." The first hard drive connected to the computer stores extra data, the next hard drive is a duplicate of the contents of the computer and the data hard drive. The next hard drive stores more data and is in turn backed up by the next hard drive, being a duplicate of it. RAID hard drives are effectively two or more hard drives fitted together. They can be used like a single hard drive or, more usefully, can be set to mirror one another, so your data is constantly backed up onto both drives.

It is also essential to back up all of your data to another hard drive.

Several hard drives can be linked together via FireWire or Thunderbolt wires (known as a daisychain) so you can have multiple hard drives connected to one port, duplicating one another.

We further recommend that you have another hard drive with a carbon copy containing all of your files. However, this hard drive is left unplugged and kept away from your other hard drives (perhaps even at a friend's or relative's house) so it is free from the danger of power surges or viruses, and it reduces the risk that all of your data could be stolen.

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is another solution for photographers needing the ultimate in data security, as two or more hard drives can be set up to mirror each other (as when using multiple hard drives "daisychained" to mirror each other).

Apple's Time Machine software (installed on all Macs) is a simple but effective application that will automatically back up your files to an external hard drive(s) whenever data is altered. There is a number of third-party applications that do a similar job.

Summary

> Raw files contain the raw, untouched data from the camera. By saving your images as the raw format, you can control the processing of the image by using raw processing software such as Lightroom or Capture One to convert your raw file into a JPEG or TIFF file, rather than letting your camera make this conversion process for you. The raw file is much more malleable than any other file type and contains the greatest amount of data, so it's best to make tonal and color adjustments to the raw file; this gives you more control and creative freedom over what the image looks like.

> A JPEG is a "lossy" file format as it throws away image data to "compress" the file size when saving. Because of this, a JPEG will degrade with use.

> A TIFF or a PSD File is a "lossless" file format; the files do not degrade with use but the file sizes are much larger than JPEGs. However, it is possible to compress a TIFF file in a lossless manner, decreasing file size slightly.

> Be sure to save all of your work onto your computer's hard drive and make a duplicate to an external hard drive as backup. Saving as a TIFF or PSD file will retain all of your data so is archival, but is demanding on disk space. JPEG compresses information so is not archival, but the small file sizes make it perfect for Web use.

> Cameras, scanners, screens, and projectors all create color images using the RGB color model, mixing red, green, and blue to create a complete spectrum of colors. Within the RGB color model there are various color spaces which specify the range of possible colors a device can produce (the "gamut"). The ProPhotoRGB color space is the largest, then AdobeRGB, and finally sRGB is the smallest.

> Be careful when converting images to different color spaces; for example, in converting an image from the large ProPhotoRGB to the relatively small sRGB, color data will be irretrievably lost.

> Using calibration hardware to create a specific color space for your computer monitor is an essential step if you want an accurate on-screen representation of your images.

> If you want to enlarge, retouch, or alter the tonality of an image, it is recommended that you process your raw files to, or scan your film to, the TIFF format with 16-bit depth.

> If you need to further enlarge your files, you will have to "upscale" through interpolation by using Photoshop or a specialized plugin.

> The standard rule is that images for print should be scaled at 300 ppi. There is no real standardization for how images should be scaled for being viewed on screens. Screens vary wildly in the ppi they feature, from 72 ppi up to 400 ppi, so when scaling an image that's designed to be viewed on screens (for example, to be viewed on the Internet), it is best just to concentrate on what the dimensions of the image {in pixels) are themselves (800 x 1000p, for example) rather than any ppi. This does mean that the size of your image on a screen will vary depending on the ppi of that screen.

> Nearly all digital images require some level of sharpening due to the effects of the anti-aliasing filter used in conjunction with most digital sensors. Sharpening is "device dependent," meaning that the amount of sharpening you will want to apply depends on the scale and method of output. Because of this, sharpening should be your final step in image manipulation.

Projects

1. Open a series of images in an image browser or database image management system. Add keywords so that they are searchable and copyright data to the metadata.

2.

Photograph the same scene using different white balance settings. First, use the automatic white balance setting, then intentionally set it wrong, and then manually set the white balance.

Finally, take the photograph again in raw format and then set the correct white balance in the raw conversion process. Adjust the tonality and saturation and then convert to a TIFF. Compare which image most accurately rendered the light present in the scene and which image is the most visually pleasing.

3. Download and install a "canned" softproof profile for a specific printer and paper combination.

Open an image file in Photoshop.

Duplicate the image by going to

Image > Duplicate.

Arrange the two images side by side in the workspace (this can be done by going to Window > Arrange > Float in Window, and then Arrange > Tile).

Click on one image and go to View > Proof Setup K Custom.

In Device to Simulate, select your downloaded and installed softproof profile.

Make sure Rendering Intent is Perceptual, Preserve RGB Numbers is left unticked, and Black Point Compensation, Simulate Black Ink and Simulate Paper Color are ticked.

Click OK.

Now one of your images is simulating what it would look like when printed on that specific paper and printer. Adjust the tones, contrast, and saturation of the softproof version so that they match the original version as closely as possible. If possible, print this file to make a "hard proof" of your image and compare it to the softproof.

4. Convert a raw file to a TIFF. Process it once as an 8-bit TIFF and then as a 16-bit TIFF Note which file is which in the file name.

Open these two seemingly identical images in Photoshop and make some drastic tonal changes to one. For example, in the Levels palette move the black point to 80 and the white point to 170, and open Saturation and move the slider to 60.

Whatever you change in one image, make sure you change in the other.

The aim is not to make the image look good but to simulate what hours of slight alterations to tone will do to an image.

Zoom into both images and see if there is any difference in the white or black points, or if there is banding in some of the more subtle tones (this will be different depending on what image you are working on).

Finally, open the Levels palette and notice the gaps in the histogram of the 8-bit image, showing that there are missing patches of data (lost as you manipulated the tones), whereas this should not be the case with the histogram of the 16-bit image.

Chapter Nine
Digital Postproduction

Since the creation of photography people have manipulated photographs in different ways, from carefully joining two negatives together to producing double exposures to create a ghost-like double image. However, with digital manipulation it seems the barriers to what we are capable of doing are restricted only by the limits of our imagination, and our creations can be completely seamless; pixels can be moved and altered in such a way that you would never know that they had been touched. It could be said that many photographers now work much like painters; they can choose what elements they want to remove, or elements they want to exaggerate, or they may even paint in whole new scenes digitally. Such technological advances have caused many people to question the role of the photograph as a "truthful" medium, and there is much interest in ethical debates surrounding the prevalence of "airbrushed" and doctored portraits in the media and how they are changing the way we see ourselves.

The software used to make the great majority of these alterations is Adobe Photoshop, now so synonymous with the transformation of photographs that it has become part of our everyday language and it is common to hear people question whether a photograph has been "Photoshopped" or not. Of course Photoshop is much more than a tool for removing pimples and combining multiple images together, and being able to doctor photographs in such a way is really quite a niche skill. In Chapter 8 the idea that nearly every digital photograph can benefit from some form of postprocessing was introduced, and this is not much different from the way every analog photograph is optimized by the photographer or printer when working in the darkroom. Photoshop is a powerful tool that gives you incredibly precise control over every pixel of the photograph; it is quite possible to spend hours working on a single image in Photoshop, not implementing especially drastic changes but just making seemingly very subtle adjustments or refinements to the color and tonality of the image, but adjustments that are nonetheless crucial to the success of the final image.

9.1

Increasingly prevalent are "all-in-one" database applications such as Capture One or Adobe Lightroom (discussed in more detail in Chapter 8), which perform the majority of tasks that a photographer will ever need, from downloading, processing, basic editing, organizing, and outputting images with an emphasis on batch processing (working quickly on many images at a time), all in one application. Photographers using these applications may find they need the very precise controls of Photoshop less and less, or even not at all. Photoshop generally favors working on one image at a time, often in a far slower and more meticulous manner, making very fine adjustments, and if these are necessary for an image, no other application comes close to the level of control provided by Photoshop. While this chapter will focus on Adobe Photoshop, mainly due to its undeniable position as the industry-standard application, many of the tools described below are applicable when working with other applications such as Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, and also less well-known image editing applications such as Corel PaintShop Pro and Gimp.

It is especially important that this chapter is read in conjunction with the previous chapter, which Looked at the fundamentals of digital capture and workflow (where terms and concepts such as file formats, bit depth, color spaces, and histograms among other things are explained). While saving and processing your raw files are covered in the previous chapter, this chapter largely follows on with the kind of adjustments you might make to the resulting PSD, TIFF, or JPEG files you have processed out. It can't be emphasized enough that the majority of the adjustments you make to the tonality, color, and contrast of your images should be applied to the raw file in the processing stage, making the most of the inherent malleability of the raw file. The raw file contains the greatest amount of image data and, crucially, when processing your raw file using applications such as Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, and Capture One, you can take advantage of all of that data in your pursuit of making the image look exactly how you want.

9.2 Free and open-source image-editing application GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Programme). For anyone familiar with Photoshop the tools and layout of GIMP should seem instantly recognizable GIMP boasts a vast number of very sophisticated features, making it a serious alternative to Adobes Photoshop However, a lack of support for working with 16-bit images and nothing equivalent to Photoshop's incredibly important adjustment layers are a great loss.

Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop was released in 1990 and quickly became the industry standard in image manipulation. Adobe Photoshop can be purchased alone, but more commonly it is purchased as part of Adobe's Creative Suite (CS), a collection of applications designed to cover all aspects of design and publishing. The Adobe CS applications that you bought could be used for an unlimited amount of time but would only be supported and updated while that version of the CS was the most up-to-date version. In 2013 Adobe discontinued its CS and replaced it with Creative Cloud (CC), whereby users would pay a subscription for the applications, or a selection of the applications (for example, just Photoshop and Lightroom), download them, and in return their applications would remain supported and would consequently be updated to the most-current versions for the duration of their subscription. However, if the user stops paying the subscription, they will no longer be able to access the applications. There is also Adobe Photoshop Elements, which can be purchased alone and is a much more basic and stripped-back version of the full Photoshop application, designed for home and amateur use. It is accordingly cheaper than the full version.

Photoshop is a vast program, and with every update it gets bigger, with more and more tools and features being added. Despite its name, Photoshop is far more than just a photo-editing application, with uses that stretch well beyond photography, from illustration and animation to 3D modeling. Opening Photoshop for the first time can be a daunting experience, with its vast number of tools, menus, and keyboard shortcuts, but we encourage you to simply explore and experiment with it. You will soon find that there are often several different ways of completing any single task in Photoshop, and there is very rarely a right or a wrong way to do something. Over time and with practice you will learn which techniques work best for you and your photography.

Because of the many different uses for Photoshop that extend far beyond photo-editing, there are many tools in Photoshop that you will probably never even know exist, let alone ever use. The truth is that there are really only a handful of things you need to know about Photoshop before you can start to use it proficiently and with confidence, and it is this key foundation of knowledge that this chapter aims to provide you with.

The Photoshop workspace

With such a vast array of tools on offer in Photoshop, emphasis is placed on allowing you to control and customize what tools or adjustment panels are close to hand, those appearing among the floating panels to the right of the screen and sometimes at the bottom of the screen. Photoshop comes with several built-in selections of panels designed to make specific tasks quicker and easier; it calls these workspaces. Workspaces are found in the Workspaces menu in the top right of the screen. The Typography

9.3. The Photoshop Elements workspace. The cheaper, stripped-back version of the full Photoshop application retains the general layout and many of the features that are found in the full version. Nearly all of the tools (such as spot healing, clone stamp, magic wand selection) carry over into Elements, as well as sophisticated features such as content-aware fill, photomerge, and layer masks. Subtle differences, such as very limited functionality with 16-bit images, a more primitive raw-processing menu, fewer adjustment layers (no curves, for example), and fewer color management options, make Elements unsuitable for professional users, but more than adequate for many amateur photographers.

9.4
The Photoshop workspace.

workspace, for example, brings up panels for quickly controlling text characters and paragraphs. More importantly, you can add and move panels around by clicking on Window in the Application bar and then ticking or unticking various panels. Panels can then be dragged around the workspace or "docked" together on the right side of the screen. Soon you should find out what panels are most important for you, and which you want to be easily visible in the floating panels; Figure 9.4 shows a slightly modified Essentials workspace (Navigator, Histogram, Actions, and History have been added to the right-hand side of the workspace). Once customized, workspaces can be saved by selecting New Workspace in the Workspace menu, and then giving your current workspace a name.

Color spaces express the particular gamut (the range of colors) that an image or device can display and are essential for maintaining color quality as well as color consistency. See Chapter 8 for a full explanation of color spaces (p. 245) as well as their use in "softproofing" (p. 282). We recommend that you always work with a color space embedded in the image, and be aware of when you move from a large color space to a smaller color space (for example, when changing the color space for Web viewing or for printing).

When you first open an image in Adobe Photoshop, unless the embedded color space matches the default color space set in Photoshop (known as the working color space), you will be confronted with the Embedded Profile Mismatch window (Figure 9.6), which will ask if you want to keep using the embedded color space or convert the image to the working color space. Similarly, if you open an image that does not have an embedded color space, you will be asked whether you want to work on it without color management (not assigning a color space) or whether you wish to assign the working color space or a color space of your choice.

Selecting the default or "working" color space only needs to be done once, and can be set in the Color Settings menu (Edit > Color Settings). Our recommended settings for and explanations of color spaces and color management are detailed in Chapter 8, p. 255.

Photoshop layers

The Layers panel (Figure 9.7) is probably the single most valuable component of Photoshop, providing a visual representation of how the various elements and changes made to your image are organized and displayed. At their most simple, you can imagine layers like a stack of printed photographs on top of one another. These stacked photographs might be different images, or different versions of the same image, that you are merging together (cutting and placing elements from one photograph into another). Layers don't even have to be images; they can be a particular adjustment or effect, or a graphical element such as text. Layers can then be switched on and off, blended together in different ways, merged, erased, and adjusted at any stage. As such, it is rare that you will ever work on an image in

9.5 The Photoshop Tools panel. Notice the shortcuts to bring up tools quickly by just pressing a letter.

9.6
The Embedded Profile Mismatch window. In this case the image has the vast ProPhoto color space embedded, while Photoshop's "Working" color space is set to the slightly smaller AdobeRGB color space. In this case, we may choose to keep the larger embedded color space (so keeping the larger gamut of colors made available to us by the ProPhoto color space), rather than converting to the smaller AdobeRGB Working color space (and irretrievably throwing away a large block of color data).

9.7
Layers can be thought of like stacks of images or parts of images or effects on top of one another.

Photoshop without utilizing layers in some way, so understanding them and how they work is essential.

The Layers panel can generally be found to the bottom right of your screen, although, like all floating panels, it can be moved around the screen to any location you like. If the Layers panel is not visible, it can be brought up by selecting Window > Layers.

Absolutely any image that you open in Photoshop will appear in the Layers panel. The first layer is always titled "background layer" and is always locked. Locked layers stop you from making changes to a layer that you might not wish to make (for example, accidently deleting a crucial layer). You can unlock layers by simply clicking on the lock symbol in the Layers panel. However, instead of unlocking the background layer, we recommend that you keep it locked and duplicate it by dragging it onto the Create a New

9.8 Layers panel diagram.

9.9 Renaming layers. Clicking on the text next to a layer allows you to rename it. It is good practice to give your layers descriptive names that remind you exactly what they are there for. Sometimes you might find yourself working on a complex single image over several days, with many layers, in which case a simple descriptive layer title helps enormously to remind you of what you have done.

Layer icon (see Figure 9.8) at the bottom of the Layers panel; this creates a duplicate of the background layer that is unlocked, leaving the background layer as it is. This means that you will always have your unmodified and locked background layer as a reference of how your image looked before you started making any adjustments, which is incredibly useful if you ever need to go back and start working on your image again; it can also be pragmatic and rewarding to go back and compare the original with the finished image.

Layer masks

If you want to composite two images, it seems logical that you will have these two images open in Photoshop on separate layers, and that you then erase parts of the top layer to reveal elements of the layer below (see Figure 9.10).

The problem with working this way is that erasing part of an image is a "destructive" way of working, meaning that you are literally erasing and "destroying" image data. If you make a mistake and erase an area that you did not mean to, it is possible to "undo" the mistake (CMD + Z on a Mac or CTRL + Z on a PC) or to use the History panel to go back to the point before you made the mistake, but you can only "go back" or "undo" a certain number of states, and ultimately both of these methods are slow and relatively clumsy ways of fixing a problem. A far more intuitive and "non-destructive" way of working would be to use layer masks. The extent of layer mask uses within Photoshop is vast, and this book only briefly touches on their potential.

9.10
Two exposures have been made; one achieves better detail on the landscape and the other displays better detail in the sky. In an attempt to merge the best part of the two images together, the image with the better landscape detail is dragged on top of the other image. Now both images are situated on different layers in one file. The Eraser tool is then used to make visible part of the layer below which has better sky detail. However, this is a destructive way of working and not recommended! Photoshop has a much more cunning way of achieving this kind of effect: layer masks.

9.11
Document window title.

To composite two images using layer masks, first open the two images in Photoshop. Then, with one image selected and using the Move tool (V), click on the image itself, keep the mouse pressed, and drag up to the document window title of the other image file you have opened (Figure 9.11). Keep your mouse held here until Photoshop switches to showing you the other image. Now drag the mouse down and release while hovering over the image. The first image will now appear over the second, each image in its own layer. You may have to click and drag the top layer in order to move it until it sits perfectly in position over the layer below.

9.12
Add Layer Mask symbol

To create a layer mask, first make sure you have the top layer selected; you can do this simply by clicking on the layer's thumbnail in the Layers panel. Then click on the Add Layer Mask symbol (Figure 9.12) at the bottom of the Layers panel.

A white rectangle will appear next to the preview image of your layer in the Layers panel (Figure 9.13).

This white rectangle represents the mask. In layer masks, white represents 100 percent opacity (not at all see-through), while black represents 0 percent opacity (totally see-through). If I click on the layer mask (the white rectangle) and then go over to the Tools panel to select a paint brush, I can set my brush to black. This can be done simply by pressing D on your keyboard, with "D" standing for "Default," or by clicking the small black and white squares just above and to the left of the foreground and background color palette at the bottom of the Tools panel (Figure 9.14).

I can then click on the white Layer Mask symbol, to select it and "paint" the black over my image (Figure 9.15), except, instead of the black painting over my image, because we have the layer mask selected the black only paints onto the layer mask. On the layer mask, black represents 0 percent opacity, so in the areas that I paint black you can now see through to the layer below. You can change the brush size and the hardness depending on the scale of what you are "painting away" (Figure 9.16).

9.13
Layer mask screenshot.

9.14
Black and white paints.

If I change the opacity of my brush (so I am effectively painting on a shade of gray), I can create an area that is somewhere between 100 and 0 percent opacity. If I then make a mistake, I can swap my Brush tool back to white and "paint back" the areas that I painted away using the black. This is the real strength of working with layer masks and illustrates how, using this "non-destructive" method, data is never thrown away or destroyed; it's just masked out. You can quickly swap between the black and white brush by pressing X on your keyboard to switch the black and white foreground colors.

9.15
Illustration of image edit and view of Layers panel.

When using brushes (covered in more detail later in this chapter), you are able to carefully control brush size, hardness, and opacity, as well as quickly swap between "painting away" and "painting back" by using the black and white paint. This flexibility means that layer masks are generally the most effective method for compositing multiple images together.

If you only want a very small area of your mask to be 100 percent opacity, then often it is easiest to invert the layer mask (turning the mask completely black) by clicking on your layer mask and pressing CMD + I on a Mac or CTRL + I on a PC ("I" standing for "Invert") and then painting white over the area where you want the mask to be 100 percent opacity.

You can toggle on and off the layer mask by holding SHIFT and clicking on the layer mask to temporarily disable it.

9.16
Brush options.

Alternatively, by holding ALT and clicking on the layer mask, you can see the layer mask itself projected over the image (Figure 9.17). Or by pressing the \ key, any areas that are not 100 percent opacity are highlighted from red to light pink depending on their opacity (Figure 9.18).

By using a layer mask instead of an eraser, you have not damaged any of your layers in any way by erasing information; you can also go back and alter your layer mask at any time, or you can drag your layer mask onto new layers (if you wanted to make other adjustments only to that specific part of the layer) by holding ALT and clicking and dragging a layer mask onto a new blank layer mask.

The previous example showed a very simple merging of two different exposures taken of the same scene. But layer masks can also be used to composite elements from completely different photographs together or to "cut" a figure or object out from a larger scene (see Figure 9.19).

Adjustment layers

9.17
Layer mask projected over image

Layer masks provide a flexible and exceptionally effective way of merging multiple layers or compositing multiple images together, but the real power of layer masks only comes to light when they are amalgamated with adjustments to create adjustment layers. Adjustments are used to enhance, alter, or rectify the color or tonality of an image (see Figure 9.24).

9.18
Layer mask in red projected over image.

9.19
Moving a figure from one part of a scene to another to create a more exciting composition. (a) The empty area where we want to move the figure. (b) Carefully using the Brush tool on a layer mask to isolate the figure; note the difference in the softness and hardness of the brush used to perfectly blend the figure into the new surroundings, for example the soft brush being used around the reflection cast on the floor to gradually blend into the existing floor on the layer below. (c) What the resulting layer mask looks like. (d) Figure finally repositioned in the ideal part of the scene.

Adjustment layers are not ordinary image layers made up of pixels; they are more like transparent sheets with effects on that are held above an image—you can think of adjustment layers like a recipe for what changes need to be made to the pixels below it, and the joy of adjustment layers is that they do not multiply the file size that you are working on because they don't contain any pixel data. You can use several adjustment layers on top of each other, and because they are effectively transparent it is possible to "build up" multiple adjustment layers on top of each other that all slightly adjust the image below them. You can also go back and alter adjustment layers at any time; if you alter an adjustment layer with several adjustment layers on top of it, the effect of the adjustment will be visible on all of the adjustment layers above because of the adjustment layers' transparency. Crucially, because adjustment layers use layer masks, you can use the mask to paint in or out the effect of the adjustment layer. An all-white mask (or the area of the mask that is painted white) means the adjustment will be completely visible, while a black mask (or the area of the mask painted black) will not be visible at all. This allows you to make adjustments globally (so they change the whole image) or selectively (so they change only a specific part of an image).

9.20
Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol.

9.21 Adjustment layer in Layers panel.

To create a new adjustment layer, click on one of the adjustments in the Adjustments panel or, if you don't have this panel in your workspace; click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol (Figure 9.20) and select the kind of adjustment you would like to make. (See Figure 9.24 for explanations of each of the different adjustments.) Just as with the layer masks, a white rectangle is placed next to the new adjustment layer.

The white rectangle again represents 100 percent opacity, meaning that the adjustment layer is completely visible. If there is any part of the image that I don't want the adjustment to alter, I can once again click on the adjustment mask and "paint black" over it to see through to the layer below.

9.22 This figure shows only a small area in the middle of the image where a little more vibrance was needed. If I decide that the contrast curve I applied before was too harsh, I can go back and alter the curve by double-ciicking on the Curve symbol in the Layers panel; this change will also be visible in the Vibrance layer above it.

9.23 Layer masks need not be applied only using brushes. After creating a darkening curve adjustment layer and clicking on the layer mask to select it, the Gradient tool (with the default gradient of black to white) was applied over the sky area of the scene, creating a more dramatic skyline with a smooth transition to the effect.

9.24
Photoshop adjustments.

Brightness/Contrast

Two simple sliders allow you to vary the brightness and the contrast of the image. The Curves tool provides a much more controlled process for selectively varying the brightness and contrast of an image, as well as displaying a histogram so you can be aware of possible clipping.

Levels

A histogram with three movable points underneath it, representing the black point, the midtone, and the white point. These points can be moved to adjust the brightness and contrast of an image, but only linear changes can be made (meaning all pixels are equally altered when we make any change). Levels can also be used to adjust/correct color by going through each of the channels (R, G, and B) individually and then moving the points to alter the color balance.

Curves

A histogram with a horizontal line running above it. Clicking on the line above a certain area of the histogram will add a point, this point can be dragged up (brightening) or down (darkening) the specific tones on the histogram below the point. Unlike Levels, Curves allows you to make non-linear changes (where not every pixel is altered equally; for example, Curves allows you to selectively brighten very precise tones and not affect others), making Curves the most sophisticated and controlled adjustment for varying brightness and contrast. Like Levels, Curves can also be used for color adjustment/correction by manipulating each R, G, B channel individually. In both Levels and Curves, the midtone color picker can be used to correct color balance, by selecting and clicking on what should be a neutral part of the scene.

Exposure

Three sliders (Exposure, Offset, and Gamma) allow you to vary the brightness and contrast of the image. In a very simplified sense the Exposure slider will vary the brightness of the highlights, the Offset will vary the midtones, and the Gamma will vary the shadows. Drastic changes to the exposure of your image should always be done at the raw processing stage rather than in Photoshop, and changes to tonality and contrast are generally better made using the Curves adjustment.

Vibrance

Two sliders allow you to vary the Vibrance or Saturation. Vibrance only adds saturation to the more muted tones, while the Saturation slider adds more saturation to all tones equally (so the already saturated tones in a scene may become exceptionally saturated and "clipped"). Using the Vibrance slider rather than the Saturation slider is nearly always more appropriate, unless you are trying to create exaggerated cartoon-like color.

Hue/Saturation

Allows you to adjust the Hue (the particular color tone), Saturation, and Lightness selectively of particular colors. This allows you to make drastic changes, like turning an object from one color to another, or more subtle changes, like darkening and desaturating all of the reds in your image.

Color Balance

Allows you to change the mix of colors to correct color balance or add a certain tint to your image. Three sliders allow you to vary the color individually affecting just the midtones, just the shadows, and just the highlights. The Color Balance works on the principle that if your image is too red, you can decrease red by adding its opposite, cyan, while green can be decreased by adding magenta, and blue decreased by adding yellow.

Black and White

The Black and White adjustment is the smart way of converting color images to monochrome. By keeping all of the color data, you can vary the brightness and contrast of your image by adjusting different color sliders. This works on the same principle as photographers working with black and white film using colored filters in front of their lenses to adjust the tonality of the scene captured (covered in Chapter 3). Increasing the green filter will brighten any areas of green that are in your color image. Ideally this adjustment should be applied at the raw processing stage if possible.

Photo Filter

The Photo Filter tool, mimics the process of placing a colored filter in front of your lens to warm or cool (or tint) the color of the scene. It is especially useful for creating a certain mood or atmosphere in your image.

Channel Mixer

Channel Mixer is a slightly more basic version of the Black and White adjustment, with fewer sliders. By clicking on the Monochrome check box, you can vary the brightness and contrast of your image by adjusting the different color sliders.

Color Lookup

Color Lookup allows you to apply certain preset "looks" or effects to your image, for example adding a look that makes your image appear more like a certain film stock.

Invert

The Invert adjustment simply inverts the color and tones of your image, so positive (normal) color will become negative.

Posterize

Posterize allows you to create a pop-art or graphic-like effect for an image, whereby you use a slider to select how many "levels" (how many colors) your image is made up of.

Threshold

Like Posterize, Threshold creates a graphic-like effect, converting your image to simply two tones, black and white. Using the slider, you can vary at which point along the histogram the tones will switch from being black to being white.

Selective Color

Selective Color provides a relatively confusing way to adjust the hue and brightness of specific colors. By choosing which color you want to adjust (reds, yellows, greens, etc.) from the drop-down menu, you can vary how much cyan, magenta, yellow, and black goes into that specific color. This allows you to slightly alter the hue, or to mute or exaggerate the color you are adjusting. We recommend using the more straightforward Hue/Saturation adjustment for these kinds of changes.

Gradient Map

The Gradient Map creates a graphic-like effect. The adjustment initially converts your image simply to monochrome but, instead of your image being made up of a gradient of tones ranging from black to white, you can select to have your image made up of tones ranging from blue to yellow, or any colors you choose.

Brushes (B)

We have already discussed the Brush tool when using layer masks and black to effectively "paint away" the layer and white to "paint on" the layer. The creative possibilities of Photoshop's brush tools are huge; illustrators and animators may use the brushes just like digital paint brushes, deploying different textured brushes and colors to create whole new scenes. However, for the majority of photographers, the use of the brushes will be limited to just the black and white paint to control layer masks. It is important to understand the various brush options, especially when using the brush to apply a layer mask to a very specific part of a scene. You may find yourself using the brushes to "paint away" the background behind a subject so that you can place it in a different scene, in which case very careful and considered use of the size, hardness, and opacity of the brush is essential.

9.25 Useful layer mask shortcuts.

9.26 Brush options panel.

Size controls the size of the brush. The size of the brush is measured in pixels (how many pixels wide the brush is) so, when working on a very large high resolution image, you will find yourself using a brush size much larger than if you were working on a smaller lower-resolution image. Pressing [decreases the brush size by 100p, while] increases the brush size by 100p. In Figure 9.27, (a) is made using a brush size 300p larger than the other three.

Hardness controls how hard or soft the edge of the brush is; in Figure 9.27, (b) shows a relatively soft brush, while (c) shows a very hard brush. Pressing SHIFT + [softens the brush by 20 percent, while pressing SHIFT +] increases the hardness of the brush stroke by 20 percent.

Opacity is how see-through the brush effect will be; a lower number will be more see-through. In Figure 9.27, (d) shows a brush set to 50 percent opacity, meaning it is 50 percent see-through.

Holding down CTRL + ALT on a Mac (or holding down ALT and right-clicking on the mouse on a PC) and then clicking and dragging your mouse left or right allows you to quickly change brush sizes; dragging up or down changes the brush hardness. Whenever you have the Brush tool selected, you can change the brush opacity by using the numbers on your keyboard. Pressing 2 will give you a brush opacity of 20 percent, while pressing 9 will give you an opacity of 90 percent, etc.

If you want to set your opacity to a very precise number, for example 25 or 67, you can simply type that in.

Often it is easier to set your brush to a low opacity and use several brush strokes to select an area, rather than using just one brush stroke at 100 percent opacity. It's very rare that you will ever use your brush at 100 percent hardness, as there are few times when a photograph will contain details that are not slightly soft. Even if you are working on part of an image that contains very hard edges, often if you zoom in to view your image at 100 percent scale, you will see that really these hard edges are much softer than you anticipated and are made up of many pixels of different graduating tone, so using an especially hard brush to make a selection will result in a jarring and unnatural effect.

Using a graphics tablet is especially useful when working with brushes. Once you have become comfortable using the tablet, it's possible to make much more precise and rapid movements than with a mouse, and also opacity can be controlled directly through how much pressure you're placing on the stylus.

Selections

9.27
Different examples of brush strokes.

9.28 Compositing an extra GoKart racer into a scene using layer masks. A hard brush (for the base of the GoKart) is combined with a very soft brush at a low opacity to create the appropriate motion blur look for the rest of the figure.

Selections are commonly used when you wish to copy a very specific part of a layer, or they are used in conjunction with layer masks to create selective adjustments (adjustments to just a small section of the image) in situations when using the brush to create a layer mask would simply be too rough or too time consuming. There are many different types of selection tools, each suited to different jobs. Marquee tools (M) create selections of regular sizes (rectangles or circles, etc.), while Lasso tools allow you to draw a selection of whatever shape you wish. The polygonal lasso allows you to click from area to area on your image and then it joins the dots with a straight line, while the Lasso tool allows you to draw completely freehand to create a very flexible and very quick method of making selections.

9.29 A graphics tablet makes completing complex brushwork much less demanding, but take time to get used to working with one.

9.30 Using the rectangular Marquee tool to select a rectangular element in the image; the Lasso tool (drawn freehand) makes for an especially quick (if not particularly precise) way to select an element in the scene.

Quite different, the Magic Wand tool (W) is useful for selecting pixels of similar coloring, so is especially effective at selecting high contrast objects or large areas of the same color with minimal texture (for example, smooth painted walls). The Magic Wand is controlled by changing the tolerance value. This tells the Magic Wand how different a pixel's tone and color can be for it to still be selected by the Magic Wand. When using the Magic Wand tool, it makes sense to start with a low tolerance and increase until the tool selects the desired area. The Quick Selection tool also looks at how different surrounding pixels are, but instead of stating a tolerance you drag the tool roughly over the area you wish to select. This makes the Quick Selection tool far more suitable for selecting areas with more distinct textures, or where the area you want selected contains several differently colored areas.

9.31 The Magic Wand tool set to 40 tolerance selects the blue door quickly and easily, with great accuracy.

You can create more complex selections (for example, multiple selections in one image, or selections with cut-outs within them) by holding SHIFT and clicking to add to a selection, or ALT and clicking to remove from a selection. These can also be used with the Magic Wand and Quick Selection tools; if the tools automatically select an area of the image that you did not want to be selected, then press ALT and click on that section to remove it, or alternatively you can keep clicking on different parts of the image while holding SHIFT, using the Magic Wand tool to select an area much larger than the Magic Wand initially selects.

9.32 The Refine Edge option.

Once a selection is made, you may wish to invert the selection by pressing SHIFT + CMD + I on a Mac (or SHIFT + CTRL + I on a PC). Most importantly, it is almost always necessary to refine your selection. As you may have noticed when zooming into photographs at 100 percent or 200 percent, even the sharpest of photographs is never truly sharp at the pixel level; there is always a small amount of graduation from one tone to the next, so similarly it's nearly always necessary to add some graduation or "feathering" to your selection. After a selection has been made, the Refine Edge tool appears in the selection option menu near the top of your screen. The Refine Edge option has multiple sliders to help you adjust your selection, such as smoothing and feathering; it also has an Edge Detection system that looks for changes of tones that could be edges and adjusts and feathers your selection accordingly, which is especially helpful for selecting complex areas such as strands of hair. With Edge Detection selected, zoom into your image at 100 percent and move the radius left and right until it seems to have found the correct edge. The Refine Edge option also lets you choose whether to output your selection to a new layer or a layer mask. Once you are reasonably happy with the selection, you can hit OK. The benefit of outputting to a layer mask is that you can continue to work on your edge by selecting the mask and using the Refine Mask menu (Select > Refine Mask), which presents you with essentially the same options as the Refine Edge menu. You can of course use the Brush tools as normal to make changes to your mask too.

9.33 The Pen tool. Although much more complex to use than the selection tools, for flawless curves and contours nothing beats the Pen tool.

For especially complex selections, especially those involving geometric shapes, the Pen tool is a far more sophisticated tool (although it is significantly more complicated to work with). The Pen tool allows you to move and delete points that you have put down freely and easily in a way that is impossible with the selection tools. The Pen tool creates paths that can be saved and adjusted and reused at any time; the benefit of this is that if you make a wrong click, you can move or delete the point you have mistakenly put down, something you can't do with standard selection tools. Paths can then be converted into layer masks or selections.

Working with Color and Contrast

The importance of understanding how to adjust and fine tune color and contrast cannot be overemphasized. Whether you are trying to create an image that is faithful and accurate to the scene that you saw when you took the photograph, or whether you want to create a look or style that is uniquely yours, manipulating the color and contrast of an image is often the most important aspect of postproduction.

9.34 A photograph taken under tungsten lighting looks murky and flat. The second photograph is significantly more punchy; the shadows are darker and the highlights are brighter, the whole scene is clearer. Changes have been made only to the color balance using the selective color adjustment to remove the color cast.

Color and contrast are inseparably linked; a file with a good color balance will immediately be much clearer with better contrast than a file with a bad color cast.

It is best to try to get your color balance as close as possible to your desired look when processing your raw file. Remember that the most pleasing colors are not necessarily the most accurate-to-life colors. But it is often necessary to take your image into Photoshop to really fine tune the color and contrast, where not only is there a wide range of different methods for adjusting your color, but you also have much greater freedom in making selective adjustments than you do when processing your raw file. When making drastic changes to the color balance or contrast in Photoshop, it greatly helps to be working on a 16-bit file rather than an 8-bit file to avoid color banding. (See Chapter 8 for more information on bit depth.)

The Curves adjustment

The most powerful method for adjusting the contrast and tonality in your photographs is the Curves adjustment. If you have already processed your raw file, you may have applied a curve to your image to slightly increase contrast. The Curves adjustment is found in the Adjustments panel (found by default just above the Layers panel) or by clicking the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol at the bottom of the Layers palette. Because curves work on an adjustment layer, we can go back and adjust the curve at any time, and we can also create selective adjustments by using the layer mask.

The Curves adjustment places a single line above your image's histogram; by clicking on the line above a particular point of the histogram (the left side representing shadows and the right side highlights) you place a point on the line that you can use to curve the line up or down to selectively brighten or darken the specific tones on the histogram below the point. As many points can be added as you like, and points can be clicked on to reselect them or be deleted (by clicking to select and pressing the delete button on your keyboard). You can also make very subtle changes

9.35 Most digital photographs benefit from an S-shaped curve. The image on the left has had no curve applied, and the image on the right has had the S-shaped curve shown here applied. By raising the part of the line above the highlights we are brightening the highlights, and by lowering the part of the line above the shadows we are darkening the shadows, increasing contrast. Often it is best to divide the line with five points as illustrated here (one at the black point, one at the white point, one at the midpoint, and two either side); the white and black points are placed automatically and helpfully Photoshop displays a grid behind the curve to aid you plot these points.

9.36 Effectively the horizontal axis represents the input (the image before any curve is applied), while the vertical axis represents the output, the image after the curve has been applied. Looking at the same S-shaped curve, the point above the highlights is currently selected. Before the curve was applied, this specific point had an input tone of 193; its position on the histogram is marked by line (a) on the horizontal axis. After the curve has been applied, it has an output tone of 212, closer to the white point, marked by line (b) on the vertical axis We see that line (b) is closer to the white point on the vertical axis than line (a) was to the white point on the horizontal axis, resulting in brighter highlights.

9.37 (a) The midtones have been lowered, darkening the image. (b) The midtones have been raised, lightening the image. (c) A more complex curve with more points added. This curve brightens some highlights but not the extreme highlights, so as not to bleach out the bright sky area.

to your curves by selecting a point and using the up or down keys on your keyboard to adjust the curve.

9.38
The Targeted Adjustment symbol.

An especially effective way of making subtle selective adjustments to contrast is by using the Targeted Adjustment tool in the Curves panel (Figure 9.38). This brings up a color picker cursor; notice how when you hover the cursor over your image, a point is displayed on the curve showing where on the histogram that area falls. If you then click on the desired area on the image and drag up and down, this mirrors the effect of moving a point up or down to alter the brightness or overall contrast. This is a very precise way of making very subtle but critical adjustments to specific tones.

Shadows/Highlights adjustment

Another especially powerful adjustment for manipulating the tonality of your photograph is the Shadows/Highlights adjustment. Similar to the Shadows and Highlights sliders in Adobe Camera Raw, the Shadows/ Highlights adjustment is often used to extract detail from areas of shadows or highlights that you might otherwise think were blown out and devoid of detail. However, its use extends far beyond rescuing detail from difficult images, and there are many photographs that would benefit from some slight alterations in the Shadows/Highlights adjustment.

In this example image, the photograph was taken looking straight into the sun, resulting in a very blown-out sky and lens flare creating muddy-looking midtones and shadows that lack contrast.

9.39 The first image has no adjustments made, and the second shows the effect of the Shadows/ Highlights adjustment.

The Shadows/Highlights adjustment is best applied as a smart filter; smart filters allow you to go back and alter the adjustment settings at any time. Not every adjustment that you might want to make is available as an adjustment layer, so in cases like these applying the smart filter provides the flexibility and non-destructive stability of adjustment layers.

To apply the adjustment as a smart filter, first duplicate your layer (you can drag your layer onto the Create a New Layer symbol at the bottom of the Layers panel) and then CTRL + click (or right-click on a PC) on the layer you have just created. Select Convert to Smart Object. You can then select Image in the Application bar at the top of the screen, and then in the Adjustments menu select Shadows/Highlights. When you first open up the Shadows/Highlights adjustment, you are presented with just two sliders; select Show More Options to bring up the complete menu.

The Shadows/Highlights adjustment also by default moves the Highlight sliders along to slightly brighten your image; we want to very carefully position the sliders, so set everything back to 0.

The Amount slider sets the strength of the effect (brightening the shadows and darkening the highlights).

The Tone slider sets what tones Photoshop sees as being either shadows or highlights (so which tones it is going to make the adjustments to).

The Radius sets how many pixels around the set tones it will also make the adjustment to (setting the radius too high can sometimes lead to unnatural glowing halos around high contrast areas of the image).

It is easiest first to set the Amount slider to a high value, and then to fine tune both the Tone and the Radius so you are adjusting exactly the areas you wish to adjust; then move the Amount slider to the desired setting.

When you adjust the tonality of your image, often this results in a slight color shift; if this is the case, you can use the Color slider to correct it (minus numbers will make the image cooler, while positive numbers will make it warmer). As you have adjusted the shadows and the highlights of your image, it often makes sense to adjust the midtones as well, so there is a slider to increase or decrease the midtone contrast. Once you are happy with the results, click OK.

To go back and adjust the Shadows/Highlights at any time, simply double-click on the Shadows/Highlights label in the Layers panel, and this will bring up the adjustment.

The Dodge and Burn tools (O)

The Dodge and Burn tools are especially simple, but incredibly useful and flexible, tools for adjusting your image's contrast and tonality. Taking their name from darkroom techniques (waving your hands or pieces of card under the light of an enlarger to selectively lighten or darken areas of the image), the Dodge and Burn tools work like brushes that you rub over the image, the Dodge tool lightening and the Burn tool darkening. Typically you will want the results to be relatively subtle (though nonetheless effective) and it is easy to get carried away dodging and burning, so it is good practice to duplicate your image and then start dodging and burning on the new duplicate layer (this way you can toggle the layer visibility on and off easily to see the effect of your dodging and burning; if the effect is too great, simply reduce the opacity of the layer). In the tool options panel you can select the "range" (either Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights), which sets what range of tones the Dodge or Burn tools will be altering. Typically you will want to brighten (dodge) the highlights and darken (burn) the shadows, although this doesn't always have to be the case. The Exposure controls the strength of the Dodge and Burn tools, and by default is set to 50 percent, which is very high; it is much better to work with the exposure set between 3 and 5 percent, and then work slowly, going over the same area again and again until you achieve the desired effect. Keep switching the layer on and off to preview the changes you have made. The joy of the Dodge and Burn tools lies in the freedom they grant you to very carefully craft and finesse the image's contrast exactly where you want it.

9.40 Dodging and burning can also be done using adjustment layers. By creating one adjustment that darkens (perhaps a curve adjustment) and one that brightens, you can then use the Brush tool to "paint in" the areas you wish to brighten or darken. The advantage of working this way is that you can always undo any changes you make and if you feel the changes you are making are too severe, you can simply reduce the opacity of the adjustment layer. Here we see the original image on the left, and then after the background has been darkened and the spotlight effect on the dog emphasized with a brightening curve.

Color

Color balance

The Color Balance adjustment is an intuitive and effective way to adjust the color in your image. Remember that the great majority of the adjustments you make to the tonality of your image, especially the coloring, should be made at the raw processing stage, although often it is beneficial to "finesse" these adjustments a little in Photoshop.

9.41
Removing a slight red color cast in the shadows by adding cyan, green, and blue using the Color Balance adjustment.

The Color Balance adjustment presents you with three sliders (each represents one of the color channels: red, green, and blue) and you can then switch between these sliders to adjust the shadows, the midtones, and the highlights. Often shadows record a little cooler than highlights, so it is very useful to be able to adjust the color of these differing tones individually (Figure 9.41). Alternatively, you may wish to create a certain mood or effect in your image by giving it slightly warm highlights or cool shadows. It is best to start adjusting the midtones first, as these normally make up the majority of your image, and so will make the biggest difference.

Using the Curves adjustment for color

The Curves adjustment is not just limited to making changes to contrast; it is also an especially dynamic tool for working on color. The most basic way you can adjust the color balance of an image using Curves is to click on the midtone color picker (Figure 9.42) and then click on an area of the image that should be neutral. Curves will then balance the color so that the point where you clicked is completely neutral (made up of equal amounts of red, green, and blue), and of course this will have a knock-on effect on the rest of the colors in the scene (Figure 9.43). You can keep clicking different areas until you find the best result.

The problem with relying on the midtone color picker is that sometimes there may not be anything of neutral color in the scene to click on, or it may be that the scene should not be neutralized (for example, early morning when the light itself is very cool or perhaps when you just want to adjust the color of a scene to create a certain mood or effect). In these cases we need to manually adjust our color balance. Often you will want to make these adjustments manually just to help create mood in your photographs.

9.42
The midtone color picker.

Find a photograph that needs some color correction, and open up a Curves adjustment layer. Instead of altering all three color channels (R, G, and B), select just one of the channels (Figure 9.44). Often it is best to start with the blue channel, as this has the greatest impact on how cool or warm your image becomes. Just as if you were using Curves to lighten or darken an image, click on the absolute midpoint of the line and try dragging it up and down—instead of lightening or darkening the whole image, this will adjust the color balance because we are only working with a single color channel. We must keep in mind that each color has its opposite; so while raising the blue channel will increase blue, lowering the blue channel will make the image more yellow, raising the green channel will make the image more green, while lowering it will make it more red, raising the red channel will make it more red and lowering it will make the image more green. Go through all three channels making adjustments (Figure 9.45). You may find that you have slightly different color casts in the shadows or highlights than in the midtones, in which case you can adjust these independently by moving each of the highlight points (the point at the top right of the curve) and shadows (the point at the bottom left of the curve) up and down, although be aware that the changes can be drastic. Creating slight color casts (for example, slight warms in the highlights and coolness in the shadows) can be used to generate mood or even the look of analog cross-processed film.

9.43
By clicking the midtone color picker on the white garden ornament, a good color balance is achieved.

9.44
Choosing different color channels in the Curves panel.

Hue/Saturation adjustment

Not so much color correction, but often the Hue/Saturation adjustment provides the finishing touch to your work on an image's color. The simplest use of this adjustment is in increasing or decreasing the saturation of the whole image, altering all tones equally. If this is what you require, we recommend instead using the Vibrance adjustment (Figure 9.46). The Vibrance adjustment tool has both a Vibrance and a Saturation slider. Increasing Vibrance only saturates the more muted tones (leaving already saturated colors alone, as increasing their saturation quickly leads to clipping and artificial-looking coloring).

9.45
This image had a significant cool green color cast. By dragging the red channel up, I add red; by dragging the blue channel down, I add yellow.

9.46 The Vibrance panel.

The Hue/Saturation adjustment has a far greater level of control than the Vibrance adjustment and, importantly, allows you to precisely brighten or darken, saturate or desaturate very specific color tones in the image.

First, you can select whether you want to adjust Master (all colors) or more selectively adjust just reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, or magentas (Figure 9.47). By adjusting your saturation selectively, you can avoid clipping and choose which areas you want to stand out with saturated color (Figure 9.48).

The Hue/Saturation adjustment can also be used to alter the hue of a particular color (so changing one color into another color), for example making a yellow jumper look green.

Figure 9.49 explains the features of the Hue/Saturation adjustment in more detail. Looking particularly at the Before and After color bars, you can see that I am only adjusting the yellows, but I have shifted the yellows so that they are now green, and I have darkened these green tones. By carefully moving the four bars that mark what colors you are adjusting, it is possible to very selectively adjust specific colors without altering others.

9.47
Choosing color in the Hue/Saturation panel.

Just as with Curves, there is a targeted adjustment color picker (represented by the pointing finger symbol) within the panel. Clicking on it will bring up a color picker, and when you click on a specific area of your image, the Hue/Saturation adjustment automatically knows what color it should be manipulating (yellow or magenta or red, etc.} By dragging your mouse left, you can decrease or increase saturation of that particular selected color. Similarly, by holding CMD on a Mac (or CTRL on a PC) and clicking and dragging, you can adjust the hue of that particular selected color.

Photo Filter adjustment

Unlike the Curves or Color Balance adjustment, the Photo Filter adjustment is not so much about correcting color, but more about finessing the overall tone of your image and creating mood. The Photo Filter tool slightly "tints" your image with a certain tone, so you can, for example, emphasize the bluish light of an image taken on a cool morning by adding a blue tint to the image, or alternatively minimize the cool look of the image by adding a warming orange or yellow tint.

9.48
The image on the left shows an extreme global saturation adjustment (saturation applied evenly to the whole image), creating an unreal pop-art look, while the image on the right shows selective saturation, only increasing the saturation of the blue sky. Often it is useful to be able to selectively saturate or desaturate a certain color, to add some punch to the image or draw the viewer to a certain bold-colored element in the scene.

The Photo Filter tool can be found in the Adjustments panel. As its name suggests, the Photo Filter tool mimics the use of an optical filter placed in front of your lens. As with optical filters, an odd number will make the image warmer and an even number will make it cooler, but the Photo Filter also allows you to tint the image with any color you like.

9.49
The Hue/Saturation adjustment.

9.50 Photo Filter menu.

When you open up the Photo Filter tool, the default "density" or strength of the filter is set to 25 percent. This is far too strong for the majority of adjustments; in fact it is far more likely that you will want to use the filter at just 1 to 5 percent, but try moving the slider left to right and seeing what change the different tone filters make.

The Preserve Luminosity box is by default checked. This brightens or darkens certain areas of the image so that the overall brightness of the image stays the same, even after the filter is applied. For the great majority of adjustments you will want to keep the Preserve Luminosity box checked.

Retouching Tools

In order to remove elements that may distract the viewer in a photograph, or elements that are simply unwanted, Photoshop has a set of very useful tools that are based on a similar principle of copying information from a particular place in the photograph and pasting it onto the unwanted information in another area of the photograph. Each tool will do this in slightly different ways in order to suit specific tasks.

9.51 Using the Clone Stamp tool on an edge.

Clone Stamp tool (S)

The Clone Stamp tool essentially copies and pastes information from one spot to another. To use the Clone tool, you will need to sample an area of the image that holds suitable information to replace the area that needs to be corrected. This is particularly important as the Clone Stamp tool just makes an exact duplicate of the information defined by the brush setting. It does not blend this information around the edges of the retouched area. To set a sample point, hold the ALT key on your keyboard while clicking on the desired area to sample its data. Then move over to the spot to retouch and click over it to paste the new sampled information.

Healing tools

The Healing tools are widely used in retouching work. They work in a similar way to the Clone Stamp tool in that they will sample information from a part of your image to fix another part of the image. They are capable of doing it in more effective ways than the Clone Stamp tool in that they will give you a better blend of the pixel information used to fix/mend/patch the problem areas.

Sample All Layers

As with all the image-processing it's best to work in a "non-destructive" manner; where little or no pixel data is ever irretrievably lost. When retouching dust/scratches or blemishes one way of working non-destructively is to have all of the new retouched pixel data sit on a new layer above the original image layer, so the original image data is never ever truly lost. By first creating a new blank layer by clicking on the 'Create a New layer' symbol in the layers panel and with the Healing tool selected, choose the Sample All Layers option in the tool's options panel. This effectively ensures all layers underneath the blank layer are sampled without ever actually changing the original image's data. All the changes are recorded onto the blank layer. If you turn its visibility off, you will notice that your original image will be restored. This means that you can control the strength of the healing by sliding the opacity of the blank layer up or down. You can also use the Eraser tool or create an adjustment mask to erase corrections that you didn't intend to make.

9.52 An example of a layer with extensive retouching applied to conceal dust and scratches on a negative.

Spot Healing brush (J)

The first option of the Healing tools is the Spot Healing brush. The Spot Healing brush, as its name may suggest, works best with blemishes, specs of dust, or small imperfections in the image. It will use the information around the problematic area (the blemish, the dust, etc.) to cover it smoothly and evenly, also adjusting the tones.

Unlike the Clone Stamp tool, the Spot Healing brush doesn't require you to set a sample point in order to fix the problem. You can directly click over the spot to correct with an appropriately sized brush and Photoshop will heal the bad information.

Healing brush (J)

Sometimes the Spot Healing brush will not work so well. It may be because the information values around the area to heal might be different, and therefore the tool might not pick the right values to fix the problem. The Healing brush might then be a better option to deal with this type of problem.

The Healing brush is the second tool option under the Healing tools. It is similar to the Clone Stamp tool in that you control which area to sample from. This is done just like with the Clone tool, by holding the ALT key and clicking over the desired area to set a sample point. Once this has been done, you can move over to the information to correct, set an appropriate brush size, and click over the area to heal it. Unlike the Clone Stamp tool, the Healing brush doesn't simply clone one area onto another, but cleverly blends the two together. This never works well on edges or areas of extreme contrast, but for most situations the Healing brush creates a much more flawless finish than the Clone tool.

9.53 Dust on a cameras sensor is annoying, but can be very quickly and easily removed with the Spot Healing brush.

9.54 The Healing brush is perfect for areas of subtle texture or detail (such as the pores on the face or in this case the hair on a horse's head) that you don't want to lose, as the Healing brush perfectly merges the sampled area with the surrounding texture and tone.

Patch tool (J)

We mentioned earlier that sometimes the information around the area to sample may be too different to heal the bad information properly. This can often be the case when the affected area is near an edge where there is a lot of contrast. The Patch tool will deal with specific issues such as this by letting you define the area to correct more precisely by selecting around it (in a similar way to how you would work with the Lasso tool). This defines the source area, the area you want to fix. Then this selection can be moved to a region of your image which has appropriate information to sample from. Photoshop will then grab that data and fill the source selection with the new information.

This, however, can only be done on the image layer itself. There is no Sample All Layers option for this tool. One thing you may want to do before using the Patch tool or any other correction tool is to make a duplicate of your original image to work on.

Content Aware (make selection + SHIFT + DELETE)

Since version CS4, Content Aware tools have been available in Photoshop. Content Aware means that the program will be aware of the information that surrounds an object (its suggested background), and by analyzing this data it will attempt to fill areas where information is missing with the information collected. The missing information can be an object you want either to move to a different place in the image or to remove completely from the photograph. It can also be information that you want to preserve or remove when scaling your image to a different pixel aspect ratio.

Use one of the selection tools (such as the Lasso tool or Marquee Selection tool) to select the area you want filled. Generally this selection can be very rough and doesn't have to be refined or feathered. Then CTRL + click inside the selection (or go to the Edit menu at the top of the Photoshop workspace) and select fill. Select Content Aware and wait and see what Photoshop creates; sometimes Content Aware can take a few seconds, or even a few minutes, to work, depending on the size of the area you are asking Photoshop to fill.

9.55 Sometimes the Content Aware tool can seemingly work miracles, saving you hours of work with the Healing brush or Clone tool; however, at other times it can fill your selection with obviously awry data. Often the success of the Content Aware tool depends on the complexity of the textures you are asking it to fill, and the amount of similar textures contained in the rest of the image for Photoshop to sample from. In image (d), for example, Photoshop seems to have placed a floating tree in the scene.

The Crop Tool (C)

There might be times when you will need to make some adjustments to your images that have to do with frame size and ratio. For example, you may want to fix the aspect ratio of your photograph to fit a particular delivery method (print, screen), or to select a specific section of a photograph and discard the rest. Photoshop enables you to go through that process relatively easily with a set of cropping options under the Crop tool.

Selecting the Crop tool from the Tools palette will automatically enable cropping by adding crop handles to the corners of your document. These handles can be resized to a selection of your choice by clicking one of the handles and dragging the selection marquee to suit your goal. Clicking and dragging from any point on the image will create a new marquee selection.

The selection can be repositioned by moving one of the crop corners or the middle points on each of the selection's sides. By default, these changes will be unconstrained. This means you can freely reformat the crop without specific limits such as aspect ratio, frame size, or resolution.

If you wanted to constrain the crop, then presets are available in the Crop tool's options. You can select a preset aspect ratio like 4 x 3, for example, or input your own values in the value fields. You can also decide on a specific width and height as well as choose the orientation of the crop (horizontal or vertical) by switching the values.

In cropping an image, you may need further help with framing the desired selection. You can make use of a grid or any of the overlay options available in the View submenu of the Crop tool option bar. The Rule of Thirds overlay will be the first and default option, which, as it should, divides the crop selection into nine equal parts. The overlays can be hidden if you do not want to see them (Never Show Overlay) or "toggled" as you alter or make a crop selection by choosing Auto Show Overlay from the menu.

You can cancel your crop if you are not happy with it by pressing escape on your keyboard or by clicking the Cancel Current Crop Operation button in the Crop tool option bar. If you are happy with your crop, press Enter on your keyboard to activate it or tick the Commit Current Crop operation in the Crop tool option bar.

Be aware that if you want to reset the crop settings, the image will only be reset to the last crop performed and not to the original image, unless you only applied one crop. Also, when you commit to a crop, by default Photoshop will actually delete the pixels you discarded. While you can undo the action, after a while it may be difficult to get these pixels back. If you need to retain all the information in your file, you should untick the Delete Cropped Pixels option. With this option, Photoshop will turn your background layer into a layer (Crop Preview) in order to store the discarded pixels. This means you will have to make sure your file is saved as a TIFF or PSD file, both of which support multi-layer images.

Easy image straightening with the Crop tool

The Crop tool will also let you straighten an image quite easily. You can do this in a number of ways. The first technique will require you to rely on your visual sense of what straight should look like! Place the tool outside the canvas, click, and start rotating the image slightly. A grid automatically appears which should help you align your image the right way. Let go of the mouse the instant you are satisfied with the result and press the return key to commit to the crop.

9.56 Lining up the Crop tool Straighten option on the most dominant straight line in the scene.

Another way of straightening an image with the Crop tool is by using the Straighten option. As soon as you select the Crop tool, a Straighten option appears in the tool's option bar. Enabling this option by ticking it will give you a new tool that will let you define the inclination of your image. You should look at your image carefully and identify lines or paths that should be straight. Click on the start point of such a line and drag out the tool all the way to the end point (visible or invisible) of this line. Pressing the return key or checking the Commit button will then straighten the image.

The Perspective Crop tool

Since version CS6, Photoshop has had an additional Crop tool option called the Perspective Crop tool. You can find it by clicking and holding the Crop tool. This will reveal a set of related tools including the Perspective Crop tool.

The Perspective Crop tool lets you not only crop the image as desired but also alter or fix the perspective of an image that is supposed to be straight. After dragging out your selection, you should align the corner anchor points to the corners of the object/subject whose perspective is skewed. Once this is done, you can then make further decisions as to how much of the image you want to retain. You do this by dragging in or out the sides of the selection, but not the corners. If the corner anchor points are moved, this will give the wrong information as to the current perspective of the image and therefore yield the wrong results once committing to the crop. Pressing the return key or checking the Commit button will both correct perspective and crop the image as desired.

Panoramic Joiners with Photomerge

Photoshop will let you assemble panoramas fairly easily with the Photomerge option. You will find the Photomerge feature under Automate in the File menu. In principle, Photoshop will automatically join your sequence of images to make one relatively seamless panoramic image. It will bend and line up the content of your images so that the images properly join up. Photoshop will also make further adjustments, such as fixing any optical distortions, and blend the images together.

In the Photomerge window, you will be asked to browse for the flies you want to use to make your panorama. You can navigate to the files by clicking Browse, selecting them, and pressing Open.

In order to have seamless panoramic joiners you should tick the Blend Images Together option, as well as check the Geometric Distortion Correction option, which will attempt to take care of any lens-related distortion of the image for minimal bending of the image.

You should then select a layout from the Layout options on the left-hand side of the Photomerge dialog box.

Press OK to start the Photomerge process. Photoshop will open all the images that make up the panoramic sequence separately, join them up according to the layout alignment option you have chosen, and put them together into one document.

You can finish off your panorama by cropping the edges. You will notice that because Photoshop has to bend the individual images in order to join them up together, you will end up with uneven edges that will need to be trimmed.

Using the align options in Photomerge

9.57 The Photomerge menu.

In the left-hand column of the Photomerge window you will find six different layout options to choose from when making panoramic joiners. These will offer different methods for aligning your images together according to how the content of the panorama was created.

Auto

The Auto option is often the best choice. Photoshop will go through each image you imported and analyze its content for you. It will then decide whether the Perspective, Cylindrical, or Spherical option is best suited to your content and apply it. It will be a more labour intensive option for the machine to perform, but it is useful if you are not sure what option your image content requires.

9.58 The Photomerge tool is so efficient that it will often even join series of photographs that are hand-held with drastic distortion.

Perspective

The perspective alignment method should be used if you have or want a central focus or a dominant object in the middle of your panorama. Photoshop will automatically choose the image in the middle of your sequence and join all the other images around it. It will do it by skewing the images' perspective and resizing them around the central image.

Cylindrical

As its name indicates, the Cylindrical layout option will look like a rolled out cylinder. It is usually a better option when working on a very wide panoramic image. Both edges left and right will match. If you were to print the image and roll it into a cylinder, both extremities would join perfectly.

Spherical

The Spherical option is not dissimilar to the cylindrical layout. It will be particularly efficient with 360° images. In this case, Photoshop will try to map the image inside a sphere to make a seamless image all round. This can be particularly useful if you are producing 360° images in view of making them dynamic in some way. These might end up on a website as an interactive 360, for example.

Collage

The collage alignment method will overlap content that may not be so smoothly sequenced in the first place. You may have shot several images over a particular scene, not necessarily panning your camera from one edge to the other in small increments but rather taking a whole scene in small pieces. Photoshop will rotate and scale these images and tile them together. You may miss details with this approach, but it is also a stylistic choice you make when shooting your scene in this fashion and choosing the collage method.

Reposition

The Reposition option is similar to the Collage option except that here Photoshop will not resize or rotate the images in its attempt to join them together. It will just overlap them as they are and in the best possible way.

9.59 Using a tilt-shift lens allows the user to shift the lens up and clown to create three slightly different views, but all made from the same perspective These can then be "stitched" together using the Reposition option in Photomerge to create an especially wide-angle view. Notice the area of overlap between each image, which will help Photoshop to precisely position each image.

Actions

Actions are commands you can record in Photoshop and play back in a fast sequence. Actions are particularly useful when you need to perform the same edit on a number of pictures, for example cropping several hundred photographs to the same dimensions, or applying a technique or adjustment that you often use on images. Once an action has been recorded, it can be reused as many times as you need and you can come back to it again and again.

The Actions panel

If you do not see the Actions panel in your workspace, you can go to Window > Actions. This will bring up a button looking like a standard "play" icon. This will bring up the Actions panel, which will contain a set of default actions. These can be loaded up if you cannot see them by clicking on the Actions panel menu and choosing Reset Actions. From this menu you can also access other sets of actions that may be more specific, such as frame actions or actions relating to techniques and special effects such as Image Effects. Actions are organized in folders as sets. A set contains a group of different but related actions. For example, the Frames set will contain actions performing various frame types such as wooden frame, vignette, or wave frame.

Using an action

9.60 The Actions panel.

Applying an action to an image is straightforward. Open the image you want to work with and select the Background. Ensuring you work on a copy of your image is advisable. In the Actions panel select the desired action to be performed on the image. Some of the default actions are straightforward, as the name will do exactly what it describes. For example, the Wooden Frame action mentioned earlier will add a wooden frame effect around the image. Once your action is selected, hit the play button at the bottom of the Actions panel to apply it. Photoshop will run the set of commands and apply the desired process.

Creating your own actions

You can record your own set of actions or custom actions in the Actions panel if you need to. You may have worked on a specific look that you want to be able to apply to other images, or you might use a certain technique often. Having a custom action for these instances could help you work more effectively.

Before setting out to record an action, it is advisable to rehearse your process. You do not want to make mistakes as you record, as it will not give you the desired result and the wrong process will be recorded.

You should create a new set when you want to create new actions. This means creating a new folder in your Actions panel. You can do this by clicking on the Folder icon at the bottom of the panel itself. Naming is important again here, and you should make sure you give your set an appropriate title and one that reflects the actions it will contain.

Open the image you will be working on and select the set folder you have created for this action.

You are now ready to record. Click on the New Item icon at the bottom of the panel (this looks like a curled page) to create a new action. The New Action window opens.

Name your action appropriately and make sure it gets saved in the right destination set. Here you can also set a function key or a combination of keys as a shortcut to recall the action later.

Press record. The program will now record your process

Press the Stop icon to stop recording. All your commands are now captured in your set folder under the new action item you created. You can rename the action more appropriately at this stage, now that you are happy with what you have recorded.

You can go back to any stage of your action and make modifications. Looking at the Actions panel, collapse your set folder and your action item to reveal all the commands you recorded for that action. Simply select the step you want to amend and press record again. Make your changes and press stop. The action will be updated with the new information. (Note: You may want to start your recording after first converting the background image to a smart object. This will allow each effect applied to be editable, should you need to make adjustments.)

Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

See Figure 9.5 for tool shortcuts.

9.61 Useful Photoshop shortcuts.

Summary

> Make the most of the vast amount of data held in the raw file; the great majority of changes to color and tonality should be made at the raw file processing stage. Photoshop, however, does provide the tools to "fine tune" images after processing, or of course make much more elaborate manipulations than are available in the raw processing application. Processing our raw files out as 16-bit TIFF files gives the greatest amount of color data for any changes to tone or color we might make in Photoshop.

> Layers are one of the key features of Photoshop, but can be especially daunting when you first start using them. Layers allow you to stack different images, different versions of the same image, different pieces of images, graphical elements, different adjustments, and different effects on top of one another. Layers can then be reordered, deleted, duplicated, blended together, made opaque, or flattened. Only TIFF, PSD, or PSB files support saving images with layer files; if you wish to save an image using another file format, you will have to "flatten" your image and lose the individual layer data. Images formed of many layers will result in especially large file sizes, although adjustment layers will hardly increase the file size. The Layers panel is normally found in the bottom right of the Photoshop workspace. If it is not visible, it can be brought up by going to Window in the Application bar at the top of your screen and ticking Layers.

> Layer masks allow us to control which parts of a layer are visible and which parts are not. Layer masks are controlled by first applying a layer mask to a layer, selecting it, then "painting" black or white over the image. In layer masks, white represents 100 percent opacity (not at all see-through), while black represents 0 percent opacity (totally see-through). As well as using the Brush tool to "paint on" a layer mask, masks can also be made using the Gradient tool or made from selections or paths. Masks are used to composite different images together, to separate an element from its surrounding scene, or to apply an effect to a specific part of a scene. Layer masks are "non-destructive," meaning they never erase or destroy any image data; every change you make using a layer mask is completely reversible.

> Adjustment layers comprise the most commonly used image adjustments (such as Curves, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Vibrance, and Black and White) and allow you to apply these adjustments as layer masks. Just like layer masks, you can paint over them with black or white to control what part of them is visible or not, and they are non-destructive; you can click on the adjustment symbol in the Layers panel at any point to change the adjustment you have made. Adjustment layers are effectively transparent (unlike normal "pixel layers"), meaning you can use multiple adjustment layers on top of one another, allowing you to build up an effect or make very precise changes. If you change an adjustment layer with several others on top, that change will still be visible on all of the layers above.

> In photography we mostly use brushes for controlling layer masks. Always be conscious of the "hardness" of your brush; more often than not a softer brush set to a lower opacity so it takes several strokes instead of just one will be more suitable than a harder brush set to the highest opacity.

Projects

1. Place your camera on a tripod or table, find the correct exposure, and set your camera to manual exposure mode and manual focus. Set the exposure timer and walk out in front of the camera so it takes a photograph of you. Repeat the same process (making sure not to move or knock the camera) but make sure you are standing in a completely different area of the scene in front of the camera. Import the two photographs into Photoshop and use layer masks to composite the two photographs together, so that you appear twice in the same scene.

2. Open an image and bring up the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Select a specific color by clicking on your image using the targeted adjustment color picker within the Hue/Saturation adjustment panel. Then alter the hue of that selected color using the Hue slider. You can finely adjust what colors are affected by moving the sliders at the bottom of the Hue/Saturation adjustment menu. Find a photograph where you can attempt to change the color of an item of clothing or perhaps a particular object in the scene.

3. Open a blank document in Photoshop and select the Brush tool (B). Try writing your name on the document, and try changing the brush size, opacity, and hardness. If you have access to a graphics tablet and stylus, try working with the "Always Use Pressure for Size," "Enable Airbrush-Style Build-up of Effects," and "Always Use Pressure for Opacity" settings in the Brush options menu. Notice how pressure changes the effect of the brush, as it would if you were using a soft pencil or a paint brush.

4. Take a photograph of an object with a relatively uncluttered background (on a table top or on the floor, for example). Try removing that object from the photograph using retouching tools such as the Clone tool, the Patch tool, and the Content Aware fill tool. Which tool does the best job? If you manage to remove the object with little trouble, photograph the object against a complex or cluttered background and then try removing it again. Keep looking for areas of the image that could be used as a source to "clone" over the area with the object in it.

5. Make a panorama. Place your camera on a tripod or even just on a table. Find the correct exposure and set your camera to manual exposure mode and manual focus; take one photograph and then turn the camera slightly (making sure there is around one-third of the scene overlapping with the previous photograph that you took). Repeat these steps until you have turned your camera a full 180° and then import the photographs into Photoshop and use Photomerge (File > Automate > Photomerge). Select Auto and tick Blend Images Together, Vignette Removal, and Geometric Distortion Correction to stitch them together. Photoshop's Photomerge feature is so effective that often you can even hand-hold the camera and still get very well-stitched-together images. For an extra challenge make panoramas that overlook a busy location (for example, a busy street or a park) where you may only capture parts of cars in your photograph or you may have people who appear in more than one photograph. See if you can use layer masks to hide or reveal certain elements of the different exposures to create one whole perfect image.

Chapter Ten
Film and Film Processing

Even though digital technology has revolutionized photography, there are still many photographers who like to work with film, some because of the materiality, the very physical feel, of film, plus the difference and even unexpectedness that film can offer Mechanical film cameras also have the advantage that they are less susceptible to extremes in the weather of humidity and temperature, due to the fact they don't rely on batteries and electronics. Also, if you are considering printing large and want to keep the detail sharp, secondhand medium or large format film cameras are relatively cheap now compared to the digital equivalent.

This chapter describes the various types of film and outlines how they work, their practical performance, and their suitability for various types of work, it also concentrates on the processing of different kinds of film in small quantities, by one person. The biggest distinction occurs between color and black and white materials. Color records the most information, and the results relate more closely to what you saw through the camera. This means that images in color are more immediate in their impact on the viewer, but need careful control to avoid variations in hue, etc., which could look odd. Black and white is more restrained, and much more of an interpretation of reality; it requires a different approach to composition and lighting and has more tolerance in exposure and processing.

Nevertheless, both kinds of film share important basic features These include film speed rating, the relationship of graininess and sharpness, response to color values, contrast, and the various physical forms camera materials take. It is also worth referring back to Chapter 3, on lens filters, because the use of filters links up closely with the color response of films and therefore can have a dramatic effect on both color and black and white films. In this chapter we will also discuss the equipment and general preparations needed before processing any kind of film and then look at the routines, choices, and controls over results when processing black and white negatives, color negatives, and slides (transparencies).

Once film is exposed and processed, it can be printed onto chemically coated papers (Chapter 11) or electronically scanned (Chapter 8), allowing a whole host of adjustments to be made to pictures.

Silver Halide Emulsions

Photographic materials carry one or more coatings of silver halide emulsion—crystals of a silver halide chemical, such as silver bromide suspended in gelatin. Light-sensitive compounds of silver have been used from the earliest days of photography, although they have greatly improved in sophistication and performance since then.

Changes begin to happen when these crystals are struck by light-energy particles ("photons," see p. 30). A few tiny deposits of silver accumulate as crystal imperfections (called "sensitivity specks"). But given typical camera exposure they are far too small to see as any visible change, even if you were able to examine them through a microscope at this stage. However, this brief exposure to the relatively dim image accumulates just sufficient photons to give tiny build-ups of silver atoms.

Since most photons are received from bright parts of the scene, and least from where it is darkest, you have all the components of a photographic image but in an undeveloped, invisible, or "latent" form. Later, at the processing stage, chemicals go to work on the tiny silver deposits forming the latent image. They will be grown and amplified enormously to give a visible chemical image.

How film is made

While it is extremely unlikely that you will actually make film, it is interesting to know some of the science to the material you are shooting with. Bars of silver are dissolved in nitric acid to form silver nitrate, and this is reacted with a halogen element (typically iodine, bromine, or chlorine in the form of alkali salts or halides such as potassium iodide, potassium bromide, or potassium chloride). After byproducts have been removed, the resulting compound consists of silver halide crystals, which are light sensitive (Figure 10.1). in order that these finely divided silver halides can be coated evenly onto a film base, they are mixed with gelatin to form a creamy silver halide emulsion.

Gelatin is used because it is highly transparent and has no visible texture of its own. It becomes a liquid when heated—ideal for coating—but also sets ("gels") when chilled or dried, it holds the silver halides in a firm and even coating across the film surface, yet swells just sufficiently in processing solutions to allow chemicals to enter and affect the halide crystals, without disturbing their positions (Figure 10.2).

10.1 Silver halide crystals. An electron photomicrograph showing them here magnified approximately x3000.

10.2 Cross-section of black and white film. (A) Scratch-resistant gelatin top coat. (B) One or more emulsion layers, containing silver halide crystals (C) Foundation which improves adhesion to the plastic film base (D) Gelatin anti-curl backing (may also contain antihalation dye).

Film manufacture is very complex and demanding. Mixed emulsions are given additives and held for fixed periods at controlled temperature to "ripen." This makes some crystals ("grains") grow larger, giving increased light sensitivity (greater "speed") and producing less extreme contrast. Film contrast changes because, when first formed, crystals are all very small and not particularly sensitive. They are affected by light equally. When an emulsion contains a mixture of different-sized grains (mixed sensitivity), however, low-intensity light affects large crystals only, more light affects large and medium sizes, and brightest light affects all crystals, even the smallest When the film is developed, these variations in light intensity therefore record as various gray tones rather than simply extremes of black or white (Figure 10.3).

10.3 Grain size and contrast. Emulsions with slow, equal-size grains tend to be slow and contrasty. All grains become developable (right) at one triggering light level Mixed large and small grains (left) can yield a range of tones related to light received; they are also faster.

Further additions to the emulsion alter its sensitivity to colored light, in its raw state the emulsion responds to blue and ultraviolet (UV) only, but this can be extended to further bands or the whole visible spectrum. Meanwhile, the film's base (most often polyester or tri-acetate) receives several preparatory coatings, including an anti-curl gelatin layer applied to the back to prevent the film shrinking or curling when the emulsion is coated on the front. Another layer of dark "anti-halation" dye prevents light reflecting back from the base and forming "halos" around the images of bright highlights. This layer may be between emulsion and base, or coated on the back of the film, in addition, 35 mm film has gray dye in the base to prevent light passing into the cassette, piped along the thickness of the film like a fiber optic. Like the anti-halation material, it disappears during processing and is sometimes seen as a darkening of the used chemicals.

Emulsion coating itself is extremely critical and carried out in ultra-clean conditions. Black and white films may need between one and four layers, while most color films have more than ten layers of several different color sensitivities. The final layer is clear protective gelatin. (For details of the structure of instant picture materials, see Advanced Photography.) Film is coated in large rolls, typically 1.5 m wide by 900 m long. After drying, these rolls are cut down to the various standard film sizes, and edge printed with frame numbers and other information.

The flowchart in Figure 10.4 shows the variety of color and black and white camera material for general photography, although reversal film for slides is much rarer than negative film for print. Types are also made for X-ray, infrared, lithographic, and other special purposes. You can often shoot on one film and end up with a form of result normally produced from another—black and white prints from color negatives, for example. But the most regular route, with fewest stages, always gives best quality. This is why it is advisable to know in advance what is needed from a job, in order to shoot on the right materials in the first place.

10.4 Types of camera film. Main routes (red) plus extra copy/processing stages to give different results.

Features Common to all Films

Sizes and packings

35 mm film (135) offers the widest range of color and black and white emulsions. Originally meant as movie film but adopted by photographers for its convenience and quality, 35 mm film is supplied in cassettes (small light sealed containers) giving up to 36 exposures of standard 24 x 36 mm format. A few 35 mm films are available as 17 m and 30 m (or 50 ft and 100 ft) lengths in tins. This bulk film is for cameras with special film backs, or you can cut it into short lengths to refill regular-size reloadable cassettes. Doing reloads (Figure 10.5) reduces film costs but risks scratches and dust so could be a false economy for professional work.

Medium format film, usually called "120," is rolled in opaque backing paper on a spool, and is 62 mm wide. The number of pictures per film depends on your camera's picture format (normally between eight and fifteen; see Figure 4.13).

Sheet films packed ten, twenty-five, or fifty per box come in several standard sizes such as 4x5 inch and 8x10 inch. The edge-notching (Figure 10.6) helps you locate the emulsion surface when loading film holders in the dark, and has a shape code by which you can "feel" film type, as well as identify it after processing. The emulsion surface is the layer of light-sensitive material that your image will be formed on, and so it is important that this is the side facing the lens. Rollfilms have further type and batch identification data printed along their edges. Check the manufacturer's data sheet for the product to decode the information.

10.5 35 mm bulk-film loader. Once it has been loaded with up to 30 m of film in the dark, you can insert and fill 36-exposure reusable cassettes in normal room light.

Instant print sheet materials have chemicals for developing the latent image built into the sheet itself. This allows for an almost immediate image on the film without additional chemical processing, hence the name "instant film." They are mostly provided as eight- or ten-exposure packs 31/4 x 41/4 inch, although Fuji also make small business card size and "landscape" format. The interest in instant "films" since Polaroid ceased production has led a couple of groups, in addition to Fuji, to make their own versions, such as New55 who make individual sheets of 4x 5 inch film that produce both a negative and a print, and Impossible who make an 8x10 inch version. Generally there are two types of instant print sheet materials (Figure 10.7), "peel apart" and "integral." Each exposure on peel apart material is removed from the camera as a sandwich of two sheets you leave together for a timed period and then peel apart to reveal a right-reading print on one sheet. They are designed to be used in a pack holder which attaches to 120 cameras with magazine backs, or 35 mm cameras with removable backs. Sheet instant film slots into a special film holder inserted into a view camera which also contains the roller mechanism used for squeezing out the chemical gel used when processing. Although these peel apart materials have their own aesthetic, they were extensively used, before the introduction of digital, by professional photographers to produce a quick print confirming lighting, exposure, composition, etc. However, you have to remember that the colors do not exactly match the final results on conventional color film. "Integral" instant picture prints eject from the camera after exposure as a plain card which forms a picture as you watch. The main use is in Instamatic point-and-shoot cameras which are designed with an internal mirror—otherwise pictures on integral material are reversed left to right.

10.6 Typical sheet film notch codes. In the dark you can "feel" the notch pattern to discover the film type The emulsion is facing you when held as shown.

The main types and sizes of film, which can come in cassettes, roils, sheets, or as instant film, can be seen in Figures 10.8 and 4.32. Other formats of film are rarely encountered, but the photographic industry does manufacture them for specialized applications, often in science and industry.

Film speed rating

10.7 Instant picture materials: Top: Integral type Bottom: Peel apart type, showing pack attached to a rollfilm camera in place of its film magazine

A film's sensitivity to light is denoted by the emulsion speed figure printed on the packaging. It follows strict test procedures laid down by standardizing authorities. Most manufacturers quote an ISO (International Standards Organization) figure (see Figure 10.9). This combines previous US-based ASA ratings and European DIN ratings. The first part of the ISO figure doubles with each doubling of light sensitivity; the second number (marked with a degree sign) increases only by three with each doubling of sensitivity. Often the first ISO figure forms part of the film's brand name, for example llford Delta 100. Specialist films such as infrared may display no ISO number but instead give guides based on exposure index (El) information (see Chapter 5).

10.8 Packaged film materials: (left) sheet film, 35 mm cassette and rollfilm; (front, center) instant picture peel apart pack and an enveloped sheet; (right) tin of bulk 35 mm.

10.9 ISO film speed ratings. The ASA scale is linear—if the rating is doubled, the film sensitivity is doubled. DIN ratings follow a logarithmic progression—an increase of 3 means double the speed. ISO combines both.

The doubling of sensitivity is also equivalent, in terms of exposure, to changing the aperture or shutter speed by one stop. If the correct exposure for a subject using an ISO 100/21° film gives an aperture reading of f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/250, then with an ISO 200/23° film the exposure would be f/8 at 1/250; if changing the f-stop to f/5.6 at 1/500 when changing the shutter speed, with an ISO 400/27° film the reading would be f/11 at 1/250 or f/5.6 at 1/1000. From this you can see with the same lighting conditions on a faster film you can either increase the depth of field by stopping down the aperture or capture fast-moving subjects by increasing the shutter speed.

The ISO rating is based on standard conditions of lighting, typical, exposure times, and the amount of development given during processing. The film will usually perform best if used according to this rating, but it can be altered. You can "up-rate" or "down-rate" film speed when exposing—this is also known as "pushing" or "pulling." If doing this, you will also need to increase or decrease development time to compensate. This may be helpful when you want to alter contrast, or simply get maximum possible speed out of a film in dim conditions, often used by photojournalists who have had to shoot in available lighting conditions that might not have been ideal. In general, fast films of ISO 800 and upward are designed to respond best to up-rating and consequently require extra development; if you down-rate or pull a film, it will generally require less development (see p. 368). Exceptionally long or short exposures also influence film speed due to reciprocity failure (see Appendix C).

35 mm films have checkerboard Digital Index (DX) Camera Auto Sensing (CAS) code printed on their cassettes. Most film cameras manufactured since the mid-1980s have electrical contacts in the cassette compartment to "read" this code and so set the internal exposure meter automatically. If you want to up-rate or down-rate the film's normal speed, you must do this with the camera's exposure compensation dial to override the electrical contacts that read the film code (Figure 4.32). On manual cameras you can up-rate by changing the ISO dial; for example, you would up-rate (or push) an ISO 400/27° film to 800 on the dial (one stop), or to, say, down-rate (pull) an ISO 100/21° film you would set the dial to 50 (one stop). Unlike digital cameras where you can change the setting frame by frame, this can only be done for the whole film and not just a few selected shots, as you now have to change the developing time.

Speed, grain, and sharpness

Reviews of film types, manufacturers' literature, and technical material on films refer to a variety of terms:

Speed (ISO) is sensitivity to light, as discussed above. Films of identical speed are equally responsive to the exposure they receive.

Grain refers to the pattern of grain clumps in the processed image If this is coarse, it will show up as a mealy pattern and break up delicate tone values when enlarged.

Sharpness or "acutance" in an emulsion is concerned with the degree of fine image detail the film can record. This brings in local contrast or edge sharpness, as well as grain, for an image can be fine-grained yet lack "bite" because detail is fiat and gray (Figure 10.10).

10.10 Typical examples of the image grain given by (left) ISO 125/22°, (center) ISO 400/27°, and (right) ISO 3200/36° films. Each film was processed normally in its recommended developer and is reproduced here enlarged approx. x32, equivalent to a 45 x 30 inch print from the whole of a 35 mm format image

Speed, graininess, and sharpness are traditionally linked. As Figure 10.11 shows, the challenge to the manufacturer is to improve speed without increasing the size of the silver halides and coarsening grain. If the emulsion is simply made thicker to obtain speed by containing more halides, there may be minute scatter of light ("irradiation") within this sensitive layer which worsens sharpness. Flat-shaped "tabular" grains offer more speed with less sharpness loss, but your choice of film is still a trade-off between speed and image quality. Fast films are inherently grainier than slow films, and the more enlargement your film is to receive later, the more important this fact becomes.

Sometimes you may choose fast film intentionally to get a granular effect, such as in Figure 10.12. More often this choice is made because the subject is dimly lit, and perhaps you need to stop down for depth of field and to freeze movement with a short exposure. One way to reduce the effect of grain and improve sharpness is to change to a larger format camera, because the film image will need less enlarging, but you will then have to stop down further for the same depth of field.

In general, graininess is increased and image sharpness reduced if you overexpose and/or overdevelop. In black and white photography there are fine-grain and high resolution developers to choose from, but they may reduce film speed too.

10.11 Relationship between film speed, sharpness, and graininess. The faster the speed (emulsion C), the lower the resolution and the coarser the grain tends to be, relative to slower emulsions A or B. It is comparatively easy for manufacturers to make trade-offs between the three factors but difficult to increase the triangle area.

10.12 A grainy film has been used here to create a dark and enigmatic shot taken on ISO 400 film pushed one stop in development and enlarged onto contrasty paper to help emphasize the negatives grain pattern. Note it is important to print the grain perfectly sharp, or the image will turn to "mush."

Sensitivity to colors

Monochrome films. Film emulsions are sensitized during manufacture to some or all of the colors of the spectrum. The vast majority of black and white films are given panchromatic color sensitivity ("pan"); see Figure 10.13. This means that they respond to light of all colors as well as to shorter UV wavelengths (Appendix C). In fact this response does not quite match the human eye's concept of light and dark colors. Pan film "sees" (reproduces on the print) violet, blue, and orange-red as somewhat lighter in tone and greens darker in tone than we would generally judge them to be. The difference is generally accepted and is of some value in allowing slow pan materials to be handled under very deep green darkroom safe-lighting (see Chapter 11). For a more exact match you can shoot using a pale yellow camera filter.

A few black and white films are made insensitive to the red end of the spectrum beyond about 590 nm, and are known as orthochromatic ("ortho"). These films reproduce red as black on the final print, and orange as very dark. Ortho materials—mostly sheet film—are useful for copying black and white prints or drawings not involving colors. You can conveniently handle them in the darkroom under red safelight illumination. They are also used for some forms of medical, forensic, and scientific photography. Ortho film speed rating is lower when the subject is lit by tungsten light rather than daylight or flash, because the former contains a higher proportion of red wavelengths.

One or two films, very slow and intended for the printing darkroom rather than camera purposes, are made with blue (and UV) sensitivity only. These are used for making copy negatives, usually in large formats for special printing processes. You can also buy films for camera use with special "black" filters which make them insensitive to almost the whole visual spectrum but responsive to infrared and UV (see Advanced Photography).

10.13 The reproduction of the colored pencils is shown when they are photographed on (center) ortho and (right) panchromatic monochrome films.

Color films, both negative and slide types, often have a stack of six or more emulsion layers. They use three different kinds of color sensitization. The top emulsion is sensitive to blue only, others respond to blue and green, and the remainder primarily to red. A yellow filter may be incorporated below the blue-sensitive layer so that blue light cannot proceed further into the film. Therefore you effectively have a multi-layered emulsion responding to blue only, green only, and red only—the three thirds of the spectrum. (Later each of these three emulsion types will form its image in a different colored dye, to reproduce the final image in full color; see Appendix C.)

The relative sensitivity of the different layers (color balance of the film) is carefully controlled during manufacture. Most color films are balanced to give accurate color reproduction when the subject is illuminated by daylight or flash (5000-6000 K). Tungsten-balanced films, which have slightly slower red-sensitive layers to give correct reproduction of subjects lit by red-rich 3200 K tungsten lamps, are very rare these days, although Lomography made their own and you might find Kodak cine film repackaged for photography use. Apart from "daylight" and "tungsten" color balance films, one or two exceptional materials are sensitized to infrared or laboratory light sources.

Choosing Films for Black and White

Negative types for general use

The majority of black and white films are designed to give you a negative image in black silver. In other words, the latent image recorded in the camera is strengthened into visible black silver during developing, and then the remaining creamy halides are removed, leaving the film with a negative image (subject highlights darkest, shadows lightest) in clear gelatin.

General-purpose pan films can range from about ISO 50/18° to ISO 3200/36°. The slower the film is, the finer the grain and the better its ability to resolve detail. Contrast—the range of gray tones formed between darkest black and complete transparency—is slightly greater with slow films than fast films. This tendency is taken into account in the recommended developing times, which tend to be shorter for slow films.

Films between ISO 100/22° and ISO 400/27° offer a good compromise between speed and graininess. ISO 400/27° film gives prints with a just visible grain pattern (noticeable in areas of even gray tone such as sky) when 35 mm is enlarged beyond 10x8 inch, although this depends upon negative development and the type of enlarger light source used (see pp. 364 and 421). In general, it is best to use the slowest film that subject conditions sensibly allow, especially when working with small negatives such as 35 mm. For occasions when you want to give long exposures to create blur in moving objects, this too will be easier on slow film (see also neutral density filters, p. 83). However, slow film may prevent you from stopping down enough for depth of field, or necessitate the use of a tripod in situations where that is impractical. Fast film is necessary for reportage photography under really dim conditions, and for action subjects or hand-held telephoto lens shots which demand exceptionally short shutter speeds. Although reportage photographers might use flash for certain situations, and therefore can use a slower film, if they are working under conditions where they do not wish to be conspicuous, this obviously would not be appropriate. If you are working in well-lit conditions but deliberately want to use very fast film to give a grainy texture to the image, you may have the problem of too much light. In this case, use a neutral density (ND) filter (see p. 83) to reduce exposure.

Special-purpose monochrome films

Chromogenic films. A few monochrome negative films, such as Ilford XP2 Super and Kodak BW400CN, give their final image in a purple-brownish dye instead of silver. Extra components in the emulsion layers form tiny globules of dye wherever silver is developed. Please note that the processing you must give these films is known as "chromogenic," and this finally bleaches away all silver, leaving your image in dye molecules alone. These are the same chemicals and processing stages as for color negatives (p. 161), so you cannot process them in normal black and white chemicals. However, it is easy to hand in your exposed film to a photo processing lab or drugstore anywhere that does color negative film processing for rapid black and white results.

Another advantage of chromogenic films is that they are more able to tolerate inaccurate exposure—especially overexposure—than silver image types. You can choose to rate your film anywhere between ISO 125/22° and 1600/33°, provided you develop accordingly. However, although results are fine grain, the grain is less "crisp" and image sharpness slightly poorer than with silver image film. They also cost more for self-processing, and you don't have the choice of developers possible with the other films. However, they have a different "look" from silver halide films, which might attract some photographers.

Line film. Some materials are made with high contrast emulsions. Available mostly in sheet films but also 35 mm, they give negatives with few or no grays between dense black and clear white, when processed in the appropriate high contrast developer. Line films, and the more extreme "lith" (lithographic) films, are intended for photographing documents, pen-and-ink drawings, etc., which contain only pure black and pure white and need to be reproduced in this form (Figure 10.14). Emulsions are very slow and fine grain, and most often have ortho sensitivity for easy darkroom handling.

10.14 High contrast line film reproduces ink drawings (as here), diagrams, lettering, etc, in pure black and clean white only.

You can also use line film to simplify regular images of full tonal range scenes into stark, graphic black and white (compare Figure 10.15 with Figure 5.14). Since this sort of material only has a speed of about El 8, and its high contrast demands absolute exposure accuracy, it is best to shoot your picture first on normal film, then reproduce this onto line film by rephotographing or printing in the darkroom. (This effect can also be achieved by digital means using an image manipulation software program; see Chapter 9.) Line negative film is also excellent for making slides of black-on-white line diagrams or text, which then project as bold white-on-black images.

10.15 Line films can also be used to copy and convert a normal contrast print into a stark graphic image See original shown in Figure 5.14.

Films for monochrome slides. There are now few "off the shelf" films yielding monochrome transparency images. Black and white positive slides can, however, still be made, using normal negative film processed in specialist chemistry kits from manufacturers such as Ilford. These can give excellent quality monochrome slides, with rich tone range, fine grain, and extreme sharpness. But, as with all reversal-processed materials such as color slides, you must get your exposure correct at the time of shooting because little adjustment is possible later.

Films with extended sensitivity. Some materials have been made with abnormal properties for specialist purposes. For example, films designed for speed-trap traffic cameras have panchromatic sensitivity extended to include infrared wavelengths. When Ilford SFX200 is used with a deep red filter, subjects such as portraits record with darkened eyes, pale lips, and a slight overall image softness, blue skies in landscapes as black, foliage white, and skin tones ghostly pale (see Advanced Photography).

Films for Color Photography

Color negative films carry in effect three types of black and white emulsion, recording blue, green, and red respectively They reproduce the image in negative tones and complementary colors (Figure 10.16). To understand this term "complementary" color, remember the color spectrum of white light (Figure 2.3). If you remove all the red wavelengths from the spectrum, what remains appears not white but greenish-blue (called "cyan"). Cyan is therefore said to be complementary to red—opposite or negative to it in terms of colored light. In the same way, removing green from white light produces a purplish-red ("magenta"), and if you remove blue from white light, you get a dominance of yellow. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are said to be complementaries of red, green, and blue light. (Note that these differ from the complementary colors in paints and pigments.)

10.16 Complementary colors. When one-third of the spectrum (one of the primary colors red, green, or blue) is removed from white light, the remaining mix of wavelengths appears cyan, magenta, or yellow respectively So each of these colors is a combination of two primaries and can be said to be "complementary" to the missing third. In a sense they are "negative versions" of red, green, and blue.

10.17 How color negative films reproduce colors. Left: Black silver develops, and complementary dye forms where each layer responds to subject color (compare this G and R response with Figure 10.16). Right: Silver and remaining halides are removed, leaving negative image in dyes alone

The way in which natural image colors formed by your lens in the camera are turned into their complementary colors in the processed film is shown in Figure 10.17. Each emulsion layer in the film also contains a color coupler chemical—a yellow dye former in the blue-sensitive layer, a magenta former in the green-sensitive layer, and a cyan former in the red-sensitive layer. Couplers only turn into their designated color dye when and where the silver halides to which they are attached are affected by light, and so develop to black silver. When toward the end of this chromogenic processing the silver is removed, what was originally the blue-sensitive layer contains an image in which all parts of the picture containing blue record as yellow. Similarly, in other layers, parts of the image containing green record as magenta, and red parts as cyan. Wherever the scene was some other color, the image is recorded in more than one layer, while white or gray records in all three. Viewed as one, the "stack" of layers gives you the familiar color negative image (plus a characteristic warm tint remaining in clear areas). Follow this through in the reproduction of the colored pencils (Figure 10.18). During enlarging, similar layers in color paper give "a color negative of a color negative," recreating subject colors and tones and therefore a positive print.

10.18 Color negative image Compare the original pencil colors (left) with the complementary colors in which they have been recorded on negative color film.

Color negative films for general use

Color balance. The vast majority of color negative films are balanced for use with daylight or flash. If you shoot with them instead in tungsten lighting (the normal traditional light from a household bulb, for instance), the results show a warm orange/yellow cast. It is possible to make color corrections during darkroom printing or digital manipulation, but this may create difficulties and restrictions owing to the amount of change required. It is better to shoot with a bluish conversion filter over the lens (p. 82).

Film speeds and color contrast. You have the greatest choice of film speeds in 35 mm and to a lesser extent rollfilm formats. You can find films that run ISO 100, 160, 200, 400, and some at 800 or even 1600. These fast films are also designed to be up-rated when needed to double their ISO speed, then push-processed in the standard developing kit for all color negatives known as C-41 (see p. 368). Sheet films differ very little in speed, typically around ISO 100. 35 mm color negative film of ISO 200 or 400 gives good balance between speed, graininess, and resolution for most situations apart from press photography.

The color qualities of your final picture can range from natural or subtle to bold and vivid. Fine judgment of what looks best depends on you as the photographer and how you want your subject to appear—film types and makes are all very different; if you read the maker's specifications, you can get an idea of the nature of the particular film, but it is good to test different makes of film as they all have slightly different color bias. Adjustments can again be made in color printing, but to minimize compensations at this stage (particularly if you use an outside photo lab for prints) some films for professional photography are made in a choice of color strengths. So the same film name, whether fast or slow, may be followed by a suffix such as N for "natural" color or S for "saturated" color. The N version usually gives a softer, more subtle color; S would enhance a subject with a rich predominant color, especially in flat, existing light. Films with slower speed ratings tend to be more vivid, whereas faster films are softer and grainier.

Slide and transparency films

Color films designed to give positive images direct often include the suffix "chrome" in their brand name rather than "color," which is used for negative types (i.e., Fujichrome rather than Fujicoior). Chrome films are also collectively known as color reversal films, because of the special reversal processing they must be given. Results from rollfilms and sheet films are normally referred to as transparencies, and 35 mm results as slides. Slide and transparency films have high image resolution (unlike most prints which have had to pass through a lens twice). Viewed on a light box or projected as slides, reversal film images show a wider range of colors than it is possible to achieve by copying prints from negatives and so traditionally were preferred for the printed page, while today digital files can simply be uploaded and go straight to print.

During the first part of processing only black and white developer is used, forming black silver negatives in the various layers. Dyes are then formed where the unused halides remain so that when all silver is removed, a positive, correct-color image remains. For example, referring to Figure 10.19, green (e.g., foliage) in your subject records on the green-sensitive layer and is developed as black silver there. The blue- and red-sensitive layers in this foliage area are not affected by the light and so form yellow and cyan, which together make the final image here look green.

All reversal color films need chromogenic processing using developing kit E-6, which, like C-41 for negatives, can be carried out by the photographer or a laboratory.

Color balance. Color balance must be more accurately matched to type of lighting than with negative materials, as corrections are more difficult. Image color is easily "burnt out" by accidentally overexposing or darkened by underexposing; little correction is possible later. Nearly all color slide films are balanced for daylight and flash and so need a bluish filter if used with tungsten light; tungsten-balanced film needs an orange filter with daylight or flash (Figure 10.20).

10.19 How slide films reproduce colors. Left: Black silver develops only where layers respond. Center: Remaining emulsion is turned into black silver plus dyes. Right: All silver is removed, leaving positive image in dyes alone.

10.20 Color films, especially slides, exposed to subjects lit by a source of the wrong color temperature show a cast. You shoot using an appropriate conversion filter. (Note: 3400 K tungsten lamps, regularly used for TV and movie lighting, require filtering on both daylight and tungsten type stills-photography film.)

Film speeds. The market for reversal films is quite small so there is only a limited range of films available. Fuji is the main supplier and manufactures a variety of 35 mm, medium format (rollfilm), and sheet film, generally from ISO 50 to 400, although sheet film only comes in ISO 100. Agfa also produces a 35 mm ISO 100 slide film.

Storing Film—Before and After Exposure

“Professional” and “amateur” films

Film manufacturers designate some of their range as professional and include this word on the pack. The main difference between professional and "non-pro" or amateur film is that the former is designed to give its best, exactly specified performance the moment it leaves the factory. So provided you place it in immediate refrigerated storage at 13°C or less, as suggested for the product, it will record with great film-to-film consistency Professional film must be processed immediately after exposure too.

Amateur films are produced for a slightly different storage scenario, in which they remain at room (or shop) temperature for an average time after delivery, and there is a more variable time delay between exposure and processing. In practice, amateur films are about 25 percent cheaper than professional films of the same speed. They are in no way inferior for professional work, and some professional photographers prefer to use them, but it is advisable to make checks for possible batch-to-batch variations. Having done this, color consistency is better maintained if you keep them in refrigerated storage as for professional films.

Length and type of storage

The main hazards to avoid—before and after exposure, and before processing—are damp, humid conditions, chemical fumes, and fogging due to exposure to light. Exposed films are more likely to react than unexposed ones, and fast film rather than slow.

Speed loss is the most common effect of overlong storage. Color film is especially vulnerable to change because alterations to the finely adjusted relative speeds of its different emulsion layers upset color balance. Remember that the expiry date stamped on the packaging is only a guide—so much depends on storage conditions (including before you bought it). Stored in the general compartment of a domestic refrigerator, sealed film should remain usable beyond this date without changes.

However, allow time for your film to warm up, unopened, between removing it from the refrigerator and shooting. Unsealing too soon may cause condensation to form on the emulsion. Recommended periods are one hour for cassettes and sheet film, and three hours for cans of bulk film. Remember too that instant picture materials only function at their expected speeds when at 18-30°C. Below about 10°C most will not work at all, so take care to warm up the pack under your coat when working outdoors in winter.

If you cannot process exposed film straightaway, store it in a cool, dry, dark place. If it goes back into the refrigerator, keep it in a taped-up foil bag or airtight box, as without this your film is no longer protected from humidity If possible, include a packet of desiccating crystals such as silica gel within its container to absorb any moisture.

So Which Film is “Best”?

Film photography is still available to the general public in most countries but tends to be used most often by photographers who have made a conscious effort to use analog materials. If you choose to use film, you will probably already own a film camera; it is a good idea to test a range of film types and makes in order to find out which one suits you/your camera/the job you are doing. It makes good sense to narrow your field: use as small a range of films as your work allows, and get to know them thoroughly Good familiarity with a film's characteristics is most likely to give technically consistent, reliable results. Just remember the existence of other materials for special tasks.

The main factors to consider when choosing film are:

What is to be the final result? Print or slide/transparency; color or black and white; a large print to hang on the wall, a set in an album, or for reproduction on the printed page or viewed on screen? If your picture might be used now or in the future in a whole variety of ways, shoot color negative. And if there is any likelihood that a large display or exhibition print will be the end product, go for a film format larger than 35 mm if you want the finest quality Figure 10.21). If you plan to scan your pictures, color negatives give better results because of their lower contrast Remember too that color negatives can be darkroom-printed in monochrome, or scanned in "gray-scale" (p. 269).

Relate the film to type of subject and lighting conditions. Will its contrast, color brilliance, and grain (if any) best suit the image quality and/or mood you want to achieve? Will the film's speed and color balance link up with the strength and color of the lighting? Remember likely depth of field and movement blur requirements too. Perhaps you will be working in changing lighting, and conditions where exposure may be difficult to measure accurately? If this is the case, pick a film that is most tolerant of over- or underexposure.

Will you process and print it yourself, or use a Lab? For self-processing, use a tried and tested combination of film and developing which gives excellent results on your enlarger (or through your film scanner). Is there a reliable, caring lab able to handle the work for you and return it promptly—preferably knowing the kind of result you like via personal contact?

Personal preference. Beyond a certain point, color, contrast, and "crispness" or "subtlety" of image quality are subjective. It can be useful to know one or two films that really suit your style and help give a recognizable look to all your work; or perhaps you might want to shoot different subjects in different styles.

How expensive is film and processing? If you are working professionally, this comes lower down the list because your time, travel, studio and lighting hire, etc., are all more expensive elements.

10.21 Film types: (a) monochrome rollfilm negative (b) 35 mm color negative (c) reversal color (slide) film, and (d) reversal monochrome film.

Always test out a film you have never used before, prior to using it on an assignment. And where practical, buy your transparency film in batches with the same coating number (printed on the packaging). One of the major advantages of using digital is that you can alter the ISO for every shot that you take, but with film you may need to take out different cameras with different film types in them to respond quickly to changing conditions.

Film Processing

Processing film is relatively simple but it requires a consistent, controlled routine. The gelatin of the emulsion absorbs liquid chemicals, which react with those within the film, differentiating between exposed and unexposed parts of the image. Essentially the "latent image" formed by the action of light on the emulsion while in the camera is developed, changing its chemical makeup into something more permanent, and is then fixed and washed to make it no longer light sensitive and to remove the chemical byproducts.

The most accurate processing is given by automatic machinery, which produces very consistent results but is expensive to set up and really only justified for busy photographic departments and laboratories which have a high throughput.

Color processing can be quite tricky to do by hand as it requires very accurate time and temperature controls and often many solutions. Most people therefore use a local laboratory, especially as color film processing is very standardized, chemical costs are quite high, and the keeping qualities of most solutions are limited. Black and white, on the other hand, lends itself to much wider personal choice of developer/film combinations and manipulation of developer and development, and is generally less rigorous in terms of temperature control. With care you can expect to achieve professional standards in black and white processing at home.

For all forms of film processing you can use light-tight tanks. Provided these are loaded with film in total darkness, permanent darkroom facilities are not essential. Consistency must be maintained over timing, temperature, and solution agitation to give good results. You can also vary the amount of development—usually by adjusting timing to alter the characteristics of the final image. These variations mostly affect density, contrast, and grain. Processing itself is often mundane, but requires concentration and care over detail. You should avoid contaminating one chemical with another, and wash byproducts out of the emulsion thoroughly Times and temperatures have to be closely monitored. Wet film is very soft and vulnerable to scratches, kinks, and dust, which, when enlarged, may ruin the final results or call for hours of retouching. While it is true that a few moments' carelessness can mean the loss of dozens of irreplaceable pictures, the process is not difficult and you get a great sense of fulfillment in doing it yourself.

Equipment and general preparations

Before you start, you will need some essential items of equipment, chemicals which may require mixing or diluting for use, and a suitable place to work. Your chief item of equipment is a processing tank. It would be useful if it can hold 120 or 35 mm films in open coils (Figure 10.22) or sheet films suitably separated (see Figure 10.23). Chemicals or wash water can then circulate over the emulsion surfaces to affect them evenly. You also require a photographic-grade thermometer and various graduated measures ("graduates") for measuring and mixing solutions, as well as a plastic mixing rod. For small tanks in particular you need chemical storage bottles, a funnel (to return solutions to containers), a hose for washing, and photographic clips for hanging up films to dry. You can time processing from any watch or clock, but the ideal is an electronic timer you can program for the complete sequence of stages, including agitation periods. Figure 10.24 shows some of the darkroom equipment you will need for processing film. Also, you need to have some means of maintaining solution temperature during processing, and if possible a drying cabinet.

10.22 A selection of hand processing equipment. Back: Plastic multi-reel tank for up to six 35 mm or four 120 films. Rear left: Film holder and square plastic tank for up to six sheets of 5x4 film. Rear right: Universal tanks in plastic and stainless steel for 35 mm or 120 film. Front: Single-reel stainless 35 mm tank, plastic and stainless steel film spirals See also Figures 10.30 and 10.31.

10.23 Deep tanks. Sheet films are clipped in individual hangers, which hang in the solution within tanks For processing larger quantities, racks hold many hangers, or films in reels Films must be moved (in darkness) between separate tanks of developer, stop bath, and fixer. Tanks are best housed in a flat-bottomed PVC sink, which can also act as a water jacket. See Figure 10.34.

10.24 Left to right: Thermometer dial type, protective latex gloves, minutes/seconds timer, graduate and mixing rod for mixing and diluting, clip for hanging up film, solution storage containers, thermometer (electronic digital), funnel.

Working layout

Keep your "dry" working area—where you will load your rolifiim tank or hangers—away from the "wet" chemical preparation and processing areas, if necessary, small tanks can be loaded in any (clean) light-tight cupboard or even a changing bag (Figure 10.25), then moved somewhere else for processing itself. Deep tanks, however, need to be in a completely blacked-out room (p. 415). Both large and small tanks will have to stand in an empty sink for washing stages. Note that fixer is generally heavier than water and will therefore just sit at the bottom of a tank with inadequate water flow. Just standing a tank under the tap (faucet) is no good.

Some small tanks are designed to be used with a hose from the water supply attached to the inlet. The water is forced over the film from below, exiting at the top. Specially designed wash tanks (Figure 10.26) follow the same principle; water enters at the bottom via inlet jets and exits at the top, carrying the chemicals with it.

10.25 Left: Tank, film, scissors, etc., are placed inside the changing bag through zip opening before starting to load film, far right. Make sure that everything needed (including the tank lid) is in the bag before you start loading the film. The bag can also be used for loading sheet film holders. Right: Changing bag made of lightproof material, with elasticized armbands.

Note also that clean water is a must. The plumbing in many buildings can carry grit, rust from pipes, and other impurities which can stick to the film. Small filters are available which fit over the tap to deal with this problem. With an efficient washing system, most black and white films are done in 30 minutes to an hour at 20°C. Hot wash water (above 30°C) can soften the emulsion enough to cause damage. Similarly, very cold water (below about 13°C) causes the gelatin to harden and is less effective, requiring extended wash times.

10.26 Film washing. Simple use of hose pushed fuiiy into the opened reel tank (left) and wash tank for sheet films (right) ensures an even flow of water

The quickest and safest way to dry film is in a drying cabinet (Figure 10.27). Carefully remove rollfilms from their spirals, attach clips or plastic clothes pegs (clothespins) at each end, and hang them vertically A clip on the bottom to weight the film prevents it coiling up as it dries. Sheet film can remain in hangers. (See also wetting agent, p. 367.) Film is best dried at room temperature, which will take several hours. If you are in a hurry, the built-in air heater of a drying cabinet will reduce the drying time to 10 minutes or so, but do not run it too hot. Temperatures of over 40°C can damage films.

10.27 Film drying cabinet, glass fronted type Accepts 35 mm, rollfilm, or sheet film, in mixed sizes Often heated.

If you change from one drying rate to another part way through, you will create drying marks. Dry films well away from dust, fluff, grit, or chemicals—which could settle on the delicate emulsion surface. If you intend to reuse reels or hangers immediately for further processing, first make sure they are absolutely dry. Metal spirals can be dried quickly using hot air (such as from a hairdryer) but this can distort or melt the plastic type.

Solution preparation

Whenever you are preparing chemical solutions, take care over health and safety. It is always advisable to wear latex or plastic gloves to protect your hands from direct contact with liquid or powder chemicals.

When dissolving dry chemicals or diluting concentrated solutions, do this near a ventilator or open window and avoid inhaling vapor. Figure 10.28 shows a list of some photographic solutions which require care in this respect. Pour the chemicals into the water when making solutions. Doing the reverse can cause dangerous splashes. Read the warnings on labels, and keep all solutions away from your eyes and mouth as well as from cuts or grazes. Never have food or drink near chemical preparation areas. And make sure all your storage bottles are correctly labeled and cannot be mistaken for something else. (For further advice see Appendix E.)

Take care not to allow accidental contamination of chemicals. Contamination will often make expensive solutions useless and, worse still, ruin films—especially color films. To begin with, make sure all items that come into direct contact with photochemical solutions are made from appropriate inert materials such as PVC plastic, stainless steel, or glass. Copper, bronze, galvanized iron, chrome- or silver-plated materials, zinc, tin, or aluminum are all unsuitable, because they react with chemicals and fog film. Absorbent materials such as wood or polyurethane soak up solutions and then contaminate the next thing they touch. Only a drop or so of some chemicals can totally neutralize others. Be careful not to contaminate accidentally through poorly rinsed graduates or storage containers, by solutions carried over on a glove, thermometer, or mixing rod, or by mixed-up bottle caps.

10.28 Safety precautions for processing chemicals. See also Appendices D and E.

Processing chemicals are bought either as complete kits containing all stages (as for color film processing) or as individual items (such as black and white chemicals). In both instances, they may be concentrated liquids or premixed powders which need dissolving. Occasionally, with unusual solutions, you might have to weigh out and mix raw chemicals according to a published formula (see Appendix D). Most often they are prepacked, in which case follow the instructions supplied meticulously with regard to the order in which the contents of any subpackets are to be dissolved, and the temperature of the water. Failure to do so may either oxidize your solution or make the powder impossible to dissolve.

Often concentrated liquid chemicals must be diluted by part, for example "one part stock solution to eight parts water" or 1 + 8. Parts may mean any unit of volume, as long as you use the same unit for concentrate and water. 1 fl oz with 8 fl oz water (total 9 fl oz) or 1 US pint with 8 US pints (total 9 US pints) are both 1 + 8 solutions. It is also useful to know how much concentrate you need for a set volume of working solution. The formula is:

parts concentrated solution = final working volume / (parts water +1)

In other words, the amount of concentrated developer to prepare a 12 liter tankful of one part stock to five parts water is 12 divided by 6 = 2 liters. Occasionally you have to use a percentage solution (handy when a chemical is used in different amounts in various solutions). The "percentage" of a solution means the ratio of chemical to the final quantity of its solution in water. For example, a "5 percent solution" is five parts of chemical made up to a total 100 parts with water. In the case of solid chemicals, this is worked out as weight per volume. So both 5 grams of solid chemical made up to 100 ml with water (total 100 ml) and 5 ml of liquid chemical made up to 100 ml (total 100 ml) are 5 percent solutions.

Processing tanks (35 mm and 120)

Hand-processing tanks and reels are made of either plastic or stainless steel. Reels have open ends with a spiral channel for the film (Figure 10.29). The stainless steel types are more expensive, but quicker to dry between processing runs and easier to keep clean. It is important that all reels are dry before loading the film as moisture can cause the film to buckle and not load. Steel types are quicker to load once you are practiced, but unlike some plastic types they are not adjustable to accept film of different widths. Having cut off the shaped leading end of the film cleanly, open the 35 mm cassette in complete darkness (using a special opening tool or a bottle opener) to remove your spool of film (see Figure 10.30). With 120 film, unroll the backing paper in complete darkness until you reach the film itself. Plastic reels are mostly loaded from the outer

10.29 Loading reels. (a) Top: Cut off the 35 mm film leader. If your film has wound in completely, use a film retriever (Figure 10.30) to pull out the end. Next, remove the spool of film from its cassette in the dark. (Top right: When loading 120 rollfilm, unwind the backing paper in the dark until you reach the end of the film.) Center: A plastic 35 mm reel is loaded from the rim toward the center. Swiveling the flanges in opposite directions draws the film in fully. Cut off and tuck the end in. Bottom: Loading a stainless steel 35 mm reel; clip the film to the center core and then gently turn the whole reel to wind it in, bowing the film gently between your fingers. Again, cut and push the end into its groove, (b) Loading a plastic reel from the edge, set for 120 rollfilm this time. The film does not need to be bowed but enters the spiral virtually flat. Pinching the film too hard will result in kink marks on the negatives, (c) Loading a 35 mm stainless steel reel from the center. Note the film is very slightly bowed between the fingers.

10.30 35 mm tools. Left: Film retriever, inserted into a 35 mm cassette in daylight, pulls out the tip of exposed film which has been wound in. Right: Opener to remove the end of the cassette, in darkness. (Note: A standard bottle opener can work just as well.)

10.31 Light trapped lid allows solutions to be poured into and out of a hand tank in normal lighting (stainless steel type shown here).

rim, steel reels always from the center outward, keeping the film slightly bowed across its width. Avoid kinking the film, as this will form dark crescent-shaped marks, or buckle it so that one part of the coil touches another, leaving unprocessed patches. A loading aid makes it easier to fill center-loading reels in the dark. Tank bodies hold single reels, or you can buy various taller versions taking multiple reels. Once each film is on a reel, placed inside the tank body and sealed from light by the lid, you work entirely in normal lighting, pouring solutions in and out in turn through a light trapped opening in the lid (Figure 10.31). Note that many popular daylight tanks use a central spindle, which is vital as it forms part of the light trap. Ensure you have all the tank's components with you before you start to load film. Once the cassette is opened, there is no going back.

Agitation

Giving the film and solutions the correct agitation is of great importance. Too little and byproducts from the emulsion gradually diffuse and slide down the film toward the tank bottom, producing streaks. Excessive, over-energetic agitation creates currents from hanger clips or film perforations which give uneven flow marks; it can also increase the contrast of the film. Most small tank development times are based on "intermittent" agitation—typically a period of 5 seconds every minute (Figure 10.32). This is given by inverting the film tank gently or rotating the reel, or lifting and tilting sheet films. It is vital that you adopt a consistent agitation routine, or the processing will vary unpredictably; a lack of agitation can reduce the development and increased agitation overdevelop the film. In motorized processing, the action of drum rotation, or the continuous passage of the film through solutions between moving rollers, provides the agitation.

10.32 Agitating film during processing with a daylight 35 mm or 120 hand tank. First tap it gently on a hard surface to dislodge air bells at the start of development; then use inversion technique at regular, specified intervals throughout processing.

Processing tanks (sheet film)

If processing a lot of sheet film regularly, the most common way of hand processing it is in a series of 15 liter PVC "deep tanks" (Figure 10.23), one for each stage of processing. An extra floating lid rests on the surface of solutions, such as developer, which are prone to oxidation with the air; remove these before you start processing and replace them immediately afterward.

Each tank should have a main lid which is loose fitting but generally light-tight, so that you can switch on white light to check time, etc., once films are in the solution, some school setups might not have lids so be careful not to switch lights on during processing. You remove each sheet film from its holder in darkness or special film-type safelighting (p. 387) and clip it into a stainless steel hanger. You can lower hangers individually into the first tank of solution, where they are supported by a ledge near the top. If processing more than two or three sheets together, the hangers can be slotted into a rack, which makes them much easier to agitate and greatly reduces the risk of scratching the film.

Similarly, several standard reels containing 35 mm film or rollfilm can be placed in a stainless steel basket for batch handling. Most people carry out the whole process in full darkness; otherwise you must switch off the white light and open the tank lid each time you agitate films or transfer them to the next tank.

Sheet films can also be processed in special "daylight" tanks. In the first type they are curved and fitted within a horizontal PVC drum, which fits on a motorized cradle like a color print drum processor (Figure 10.33). This is economical, as the rotating tank needs only a small volume of each solution to be inserted and drained in turn through a light trapped entry funnel. Agitation is continuous. Alternatively, the films may be fitted into slots within a small rectangular developing tank. This has a lid with a light trapped inlet and outlet, so you can pour processing solutions, wash water, etc., in and out of the closed tank in normal lighting. Agitation of these tanks is like that for the rollfilm types, by inversion.

Temperature control

Have developer(s) ready at just the right temperature and maintain this within tolerances for the solution while they act on the film. (Temperature latitude is as little as ±0.25°C with some color developers, but much wider for fixers, etc.) The best way to hold temperature with a small tank is to have a "tempering unit" (Figure 10.34). This is an enclosed jacket containing electrically heated air or water, thermostatically controlled within narrow limits. Alternatively, stand your tank and graduates of chemicals in a bowl or deep tray filled with water of the required temperature.

Larger volumes of chemical in deep tanks hold their temperature more readily. To alter temperature use a thermostatic immersion heater, or a tempering coil through which you pass and discharge to waste warm or cold water. Make sure your thermometer will cope with the higher temperatures (e.g., around 38°C) required for some color processing.

10.33 Small-volume sheet film processing in (left) stainless steel daylight tank, or (center) rotary drum. The latter maintains both film drum and chemical containers in a temperature-controlled water bath; see side view (right).

10.34 Temperature control (a) Simple water jacket for the film tank, (b) Commercial tempering unit using warmed air (hand tank fits in center). For deep tanks use (c) stainless steel tempering coil connected to the warm water supply, or (d) electric immersion heater.

Processing Black and White (Silver Image) Negatives

What happens

The first processing solution is a developer, containing developing agents (such as metol, phenidone, hydroquinone) and supportive ingredients that include an alkali, preservative, and restrainer chemicals (see Appendix D). During development, electrons become attached to the film's light-struck silver halide grains. This leads to the formation of vastly more silver atoms until the "latent" but invisible image the film carries grows visible in black metallic silver. At the same time, the emulsion discharges potassium bromide plus exhausted developing chemicals. As these byproducts accumulate, they gradually weaken and slow the action of the developer.

Inside the tank during development the image of your subject's highlights appears first, then the midtones, and finally the shadows. The density (darkness of tone) of highlights buiids up faster than that of shadows so that image contrast steadily increases with development. However, developing does have some effect on unexposed grains, resulting in a gray veil of "fog" to shadows and clear edges of the film if development is continued for too long.

Once development is complete, the action is halted by rinsing the film in water, or ideally treating it briefly with an acidic "stop bath" which neutralizes any carried-over developer. The stop bath also prepares the film for the action of the final chemical, which is the fixer.

Sometimes known as "hypo," fixer is a solution of acidified ammonium or sodium thiosulfate which convertsail the remaining undeveloped silver haiides into soluble compounds which can be washed away. These areas will form the clear parts of the negative in the shadows, edge rebates, etc. The undeveloped silver haiides are still light sensitive and creamy in appearance until fixed. Therefore, if your negatives still have a milky appearance when they emerge from the fixer into the light, return them immediately to the dark and fix for longer.

Usually fixer contains a gelatin-hardening agent too, which strengthens the processed emulsion and hastens drying. Fixers are generally acidic and therefore all trace of them must be washed from the film to prevent long-term stability problems.

Degree of development

A properly exposed film requires a matching amount of development to ensure a good, printable negative. The degree of development received depends on four factors:

10.35 Some black and white film developers.

Type of developer, its dilution, and general condition (e.g., how many films have already passed through it, how oxidized or "stale" it has become, etc.). Some negative developers are general-purpose fine-grain types, others are speed enhancing (primarily for fast emulsions) or high acutance (for medium or slow materials) or high contrast (for line films); see Figure 10.35. Their keeping properties vary according to type of formula. Diluting a developer reduces the contrast it gives (even if you extend time). Dilution is also necessary if processing time must be increased to avoid unevenness. However, this adding of water further shortens solution-keeping properties because more oxygen reaches the chemical contents.

Solution temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the development. As you'll see from Figure 10.36, a 1°C change in temperature has a significant effect on the action of a typical developer. Most manufacturers supply graphs like this to allow you to compensate for different solution temperatures, but they generally only work well over a fairly small range—about 18-24°C. Outside of this range each component of a developer may react differently. At low temperatures some of the developing agents become inert. At high temperatures you risk over-softening the emulsion gelatin, and development times become too short for even action. Wherever possible, adjust the solution temperature to exactly the maker's recommendations.

Timing. Within limits imposed by the type of developer and film, the longer your development time, the greater the image contrast and density (highlights develop more rapidly than shadows). Grain and fog level tend to increase too with time. Change of timing is the most practical way of controlling the amount of development you give (see "pushing," p. 368). But avoid times of less than about 4 minutes when tank processing, as it is difficult to get an even effect. Unless you start each film with fresh chemistry, the timing must be increased each time a solution is reused. See the manufacturer's guidelines.

Agitation. The more a film is agitated in the solution, the greater the action of the developer; however, the effect is uneven and unpredictable and so just enough agitation to ensure even processing is ideal. Try to stick to a standardized method, as discussed on p. 361.

10.36 Time/temperature graph for a typical normal contrast developer (dilution and agitation specified). Temperatures below 18°C cannot be fully compensated for by increased time and much above 22°C times become too short for tank processing to be even.

Choosing developer

You need to find the deve[oper(s) which best suit(s) the film, the shooting conditions, and the type of negative you prefer. Another factor is whether to use "one-shot" (dilute from stock, use once, and throw away) or a long-life reusable solution (increasing your times gradually with each film batch and replenishing when necessary with some fresh chemicals). The latter type is essential for deep tank use because of the large volume of solution. One-shot is ideal for small tank processing because it is less fuss and ensures consistency, although it may cost more. Extremely energetic developers (two bath lithographic developer, for example) have such a short life at working strength that they are best used "one-shot."

10.37 Development time increases with successive use of the same solution (D76, single reel tank).

Start by using one of the developers recommended on the film's packing slip. Reusable fine-grain developers like D76 (diluted 1 +1) and HC110 (1 + 15) are remarkably versatile, suitable for most continuous-tone films and subjects, given appropriate timing (Figure 10.37). If you are going to reuse your developer, it should be appropriately stored to avoid oxidization (Figure 10.38). Alternatively, an "acutance" developer such as Rodinal gives high edge sharpness with slow films and has some "compensating" effect, restricting maximum density yet giving a good range of other tones.

Processing stages following development

10.38 Half-full concertina storage container which can be compressed (right) to minimize the amount of air left in contact with solution. This extends the life of developers, stop bath, and fixers by reducing oxidation.

As soon as the development time is up, pour out the developer and refill with stop bath (stop bath can be just water). After agitating throughout the 30-60 seconds or so required here (check the stop bath instructions), the next stage is to treat the film with acid fixer solution which will render the undeveloped silver halides soluble and make the film no longer light sensitive. After a few minutes' fixing, it is safe to look at the film in normal light although this is not recommended. It is safer to follow the manufacturer's recommended times. If the film appears creamy at the end of the fixing period, it may be that the fixer is partially exhausted. In this case, it may take a little longer for the fixer to make all creaminess disappear from the emulsion and up to twice as long for the film to be fully fixed. Agitate at the beginning of fixing and then once every minute. Both stop bath and fixer are long-lasting and, if stored properly (see Figure 10.38), can be reused many times (see Figure 10.39). All these chemicals are highly toxic and should be disposed of safely at chemical disposal dumps, not poured down the sink. In some countries this is against the law.

10.39 Working life of typical biack and white film processing solutions. Figures for processing capacity assume that times are appropriately increased with each reuse

Effective washing time is about 15-20 minutes, less if the emulsion was unhardened, but wash for longer if in doubt—do not leave to wash for an extended length of time as this can soften the emulsion. For best results rinse the film (still on the spiral) to remove the surface fixer before placing it in the washer and ensure the wash water is no colder than about 15°C. (See Appendix D for residual silver permanence test.) Finally, add a few drops of wetting agent to the last of the wash water, to reduce surface tension and so encourage even drying. Surface water can be removed with a special rubber squeegee (ensure it is completely clean or it may scratch), a piece of sponge or chamois leather, or even by running the film between two fingers, but if the wetting agent is correctly diluted this is unnecessary. The important thing is to avoid water lying on the film in droplets as it dries, as this will cause marks which may be impossible to remove. Carefully hang up the films to dry in a dust-free atmosphere and do not disturb them while drying (see Figure 10.27).

Assessing results

As a general guide, a correctly exposed and developed continuous-tone negative should represent the detail in deepest subject shadows as just perceptibly visible over the clear, unexposed film rebate. Tones representing the subject's brightest important details must not be so dense as to be unprintable, and certainly not as dark as the fogged leader of the film.

Figures 10.40 and 10.41 show some common negative faults. It is important to distinguish exposure errors from development errors, and faults originating in the camera from those caused while processing. Unsharp images are not caused by processing, whereas uneven patches of density usually are. Dark, light-fog marks limited to picture areas alone often mean a camera fault, whereas fog extending across the rebates as well may be either a camera or a processing mishap.

10.40 Effects of exposure and development on a normal contrast, silver image monochrome film, (a) Underexposed and underdeveloped, (b) Underexposed and standard development, (c) Underexposed and overdeveloped, (d) Correct exposure and development, (e) Overexposed and underdeveloped, (f) Overexposed and standard development, (g) Overexposed and overdeveloped. Underexposure combined with overdevelopment gives highest contrast ("pushing" technique). Overexposure with underdevelopment ("holding back/pulling") produces lowest contrast.

10.41 Some monochrome silver image processing faults, (a) Partial fogging to light before processing—typically reel loading in an unsafe darkroom, (b) Partly fogged toward the end of development, (c) Extremely uneven development because the tank contained insufficient solution, (d) Rollfilm showing black crescent-shaped kink marks, and clear patches where coils have touched during development, (e) General abrasion and crease marks due to rough handling in reel loading, (f) Circular uneven drying marks, due to splashes or droplets clinging to the emulsion when drying after processing.

“Pushing” and “pulling” and cross processing

Fast films such as ISO 400/27° are most suited to extra development (push-processing) to enhance speed, because they are less likely than slow films to become excessively contrasty (Figure 10.42). ISO 400/27° film can easily be rated at ISO 1250/32°, for example, if processed in speed-enhancing developer, or shot at ISO 800/30° and given x1.6 normal time in regular D76. Certain films are purposely designed for push-processing and will give good results at speeds of ISO 3200/36° or more! Very high speed films may be necessary for dim-light documentary photography, or you push-process simply when you know you have accidentally underexposed. Don't expect miracles if the subject is contrasty because the increased development will further reduce the detail in the midtones, and remember it's better to use faster film in the first place unless you are after a high contrast, grainy effect. Remember too that the extra grain will reduce detail.

Slightly extended development helps to improve negatives of very low contrast images, preferably shot on slow film to avoid excessive grain

10.42 Push-processing. Extending the developing time or raising temperature increases effective film speed, but taken beyond two stops (ISO 1600 here) graininess and contrast increase and shadow detail becomes lost.

Reduced development (holding back, more popularly known as pulling) is less common but will help when you have accidentally overexposed or want to record a subject with a wide contrast range. The best approach here is to use a superfine-grain, speed-losing developer such as Perceptol, or D76 diluted 1 + 3. This holds back most films to half their normal ISO rating. You may still encounter a problem if the negative holds detail throughout an extreme-contrast subject but is too flat and gray to give a satisfactory print, although scanning may come to the rescue with its very wide range.

10.43 Characteristic curves for this film show that when a subject in which highlights (H) are 100 times brighter than shadows (S) is correctly exposed (see Exp. axis) and developed to a CI of 0.45, the resulting negative has a density range of 0.8. Developed longer, to CI 0.56, the negative is more contrasty and has a 1.1 density range. Relate these ranges to printing papers (Figure 11.8).

Note: Chromogenic films (which use color chemistry to produce a black and white negative) such as the Ilford XP2 Super are also useful here, although the same printing problems may emerge.

Developer effect can be shown by changes in the film's characteristic curve (Figure 5.36). As you give more development time, the shape of the curve steepens, giving increasing contrast. There is an old adage in photography to "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights." In other words, make sure you give enough exposure to record sufficient shadow detail, then control development to get sufficient (but not too much) density in highlights. Degree of development is given a "contrast index" (CI) figure. A CI of 0.45 produces a negative of an "average" subject (say 100:1 tone range) which prints on normal-contrast paper using a condenser enlarger (see Figure 10.43). Work to 0.56 for a diffuser enlarger (p. 421). Once you have perfected these film processing techniques, it would be useful to look at the zone system formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in the 1940s to help determine optimal film exposure and development.

Cross processing (sometimes known as X-pro) is most common in putting color slide film through C-41 process chemicals. Some commercial photography/darkroom labs will perform this developing process. However, cross processing can take place in many other forms, such as color negative film and/or color slide film in a black and white developer. Color cross processed photographs are often characterized by unnatural colors and high contrast. The results of cross processing differ from case to case, as they are determined by many factors such as the make and type of film used, the amount of light exposed onto the film, and the chemical used to develop the film. For best results films are normally overexposed by two stops, but it is good to bracket exposures (see Figure 10.44).

10.44 Unexpected colors can happen when film is processed in the "wrong" chemicals. Color slide film cross processed in C41 chemicals as if a color negative film, with image overexposed by two stops in camera to keep the detail.

Processing Chromogenic (Color and Black and White) Negatives

What happens

Color negative films and black and white dye-image (chromogenic) negative films can both be processed in the same C-41 process chemical kit. In the first solution (color developer) the developing agents form a black silver image, but this time exhausted agents react with dye couplers to simultaneously form a different colored dye image in each emulsion layer. The reaction is known as chromogenic development. In the next solution (a bleach), development is stopped and the black silver is turned into silver halide so that it can be fixed out together with all the remaining unprocessed halides. The fixer may be incorporated in the same solution (then called "bleach/fix"), or be used in a separate stage following a brief wash. You are now left with dye images only (see p. 348). The film is washed to remove fixer and all soluble byproducts, and then finally, depending on the chemicals used, may require a rinse in stabilizer to improve dye stability and harden the emulsion before it is hung up to dry. As these chemicals too can be toxic, they should also be disposed of safely at chemical disposal dumps, not poured down the sink, as mentioned above (which in some countries is against the law).

10.45 Processing stages for four or three bath C-41 kits. (These are occasionally updated, and so should be taken only as a guide.) Times differ slightly according to whether you are processing in deep tanks, a small hand tank, or a drum processor.

Processing tolerances

All this takes place at a higher temperature than with silver negative processing. The higher the temperature, the more accurately it must be held, so it is essential that you use an efficient tempering unit such as a water bath, drum processor, etc. (Figure 10.45).

Development is the really critical stage. Color negative films only tolerate very limited development changes because color is affected along with density and contrast but used creatively can be very effective. All chromogenic black and white and some color negative films designed for the purpose allow greater adjustment of developing times. These you can "push" or "hold back" to compensate for shooting at a higher ISO rating or for (slightly) overexposing. Overdone, the resulting color negatives may show color casts that are different in shadows and highlights (Figure 10.46). Pushed film has a high fog level and grain, while held-back film gives negatives that are too flat to suit any color paper. Therefore it is not advisable to try these techniques purely to compensate for image contrast, as it is in black and white work.

10.46 Gareth McConnell, overexposed portrait of Ed Ruscha. While we would normally avoid overexposure in our photography, it can be used creatively to make a certain aesthetic style or conceptually relate to the theme of the project.

As a rough guide, increase development time for color negative film by 30 percent for one stop underexposure, or reduce normal time 30 percent for one stop overexposure. All other steps remain the same. Whenever you judge processed dye-image films, both color and monochrome, bear in mind that results appear partly opalescent and "unfixed" until completely dry.

Processing Color Slides and Transparencies

Color slide and transparency films require the use of an E-6 process chemical kit. Like color negatives there is no choice of developer—only complete kits. Some kits cut down on time and the number of stages by combining solutions, but give equivalent results which barely differ in sequence or effect.

What happens

With the full number of baths the first solution, a form of high activity black and white developer, forms black silver negatives in each of the emulsion layers. Next, the film is washed to halt the action and remove developer. The remaining halides are then "chemically fogged" to give an effect similar to exposure by light. This is achieved either by a reversal bath or by chemicals contained in the next solution, color developer.

The color developer has a similar (chrornogenic) function to developer used for color negatives. The silver halides fogged by the previous solution are developed to metallic silver in each layer. At the same time, special exhausted developing agents that are formed react with dye couplers attached to the halides undergoing change. The result is yellow, magenta, and cyan positive dye images, although at this point they are masked by the presence of both negative and positive silver images. Finally, the image goes through bleaching, fixing, and washing to remove all the silver, leaving the positive dye images alone.

Warning: In reversal processing, contamination of the first developer with the smallest traces of color developer—even fumes alone—can give results with gray blacks generally off-color.

Processing tolerances

As with C-41, solution temperatures are higher than in regular black and white processing. The critical solutions are first developer (60.3°C) and color developer (61.0 C). with the others 20-40°C or 33-40°C, in kits for processing at 38°C. Reversal color material can be successfully "pushed" or "held back," which you do by altering the first development time (Figures 10.47 and 10.48). All other times remain constant. Regard one stop either way (i.e., doubling or halving ISO speed) as the normal limit, with pushing up to two stops as more of an emergency treatment or for grainy effects.

In general, with all film types, pushed processing increases graininess and contrast, and leads to shadows with less detail But in moderation it can improve shots of low contrast subjects and help when you must have maximum emulsion speed. Held-back ("pulled") processing reduces contrast, which can be useful when, for example, copying slides or when the original subject contrast is too high.

Professional photo laboratories should be able to offer a push- or pull-processing service (sometimes at extra cost). Many photographers will have test rolls, or even a small piece clipped from a sample film, processed first before judging the exposure and having the rest of the job processed accordingly. Automated labs should be able to push- or pull-process to an accuracy of a quarter stop with no problem.

Some of the most common reversal processing faults are shown in Figure 10.49.

10.47 Results of adjusting the timing of the first developer stage of E-6 slide film processing. Left: Overexposing one stop and holding back. Center: Correct exposure and normal processing. Right: Underexposing two stops and giving appropriate push-processing (when enlarged, grain becomes apparent).

10.48 Modified E-6 processing to "push" or "hold back" slides and transparencies

10.49 Some E-6 color slide processing faults. (a) Correctly processed. (b) Fogged to low-level light before processing. (c and d) Fogged during processing. (e) Contamination of first developer with fixer (including fix spots). (f) Color developer contaminated with bleach.

Permanence of Processed Results

Early film stock was nitrate-based, which is possibly the least archivally sound photographic material ever devised—film stocks could literally burst into flames on contact with air! Modern materials are polyester-based "safety film," which is much more inert chemically. The emulsion coating absorbs water and, therefore, chemicals, which need to be thoroughly washed out after processing. Automated processes, particularly in color, use stabilizer solutions to reduce washing and drying times. For very important work, consider rewashing films and drying them slowly at room temperature. Black and white films should be adequately fixed (but not over-fixed) and washed in running water at 15-25°C (too hot and the emulsion will be damaged, too cold and the wash effectiveness is reduced) for at least 15-20 minutes in an effective washer Chemical kits are available which allow you to test for the presence of residual fixer if you doubt the efficiency of the washer.

Correctly processed film images should remain stable for many years. Anticipated life without any perceptible change for dye images, kept in the dark and stored at 21-24°C and 40 percent relative humidity, is ten to twenty years for fast films and forty to one hundred years for slow films. Black and white silver images similarly stored should last forty to one hundred years. Two ways to ensure maximum permanence with black and white films are: (a) use two fixing baths, giving 50 percent of the fixing time in each (when the first is exhausted [Figure 10.37], replace it with the second and make up a new second bath from fresh solution); (b) rinse films after fixing and treat in hypo-clearing agent prior to washing. This also allows the washing time to be reduced by 75 percent. As with black and white film chemicals, most color film chemicals have a limited lifespan (Figure 10.50). If you overuse chemicals, permance of the negative will be affected.

10.50 Working capacity and keeping properties of color reversal and color negative processing solutions This is updated from time to time as chemical compositions change

10.51 Storing negatives and transparencies. Top left: Slides are mounted and "spotted" top right when the image is inverted but right way round. Placed in the projector this way, your picture appears correctly on screen. Drawing a diagonal line across the top edge of a set of slides quickly shows up any missing or disordered ones. Center: Negative file for rollfilm negatives. Right: Suspension file system. Slides are stored in transparent sheets with pockets holding 20-24 at a time.

Store negatives in sleeved ring-file sheets, made for the purpose from inert material such as polyester. Slides can be mounted in plastic or glass mounts (avoid the card ones as they contain glues, etc., which can attack the image), "spotted" to show correct image orientation for projection (Figure 10.51), and stored in archival quality pocketed plastic sheets (to help ensure longevity) which hang in a filing cabinet. Give each image a reference number. (Use the frame number near the edge of 120 and 35 mm negatives as part of this reference when film is stored in strips.)

Take some time to work out an appropriate filing system which suits the way you work. A good way to maintain a film file index is to create a spreadsheet so that it can be easily cross-indexed for date, subject, client, invoice number, etc. If you scan in your work (Chapter 8), the computer can display "thumbnails" a dozen or so at a time, based on a selective listing for any permutation of headings you choose, to locate particular pictures.

Summary

> Camera films have silver halides, plus gelatin and other additives, forming a light-sensitive emulsion coated on a plastic base. The manufacturers create emulsion "recipes" that give different levels of grain size, resolution, speed, and contrast (all interrelated), and the material is sensitized to chosen bands of the spectrum.

> Exposure in the camera forms a latent image. Later this is amplified by chemical processing to give a visible, permanent result.

> Light sensitivity or "speed" is mostly quoted as an ISO rating—containing one figure which doubles with the doubling of speed, and another (with degree sign) which increases by three. The speed can be varied from the given figure by altering processing times.

> Most black and white films have full-spectrum panchromatic sensitivity. Ortho materials are insensitive to red wavelengths.

> Slow films have finer grain, better resolution, and slightly more contrast than fast types. Line and lith films give extreme contrast when appropriately developed. Some monochrome films which produce a final negative image in dye rather than black silver are processed in the same chemicals (C-41) as color negatives. You can also produce 35 mm black and white slides by special processing of monochrome negatives. Infrared and SFX films give dream-like landscapes and strange portraits.

> Color film emulsion layers are effectively sensitive to blue, green, and red light. Color negative film contains couplers, forming negative images in complementary yellow, magenta, and cyan dye during chromogenic developing. Slide and transparency color films first form black and white negatives, then the remaining emulsion is processed into Y, M, C dye images, finally creating a positive result.

> Color film emulsions are balanced to suit set light sources. The main type is for daylight/flash; very rare these days is the type for 3200 K tungsten lamps.

> Many faster color and monochrome films can be exposed at a higher ISO rating, then push-processed to give the effect of even higher sensitivity.

> Instant picture materials include color or monochrome prints (integral or peel apart) and monochrome negatives.

> "Professional" films are more finely adjusted in performance than amateur types, and are often marketed in natural and vivid color image strengths, geared to subject and aesthetic preference.

> Slide and transparency ("reversal") color films are less tolerant of exposure error, and give more contrasty images than color negatives. Daylight type film needs a bluish (80A) filter in tungsten lighting.

> Get really familiar with the practical performance of a selected range of films.

> Establish a technique which makes the most of your materials. Remember you can check your equipment, technique, and composition as you shoot, via instant prints.

> When you choose your film for a job, it should match up to type of subject, lighting, and the size and form of the final image required.

> Protect all film from excess humidity, chemical fumes, and X-radiation. Refrigeration reduces the deterioration process, allowing films to be stored for long periods, but allow cooled films to warm up slowly to avoid condensation problems. Note that although airports claim their X-ray machines will not harm film, it is preferable to opt for a hand search if possible.

> Key skills in film processing are: (1) preparing solutions accurately and safely, (2) the ability to load the spirals, racks, and tanks in darkness, (3) ensuring correct temperature, timing, and agitation, and (4) drying the wet film without damage.

> Protect yourself from inhaling or touching chemicals. Always add chemicals to water. Avoid solution contamination through contact with unsuitable materials or other processing solutions, particularly color chemicals. Dispose of chemicals safely.

> Concentrated chemicals may need dilution by part (e.g., 1 + 8) or to be used as a percentage solution (e.g., percentage of chemical to final solution volume).

> 35 mm and 120 tanks accept film in single or multiple reels, have a light trapped inlet/outlet for solutions to act on the film in sequence. Drum processors work similarly but are motor-driven and use small volumes of mostly one-shot chemicals. Sheet films may be processed in small tanks like rollfilm or, more often, in a sequence of deep tanks—films being transferred between each solution in the dark.

> Use a tempering unit, tempering coil, or thermostatic immersion heater to maintain the temperature of solutions and tank. Agitation during processing must be consistent, not under- or overdone.

> Black and white negatives should be exposed for shadows and developed for highlights. Development increases contrast, density, graininess, and fog level. The degree of development a film receives depends on solution type, condition, and dilution; temperature; agitation; timing.

> Black and white developers are general purpose or specialized (high acutance, contrast, speed enhancing, etc.), "one-shot" or reusable (regularly extending times, or replenishing). The normal processing temperature is 20°C (68°F).

> "Push" black and white film by extending time or using high energy developer. "Hold back" ("pull") by diluting developer, reducing time, or using speed-reducing superfine-grain formula. Watch out for the effects these changes have on image contrast, grain. Black and white negative contrast indices of 0.45 and 0.56 suit condenser and diffuser enlargers respectively.

> When assessing results, clear and featureless subject shadows are a sign of negative underexposure, while low contrast and gray highlights are a sign of underdevelopment.

> Color (and monochrome dye-image) negatives need C-41 chemistry processing. E-6 chemistry is used for most forms of reversal slide and transparency films. Temperatures are higher than for black and white, latitude much less. Invest in an accurate, preferably digital, thermometer. Main chemical stages for negatives: color developer, bleach/fix, stabilize; for slides: first developer, reversal (some kits), color developer, bleach/fix.

> Suitable negative or reversal type films can be "pushed" or "held back" one stop or more by adjusting the timing of the first (development) stage.

> Processing machines—drum units, dip-and-dunk, roller transport—offer semi or complete automation. Rotary processing drum apart, their cost in hardware and chemicals is unjustified for small-volume workloads. Virtually every lab is mechanized to offer fast, reliable, straight processing of C-41 films. The cost is less than the chemical kit you must buy when small batches of film are user-processed. Some labs handle E-6 too. Black and white films (unless chrornogenic) are best user-processed—then you can make your own choice of developer.

> For maximum black and white image permanence, use two-bath fixing, treat film with hypo-clearing agent at the wash stage, and store carefully.

> Remember health and safety when using and disposing of chemicals (Appendix E).

Projects

1. Test the effects of different films. As a starting point, choose a slow (ISO 100 or less) monochrome film and a fast one (ISO 400 or more) and photograph a similar range of subjects. Try a similar pair of different-speed color films, perhaps from two different manufacturers. To experiment further, try pushing films to a higher speed or try infrared or other specialist types.

2. Compare film/developer combinations for your favorite monochrome films. By practical experiment, discover the times needed for different developers to give negatives which best suit your printing setup. Try pairing up slow films with fine-grain developers and fast films with speed enhancers, and then compare with the more all-purpose developers.

3. Test out the image quality effects of up-rating and then push-processing. Shoot both contrasty and low contrast subjects on ISO 400 black and white film with correct exposure and development. Then repeat, pushing film speed to ISO 800,1600, and 3200. Make the best possible enlargements from each. Try the same with color slide film.

4. Test the effect on pulling (holding back) films during processing. Overexpose a film by one stop from ISO 100 to ISO 50 and pull-process appropriately. Compare with a film exposed and processed in the standard way, looking at the result on grain and contrast. Repeat with an ISO 400 rated film.

5. Experiment with cross processing films: color slide film through C-41 chemicals and color negative film in E-6 chemicals, remembering to overexpose the film by two stops.

Chapter Eleven
Black and White Printing

Techniques, Equipment, and Facilities

This chapter looks at the choice of printing materials and discusses basic print-processing chemicals and procedures in making prints from black and white films. It also looks at some chemical methods of altering your final result. Having a good negative is always an advantage, but it is the final print which people see. While it is difficult to make good prints from poor negatives, it is all too easy to make poor prints from good ones without the basic skills.

By practicing printing techniques you will be able to distinguish really good print quality from the adequate, and develop skills to control the results fully. Other requirements, such as speed and economy, will come with experience—without setting yourself a good print quality to strive for and acquiring the knowledge of how to achieve that, it will be hard to get the best from your negative. Many photographers use printing labs for their work but have first learned the printing process so that they can understand how to advise the printer to achieve the best quality print, whether they work digitally or with film.

This chapter is also concerned with darkroom organization, enlargers, and other equipment to enable you to set up your own darkroom. With weil-organized facilities and a basic understanding of darkroom materials and procedures you will be able to get down to printing your own work and explore postproduction techniques.

Making a Print

Processing black and white paper follows the sequence develop—stop—fix—wash, similar to processing film as seen in the previous chapter, but with two important differences. First, because you are using open dishes under safeiighting, you can watch the image gradually developing up on the paper. This is a fascinating, truly magical, aspect of photography. Second, each chemical stage of processing is briefer than in the case of film (see Figure 11.1). First, though, let's look at the different types of printing paper still available and the factors that affect the final look of your print.

11.1
Processing sequence for prints using trays. The times given are typical, but you should refer to detailed instructions for each processing solution. The "holding bath" is a rinse tray, used to accumulate prints during a printing session into batches for washing. Times for fiber papers assume single weight unless shown D/W.

Printing Papers

There is a range of black and white printing papers, with different types of base, surface finish, size, image "color," and emulsion contrast. This, together with a variety of different print developers, offers you an enormous range of subtly different permutations.

Base type

There are two main kinds of paper base—resin-coated and fiber. The difference is more than cosmetic, because their processing and washing times, drying and mounting procedures are different. Resin-coated materials (known as "RC," "plastic," or "PE") consist of paper sealed front and back with waterproof polyethylene, then face-coated with emulsion and protective supercoat (see Figure 11.2). Because the core absorbs almost none of the solution, RC prints wash and dry in about one-quarter the time required for fiber papers. When dry, prints do not curl and have good dimensional stability. Like color papers, which are all RC-based, they are also well suited to machine processing (p. 392).

11.2 Cross-sections of RC and (single weight) fiber bromide papers. S: Supercoat of clear gelatin. E: Emulsion. B: Whitening baryta coating. A: Anti-static layer.

The more traditional type of paper has an all-fiber base. It is first surface-coated with a foundation of baryta (barium sulfate) as a whitening agent, followed by an emulsion layer and gelatin supercoat. It can be trickier to work with as it responds more quickly to changes of exposure and requires careful judgment of tests as it dries noticeably darker than its appearance when wet. The total processing cycle for fiber papers is much longer, typically an hour or more, and a glazer is necessary if you want to give glossy paper a really highly glazed finish. However, final prints are much more stable and less prone to deteriorate, especially when displayed over long periods. Fiber prints are also easier to tone, hand-color, mount, and retouch.

In practice, the vast majority of amateur enlargements and commercial prints, especially long runs, are made on RC papers. RC is also convenient for contact prints. For archival prints and exhibition-quality images, fiber paper is often the preferred choice of photographers working with traditional prints. The finest silver-enriched thick emulsion papers, made only with fiber base, are capable of a better tonal range than RC papers.

Thickness and tint

Although single weight papers are mentioned, these are now hard to find; however, the standard thickness for fiber-based papers is still known as double weight, while RC paper is mostly made in so-called medium weight, just slightly thinner than double weight.

11.3
Print drying, (a) Fan-assisted warm air dryer, for up to two RC prints at a time (b) Fast, hot-air dryer for RC paper only; print must be inserted covered by a film of water, direct from tray (c) Ambient air drying, using fine mesh racks or (d) line pegging, (e) Fiat bed heated dryer, with glazing sheet for fiber-based glossy paper.

A limited range of papers can be bought with a cream or an ivory tinted base instead of white, but, with the exception of products such as Foma Chamois, these have gone out of favor because they limit the tone range of image highlights. In fact, many RC white bases often incorporate "optical brighteners" which glow slightly under fluorescent or daylight illumination and so further extend image tone range. (See also lith printing, p. 407, and toning, p. 409.)

11.4
How paper surface affects the appearance of maximum black in a print. Left: Although when seen from position A, gloss paper reflects a glare spot, from B and other positions black appears intense Center: Matt paper scatters a little light in all directions—black looks less rich from every viewpoint. Right: Paper characteristic curves show the surface effect on maximum possible print density. A typical negative prints with its subject shadow detail more compressed on matt than glossy.

Surface finish, size

There is a choice of surface finishes, ranging from dead matt (matte), through what are variously called semi-matt, satin, luster, or pearl, to glossy. Simple warm air drying gives RC glossy paper a shiny finish, whereas fiber-based "glossy" dries with a less shiny surface unless it is put through a glazer after washing.

The combination of base brilliance and surface texture has great influence on the maximum white and black the paper offers you. As Figure 11.4 shows, glossy finish produces the richest blacks, when lit correctly. Matt papers cannot give much beyond a dark gray, which can suit certain subjects but may look dull and flat in more graphic images. Both papers, however, appear with similarly deep blacks when they are compared wet, so be prepared for changes when prints made on matt paper are dried. If photographs are being made for reproduction, they should be made on white glossy paper (glazed or unglazed), and not on anything with a strong surface texture which can interfere with scanning and copying processes as well as the mechanical screen used in ink printing processes (see Advanced Photography).

Figure 11.5 shows a range of printing paper cut sizes. As you can see, some larger sheets can be cut down to give exact numbers of a smaller standard size—one reason for keeping a trimmer in your darkroom. Paper is generally marketed in ten or twenty-five sheet packets and boxes of fifty or one hundred. The cost per sheet is much lower if you buy in the larger quantities.

Image “color”

11.5
Standard dimensions of black and white printing paper

Most printing papers have an emulsion containing a mixture of silver bromide and silver chloride light-sensitive haiides that provide a color or tone to the image Those with a high silver bromide content (bromide papers) give "cold" tones, neutral black in color, in the recommended developer. Papers with more silver chloride than bromide (chlorobromide) and/ or that use crystal structuring give a "warmer," slightly browner, black. The warmth of tone is responsive to your choice of print developer (see p. 389). The silver chloride content is slower in speed than bromide, and also develops slightly faster—so your chosen length of development makes a big difference to "color" too.

Choosing between bromide and chiorobromide paper depends mostly on subject and personal preference. The warmer tones of chlorobromide (Figure 11.6) are often used for landscapes and portraits intended for exhibition. But it is less suitable in pictures for regular monochrome reproduction, because printers' standard black ink will lose the subtleties of warm tone unless printed by four-color.

Contrast

You can control the contrast of your prints by purchasing different boxes of graded papers—these used to corne in grades 1 to 5, grade 1 (soft, low contrast), grade 2 (normal), grade 3 (hard, high contrast), etc., but only a limited range of grade 2 or 3 tends to be supplied today. More common is to use just one box of variable contrast paper and achieve similar control by filtering the color of your enlarger light.

Variable contrast papers. These are also known as Muitigrade (MG) or just VC, according to brand. Variable contrast papers carry no grade number. They work by having a mixture of two emulsions. One is contrasty and sensitive only to blue light. The other is low contrast and sensitized toward the green region of the spectrum. So you can use one of a range of filters, from deep yellow (giving grade 00, low contrast) to deep magenta (grade 5, high contrast), in the enlarger light path to achieve the contrast you want. If you use no filter at all, the paper prints as grade 2. Contrast filters absorb light so as you increase the grade you will need to increase the exposure as well. If the enlarger has a color printing head, you can dial in appropriate filters here (see Figure 11.7). With enlargers fitted with special heads for variable contrast paper, you select grade numbers on a dial or baseboard keypad to adjust filtered light beams automatically.

11.6
Monochrome image "color." Top: A print on bromide paper. Bottom: The same negative printed on warm-tone (chlorobromide) paper and processed in warm-tone print developer

As Figures 11.8 and 11.9 show, soft grades (low contrast) form a relatively gentle "staircase" of tones between the extremes, whereas hard grades (high contrast) rise more steeply and give a harsher and more abrupt range of grays. All the paper grades are capable of producing essentially the same maximum black and white tones (albeit requiring different levels of exposure) and so you can't tell the contrast grade of a print just by looking at it, but bear in mind that the degree of contrast related to grade number—2,3, etc.—is not absolutely consistent between one manufacturer and another. Basically, this choice of contrast allows you to compensate for contrasty or flat negatives. For example, a fairly harsh continuous-tone (contrasty) negative gives results printed on grade 1 similar to a softer (flat) negative printed on grade 4. In practice, choice of grade depends on many factors—type of subject, enlarger illumination, the visual effect you want to achieve,

11.7 Contrast. The same (normal contrast) negative printed on four different contrast grades of the same paper. Clockwise from top left: grade 1 (soft—low contrast), grade 2 (normal), grade 3 (hard—contrasty), and grade 4 (extra hard—extra contrasty). Filters creating the most contrast give the fewest gray tones between white and maximum black. Grade 1 does not reach maximum black before whites begin to gray with this image—it suits much more contrasty negatives.

11.8
Left: The response of four grades of one manufacturers bromide paper expressed as characteristic curves Right: A relatively contrasty negative printed by diffuser en larger with a grade 1 filter gives a similar result to a lower contrast negative with grade 4.

11.9
How filters control variable contrast printing paper. Different proportions of the high and low contrast emulsions present in VC paper are used according to your chosen color filtration. Increasingly strong magenta filters absorb more of the green content of the light and so make the paper become more contrasty. Increasing yellow suppresses blue and gives the opposite effect (see Figure 11.56). Durst numbers suggest settings when using a color head enlarger—combining two filters here keeps the overall density the same so that the exposure time remains constant.

how the picture will be used, and so on. Often, by exaggerating contrast beyond how your subject actuary looked, you can strengthen a bold design.

Variable contrast paper offers you the advantage of not needing to keep an expensive stock of grades as well as different sizes. With a good filtering system you can get the equivalent of five different grades (plus haif-grades). Uniquely too, it also allows you to vary contrast across a print, by exposing one area of the image at one grade setting and the rest at a different setting (see double printing, p. 404).

Choosing a printing paper

All these combinations of features—resin or fiber base, surface, contrast, image color—might seem confusing at first, but in reality there is limited choice as not all papers are available in all forms. Most papers are made with a white base, glossy or pearl (semi-matt) surface, and give a predominantly neutral color image. If you are a newcomer to monochrome printing, it is easiest to learn first with a variable contrast resin-coated type, and then explore fiber-based papers as your skills improve (Figure 11.10).

11.10
Panchromatic printing paper The color negative (center) shown as printed on regular black and white bromide paper (left) and on pan bromide paper (right). The panchromatic bromide paper gives a more accurate graytone representation of colors. (For a color print of the image, see Figure 10.13.)

Safelighting and Printing Paper Sensitivity

Darkroom safelighting should be as visually bright and easy to work under as possible, without of course fogging the paper (when the white of the paper goes gray). The color filter screening the light bulb or fluorescent tube must pass only wavelengths to which the material is insensitive (Figure 11.11). However, no filter dyes are perfect, and if the safelight is too close, or contains a light source too bright, or is allowed to shine on the emulsion for too long, fogging will still occur (see testing project, p. 428). Follow the distance, wattage, and maximum safe duration recommendations for your particular safelight unit.

Regular bromide, chiorobromide, and Muitigrade papers are safe under a "light amber" safelight, such as Kodak OC. Some materials such as lith paper have orthochromatic sensitivity, however, to improve otherwise extremely slow speed. They therefore need deep red colored safelighting as required for ortho films. As Figure 11.11 shows, you can use the same deep red safelight for regular papers, but not the reverse, and so deep red safelights tend to be standard in a lot of darkrooms. Always check the label on any unfamiliar photographic paper for the safelight color you must use, the recommended minimum distance, and the specified lamp wattage.

11.11
Safelight filters. The diagram combines emulsion color sensitivity curves and filter color transmission curves It shows that regular (blue-sensitive) and variable contrast printing papers are safely handled under "light amber" safelighting. But notice from the curve overlap that ortho printing materials, such as lith paper or film, would fog to amber, so they require deep red safelighting instead. Red is also safe for the other two materials, but unnecessarily dark.

11.12
Typical working life of some black and white print processing solutions.

Developing Prints

Unlike the development of negatives, with prints it is important to produce an acceptable image color, along with good tone values, rich black, and clean white. Graininess is not a consideration—paper is so slow and fine grained that any graininess seen in prints is the enlarged structure of the negative, although often emphasized if printed on contrasty glossy paper. It is important to fully develop prints for a consistent time at correct temperature. Aim to standardize this aspect of printing—having chosen the paper and developer, do all your controls through exposure manipulation and (variable contrast materials) filtration of the enlarger.

Dilute a sufficient amount of developer from stock solution to fill the tray and cover the paper. Take care not to exceed the maximum number of prints your volume of developer or fixer can handle (Figure 11.12). Work with a tray of developer preferably at least one size larger than your paper size, and first slide the exposed print under the solution emulsion side up. Commence rocking the tray gently—for example, by raising each side in turn about 1 cm and lowering it smoothly. Continue this throughout the development period (typically for 1-3 minutes as directed by the paper and/or developer instructions), then lift the sheet using tongs, drain for 2-3 seconds, and transfer it to the next solution.

11.13 Final image color depends on your choice of print developer as well as type of paper.

If you want to develop several sheets at once, first ensure you have enough volume of each solution to circulate around all the prints. Immerse prints by sliding in at regular intervals, then draw out the sheet at the bottom of the stack and place it on top. Continue this leafing through the pile (a substitute for rocking) until development time is up. Then transfer the prints in the same order to the next bath. To avoid contamination, pick them from the developer with one hand and immerse them in the next tray with the other, and ideally use tongs rather than hands, taking care not to mark the print. Note that processing several sheets together in this way involves a lot of extra handling of the paper and that the solution circulation may not be as effective. It is therefore not recommended for highest quality results.

The most commonly used print developers are phenidone-based (e.g., Ilford PQ) and similar to regular film developer (p. 364), although in a more concentrated form. (Some "universal" developers serve both film and paper functions, given different dilutions.) Developers formulated for use with bromide papers tend to be energetic and give a good neutral black given sufficient processing time. A range of "restrained" developers are made for chlorobromide papers, giving different degrees of warm tone according to formula (see Figure 11.13).

Stop bath and fixing

The solution filling the second tray should be stop bath or, at the very least, running water. It has the same development-halting function as with films. If possible, use a stop bath containing indicator dye—this changes the solution color to warn you when it is nearing exhaustion. Stop bath times are generally short, between 10 and 30 seconds for most papers.

Next, the paper must be fixed to make remaining haiides soluble and so form a permanent image. Unlike film fixing, you cannot easily see the creamy halides disappearing from the white paper base, so it is important to adopt an efficient routine. Use a good quality fixer, either normal (containing sodium thiosulfate) or rapid (ammonium thiosulfate), diluted to print strength. This can be a single bath which you monitor and discard after, say, twenty-five prints of 10 x 8 inch size per liter (see the manufacturer's instructions). Better still, use two-bath fixing, giving half the recommended fixing time in each. The second bath, which should be fresh solution, is used successively to replace the first bath each time this becomes exhausted and is discarded, or use a hypo-check to test the fixer exhaustion.

Make sure the prints are agitated from time to time in the fixer. Don't let them float to the surface. It also helps fixing if you keep the paper face down. Acceptable limits for accumulation of silver salts in the fixer are much lower for papers than for films. So avoid solution that has been used for film fixing—it may still work on films and seem to fix prints too, but it has such a concentration of silver complexes that compounds are formed in the paper emulsion that cannot be removed during washing. Avoid over-fixing as well. Rapid fixer, in particular, can begin to bleach image highlight detail, and with fiber papers sulfur byproducts can soak in and bond themselves into the base. From here they will not wash out, and will start to attack the silver image perhaps months or years later (Figure 11.14).

11.14
Example of a badly fixed print which hasn't been washed properly. Note a purple/blue stain from the left-hand side falling across the print and the image of the shadow and bricks.

Time and temperature

Typical times and temperature tolerances for dish (tray) processing are shown in Figure 11.1. Notice the timing difference between RC and filber papers. Most RC papers incorporate developing agent in the emulsion that is activated when placed in the regular developer solution. Here it is immediately able to start acting on exposed halides, so this arrangement shortens the period needed for development to about 45-60 seconds, making such papers suitable for machine processing (p. 392). With all RC papers, the stages following development are shorter too. The emulsion absorbs new solutions quickly as the plastic base carries over very little of the previous chemical.

It is tempting to develop images "by inspection," pulling prints from the developer early or extending development to make corrections for exposure This is difficult to do without experience and will only really work over a range of about±30 percent at most. Insufficient development gives you gray, degraded blacks; overdevelopment also begins to lower contrast with papers incorporating developing agent. So it is in your best interests to try to work strictly to the recommended time and temperature and use only the enlarger filters and timer to control the image.

Washing prints

RC paper needs a relatively short period of washing, provided it is efficient. The important thing is to keep a flow of water over the emulsion surface. A shallow flow tray, or a wash tank fitted with a print rack (Figure 11.15), will complete washing in about 3 minutes. If prints arejust left in running water in an ordinary tray or sink for 3-4 minutes, make sure they are agitated and do not get clumped together.

When washing fiber paper, however, allow time to let byproducts soak out of the porous base as well. It will help greatly if prints are placed in hypo-clearing agent (typically 2 minutes' treatment) prior to washing. This agent causes an "ion exchange," helping to displace the fixer more readily from all layers of the material. The best wash arrangements are either soak-and-dump, using a siphon to completely empty a dish or sink at regular intervals, some form of cascade system, or a vertical slot type print washer (see Figure 11.15). Typical wash time is about 40 minutes. This can be reduced to one-third or less if hypo-dearing agent has been used. (See also archival print processing, p. 414.)

11.15 Print washing equipment, (a) Small volume tray washer designed for RC papers (b) Plastic rack and wash tank for RC. (c) Tank for fiber-based papers. This uses water flow to keep prints apart. (d) Cascade system. Newly processed prints go into the lower sink, and are later transferred to the upper sink for the second half of their wash period. The tube pushed into each waste outlet maintains solution level. (c) and (d) suit both types of paper.

Wash water temperature is not critical, preferably 10-30°C for RC paper and 18-24°C for fiber types, but effectiveness drops sharply with very cold water, and warmer temperatures can cause buckling or other damage. Excessive soaking—say several hours at 24°C, or overnight at any temperature—may cause emulsion to start parting company with the base. It may even initiate gelatin disintegration, especially if you used a non-hardening fixer.

Drying

The print drying method is important because it has to give a flat, unbuckled finish; it can also affect print surface. The simplest but slowest technique is ambient air drying. First, remove surplus water from back and front print surfaces with a clean rubber squeegee. Then leave prints on absorbent material such as cheesecloth or photographic blotting paper, face up for RC paper, face down (to reduce curl) for hardener-treated fiber prints. Drying racks made of frames covered in plastic-coated fiberglass mesh are available, or you can make your own, using the fine meshed material sold for insect screen doors, etc. Alternatively, peg the prints on a line with plastic clothes pegs at top and bottom—fiber prints in pairs back-to-back, RC prints singly. Drying may take several hours at room temperature.

To speed up the drying of RC prints, use a heated air drying unit (Figure 11.3), or blow them over with a hairdryer (temperature not exceeding 85°C). Labs might use a roller-transport hot-air RC dryer, designed to deliver dry prints in about 10 seconds, but it is unsuitable for use with fiber papers which would curl and jam the rollers.

For fast drying of fiber prints, have a flatbed glazer/dryer which uses tensioned canvas to press the paper against a heated metal surface. Placing the back of the print toward the heat gives a final picture surface similar to that achieved by air drying. To get a truly shiny finish with glossy fiber paper, squeegee it face down onto a polished chrome glazing sheet, so the gelatin supercoat sets with a matching glass-like finish when dry. Unless this is done, glossy fiber papers will dry with a surface similar to "luster" or "semi-gloss" RC papers. The glaze can be removed at any time from fiber paper by thoroughly resoaking the print and then drying it faced the other way. (Avoid hot-glazing other fiber paper surfaces, and RC prints of any kind. The former take on ugly patches of semi-gloss; the latter will melt at 90°C or above and adhere firmly to the metal and canvas.)

Manufacturers of premium fine art fiber papers recommend air drying unless you are glazing glossy paper. The fact is that anything touching the emulsion during drying is a potential source of damage. There is always a risk when using a glazer for other fiber paper surfaces that the canvas will either mark the final emulsion finish, or that chemicals previously absorbed from drying insufficiently washed prints will transfer into your print. However, this is still the best drying method for thin-base prints, which tend to curl badly if air-dried instead.

Machine processing

11.16
Black and white print processing machine A roller-transport unit that delivers washed, dried RC prints. Exposed prints are fed in at the front, and delivered back onto top of machine. This unit is located wholly in the darkroom.

Resin-coated papers lend themselves to automatic machine processing. Units are often bench or floor standing within the darkroom (Figure 11.16). The exposed prints are fed in through motorized rollers and the equipment transports them through tanks of regular developer, rinse, fixer, and wash, and then passes them directly through an RC paper dryer. Such machines are expensive but produce a fully processed dry print in about 2 minutes—or up to 450 prints, 10 x 8 inch size, every hour.

A processing machine can be economically justified when there are several people working on enlargers in a constantly used darkroom—it effectively does away with the wet bench. Without sufficient throughput, however, the transport system and stored chemicals may deteriorate, resulting in faulty prints. There are also concerns about print longevity as the process is not as archivally stable as conventional hand processing.

Making Contact Prints

The process of making a print from developing all the way through to drying will also apply to making a contact sheet—small prints made direct from the film held flat against the paper. When working with film, most photographers make contact prints from all their negatives as soon as they are processed. This is a good idea as it allows you to preview all your exposures as positive prints, making it easier to pick and choose which shots to enlarge, to mark up possible cropping, etc. it also aids filing as it makes images much easier to locate in the future.

To make contact prints, use an eniarger and timer as described earlier, plus a contact-printing frame (Figure 11.17) or at least a 10 x 8 inch sheet of clear plate glass. Some negative sheets are completely transparent, and it is possible to simply lay one on top of the paper with a sheet of clear glass on top to hold the negatives flat. Set up the eniarger so it projects an even patch of light on the baseboard slightly larger than your paper. Reduce the lens aperture two or three stops from its widest (brightest) setting. If the eniarger has a red filter below the lens, swing this in place to allow the paper to be positioned without fogging it; alternatively, mark up the baseboard with tape, etc., to show where the light will fall.

11.17
Contact-printing equipment. Top and center: Contact print units for 35 mm and 120 rollfilm strips of negatives Strips slip into thin transparent guides on the underside of the glass. Bottom: Basic arrangement using plate glass.

Switch off white room lights. Place a sheet of paper emulsion upward on the baseboard. Ideally chose a number 2 variable contrast filter, or dial in enough yellow to achieve the equivalent. Lay out the negatives emulsion downward (glossy side up) on the paper, and cover them with the glass. It can be hard to see the glossy surface in a negative sheet, so make sure the text on the film edge is readable, the right way up. The glass presses the negatives down flat so they are in complete contact with the paper. If using a special contact frame, slip the negatives into thin transparent guides on the underside of the glass. This makes things easier when printing more than one contact sheet of a film.

Exposure varies according to the intensity of the light patch, and negative densities. As a guide, having switched off the eniarger and swung back the red filter (if the eniarger has one), use the timer to bracket trial exposures in a test strip. Set the timer to 5 seconds and expose the whole sheet for that time. Now cover up part of the paper with a piece of opaque card and expose the remainder for another 5 seconds. Cover a little more of the paper and reset the timer to 10 seconds, before giving the rest an exposure for this time, as shown in Figure 11.18. Remove and process the paper (develop—stop—fix), waiting until fixing is complete before viewing the results in white light.

11.18
Test-exposing a contact sheet, (a) Use the red filter (if your enlarger has one otherwise the enlarger light has to be switched off and done by eye) to help pre-position glass and paper within the light patch. By covering one-third of the paper after 5 seconds (c), then two-thirds after a further 5 seconds (d), and giving a final 10 seconds, bands receive 5,10, and 20 seconds' exposure.

Rinse the contact sheet and hold it out of the solution; prints look deceptively pale under water. They also darken slightly when dried. The print will have across it clear bands of exposure, each darker than the last, representing 5, 10, and 20 seconds' exposure. The darkest band of density on your print received the longest exposure time. This method follows the logic of the camera's exposure controls in that each step is double the exposure of the previous one, equivalent to increasing exposure by one f-stop on your lens each time; this is known as the f-stop method. You can use various multiples, for example 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. The trick to remember is that you expose all of the paper at the start, and then cover up a small part of the paper and repeat the first exposure time; from then on in you start doubling the times. If the first exposure was 5 seconds, by covering up part of the paper the bit now hidden from the light has received only 5 seconds of light; by exposing the rest of the paper again by 5 seconds the paper has received 5 + 5 = 10 seconds of exposure. You continue this by covering up more of the paper so that the hidden bits have received 5 and 10 seconds of light respectively; now give the paper 10 seconds of exposure so that the last piece receives 5 + 5 + 10 = 20 seconds. This can go on until you run out of paper to cover up; the next exposure would be 20 seconds, so that it is 5 + 5 + 10 + 20 = 40; the following exposure would be 40 seconds and after that 80 seconds, and so on. If none of the steps looks right, with everything either too dark or too light, a further bracketed test may be required. Open or close the aperture or make the exposure times longer or shorter. Once you have a reasonable looking test strip, you can decide from the most promising band of density what exposure will be correct. Set this exposure on the timer and make a single exposure of the whole sheet (see Figure 11.19).

11.19
The final sheet of contact prints. This one was given 10 seconds overall.

Of course, if the set of negatives you are printing varies greatly in density, the correct contact-sheet exposure will have to be a compromise between darkest and lightest frames. Variations will be less if you use soft rather than hard contrast paper. It is important that contacts show the detailed picture content of every frame, even if their print quality has to look rather flat at this stage. Contact sheets of 35 mm films do produce fairly small images so you will probably need a magnifier or a loupe (Figure 11.20) to see the detail. It is also advisable to make a small test, called a work print, of the images you know you might want to print up properly later. Once dry, you can keep the contact sheet in a negative file with the negatives, so mark it with your film's reference number, the date, and any other information you may need.

11.20
A loupe is a small magnifier specially designed for looking at contact sheets.

“Straight” Enlarging

Spend some time with your contact sheets, examining every frame, ideally with a magnifier, to decide the shots you want to enlarge. The workflow between analog (film) and digital is often quite different; you tend to do more preplanning, be more selective, and shoot less with film, but it is still rare to print every frame from the roll and often you will find things in some pictures you hadn't planned for when taking the photograph. If there are several near-identical frames, refer to the original negatives, again with a magnifier, to decide from the technical quality of each one which negative will print best. Check sharpness, and look especially to see that there is sufficient detail present in important highlight and shadow areas. Many photographers mark their contact sheets, drawing around frames with a felt pen or wax pencil to identify them (Figure 6.37).

Once you have selected a negative, ensure that both surfaces of the film are free of marks or dust before inserting it into the negative carrier, emulsion downward The most common way of ensuring dust free negatives is to use a can of compressed air and a dust free cloth. Adjust the masking frame to your paper size, allowing for any white borders. Then switch off the darkroom's white lighting, switch the enlarger on, and open the lens to full aperture. Raise or lower the enlarger head until the projected image fills the masking frame area, focusing the image and if necessary readjusting height until composition is correct. It is of course possible to print from just part of the negative if it improves the composition. (If using a red filter over the lens to mark the paper size, remove it before focusing the image on the board, as it will alter the focus setting, and when removed the image may be unsharp.) Use a focusing magnifier (p. 418) if possible to make sure the image is truly sharp.

Next, stop down the lens two or three f-settings—more if the negative is rather thin. The reasons for stopping down are: (1) to give a conveniently long exposure time (10-20 seconds or so, for example) that provides you with enough time to do any shading of the image—(see below), (2) to ensure accuracy (timings tend to be less consistent on exposures of less than 5 seconds due to timer designs and bulbs heating and cooling), (3) to get peak image performance from the lens, and (4) to compensate for any slight focusing error by extending depth of focus.

Look carefully at the image on the easel, and choose the most likely grade or contrast filter. This gets easier with experience, but as a starting point choose a middle grade such as grade 2 or 2.5. Use an estimated time (this comes with experience) as the center point of a range of exposures to be made on a test strip, as before. For example, if you estimate the time needed to be 20 seconds, make test steps at 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 seconds on a test strip of paper of the required contrast grade (Figure 11.21).

11.21
Test-exposing an enlargement. By holding an opaque card stationary in the light beam, different areas of a half sheet of printing paper can be given a range of exposure times Make sure the card is close to the paper without touching it to get discernible lines between exposure times.

Think carefully how to position test strips—for greatest information, each one should include both darkest and lightest parts of the image. For this reason, it is best to make a good-sized test strip (Figure 11.22); anything much smaller than a third of a sheet is unlikely to contain enough of the image and most likely you will end up making multiple strips, which wastes time and money. After exposure and processing, judge the best strip, looking especially at key areas, such as flesh tone in a portrait, and checking how much detail (present in the negative) has printed in shadows and highlights.

11.22
Always position exposure test bands across an enlargement so that each one includes both light and dark parts of the image, as here. If these three bands had been run vertically instead, two would have shown information about sky and foreground only.

The f-stop method described above has the advantage of covering a wide range of exposures on one piece of paper, but you may find the steps too far apart, with one step too light and the next too dark. In this case, it is possible to estimate correct exposure and set a time between the two, or you can make a new strip which "fine tunes" the value. If the first test shows the right time to be between, say, 10 and 20 seconds, make a second test and this time start with 10 seconds with steps of 2 seconds so 10 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, so that exposure will be 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 seconds. An old saying is that printing without test strips is like driving without a map—you may eventually get to your destination but will have gone around the houses to do so.

There are two variables to judge, exposure and contrast, which influence each other and can make judgment difficult unless the following method is used. First, choose the exposure step that shows the best highlights (palest areas such as skies, palest skin tones). Now assess the shadows (darkest areas) on the same exposure step. If these are also well rendered, looking strong without being too featureless, then the contrast grade is correct and you can make a print at the exposure represented by the step. If, however, the shadows are too weak and gray, you need to increase the contrast grade and make a new test. Shadows that are overly dense and lacking detail require a lower grade of contrast so as to bring the best out of the negative.

Should exposure time now become awkwardly short or long, alter the lens aperture: opening it one stop allows time to be halved; closing it one stop allows it to be doubled. (Aperture has no effect on contrast.) Finally, take a full sheet of paper, position it under the enlarging easel masks, and give the exposure time you consider to be correct.

Controls During Enlarging

Local control of exposure

A single "straight" printing exposure often fails to suit every part of the picture. The reason may be that the negative density range, while well matched to the paper for most subject tones, exceeds it at one extreme or the other. Perhaps a patch of shadow becomes solid black or highlight detail looks "burnt out," when midtones are correct for density and contrast. Perhaps subject lighting was uneven, or you simply want to darken some parts of a composition in order to emphasize others. Most photographers would agree that the majority of prints can be improved in some way during printing by locally reducing exposure (known as "shading," "holding back," or "dodging") or extending it ("printing-in" or "burning-in"). You might be familiar with these terms from using digital image manipulation software such as Photoshop.

To lighten part of the picture (also known as dodging), insert your hand, or red acetate or opaque card, into the light beam during part of the exposure. Hold your shading/dodging device about halfway between lens and paper to soften the shadow edge and keep it slightly on the move during the exposure. To darken a chosen area, follow up the main exposure with an additional period when you print-in using a hole in a card, or the gap between your cupped hands (see Figure 11.23), where you let light through onto a selected part of the print to darken it. Feather the edge of the exposure-controlled area in the same way. For shading, you need to keep your hands or card constantly moving so as to get soft edges. Note that a soft edge to the shadow is essential in both cases to make the exposure change invisible; otherwise you will have an unnatural looking print with odd light or dark patches. It may be possible to use a more distinct cut-off on a harder edge such as a wall or a horizon, but it is seldom necessary to be this precise; it is also much more difficult to control.

11.23
Shading and printing-in (dodging and burning-in). Large areas at one side of the picture are conveniently shaded with the edge of your hand (a). To make isolated "island" areas lighter, shade with a dodging tool (b) made from card and attached to thin wire To darken isolated areas print-in through a hole in opaque card (c) or form a shape between cupped hands (d).

11.24 Print shading. Top: A "straight" print given 22 seconds shows pale sky and dark detail at top and right side of memorial. Middle: Test pieces for sky (given 35 seconds) and memorial (10 seconds). Bottom: Working from the test information this print was exposed for 22 seconds, during which memorial areas were shaded (dodged) for 4 and 5 seconds—see the shading plan in Figure 11.25. Then the sky was printed-in (burned-in) for an extra 14 seconds.

11.25
A rough sketch made as a reminder of the different exposures needed for various areas of the picture.

To decide how long to shade or print-in, make the best possible straight print first. Then, place pieces of printing paper across excessively dark or light image areas and make test strip exposures at shorter and longer exposure times respectively (Figure 11.24). If necessary, sketch out a shading "map" (Figure 11.25). This will remind you where and by how much to shade during the main exposure, and the same for extra exposure afterward. The harder the contrast of the paper, the greater these exposure differences will have to be.

11.26
Local fogging-in with a battery flashlight darkens small unwanted light parts, which then blend with dark areas Alternatively, print-in normally, but defocus the lens.

Sometimes an area being heavily printed-in to black contains some small highlights which still appear as gray shapes, no matter how much additional exposure you seem to give. The best solution then may be to fog over these parts. Either print-in with the enlarger turned out of focus, or fog using a small battery flashlight fitted with a narrow cowl of black paper (Figure 11.26). Keep the enlarger light on, red-filtered, to show you the exact image areas you are treating with white torchlight.

Local control of contrast

By controlling the exposure locally on a print, you can change the contrast of the image; note that it can also change the composition of your image as our eyes are naturally drawn to areas of strong contrast. Shading and printing-in are like retouching; if done well, no one should know they have taken place. But when they are overdone, you will find that shadows look unnaturally flat or gray, and burnt-in highlights fog over, again with a loss of contrast. The image might look flat because parts of the subject were exposed on the tone-merging "toe" of the film's performance curve (Figure 5.36), or near the top end where irradiation again destroys tone separation. Perhaps the cause is general underexposure or overexposure respectively, or just subject range beyond the capabilities of the film.

Either way, these tone-flattened areas need extra contrast, which you can best achieve with variable contrast paper using selective filtration. Imagine, for example, that you need to shade and contrast-boost a simple patch of shadow in a picture which otherwise prints with grade 2 filtration. You (a) shade this shadow throughout the entire period during which the rest of the picture is being printed, then (b) change to grade 4 or 5 filtration, and (c) carefully print the shadow area back in, to the level of exposure it would have received if exposed normally.

Another rule is not to try to force the print against its natural tones. This means making the basic exposure and contrast settings do as much of the work as possible, leaving you only to lighten a highlight or darken a shadow area slightly If you find you are trying to lighten shadows and darken highlights, you are working against the negative's natural direction.

Overall reduction of contrast

Sometimes, perhaps due to an emergency situation, you have to print a negative which is too contrasty for your softest filtration or graded paper. Three techniques are then worth trying, either singly or all together:

Make the eniarger illumination less hard. If you have a condenser enlarger, place a piece of tracing paper on top of the condenser or in the lamphouse filter drawer. Light output will probably be quartered, so widen the lens aperture and increase exposure. Negative contrast will be reduced by about one grade.

Reduce paper contrast by "pre-flashing." This is a tiny amount of controlled fogging of light to the paper—not enough to make the paper look gray, but sufficient to overcome "inertia" and raise the image exposure received in highlight areas to a developable state, with very little change to darker tones. To do this, first find the correct exposure for the print. Then make a test strip for the flashing. To do this you ideally need a second enlarger, but it can be done by raising the enlarger head to its highest point and stopping down the lens as far as it will go so that you have the faintest amount of light for your test strips. Next make a test strip of 1 second intervals. Gauge the right amount of flashing by making accurate test strips of just the flash exposure. Once the test strip has been developed, you need to view it in good daylight as the differences between each step will be very subtle. Much of the paper may still look white, but what you are looking for is the first point at which the paper shows a gray strip; select the time just before that. The best way is to keep an accurate record of the total exposure you gave the paper and count backward. For example, if you gave the test strip a total of 12 seconds exposure, you count backward where the steps are visible until it just becomes white, so if from 7 seconds to 1 second the paper is white but at 8 seconds there is a gray step, you set your timer to 7 seconds and pre-flash the paper so that it is pretreated before printing in the usual way. If the paper pre-flashed, in this case at 7 seconds, was immediately developed, it would just look white, but if you use this pretreated piece of paper to print your image on, it will bring up detail in the highlight area.

Change to a low contrast print developer, which still gives a good black but a more graduated range of grays. See Beer's developer (Appendix D); see also contrast masking in Advanced Photography.

Overall increase of contrast

An excessively fiat negative, provided it still contains sufficient shadow and highlight detail, will usually print at grade 5, However, other worthwhile techniques to boost contrast include:

Chromium-intensifying the negative; see Appendix D (only suitable for silver image film).

Developing your printing paper in a line developer.

Printing on lith paper using lith developer, p. 407.

Changing from a diffuser enlarger to a condenser enlarger, or from a condenser to a point-source enlarger.

Common Print Faults

Always check any unexpected faults on your print first of all against the corresponding image on the negative. Assuming that the negative itself is free of blemishes, the most common faults in printing and their causes are:

White specks and hair shapes, due to debris temporarily lying on the paper surface, the negative, or any carrier glass. If marks are very unsharp, the dirt may be on a condenser or diffuser surface between negative and lamp.

Uneven patches of density, which may be quite large, caused by not submerging the print quickly and evenly in the developer. Perhaps development time was too short.

Small whitish patches with distinct edges, caused by water or wet finger marks on the emulsion before processing.

A purple patch, or purple all over. Print insufficiently fixed, and therefore reacting to white light.

Fine black lines, often short and in parallel groups, caused by physical abrasions of the (dry) emulsion, perhaps from dropping the paper on the floor or slipping it roughly under the masking frame.

One or two short, thick black marks fairly close to a print edge. Caused by over-energetic gripping by print tongs in the developer.

Only part of the image being sharp (e.g., center but not edges; one side but not the other). The negative is bowed, or at an angle to the paper, or the enlarger not aligned properly, tilting.

Part of the picture showing an offset double image. Probably caused by the masking frame, lens, or negative being jogged between your main and printing-in exposures.

Gray, muddy image, with smudged shadow detail and sometimes veiled highlights. Caused by grease, dust, or temporary condensation (from moist hands during shading?) on the lens.

A slight fog-like dark band close to the print's white border, due to light spread from the rebate of the negative.

Contact prints unsharp—insufficient pressure between cover glass and paper.

(RC papers only) Collapsed blisters in the emulsion surface, where it has separated from the base. The print was not fully covered by a film of water when passed through a roller RC heat dryer.

White areas, including borders, veiled with gray. Extreme overdevelopment, or fogging by your darkroom safelight (see safelight testing, p. 428).

11.27
Typical vignetted result. Having the card fairly close to the paper avoids the vignette printing dark and "dirty" near the center.

Variations

Vignetting away edges

To avoid dear-cut borders completely, you can use a nineteenth-century printing style—the vignette—where the picture fades out to white paper, as in Figure 11.27. Cut a suitably sized hole—usually round or oval—in a sheet of opaque card. Too small a hole will result in the card having to be held close to the lens and can result in uneven exposure, with the image looking too dark in the center. Have this held ready at the correct height before starting the timer. Move the card slightly during the exposure to ensure smooth, soft edges (Figure 11.28).

11.28
Vignetting. To fade out picture edges, hold a card with a large cut-out shape and move it slightly but constantly throughout exposure to get a soft edge.

Adding edge lines and borders

Sometimes prints have one or more dark subjects against a light background, shapes which become cropped awkwardly first by framing in the camera and then by white print borders. Figure 11.29 shows one example. To lessen the isolation of the background and foreground of the image it helps to add a thin black line as a border. This can be done by felt pen as an after-treatment but, for permanence and neatness of finish, photographic fogging gives best results. Use a matte board, a thin black completely opaque card cleanly cut to a size a few millimeters smaller than the picture area set on the masking frame (Figure 11.30). Expose a print in the usual way, but, without removing it from the easel, cover the emulsion with the card, weighted down with a few coins. Use red-filtered enlarger light to check that a small gap is left evenly all around the edge. Then remove the negative from the carrier and fog the paper to unfiltered enlarger light, giving the same exposure time used before when the negative was in place.

Another method is to use a negative carrier slightly larger than the image area (some photographers carefully file the carrier edges) so a small amount of negative rebate (border) is projected all round. Similarly, you can use a glass negative carrier larger than your negative which holds the negative flat but also provides a gap around the negative to create a border. Both of these methods mean printing the whole frame of the negative without cropping it. It is possible to create borders of any shape and size; your images do not always have to be printed rectangular or square. By having a hole cut in a piece of card—a good framing shop will be able to do this for you—you can create a circular frame (Figure 11.31). Instead of using the print easel, you lay the card down on the baseboard, tape it from one side, and slot your paper underneath when ready to print; the image will of course only be printed through the shape in the card. In much the same way it is also possible to have two or more holes cut in the board and print multiple images onto one piece of photographic paper.

11.29
This picture contains strong shapes cut through by edges of the frame. Printing-in a black edge line (right) helps to pull the main elements of the image together.

11.30
Arrangement for fogging in a biack edge line to the picture area. The narrow gap must be even all round.

Photograms

A photogram allows you to make a "photograph" without a negative, by placing an object between the paper and a light source An opaque object blocks the light from the paper, casting a negative shadow so that when the print is developed the shape of the object appears white while the rest of the paper that is exposed to the light will darken to black depending on the length and strength of exposure. By using transparent or semi-transparent items, for example a glass bowl or clear plastic ruler, a degree of light will penetrate the object, resulting in gray tones. The list of possible objects you could use is endless, from your body to feathers, flowers, and fabric (Figures 11.32-11.34), to your own cardboard cut-out creations.

11.31
"Digestif," a collaboration between Richard Sawdon Smith and Albert J. Winn, 2007. A circular mount was cut to size by professional framers. It was then taped down to the baseboard on one side and the photographic paper slipped underneath with the image projected through by the enlarger and developed in the normal manner.

11.32
Create the simplest of photograms by placing your hand on or just above the paper (made more graphic with the jewelry); also note how light has penetrated the finger nails.

In the darkroom ensure that your eniarger (free of any negatives) forms an even patch of light larger than the sheet of paper. Then stop down and using a strip of normal grade paper discover the exposure time which just results in a full black when processed. Do a test photogram with this as your main exposure, but also explore shifting or removing some objects after half or three-quarters of this time to produce a range of gray tones.

Prints from prints

This follows the same principle as making a photogram; in this case an existing print is placed face down, emulsion to emulsion, on top of a fresh unexposed piece of photographic paper—as when making a contact sheet, the reversed image will be much softer than the original print. Figure 11.35, for example, was produced by face-to-face contact printing a print. Although in this example a fiber-based paper was chosen, it is best to use resin-coated paper as fiber base can sometimes show a fibrous pattern when exposed. Printing this way results in the picture appearing as a negative; the blacks will now be white and vice versa, the picture becoming laterally reversed—any text, for example, will read backward. This can be overcome by making your original enlargement with the negative inverted, emulsion side up, in the carrier.

Double printing

11.33 Photogram created by exposing a negative of a citysoape through a piece of coarse fabric, creating a screen and almost 3D effect.

It is possible to print from more than one negative onto a single sheet of paper before developing. This can result in a random superimposition similar to an accidental double exposure in the camera without control and consideration of the placement of the two negatives—the shadows and darker tones of one image showing up mostly in highlights and paler tones of the other. But by shading part of the first image, and then printing this area of the paper back with the second image, one scene can be made to merge into the other—often with an interesting surreal effect (see Figure 11.36).

11.34
Create a simple photogram by placing your hand on or just above the paper; in addition, a torn sheet of cloth has been used to represent smoke, creating a strong graphic image with limited props.

This effect is commonly used when a picture has little or no detail in the sky and a second negative is used to superimpose a more dramatic sky for added impact. Variable contrast paper is ideal for this work because you can adjust filters to compensate for any contrast differences between negatives, It also helps to have two enlargers, each set up with a negative so that you only shift the paper from one baseboard to the other. As you become more experienced at this technique, you might want to try using more than two negatives.

11.35
Split-toning. Left: Printed on warm-toned chiorobromide paper with a warm-toned developer, the print, once fixed and washed, was submerged in a bath of diluted (1:39) selenium toner. Contrast has increased and the shadow areas intensified. Right: Print from print, a reversed (negative) image has been made by making a contact print from the first image, and then it was split-toned in the same way.

Negative sandwich

11.36
Double printing. The sky area of the landscape photograph has been carefully shaded during printing, and then the second negative of the studio portrait has been exposed while shading the bottom half to create a surreal dream-like image.

This is another example of using more than one negative to make a picture. Negative sandwich gives you control over the selection and placement of different negatives by sandwiching them together in the carrier one on top of the other at the same time. The difference in this case is that the darker an area appears in the print, the more transparent it is in the negative, therefore allowing light to transmit through the second negative (see Figures 11.37 and 11.38).

11.37 Left: A sandwich print consisting of two negatives: a shot of a car grille and a studio portrait shot against a black backdrop have been placed in the negative carrier together and given one exposure Center: Sabattier effect: the print received an additional 5 second exposure during development from a pure light source Notice the gray/silver tone of the body and white lines forming between dark and light tonal areas Right: This print received a longer, second exposure of 15 seconds, creating a more dramatic reversal of tones.

11.38
Chemical toning. Left: This sandwich negative print has been blue toned (often gives a patchy effect if the print is over-washed) to provide an emotionally cold image to enhance the idea of a man made from stones. Center: After bleaching and full sepia toning to give a warmer feel to a man made from straw Right: A copper/red single-solution toner has been applied first and then the lips have been highlighted by hand by tinting them with a pink dye.

Sabattier effect

Also known as pseudo-soiarization, film or paper is re-exposed to light during development, achieving an unusual tone reversal. Initially discovered by accident, the technique was much exploited by Man Ray, the surrealist artist. When using this technique during printing, the dark areas of the print, with most of the silver halides already converted to metallic silver, are affected little by the re-exposure. However, the bright areas still contain underdeveloped silver halides, which remain light sensitive. Through additional exposure and further development, these can be converted to metallic silver. The result is a light to dark gray tone depending on the second exposure time. The mid-grays in the original print also appear lighter as a result of this effect. The most dramatic action, though, happens between the light and dark tonal areas where light, often white, lines now appear; this is the result of chemical byproducts remaining from the first development, which hinder final development (see Figure 11.37). Man Ray would use the technique during film processing, exposing light to film while developing, rather than printing, which would result in black lines as opposed to white lines appearing on the print.

Prepare an enlargement in the normal way to obtain the correct exposure time (a negative of higher contrast than average works best), and then puLi the print from the developer as the image starts to appear. Rinse the print in water to stop further development and squeegee to remove excess liquid. With an empty enlarger and the lens stopped down, re-expose the print to light. For greater control do a test strip for different exposure times, and then continue to redevelop until conclusion, and fix and wash in the normal way. Make sure the enlarger baseboard is clean and dry before the next print.

11.39
A normal contrast negative printed onto a lith-type bromide paper, processed in a lith developer. The print, a candid image of a male model between shoots, now has a rich black, contrast image with warm, yellow midtones, reproducing only a small part of the negative tonal range The greater the overexposure and underdevelopment, the "warmer" the midtones and the lower the contrast will appear.

Lith prints

By controlling exposure and development of certain papers in lith (lithographic) developers—such as Moersch or Fotospeed—you can achieve prints with a range of tones, from brown-black to yellow (see Figure 11.39). The most suitable papers to use are those with a chlorobromide such as Foma Fomatone FB.

Handle lith material under deep red safelight. The developer comes in A and B solutions, which deteriorate quickly when mixed together; however, to achieve the warm tones place your paper in diluted used developer. Lith developer will increase contrast so choose an image rich in texture or pattern that is sharp. First make test strips based on the exposure you would give with normal bromide paper but bracketed with only about 20 percent differences in time. Process fully in lith developer (typically 2 minutes), followed by regular stop bath and fixer. Decide what you consider correct exposure, ignoring the extreme contrast.

Now make a full print giving four times this exposure time, or opening up the lens two stops. Greatly dilute some of the previous working-strength developer, 1 part developer and 5 parts water, and develop this print purely by inspection, removing it quickly from the developer at whatever stage the image looks best. Development is initially slow, taking up to 10 minutes, but accelerates rapidly toward the end, so timing is critical When you view your fixed print in white light, it will show a mixture of black shadows and tinted midtones, with generally normal contrast. Increasing exposure by large amounts and reducing development still further produces more color and lower contrast. Do any shading or printing-in as normal.

Liquid emulsion

11.40
Liquid emulsion painted onto canvas has produced this "painterly" photograph by Melanie Manchot of her mother. The photography is provocative in that the mother's pose mimics a traditional "pin-up" pose normally associated with someone much younger.

It is possible to print photographs onto almost any surface by coating it with a layer of light-sensitive emulsion; then expose the treated material under the enlarger and process with normal print chemicals (see Figure 11.40). Mixing your own emulsion can be time consuming and it can be difficult to obtain consistent results, so commercially available products from Silverprint, Foma, Rockland, or Rollei are recommended.

Liquid photographic emulsion does not have a long shelf life and should be used within one month of purchase, although it is claimed it can last for six months if stored in the fridge. The container of emulsion needs to be heated to 35-40°C first, so that it forms a creamy consistency that can be spread over the surface in safelight conditions. You will need to have sample material of the intended surface so that you can make test exposures before the final print.

Most papers, cloth, and unprimed canvas can be coated directly with the emulsion. Non-porous surfaces such as fired ceramic, china, enamel, glass, rocks, eggs, or shells need to be prepared by scrubbing with a hot solution of sodium carbonate and then covered with a subbing layer, available with Silverprint SE1 or Rollei Black Magic emulsions. For highly porous material, such as unfired ceramic, brick, plaster, most metals, and plastics, apply a thin coating of phenol varnish diluted 1:1 with naphtha or benzene. Allow to dry for between 1 and 12 hours; repeat to get an even coat if necessary.

Chemical Afterwork

Once the darkroom side of biack and white printing is over, you can still make radical changes to a picture by various chemical processes workable in normal light. These include bleaching, toning, and color tinting.

Retouching

It is always best to ensure that the eniarger and negatives are as clean as possible so as to minimize the problem of unwanted marks on the finished print. Some scratches, dirt, and other defects cannot be removed, however, and need to be dealt with by hand work after processing. Large areas of damage may only be treatable by digital means (see Chapter 9), but small defects can be rectified fairly easily with a little practice, although resin-coated and glossy papers are more difficult to retouch than matt and fiber-based papers.

Spotting

This is the use of dyes or inks to touch in small white specks on the print caused by dust or other debris on the negative. Retouching dyes are available from photographic companies and take the form of small bottles of pigment (Diaphoto provide a three pack and a six pack of tones). Available in both black and white and color, the important factor is that the pigments used are designed for photographic materials. This means that they are readily absorbed by the print rather than just sitting on its surface so the paper finish, gloss, luster, or matt is not altered.

To spot a print, place it on a flat surface in good light (ideally natural daylight) and mix a suitable color from the toner set, diluted with water. Note that even black and white materials need careful matching as print tone varies considerably with paper types and developers. Use a very fine (no. 0 or 00 or smaller) brush, bought from an artist's supply store, and practice on a spare piece of photo paper until the intensity of the tone matches the area you are about to retouch (Figure 13.4). Since the materials used are dyes, you can build up the tone with repeated applications, so if in doubt make the tone dilute. Aim to mimic the grain structure of the image by working with a stippling motion to produce a series of very tiny dots. If you overdo the effect, immediately dab the area with a slightly damp cloth, which should draw out the dye. On longer marks such as scratches and hairs, don't paint along the line but blend it into its surroundings with a succession of dots. Work slowly and carefully, taking frequent breaks to rest your eyes and view the print from a normal distance to see the effect of your work. Retouching is a skill that takes a little time to master but makes a huge difference to the overall appearance of your finished work.

Toning

Toning changes the darkened (exposed) parts of the image into a color by either coating the silver or converting it into another colored chemical or dye (see Figure 11.38). The paper base remains unchanged. Some toned images (sepia, red) are at least as permanent as the original silver. Others (blue, green) are not.

You may want to tone your print to subtly improve tonai richness and increase its permanence, using selenium (a carcinogenic chemical that must be used in a well-ventilated area) or perhaps gold. Or you might sepia-tone, either to create an antique-looking image or as a preliminary to tinting (see below).

Two of the most common colors, sepia and blue, are sold as prepared chemicals or can be made up (see Appendix D). You can also buy ready-to-use comprehensive kits such as "Fotospeed Paliette Toner" or a selection of packaged chemicals offering a whole range of colors. By mixing these chemicals in different proportions, different toning colors are formed. Stronger toning colors should be used with restraint, unless you need a gaudy effect.

Some toners require two stages, for example sepia. First, you bleach the area you want to tone in a ferricyanide solution (without fixer), and then you redevelop this bleached image as a colored chemical image in the toner. Redevelopment can take place in normal room lighting because only halides representing the image are present, so fogging is impossible.

Others are single solution toners and gradually displace or form an amalgam with the black silver, starting with palest tones first. Yet others (typically those in kits) use dye-coupled development, in which the existing image is first bleached, then redeveloped in a developer plus a chosen color coupler, and finally bleached again to remove the black silver simultaneously reformed during the redeveloping stage. This leaves an image in dye alone. Notice the similarity with color film processing.

Whichever toning formula or kit you use, you can choose to change the whole image to a colored form or, perhaps by means of a paint-on resist, tone selected areas only. Unaffected parts which remain as black silver can next be toned a further color (see Figure 11.41). Another way of working is to duotone, meaning that shadows and dark tone values in your picture remain black, while midtones and paler parts take on color.

11.41
Dual toned: print created by bleaching out the faces using diluted bleach and a cotton wool bud, and then placing in a sepia bath. The sepia only works on areas that have been bleached. Once washed, the print was placed in a bath of single-solution blue toner, which dyed the remaining black/silver halide areas.

The way you achieve this two-tone effect will depend on the formula and color (Figure 11.35). With sepia toner, for example, you dilute the bleach bath, which allows you time to remove your print before silver from the darkest shadow areas has been affected. Then in the toner only paler, bleached tones become fully sepia. In single-bath toner you treat the print just long enough to start affecting the lighter tones.

Prints for toning should be fully developed in the first instance. Toners such as sepia slightly lighten the image, and others such as blue slightly intensify it, so anticipate this when making the original print. You will also find that final colors differ somewhat according to whether the print is on a bromide, chlorobromide, or lith emulsion paper.

Tinting

Tinting means hand-coioring your print with watercoiors, dyes, or oil paints. Oils are applied by brush, and other paints by brush, spot-pen, or airbrush. The main advantage of tinting compared to color photography is that you can choose the color of every single element in your picture, or restrict color to something you want to emphasize or show in an interpretative way (see Figure 11.38, right-hand image).

If you color over a normal black and white image, its black silver will mute most of your hues. Instead, work with a print which is warm in image tone and slightly pale. You might sepia-tone the print, for example, or make it in the first instance on chlorobromide paper processed in warm-tone developer Remember that tinting, unlike toning, colors both the image and clear parts of the paper. In fact colors show as stronger and more pure in highlight areas.

Water-based colors, dyes

These are applied to the print while it is still damp. Blot off the print surface and with a swab add a wash of color to largest areas first. Build up sufficient density of color gradually. Work down to the smaller areas using a brush, always blotting off the print after each color application. When only tiny colored details remain to be done, add these final tints using a small brush or, if you are working with dyes, a fiber-tipped pen (see the section above on retouching).

Oil-based colors

Here you should work on a dry, mounted print. Squeeze artists' oil color onto a palette and pick up and apply small amounts at a time, using a fine brush moistened in turpentine. Again, work from the largest to smallest areas. Progress is slow because a colored surface must dry for about twenty-four hours before you can add other colored details on top. Oils also alter the surface texture of your paper. However, colors can be erased or changed more readily than with water-based tints, by means of a cotton swab (or bud) dipped in turpentine.

Etching

Dark marks on a print, caused by dirt on the negative while still in the camera or processing defects, are harder to remove. You need a very sharp blade to scrape away tiny amounts of the print emulsion. Surgical scalpels are sold in good artists' suppliers and come with a wide variety of extremely sharp blades. A no. 11 blade tapers to a very fine point and can be good for very small spots, while a no. 15 has a curved edge which allows gentle shaving of the emulsion without tending to gouge the surface. Support the print on a fiat surface in good light, as before, and gently scrape over the spot with light strokes. It will take quite a few strokes to scrape away the surface coating on gloss prints, before starting to erode the emulsion below. Once the spot has been scraped away, you may find the surrounding area needs blending into its surroundings by spotting with dyes. If this is the case, apply them cautiously as the scraped area absorbs the colors more quickly.

An alternative to etching for black and white prints is to bleach the dark areas using either Farmer's reducer or iodine bleach. Use a separate brush for such solutions to avoid contamination and rewash the print after bleaching.

Image Reduction and Bleach-Out

The two most useful forms of print reducer are Farmer's, which you use to progressively lighten the image, and iodine bleach, which completely removes parts of the image down to the white paper. The formulae for both are given in Appendix D, and you can also buy them prepackaged. Remember health and safety in handling these chemicals (Appendix E).

Farmer’s reducer

11.42
Changing local tone values with reducer. Top: Straight print from negative Bottom: This print had nearly twice as much exposure Then, after processing, the fallen branch was lightened back by repeatedly applying dilute Farmer's reducer on a large watercolor brush.

Use Farmer's reducer to lighten just those areas of the picture you have been unable to shade sufficiently (Figure 11.42). Alternatively, applied to the whole print, it will "clear" veiled (fogged) highlights and give extra sparkle to light tones—which it reduces more quickly than darker tones.

Farmer's reducer is also known as ferricyanide reducer or "ferri" and should be handled with caution with good ventilation. Basically it is a combination of potassium ferricyanide, which changes the print's black silver image back to silver halide, and hypo (sodium thiosulfate, fixer), which makes the halides soluble so that they can be washed from the paper. Farmer's reducer can be used as a sequence of the two separate solutions, but it is much easier to see the reduction effect with both chemicals present, even though the mixture does not then keep and must be used "one-shot."

The print you want to work on should be fully fixed, rinsed, and squeegeed onto a clean fiat surface. Dilute the Farmer's reducer with water until tests on a scrap print show that its image-lightening action is fairly slow, and therefore controllable. Then apply it to the main print using a cotton-wool swab. Keep stopping the action by hosing over the print surface with water (remembering that if you go too far, reduction cannot be reversed). When the image has altered to the visual result you require, give the print normal fixing, washing, and drying.

Iodine bleach

This is the best bleacher for giving a "clean" complete erasure of the image. It is a dark brown solution containing iodine and potassium iodide, which combine with the silver to form a silver halide. This in turn is fixed and washed out. Use the bleacher to convert small black spots into white spots, for subsequent spotting-in with dye or watercolor (see p. 408). It is also excellent for "shaping-out" subjects from their backgrounds.

Thoroughly blot off the fixed, rinsed print you want to bleach, and apply the undiluted solution with a brush or (for large areas) a swab. A deep brown stain immediately appears, but you can see the black image fading away beneath it. When this bleaching is complete, soak the print in a tray containing some fresh fixer for 5-10 minutes until the treated areas are completely stain-free and white. Then wash and dry the print normally. Discard the fixer because of the iodide byproducts it now contains.

11.43
Bleaching out background. Left: A straight print shows a moss-covered tree stump with confusing background. Right: By carefully applying iodine bleacher with a swab and brush, and finally refixing, unwanted parts of the image are reduced to white paper.

When "shaping out" a very complex subject (Figure 11.43), you can first dry your print, paint over or cover with a waterproof resist the parts you do not want to bleach, and then place the whole sheet in a tray of the bleacher. Afterward peel off the resist at the refixing stage.

Permanence and Archiving

Photography is not intended to be an ephemeral medium, but care needs to be taken if images are to last. It is important to understand what factors make films and papers deteriorate so we can guard against them.

High quality processing is most important. A poorly processed print can start to show visible deterioration in a matter of days; some problems, on the other hand, can take years to appear. Some early photographs have survived for well over one hundred years, while others have decayed noticeably in a much shorter time. Much of this difference can be traced to how carefully the images have been fixed, washed, and stored.

Many things combine to make images self-destruct:

Silver image grains which oxidize and decay.

Residual chemicals from processing and chemical composition of film or paper structure that attack the image from within.

Damage from heat and humidity.

Airborne contaminants, pollution, and chemical compounds in mounting or storage materials.

Light (one of the biggest dangers as it aggravates all the other damaging influences).

Black and white prints

Resin-coated prints can be made to last decades, but they are inherently less stable than fiber-based prints, which have the potential to last centuries. As with film, it is processing which is the key to making prints last as long as possible.

RC papers absorb smaller amounts of the processing chemicals so wash times are short, but the very thin emulsion layer means that the image is fairly fragile. They can contain chemical brighteners to make the paper base seem whiter, and these can attack the image over time.

Fiber-based papers are much more stable, but they absorb a lot of the processing chemicals so they need much longer wash times, in both cases, the key to print longevity is to give just the right amount of fixing to dissolve the unused silver compounds but no more than is necessary in order to avoid the acidic fixer solution soaking into the paper base where it is harder to wash out. Once it has done its job, all traces of fixer must be rinsed away by effective washing.

Here is a suggested archival processing sequence for fiber-based black and white papers (all steps carried out at 20°C):

Develop the paper fully. Follow the manufacturer's recommended times and temperatures.

Use a good-quality fresh stop bath, again for exactly the recommended time.

Fix prints using two baths of non-hardening fixer. Follow the instructions, but as a guide treat the prints for 5 minutes in each bath for sodium thiosulfate fixers (most powder fixers) and 2 minutes in each bath for ammonium thiosulfate fixers (most liquid fixers) at standard dilution. Agitate the prints in the trays continuously and don't allow prints to stack up on top of each other. The first bath can be old fixer (up to a week or so old) but the second should be freshly made. Don't exhaust the baths by fixing too many prints. The instructions on the pack will tell you the capacity.

Wash thoroughly for 20 minutes.

Tone in Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner at 1:15 dilution. (This is optional as it alters the image tone slightly. The toner is also highly toxic so take great care when using it.)

Carry out a second wash of 5 minutes.

Treat with hypo-clearing agent as recommended by the manufacturer. This causes the emulsion to swell, making it easier for the chemicals to wash out of the print.

Finally wash for 30-60 minutes in an efficient print washing system.

After washing, make sure your hands are completely clean, using soap and water to remove any traces of fixer so you don't recontaminate prints. Make sure all surfaces, trays, etc., are spotless before letting a clean print touch them.

Heat can cause damage to prints so the safest method is to air dry everything. Either peg the prints on a line or place them on mesh racks (p. 391).

Mounting and display

When you are happy with your print, you might want to frame it and put it on the wall or at least mount the work in card (also called matting). Apart from contamination from processing chemicals, acids in mount boards, fixing tapes and giues plus pollutants in the atmosphere and strong light will all attack a print. Use acid-free "conservation," "museum," or "archival" grade materials, seal frames with tape so that air can't get in, and avoid hanging prints in direct sunlight.

Avoid aerosol-type giues or anything with strong solvents. Museum curators and others who deal with old or valuable photographs prefer mounting methods that are reversible, so any glue which is water-soluble is a good bet. The print can then be soaked off its mount if need be at some later time. Dry mounting is not considered to be archival, even though good-quaiity mount tissue should not attack the print and presents a barrier to chemicals leaching out of the mount board. It also increases the physical durability of a print, making it harder to crease or dent. However, the conservators don't like it, as it is not reversible. They consider museum acid-free board with archival photo corners—nothing is permanently attached to the print so that it can be removed and remounted if necessary—to be the only true archival method. Dry mounting, if done properly, does, however, result in a perfectly fiat print—something difficult to achieve otherwise with fiber paper—but bad mounting can give a print the surface look of orange peel.

Any prints not for display should be stored in similar archival boxes, laid fiat and away from pollutants and extremes of heat or cold.

Darkroom Organization

You might have been using a college or commercial darkroom to make your prints, but now that you have become proficient at printing you may decide to set up your very own darkroom. While it is possible to make successful prints in a temporary darkroom by blacking out a bathroom or a spare room, it would be better for printing on a more professional basis to establish a permanent darkroom setup.

There are four basic requirements for a darkroom: (1) light-tightness; (2) electricity, a water supply with a waste outlet, and care for how waste chemicals are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way; (3) adequate ventilation and a controllable air temperature; and (4) the layout should be planned to allow safe working in a logical sequence, including easy access in and out. Requirements (3) and (4) are just as important as the other, more obvious, facilities. After all, you should be able to work comfortably for long periods, so shutting out light does not also mean shutting out air. If others are using the darkroom too, it is helpful if people can come and go without disrupting production, but care must also be taken to restrict dust entering the room.

General layout

Darkroom size depends upon how many people use the room at one time, how long they need to be there, and the work being done. The following should give some idea of what is needed for an ideal darkroom. An "all day" printing room for one person might be 20 cubic meters (706 cubic feet), e.g., 2.5 x 3.2 x 2.5 m high; allow 4 m² of floor space per additional user (Figure 11.44). The best entrance arrangement is a light trap or labyrinth (Figure 11.45). This will prevent entry of light, provided it is properly designed and finished in matt black paint. It allows you free passage without having to open doors or pull aside curtains (both can become contaminated and sources of chemical dust and fluff). Equally important, the light trap will freely pass air for ventilation. Rotating "shell" doors (Figure 11.45) are available commercially and provide 100 percent light-proofing at the expense of ventilation. If you use an ordinary door, make sure there is a light trapped air grille within it or somewhere in the wall nearby. Elsewhere in the room you should have a light-proof air extractor fan or, better still, an air conditioner. Ideally, aim for a steady inside air temperature of 20°C (68°F).

11.44
A one-person general black and white darkroom, for small format developing and printing. Note the clear separation of "wet" and "dry" areas Film and print drying take place elsewhere D: Developer S: Stop bath. F: Fixer. W: Wash.

Inside, clearly divide your space into "wet" and "dry" areas. The ideal wet area should contain a PVC flat-bottomed photographic sink about 6 inches deep with integral splashback, large enough to hold at least three of your largest print trays. Have one water outlet fed through a hot and cold mixer unit, and positioned sufficiently high for you to fill a bucket or tall container This, and one or more cold-water outlets, can be threaded to firmly accept a hose coupling to a wash tank or tray. Often the incoming water supply contains small particles of grit or rust from pipework which can stick to films or prints, causing unsightly marks. If this is a problem, commercial water filters with disposable cartridges can be plumbed into the supply. As Figure 11.44 shows, you need storage areas for trays and sufficient area for mixing and storing chemicals.

11.45
Various light trapped darkroom entrances, (a) and (b) layouts are often the easiest way to adapt an existing doorway (c) is a commercially made revolving shell you step into, and then rotate around you. Unlike the others it does not promote ventilation. All labyrinths must have an internal matt black finish.

Ideally, the "dry" area should be a bench on the opposite side of the room, far enough away to avoid splashes and big enough to accommodate the en larger, as well as having sufficient space for timers, paper boxes, paper trimmer, negative files, notebooks, etc. The bench should be secure as it is vital that the en larger should not wobble at all. Have plenty of electrical outlets/power points at bench height along this side for your equipment, plus a sealed outlet higher on the wall near the wet bench for an immersion heater or tempering unit. The latter should be controlled by ceiling-mounted pull down string switches—you should not be able to operate wall-mounted electrical switches with wet hands. Paper and film should ideally not be stored in the same room as "chemistry," but if this is unavoidable, keep it in closed storage cupboards rather than on open shelves. Spare chemistry should also be stored away in a metal cabinet, and it is always advisable, especially if sharing a darkroom, that you have the appropriate health and safety information for each chemical you are using.

Depending on the room size, you will, need one or more safelights. Position these so as to give good working illumination everywhere, but ensure that none is closer than its recommended distance (p. 387). You need enough safelighting for you to be able to find your way around and also to see clocks, timers, and other equipment. It is preferable to have minimal safelighting around the enlarger itself so that you can see its projected image more easily.

For white light, use a ceiling light bulb (not a fluorescent tube, which may continue to glow faintly in the dark); again this should be operated by a pull cord as used in bathrooms, etc., for safety.

Choose a wall and ceiling finish inside the darkroom that is as pale as possible, preferably matt white. Provided your room is properly blacked out, generally reflective surroundings are helpful. Your safelight illumination will be more even, and working conditions less oppressive. But paint the wall around your enlarger matt black to prevent possible fogging problems from stray white light from the enlarger; this is especially important if you are in a shared darkroom with multiple enlargers.

Dry benches can be topped with pale-toned laminate; 50 mm thick kitchen worktop material is ideal as it is durable, easily cleaned, and heavy enough to support any enlarger rigidly. The floor should not be carpeted as carpet generates dust and harbors chemical spills. Ideally the drying of pictures (film drying cabinet, print dryer) and the dissolving of any dry chemicals, plus all image-toning processes, should take place out of the darkroom in some separate well-ventilated area.

Items for the “dry” bench

For consistent work, an enlarger timer to allow a wide range of timed exposures with a switch to keep the enlarger on for focusing, wired between the lamp and supply, is essential. Some models have the facility to set multiple times for dodging, burning-in, etc. Ensure that the timer is capable of controlling the power (wattage) of the enlarger; high power models may need a relay to prevent damage. You will also need a masking frame (or "easel") for the enlarger baseboard, ideally with metal masks adjustable to the print size you need (some are non-adjustable with four-in-one print sizes fixed already). The frame provides a white or sometimes yellow surface on which to focus the image, and a means of positioning and holding the paper flat during exposure, with edges protected from the light to form white borders. Suction boards are also available for large-scale printing. You will need a focusing magnifier (or "grain magnifier"). This allows a small part of the projected image to be reflected onto an internal focusing screen which you check through a magnifier, making focusing considerably easier (Figure 11.46). Remember that if you plan to use variable contrast paper with an enlarger that does not possess a dial-in head, you will also need a set of filters. Other important accessories include tools for burning-in and dodging (p. 398), a glass-top contact-printing frame (p. 393), and a can of compressed air or a blower brush for removing any dust or hairs from film and glass surfaces. Some printers use an enlarging exposure meter to help in assessing exposure and contrast, although this is by no means essential when starting out.

11.46
Accessories for the "dry" bench. 1: Focusing magnifier. 2: Compressed air to remove any dust from film. 3: Adjustable masking frame. 4: Enlarger timer. 5: "Dodgers" for shading. 6: Card with choice of various shaped apertures for "printing-in." 7: Set of mounted gelatin lens filters for VC paper.

Items for the “wet” bench

You will need sufficient trays for developer, stop bath, and preferably two fixing baths. Good-quaiity plastic trays are often sold in sets of three, color coded for identification, but the most durable are made in stainless steel, although they are not color coded or always appropriate for alternative processes. You will also want a simple wash tray or a (more expensive) vertical-slot tank that separates the prints out so they don't touch each other, suitable for the papers you are using (resin-coated or fiber base). Ideally, use trays at least one size larger than the paper you are using to allow the chemicals to circulate freely. If the developer working temperature is significantly warmer than that of the room, use either a larger tray to enclose your tray of developer and act as a "water jacket" or a dish heater (Figure 11.47). Have a large mixing graduate and containers of concentrated print developer, stop bath, and fixer. It is also recommended that you use disposable gloves when mixing chemicals as well as eye protection wear. Some people may have an allergic reaction to the chemicals and will need to wear gloves while printing.

A dish thermometer is essential (preferably the alcohol type, for easy darkroom reading), as well as a wall-mounted clock with clear minute and second hands. Two pairs of plastic or stainless steel print tongs—kept separate for developer and fixer trays—will help keep your hands out of chemical solutions. Finally, don't forget a roller towel and a waste bin for discarded prints. Empty it daily to avoid darkroom contamination from chemicals drying out. See processing procedure, p. 388.

Equipment: The Enlarger

The enlarger and more importantly the Lens are your most important pieces of printing equipment. The eniarger is designed like a vertically mounted, low-power projector. A lamphouse at the top evenly illuminates the negative which is held flat in a slide-in carrier. A lens mounted below the negative focuses a magnified image onto the baseboard, where the printing paper is usually held flat in an easel or masking frame. Sliding the whole enlarger head (Figure 11.48) up or down the supporting column alters the size of the image on the baseboard. Adjusting the distance between lens and negative alters focus (needed for every change of size), and changing lens aperture by f-stop intervals alters image brightness, just as it does in the camera.

When choosing an enlarger the things you should consider are: (1) the range of negative sizes it can accept, (2) the most appropriate lens, (3) the type of negative illumination, (4) the [argest print size you will want to make, and (5) whether you may want to use it for color as well as black and white printing.

11.47
Items for the "wet" side of the darkroom. 1: Trays for solutions, including larger tray as water jacket. 2: Graduate, and funnel. 3: Plastic tongs to hold a corner of your print when agitating or removing it. 4: Chemicals. 5: Dish thermometer. 6: Clock timer. 7: Heated panel, alternative to water jacket. 8: Safelight for shelf above sink. 7 and 8 must be designed for safe use in wet surroundings.

11.48 Enlarger: basic condenser type Arrowed solid lines show the path of light through condensers and negative (N), directed into the lens. Dotted lines denote light refracted by lens Adjustment 1 shifts lens, to focus the image Adjustment 2 raises/lowers lamp relative to lens position, adjusting for evenness when needed. 3: Movement of the whole enlarger head alters image size.

Negative size

A 35 mm only eniarger is smaller and cheaper than one of similar quality that accommodates several negative sizes (Figure 11.49). If you also use medium format cameras or are likely to do so, get an eniarger for the biggest format, as it will comfortably take smaller negatives. As well as negative carriers for each format you will need lenses of suitable focal lengths to get a useful range of print sizes off each format (see Figure 4.13 for examples of film sizes).

Enlargers for 4 x 5 inch or larger negatives are often much more substantial Most printers use a separate eniarger for these large formats. They will adapt down for smaller films, but you may find it awkward to keep changing fitments when a mixture of negative sizes is being printed.

Lens

Enlargers normally come without a lens fitted, as you can choose from a variety of focal lengths and prices (Figure 11.50). Unlike camera lenses which work best at infinity, an enlarger lens is designed to give its maximum resolution at very close working distances, although both types of lenses work in the same way in that they have a range of apertures to control the amount of light passing through (see Figure 3.5). Typical focal lengths are 50 mm for 35 mm format negatives, 80 mm or 105 mm for medium format sizes, and 150 mm for 4 x 5 inch.

11.49
Diffuser type enlarger head (this one is also suitable for color printing). Dials raise filters into the light beam. Light scrambler box scatters and diffuses the illumination to give even light and color. Reflex layout makes it easier to cool the high-intensity lamp, and reduces headroom.

In effect, focal length is a compromise. If it is too long, you will not start to get sufficient-size enlargements until the enlarger head is near the top of the column; too short, and the lens has insufficient covering power (p. 62), resulting in prints with distorted, or even cut-off, corners, especially at large magnifications. You will also find it is difficult to position the lens close enough to the negative, and when making small prints there is insufficient space below the lens to shade or print in (see p. 398).

The wider the maximum aperture, often f/2.8 or f/4 for a 50 mm lens, the easier it will be to see and focus the image. However, prints will very rarely be exposed at this setting because exposure time is then inconveniently short (see p. 396). Aperture settings are boldly marked for reading under darkroom conditions, and easily felt by "click" settings at half stop intervals Always buy the best enlarger lens you can afford. False economy here can undo the fine image qualities achieved by your camera lens. Take care not to put finger marks on the lens surface and occasionally check the back, upper surface for any accumulated dust.

11.50
Enlarger lens, f/2.8. A large aperture scale and "click" stops make it easy to adjust in the darkroom. Your lens must be of high quality. otherwise all your work is affected. Most lenses up to about 105 mm have a standard 39 mm thread fitting. Larger ones are usually mounted in plates for easy fitting.

Illumination

The negative, held in the enlarger by its carrier, must be evenly illuminated. Light from the lamp either passes through a condenser or a diffuser system to achieve this. Many older enlargers have a system consisting of a lamphouse which contains one or more simple but large condenser lenses (larger than the negative) to gather diverging light from an opal tungsten lamp and direct it through the negative to focus into the enlarging lens itself. This gives strong, hard illumination which has the effect of making projected images slightly more contrasty than in the case of a diffuser system. This can give the impression of greater sharpness, but it also shows up scratches and any other surface blemishes on the film. You may have to move the lamp or one of the condenser lenses whenever you change lens focal length or when making an extreme change of print size. Condenser enlargers are capable of very bright illumination, which is useful for large prints, but they generate quite a lot of heat, which can cause problems with negatives curling and "popping" out of focus.

11.51
Interchangeable diffuser enlarger head designs. (a) Dual-lamp system for variable contrast paper; lamps are filtered yellow and magenta by adjustable amounts (relate to Figure 11.55). (b) Color head, also suitable for VC paper. (c) Cold light head, which contains one or more fluorescent tubes and gives excellent brightness with little heat.

Diffuser enlargers use a [amp head which makes the negative appear as though lit by a miniature lightbox (Figure 11.51). Most enlargers use a small, bright, quartz-iodide light source, which is directed through a white plastic diffuser located a short distance above the film. This soft-light design lends itself to built-in color filtering systems, so heads with dial-in filters for controlling variable contrast papers (p. 385) or for color printing are mainly of this type. Despite the very hot-running QI lamp, diffuser types generally run cooler than condensers. The image projected is usually less bright though, requiring longer exposure times or wider apertures. The diffused light source is much "kinder" to damaged negatives, scratches, etc., being less pronounced on final prints.

11.52
Enlargers may also allow you to make reduced size prints, provided the lens will move far enough from the negative If bellows are too short, add a camera extension tube. Check that the image remains evenly illuminated.

A third kind of illumination is offered by cold cathode or "cold light" enlargers. In reality a type of diffuser, these use one or more fluorescent tubes as a light source. Many experienced printers favor this type as it offers very even illumination with minimal heat. The color temperature of the tubes can be set so as to offer contrast control similar to that of a filtering head. Cold light units produce light over a much narrower part of the spectrum, meaning chromatic aberrations in the enlarging lens are less of a problem and images look sharper and most true to the negative. Many enlargers can be converted to cold cathode by adding lamp units made by specialist suppliers such as Aristo, although they may need additional specialist electronic control units or relays to work with timers.

Whichever type you choose, as discussed on p. 369 it is best to process negatives to a contrast index which suits your particular enlarger by "pushing" or "pulling" your film during processing. Then you can make fullest use of printing paper to adjust contrast up or down in order to "fine tune" individual pictures (Figure 11.52).

Print size—largest and smallest

Enlargers, as their name implies, allow you to make prints bigger than the negative, but you can make reduced size "thumbnail" prints too. The maximum size magnification you can get from a negative depends on the enlarger lens focal length, and the lens-to-paper distance, controlled by the height the column will allow. More precisely, magnification is:

lens-to-paper distance divided by focal length, minus one

11.53 Making big enlargements: typical limiting factors are the height of column, and the column base fouling the image area (left). Solutions include: (a) angled, extended column and larger baseboard; (b) turning the enlarger head to project from bench down onto the floor (notebooks, etc., used as counterweights for stability); or (c) rotating the head to project onto a distant wall.

For example, if your eniarger column can raise the lens 600 mm above the baseboard, you can make a 300 x 450 mm enlargement from a 60 x 90 mm negative (magnification of x5) using a 100 mm lens (600 ÷ 100 = 6 - 1 = 5; 5 x 60 x 90 mm = 300 x 450). The taller the column, the bigger the enlargement possible (assuming the eniarger head doesn't hit the ceiling first!). For even bigger enlargements, the enlarger head may be designed to rotate through 90° so that it projects the image horizontally onto a distant wall. Some bench models turn to work vertically downward onto the floor (see Figure 11.53).

Note that there are special enlarging lenses available that have extra-short focal lengths while still covering the negative format in use. For example, a "normal" 50 mm lens will not cover a 60 x 70 mm negative but a special "wide-throw" 50 mm one will, allowing much larger prints to be made at maximum column height (Figure 11.54).

11.54
The "throws" necessary for a 35 mm enlarger (50 mm lens) and 120 film enlarger (80 mm) to achieve various image magnifications Most 35 mm standard column enlargers allow the lens to be raised at least 60-70 cm above baseboard.

At the other extreme, for prints smaller than the negative dimensions, you need to be able to lower the enlarger head and position the lens sufficiently far away from the negative (see Figure 11.52). If the bellows will not stretch this far, try fitting a camera-type lens extension ring. Focusing is frequently difficult at these very close distances unless you remember to keep the lens-paper distance constant while moving the lamphouse up and down.

Contrast control filters

In order to alter the contrast of variable contrast printing papers (p. 385), most black and white enlargers offer some way of adjusting the image color (Figure 11.55). In many older enlargers there is a simple filter drawer in the lamphouse between the light and the negative. You buy a set of six or more "above-the-lens" acetate filters (Figure 11.56) to use in the drawer one at a time.

11.55
Alternative ways to control variable contrast printing paper, (a) Drawer for (acetate) filters between lamp and negative (b) Holder on lens for (gelatin) filters. (c) Lamphouse with internal dial-in VC filtration system, (d) Color printing lamphouse (see Figure 11.9).

Alternatively, you can clamp a special holder below the lens and use a set of smaller filters. Companies such as llford provide both types as part of their Multigrade filter sets. (Filters must be the more expensive gelatin type; otherwise their use below the lens will upset image definition. Ideally keep these filters completely free of finger marks too.)

Far more conveniently, a variable contrast lamphouse unit allows you to vary filtration continuously, just by turning a numbered dial which moves built-in filters in or out of the light beam above the negative. If you plan later to make color prints, a color lamphouse unit (with yellow, magenta, and cyan dial-in filters) will also serve variable contrast monochrome paper, although you may then have to adjust exposure time with each change of filtration (p. 386).

Other features

Red filter. It is very useful to have a swing-across red filter below the enlarger [ens (see Figure 11.48). This will allow you to see the image projected onto the actual light-sensitive paper without actually exposing it—helpful when preparing to shade, print in, or make a black edge line (p. 403).

11.56
A simple set of acetate filters for a variable contrast paper, marked with contrast grade numbers Low contrast filters are yellow; higher contrast are magenta.

Negative carrier. Most negative carriers are "giassless"—holding the film flat between metal frames. You may occasionally need a glass carrier when enlarging a sandwich of two negatives (Figures 11.37 and 11.38) which might otherwise sag in the middle. However, sandwiching between glass creates problems because: (a) you have four more surfaces to keep clean, and (b) when glass and film are not in perfectly even contact, light-interference causes a faint pattern of concentric lines, called Newton's rings, to appear over the image. Other optional features include metal sliding masks within the negative carrier to block light from any rebate or part of the image you are cropping off (reduces potential flare).

11.57
Some bigger enlargers have their controls for focusing and raising/lowering located under the baseboard. This is especially useful with column extension units that allow the baseboard down to floor level. The enlarger column is bolted to the wall for added stability.

Remote controls for head shift and focusing positioned at baseboard Level are a convenience on very large models, and an angled column (Figure 11.53) will avoid the column base fouling images when you make big prints (Figure 11.57). Enlarger movements (a pivoting head and lens panel) are helpful when you must alter image shape without losing all-over sharp focus (Figure 11.58). They will allow you to give some compensation for unwanted converging verticals due to shooting with a camera pointing slightly upward. (See also digital adjustment of perspective, p. 325.)

Enlarger care

11.58
Some enlargers have tilting heads, to correct images with unwanted converging lines.

Be careful to make sure that your enlarger does not shift its focus or head position, once set.

The head should not wobble when at the top of its column, nor the lamphouse and negative overheat because of poor ventilation or use of the wrong voltage lamp.

Regularly check that no debris has accumulated on top surfaces of condenser lenses or diffusing panel. (This can add shadowy patches to negative illumination, becoming more prominent in the projected image when you stop down the enlarging lens.)

Dust, grease, and scratches on enlarging lens surfaces, however slight, scatter light and degrade the tonal range of your prints. This shows mostly as dulled subject highlights, and shadows which print smudged and spread.

Covering your enlarger with a plastic dust sheet when not in use is a good idea, as is keeping a cap over the lens, especially when chemicals are kept in the darkroom, as the surface of the glass can actually be attacked by chemical vapors.

Summary

> RC and fiber papers differ in the times required for processing, washing, drying, and also in drying treatment, dimensional stability, and archival permanence. RC papers are easier to work with but fiber offers ultimately greater quality.

> Other printing paper variables: tint, surface, size, neutral or warm-tone emulsion, contrast (graded or variable).

> Safelights must be of appropriate color, wattage, and distance. Even then, don't exceed maximum safe exposure time.

> Choose a developer for a required image color-particularly with chlorobromide papers. Aim to standardize the development time and temperature. Use a stop bath, then fresh fixer. Don't use exhausted fixer or fixer that has been used for negatives. Avoid overfixing too.

> Have a wash system that efficiently removes soluble salts. Fiber papers are helped by a hypo-clearing stage. Dry RC prints by heated air dryer, or natural air. For fiber prints, either heat-dry (essential if glazing) or hang up thicker papers to air dry.

> Contact prints are an important way of proofing/ filing all your film images. Expose carefully and choose a relatively low contrast grade for maximum information of picture content in every frame.

> Select and clean negatives for enlarging; remember to stop the lens down, and give a series of test strip exposures, each strip spanning shadows and highlights.

> Make local density changes by shading/dodging and printing/burning-in; make local contrast changes by altered filtration (variable contrast: paper).

> To reduce printing contrast, use softer grade paper or a lower number filter with VC paper, diffuse the enlarger illumination, "pre-flash" expose the paper, or change to softer-working developer.

> To increase contrast, use harder grade paper or VC filtration, consider negative intensification, line developer, and lith materials, or change to a condenser or point-source enlarger.

> Check print faults against your negative. Most white marks are caused by light obstruction such as dust on the negative, black marks by fog or rough handling, patchiness by careless processing.

> Materials and methods worth exploring: lith paper, tinted bromide papers (with bleach stage), adding edge lines, vignetting, and double printing.

> Photograms can give unexpected, unique images. Try removing objects part way through exposure, combining object shapes with an image projected through the enlarger, and printing from prints.

> Dilute Farmer's reducer will lighten print density and brighten highlights. Halt its effect at any point with water. Stronger-acting iodine bleach will remove chosen image parts altogether. Follow both by refixing and washing.

> Toning chemically changes a black silver image into a color one. Use it for special effects; to enrich print tone values; to increase permanence (selenium or gold toning); or (sepia) as a preliminary to hand tinting. Some toners reduce image permanence. Make sure health and safety procedures are always followed.

> Toners may work as single solutions. Others require the print to be bleached, then toned during a redevelopment stage. Yet others use bleaching and dye-coupled development (wide choice of couplers), followed by optional silver bleach. Prints can be toned overall or in just a selected area, or only image midtones and highlights (duotone effect).

> Tinting, by applying water or oil colors, allows total control of coloring and is often best used subjectively. Work from largest to smallest areas. Graduated tone or color can be applied by airbrushing. Difficult to achieve otherwise with fiber papers—but bad mounting can give a print the surface look of orange peel.

> Negatives should be stored in "archival" grade polyester sleeves away from the light, ideally in acid-free boxes. Any prints not for display should be stored in similar archival boxes, laid flat and away from pollutants and extremes of heat or cold.

> A printing darkroom must be of adequate size, light-tight but ventilated, stable in temperature, away from dust and pollution, allowing easy access, and serviced by electricity and hot and cold water.

> Divide darkroom layout into wet and dry areas. Consider chemical and electrical safety carefully (Appendix E). Have the room well illuminated by safelighting, with walls mostly light toned.

> Enlarger choice factors: negative size(s), type of illumination, lens, and maximum print size. Condenser illumination enhances image contrast, grain, and detail, but picks out any negative blemishes. Diffuser and cold light types offer more subtlety in printing and are more forgiving of scratches, etc. Process negatives to best suit your enlarger's illumination system.

> To calculate the image magnification an enlarger will give, divide the lens-to-paper distance by focal length, then subtract one.

Projects

1. Find out the range of print sizes you can make. Physically check the upper and Lower limits of image magnification your lens(es) and enlarger design allow, while still maintaining an evenly illuminated negative. Remember the use of extension tubes if available.

2. Test your darkroom safelight. Switch off the safelight(s) and, with no negative in the enlarger, expose a piece of paper so as to produce a pale gray tone (make a test strip to determine a suitable exposure). Take this pre-exposed paper and place it emulsion side up at the closest point it would normally come to the safelight, say on the bench immediately below the lamp. Place a small coin on one end of the paper, switch on the safelight, and start your timer. After one minute, place another coin next to the first one. Every minute add another coin until you have a line of ten coins sitting on the paper. After you place the last coin down, leave the safelight on for a further minute and then turn it off.

Process the paper normally, working in the dark until it has been fully fixed; then fully wash and dry it as any normal print. If your safelight is completely safe, you will have a perfectly even gray print. However, as no safelight is perfect, it is likely you will be able to see the shadows of some of the coins. Note the number of visible coin outlines; counting back from 10 will give you the maximum safe exposure time in your darkroom; for example, if you can see 3 outlines, paper should not be exposed to the safelighting for more than 7 minutes. If you can see 8 or more outlines, this means that the safe time is less than 2 minutes, which is insufficient. Move the safelight farther away, use a lower powered bulb, or partially mask it off to reduce the light output; then re-test. If it is still unsafe, check for white light leaks and if necessary change the safelight filter.

3. Make a "ring-around," i.e., a number of prints from one negative. Pick an interesting negative and make a wide-ranging set of prints:

(a) on various contrast grades of paper;

(b) on different types and makes of paper;

(c) using different developers. Mount these on a card for reference.

4. Make strong linear and tonal designs by means of photograms. Try:

(a) numerous opaque objects—paper clips, beans, etc.—which you shift around the paper or partly remove after one-quarter, half or three-quarters of the full black exposure.

(b) positioning some objects on a glass sheet a few inches above the paper, others in surface contact. Hold tracing paper just below the enlarging lens to make the raised objects form soft-edged shadow shapes. The others remain sharp and are therefore emphasized.

(c) placing a few larger objects on the paper. Expose these with a moving flashlight following each circumference—like a paint spray around a stencil.

5. Similarly to project 3, make multiple prints of one image and then try a variety of toning products such as sepia, red, and blue. Evaluate how these different colors may enhance or alter the mood of the photograph. Secondly, pick images that you think will be most appropriate for the different colors; for example, a cityscape with lots of glass and metal might look preferable with the cold tone of blue.

6. Select an appropriate image to hand tint; experiment with different colors and dilutions of dyes to build up the appropriate density of color on the print; use a range of paper bases and surface finishes, including glossy and matt.

7. Try creating differently shaped frames for your print, from square to circular, as well as creating prints with and without black borders.

Chapter Twelve
Moving Image and Photography

Introduction

Photographers have been exploring the moving image for many decades and their relationship with video and cinema is anything but new. In fact, photography itself is at the basis of the moving image, which is only, in technical terms, a sequence of still images (or frames) played back at a certain rate to create the illusion of movement, provided movement has been captured throughout.

While producing moving images was once (and can stiii be) a complex practice requiring highly specialized and expensive resources, most types of moving image work can now be relatively straightforward and accessible to anyone with a basic set of digital tools.

You can capture extended moments, or whole actions, as a set of consecutive photographs (time-lapse, stop motion) or as a video, which you can edit and then save as a "movie" file for playback on a computer or burning on a DVD for alternative viewing methods. You can upload it on a website, blog, or social media site or display it on a tablet. Faster Internet connections and higher specification computers and screens have improved rich media files' upload and download times as well as their display and streaming. Many print publications have embraced the screen even more so with the popularity of tablets and mobile devices. Most have already transitioned to a digital format as interactive magazines in the form of apps where still photography and moving images collide, and no doubt the demand for this type of imagery opens new opportunities for photographers.

A large number of cameras (including some smartphones and tablets) will support time-lapse image capture as well as automatic time-lapse video creation, and the rapid rise of video-enabled DSLRs has also encouraged photography enthusiasts and professionals to experiment with capturing movement over time rather than in a single frame. Commercial and fashion photographers as well as photojournalists are also increasingly comblning still and motion in their work. The reappearance of the GIF (graphic interchange format) has seen the format and now art form attract interest in the photographic community.

Digital imaging software such as Adobe Photoshop now has the capacity to edit and composite time-based media, making it easier for photographers to move from still to motion or somewhere in between.

New forms of photography and the moving image

One of the moving image forms widely embraced by photographers is naturally time-lapse photography (p. 446). Time-lapse is essentially photography with the added time dimension. It is a great form to communicate the passing of time in compelling ways. Sam Taylor-Johnson is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker whose work often combines elements of the still and moving image. She has used time-lapse in pieces such as Still Life (2001) and A Little Death (2002). Taylor-Johnson wanted to have her audience experience something beautiful and recognizable deteriorating in extreme ways in front of their eyes. In Still Life, she sets up a bowl of fruit in the manner of a Renaissance painting and shoots a few frames every second over a period of nine weeks. The shots are then sped up, unraveling dramatic changes that would normally be imperceptible. Similarly, in her still life-inspired piece A Little Death, Taylor-Johnson captures the decomposition of a dead hare and contrasts it with a static peach. Instead of capturing one moment in time, she speeds up the original duration of the decomposition process and removes sound, leaving only the rapid movement of the decaying hare in a still life composition. The result is impactful and draws the audience in, even if reluctantly.

Many photographers are working with time-lapse, and some are pushing it to new creative and technical heights. Tom Lowe is a photographer whose experiments in time-iapse photography won him a lot of interest from the photographic community online. His work contributed to a revival of time-lapse photography as he broke new ground with his own techniques and rigging systems. Lowe was offered the opportunity to produce a time-lapse film with 5K resolution cameras and released TimeScapes in 2010 (TimeScapes was shot in 5K on Red and Canon DSLR cameras and edited in 4K resolution). Lowe won the Astronomy Photographer of the year award in 2011 with a still photograph from TimeScapes. Other photographers, such as Eric Pare or Ryan Enn Hughes, create works at the intersection of still photography and the moving image, using techniques derived from time-lapse photography known as time slicing, splicing, or "bullet time" which focus on the dimension of space as well as time (Figure 12.1).

While most photographers might agree that time-iapse belongs in the practice of photography, opinions have been mixed where video is

12.1 Eric Pares "LightSpin" project (2013). Eric Pare combines slow shutter speed photography with the technique of time splicing or buiiet time shooting dancers in a 360° set rigged with twenty-four cameras

concerned. However, the release of the video-enabled DSLR in 2010 has facilitated the exploration of the medium by the curious photographer.

David CLaerbout is an artist and photographer who believed that photography couid be presented in another state. His experiments with moving image and video technologies pre-date the video-enabled DSLR by about ten years, and highlights a long-standing interest in using video within photographic practice. Claerbout in his early video experiments wanted to explore the notion of bringing his photography to life by un-freezing the elements within the picture literally. Using cyclic and non-forward moving portions of video, Claerbout creates works where photography and film coexist in the same image, placing him at the forefront of media convergence and possibly as the precursor of the more recent Cinemagraph™ (p. 476). In his piece Kindergarten Antonio Sant'Elia, 1932 (2000) Claerbout uses an archive photograph of schoolchildren and composites it with video to bring the trees to life in a soft swaying motion. In Vietnam, 1967, near Due Pho (Reconstruction after Hiromishi Mine) (2001) he stages a plane shot down during the Vietnam War in mid-descent to the ground. The scene combines a black and white photograph with video footage of the landscape in a subtle moving and still image where slight light changes occur.

Photography, video, and moving image have often been converging practices within the art world, and many artists and photographers over the last century have experimented with time-based media. Influential pieces of work have emerged from such convergence, and some brought to the fore interesting relationships between still imagery and movements through time. Chris Marker's short film la Jetée (1962), made entirely from still photographs except for one moving image shot, is one of these works, if not a little unsettling in its form. This poetic film, with its unconventional montage of still images projected at 24 frames per second, creates a slightly "shaky" format which both settles us into a recognizable filmic form and aesthetic and unsettles us because of the resulting hybrid temporal form that the technique, together with the conceptual content of the work, creates.

The video-enabied DSLR has also facilitated the return of the film aesthetic in moving image work across various disciplines. In the commercial and fashion worlds of photography, video has been strongly embraced, creating a hub of experimentation and innovation.

Greg Williams' moving image work developed from his photographic practice within the film industry. He is the creator of the MOTO (Moving Photo), which uses video and cinematography to create a hybrid form of photography where a sense of stillness is brought by the elements and subjects that constitute it rather than the still image format. Williams' MQTOs are cinematic video shots that resemble still photographs in the ways the subjects are apprehended and the ways the shots are composed. Williams keeps experimenting with ideas that bring about a convergence between photography and filmmaking, and his work has been seen in the commercial world as the future of advertising.

Fashion photography has also seen a rising number of professional photographers using video as a natural extension of photography. Nick Knight's website features video pieces where he experiments with the creative possibilities of video. He launched SHOWstudio in 2000. SHOWstudio highlights and promotes the creative and innovative use of the moving image in fashion. The fashion films showcased in this pioneering and award-winning website include videos, moving portraits, and live streams.

Video has not only influenced and changed photographic practices creatively; it has also changed some practices such as photojournalism in pragmatic ways. With the increasing pressure from newspapers trying to reach another market, photojournalists have had to move into video. The video-enabled DSLR camera helped that transition, providing a lightweight alternative to traditional video gear as well as offering the same creative possibilities as photography. The way photographers think about light, together with the variety of lenses available, can contribute to the production of strong video pieces. While the DSLR is a pragmatic solution for photojournalists, the narrative power of video has also inspired them. Photojournalist Ami Vitale integrates video in her photographic documentary projects, opening up opportunities for more powerful storytelling. The late and multi-award winning war photographer Tim Hetherington was another photojournalist who extended his photographic practice with other forms of media. Video and filmmaking became a platform for documenting conflict. His films include Liberia: An Uncivil War (2004), The Devil Came on Horseback (2007), and Restrepo, his directorial debut film about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan, for which he won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival

The potential transformation of the still image within photography has perhaps been more evident with forms like the GIF or more recently the cinemagraph (see p. 476), because the work derived from them does not utilize moving images as we are used to experiencing them, that is, in a forward moving sequence. GIFs and cinemagraphs make use of the looping characteristic of the GIF format as well as the smooth movement video can capture to enhance the notion of suspended time in the image with or in the still photograph. The relationship between still elements and moving elements in these two forms, if captured right, can reinforce the feeling of stillness in the work (Figure 12.2).

Animated GIFs have graced the Web since 1987 While the GIF format has always been available, the form (the animated GIF) disappeared from the Web for a few years. GIFs are now back and contain richer media and more meaningful content than the simple graphics the format was created for. With a large GIF-makers community and an increasing number of photographers and digital artists toying with the form, not only are animated GIFs a great means to share ideas, views, and information via the Web, but

12.2 Stills from cinemagraphs. Triptych by William Ainsworth (2012). Ainsworth reinforces the idea of suspended time with the addition of subtle movements of light and flowing garments in this fashion cinemagraph series

12.3 GIF still GIF submission to the Motion Photography Prize 2014 by Danny Oliver Danny Oliver keeps only the water running from the broken pipe as the moving element in this GIF, adding subtle motion to his photograph.

GIF making has recently become a recognized practice as well as an art form. They have slowly gained in popularity in the commercial world, with many screen-based advertising campaigns now showing these types of images. Furthermore, in April 2014 the Saatchi Gallery in London, in collaboration with Google+, organized a photography competition recognizing motion photography as an art form. The Motion Photography Prize is the first global open entry competition celebrating GIFs and derivative forms of photographic moving image (Figure 12.3).

Approaching Moving Images

Time-lapses, videos, GIFs, and cinemagraphs in their basic forms are relatively easy to achieve, and the technology will generally allow you to do a good postproduction job provided you have good base material. Producing the right content to create moving images does require forward planning and preparation as well as an understanding of the notions of time and movement.

Thinking about movement

Still photography offers many techniques to represent movement. However, whether it is a freeze frame of action, a chrono shot, or a shot using long exposure, for example, still photography tends to look for the moment or moments that bear the most interest.

Capturing motion, even for photography-based projects, will require a different mindset from that of taking a still. When capturing movement in action, you do not have to Look exclusively for the best moments. While still photography might tend to capture movement for the motion created, moving images, and in particular video, use movement in action to tell stories, convey emotions and create relationships between subjects.

There are always a lot of movements in any given scene if we recognise them. They can be natural movements caused by the elements in the environment, such as wind and light for example, or other natural forces, but they can also be planned and fully or partially choreographed in order to contribute to the overall theme, story, or narrative. This could be focused on the way the camera or virtual camera moves around the subject (pans, zooms, and tilts).

Often we take movement for granted, especially when looking at mundane events and familiar scenes. It might help to think of movement and motion in action as change, growth, evolution, development, and transformation, for example. You may want to focus a time-lapse on the transformation of a starry night sky or the blossoming of flowers. It may also help to think of movement as patterns, rhythms, and cycles. You could look for movement that may constitute a perfect loop for a GIF or cinemagraph, for example a particular move from a dancer or a record player that could be repeated over and over seamlessly. While movement in action offers various opportunities for dynamism in your work, capturing motion will necessitate greater planning in order to facilitate the postproduction stage of the work. Because you will have to either edit several shots together in a sequence or composite still and moving elements together it is important you make sure all elements fit in with each other both technically, in terms of formats, size, aspect ratio, etc., and conceptually and creatively in terms of lighting, colors, general aesthetics, and continuity.

Planning your work

Planning your moving image work will be very different depending on whether you are working on an animation, a time-lapse, or a video. Some parts of the planning process will be the same or similar, for example thinking about the equipment you need or the technical requirements such as picture aspect ratio and resolution, but other parts will vary significantly, depending on the form you are using and whether or not your work has a distinct narrative.

Generally, as a photographer you will be "working the scene" and have a more intuitive approach to your shoots. You will have a sense of what it is you want to capture, and you will be shooting often hundreds of images with the aim of capturing "the shot" or the few shots that will encompass the essence of your subject. Because of this, you may be inclined to adopt the same approach to shooting moving images. While spontaneity in shooting can still be part of your practice, you will generally need to adopt a different discipline in working. You should always make sure you plan the core of your work, if not the majority of your shots, before setting out to shoot. You need to be aware of some essential moving image aspects such as image ratio, video resolution, and frame rate and set these right, as you will not get the same flexibility in moving image postproduction as you have in still photography. There are many aspects to plan, and each will contribute to problem free moving image editing and authoring.

Moving Image Essentials

Picture aspect ratio

Picture aspect ratio is an important parameter to consider when shooting, as it will change depending on how your final work is to be presented. Most moving image work will have to be displayed on a screen-based display in order to play movement in action. Different media and platforms (print, Web, cinema) have different standards. An image will need to match the platform's standard in order to display well within its frame. Different ratios could dramatically change the appearance of an image, especially if it is attempting to fill the screen. It is important then to know what ratio your work will be displayed at.

If shooting stilt images (or moving image work based on still images as opposed to video), changes in postproduction are more likely to get you better results as the in-camera changes are liable to incur some distortion (stretching or squeezing to fit the new ratio) of the image.

The most commonly used pixel aspect ratio you will find on point and shoot cameras is 4:3, which conforms to the standard of early computer monitors and display screens. In contrast, and because print has been around a lot longer than screens, most DSLRs and film cameras generally include a 3:2 ratio that conforms to the print standard. Sending photographs from point and shoot cameras to print often results in images where the top and bottom have been cropped off.

Similarly, black spaces at the top and bottom of videos can commonly be seen when displayed on older generation screens and TVs. This effect is called "letterbox" and appeared with the transition from the TV standard definition (SD) ratio of 4:3 to 16:9 (widescreen ratio). Early 4:3 SD computer and TV monitors progressively disappeared, being replaced by the widescreen aspect ratio which is now the new standard (Figures 12.4 and 12.5).

Aspect ratio can also be written in decimals; for example, you may find 1.33:1 instead of 4:3, or 1.78:1 instead of 16:9.

3:2, 4:3, or 16:9?

When producing visual work to be displayed on screen, making the right choice to start with is essential. While you may be able to physically trim your prints to a custom size or have a print professionally framed to size, you cannot make a screen fit the size of your images, so making sure you work with the appropriate aspect ratio will guarantee that no important part of the image or action is lost through cropping.

12.4 Picture aspect ratio and relative frame sizes (a); horizontal and vertical ietterboxing (b).

12.5
Example pixel resolutions by aspect ratio.

Because most display screens and TVs are now Widescreen High Definition, HD 16:9 is commonly chosen for acquiring footage, which is then edited for playback on a variety of devices, some of which might be 4:3 standard. For example, iPads, along with some cellphones, have a 4:3 aspect ratio. 4:3 monitors are still in use in some households, and the older CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors can still be quite fashionable in art gallery settings. Some video projectors are also still projecting 4:3.

However, the display method does not exclusively dictate what aspect ratio to use. The form (GIF derivatives, time-lapse, or video) will also play an important part in the decision, and this might be for conceptual or aesthetic reasons, in which case only you can make that choice.

Video resolution

Resolution in digital still images and resolution in video work very differently. While still images can be cropped to any frame size, video only has a few fixed resolutions to choose from. The first one is the standard definition with a 640 x 480 pixels frame size. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is unlikely this resolution would be chosen to acquire footage since SD monitors and TVs have largely disappeared from the consumer market. The other two resolutions usually available on video-enabled DSLRs are High Definition 1280 x 720 pixels and full High Definition 1920 x 1080 pixels.

12.6 Aspect ratios change according to product. Make sure you always find out what ratio the delivery platform is before starting production.

One thing to remember is that it is always easier to decrease the original resolution of an image than to increase it. Full HD would therefore be the favored resolution for acquiring video footage from a DSLR. If you needed to perform some cropping in order to lose unwanted parts of the image, for example, or if you needed to get lower resolution material, starting from higher resolution footage is easier than doing the reverse. Increasing the resolution from a lower quality base material would result in unwanted artifacts on the image. For this reason it is always recommended to shoot at the highest available resolution.

Frame rate

When dealing with moving images, the frequency at which the images are both captured and played back must be considered. The frame rate of any given moving image project is described in frames per second (fps). This will, be something you will need to define at different stages of the production, in acquiring material, in editing, and in exporting the material for a specific delivery environment The frame rate wiii be different depending on what platform the work is to be played back on, and it will also depend on where in the world the material will be displayed. For example, 24 fps is the preferred standard for film wherever you are in the world, but TV broadcast standards are different in some countries. Most European countries have a standard TV broadcast rate of 25 fps. This is the case for the UK with the PAL (Phase Alternation Line) television standard. In America, NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) is used, which has a frame rate of 29.97 fps. The most commonly used frame rates are 24, 25, and 29.97 fps. However, some video-enabled DSLRs will let you shoot at faster rates, such as 48, 50, or even 59.94 fps. These rates, or High Frame Rate (HFR), will enable you to work with special postproduction effects such as extreme slow motion. Before choosing a frame rate, ask yourself: what platform is the material for? What part of the world is the work to be broadcast in? And will you need this material for specific effects?

12.7 Frame rate standards and usage

Moving images and data storage

When working on moving image projects, whether time-lapses, videos, or animated images, you will collect a lot of data. Furthermore, high resolution files will use up a lot of memory space. Moving image work often involves undertaking lengthy processes in conditions that are often difficult or expensive to replicate. Whatever the assignment, losing files would have bad repercussions on your progress, finances, and/or reputation. You should always have a fail-safe data capture process as well as a reliable storage solution in order to avoid the loss of data.

How much space do I need?

In acquiring your base media, be it large sequences of still photographs or video files, you should make sure you always have plenty of memory space to store it (see CF and SD cards in Chapter 8). So how much capacity is needed for video and how much is required for shooting stills for time-lapse projects? Generally, shooting video on a 16GB SD card will give you about one hour of footage. Your card size needs will, however, greatly depend on the Length of the project and the file format and size you are working with. Your needs will also vary depending on the type of project. A good card capacity for video work would be 32GB, while shooting long time-lapses will require more memory space, especially if shot in raw. You might then consider using a card with a capacity of between 32GB and 64GB for safety. The last thing you want is for your card to reach full capacity and stop writing data at a crucial moment.

12.8 (a) High speed Secure Digital cards, both with a class rating of 10. While these cards transfer media at the same speed, their storage capacity differs, (b) A high speed, high capacity CompactFlash card with a UDMA rating of 7, transferring 160 megabytes of data per second, (c) A high speed, lower capacity CompactFlash card with a lower UDMA rating, transferring 60 megabytes of data per second.

The importance of card speed

High capacity is not the only important aspect to consider when acquiring data for moving image work. The speed or transfer rate at which the data is written and read on and off the card is also something that should not be overlooked. When shooting video on a DSLR, you must remember that you are generally capturing 24-30 images per second, which over time will represent a lot of data to be written to the card every second if shot in High Definition. Equally, shooting hundreds of images for a time-lapse, especially in burst mode, will require speed in writing the files to the card.

There are various ways in which speed is indicated on a card. SD cards will have a number x speed, for example 133 x speed. This stands for 133 x 150 kilobytes per second, which is about 20 megabytes per second. This speed will enabie you to shoot DSLR video and shouid be the minimum speed you iook for. SD card speeds are aiso indicated in ciass numbers—the higher the number, the faster the speed. CompactFiash cards' speed information is written in megabytes per second, for example 90MB/s. Similarly to the SD system, CF performance is also indicated as a mode system with an Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) number. The UDMA system comprises eight modes, the first seven being UDMA 0-7 and the eighth being CompactFlash 6.0 with a transfer rate of 167MB/S.

When shooting video on your DSLR, you should be looking for at least a class 10 SD card or a CF card with a UDMA rating. If you are shooting both video and stills for the same project, you may want to buy a card that will give you the most flexibility, with enough capacity and speed to enable both types of files

Backup drives and working drives for moving image work: opt for a multi-drive solution

There are at least two good reasons why you should invest in an external hard drive solution:

You are shooting on Location, your memory cards get full, and you still have material to capture but not enough cards at your disposal

Editing moving image work involves working with big files. This necessitates memory, speed, and a lot of space.

You should look for:

a drive with its own power supply plug so that it is not powered by the computer;

a drive that also has a fast bus connection for quicker transfers of data (FireWire types, USB 3.0, or Thunderbolt);

a drive with at least 1 terabyte of space.

You should make sure the drive is compatible with your computer's system and available ports. Moving image and video editing will require a bus connection that enables very fast transfer of data in order to be able to edit and avoid latency in previewing material, as well as in processing the files. So unless you have a high specification computer, it would be best to copy your files onto an external hard drive dedicated to editing work only.

Owning one external drive is great, but you should also adopt a way of working which is consistent and reliable. If your drive fails, you will lose all your data. You may still have your files somewhere on a memory card, but all your editing and final projects will be lost. This can represent many hours and days of work. Files can also get corrupted in many ways during transfers or editing processes. You should have a way of backing up all your data in case problems arise. You should make sure you have a multi-drive solution if you can, one for working and one for backing up. Your backup drive does not have to be as fast as your working drive; it will just need a lot of space.

Working for Offline and Online Screen Display

Displaying images on screen: should we still worry about screen resolution?

Traditionally, visual and graphic work designed for screen was intended for a Web environment on a standard computer monitor which rarely exceeded a 640 x 480 frame size with a 72 pixels per inch screen density (see Chapter 8) if the computer was a Macintosh. However, screens have dramatically evolved to display higher quality content; current display screens have a ppi which often goes beyond the old 72 standard.

Since images can be displayed on a variety of screen-based platforms such as tablets and cellphones, the choice of screens is vast and each comes with its own standard in terms of frame size, aspect ratio, and pixel density. The iPad with Retina display, for example, has a frame size of 2048 x 1536p and a display density of 264 ppi. This resolution makes it a lot sharper than a 22 inch High Definition display at about 100 ppi (see Chapter 8).

It is important to get the frame size right as it will dictate how big or small your image will appear on screen. Should you want to display images full screen, their frame size would have to match that of the chosen display. For example, displaying on an iPad 2 or iRad mini (not Retina) would necessitate a minimum frame size of 1024 x 768 pixels.

So why are we still talking about image optimization?

Your images do not need to be 72 ppi in order to be displayed on screen. However, if you intend to share them or publish them online, you must make sure the content is not too "heavy" to stream. While Internet connections are getting faster and faster, media are also getting bigger and bigger in size because of their increasingly high quality. When putting files online, a compromise in size and quality must be achieved in order to keep download and streaming times down. This process involves the reduction of the original file or source file to a size appropriate for the Web without the loss of too much quality, also referred to as optimization, if you don't optimize your images for the Web, loading times can become too long! This will result in your audience getting annoyed and ultimately giving up on viewing your work within seconds!

Optimizing images for Web use

Optimizing images is straightforward in most image-editing software. It is simply about applying some form of compression to the file so that it is easily utilized over the Web. You can do this by resizing your files to a smaller frame size and/or changing the quality of the format (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.) to a lower setting. If your source files are shot in the raw format, you will have to convert them to JPEG format first.

Adobe Photoshop has a Save for Web option which enables you to optimize your images in a very intuitive way. When saving a photograph for the Web, you must first make sure that the right format is selected. This window may default to another format, but if saving photographs (instead of graphics, for example) make sure you change this to JPEG. It is the best choice for this type of image as it offers a wider range of colors with softer transitions, as well as ensuring best quality in a smaller file size. The next important aspect to think of is the frame size. Since you are advised to shoot at the highest resolution possible, your photographs are likely to have a large pixel size so resizing them to be smaller will help with keeping the overall file size down. Further optimization can be achieved in bringing down the JPEG quality settings a bit. This shouldn't result in any dramatic changes to the quality of the image, but if it does you will start seeing artifacts on the image itself, in which case a better setting will need to be selected. To sum up, in optimizing your images, you will want to achieve a small file size (in kilobytes) and keep the image free of unwanted artifacts. It is a balancing act which can require a little bit of work in order to attain good results.

12.9 Adobe Photoshop Save for Web & Devices window. The image is being reduced to half its original size in kilobytes without sustaining any visible reduction in quality

Capturing and Remapping Time with Time-lapse Photography

What is time-lapse?

Time-lapse photography is a very compelling form of photography which lets you capture and view events in a way you would not always be able to experience otherwise. Time-iapse works by capturing movement in events that occur over a very long period of time and having them unravel within a condensed amount of time. Examples are: changes in an environment that would occur over twenty-four hours, the movement of the night sky, or variations in natural light creating shadows that move across an environment or object. Time-lapse has a magnetic appeal; speeding up time gives the work an unnatural feel that engrosses the viewer. It brings them into a surreal and timeless world based on real-time occurrences. Because it uses still photographs as its base (although it can also be achieved through shooting video), it preserves all the advantages of still photography, such as very high resolution images and choice of shutter speeds. This allows for more creativity in the making of the work. Shooting high resolution images will allow for high quality zooming, panning, and cropping, while adjusting shutter speed can create effects such as motion trails or simply improve the quality of the transition between images.

12.10
Pelle Cass, Selected People series (a) "Frog Pond." Here Cass combines about 350 photographs taken over an hour; he wanted to capture some of the chaos of city life, observing both human and zoological activity, (b) "Bethesda Fountain." Cass selected people to reflect a somewhat comical rigid sense of order. He took over 500 photographs to achieve this image.

ALL time-iapse projects play with time in some way Basic time-iapse photography will speed up time and might be developed further through visual effects such as motion trailing, High Dynamic Range (HDR), or tilt shifting. More recent time-lapse practices, on the other hand, will remap time in more unusual ways, and work with extreme slow motion or even freeze motion known as time slices or bullet time. Other forms of time-lapses, like that of photographer Pelle Cass's Selected People series (Figure 12.10), will look at dimensions other than time, such as space. Cass's work isn't technically a moving image work, but it is made from a time-lapse sequence. Instead of playing the images back one after the other, Cass compiles events that occurred at various time slots in a specific and fixed location and montages them into one frame. Cass doesn't change anything in the images. He just selects what to leave in and what to omit. He offers in his Selected People series an alternate way of looking at the world, one that is just as true as the one we experience in a linear time dimension.

Time-iapse in its most basic form will be stationary, which means the camera will be set in a fixed spot. Most professional time-iapse movies will be shot with additional camera movements, using simple to more sophisticated rigging to enable pans and tilts over the chosen location. This often enhances the breadth and depth of the surroundings and contributes to an increased dramatic effect. But time-lapse photography is not just about being technically proficient. While you must hone the basic skills, it is your interest in the subject and the way you capture and present it that will make the work truly compelling.

Basic Time-Lapse Photography Production

Equipment overview

The good thing about time-iapse photography is that you can achieve amazing results with the basic kit: a digital camera, a tripod, and a computer (see Figure 12.11). However, for best results you may want to consider the following set:

12.11
Basic kit for time-iapse photography.

A DSLR that will enable you to shoot at high resolutions, including raw files if needed, for more flexibility in postproduction. It will also give you full control over exposurequality you want or the le, aperture, and ISO. You can shoot time-lapses with point and shoot cameras as well as cellphones and tablets, but these might not give you the quality you want or the level of control you may require for professional results.

A good quality tripod, one that is heavy and stable to avoid inconsistencies in framing.

High capacity, high speed formatted memory cards for fast transfer of large amounts of data.

A timer remote controller if your camera hasn't got a built-in interval timer.

A computer with image editing (with batch raw image processors if shooting raw), movie authoring, and deflickering software if needed.

A fast powered external storage and/or working drive.

Planning a basic stationary time-lapse

12.12 Stills from "Cactus," a time-iapse by Chris Packham (2012). Chris Packham captures the blossoming of a cactus flower over a period of twelve hours.

Planning any type of production is essential to a successful end result. Still photography requires a certain amount of initial planning, but there is still some space for intuitive and spontaneous production methods. Time-lapse photography has a little less space for spontaneity. You will need to plan almost every aspect of its production and postproduction: its location, composition, duration, speed, frame size, and format. Some of these will be straightforward, and other aspects will require more attention. Don't let this stop you from experimenting with the form, but bear in mind that the key to a successful time-lapse is in thoughtful planning.

What to shoot?

You may have seen many examples of time-lapse photography already and may have an idea of what appeals to you most. You may have been given a specific assignment for an educational or professional project. If you haven't yet thought about it, a few examples of popular subjects for time-lapse projects can be found in Figure 12.13.

12.13
Popular subjects for time-iapse projects.

Many time-lapse movies are focused on movement based on natural processes that can take a lot of time to complete or in which changes over time can be imperceptibly slow, for example the slow formation of clouds in the sky or the movement of stars in the night sky

Other popular time-lapse subjects are not natural as such but have organic movements, which lend themselves particularly well to this type of moving image work, for example, construction projects, such as buildings coming up or down, or busy streets with the infinite movements of people and cars. Knowing what you want to capture will determine the way you plan your production. It will help you identify appropriate numbers and settings for elements such as shooting time, time-lapse interval, framing and composition, or choosing between automatic and manual settings on your camera.

Identify asset and delivery frame sizes

12.14 Courtesy of Emma Phillips (2014). In this static time-lapse, the London Eye is carefully framed following the Rule of Thirds and is the main object of interest, while the foreground allows for additional dynamic elements coming in and out of the frame laterally

When you set out to take a photograph, it is likely that you will devote a fair bit of attention to its composition and framing. Before doing that, you must identify the pixel aspect ratio and pixel frame size of both your images and the final time-lapse piece. We have mentioned earlier that one of the advantages of shooting stills on a DSLR is the very high resolution setting a DSLR enables us to choose. This is good as a DSLR can shoot at much higher resolutions than the HD TV resolution so you are not restricted to a particular frame size for the final delivery of your end movie. However, the ratio is important, as discussed in the aspect ratio section of this chapter (p. 439). Thinking about where the finished movie will be displayed will help you decide on the delivery format. Whatever you choose, you must ensure that the original asset size is big enough to allow more choice in the delivery format of your final movie.

Raw or JPEG?

Shooting in raw or JPEG will depend on a few factors. The first one will be memory space. How many images will your memory card let you save? Remember that when shooting time-lapses you will end up taking hundreds of images in a short space of time and you will generally need high capacity memory cards in order to do this, especially if you want to shoot raw files. There are benefits and drawbacks to both file formats. The JPEG format will allow you to fit a lot more images onto your memory card (Chapter 8). So if you want to shoot for as long as possible, you may want to choose JPEG. However, the quality of the format might impede the overall quality of the images. If you have the memory space, it may be better to choose raw to shoot since it will give you more flexibility in postproduction. Due to the pixel content of raw, you will be able to color correct your files, and you will also be able to reframe the final time-lapse sequence, cropping, panning, and zooming through higher quality content. On the other hand, JPEGs will be a lot easier and quicker to edit together, and you'll be able to find free software to do this if you haven't got access to one of the standard image or video editors. Remember that, if shooting JPEGs, you will need to set your white balance correctly.

Planning memory cards and spare batteries

When planning for a time-lapse shoot, you will need to think about the memory cards used and how you will power the camera. Here are a few questions to consider:

Will you power the camera by internal batteries or an external power source?

Can you easily replace the battery and memory card while shooting, and when attached to a tripod, without incurring extra vibrations to the camera?

How long will a single battery last you?

How many shots can your memory card hold? Should you invest in a high capacity card?

If shooting over a long period of time on location rather than in the studio, it is likely you will have to rely on batteries. Having a few spare fully charged batteries with you is advisable, but they will be useless if you have to stop the shoot in order to replace them. If you are shooting a time-lapse, you won't want to do that. You should think of investing in an external battery grip which can hold two batteries at a time. This will allow easy replacement without disrupting the shoot.

Location and composition

When working with time-iapse, or moving image in general, there are so many elements to think of that we can often find ourselves rushing, if not forgetting, the crucial step that is composition. If you want to stand out from the millions of time-lapse photographers out there, you will need to pay particular attention to composition. In framing time-lapse images, you will need to think not only about the fixed elements in the frame but also about the movement(s) it will contain over time. You should aim to highlight interesting relationships between dynamic and static elements. A lot of natural environments and elements provide attractive settings and interesting opportunities for motion work. Because your scene will change over time, what you have once framed might end up looking very different a few seconds on. You should anticipate how things might change over time. Will the focus change? Might the main action shift to the edges of the composition?

Once you have identified a location, make sure you take some time to look around and pay attention to composition. Ask yourself the following questions about your scene:

What element brings the most interest to the scene?

What movement will be captured and what will change over time?

What will be the best framing to capture the change in interesting ways?

Will important elements move out of the frame? Will you lose interesting actions or details?

Take a test shot to check you are happy with your composition and, if time allows, take a few consecutive shots to check the way things move within the frame.

Work out the time-lapse interval between each shot

A successful time-lapse will also depend on you choosing the right interval of time between shots, i.e., how small or large a gap in action there is between each shot. If the gap between shots is small, the transition between images will be smooth, and even more so if the changes in what you are shooting happen extremely slowly in real time. If the time interval between shots is large, then the resulting movie will play in a rougher way and appear "biocky." Again, this effect will be enhanced if what you are shooting changes quickly in real time.

The shooting interval will also determine how quickly the action captured through the images wiii unravel While a small gap will create a smoother motion, it will also cause the action to unravel slowly over time. On the contrary if the gap is bigger, the action will unfold more quickly but not smoothly at all.

You should experiment with different time intervals before you commit to one, as the interval will also greatly depend on what you shoot. Experimenting with various intervals will allow you to see the results and also, over time, help you to build a repertory of suitable time intervals for specific subjects and actions if needed. For example, the rendition of moving clouds might require a 2 second interval between shots, while a construction project may take a time interval of between 10 and 20 minutes. If you are not able to thoroughly experiment, the advice would be to use an interval that is faster than you think you need. This will provide you with more frames than required and therefore you will be able to have more flexibility with the timing of your piece in postproduction. It is easier to delete extra frames than create images you didn't capture. However, note that you should always have a time-lapse interval that exceeds your exposure time so that your camera has time to clear the image buffer before taking the next shot. If the interval is shorter than the shutter speed, then the camera doesn't have time to send the information through before the next frame is taken. This may result in frames being lost or "dropped" because the information hasn't been written to the card.

Shooting considerations

When shooting a time-lapse over a long period of time, it is important to consider timing, exposure, and stabilization. Seamless motion is created by small gaps of even time between each frame or exposure, but it is also created by a consistent framing, a consistent exposure, and absolute stability between shots

Use a tripod

To achieve an effective time-iapse, you must ensure that your camera does not move between exposures. Remember that when your sequence of sill images is played back at a faster speed, your brain will detect the movement between images. If your images are consistently stable from one shot to the next, then your time-lapse will appear seamless. Be aware that the slightest vibration of the camera will create noticeable differences in the framing of the shot, hence creating unwanted movements between them. Using a good quality tripod that is sturdy and heavy will avoid unnecessary shakes or vibration of the camera and enable you to shoot consistently framed consecutive images.

Shoot in manual for time-lapses set in constant light conditions

Shooting over a long period of time will often mean that your chosen location or environment will be exposed to many changes in natural light. Some of these changes can be slight and some a lot more dramatic depending on what it is you are capturing. If you were to capture a day scene only, for example, the variations in light will depend on a variety of factors such as the time slot in which your live action is taking place, the weather, and the activity or event itself. Clouds, people, objects, and time are all potential obstructions and transformations to constant light that will incur changes in exposure settings should you shoot in automatic mode. The camera, while on automatic, will not always manage to replicate the exact setting from one shot to the next. If the dynamic range is high in a scene, the camera will try to work out which range to expose. It might underexpose or overexpose some of the shots slightly. These changes in exposure will create flicker in your time-lapse as well as spoil the rendition of the potential movements created by the light transformation over time. Flicker occurs when your images play back one after the other in your final time-lapse movie (see Figure 12.15). As the lighter and darker images alternate, they create a strobe effect on playback.

12.15
Time-lapse flicker (courtesy of David Wright). The second shot has been slightly overexposed. When played back one after the other, this will create a slight flicker.

To avoid flicker you should:

ensure an even exposure over time by getting a good exposure in camera and keeping those settings for each frame you shoot;

try to avoid as many automatic settings as you can. You should set aperture, shutter speed, and ISO appropriately and get a good focus lock.

Balance aperture (f-stop), shutter speed, and ISO manually

When setting exposure for time-iapse photography, you will need to consider aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (see Chapter 5) not only for aesthetic and stylistic purposes but also for gaining more control over time-lapse flicker and achieving a better blend between images.

Aperture is generally a stylistic decision you make. In time-lapse photography, this might be capturing trailing lights in a drive-lapse (Figure 12.16), for example, for which a wider aperture (low/-number) would be required so that light sources are captured with a remnant glow. Setting and fixing this number in manual will minimize aperture flicker by stopping the camera from adjusting the/-number from shot to shot.

Shutter speed is also generally set for artistic reasons. While it is commonly agreed that photographic images should be as clear and sharp as possible, time-lapses differ in that they are made of moving images and hence rely on a blend that is as seamless as possible for an effective result. If you are shooting fast moving clouds, using a fast shutter speed will result in each shot being frozen, which, depending on your time-lapse interval, might produce a disjointed sequence of images. This may be what you want, but sometimes, and especially in time-lapse photography, emphasizing movement in each image will help connect them once combined in a final movie. A slow shutter speed will allow what is moving during that time to blur. It will create images with soft motion trails where movement occurs. This is extra information between shots, will trick the eye in perceiving flawless movement, and will help connect the images together. Just like aperture settings, it is wise to fix your shutter speed settings once decided on.

12.16
(a) Long exposure shot producing trailing lights; (b) the same scene with a short exposure appears "frozen."

Remember that shutter speed controls how long the camera sensor is exposed to light for. If you use slower shutter speeds, then you are allowing more light into the camera. You might need to make some adjustments to the aperture settings to ensure your scene is properly exposed. However, if your aperture settings are as low as you want them and you still have too much light coming through, you might look at the ISO settings. If you are shooting where there is plenty of light,you should keep the ISO settings as low as possible. If you are still getting too much light, you should consider using a neutral density (ND) filter

Consider automatic settings for events set in non-constant lighting conditions

Non-constant lighting conditions will imply great changes of light in the scene. Sunrises and sunsets are typical scenes where the lighting transitions in rapid and extreme ways. For example, a sunrise event will go through dramatic changes in light because of the transition between night and day and the intensity of the light rapidly coming through. Similarly, a sunset will rapidly transition to extremely low lighting conditions, leaving your images underexposed and eventually completely obscured. Such scenes may require you to shoot with some form of automatic settings in order to prevent shots from gradually becoming blown out or blacked out. There may be elements or activity within the scene that you want to be able to distinguish. Retaining some automatic settings, depending on the scene you are shooting, will help preserve certain details. For example, you may want to make sure your camera retains a constant aperture setting while allowing the shutter speed to change automatically. Shooting in aperture priority mode when the light in your scene is subject to dramatic changes will let the camera monitor those changes and adjust to the correct shutter speed accordingly. It is, however, important to note that shooting with any kind of automatic settings will incur flicker as your camera's meter will detect any change in light and alter the settings.

Get a timer remote controller

Regardless of whether you want your time-lapse to be smooth or not, you will have to shoot at regular intervals once you have decided what the interval should be. You should therefore make sure you have a way of triggering your camera shutter precisely at the chosen interval of time.

To avoid incurring camera shake when pressing the trigger (and hence creating a jerky time-lapse) you should consider using an automatic shutter trigger (timer remote controller or "intervalometer"). This is your best option for shooting at regular intervals and in a non-disruptive way It will automatically press the trigger button of your camera for you in a continuous and regular manner, according to the interval time you have set. Most timer remotes will let you set the interval and the number of shots you can take. You can set a limit on the amount of shots for a test shoot, or you can choose to shoot an unlimited number of images. This means the camera will carry on shooting until you stop it. It will also let you set a delay time before the start of the time-lapse as well as long exposure settings (long exposure timer). Some timer remotes will have different limits so you should check them before buying. While some will let you shoot thousands of pictures, others will be limited to a few hundred. You should make sure you choose one that is brand compatible as well as model compatible, as some will come with standard USB connections and others will have specific ports.

Note that some DSLRs, usually higher end models, come with professional settings that might include an internal timer shooting option. Look through your camera's settings to check whether or not it has this feature.

Apps and software alternatives to interval timers

There are many software and app alternatives to interval timers if your camera doesn't have a built-in one. In order to use a software-based interval timer or app, your camera will have to be tethered (see Chapter 8) to a computer, or connected in some way (e.g., via Bluetooth) to a tablet or a cellphone. With the growing popularity of time-lapse photography and the surge of mobile devices over the past few years, there is now a wide choice of software solutions to remote and interval timers. Each will offer various options for time-lapse photography at very disparate prices. Some can be acquired for free, while others will come at a cost. Some can even reach a higher price than a timer remote controller could cost you. Hardware compatibility is also something that will vary from product to product. With all this in mind, it is important that you research your options carefully and make sure you find the right solution in terms of compatibility, features, and cost. Whatever choice you make, remember that any external devices attached to your camera should be stabilized and secured properly before you set out to shoot. Some apps, such as DSLR Controller, will let you control your DSLR from your android phone via a USB cable. If your DSLR model has Wi-Fi capabilities, you can do away with the USB cable. While this may be a desirable feature, preventing unwanted camera vibrations, some wireless solutions will not be sufficiently sensitive, and this might create lagging between programmed trigger and camera response, which could result in missed or overexposed images.

Other apps you may want to consider are iTimelapse, Gorillacam, and ioShutter.

Time-lapse postproduction

Creating your final time-lapse does not call for a complex process, but you will need to adopt a defined workflow. Because you will have to manage hundreds of images, it is important you are disciplined in following some basic steps:

Transfer your images to a working location and back them up to a backup location.

Organize your files in an efficient way—you want to be able to find them easily and in the right order!

Create yourself a project folder—a specific location on your working drive, exclusive to the project you are working on—and copy your media folder to it ready to use in postproduction.

Edit your files if needed—get rid of any flicker in your sequence either manually or by using deflickering software; remove unwanted frames; perform color correction, raw processing, etc.

Create an editing project to compile your files into a movie.

Refine the postproduction if needed/wanted (effects, transitions, music).

Export to an appropriate delivery format.

Save and back up.

Organizing and editing your images

Before you can start compiling your time-lapse into a final movie, you must organize and plan your images for postproduction. The first thing you will need to do is to get your data off the card as soon as you can. You should avoid leaving it too long before you transfer your files as overwriting files on memory cards is far too common, especially if you do not have a clear workflow in using them. Prevent data loss by adopting a fast and efficient data transfer process.

Copy the content of your card to a working location

You must copy your data to a secure location and create a backup copy. This is as straightforward as inserting the card into your computers card slot. However, depending on how many images you have, this step can take a little while and you may want to invest in an external card reader. These tend to be faster than a computer's built-in reader.

Make use of subfolders for different sequences

Organizing your data starts here. If you have several time-lapses on one card, make use of subfoiders to sort through your material Each distinct section or sequence should have its own folder clearly labeled. The naming convention is up to you, but you might consider using the name of the location and the date, for example "London_Bridge_May13." If you have used several cards for one long time-lapse, you can also create subfoiders for each card, e.g., "Day01_Card01." You can go through this process "manually" but you can also use Adobe Bridge to get it done. Because Adobe Bridge lets you clearly see your images and has a stacking tool, it is a lot easier and faster to separate your time-lapses and bundle them together.

Look through your frames and remove unwanted images

In shooting time-lapses, you Will often encounter problematic frames, for example if the camera moved slightly or something inadvertently landed in front of it. Check your frames one after the other to see which ones are breaking the flow of your sequence, and either delete them or move them to a new location. Again, Adobe Bridge might be a good place to carry out this process, as it allows you to see all your images in a sequence and also has the capacity to play the files in a mini slide show.

Batch process your files

Batch processing will speed up and ease most aspects of your time-lapse postproduction. First, you should rename your files. Again, you can do this manually but, to avoid confusion, sequencing errors, and wasting a considerable amount of time, you should use a batch image processor. Adobe Bridge has a batch rename feature that will take care of applying your chosen naming and numbering convention to a whole group of images, for example: London_Thames_Sunset_001.jpg. You must make sure the number is at the end of the file name as systems tend to read the file numbers from the end. You should also batch resize your images to a suitable yet still flexible size for video editing (see p. 469).

Other image editors with batch processing include Apple's Aperture and Adobe Lightroom (Figure 12.17) and Adobe Camera Raw, which both come with versions of Adobe Photoshop. These will also enable you to batch process raw files.

Resize and crop your files to an appropriate delivery ratio

12.17
Batch processing in Lightroom.

It is important to decide what delivery format you envisaged your final movie to be distributed at, as at this stage of the process you have the opportunity to batch resize and crop your images to the appropriate ratio. If you are exporting for HD video, for example, you should start by cropping your images to a 16:9 aspect ratio. Cropping at this stage will give you the creative choice of arranging your crop the way you like. See Figure 12.18 for an example movie file that has not been cropped for the delivery format it was exported as. Notice the two biack bars on either side of the image. The original images were shot in a 4:3 ratio, while the final movie has been exported to a 16:9 widescreen ratio.

12.18
This is a video file where the content has a different ratio from the export ratio. This creates a vertical letterbox effect that couid have been avoided, had the images been cropped to the appropriate ratio before exporting.

From stills to motion: compiling the final movie

Compiling your final time-lapse movie should be straightforward at this point. Regardless of the editing software you use, it will mostly involve importing all your images in a consecutive sequence onto a timeline where your images will play back at the frame rate you have chosen.

Image editors such as Adobe Photoshop, and video or video and animation packages such as Adobe Premiere and After Effects, will let you create your final video quite easily (Figure 12.19). These software packages will also offer a great choice of further controls on your final edit. However, they can be costly and, if you do not have access to such packages, other cheaper alternatives do exist. A number of open source applications are available for both Windows and Mac, but you can also use the free software installed with your operating system such as Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie.

Using Photoshop

In Photoshop, open your fully edited images as an image sequence.

Go to File > Open, navigate to your image sequence folder, select the first image in the sequence, tick the Image Sequence option at the bottom of the window, and press OK.

A window appears asking you to enter th e frame rate of your choice, The window normally defaults to 30 fps. Change this accordingly. You can test the file and see how it plays. If you are happy with the speed, then carry on; if not, change the frame rate.

On entering the desired frame rate, your images will open as a video group on the timeline and as a video object in the Layers window (Figure 12.19 (c), (d)).

12.19 The stages (a-e) involved in importing an image sequence in Adobe Photoshop and exporting it as a video file for distribution on the Web.

5 If you need to do further image editing in terms of color balance or special effects, it may be difficult to have as much control at this stage as you had earlier on in the process. However, you can make use of adjustment layers in order to apply filters and effects over the whole sequence.

6 You can now export your file as a final movie. Go to File > Export > Render Video. Make sure you name your export file appropriately and save it in an appropriate location on your computer or external hard disk.

7 Further editing can take place after this. Supposing you have rendered several short time-lapse movie files, you could now put them together in a larger movie file. Although Photoshop will let you assemble a basic video from several video objects, you may want to consider using a video editor for this, as it would give you more ease in working with multiple video files and more control over the way they can be transitioned. See editing style below and also editing video, p. 469.

Editing style

Time-Lapse photography is becoming increasingly popular and there are many time-lapse videos out there. YouTube and Vimeo even have dedicated channels to time-lapse photography. Most of the work made available is competent or even very good, but some photographers are distinguishing themselves from the mass with a quality of shots and an editing style that make the experience of watching their time-lapses truly compelling. Many photographers are traveling the world on professional time-lapse assignments; they are shooting stunning locations and have access to high end gear and rigging systems. While it helps to be close to the Northern Lights or have great equipment, making an attention-grabbing time-lapse is mainly going to be about the interest or passion you have for your subject, the strength of your photography, and your editing style. If you look at some of the time-lapses available online, you will notice that while they are extremely well shot and technically successful, many look the same and approach the same subjects in a similar way. There seems to be very little variety from lapse to lapse. While it is advisable that you should hone the basic skills involved in making a time-lapse, you should then try to develop your own style through the shooting and editing processes. In capturing a time-lapse event, you will be looking to encapsulate the essence of either a specific Location or event or a group of locations and events, and to communicate it to your audience in engaging ways. If it is a single location or event, you should aim to capture multiple time-lapses of it. Doing this will enable you to have various perspectives you can then assemble together in order to convey an experience of this Location or event to your audience. The strength and interest of your time-lapse will come from the relationship between each of its sections that will effectively convey to the audience a specific idea, feeling, or emotion that you had about the subject. So when it comes to the editing and compiling stage of making your time-lapse sequence, keep the following points in mind:

Edit carefully and thoughtfully.

Have an idea you want to communicate.

Make meaningful connections between time-lapse sections.

Don't be afraid of repetition; it can create interesting patterns and rhythms that can engage the audience and convey certain ideas.

Create an unusual and immersive world for your audience.

Exporting

Your final time-lapse edit will have to be saved as a movie file. That file could then be burned on a DVD for viewing on a TV or monitor of some sort, or it could be shared online. This process is about making your whole project fit into a single self-contained file which is small enough to fit or perform well on a variety of platforms, but which has also retained most of your footage's quality.

Movie files

There are numerous video file formats. Which one to choose will depend on many factors, but mainly it depends on the destination platform of your work. Will you be playing it on a TV through a DVD player or on a computer? Will you be streaming it on the Web? Will it play over a mobile device? Once this question has been answered, many more will come into play. Is the TV system HD or SD? What resolution is the display? Is the computer a Mac or a PC? What video files does the Web platform support and is there a limit on size? This can easily get confusing, but generally platforms and systems will come with their own recommendations on video file format and compression. Also, the software you use for editing and compiling will have presets for various contexts, i.e., "YouTube HD 720p 25" or "Apple TV, iPad widescreen." These will make it a lot easier for you to make a decision on export settings without having to get into the very tricky details of video compression formats. However, some basic knowledge of the formats that are available and how they might be used could save you a lot of time and frustration when exporting your material.

The rnovie file format is generally a container (also called a wrapper) that enables the video to be transported or distributed to a particular platform. The type of container matters as some platforms or systems might support one but not another. Some of the common containers are: AVI (Audio Video Interleave), MPEG-4, Quicktime (.MOV), Mastroska (.MKV), VOB (DVD Video Object), and Windows Media (.mwv).

However, video file containers need to be associated to additional bits of software in order to reduce the size of the footage. These bits of software are called codecs. Codecs are compression algorithms that squeeze the footage into the container in a specific way. Without going into great detail about how they work, they are in effect a way to optimize your video footage for specific platforms and purposes. Video formats are often confused with codecs as sometimes the same name is used to refer to both container and codec. For example, MPEG is both a file type and a compression system.

There are many codecs available, but the ones mainly encountered would be H.264 for Web distribution and BLu-ray disk encoding, MPEG-2 part 2 for DVD authoring as well as digital video broadcasting, ProRes 422 for editing or archival purposes, and DV for broadcast systems.

While the codecs on this list are commonly used in video exports, you could also choose to export your final movie as individual frames using a PNG, JPEG, or TIFF sequence.

In exporting your final moving image piece of work, be it a time-lapse or a video, you will need to make sure you know what you are exporting the work for. Always check the chosen platform's recommendation in terms of accepted format. YouTube would accept most of the containers listed above. So you may export your file as a Quicktime file (.mov) with a H.264 compression, for example, or as an AVI with an MPEG compression. The choice will depend on what video formats are available on your system, but generally just looking at the presets your editing software offers makes this stage much more accessible and straightforward.

Shooting DSLR Video

The possibilities of video-enabled DSLRs are great and certainly attractive to photographers. Together with the abundance of screen-based technology we are living with, they offer photographers the opportunity to cross over and look at the potential of conveying ideas and emotions via motion and through the screen. This exploration seems a natural development for most photographers, as knowing about the principles of photography as well as the practical use of DSLR cameras and lenses is a great start to shooting video. However, shooting video requires a very different mindset than shooting stills. It is not just about knowing how to use the tools and how extensive your equipment is; it is also, and mainly, about how you approach your subject matter.

Working with video does not mean abandoning your photographic practice entirely, but rather extending it by developing its form or its state through the characteristics of another medium. While video making is different from still photography in execution, it is clear that photographers have the skills that enable them to work between or with the two media forms. If you choose to do so, understanding the differences between the practice of still, photography and that of video will enable you to avoid the many pitfalls associated with working with video.

Basic video setting considerations

Some elements to consider when working with video are file format, image resolution, picture aspect ratio, and frame rate.

Take care setting up your shots

While new generations of video cameras now have the capability of shooting in raw, at the moment DSLRs are not able to shoot raw video files. With the resulting video files, you will not get the same level of editing flexibility that you would when shooting raw images for still photography or time-lapses. This means that you need to take good care in shooting video correctly in order to end up with a good image. If you don't and your video suffers as a result (bad white balance, careless lighting, etc.), you won't have much flexibility to fix it. While some video editing software might feature color correction tools, be aware that these will probably not be able to fix much in your video files. Remember that video files are similar to JPEGs in that only a limited amount of information can be changed in them. If you try to make corrections in postproduction, it is likely your files will lose quality very quickly. It is important you spend the time setting your white balance properly and ensuring your scenes are lit in the best possible way.

1080p or 720p?

Another element to remember is that video has only got two resolutions to choose from: 1080 High Definition (1920 x 1080p or approximately 2 megapixels) and 720 High Definition (1280 x 720p or approximately 1 megapixel). While this doesn't seem very high, these are standard HD and both will show perfectly well on HD TVs and monitors. So why choose 1080p over 720p if there aren't any differences in quality when displayed on HD screens? Well, it is just a matter of data. Because 1080p contains more pixels, this resolution will allow you to have more flexibility in terms of postproduction. While such flexibility is nothing compared to that of raw files in still photography, it will still enable you to perform crops and some effects without losing too much image quality.

Frame rate

We saw earlier that the frame rate can be set according to the delivery destination of the work (p. 442). However, sometimes you may be inclined to shoot material that has a certain feel, like the "filmic look" we are so used to and that is typically 24 fps. This film look is very popular, especially as it is much easier to achieve with a DSLR because of the control you have over depth of field. You may also choose a 24 fps rate if your video is destined for the Web, iPads, tablets, and other portable devices, as it will create smaller files; 24 fps will write a lot fewer files over a one-minute period than a 25 or 29.97 fps rate would. This not only means fewer files to store on your hard drive but also Less data to download or stream from the Web or mobile devices.

Higher or faster frame rates (p. 442) will mean more data, and where there is more data, there is more flexibility in editing. You may wish to choose fast rates such as 50 or 60 fps. Because you are capturing more frames per second, if you wanted to slow the footage right down for a sports feature, for example, you would get a smooth and effective slow motion from it. However, keep in mind that unless you choose them for specific purposes, you may quickly fill up your memory card.

Equipment considerations

Use a fluid head tripod

Because you wiii be shooting over a period of time, it is important that your camera remains steady for that time. This is not dissimilar to shooting stills and therefore you wiii be aware of the importance of using a tripod. While you can sometimes get away without using a tripod to steady your shots while shooting stills, video will be a lot less forgiving in this matter. You may have watched domestic videos where someone has shot "hand-held" and thus created extremely unstable footage. While the "hand-held" look can sometimes be useful for creative purposes, the general consensus is to keep all your shots still. In choosing a tripod for video you will need to think about acquiring a different type from those used for shooting stills.

Video is about shooting movement. Sometimes movement will be in the scene you are shooting and sometimes it will need to be created by moving the camera through panning and tilting while shooting. This added motion needs to be steady and smooth, and therefore the tripod will need to support these types of techniques. Fluid head tripods (Figure 12.20) are generally used in shooting video because they let you create smooth camera moves. They will vary in price range and while you will not need the most expensive fluid head, you should look for one that will give you more control over the movement as well as some leveling feature. Some will have a spirit level ball on the base of the head, which is particularly useful in order to create perfectly leveled pans across a scene.

12.20
Fluid head video tripod, and LED light panels.

Use continuous lighting

In low light conditions, video needs continuous light as opposed to flash light in still photography. The light source needs to be on all the time because the camera is capturing frames continuously. The lighting techniques are not different from that of still photography, but you should be encouraged to experiment with lighting in order to see what can be achieved.

There are a variety of tungsten or quartz lights you can acquire for a reasonable price. They are widely used in video practice but do have some weaknesses. You should carefully read the instructions before using these lights, as they do get very hot. There are important health and safety concerns you should look into in order to learn how to work safely. On the creative side of things, what you should really remember is that they produce incandescent light that impacts on color temperature. This will affect your white balance. You should remember to set your white balance for tungsten or incandescent light. Also, such lights are generally for indoor use as they require a main power source; unless you can get hold of a generator, you won't be able to use them outdoors. This is where LED lights (Figure 12.20) might be a better choice. They are relatively new and a more expensive solution, but they are becoming increasingly popular and are coming down in price rapidly. LEDs can be battery operated (although this is an added cost and high capacity batteries can be very expensive) and do not get hot. They are also generally balanced for daylight.

Additional gear

If you are starting out on shooting video, using a fluid head tripod should aiiow you to shoot great videos without spending too much money on equipment. Video can very easily get you caught up in complex and expensive gear that you don't necessarily need. However, every bit of gear you can use in video making will exist in order to help you create steady, smooth, and accurately set shots while shooting over time. It is also made to support weight and facilitate movement while shooting. So if you were to expand on your video practice, some additional kit might be very useful, especially if you are out on your own.

DSLR rigs

We have seen that you should always aim for stabilized shots and use a tripod, but sometimes you will want or need to shoot hand-held. Video-enabled DSLRs are not economically good for hand-held work, but because of their popularity a variety of hand-held support and shoulder mount rig systems (Figure 12.21) are now available. These pieces are dynamic and move with your body. They allow you flexibility in creating smooth and efficient movements while you shoot. They come in all shapes and sizes and are available for DSLR video from various manufacturers. Prices vary dramatically from manufacturer to manufacturer, but on average they will set you back $400 or more. However, the video community is supportive, and many video makers have shared their tips online on how to build custom rigs for a cheaper price. While doing this is great, buying a full rig will spare you the sometimes complex task of assembly. Whether buying a full rig or building one yourself, you will need to have a good idea of what you want to use it for so that you end up with the appropriate rig or parts as well as the appropriate design both for your camera and for the task.

12.21
Red Rock micro shoulder mount (a) and various loupes (b).

Magnifiers, hoods, and focus pullers

When shooting DSLR video, you will have to monitor and adjust focus over time. You will normally use the viewfinder on the back of the camera but seeing properly through this can be a challenge, especially as focus requires as much precision as possible. To make focusing on the LCD easier you can get hoods and loupes which will respectively block light coming onto the LCD and magnify the screen.

While you could get away with not having an additional viewfinder, you should consider getting help with focusing while shooting. This is something you do not want to leave to an automatic camera setting. You want to have full control over focusing over time and when you are on your own and shooting video with a DSLR, adjusting focus or pulling focus can be a tricky thing to do. Acquiring a follow-focus kit will allow you to focus smoothly while shooting. There are a variety of focus pullers available for DSLRs. Again, prices and quality will vary, but you are looking for one that will give you the most control in order to achieve smooth and gradual focus change.

Preparing to edit video

Once you have shot all your material, you will have to compile it into one video file. It is not just about playing each clip back to back. Video editing is an art form, which follows a specific language with a set of defined rules you may want to look into. However, for simple clip assembly, all you need is access to video editing software and a good workflow.

Transferring video footage from the DSLR

Transferring your files from a DSLR to a computer is generally straightforward. Most DSLRs will enable you simply to drag the video clips directly from the memory card to either the computer or your dedicated external working drive (recommended), either via a USB connection or via an external card reader. Here are a few steps to help you through this process:

Before starting to copy your files across, you should create a specific location on your working drive to save the files to. Open the memory card (which should be connected to your computer and appearing on your desktop as an icon) and find the DCIM folder.

In this folder you should find another folder, usually named after your DSLR camera make, e.g., IOOCANON or NIKON35200. This is where you will find your video files. There might be files with a THM extension in this folder. That's because your camera may have created thumbnails for each of your clips. You do not need these files and so should only drag the video clips across to the right folder on your working drive. You can also copy and paste the whole card from the icon to make things easier.

At this stage, you should back these files up on your backup external drive; once this is done, eject your memory card and backup drive.

You are now set to start editing, and you might begin by renaming the files. Video files will have been recorded and saved under the camera's own file convention that probably includes long numbers. It would be worth renaming them as something that makes sense to you. This would involve you previewing your clips one by one to see what they contain. You may also take the opportunity to delete any file you won't or can't use.

Editing

The art of video editing is a huge subject, one that has numerous [earning sources you should research in order to develop this skill. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, there are many video editing software packages available, some of which come free with your operating system, such as Apple iMovie or Windows Video Maker. These have a smooth and fast learning curve and will allow you to assemble simple videos with a limited level of control over the video files. However, you may need a higher level of control while editing (postproduction movements, complex compositing, or other effects) and so moving to a higher end professional package may be the best option if you can afford it. Apple Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro (for PC and Mac) are widely used in the video editing field. These are editors that have DSLR integration, support very high resolutions, and enable you to work according to appropriate editing workflows. They offer a large amount of user controls and contain features specific to the needs of current video making practices. Some features cover automatic fixes such as analyzing and fixing defects caused by camera shake or rolling shutter, as well as offering great control over color correction.

This section can only provide a basic introduction to one of the recommended pieces of video editing software.

Importing your files in Adobe Premiere Pro

You should have followed the advice given above and copied your footage from your card to a working drive, following a hierarchical folder structure that makes sense to you and enables easy location of your files.

Open Adobe Premiere Pro.

Create a new project and choose a destination folder to save it to. "his can either be the same location as your media files or you can create a new folder for your project file. Whatever you do, you cannot move these files from their respective locations after you have started editing. Because Premiere Pro links the project to the files you import, this link will be broken should you move either the project file or the video clips from their original location.

Name the project and press OK.

This will set up the project and open a new window where you will be asked to choose what type of sequence you will need. This can look daunting and actually you do not have to make a decision right away. The best thing to do here is just to name your sequence and press OK. The interface will then open and you are ready to import your clips.

Before you carry on, you may want to create a bin (in video editing terms, this means a folder) in your project window so that you can import your media to it. This is a good way to organize your media within your project so that you do not spend too much time looking for particular files. You can have as many bins as suits your organization structure. You can create a bin by right-clicking in the project area and choosing New > Bin. Give it an appropriate name, perhaps in relation to the material you are about to import. Double-click on it to open it. This will target it so that what you import goes to it directly.

There are a number of ways to import your footage. You can either import (File > Import) or browse to your files. While there does not seem to be much difference between the two, the Media Browser panel will facilitate the workflow in recognizing the file structure of your card/camera and only shows you the media. You can then browse though the clips and make decisions as to which clips to import. You may not need all of them, and some may not be usable at all.

Once you have identified a clip or a group of clips, select them, right-click, and choose Import. This will import the media selected to your bin.

Premiere Pro is very intuitive and has many great features that facilitate the whole editing process. Once all your media has been imported, you are ready to start assembling your video in the desired way. Note that the first clip you place on your timeline will prompt a message asking you if you wish to match the sequence settings to that of the clip you have placed on the timeline. You must click Yes to that as this will set the right parameters for your sequence. This refers back to step 4 of the import process above that you skipped. It is easier to set your sequence that way as often the wrong settings can be chosen if you are not quite sure of the format of your source material.

It is up to you at this stage to learn more about the software you have available in order to be able to edit effectively with the tools at hand. The editing process is often a lengthy one comprising several stages. It takes vision and some patience, but it is generally a very rewarding process.

Export

Exporting your final edit from most video editing software packages will involve the same steps, although sometimes variations in language can happen. You will have to go to the Export menu. In Premiere this will be File > Export > Media, and in Final Cut Pro X it will be File > Share. You should refer back to the section on exporting movie files in this chapter (p. 463) for explanations of export settings. Premiere or Final Cut Pro X will have more intuitive presets to help you choose the right export solution without much knowledge of export files and codecs. It will also let you export your movie file straight to YouTube or Vimeo if you choose to do so.

Animated GIFs and Derivatives

Background

Since its appearance the Web has developed to support a wide range of mediums. One of the first formats that enabled graphics to be displayed over the Web was the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format). It supported color graphics and used a type of compression that enabled GIF images to be downloaded in a relatively short period of time compared to other data compression methods of the time. The GIF made its first appearance in the late 1980s and became a very popular format among a then exclusive community of web designers. It started as a way to embellish websites but soon became a means of communicating with other users of the Web, as it made it possible for content to be animated in an enhanced version of the format. It was originally designed to allow for short animated images, which would repeat over and over again in a loop. The fun factor of these mini-animations has seen the form being used to communicate humorous concepts, many of which now portray wittier content, often of a sociocuitural or political nature, and merge with photomontage techniques (Figure 12.22).

12.22
GIF stills from Riots GIF series by Tony Berry (2012). Berry creates re-enactments of events that occurred during the London Riots in 2011, using miniature toys and archive photographs

Alternative ways of displaying animation on the Web appeared later such as Adobe Flash and Javascript, which overshadowed the GIF for many years. However, in 2011 fashion photographer Jamie Beck and web designer Kevin Burg released a series of cinemagraph, created during New York Fashion Week, that resurrected the GIF format. These images composite still photographs with video and are saved and distributed over the Web as a GIF file. They created a storm in the world of the Web and photography, as well as in that of digital media generally, as they expanded on the usual uses of the GIF and created a hybrid form which brought together high end still photography, video, and compositing. The cinema-graph gave the GIF its value back, and more, by elevating it from an extinct Web format to a higher form of creative and artistic expression. Since Beck and Burg created their "moving photographs," there have been other derivatives such as the wigglegram and the wigglegram 3D, which includes a perspective 3D element, based on stereoscopic images. Interestingly none of the media and techniques used were new, but the images that resulted from the resurgence of the GIF and the various explorations of its features are bringing many new visual experiences and aesthetics to both the photographic image and the moving image.

The GIF format for photographers: 256 colors and making the most of the loop

The GIF format has a few features and most of them, while once advantageous to Web graphics display, should now be considered as shortcomings of the format The GIF only supports a palette of up to 256 RGB colors. This used to be perfect for simple graphics and, in retrospect, was mainly used to display logos on websites or distribute funny animated graphics over the Web and email. Using more complex graphics and photographic images with a wider and continuous color range in a GIF format will result in significant image quality loss. You will have to compromise image size for image quality; this means that you will not be able to produce large-size GIFs, especially as the GIF is a compressed format designed for the Web only Another important aspect to consider is that you will only be able to view them in action via a web browser. If you intend to create animated work for an ebook or a magazine, for example, or to be displayed as a projection, you will have to consider a different format.

12.23 Still from a GIF by Milos "Sholim" Rajkovic. Rajkovic created a series of GIFs using photographs of anonymous people from the corporate media, or political worlds to convey notions of empty personality or lost identity. Website: http://milosrajkovic.tumblr.com/.

While the [imitations of the GIF format seem more inconvenient than advantageous, its animation support is perhaps what still makes it so popular. While there are many sophisticated animation tools and formats available, the GIF does not require any additional plug-in in order to be viewed and is relatively easy to produce. It also has a built-in looping function, which allows your GIF file to play repeatedly either a specified number of times or forever. It is the looping capability of the format that makes it interesting and is precisely what such forms as the cinemagraph made full creative use of, highlighting its true potential. The mesmerizing and hypnotic look of the cinemagraph lies in the seamlessness of the loop, which can only be achieved with carefully thought through, shot, and edited content.

Making a simple GIF animation

An animated GIF is an animated image made of at [east two different frames. It is based on traditional animation principles where a series of still images, with slight changes in each, can be played back at a given frame rate to create the illusion of movement in action. Animated GIFs are technically simple to produce. Their appeal and success will come from their content. You could choose to take two random images and save them as a GIF The result will most certainly be an animated GIF, but the content may be meaningless or simply incoherent. Animated GIFs as a form generally convey ideas, even if simple.

To make an animated GIF, you need at least two related images of the same subject that follow a sequence of action, even if staggered in time. These images, whatever the subject, should hold minor changes from one image to the next. The change could be created by a change in perspective, for example. Photographer Ignacio Torres, in his Stellar GIF series, combines perspective 3D techniques in GIFs to emphasize our relationship with the notion of time and space. Once you have shot and edited your content as desired, the images can then be compiled and saved as a GIF file. This will require an image editor with animation support such as Adobe Photoshop. If you do not have access to Photoshop, there are a variety of websites and free GIF making applications available to use online or to download. A cheap alternative to Adobe Photoshop is gifBrewery (https://itunes.apple.com/app/gifbrewery/), although this is a Macintosh-based application only. A cross platform desktop application with GIF making capability is Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/). There is also a choice of Web-based applications, which include imgFlip (http://imgflip.com/gifgenerator), GIFMaker (http://gifmaker.me/), and others. A growing number of free or cheap GIF making apps are also available for iOS and Android devices and include Giffer Pro and GifBoom, to name only two.

Follow these steps to compile and save a GIF in Adobe Photoshop (version CS6 at the time of writing):

First, gather the images you want to animate into one folder.

Go to the File menu and choose Scripts > Load Files into Stack. The Load Layers window opens.

Click Browse and select your files. This imports the files you selected as individual layers.

Rearrange the layers into the correct order, if needed.

To see your files in the timeline, open the Animation palette (Window > Timeline) and in the timeline click Create Video Timeline. This will take each layer in your document and set it as an individual layer in the animation timeline.

In the Animation palette menu (top right corner of the palette), click Make Frames from Clips.

From this timeline sequence, you will have to create a frame animation. A frame animation is really just a different timeline view where you can easily set a time length for each image and the animation to loop either once, a specified number of times, or forever.

Go to the Timeline palette where you can choose the Convert to Frame Animation option.

Now change the frame duration to suit. You can make use of the drop down menu underneath each frame to select a duration number. Knowing how long to set the duration of a frame requires a lot of experimenting. You may have to go through this stage of the process, and the next, a few times until you are satisfied with the speed and pacing of your GIF. Once the frame order and timing have been set up, it is time to save the image as a GIF file.

Click File > Save for Web &. Devices, and make sure the file format is set to GIF. The size may need to be changed to a lower size for best performance on the Web. Common frame sizes for the Web are 1024w x 768h pixels and 800w x 600h pixels. Since you are essentially saving more than one still image in a GIF file, the size

12.24 How to make a GIF with Adobe Photoshop, (a) Load layers, (b) Make frames from clips, (c and d) The timeline has been converted to a frame animation where options for frame duration and repeat times are available, (e) Save as a GIF.

of the file will be determined by the number of frames in your GIF. This will create a much larger file than anticipated, so you may have to reduce the file's frame size even further. Most GIFs will be very small indeed and a resolution of 640 x 480p may be what is necessary. These sizes are generic, and you should consider your image's orientation and pixel aspect ratio before making any changes. Remember that a GIF can only display up to 256 colors. This means that your photographic images will most likely suffer some form of color degradation, resulting in a lower quality looking file. While this is inevitable, you can try to limit the damage by looking at the Optimized tab and changing some of the quality options (see Optimizing Images for Web Use on p. 445). When you are satisfied (enough) with the results, check the looping option of your file and save.

Making a cinemagraph

To make a cinemagraph, you will have to acquire both still and video material of your chosen subject. Unlike producing a video as explained earlier in this chapter (p. 464), you will have to approach your material mainly as if you were taking a Stiil photograph. A cinemagraph, despite its video content, encompasses the idea of timeiessness. It is closer to a still photograph in its form and feel than video, which is only used to create a smooth and perfectly closed loop. As its name suggests, the cinema-graph is cinematic. It borrows its look from film and generally conveys a lot of drama in its high end and polished look. It is best shot with a DSLR, which offers both still and video media as well as full control over image exposure.

12.25 Stills from the cinemagraph "Dark Night" by Lucincia King (2012). The subtle variations in light clue to the flickering candle provide movement for this cinemagraph.

Think about your content carefully

In making a cinemagraph, you should choose your subject carefully. Not every subject will be appropriately rendered in this form, and while the best cinemagraphs often seem simple, they are extremely difficult to achieve successfully. This is less about technical prowess than it is about choosing to capture the right content. In fact, shooting and editing a cinernagraph can be easy; it is its content that will make it successful At the start of this chapter, we highlighted the importance of being able to see movement, and not just unusual or peak actions but also more subtle and natural movement that may make up the atmosphere, ambience, or emotional content of a subject or environment. Cinemagraphs will typically work with these types of mundane movement and the more subtle and unobtrusive to the subject or scene, the more successful your "moving photograph" will be. Some constructed movements, however, can work extremely well if thought through properly. RRRRRRRROLL creates animated photographs focused on circular motion. The movement is choreographed by the photographer, creating a surreal and hypnotic quality in the work. Movement should be natural and inherent to what you are capturing. Natural elements such as changes in light or wind blowing through tree foliage are often seen in this type of moving image. Bringing the photograph to life is the conceptual intention in creating a cinema-graph. But subtle movement and dramatic lighting and setup will not make your cinemagraph successful. You must also keep and reinforce the suspended feel of the photograph through the movement you introduce. A cinemagraph should mainly contain still elements with minimal movement. You must balance this aspect well and should only introduce one moving element and one that is unassuming. Including movement that can form a seamless loop will be the key to a successful cinemagraph— movements that are cyclic in nature and where start and end points are difficult to define. In attempting your first cinemagraph you may want to practice with objects which already contain endless loops in their nature or mechanism, such as a vinyl disk on a record player, revolving doors or escalators, or turning pages on a book. That way you will be able to focus on mastering the production techniques as well as acquiring a practical understanding of what properties and features your content should have.

Essential shooting considerations and settings

Once you have decided on your subject, set up your equipment as you would for a still photography shoot. It is imperative that you use a still photography tripod so that your camera is locked in place for both still and moving content. Any small vibration or shake will result in unusable content. Remember that the main feature of a cinemagraph is its seamless loop. Shaky footage will disrupt the flow of the overall intended image. Once your setup is ready, it is advisable to take a still photograph of the scene first, followed by some video footage of the same scene in the same setup. The still photograph ("the shot") will form the basis of the work and should be of a high resolution. However, before setting out to shoot, remember that there are differences in aspect ratio between still images and video. Because you will eventually combine both still image and video and superimpose one on top of the other, both ratios and frame sizes must match. If they prove difficult to align, you should consider shooting video at the highest possible resolution so that a still frame can be grabbed from the footage and used as the base still image.

Search for the right movements

You should look at your scene carefully before shooting and have some idea of what you may want to capture. That way you will be able to focus your filming on capturing the right movement in the right way, and enough of it to have a fuii cycle. You will need to capture the movement with as iittie obstruction to the potential loop as possible. For example, if capturing swaying trees, you will need to make sure you have the entire movement without any element breaking the flow of images, such as a passing bird or any other element entering the frame in the area you are focusing on. In the revolving door example (Figure 12.28) a complete cycle of the revolving door has been captured without anyone walking through. This is to ensure that the start and end frames of the loop have matching contents. If the first and last frame of the video cannot be joined because of some mismatch in the action, the seam of the loop (where the action repeats) will be noticeable and your cinemagraph will lose its impact.

Compositing still and video

Once you have shot your material, you will need to composite the still image with the video in such a way that they biend perfectly and appear as being one single image. In the case of a cinemagraph, this process will involve placing the still image on top of the video footage and creating a mask (Chapter 9) to reveal the chosen part of the video playing underneath it. A few software packages are able to do masking, but you need one that is capable of handling video and layers too. Fortunately, Adobe Photoshop Extended, since its CS3 version, has had support for video and is possibly the best tool to use to create this type of work. If you do not have access to this software, there are an increasing number of apps available for iOS and Android devices, as well as online, that will let you create cine-magraphs and share them. However, these will not give you much creative and editing control.

Using Adobe Photoshop (version CSS at the time of writing):

Open your video in Photoshop (File > Open). This will place the video on the Photoshop animation timeline

If you have taken a separate still photograph, open it and place it on a layer above the video layer. If you have not shot a still image and only have video, you will need to choose a frame from the video to be the main still shot of your cinemagraph (Figure 12.26).

Turn off the visibility of the top layer (still photograph) so that you can see and work on the video edit.

12.26 On the video layer (a), choose a frame to be the main stiii shot of your cinemagraph by placing the cursor at your chosen frame (b) Create a new video group and copy and paste the frame on the new layer above

4 Move the play head or play the video to identify a part of the video where the chosen action goes through a complete cycle.

5 Identify the beginning of the cycle and the end frame of the cycle, and split the clip at the beginning and end so that you separate the chosen part of the clip from the rest of the video (Figure 12.27).

6 Delete the unwanted part so that you are left with the one clip containing one cycle of the event. With both still and video cycles trimmed to the same length, and the still layer's visibility turned back on, you will need to create a mask, to reveal the chosen part of the video through the still image.

12.27
The Timeline menu is situated at the top right of the Timeline window. A drop down menu includes tools specific to the timeline and time-based actions (a). Splitting the video at the start and end of the chosen cycle of event will leave unwanted footage before and after the video clip defined as a full cycle of event (b).

12.28 In Adobe Photoshop, inverted Quick Mask revealing the video of the revolving door underneath the still image Only the revolving door will be moving, the rest of the image will remain still

7 Paint over the area you want to "cut out" in Quick Mask mode with a soft brush to help biend the edges of the still image to the video.

8 Once that is done, and coming out of Quick Mask mode, you will need to inverse the selection and apply the mask (add Layer Mask option in the Layers window).

Saving for the Web as a GIF File

Once your cinemagraph has been composited, you will need to save it as a GIF file. Before doing so, you need to optimize the file. While the GIF format is able to handle video footage, it is advisable to ensure that Photoshop hasn't got too large a file to process. Since your GIF will be playing in a browser and possibly over the Web if you share it, you will also need to consider download times (see p. 445). Reducing the frame rate (p. 465) of the video will considerably reduce the size of the file and allow for better performance. It is likely that you will have shot your video at either 24 or 25 fps (see frame rate section, p. 441). You should consider reducing this number to either 12 or even 8 fps when creating your GIF. A higher frame rate will create a smoother movement, but the GIF file will struggle if the cycle of video is too long (too many frames). Remember that the GIF will encode each frame of the animation it produces. So if you want to save a cinemagraph containing 10 seconds of video at 25 fps, Photoshop will have to process 250 frames or single images and compress them into a GIF file. This would be too much, although not impossible, and, depending on the processing power of your computer, you may be able to go through this stage without any problems. However, the performance of your GIF over the Web is likely to be poor. The smaller the number of frames in a GIF file, the better. Reducing your frame rate from 25 fps to 8 fps might seem drastic, but the difference in movement will not be that noticeable: furthermore, it will improve the performance of your animated file.

12.29 The Timeline Frame Rate window can be found in the Timeline menu options. The frame rate is changed to a lower number in order to optimize the video.

The file is now ready to be saved for the Web as an animated GIF (see creating an animated GIF, p. 473). Generally, a cinemagraph will be larger than a simple animated GIF, which should only reach a few kilobytes. You should aim to keep your cinemagraph to between 500KB and 1MB maximum for online performance purposes.

Summary

> Producing Moving Image work necessitates a different way of thinking about and looking at your subject. Instead of focusing on the best instant of a moment as one single shot, you should look to capture the moment and its transformation over time.

> You should search for the movement that exists in a scene, or see how choreographed movement can enhance the narrative or story you want to tell.

> Working with moving images will necessitate some efficient pre-production planning in order to ease the postproduction stage. You may need to lay out your plan in a storyboard and work out your equipment list, for example, as well as do small test shoots.

> You will need to acquire knowledge of picture aspect ratio in order to plan, shoot, and edit at the right standard. Picture aspect ratio will vary according to the chosen output medium or platform. Choosing the right ratio will avoid unnecessary cropping of the final output.

> Choosing the right image resolution to start with is also very important, it is easier to reduce the quality of a file than increase it once it has been produced. You will benefit from higher quality source material when editing and outputting your final moving image work.

> What frame rate you choose for your moving image projects (24, 25, 30, 60 frames per second) will depend on distribution platforms (web, film, TV broadcast), locations (Europe, US, rest of the world) and purpose (special effects).

> Capturing source material for moving image work means capturing a lot of still frames and therefore a lot of data. Ensure you have the right solution for memory capacity and speed to save and back up your material.

> Displaying your final work on any type of screen, you will only have to worry about getting the right frame size for the chosen screen-based platform. You will not need to optimize (balance size and quality of the file) unless the work is intended for viewing, downloading, or streaming over the Web.

> You can create moving image work with still photographs or video. One form commonly used by photographers to bring their photography to life is time-lapse. Time-lapse allows you to capture events occurring over a long period of time and play them back within a few seconds or minutes.

> Time-lapses can be achieved fairly easily provided you have a basic set of tools including a DSLR, a sturdy tripod to avoid unwanted shakes of the camera, and a good digital postproduction workflow.

> Before setting out to shoot a time-lapse ask yourself a few crucial questions: what is it that you want to shoot? What are your source and delivery frame sizes? Should you shoot raw or JPEG? Make sure you also plan spare memory cards and batteries forail your battery operated equipment, especially if you have no access to power on a particularly lengthy shoot.

> When shooting a time-lapse, location and composition are very important. Observing your scene and the elements it contains, both static and moving, will help you frame your shots in more interesting ways.

> Work out the best shooting interval for your time-lapse as well as the time of shooting required if you are capturing untimed events.

> Consider shooting in manual mode for constant lighting conditions and fix aperture and shutter speed settings in order to avoid time-lapse flicker.

> Adopt a disciplined postproduction workflow. Make sure you transfer your images to a working location on your computer or working drive, following a strict file organization system, and backup all source files onto a separate dedicated backup location.

> In compiling your time-lapse, remove unwanted frames and batch process the selected images. Batch-rename following a strict naming convention as well as batch-resize and batch-correct where possible.

> Think about your editing style in order to demarcate yourself from millions of time-lapse photographers out there.

> Compile and export your final movie to the appropriate delivery format, choosing the right file format and codec.

> Working with the video form will necessitate you think of your work as a sequence of multiple and varied clips that may portray the same action. This collection of small clips is then edited as a whole video in a meaningful way to communicate specific ideas.

> Before shooting video, you should take care of planning your ideas, and story. A storyboard will help identifying the shots you need.

> Take care setting up your shots. You wiil not get the same level of editing flexibility you have with still photographs. Set you white balance properly and ensure your scenes are appropriately lit.

> Shooting video you will need to substitute your flash lights for continuous lights, as well as acquire a fluid head tripod for smooth camera moves.

> To edit your video, consumer packages are available but with a limited level of control on the files. Acquire a higher end editing package for greater editing options.

> Familiarize yourself with some of the principles of video editing for creating more sophisticated edits.

> The animated GIF is a format that came about in the late 1980s to display graphic on a then text filled only web. The format quickly became popular for its high compression rate, simplicity of use, and animation support.

> The GIF has a few limitations including a limited color palette and a lossy codec; however, these limitations forced designers to condense ideas effectively into the format. It is a great means to share ideas on the Web.

> To make a GIF, you will need at least two related images, of the same subject and following a sequence of action. The images should hold minor changes from one to the next so that when compiled as a .gif file they create an animated image. This will require an image editor with animation support such as Adobe Photoshop.

> The gif quickly disappeared only to re-emerge over two decades later with a strong endorsement from creative practitioners from graphic and photographic backgrounds.

> Elevated to an art form, the GIF also became a base format for a number of derivatives and hybrid forms such as the cinemagraph and the wigglegram, taking full advantage of the built-in looping function of the GIF format.

> A cinemagraph composites a still photograph with video and is saved and distributed over the Web as a GIF file. Fashion photographer Jamie Beck and Web designer Kevin Burg invented it in the late 2000's and featured it in the 2011 New York Fashion Week.

Projects

1. Find a location of your choice and observe. Practice scanning the scene for movements you may not normally notice. What are the natural movements you can see? Are there any movements caused by changing light conditions? Are there any movements caused by the weather? Are there movements that: are man made? Are you noticing rhythms and patterns in movements, colors, or shadows created? Now look at the same scene and think about what would make interesting movement through camera moves. How does the scene change through panning across it or is there a detail that becomes more interesting through motion created by a change in perspective?

2. To get a greater sense and feel of how powerful time-lapse is, look at some of the suggested pieces and others of your choice. Determine what elements (subject, composition, movement, actions, timing, editing style, technique, and story telling) make each example compelling.

3. Choose a small time-lapse project you can commit to in terms of time. This may be moving clouds or a traffic scene. Observe your scene and look at the static elements and think about the ways they could be seen through your lens. Think about the different options in angles that you have, for example, and which might bring the most interest to the scene. What movement will be captured and what will change over time? What will be the best framing to capture the change in interesting ways? Take a test shot to check you are happy with your composition. Then take a few consecutive shots over 20 seconds or so to check if the way things move within the frame suits your vision.

4. Looking at the same scene, determine the lighting conditions and work out whether you should shoot in manual or in aperture priority mode. Try both methods and check your image sequences for variations in brightness from image to image.

5. Choose a subject for a short video project. Observe your subject and its environment. Think about the story you would like to tell and take a collection of still photographs comprising a variety of shots and angles that may communicate some elements of that story. Look through the shots you took and create a storyboard using those elements. Remember that with video you do not have the choice between landscape and portrait, or horizontal and vertical. You can only shoot horizontal, so keep this in mind when taking still shots or drawing out a storyboard.

6. Looking at the same scene and your storyboard, think about your scene in terms of movement. What camera moves could be added to your storyboard? What might highlight certain key points of the story or give a greater sense of the space and environment? What use can you make of zooming, panning, and tilting in communicating your story? Make notes of timings, camera angles, shots, moves, and in shot actions.

7. Take a shot of a still object making sure you use a tripod. Move your tripod slightly to the side and take another shot of your still object. Edit these two images as an animated GIF using a frame duration of 0.5 second. The result should give you a sense of perspective in the animation. To perfect this technique, look into how to create stereoscopic images. This combined with making an animated GIF will give you the basis of creating a wigglegram.

8. Go to an outdoor location and observe the scene for movement. Notice any movement that may constitute a perfect loop in its action. Once you have found something suitable and of interest, find an interesting angle and shoot a few seconds of the action making sure you get enough material for a full cycle and without any obstructions to that movement. Edit the footage into a cinemagraph.

Chapter Thirteen
Finishing and Presenting Work

This final chapter is about completing your work and presenting it to other people in the most effective way. Finishing off means mounting, retouching if necessary, and deciding how pictures might be brought to the attention of potential clients and/or audiences. You might be taking a portfolio around to editors, art directors, and/or designers, or you may be trying to get work exhibited or published in a book, or you may want to publish or publicize your talent on the Internet. In all these forms of presentation, communication skills are important: you will need to be able to select images to show and be able to back them up with verbal or written information. Sometimes you may only get the chance to show images, in which case titles for your photographs and/or projects may be as helpful as a short text.

The Permanence of Prints

Image stability is a vital element in several types of professional photography, particularly in the art marketplace where buyers are purchasing work for public or private collections. Clients and commissioners have a right to expect the work they have purchased to last a reasonable time—either as many years as possible, or at least sufficient for its intended purpose. Over time a great deal has been learned about the permanence of prints on silver halide papers. The products of some methods of printing, both analog and digital, are not long lasting; in other words they will fade within a relatively short period of time. Today there is more information that ink jets properly made with totally stable ink are likely to last longer than traditional chromogenic types (C types are analog color prints). It is clear that for any degree of permanence archival inks must be used at the printing stage.

Conventional silver halide prints

In chemical processing either you can aim to get prints of average stability for normal commercial use and storage conditions, or you can work to the highest possible life expectancy. The latter is essential when selling a print as a work of art to a museum/collector, or when producing records that will be filed away in archives and so must survive unchanged for the longest possible period. A long-lasting print is one that is as free as possible of residual thiosulfate (fixer) and silver byproducts, and has extra protection from chemical reactions with air pollutants. One form of protecting the silver image is to coat it or convert it to a more stable material by toning. Current thinking suggests the following as the best printing routine for permanence. Choose a fiber-based printing paper, preferably a silver-enriched premium weight type. Make sure you develop fully. Follow this by effective stop bath treatment, but don't use the solution at greater than the recommended concentration. Fix in rapid fixer with hardener, using a two-bath system and remembering to agitate regularly. Next rinse and treat in hypo-clearing agent and, finally, wash prints for 60 minutes in an effective print-wash system and then squeegee and air dry them. You can also tone the image afterward using selenium toner; it is claimed that this gives increased permanence and also a cool (as in the feel of the print being cold rather than warm) finish to the print. If you choose to do this (and you would need to observe all the safety regulations for selenium toning), you would also need to rewash after the toning for a further 60 minutes. Always agitate continuously through all these stages. Fewer fiber-based papers are available today than ten years ago, although there is now a much wider choice of surfaces and weights in digital papers.

Digital prints

Digital printing is now the expected method of printing photographs and manufacturers claim that, provided archival inks are used and certain conditions are maintained, a digital inkjet print can have a life expectancy of anything between 34 and 300 years, depending on: paper type; whether or not the print is constantly exposed to light; and whether it is protected by glass (a UV filter in the glass allows longer life). The longest life can be expected if the print is kept in a file or album in a cool room. As digital prints have not been around as long as fiber-based prints, the information about their longevity is speculative and has been estimated through simulated tests.

Dye inks (used in some older or cheaper inkjet printers–older or cheaper printers do not take archival inks) will fade more quickly than the newer pigment type inks that are more permanent. Lightjet and Lambda prints are created differently, using light as opposed to ink, and these kinds of print have the same estimated life span as C-type color prints (prints made chemically from color negative film), as they use the same machinery for processing.

Just how long your finished print will last depends on many factors outside your control—adverse temperature or humidity, display under excessive UV-rich radiation, effects of atmospheric pollution, or contact with non-archival packing, mounting, or framing materials.

Mounting Methods and Framing

Mounting is an important stage in presenting professional-looking work. In addition, it can help to protect the photographic image from chemical deterioration and handling damage.

Dry mounting

There are two types of dry mounting regularly used by mounters and framers alike: a heated, thermostatically controlled press that melts the glue to adhere the print to the mounting surface, and a cold press that activates the glue through the pressure of the rollers. You must say what type of print it is when you request dry mounting as some prints are not suitable for this process. Dry mounting is an excellent means of attaching a print to a board, or other flat surface, with a smart, professional-looking finish. It is also good in terms of permanence as it helps keep the print in the best condition. Cold press mounting is a newer development that has come with the advancement of adhesion technology and so is more commonly used these days. A print can be dry mounted to several different types of material (many of which are most successfully handled by a professional dry mounter) such as aluminum, foam board, or MDF (medium density fiberboard).

If you are doing it yourself, Figure 13.1 shows how to do it on a hot press. You first attach a thin sheet of heat-sensitive material to the back of your (untrimmed) print. Then you trim the print plus heat-sensitive material together, and position them accurately on a suitable acid-free board, preferably museum board (MB is free from chemicals that can damage prints). You next protect the print surface with a sheet of silicone non-stick release paper. Board, print, and silicone cover sheet must all be absolutely dry. The whole sandwich then goes face up into the top-heated press, which melts the adhesive layer into both print and mount within a few seconds. If you use a heated press, temperature is critical, especially with resin-coated prints and many of the digital plastic-based papers, and above 99°C (210°F) blisters may occur. If your print was made by inkjet printer or any other digital output, check the paper maker's recommendations. Most dry mounting materials are designed for temperatures between 66°C and 95°C, according to type.

13.1 Dry mounting, (a) Attach the center of the mounting tissue to the back of the print, using a heated tacking iron, (b) Trim off borders plus excess tissue, (c) Tack corners to your mount. (d) Cover the print with silicone release paper and place it in the heated mounting press.

The most common dry mounting faults (cold press) are: (1) tiny pits or protrusions in the print surface due to grit or dust caught between print and press, or print and mount, respectively; (2) unmounted patches due to uneven pressure; (3) dappled effect due to lack of pressure; (4) alignment of print with mount being out on one side due to print not being laid onto mount with edges matching up in a straight line. Work slowly and carefully, cleaning all surrounding surfaces and mounting materials to ensure a perfect finish—a dry mounting studio needs to be as dust free as possible Dry mounting is irreversible so if you are selling your print to a gallery collector, or museum, it is best to check if they are happy with this. Dry mounting is not yet available in some countries; however, as the art market for photography expands, it is likely to come into more use.

Perspex mounting

Prints can also be mounted (for exhibition purposes) by bonding them to Perspex or Lucite (acrylic plastic). The print will first be dry mounted, to aluminum, acrylic, or dibond (the process is often called dibond), and then bonded using a silicone gel face down to the Perspex. Do not be tempted to go without a backing (some of the cheaper companies offer this but your print will easily get damaged if it has no backing). The Perspex can be of various thicknesses; the thicker it is, the more three-dimensional the print looks. It can also be highly polished. However, large-scale prints mounted in this way are very heavy, and some smaller galleries will not be able to hang them securely; neither are they archival.

Adhesive tape

Doubie-sided adhesive tape is not a good way of mounting any kind of print; prints mounted this way will tend to buckle, particularly when there are changes in humidity levels (this can happen all the time, especially if carrying work from one place to another). The most successful way of mounting with tape is to use single-sided linen tape to tack one side of the untrimmed print to a mounting board. (One-sided attachment allows for differences in expansion.) Then the print is held down flat with a window matte cut from similar or thicker high quality board (see Figure 13.2). The matte also protects the print surface from sticking against glass if the work is framed, and allows for air circulation. If you want your print to maintain its life expectancy, the best method of attaching a print to a window matte is with photo corners. These can be made out of folded archival paper (for best permanence) and are then taped to the backing board (also archival) so that the print will slip into all four corners (similar to ordinary plastic photo corners used in older-style photo albums). A window matte can then be overlaid and joined with tape to the bottom board so that the whole thing opens like an easel. This type of mounting was traditionally used to protect the artwork or photograph from touching the glass and to prevent any humidity from damaging it, as well as to stop dust getting onto the print surface when it is exhibited.

13.2
Window matte mount construction, using thin linen tape to tack the untrimmed print in place and hinge the top board over it. The cut-out area looks best given beveled edges, which can be done using a proper mount-cutting rule with attached blade.

Liquid adhesives

Liquid adhesives are generally highly unsuitable for mounting any type of photographic print. Sometimes wallpaper paste can be used to mount lightweight prints directly onto walls; this is suitable for silver halide prints and Lightjet prints, but not inkjet prints as the water in the paste can make the ink run (usually only those produced on the cheapest kind of inkjet prints). There are digital papers designed to be mounted onto walls; most labs can access these for you. Also, some large department stores have started inviting customers to bring their photographs to be turned into wallpapers, bathroom/kitchen tiles, duvets, sheets, and pillow cases.

Mounting directly to the wall

Clear or semi-clear tape ("artist's tape" used mainly by designers) can be used very simply over the corners of prints to tape them directly onto the wall–this should be done very neatly if it is to be effective. "Blu-Tack" (or any other type of adhesive putty) can be used on small prints and sticky fixers or "Velcro" on larger prints. "Velcro" is good because you can lift the prints on and off, should they buckle at all. (Sticky fixers and the back of "Velcro" are both notoriously difficult to remove from walls at the end of exhibitions.) Another smart way of attaching prints to walls is with simple pins; you can buy all sorts of pins with interesting heads in good-quality stationery or art shops. Mounting directly to the wall like this is a relatively recent phenomenon and has been made popular by a number of contemporary artists. It is smart, simple, and ultimately inexpensive; however, you have to be careful in busy spaces as prints that are not protected by glass can be easily damaged, and it is hard to create a traveling show in this way unless you send a new set of prints each time.

Commercial mounting

Mounting can be done commercially, which is more expensive than doing it yourself but frequently far more successful. Commercial mounting organizations can mount your prints onto a wide range of materials, from aluminum to foam board, or even bond them to plastic. It is best to look at the mounting in exhibitions and decide what would best suit your work. When exhibiting work, it is vital to consider the mounting as an integral part of the work; when mounting work for a folio, there are fewer options and really the finish should be as simple as possible. Often for a folio it is unnecessary to mount work as the prints will simply slip inside the sleeves of the folio or book. However, if your folio is a box, then it can be a good idea to dry mount prints to board before putting them inside the transparent sleeves, as this gives them more weight and has a professional appearance (alternatively you can simply slip a piece of card, the same size as the print, into the plastic sleeve behind the print, and as long as the sleeve is only slightly larger than the print and card, they will not slip around inside them).

Framing

Framing photographs is a very personal choice; framers are everywhere and vary enormously pricewise. There are some excellent framers who frame and mount to a high standard for a very reasonable price and are particularly good with work that needs to be of an archival standard; often photographers gather around two or three framing companies in the same way that they work with printers–they become familiar with people they know will do the requested job in the correct way. There are framing shops that will not necessarily deal with archival framing (usually smaller outfits), and there are shops that sell frames that you can make up for yourself. Some department stores and art shops also sell reasonably priced simple frames. Framing photographs for exhibition is an important part of finishing the work. Generally, photographers tend to keep to a fairly simple small frame that does not overpower the image; however, there are exceptions to this when the artist/photographer may want the frame to have a particular meaning in relation to what the work is trying to say. In the 1970s and 1980s black frames were very popular in the UK in photography exhibitions, but today framing is far more varied: the white frame in Figure 13.3b was made for an exhibition and you can see in this image that the photograph has been mounted with no matte on top of it but with a gap between the glass and the print of about 1 cm, creating a box-like effect. There are numerous ways of framing and mounting work; you can assess framing and note frames that you particularly like by looking closely at exhibitions.

13.3
Some basic forms of presentation: (a) book folio with very clear sleeves; (b) framed behind glass; (c) fold-open box for loose mounted prints—pictures are transferred to the other half of the box as viewed and can be dry mounted to card before going into the sleeves to give them extra weight.

Filing and archiving prints, negatives, and digital files

It is vital to store your work weii if you want it to stand the test of time. Negative sleeves should be archival and stored in archival boxes in a cool, dark place lacking in humidity. Archival prints should be handled with gloves only and should be stored in archival boxes with archival tissue in between each print to prevent scratching, or in archival sleeves; prints are also best kept cool and dark. A photograph exhibited or displayed on a mantelpiece in direct sunlight will fade relatively quickly. Many exhibitions will show photographs in very low light and with a high level of humidity control, particularly old photographs which are far less stable than their modern counterparts. Digital images should be backed up on portable hard drives and CDs or DVDs (the hard drives being more secure); do not leave your digital files on your main computer or desktop. A lab can also store your digital images or scans so that when you want to print, you have the image ready to go when you call. It is advisable to continue to invest in new hard drives and to back up old work; as systems are developed, technology changes and you need to make sure your digital files are updated as well.

Spotting/Retouching

Using silver halide materials means you may need to retouch by hand. Often prints have a few white spots that you will (in most cases) want to "spot in." Use diluted dye or watercolor–either black or the appropriate tint–and apply it with an almost dry, fine-tipped brush. By patiently adding tiny specks (not a wash) of matching tone, pale defects can be merged with adjacent image grain (see Figure 13.4). As an alternative to a conventional brush, "brush tip" pens which each contain their own shade of dye are sold in sets of ten. A set for monochrome spotting, for example, provides a gray scale ranging from a very pale gray pen to one giving deep black.

Spotting is easiest with a grainy image on matt or semi-matt paper. Glazed glossy prints are almost impossible to spot without leaving some evidence of retouching on their mirror-like surface. However, gum arabic (e.g., from the glue flap of an envelope) mixed in with the watercolor helps it to dry with some form of matching glaze.

Dark spots are best tackled earlier–turned into white by spotting the negative, or by touching the print with a brush tip loaded with iodine bleach (p. 412). Then they are spotted like any other white defects. However, on matt prints you can also try direct print spotting with white pigment.

Digital prints should not need retouching as they will be retouched on screen as digital files. Image defects are very easily eliminated using your manipulation software before the picture goes to your printer. Files should be opened at actual pixel size for digital retouching so that all the faults can be seen properly, although many photographers would consider this overdoing it–since the output print is always smaller than actual pixels, retouching at 100 percent (actual pixel size) will reveal dust and scratches that will not be seen in the print but will take considerable time to retouch. Retouching can be done satisfactorily at print size plus a 10 percent increase, and this will deal adequately with most flaws. The Cloning tool and Healing brush can be used almost in the same manner as a real brush to fill in the white spots; this kind of retouching takes a long time and is tiring on the eyes (commercial labs are very efficient at it). See digital retouching in Chapter 9.

13.4
Spotting-in white specks and a hair mark by hand on the surface of a mounted bromide print. Use an almost dry 0 size watercolor brush with a good point. Right: The patient stippling-in of tone is half completed. A hair line like this is best broken in two or more parts first, and then each section matched into surrounding tone. Work with a tone that is lighter than the surrounding area and build up depth through a series of dots. Do not be tempted to actually "paint" in the white mark as this will show.

Getting your Work Noticed

The world of photography is very competitive, so at the earliest opportunity it is important to start to get yourself known. For example, enter as many photographic competitions as possible–even if you don't win, they can provide you with good sources of project themes and get you used to working to deadlines. Try to have some pictures published, together with a credit line. Look up European Photography Guide (also available in a US and Japanese version); these guides give you comprehensive information about getting work out into the world. Even something in a local newspaper or a trade magazine will mean you can put a photocopy or tear-sheet in the back of your portfolio, helping to prove that other people have confidence in you. Seek out cafes, bars, etc., willing for you to put up a display. And check out how to create a website to show your work (see p. 499).

Portfolios. Taking around a battered parcel of prints of all sizes to show people makes you seem amateurish, or just arrogant. It is relatively easy to have work mounted on thin boards, matching in size, which are shown in a box or a book-style portfolio (Figure 13.3) and will look smart. You can also buy ring binder portfolios, but the plastic sleeves in these folios are much thicker than in the book-style portfolios and so tend to make your prints appear flatter and less detailed than they really are. Book-style portfolios are undoubtedly more professional looking, although all plastic sleeves are reflective and need to be looked at away from bright light sources. Today iPads and tablets (Figure 13.5) have become a popular way of showing work; with their backlit screens and easy portability they are an excellent way of showing images, particularly if you are traveling a long way to show work. Apps (for the iPad or tablet) such as Foliobook, FlexFolio, Xtrafolio, Valise, Viewbook, and Padport allow you to create and quickly arrange and update your portfolio. It is also possible to create your portfolio on your computer (for example by using Adobe's inDesign software), export it as a PDF, and save this in the Apple iBooks app. Often, though, a curator or print buyer would be more likely to want to see actual prints. A portfolio or tablet makes it simple to change your selection and the order of pictures to suit the occasion (20-25 pictures is about the right number). Many professional photographers will have more than one portfolio, each containing different images for different types of client.

As much as possible, take your portfolio around to art directors, designers, gallery curators, and other potential clients. Their comments are always worth hearing, even though you may not always agree. Think ahead too in terms of how to give intelligent answers to the sorts of question you could be asked by a curator or gallery director—it is worth writing a statement in support of your work and your interests. For a documentary project it is essential that you provide some kind of introduction to the theme or subject of the work. You should be prepared to talk about why you made the work, what you were trying to convey, what prior experience led you to develop the project, which images stand out for you: be prepared to openly express your thought process–it will help to prove that the work has direction and cohesion. You should also be able to discuss the work of other photographers, seen in books, on the Internet, or in exhibitions–photographers who might have influenced the direction you have taken in your work. Knowledge of both historical and contemporary photography will help demonstrate your enthusiasm for your subject.

13.5
An iPad or tablet is a lively way of showing your portfolio quickly and easily. The backlight enhances the photographs

Exhibitions. If you are lucky enough to be offered some form of exhibition, both the standard and the method of presentation become even more important–in fact, the presentation reaiiy becomes a part of the work. (Once the pictures are on the wall, you will not be there all the time to speak for them.) Take care over the lighting. The same tone range degradation effect caused by viewing prints through portfolio acetate applies to photographs framed behind glass. You may be able to control this by careful positioning of spotlighting (Figure 13.6). In locations with many surrounding reflective surfaces, or having only flat frontal lighting, it may even be best to remove glass from the frames (though damage or dust could then be a problem). Museum glass is reflection-free; you may only be able to find it in large city framers and it is very expensive, though beautiful to look through. You can also buy non-reflective glass.

13.6 For prints exhibited behind glass, position lighting from a high, oblique angle. Specular reflections will then be directed downward onto the floor, not toward the viewer. However, have the light source as distant as possible, to minimize unevenness between top and bottom.

There are many different ways of producing photographs to exhibit, from traditional framing with card mattes to flush mounting on board or aluminum, or even simple pinning directly to the wall. You should think carefully about the kind of presentation that will be most effective in relation to the work you are exhibiting, as well as the character of the exhibition space itself and what is affordable.

Framed photographs do not always need mattes: a framer can put a small (or Large, depending on the depth of the frame) fillet between the frame and the print, so a print can sit away from the glass as well as the frame coming right up to the edge of the image (no white borders). Make sure that you have considered the tone and width of any surround to your photograph. A strongly colored window matte is likely to overwhelm any photograph, and a bright white matte or border can deaden the whites in your prints; off-white is the most neutral color to use.

Borders and image size can have a huge impact on the impression an image makes: a Life size image with no border can almost seem to engulf the viewer, whereas a small print with large border/matte becomes intricate and fascinatingly intimate The scale again adds to the impact of the work and therefore affects how it is read or received.

With any exhibition space, the size and tone density of your pictures, and the form of presentation, should be related to the physical conditions in which they will be seen. The intensity and evenness of the lighting is one factor; the height/layout of the exhibition walls is another. Corners offer natural breaks in a picture sequence and alcoves provide intimate enclaves, whereas a long unbroken surface and high ceiling can suit a run of large prints or a grid. Do not be afraid of leaving space between images or of painting walls particular colors. The most exciting exhibitions have had curators thinking about all of these aspects; they have not necessarily used the space exactly as it was left by the last exhibitor (of course in some spaces alterations like changing wall color might not be possible, and certainly any changes you make to an exhibition space need to be put back when your show comes down). Think too about the likely spectator viewing distance relative to the perspective of your photographs being hung from floor to ceiling (rather than in horizontal lines), in grids, or even chaotically spread (see Figure 13.7 for examples). Take time to plan your show, draw plans of what is possible, or, if you have time, make a small model of the space in which you can try out scaled-down versions of your images.

An exhibition is an exciting way of exploring space and scale. Some artists build installations, which does not simply mean creating something to hang work inside. Installation is an art in itself and should not be taken on board without serious thought and prior knowledge of installation type practice (as well as building skills!). Preparing work for an exhibition needs a lot of consideration; curation (the art of exhibition design and installation) is also an art in its own right (which you can now study at university) and so you need to work together with the curator for the selection and hanging of an exhibition. Quite often, if the exhibition is of a group of photographers or artists, the curator will design and manage the whole process (it would be difficult to have a group of photographers deciding how a show should be hung). You can submit work to open exhibitions, which tend to take place in many galleries on an annual basis. This is a good way to get your work noticed and to find out what people think of it: work has to be chosen by a selection panel and so there is a sense of achievement when your work is accepted to exhibit. In the UK you can learn more about exhibiting work from the Artists Newsletter website at www.a-n.co.uk. Online galleries are also taking off–you can create your own to help promote your work and to show curators your exhibition intentions–there are numerous computer programs available to do this.

13.7
Four examples of exhibition design. When hanging pictures in a straight line, work to a common middle line using tensioned horizontal cord set by spirit level as a hanging guide. Try different ways of hanging work by making sketches or models, or simply lay the work out first on the floor as a guide (a) Toril Johannessen, In search of Iceland Spar, exhibited as part of the Victor Hasselblad Fellowship at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, 2009. (b) Benjamin Becker's work hanging in a formal arrangement at Artsway in Hampshire UK. (c) Photographs can be hung well in a grid pattern (d) Anna Fox's photographs from the series Zwarte Piet were propped on stands in the cloister of a church (the walls could not be nailed into as it was a listed building) at Le Printemps de Septembre in Toulouse–curated by Val Williams.

Publications are well suited to promoting photographs, and they can be seen as objects in their own right as well You can look for publishers to publish your work (see more about publishing in Chapter 6, p. 194) and you can also create your own book, have it printed, and even sell it on the Internet by using one of the online publishing companies such as Blurb or Apple iBooks. These companies offer templates to help you design your book layout, and many commercial photographers are creating books in this way to promote and sell their work. It is rare to be able to make your own book as well as a great designer would do it–so always try to get design advice.

Pictures on the Internet

The World Wide Web has become the most popular medium for displaying and sharing photographs. Displaying your photographs on a website enables you to show your work to a whole range of people who would otherwise never encounter it–the Web has created a hugely democratic space for photographers and artists alike to promote and self-publish their work.

To have an online presence of some sort is almost as important as having a print portfolio these days, if not more so. You can show you work on the Web in a variety of ways outlined below

Building your Own Site

You can build and maintain your own website portfolio, where you controlail aspects of the site design, from your choice of domain name to how the navigation is set up–carefully managing how your visitors experience your work.

Most portfolio sites are constructed in a very straightforward manner. They display a list of projects or themes together with contact and other details, although some websites are more adventurous than this (see Figure 13.8). To display photographs some websites use a series of thumbnails of each image, and you click on a thumbnail to see the whole picture. Others guide you from one image to the next using arrows or buttons, in a traditional slideshow manner. One must, however, realize that the amount of detail in an image is far less on a website than it is on a print. Most screens operate at around 100 ppi (pixels per inch) versus an average of 300 ppi for print, although some of the latest iPads operate at 300 ppi. Screens are getting bigger and brighter all the time, and many new computers have high resolution screens.

When you share your images on a website, there are several things to take into consideration:

Images that rely on tiny details might not work at all. This is particularly true for large-scale landscape photographs.

Images have to be resized down to a size that fits most monitors but without compromising the overall image. The images must be big enough to give a good impression of their content.

Almost all photographs on the Web are JPEGs (Joint Photographic Expert Group)–a compressed file format. An image in JPEG format can be compressed to varying degrees. The higher the quality, the more detail is retained in the image, but the file size is larger and therefore takes longer to download. A compromise between file size and file quality has to be made.

13.8
Lifestyle and advertising photographer Sam Robinson's photographs are fun and playful, and his website echoes this The seemingly never-ending grid of photographs evokes the sense of storytelling in all of his images, while illustrating the interconnected themes and vision paramount in all of his work.

Constructing your own website can be quite a big technical undertaking as it means you have to use a range of different technologies that you might not normally use as a photographer, but it is also a very gratifying thing to do as you will have built it all yourself. To make it easier there is a range of software to help you build your own site, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) site-building application which allows you to assemble web pages visually while it automatically builds the bulk of the complex coding. Indexibit, Cargo Collective, SquareSpace, 4ormat, and WordPress are CMS applications (Content Management Systems) where the software used to build and alter the site is hosted online alongside your website itself. These CMS site-building applications are especially popular with photographers as they require very little specialist knowledge to work with, and once built the sites are incredibly quick and simple to adjust and update (ultimately only requiring an Internet connection as the software is hosted online), although they generally lack the ultimate design freedom of a site built on Dreamweaver or a bespoke-coded site. The key to building and maintaining your own site is to keep things simple and to ask yourself what the site is for. Is it a showcase with no particular target audience, a way of just sharing your work? Or does it have a particular audience? Would the audience be family and friends, so that they can view your photographs easily, or potential clients? If a professional website is for potential clients to view, is there a particular market you are interested in that your site needs to be targeting, for example weddings, editorial, portraits, or fashion? With that in mind, put it together accordingly. Avoid as far as you can superfluous effects and design elements for the sake of design, but don't avoid experimenting.

Most websites are built upon a mixture of HTML and CSS (HTML is the structural semantic formatting language that all web pages are written in, while CSS controls the layout). An HTML-based site is easily indexed by search engines and can be integrated with a Content Management System such as one of those mentioned above.

Flash-based sites, on the other hand, work quite differently. Flash sites are less prevalent these days.

Alternatively, if you want your own website but do not have the skills to build it or the time, you can have it designed by someone else. There are also a couple of online systems that allow you to choose between a selection of templates. These allow you to simply drop your photographs into an existing design (most of the services are not free). A web designer can be an expensive luxury but will often give you the most sophisticated results.

If you don't want your own website, there are other ways to share your photographs online. You can sign up to a photo-sharing site, such as Flickr or Pinterest (Figure 13.9), which enables anyone with an Internet connection to share their photographs and ideas with a community of like-minded individuals. You can add captions to your pictures and tags, so that other users can more easily locate them. These websites also enable you to leave comments about other people's photographs. Their services are mostly free, and you can use them without any prior knowledge about web design. All you need is the ability to save your images as JPEGs, and this can be learned quite simply using the help section of your software program.

As the Web becomes more and more popular, it is also becoming more complex to find what you want. It is therefore incredibly important to structure your content wisely and make room for future expansion. Organizing your work as projects, series, or under specific categories is a very good idea, as you can always add to it at a later date. Contact and other details are essential if you want anyone to contact you either to purchase work or to offer you some. It is also important to label your images properly with a name and a description, as it enables people using search engines to find your work (Figure 13.10). They can type into a search engine either your name or just the name of an image to find what they are looking for.

13.9
Any Adam's Pinterest. Pinterest is a social networking site focused on collecting, organizing, and sharing images Users save images to their online "pin boards," making it an especially useful tool for people working with photographs. Photographers, artists, curators, and collectors have latched onto Pinterest as a way of researching, keeping online workbooks, collecting work they admire, or creating catalogs full of certain visual patterns or themes Online curator Andy Adams, who runs the hugely popular flakphoto.com site, uses Pinterest to network and archive images he has featured on flakphoto.com. Here we see his "Landscapes" pin

13.10 Karen Knorr's website, designed by Mothership, combines simple, bold design and effective color with her powerful images The site is fast and easy to use, so ideal for promoting her work to the widest possible audience. This page shows her piece "The Flight to Freedom, Durbar Hall, Juna Mahal, Dungarpur."

Even if you are not interested in designing and maintaining your own website, the Web offers an incredibly rich resource of photographic imagery. Most search engines even offer specific image search features where one can search for images based on user input. Galleries, museums, and image databases can all be accessed for free, and here you can browse a huge variety of images. Try looking at Behance (www. behance.net) to see how they promote photographers' work.

Summary

> Image permanence in prints is very important forail photography sold professionally–especially fine art prints. A long-lasting silver halide print should be on fiber-based paper, as free as possible of fixer and silver byproducts, and given some protection from air pollutants through selenium toning (see previous note about the hazards of selenium toner). Intensive research on digital printing inks suggests that the life span for digital prints can be up to 300 years depending on the ink and paper types.

> However carefully a print is made, image fading and other changes are just as often due to the way it is later displayed and stored. Excessive UV-rich lighting, damp, chemical pollution from packaging, and atmospheric conditions all take their toll.

> Mount your silver halide prints by dry mounting or by sandwiching behind a window matte. Look at different materials to use when dry mounting. Prints mounted on board can be trimmed flush without borders, or left with print or mount: borders. Be wary of strongly or brightly colored mounts.

> Retouch white spots on silver halide prints using dye or watercolor on a fine brush, gradually blending in with surrounding tone. Alternatively, apply spotting dye from a range of brush tip pens. Retouch digital prints using the Clone tools and Healing brush in your software package.

> Get your work noticed. Enter competitions; get some pictures published; find good places where you can put work on show. Perhaps you can set up a website or share somebody else's?

> Good work doesn't deserve to be presented in a scruffy portfolio or box. Take care selecting your pictures (20-25) and deciding on their order, bearing in mind the individual who will be looking at them.

> Go out to see art directors, gallery curators, and others with your portfolio. Think how you will present it. Be ready to answer questions articulately on your approach and the intended meanings in your pictures. Have a view on the work of some leading photographers, past and present.

> When planning an exhibition, fully exploit the physical environment wherein your show is taking place–use its features to create natural breaks and give points of emphasis. Think about what can be done with sequences and what narratives unfold when one image follows another on the wall.

> Lighting the work effectively is very important. Prevent reflections, which dilute the richness of image tones and colors.

> Publishing a book is an excellent way of getting your work out into the world–you can do this on the Internet.

> The World Wide Web provides an important showcase for photographers. You can display thumbnail versions of prints viewable twenty-four hours a day from almost every country in the world. People browsing the Web on their computers can visit your work, buy pictures, and decide to commission you for jobs.

> Connection to the Web calls for a modem/wireless router, browser software, and the services of an Internet Service Provider. You can design your own website using tools within most modern image manipulation software programs.

> Browsing the Web yourself gives you an enormous source of visual information on what other photographers are currently doing, especially in other countries. Promoting your own work through the Web is vital.

Projects

1. Try mounting a print in two different ways: a) simply tape or pin it to the wall; b) get a matte cut (or, if you are feeling brave, cut a matte yourself) and position the print inside the matte using photo corners. Which do you prefer and why? Try it with different images and see which photographs suit which type of mounting.

2. Using photographic retouching inks and a small paint brush, take a dusty black and white print (analog print) and start trying to cover the dust marks by spotting the print. Build up tone with multiple dots. If one goes wrong, move onto the next spot and keep going until you can see your work improving.

3. Mock up a website that displays up to twenty of your pictures, plus brief text material to explain how you can be contacted and your curriculum vitae. Scan in the work so that it fills your monitor screen.

4. Examining a series of small, hand-size prints in a set order is an intimate one-person experience, very different from looking at a wall of big pictures in a public exhibition. You have to think about the narrative, text, and typography that you might use and the design layout. Make yourself a 6 x 4 inch book of 12-15 pages that you are going to put twenty photographs into. The theme could be a story (real or imaginary) or a particular memory, a diary of a simple event, or visual recollections of a place. Think carefully about your approach to shooting, print qualities, and the order in which each picture is to be viewed. Also think about which images are going to have separate pages and why, and where you are going to place the images on the page. Title each photograph or use more text if you like.

Appendix A: Optical Calculations

Pinholes

The best size pinhole for forming images has to be a compromise. It must be small enough to form quite tiny circles of confusion, so that as much subject detail as possible can be resolved. But the smaller the hole, the more diffraction increases, so that eventually detail no longer improves and rapidly becomes worse.

Optimum pinhole diameter =√distance from film/25

So for a pinhole placed 50 mm from the film, the best diameter is the square root of 50 divided by 25 = 0.3 mm. To make the pinhole, flatten a piece of thin metallic foil on a pad of paper. Pierce the foil gently with the tip of a dressmaker's pin. Check with a magnifier that the hole is a true circle and free of ragged edges. By placing the millimeter scale of a ruler next to the hole and examining both through the magnifier, it is just possible to measure diameters down to about 0.2 mm.

In the example above the relative aperture is f/150. However, a modern SLR camera set to aperture priority (Av) mode should be sufficiently sensitive to measure exposure from the image itself. You may need to adjust your film's ISO setting to compensate for long exposure reciprocity failure (see p. 512).

Image size, object, and image distances from lens

Codings:

F = focal length

M = magnification

I = image height

O = object height (neg. height when enlarging)

V = lns to image distance*

U = lens to object distance* (to neg. or slide when enlarging or projecting)

*See warning note at the end of this page.

Magnification formulae:

M = I/O

M =V/U

M = (V/F) - 1

I = O x M

O = I/M

Object/image distance formulae:

V = F (M +1)

U = F ((1/M) +1)

V = (F x U)/(U - F)

Close-up exposure increase when not using TTL metering

This is important when you are using a camera which does not measure light directly through the camera lens. Extra exposure (by means of aperture or time) has to be given when you are working close-up. The increase becomes significant when the subject is closer than about 4.5 times the focal length of your lens or, to put it another way when the image size is greater than one-sixth of the size of the subject. Under these conditions and assuming that you would be measuring exposure with a separate hand meter, the exposure that the meter reads out has to be multiplied by:

(i) (M +1)²

(ii) V²/F² or

(iii) U/(U -F)²

For example, you might be using a 120 rollfilm camera with an 80 mm lens to photograph a small 100 mm high product that is 50 mm high on film. The hand-held meter reads 1/2 s at f/16. Following formula (i) above: magnification is 0.5, so exposure needs multiplying by 2.25 times. The closest setting available is therefore likely to be 1 s at f/16.

Warning note on telephoto and inverted telephoto lens designs: The above formulae are sufficiently accurate for most large format camera lenses, enlarging lenses, and normal focal length lenses for rollfilm and 35 mm cameras. However, expect some discrepancy if using any formula containing V or U for lenses of either telephoto or inverted-telephoto construction. This is because it is difficult to know from where to make simple measurements with a ruler alongside such a lens. In these circumstances you can still calculate close-up exposure increase accurately using the formula based on M rather than V or U.

Appendix B: Camera Movements

The term "camera movements" refers to the group of features offered ori some cameras by which the lens and/or film plane shifts sideways or pivots. The advantage of a camera with movements is that it can get you out of all kinds of difficulties, particularly in architectural or still life studio photography. Using movements, you can increase depth of field, adjust the apparent shape of subjects, even photograph square-on views of reflective surfaces without your reflection showing.

The most comprehensive range of movements is to be found on large format cameras, but some are offered by medium format professional cameras too. Special lenses allowing movements are made for 35 mm SLRs (see Figure B.1).

In a normal camera the plane of the lens is parallel to the film, the lens center is aligned with the dead center of the picture format, and a line between the two (the lens axis) is parallel to the camera base. In a camera offering movements, this arrangement is said to be "neutral." From here there are shift movements (known as rising, drop, and cross front or back) and pivoting movements (swing front or back); see Figure B.2.

Shift movements:

Rising front means upward shift of the lens, remaining parallel to the film surface.

Drop front means shifting the lens downward, again parallel to the film, placing the lens axis below the center of the picture format.

Cross front involves shifting left or right, parallel to the film, placing the lens axis to one side of the picture center.

These three shift movements are achieved on a view camera by undoing locks on the front (lens) standard and sliding it a few centimeters up, down, or sideways. On a monorail view camera, front and back standards are identically engineered, so you can double the effect by moving them in opposite directions—for example, shifting the back of the camera downward when you use rising front. Standard length bellows may not be flexible enough to allow much shift movement, especially when using shorter focal length lenses. With a view camera you can work more easily by changing to bag bellows instead (Figure 3.29). One or two rollfilm cameras (wide-angle shift cameras) offer shift movements by not having bellows at all. Instead (Figure B.1),two sliding plates are used and the lens has its own focusing mount.

B.1 The range of ways in which large, medium, and some small format cameras allow you to shift or tilt the lens or back to provide "camera movements" (a) Baseboard view camera. (b) 35 mm shift lens, racked upward to give rising front. (The lens mount rotates, allowing you to turn this into a cross front movement as well.) (c) Bellows unit replacing Hasselblad body accepts regular lens and rollfilm magazine but uses a direct focusing screen, (d) A "shift camera" with rollfilm back set to give rising front. The linked direct viewfinder pivots to adjust framing.

B.2 A monorail camera offers the greatest variety and range of shift and pivot movements, which can be used simultaneously.

On small or medium format SLR cameras, the body as such may not offer movements. Instead you fit a "tilt shift" (TS) or "perspective control" (PC) lens. This has a special mount that allows the whole lens to slide a few millimeters or so off-center in one direction. The mount itself rotates, to allow you to make this offsetting give either upward, downward, or sideways shifts.

Note on lens coverage

Shift movements (or lens pivoting) tend to move the lens axis away from the center of the picture format. You should only do this if your lens has sufficient covering power (Figure B.3) to continue to illuminate the entire picture area. Otherwise the corners and edges of the format farthest from the lens axis will show blur and darkening. Most good lenses for view cameras are designed with these movements in mind and have generous covering power.

The usual range of lenses for medium and small format cameras cover little more than the picture area for which they are designed. Shift lenses are exceptional. Optically they must cover a much larger image patch. Mechanically too the back of the lens must be far enough forward to allow offsetting and pivoting without fouling the sides of the mount. Most shift lenses are wide-angle, typically 75 mm for 6 x4.5 cm or 35 mm or 28 mm for 35 mm format.

B.3 Covering power. The patch of image light given by this lens is insufficient to cover film format A. Format B is sufficiently covered provided it remains centrally aligned with the lens Only film format C is suitable if you intend to use this lens off-center (essential for most camera movements). See also Figure 3.24.

Using rising front

Effect. As you raise the lens, the image shifts vertically too. The lowest parts of the subject no longer appear, but you gain an equivalent extra strip at the top of the picture. Raising the lens say 1 cm, raises the image 1 cm. But in most situations the image is much smaller than the subject, so this small shift alters the subject matter contained in your picture by several meters—far greater than if you raised the whole camera by 1 cm.

Practical purpose. Rising front allows you to include more of the tops of subjects (losing an equivalent strip at the bottom) without tilting the camera upward. The objection to tilting the whole camera is that vertical lines seem to converge. Tall buildings shot from street level or cylindrical containers photographed from low level in the studio begin to look tapered as the film is no longer parallel with the subject. You can argue that this is exactly how they appear when you look up at a tall subject. However, the stereoscopic effect of seeing with two eyes plus the physical act of looking up help you to accept converging uprights as a perspective effect—the top of the subject is experienced as more distant than the base. On a two-dimensional photograph though, results can be interpreted as something with non-parallel sides, particularly when they are just slightly out of true. (The same problem occurs when you must record a painting fixed too high to allow a centered camera viewpoint, or have to shoot an interior showing more ceiling detail than floor, without the walls appearing to converge; Figure B.4.)

To use rising front for, say, a tall building assignment, choose the best viewpoint for perspective and subject inclusion, and position the camera with its back absolutely vertical (see Figure B.5). This is vital if vertical lines in the structure are to reproduce parallel. The top of the building will now be out of the picture and too much is included at the bottom. Focus the image, then raise the camera front or shift lens until the image of the top of the building moves onto the focusing screen. If in doing this you lose too much at the bottom of the scene, either move back (and accept slightly flatter perspective) or change to a wider-angle lens.

B.4 Extreme rising front used with a good wide-angle lens may not give "cut-off," but stretches recognizable shapes and details near the top part of the picture (farthest from the lens center). Results in this area are like an extreme wide-angle (see Figure 3.29). However, in cramped locations this may be unavoidable.

Overdone, any shift movement can produce two ill effects. These are "cut-off" (image darkening) and shape elongation; both are likely to show in that part of the picture you have just moved onto the screen. So, first, watch out for darkening toward the two corners here, and remember that cut-off has a much more obvious edge when the lens is stopped down. This kind of trouble occurs most often with the extensive shift movement offered by a view camera.

B.5 Shooting a subject well above camera height, when you cannot move back or change to a wider angle lens Tilting the camera results in converging vertical lines (left). But (right) camera movements allow you to keep the camera back vertical and raise the lens to include the top of the subject without convergence

Second, within the area shifted into your picture beware of subject shapes looking stretched and elongated. This is because they are well off the lens axis, so that light strikes the film more obliquely here. Disguise distortion by keeping such areas plain or free of recognizable elements, especially in the corners (see Figure B.5).

Using drop front

Effect. Shifting the lens downward, making the lens axis lower than the center of your picture, includes more at the bottom of your subject and less at the top.

Practical purpose. You can use a camera viewpoint looking slightly down, yet avoid vertical parallel lines in the subject appearing to converge downward. In architectural photography, for example, your only camera position may be high up, perhaps to avoid traffic obstructions. In the studio you may want to show something of the top surfaces of upright objects such as boxes and packs. In all cases, keep your camera back parallel to the vertical surface you do not want to taper, and then shift the lens downward to get the lower subject parts into your picture. There are the same risks of cut-off and image elongation as described with rising front, but this time they will appear in the lowest parts of the scene.

Using cross front

Effect. Shifting the lens left or right of center means that more is included on one side of the picture, and less on the other.

Practical purpose. Cross front allows you to shoot an apparently "square on" image of a subject from a slightly oblique viewpoint. For example, you may need a flat-on record photograph of a shop window, or an interior shot directly facing a mirror. Instead of setting up the camera opposite the center of the glass where its reflection will be seen, you can position it farther to the left, keeping its back parallel to the subject. Then you cross the front to your right so that the whole image of the window or mirror shifts sideways until it is center frame.

B.6 Using cross front for a square-on image, despite obstruction. Without movements, viewpoint (a) gives convergence, (b) is blocked, and (c), because you are forced to use an extreme wide-angle lens, gives distortion. In (d) the camera is next to the obstruction, back parallel to poster and movements neutral (e) is the same camera position as (d) but with the cross front shifted to the right. (For easier comparison all lens images are shown right way up.)

Similarly, when a pillar or other obstruction prevents a square-on view of some wall feature, you can set up the camera right next to the obstruction (Figure B.6), its back parallel to the subject. Then cross the front to move the feature into frame. (This often gives less distortion than the alternative—fitting the camera in between obstruction and subject and changing to a wider-angle lens.) If cross front is overdone, your image may show signs of cut-off and elongation along the side and corners of the frame farthest from the shifted lens axis.

Pivoting movements

Swing front means pivoting the lens so that it tilts upward or downward about a horizontal axis, or sideways about a vertical axis, both at right angles to the lens axis itself (Figure B.2). Front swings on view cameras are achieved by releasing a lock on the side of, or below, the lens standard, pivoting it several degrees, and then relocking. Some medium format SLR cameras, such as Hasselblad, allow you to replace the reflex body with a very flexible bellows system. This provides a full range of swings, but you must then compose and focus on a rear screen, like a view camera. One or two shift lenses for 35 mm SLRs also contain a pivoting mechanism. Using this in conjunction with its rotating mount, you can make the lens swing about a vertical or horizontal axis, or anywhere in between.

Practical purposes. Pivoting the lens has two effects. Firstly, it alters effective coverage because it moves the point where the lens axis meets the film format, and secondly it tilts the plane over which the subject is sharply imaged. The latter effect is explained as follows. A subject at right angles to the lens axis is normally sharply focused as an image on film also at right angles to the axis. This is typical, say, of copying a flat surface—subject plane, lens surfaces, and film are all parallel. However, it is not always possible or desirable for your subject, lens, and film planes to all be parallel; for example, when you are photographing a vast landscape, the scene you want to capture sharply in focus stretches far away from your camera's lens, rather than being parallel to it. In cases like these, one part of the scene will be brought into focus, but even with an especially small aperture it may be impossible to achieve a depth of field that covers the entire scene. When you swing the lens, it views the subject less obliquely, making the lens plane more parallel to the subject plane, so increasing the depth of field (Figure B.7).

Here are some examples of using front swing. Photographing a tall structure, you use rising front to avoid tilting the camera and making vertical lines appear to converge, However, there are darkening and other tell-tale signs of image cut-off in corners around the top of the subject. By unlocking the horizontal axis swing movement, you can pivot the lens to point upward very slightly. This makes the lens axis less off-center on the film; effective coverage is improved and cut-off miraculously disappears.

B.7 Photographing a document or perhaps a detail on the floor. Top: Even with the lens fully stopped down this obliquely angled subject is not sharp overall, (a) shows the result of using swing back alone. Since near parts of the subject come to focus farther from the lens, pivoting the film into the (more upright) plane of sharp focus increases depth of field but exaggerates shape, (b) is the result of using swing front alone. This slight horizontal pivoting of the lens gives a better compromise between subject and film planes. Depth of field improves without shape distortion. However, a lens with poor covering power will give "cut-off;" result (c).

However, your lens, in viewing the subject obliquely, sharply images it on a plane at an angle to the back of the camera. It is probably impossible now to render both the top and the bottom of your subject sharp at the same time; the best thing to do is focus for the center and stop down.

In another example, you have to photograph an expanse of mosaic floor extending into the distance. The camera views the floor obliquely, and even at smallest aperture there is insufficient depth of field. By pivoting the lens slightly downward about a horizontal axis, it views the floor less obliquely, giving a better compromise between planes of floor and film. This adjustment of swing front is critical, but you will find depth of field greatly improves across the floor surface.

This time the drawback is that your lens axis is now much higher than the center of the film. A lens with only adequate covering power may produce signs of cut-off around the corners of the picture where the farthest parts of the floor are imaged.

Although these examples feature swings about a horizontal axis, the same principles apply to vertical-axis swings. Their use in equivalent circumstances would be to improve coverage with extreme cross front, or to increase depth of field over an obliquely photographed vertical surface, such as a long wall.

Using swing back

Swing back means pivoting the back of the camera about a horizontal or vertical axis across the film surface, usually at right angles to the lens axis (Figure B.2). On a monorail view camera you achieve this movement by mechanically adjusting the back standard in the same way as you would alter the front standard for swing front. Baseboard view cameras offer much less swing back because of their box-like structure. Notice how swing back does not itself move the lens axis off the center of the picture format. Therefore the lens you use need not have exceptional covering power, unlike lenses used with shift or swing front movements.

Practical purpose. Pivoting the camera back swings the film into (or out of) the plane of sharp focus for a subject, and alters image shape. Once again, you can use this movement primarily for (b) and suffer (c), or the reverse. For example, you have to photograph, from one end, a long table laid out with cutlery and mats. The table must taper away into the distance, its oblique top surface sharp from front to back. Unfortunately there is insufficient depth of field for you to do this, even at smallest aperture. When you think about the problem (see Figure B.7), light from the closest part of the table actually comes to focus some way behind the lens, while light from the farthest part comes to focus nearer the lens. So by swinging the back of the camera until that part of the film recording near subjects becomes farther from the lens and the part recording far subjects becomes closer, you have angled the film into the plane of sharp focus. Depth of field is greatly extended—and may even be sufficient to shoot at a wider aperture.

The drawback is that the part of your image now recorded farther back from the lens is considerably larger than the image recorded near the lens. Front parts of the table will reproduce larger than they appear to the eye, and distant parts appear narrower. Perspective appears steeper, although only along the plane of the table, which may give it a noticeably elongated shape. (Sometimes of course you can choose just this kind of distortion for dynamic effect.)

Take another example. The new wing of a building must be shown obliquely, to taper away at one side to a feature at the far end. But it is surrounded by other buildings, and the only available viewpoint is opposite the center of the wing. From this square-on position it appears rectangular. However, you can set up the camera to include the whole wing, then swing the back about a vertical axis to bring the right-hand side of the film closer to the lens, and the left-hand side farther away. In this way, the image at the left end is made bigger and at the right end becomes smaller—the building appears tapered.

The drawback is that the camera back no longer corresponds with the plane of sharp focus for the building (which, because it is square on, is at right angles to the lens axis). Both ends will look unsharp; you must stop down fully and if necessary reduce the amount of swing to get the whole image in focus.

Combined use of movements

Combinations of movements are useful either to gain extra collective effect or to create a movement the camera itself does not directly offer. Most importantly, you can often produce the result you want and minimize problems by combining a little of each of two movements which have a common effect but different drawbacks.

B.8 The Scheimpflug correction, to maximize depth of field over a subject plane imaged obliquely. Note how the subject lens, and film planes all meet at one point. This uses some swing of both front and back minimizing the side effects of each movement (see Figure B.9). Note that when all three planes are parallel, as in the center position, the lines meet theoretically at infinity.

For instance, in tackling the challenge of photographing a long table laid out with cutlery and mats, you could create your extra depth of field by using a little of each of front and back swings. The back is swung (horizontal axis) just enough to start to improve depth of field, without noticeable shape distortion. Then the front is swung (horizontal axis) just enough to extend depth of field to the whole floor at your chosen aperture, without noticeable cut-off due to poor coverage. You will notice that in doing this the subject plane (the floor), the film plane (camera back), and the lens plane (glass surfaces) all point toward one imaginary point below the camera. The less front swing you set, the more back swing is needed, and vice versa. This meeting of planes, giving best compromise position of front and back to maximize depth of field over an oblique subject plane, is known as the Scheimpflug principle, as shown in Figure B.8. Remember it as a guide.

B.9 Camera movements used to improve depth of field. Left: No movements, fully stopped-down lens. Center: Swinging the back more vertical gives the depth of field needed, but distorts shape unacceptably. Right: Combined use of some front and back swings (Scheimpflug) achieves the overall sharpness needed, with minimum side effects

The great thing about camera movements is to understand and control them, but use them with restraint. Decide whether it is necessary to show the verticals in a building or studio still life as truly vertical, or whether a slight tapering will give a stronger impression of height, more striking composition, etc. Bear in mind too that several of the image shape changes previously achieved by camera movements can now be carried out later using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop or Capture One, although this almost always results in a slight crop of your image.

Appendix C: Expressing Film Response

Film response to light is often presented in manufacturers' technical data in graph and in table form. Both allow you to make comparisons between different products, show a film's performance under differing conditions, etc. It is therefore worth making yourself familiar with how certain technical information is expressed, and what this means in practice.

Response to color

A graph such as that in Figure C.1 (top) shows how a particular black and white film responds to the colors of the visual spectrum, on the final print. This film records deep blues and purples, and to a lesser extent reds, as lighter in tone than they appear to the eye. On the other hand, it responds to greens as if darker than the eye's impression. Where such differences are important, a green or yellow filter over the lens will bring them more into line.

The same pan film color response curve can be compared against film (or paper) which is only blue sensitive or orthochromatic (Figure C.1. center). The graph shows how shooting on a blue-sensitive emulsion would result in a print in which green, yellow, and red objects reproduce black or very dark and unnatural in tone. Ortho film responds better by encompassing green, but makes reds black (see Figure 10.13). This film can be handled safely under red lighting.

The three emulsions present together in the color film (Figure C.1, bottom) collectively respond to the whole spectrum. Where individual response "dips" in the greeny-blue and orange bands, this receives some correction by the fact that two emulsions overlap their sensitivity here. This slide film is a daylight-balanced type—had it been exposed/tested to an image lit by red-rich tungsten illumination instead, the blue-sensitive and green-sensitive curve would be lower than the red curve. After processing, the final picture would have a shortage of cyan dye. The dominant yellow and magenta combine to give the slide a reddish cast.

Response to length of exposure (“reciprocity failure”)

Exposure is a function of brightness multiplied by time. Giving a film or printing paper a long exposure time to a dim image should have the same effect as short exposure to a bright image. After all, this reciprocal relationship forms the whole basis of controlling exposure using aperture and shutter settings. However, the relationship breaks down when using very long exposures of 1 second or more or extremely short times such as 1/10,000 second or less. In these extreme exposure times the film behaves as if it is less sensitive and requires more exposure than metered or calculated. This reciprocity failure (RF) is mainly an issue in long exposures such as when shooting at night or in other dim lighting conditions. Since RF can also affect the various emulsion layers in color films by different amounts, a correction filter is sometimes needed for slide films. As Figure C.2 shows, it is best to allow for reciprocity failure by widening the lens aperture (intensity) if possible, rather than further extending time. Films launched in recent years suffer no reciprocity failure for the most commonly used shutter speeds, and manufacturers publish data for ISO adjustments when using times outside the normal range. Follow these when available and if you are bracketing exposures around what the TTL or hand meter reads as 1 second or over, then always give a series of longer rather than shorter exposures or adjust the aperture to give a faster corresponding shutter speed.

C.1 Top and center: Tonal reproduction of colors (final print) by panchromatic, ortho, and blue-sensitive black and white materials, relative to eye response All emulsions respond to ultraviolet down to about 250 nm—still shorter wavelengths are absorbed by the gelatin. Bottom: Relative response curves for the blue, green, and red color-sensitive emulsions used in typical daylight-balanced slide film. Only response above the broken line is significant. Y, M, and C stand for yellow, magenta, and cyan dye finally formed in each emulsion to give a full colored image.

Characteristic curves

C.2 Reciprocity failure. Typical exposure/filter compensation required.

C.3 Characteristic curves of various monochrome films

A characteristic curve is a performance graph showing how a particular film or paper responds to both exposure and processing. To produce the characteristic curve of a black and white film (Figure C.3) the material is first given a series of tightly controlled "light dosages." This is done in an instrument called a sensitometer, which exposes the emulsion to a series of light intensities a small patch at a time, giving the same short exposure for each. This is rather like exposing an image in the camera, except that: (i) it gives a much wider range of intensities than you are likely to find in any one actual scene, and (ii) the amount each separate patch or step differs in exposure from the preceding one is an exact regular factor, normally two.

C.4 Color film characteristic curves Left: A color negative film exposed to an image in light for which it is color balanced. (Emulsion responses to R, G, and B are plotted individually.) Center: If this film is used with light of reduced red content (color temperature too high), the red sensitive layer reacts as if relatively slow. Its curve has shifted right, which shows that the red density and contrast now differ between the image highlights and shadows. This may not be correctable in printing. Right: A color slide film, exposed to light of the correct color balance. Compared against lower contrast materials, such films allow much less exposure latitude.

The exposed sample film is next developed under strictly controlled conditions. The processed result is a series of tone patches, from clear film to something quite dark. The exact darkness of these results is measured with a densitometer instrument, which reads out the values as density figures. (Density is the log10 of opacity, which is incident light divided by light transmitted by the film. When half the incident light passes through the sample, opacity is 2.0 and the density reading is 0.3.)

The exposure to light can now be plotted against the resulting series of density readings. To prepare a characteristic curve graph, the vertical axis is scaled in density values and the horizontal axis is scaled in log exposure (or relative log exposure) values. The use of a log10 scale here is to avoid an otherwise unmanageably long range of figures; the axis also becomes compatible with the log10 sequence used for density. An increase of 0.3 on the log E axis means doubling of exposure.

The resulting graph for almost all photographic materials is not a straight line, but escalator-shaped.

Significance of curve shape. Most characteristic curves can be divided into three distinct regions: the toe, the straight-line portion, and the shoulder. Remember that both density and exposure axes cover a very wide range of conditions for maximum information. In practice most actual images you expose on film have a brightness range of around 100:1, which spans just 2.0 on the log E axis. This means that, like selecting a group of notes from a long piano keyboard, you have options. Slight under- or overexposure of most normal subjects can be tolerated as the tone range still fits onto the main part of the curve. If this "exposure latitude" is exceeded, however, parts of the image may stray into the toe or shoulder regions, where the line flattens out, resulting in lower contrast and a loss of detail.

In this way the characteristic curve shows the total performance of a film under given processing. And the part that relates to a particular shot depends on your image brightness range (a low contrast scene spans a much shorter length of the log E axis than one that is very contrasty), as well as whether you under-, over-, or correctly expose it.

The toe. The very bottom of the characteristic curve becomes a horizontal straight line. Here the film has received too little light to respond at all. The very slight density value present is due to the film base itself, plus normal fog density. As log E values increase, the graph begins to rise gently, meaning that density values are increasing too. However, the image tones are very compressed—shadow parts of the subject are still difficult to pick out (any density less than about 0.1 above fog usually prints indistinguishably from black). Look at Figure 5.36

Gradually, with more exposure, the upper region of the toe merges into the straight line. The actual length of the toe varies with different films—for example, it is longer with Tri-X than with Plus-X.

The straight line. In the straight-line part of the graph, image tones are still compressed as the material translates them into negative densities, but now the log exposure/density relationship is more constant: tones are compressed evenly. You might assume from this that getting your image to fall entirely on the straight-line portion would be the most "correct" exposure. But to maximize film speed, and to avoid image highlights becoming so dense that sharpness suffers and graininess is increased, "correct exposure" is regarded as using the upper part of the toe plus only as much as is necessary of the lower part of the straight line (see Figure 5.36). Printing paper characteristics are designed to suit negatives exposed in this way, and reproduce midtones to shadows with contrast slightly greater than midtones to highlights.

The steepness of the film's straight-line portion also shows you what contrast to expect. The extremely steep line shown for lith film (Figure C.3) indicates that the particular combination of emulsion and development gives a much more contrasty negative (for the same brightness-range image) than material with a lower pitched slope, such as Plus-X.

The shoulder. At the top of the characteristic curve the graph begins to flatten out again. Increasing exposure now gives less and less increase in density. The material is approaching its maximum black under these development conditions.

With most usable exposures the shoulder is never reached because of the poor image quality produced, as mentioned above. The shoulder of the curve is often not included in data published for general-purpose films as manufacturers assume exposures in this area as outside the useful range of the material.

Theory into practice. Exposure meters are so calibrated that a single overall (or center-weighted) reading, which is assumed equivalent to a mid-gray in the scene, is "placed" on the average film's characteristic curve at about the lowest part of the straight-line portion. Given an "average" 100:1 range camera image, this means that shadows will fall on the toe, but not beyond the lowest useful part. Highlights fall further up the straight-line portion, but nowhere near the definition-destroying upper part or shoulder. You can see from this that a lot of assumptions have to be made.

For tighter control it is better to use a spot or local reading, provided you know what you are doing. This way you can choose your own midtone in the scene to place on the curve.

By taking two spot readings—darkest important shadow, brightest important highlight—you measure your image contrast range. If this greatly exceeds the "average," it will also remind you that for better results you can slightly overexpose and underdevelop. The development change will reduce the slope of the whole characteristic curve and so avoid an excessively contrasty negative. The reverse is true if your two camera readings show the image is much flatter than average (see Figure 10.43). Of course, this kind of adjustment is more difficult if you have a whole mixture of subjects exposed on one film. A magazine-type camera back is then especially useful for critical work; you can expose all your most contrasty subjects on the same film, earmarking this for reduced development. Sheet films can of course be given individual processing to suit each negative.

Appendix D: Chemical Formulae

Most proprietary forms of developer (Xtol, T-Max, etc.) do not have published formulae. They are only sold as ready-mixed concentrated solutions or occasionally as powders. However, the table below gives some well-established developers you can prepare yourself at relatively low cost from their constituent chemicals († = handle with special care).

Substitutions

Chemical | When formula quotes weight for | And the only available form is | Multiply weight by
Sodium carbonate | Anhydrous or desiccated | Monohydrate or H₂O | 1.2
Sodium carbonate | Anhydrous or desiccated | Crystalline or decahydrate (10H₂O) | 2.7
Sodium sulfite | Anhydrous or desiccated | Crystalline/heptahydrate (7H₂O) | 2
Sodium thiosulfate | Crystalline/ pentahydrate | Anhydrous/desiccated | 0.6
Sodium thiosulfate | Anhydrous/desiccated (5H₂O) | Crystalline/ pentahydrate | 1.7
Borax | Crystalline/decahydrate (10H₂O) | 5H₂O | 0.8

Developers (all weights of solids in grams)

Sulfide toner T-7a (sepia)

Bleacher working solution (reusable):

Water
700 ml

Potassium ferricyanide
30 g

Potassium bromide
10 g

Sodium carbonate
16 g

Water to
1 liter

Toner stock solution:

Water
300 ml

Sodium sulfide anhyd
50 g

Water to
500 ml

Dilute stock 1 + 9 parts water for use

Fully bleach the black image to pale straw color (about 5 minutes).

Then rinse 1 minute, and tone for 4–5 minutes. Finally wash thoroughly
separately from other prints.

Negative intensifier: chromium IN-4

Bleacher stock solution:

Water
500 ml

†Potassium dichromate
90 g

†Hydrochloric acid (cone)
64 ml

Water to
1 liter

Use 1 + 10 parts water

Film, which should be hardened, is bleached until yellow-buff right
through, washed 5 minutes, then darkened in a regular print developer. Rinse,
fix, and finally wash 5 minutes. Can be repeated for greater effect.

Residual fixer test HT-2

Water
350 ml

†Acetic acid (80% sol)
22 ml

†Silver nitrate cryst
3.75 g

Water to
500 ml

Store solution away from light, in a labeled brown screw-top bottle. To test
a washed print or film, cut off a small strip of rebate and wipe off surface
water. Place a drop of HT-2 on the emulsion surface and allow it to stand for
2–3 minutes. Rinse off. There should be little or no staining. Prints can be
compared against a Kodak hypo estimator color chart.

Fixers

F-24 Non-
hardening*
F-5
Hardening
acid fix
F-7 Rapid
hardening
acid fix‡

Water (at about 50°C)
600 ml
600 ml
600 ml

Sod thiosulfate (hypo) cryst
240 g
240 g
360 g

Ammonium chloride

50 g

Sod sulfite anhyd
10 g
15 g
15 g

Sod metabisulfite
25 g

†Acetic acid (80% sol)

17 ml
17 ml

Boric acid cryst

7.5 g
7.5 g

Pot alum

15 g

Water up to
1 liter
1 liter
1 liter

*As required when selenium toning, etc.

‡(Prolonged fixing time may bleach image.

Stop baths

SB-5 (for films)
SB-1 (for paper)

Water
500 ml
750 ml

†Acetic acid (80%)
11 ml
17 ml

or †Acetic acid (glacial)
9 ml
13.5 ml

Sod sulfite anhyd
45 g

Water up to
1 liter
1 liter

Treat for
30 seconds
5-10 seconds

Some bromocresol purple can be added to SB-1 to form an indicator stop
bath. The solution then appears yellow when fresh, turns orange in use, and
becomes purple when the stop bath is exhausted and must be replaced.

Beers print developer: proportions and contrast

Iodine IR-4 (recommended for locally bleaching out the print image completely, leaving white paper)

Warm water
750 ml

Potassium iodide
16 g

†Iodine
4 g

Water up to
1 liter

Keeps well For bleach-out, apply neat with brush or cotton wool to the damp
(blotted) print. Finally rinse and treat in a small quantity of regular print fixing
bath (5–10 minutes) to completely remove deep brown stain. Discard this
fixer. Wash fully

Bleachers

Farmer's reducer R-4a

Sol A
Water
250 ml

Potassium ferricyanide
37.5 g

Water up to
500 ml

Sol B
Warm water
1 liter

Sodium thiosulfate cryst
480 g

Water up to
2 liters

Mix one part A, plus 8 parts B, and 50 parts water, just before use. For faster
reduction of density, double the quantity of solution A.

Gold toner GP-I (blue-black or red). For red tones, sepia-tone the print first.

Water | 700 ml
Gold chloride. 1% stock solution* | 10 ml
Sodium thiocyanate | 10 g
Water up to | 1 liter
Make up just before use. Treat for 10 minutes, then wash 10 minutes.
*1 g of sodium chloro-aurate in 100 ml water.

Blue toner IT-6

Sol A
Water
700 ml

†Sulfuric acid (cone)
4 ml

Potassium ferricyanide cryst
2 g

Water up to
1 liter

SolB
Water
700 ml

†Sulfuric acid (cone)
4 ml

Ferric ammonium citrate
2 g

Water up to
1 liter

Use one part A plus one part B. This toner has an intensifying action, so start
with a pale black and white print. Immerse prints until the required tone is
reached, and then wash gently until the whites no longer have a yellow stain.
Over-washing begins to bleach the blue—this is reduced by adding salt to the
wash water.

Conversions: metric, UK, and US units

Use the information below in conjunction with a pocket calculator.

To convert length and area

Millimeters to inches
Multiply by 0.039

Meters to feet
Multiply by 3.28

Inches to millimeters
Multiply by 25.4

Feet to meters
Multiply by 0.305

Sq centimeters to sq inches
Multiply by 0.155

Sq inches to sq centimeters
Multiply by 645

To convert volume and weight

Milliliters to UK fl oz
Multiply by 0.035

Milliliters to US fl oz
Multiply by 0.034

UK fl oz to milliliters
Multiply by 28.4

US fl oz to milliliters
Multiply by 29.6

US fl oz to UK fl oz
Multiply by 1.04

Liters to UK fl oz
Multiply by 35

Liters to UK gallons
Multiply by 0.22

Liters to US gallons
Multiply by 0.264

UK gallons to liters
Multiply by 4.55

US gallons to liters
Multiply by 3.79

US gallons to UK gallons
Multiply by 0.833

Grams to ounces
Multiply by 0.035

Ounces to grams
Multiply by 28.35

Kilograms to pounds
Multiply by 2.20

Pounds to kilograms
Multiply by 0.454

To convert temperature

°Celsius into °Fahrenheit
Multiply by 1.8 then
add 32

°Fahrenheit into °Celsius
Subtract 32 then
multiply by 0.56

Other chemicals in this appendix have a long history but are still listed because they remain of practical value, although some are difficult to track down in a ready-prepared form. The component chemicals you need are stocked by a few specialist suppliers (such as Silverprint or Creative Monochrome in the UK). Chemicals marked † should be handled with special care. Be sure to read over the appropriate advice in Appendix E before you begin.

Preparing solutions from bulk chemicals. First weigh out all the dry chemicals listed in your formula, using clean paper on the scales for each one. The quantities shown in the formulae above are in metric units (for conversion, see above) and relate to the dry chemical in anhydrous or crystalline form.

Start with about three-quarters of the final volume of water, and fairly hot (typically 50°C). Tap water is satisfactory unless distilled water is specified. Always dissolve chemicals one at a time and in the order given. Tip powder gradually into the water, stirring continuously. Wait until as much as possible has been dissolved into solution before starting to add the next chemical. Measure and pour in liquid chemicals in the same way, taking special care over strong acids; see notes on safety. Finally, add cold water to make up the full amount and if possible leave the solution some hours to further dissolve and cool to room temperature. If your formula contains metol and sodium sulfite, it is best to dissolve a pinch of weighed-out sulfite first—to help prevent the metol oxidizing (turning yellowish brown) during mixing. Then dissolve the remaining sodium sulfite after the metol, as listed in the formula.

Alternative forms of chemical. Many photographic chemicals come in anhydrous form (also known as "desiccated"). Weight for weight this is much more concentrated than the same chemical in crystalline form. A few chemicals are marketed in "monohydrate" (H₂O) form, which in terms of concentration falls between the other two. When a formula quotes the weight for one form of the chemical and you can only obtain it in another, make adjustments by the amounts shown in the Substitutions table.

Appendix E: Health and Safety Concerns

Preparation and use of chemicals. Most common chemicals used in photography are no more dangerous to handle than the compounds—cleaners, insect repellents, adhesives—used every day around the home. However, several of the more special-purpose photographic solutions, such as bleachers, toners, and intensifies, do contain acids or irritant chemicals which must be handled with care. (These are listed in Figure 10.28 and also picked out in the formulae given in Appendix D.)

Your response to direct contact with chemicals may vary from finger staining to direct irritation such as inflammation and itching of the hand or eyes, or a skin burning or general allergic reaction which may not appear until several days later. A small minority of photographers are particularly sensitive to chemicals present in developers. Metol, also known as Rhodol or Elon, can be troublesome to such people. Changing to a developer of different makeup, such as those containing phenidone instead of metol (i.e., PQ developers), may solve the problem.

The following guidelines apply to all photographic chemical processes:

Avoid direct skin contact with all chemicals, especially liquid concentrates or dry powders. Do this by wearing thin rubber or plastic gloves, and using print tongs when lifting or manipulating prints during processes in trays (p. 419).

Avoid breathing in chemical dust or fumes. When weighing or dissolving dry powders, work in a well-ventilated (but not draughty) area. Don't lean over what you are doing, and if possible wear a simple respiratory mask (the disposable types sold in DIY stores are ideal).

Be careful about your eyes. When mixing up chemicals, wear eyeshields, preferably the kind you can wear over existing spectacles. (Remember not to rub an eye with a chemically contaminated gloved hand during processing.) if you do splash or rub an irritant into your eye, wash it with plenty of warm water immediately—it is always good practice to have a bottle of eye-wash somewhere close to where you are working.

Keep things clean. Liquid chemical splashes left to dry out turn into powder which you can breathe in or get on your hands or clothes, and may also damage films and equipment. Similarly, don't leave rejected test prints, saturated in chemical, to dry out in an open

waste container close to where you are working. To prevent chemicals getting on your clothes, wear a PVC or disposable polythene-type apron.

Labels are important. Carefully read the warnings and procedure the chemical manufacturer has printed on the label or packaging, especially if you have not previously used this product. Clearly label the storage containers for chemicals and stock solutions you have made up yourself. Never, ever, leave photographic chemicals in a bottle or container still carrying a food or drink label. Conversely, don't put food in empty chemical containers.

Keep chemicals and food and drink well separated. Even when properly labeled, keep all your chemicals well out of the reach of children—and never store them in or near the larder. Avoid eating in the darkroom or processing in the kitchen or wherever food is prepared.

Chemical procedure. Where a formula contains an acid which you must dilute from a concentrated stock solution, always slowly add the acid to the water (adding water to acid may cause splattering). Don't tip one tray of chemical solution into another of a different kind, for example when clearing up—cross-reaction can produce toxic fumes.

Dispose of used chemicals safely. Most photographic chemicals can safely be poured down the sink as they can be dealt with by ordinary water treatment works if flushed away with plenty of water. However, read manufacturers' warnings and store especially dangerous chemicals safely until they can be disposed of by specialists if need be. If in doubt, consult your local authority.

Spray adhesives. These are particularly hazardous if inhaled. Take special care to ensure ample ventilation when working with aerosol sprays of this kind. Their contents could cause nerve damage if you subject yourself to prolonged exposure in a confined space when mounting prints this way.

Electrical hazards

Many of the safety precautions you need to take are also common to domestic and simple workshop situations. For example:

Circuit protection. Make sure that all your items of equipment—enlarger, lamps, heaters—are effectively grounded ("earthed") via appropriate cables. Plugs should contain fuses which are appropriate to the equipment they serve. This is more than a question of not drawing more power than the fuse will handle (p. 225). A 13 amp fuse, for instance, is quite suitable for equipment drawing 10 amps, but used with something taking only 4 amps it means that you are under protected—before this fuse blows, the cabling could heat up considerably. A circuit-breaker at the mains fuse box is a good protective measure for the whole system. When lighting subjects at locations you have not used before, check that the circuit is sufficiently powerful and in good condition to supply your gear. (To light a large area it may be best to hire a generator.)

Cables. Check all your equipment cables regularly for signs of cracked or worn insulation, or loose connections. Don't roll lighting stands over cables on the floor.

Never pull out a plug by means of tugging on its cable. Don't power a lighting unit through a long cable still coiled on a drum—the current can heat the coiled-up cable until it melts or starts smoldering. Make sure your main cable is of a suitable gauge to carry all the power you need and will not heat up due to overloading, especially when it feeds several pieces of equipment through adaptors or splitter boxes. Avoid cable runs which come into contact with moisture (condensation as well as water) unless fully protected in a waterproof sheath. Damp grass, wet bench areas of darkrooms, bathrooms, and saunas are all hazardous.

Flash. Studio equipment and even small battery powered flash units should not be opened to make your own repairs—residual charge held in internal power-storage components may give you a severe or even fatal electric shock.

Appendix F: Digital Notebook

When you are first learning to use digital editing software, it is extremely useful to compile your own notes. These can be simple reminders of the sequence of steps you have discovered you have to take to achieve a particular image change. After all, if you are forgetful and make one wrong selection, this often breaks the whole chain and brings you to a frustrating halt. On the other hand, image editing may often be achieved by more than one command route; as you progress, you will discover which seems the fastest or easiest to remember, and, most importantly, which one gives you the best end-result.

The listings below are practical notes on command sequences for ten different image changes, in a choice of two photo manipulation programs. Bear in mind that programs are reissued in revised editions at frequent intervals, so some of these sequences may now differ in the current software. They appear here simply to show how you might set out your own quick check notebook.

Image adjustment
Adobe Photoshop (includes all versions of Photoshop)
PaintShop Pro

Zoom image magnification
on screen
Click on the Zoom tool (the Magnifier icon in the tool bar) or press
Z to select the Zoom tool. To zoom in, simply click on the image
with the Zoom tool selected. To then zoom out, you can click on the
image (still with the Zoom tool selected) while holding down the
ALT/OPTION key. Alternatively, hold the CTRL key and use the +
or - keys to zoom in and out at speed.
Select the Zoom tool in the toolbar. Click on the image to zoom
in. You can also manually enter the amount of zoom you want. To
zoom out, click on the Zoom Out icon and click on the image. If you
want to zoom in to a particular object in your picture, click and drag
a square around the object.

Overall brightness, and
contrast
Click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol at the
bottom of the Layers panel. Select curves. Click on the middle point
of the curves line and drag up to brighten and down to darken.
Click on the curves line, placing three equally spaced "points" on the
line. Drag these points up and down to form a subtle S-shape to
increase contrast.
The interface is different from that of Photoshop but the method
is the same.

Selectively shading or
brightening small areas
Select the Dodge and Burn tool (O). Adjust the size of your brush
by right-clicking on a PC or control clicking on a Mac: set the size of
your brush and the hardness. Keep the exposure setting below 5%
for greater control. The Dodge tool will brighten areas; the Burn tool
will darken areas.
Select the Lighten/Darken brush. At the top you are given a whole
range of menu options that allow you to adjust the "lighten" or
"darken" action carefully.

Removing dust, blemishes,
and scratches
Select the Clone Stamp tool (S). Adjust the size and the hardness
of your brush. Zoom in for a close-up view of the area you want to
repair. Look around for a good source area and sample it by holding
down the ALT/OPTION key and clicking on the area to sample it.
Next, click on the damaged area to clone the sampled area over the
top. The Healing brush (J) is a variation of the Clone tool, but blends
the original and sampled areas together. The Spot Healing tool (J)
automatically finds an area from the image to sample for you, so
provides an especially fast method of fixing image blemishes.
Select the Clone brush. Right-click on your mouse to sample your
source area and click on top of the damaged bit.

Straightening a horizon
Select the Crop tool (C). If you click outside of the radius of the
crop, you can click and drag to rotate the image. Alternatively after
selecting the Crop tool, in the crop options at the top of the screen
select the Straighten option. Drag the line across a horizon or any
line (horizontal or vertical) that you want to be made straight.
Release the tool and Photoshop will rotate the image accordingly.
Open your image via File > Open. Use the Straighten tool to drag a
line along the line you want to level. When you have done so, click
the green Apply button on the top menu bar. Use the Crop tool to
crop away unwanted elements.

Overall color balance
correction
Click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol at the
bottom of the Layers panel. Select curves. Select Color Balance.
Adjust the three colored sliders first for the midtones, then the
highlights, and finally the shadows.
Adjust > Color > Red/Green/Blue.

Sharpening
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Apply this just before you print or
export your file. Zoom in to view your image at 100% and carefully
adjust the sliders until you come to a satisfactory result. As a
general rule, keep the amount between 50 and 100, radius below 1,
and threshold at 1.
Adjust > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

Changing from color to
monochrome
Click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer symbol at the
bottom of the Layers panel. Select Black and White. You can then
adjust the different color sliders to manipulate the contrast of your
image.
Image > Grayscale Image > Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer
(tick the monochrome button) Image > Adjustment Layer > Hue/
Saturation/Lightness and desaturate the image.

Saving for Web or email
Go to File > Save for Web. Select JPEG, Very High Quality, Embed
Color Profile, Convert to sRGB, and choose how many pixels high
and wide you want your image to be. Click Save.
Open your image, File > Open. Go Image > Resize (control + x). Tick
the box at the bottom labeled Resample Using Smart Size. Change
the resolution to 72 dpi and click OK. Go File > Export > JPEG
Optimizer. Set the compression value to between 60 and 80.

In some programs "Help" information refers to the key marked CTRL on many keyboards as "Command"; also ALT is referred to as the "Option" key

Appendix G: Photography Timeline

Image Technologies and Processes
Photography and Art
Culture and Current Affairs

Circa (c.)
400 BC
Chinese and Greek philosophers describe
the basic principles of optics and the camera
obscura
Ancient Greek art and architecture
(c. 1000 BC –1 AD)
Beginning of Greek philosophy; Socrates teaches ethics
and a method of philosophical inquiry based on discourse;
Plato develops Socrates' work and Plato's pupil Aristotle
establishes an empirical approach to science

c. 1–500 AD

Roman art
Roman Empire

c. 700
Wood block printing in China
Byzantine art (c. 300–c.1400 AD)
Moors conquer Spain (711)

c. 1000
Paper first manufactured in Europe
Principle of the camera obscura described in
detail
Romanesque art (800–1100 AD),
Bayeux Tapestry
Norman conquest of Britain (1066)
Crusades begin in Europe (1096)

c. 1250

Gothic art

c. 1325–50
Beginnings of linear perspective system for
representing figures and space in pictures
Giotto and others pioneer
perspective pictures
The Renaissance begins in Italy
Black Death in Europe

c. 1370
Woodblock printing of pictures in Europe

Chaucer active: the start of English Literature

c. 1410
Brunelleschi demonstrates linear perspective

c. 1430
Tempera paint, used since ancient times,
gradually replaced by oil paint
Van Eyck pioneers the use of oil paint

c. 1460
Drypoint engraving invented in Germany

Johannes Gutenberg invents a printing press with movable
type–printed books start to become widespread

c. 1500
Canvas first used to paint on
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,
Raphael, and Dürer all active
Moors driven out of Spain
Columbus reaches the Americas
Vasco da Gama sails around Africa and discovers a sea
route to India
Magellan's expedition circumnavigates the globe

c. 1520
Etching invented

Martin Luther begins the Protestant Reformation

c. 1550
First published reference to camera obscura
with a lens
Titian and Bruegel active
Art dealing in its modern form begins
Counter-Reformation

c. 1600

Caravaggio makes first pictures with
"photographic" detail and lighting
Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velazquez
ail active
Galileo pioneers the use of telescopes in astronomy, and
Kepler describes how the planets orbit the sun
Shakespeare active

c. 1650
Vermeer and other Dutch artists experiment
with camera obscuras to aid painting

The Enlightenment or Age of Reason begins—
philosophical, scientific, and rational attitudes spread in
Europe

1666
Newton describes how light is made up of
different colors

c. 1700

Hogarth active
First steam engine produced (1712), improved by Watt in
1765
Industrial Revolution begins

1727
Schulze describes light sensitivity of silver salts

c. 1780
Camera obscura use for drawing becomes
widespread

Steam engines in use
Mozart active
American independence (1783)

1789

French Revolution

c. 1800
Thomas Wedgwood and Humphry Davy make
photograms on sensitized leather, but cannot
"fix" them (Britain)
Goya, Ingres, and Turner active
"Modernity" begins: industrialization and urbanization
accelerate
Britain and USA abolish the slave trade
First electric light invented by Davy (1809)

c. 1820

Dioramas and Panoramas popular
Faraday explains electromagnetism
Beethoven active
Brazil declares independence (1822)

c. 1826
J.N. Niepce produces first photograph from
nature (France)

Height of Romantic movement in Europe

1829

Beginning of rail travel
First typewriters

c. 1830
Stereoscopes invented

Charles Babbage invents Analytical Engine"—a mechanical
calculator and the precursor to computers

1835
WH.F. Talbot produces first negative photograph

1839
Official invention of photography—Louis
Daguerres photographic process publicly
announced (France)
Talbot then announces his negative–positive
process (Britain)

1840
Petzval portrait lens manufactured (Germany)
Wolcott patents mirror portrait camera (USA)
Decline in painted miniatures as
photography begins to spread

1841
Talbot patents Calotype process (Britain)
Beard opens first European portrait
studio (Britain)

1843

Hill and Adamson collaborate to
produce Calotype portraits

1844

Talbot publishes The Pencil of Nature
(Britain)

1846
Carl Zeiss optical factory opens in Jena
(Germany)

1847
Albumen on glass negatives introduced (France)

1848

First use of photographs by police
departments
Paris revolution; new republic proclaimed in France

1850
Albumen on paper for prints introduced
(France)

1851
Archer suggests collodion process (Britain)
First albumen photo-print factory (France)
Great Exhibition (Britain) includes
photography
Isaac Singer invents a sewing machine

1853

Photographic Society founded
(London): RPS from 1894 onward
(Britain)

1854
Ambrotype version of collodion process (Britain)
Disderi introduces the carte-de-visite
(France)
Crimean War (1854–6)

1855

Fenton photographs Crimean War

1856
Smith patents tintypes (USA)

1857

Rejlanders The Two Ways of Life
exhibited (Britain)

1859

Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection

1860
Tintypes (ferrotypes) introduced
Frith photographs in Egypt and
Jerusalem
Boom in stereo-photographs, sold in
most stores

c. 1860

Manet produces first "Modern Art"

1861
Maxwell demonstrates three-color theory
(Britain)
Brady and his photographers (inc.
O'Sullivan) begin photographing US
Civil War
American Civil War (1861–5)

1864
Carbon transfer process introduced
Cameron begins portraits of famous
men (Britain)

1866
Woodburytype reproduction process invented
Carte-de-visite craze comes to an
end
First transatlantic telegraph cable is laid
Germany unified (1866–71)

1867

Watkins and O'Sullivans photographs
on US geological surveys
Marx publishes first volume of Das Kapital

1869

HP Robinson's book Pictorial Effects
in Photography published

1871
Maddox suggests gelatin emulsion (Britain)

1873
Gelatin-bromide paper
Vogel discovers ortho sensitization (Germany)
W.H. Jackson photographs Western
territories (USA)
First use of electricity to drive machinery (USA)

1874

Impressionism, the first Modern Art
movement, begins in France

1876
First manufactured dry plate (Britain)

A.G. Bell patents the electric telephone (USA)

1877
First electric light studio (Britain)
Thomson's pictures of London street
life published

1878
Platinum printing paper introduced
Muybridge experiments with
photography of animal locomotion
(USA)

c. 1880–5

First refrigerated cargo ships
Storage battery invented
Internal combustion engine invented by Daimler (Germany)
First petrol-driven car developed by Benz (Germany)

1882
First ortho sens, dry plates manufactured
(Britain)
First commercially produced halftone blocks
Marey's locomotion photo-
experiments 1882–96 (France)

1883
Large-scale production of bromide paper begins

1884
George Eastman patents paper-strip film (USA)

1887

Muybridge's locomotion pictures
(11 vols) published (USA)

1888
Kodak produces the first cameras with rollfilm
and processing service (USA)
Rns' photos of NY slums first
published (USA)
Eiffel tower completed (France)

1889
Eastman patent application for transparent
rollfilm
Emerson's Naturalistic Photography
published (Britain)

1890
Hurter and Driffield set down H-D emulsion
speeds (Britain)
Riis How the Other Half Lives
published (USA)

c. 1890
Halftone printing, offset lithography, color
printing, and using photographs to make printing
plates all begin

First electric tram (Italy)

1891

Vienna camera club founded
Growth of Art Nouveau (W. Morris,
Britain)

1892
Edison perfects movie equipment (USA)

Ellis Island immigrant receiving station opens (USA)

1894
Gum bichromate process developed for
"pictorial" use

c. 1895
Lumiere movie equipment demonstrated and
first public showing of a motion picture (France)
Roentgen discovers X-rays, radiography
(Germany)

Marconi builds the first radio transmitter

1897
Kodak folding pocket rollfilm camera (USA)
Stieglitz edits Camera Notes (USA)

1898

Atget establishes his photographic
practice in Paris

1900
Kodak "Brownie" $1 box camera (USA)
New American Photography
exhibition at RPS
Halftone photos printed on some
newspaper power presses (USA)
Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams

1902
Zeiss Tessar f/3.5 lens designed (Germany)
Photo-Secession founded
First issue of Camera Work (USA)

1903
First panchromatic (Perutz) plates (Germany)

Wright brothers invent the first powered airplane

1904

Newspapers with halftone printed
photographs
Panama Canal opened

1905

291 Gallery opens, New York
Einstein proposes his Theory of Relativity

1906
Panchromatic plates introduced in Britain

San Francisco earthquake

1907
Autochrome color plates introduced (France)
Futurist movement (c. 1907–14)

1908
First Soho Reflex SLR plate camera (Britain)
Hine begins child labour
documentary using photography
(USA)
Picasso and Braque pioneer Cubism
Mass production begins in earnest with first Model T Ford
car (USA)

1909
Cellulose acetate "safety" film base replaces
flammable cellulose nitrate (USA)

Modern music: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

1912
Motorized movie cameras invented
Compur bladed shutter invented (Germany)

Titanic sinks

1913
First Speed Graphic Press camera (USA)
Duchamp exhibits first "Readymade"
art
Armory exhibition of modern art,
New York

1914
Oscar Barnack develops a camera using the 24
x 36 mm frame and sprocketed 35 mm movie
film, the "Ur-Leica"

World War I (1914–18)

1915
Aerial plate cameras developed
Growth of Modernist photography
ideas
Dada Movement begins

1917
Platinum paper discontinued
Coburn "Vortographs" (Britain)
Final issue of Camera Work
291 Gallery closes
Russian Revolution

1919
Tri-color Carbro process developed (Britain)
Bauhaus design school founded
(Germany)

1921

Man Ray Moholy Nagy; photogram
experiments
First robot built
Regular "wireless' programs broadcast (USA)

1922

Surrealist paintings from about this
date
First feature-length all-Technicolor (two strip)
Hollywood film, The Toll of the Sea, released

1923

Edward Steichen appointed chief
photographer of Vogue

1924
Leitz manufacture first Leica camera (Germany)

1925
Ermanox camera f/1.8 lens manufactured
(Germany)

First TV built

1927
Sound movies now universal
Capstaff formulates D-76 developer

"Picture palaces" built everywhere to show movies

1928
First RolleiiTex TLR rollfilm camera (Germany)
Salomon begins political candids
(Germany)
Renger-Patzschs The World Is
Beautiful published (Germany)
Picture magazine Berliner lllustrierte Zeitung published
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1929
Flashbulbs introduced (Germany)
Film and Foto exhibition (Germany)
August Sander publishes Face of Our
Time (Germany)
New York stock-market crash, start of worldwide depression
Soviet agriculture collectivized

1930
First color print service (professionals only)
established in USA

Jet engines invented

1931
First photo-electric meter (USA)
Dr Harold Edgerton invents high
speed stroboscopic photography
Group//64 formed by Adams,
Weston, Cunningham, and others
(USA)

1932
8 mm amateur movie film and equipment
(USA)
First Technicolor film shot using three-strip
camera (USA)

1933
First panchromatic rollfilms (USA)
Heartfield, photomontagist, flees Nazi
Germany
Bauhaus (Berlin) closed
Nazis come to power in Germany
Roosevelts New Deal social reform program (USA)

1935
Dufaycolor rollfilm introduced (France)
FSA photo project launched (USA)

1936
Kodachrome 35 mm films introduced (USA)
Dufaycolor rollfilm and sheet film available (UK)
Photo League of NY still
photographers formed
First issue of Life magazine

1937
First 35 mm SLR camera—Exakta (Germany)
Edward Weston receives first
Guggenheim Award given to a
photographer
New Bauhaus opens, Chicago
Photocopier invented

1938
First camera with built-in meter, for rollfilm
(USA)
Walker Evans publishes American
Photographs
First issue of Picture Post (Britain) and Paris Match

1939
Edgerton develops first electronic flash (USA)
German lenses and cameras, and Agfa
materials, cut off by war

Second World War (1939–45)

1940

Photo section of Museum of Modern
Art (MoMA) opens (USA)

1941

Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane released

1942
Agfa neg/pos color film and paper (Germany)
Kodacolor rollfilm color negative and printing
service (USA)
Irving Penn begins photography
while art directing for New York
Vogue

1945
Dye-transfer color print assembly process (USA)
introduced—less complex alternative to carbon

Atomic bomb invented and used

1946
Ektachrome sheet film, processable by the
photographer (USA)
Abstract Expressionist painting
begins

1947
Polaroid Instant (B&W) film and cameras (USA)
Magnum photo cooperative formed
by Cartier-Bresson and others
Cinema-going reaches its peak
India and Pakistan become independent

1948
First model, Hasselblad rollfilm SLR

Establishment of the state of Israel
First Arab–Israeli war

1949
Contax S, first pentaprism finder 35 mm SLR
(Germany)

Establishment of the People's Republic of China, after
communist victory in civil war
George Orwell publishes 1984
George Eastmans House opens as museum (USA)

1951

Photo League ceases (USA)
Popular growth of B&W TV begins

1952

Pop Art begins
The Decisive Moment by H. Cartier
Bresson published
First issue of Aperture magazine,
New York
First pocket size transistor radios (Japan)

1955
Hasselblad 500C model
Family of Man exhibition opens,
New York
Berlin Wall built

1957
First Japanese precision 35 mm SLR (Nikon F)
generally available

Last issue of Picture Post
America passes first Civil Rights Bill
European Economic Community established

1958
Kodacolor available in 35 mm
Fujicolor photo materials introduced
Robert Franks book The Americans
first published
Alfred Hitchcocks film Vertigo released

1962
Growth of studio electronic flash
Andy Warhol produces his first
silkscreen paintings
Sunday Times publishes first British newspaper color
supplement

1963
Polaroid Instant pictures in color (USA)
Kodak launch 126 (Instamatic) cameras and
color film

Color TV spreads
President Kennedy assassinated
First successful Beatles record

1964
Expanded range of new optics—"fish eye"
lenses, etc.

US involvement in war in Vietnam begins
Race riots in major US cities

1965

Conceptual Art begins

1969
Offset lit ho gives improved printed page
reproduction of color
First charge-coupled device (CCD) invented
(USA)
Wit kin Gallery exclusively
photography opens in New York
First photographs taken on moon,
using Hasselblads
250,000 demonstrators march in Washington to oppose
the Vietnam War

1970

Bernd and Hilla Becher publish
Anonymous Sculpture: A Typology
of Technical Buildings
US feminists parade—fiftieth year of women's voting rights
The Female Eunuch by G. Greer published (UK)

1971

Opening of the Photographers'
Gallery, London

1972
Polaroid SX-70 one-step color print system
introduced (USA)
Kodak launch 110 format cameras and films
Stephen Shore publishes American
Surfaces
Life magazine ceases publication

1973
C-41 processing replaces C-22 for color negs

Ceasefire in Vietnam

1974

International Center of Photography
opens in New York
Resignation of US President Nixon following Watergate
scandal

1975
Steve Sasson working at Kodak creates the first
digital camera; it takes 0.1 million pixel black and
white images and weighs 3.6 kg
New Topographies exhibition, George
Eastman House, New York
"Postmodern" art begins around
this time
Steven Spielberg's Jaws begins the era of the Hollywood
blockbuster

1976
First SLR with TTL flash metering—Olympus
OM-2
Inkjet printer invented
William Eggleston becomes the first
person to exhibit color photographs
at MoMA, New York

1977
Majority of Brits now shoot more color than
B&W photos
Susan Sontag publishes On
Photography
Cindy Sherman produces her first
Untitled Film Stills

1978
Konica introduces first point-and-shoot, auto
focus camera
Jeff Wall produces his first large-
scale transparencies on lightboxes

1979

Cellular phones invented

1980
First consumer camcorder
Roland Barthes publishes Camera
Lucida

1983
Kodak Disk format cameras and film auto-focus
SLRs
Opening of National Museum of
Photography, Film and Television,
Bradford, UK

1984
Apple Macintosh computers first appear

1985
Digital imaging processors introduced
Digital image manipulation programs
Digital scanners

Microsoft invents Windows computer operating system

1986
Fuji produce the first disposable cameras
Nan Goldin publishes The Ballad of
Sexual Dependency
Chernobyl nuclear power station accident

1987
First 3D video games

1989

150 years of photography celebrated
Berlin Wall falls
Eastern bloc disintegrates

1990
Photo CD introduced as a digital image storage
medium
Adobe Photoshop digital image manipulation
program introduced

Germany reunified
Hubble telescope launched into space
Nelson Mandela freed from prison
World Wide Web protocols invented

1992

Official end of the Cold War
World Wide Web in use

1996
APS format introduced
First digital cameras appear

CCTV becomes widespread in British cities
Mad Cow Disease in Britain

1997

Pathfinder space probe sends back
images of Mars
Sensation exhibition of Young British
Artists at the Royal Academy of Arts,
London
Scientists clone sheep
Princess Diana dies in a car crash after being followed by
press photographers

1998
First digital compact cameras

c. 2000
Cellphone cameras introduced
Plome negative scanners available
Plome inkjet printing
Laserjet printing

Blogging and online albums begin

2001

Corbis transfers the United States'
largest archive of photographs
from New York City to a secure
and environmentally controlled
underground facility in Pennsylvania
Islamist terrorists hijack planes and destroy World Trade
Center in New York, watched live on TV around the world
US invasion of Afghanistan follows
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia launches

2002
Digital cameras outsell film cameras for the
first time

Single European currency introduced
India-Pakistan crisis over Kashmir

2003
First disposable digital cameras on the market

US-led coalition invades Iraq and deposes Saddam
Plussein, leading to civil war

2004
Image sharing website Flickr launches
NASA robot "Rovers" send back color
images from Mars
Indian Ocean tsunami hits South East Asia
European Union expands to include twenty-five member
states
Large increase in Islamist terrorism in the Middle East
Madrid bombed by Islamist terrorists

2005

Richard Princes Untitled (Cowboy),
1989, becomes the first photograph
to sell for more than one million US
dollars
London bombed by Islamist terrorists
Plurricane Katrina destroys New Orleans

2006
Nikon and others announce that they are
discontinuing production of all but a few models
of film camera

Saddam Plussein is executed in Iraq after being found guilty
of crimes against humanity

2007
Micro-blogging website Tumblr launches and
becomes the most popular blogging platform
Apple launches the iPhone, starting a trend for
Internet-equipped touchscreen phones with high
quality cameras

The final book in the Harry Potter series is released,
becoming the fastest-selling book of all time: over 11 million
copies sold within 24 hours of its release in the US alone

2008
The Canon 5D Markll is the first DSLR camera
to feature full High Definition 1080p video
recording
After Polaroid announces its discontinuation of
all instant film, Florian Kaps and Andre Bosman
purchase the last remaining Polaroid film
factory and restart production, making their new
"Impossible Project" instant film

The Global Financial Crisis
Lehman Brothers Global Financial Services firm collapses

2009
The first official presidential portrait is made
using a digital camera: a portrait of President
Barack Obama by photographer Pete Souza
Tate Modern gallery, London,
appoints its first curator of
photography, Simon Baker

2010
Apple launch the iPad, a tablet computer with
a large high quality display that becomes
incredibly popular with photographers looking
for a compact device to share their portfolios

2011

Andreas Gurskys "Rhine IF' sells at
auction for $4.3 million, making it the
most expensive photograph ever sold
A wave of revolutionary protests and demonstrations
sweep across the Arab world, becoming known as the Arab
Spring
The most powerful earthquake since records began hits
Japan, and the Fukushima nuclear power plant goes into
level 7 meltdown

2012

Wiki leaks founder Julian Assange goes into hiding, seeking
political asylum at the Embassy of Ecuador in London

2013
US social media site Facebook announces
that users have uploaded over 250 billion
photographs to the site, with an average of 350
million new photographs uploaded every day,
making it the largest single library of images in
the world

2014

The worst Ebola epidemic in recorded history breaks out
in West Africa

Glossary

Aberration Defect in a lens resulting in less than optimum sharpness over part of the image plane. See also Chromatic aberration, Spherical aberration.

Accelerator (also known as "activator" or "alkali" component) Chemical ingredient of developer to speed up the otherwise slow activity of developing agents. Normally an alkali such as sodium carbonate, borax, or (high contrast developers) sodium hydroxide.

Accessory shoe Fitting on a camera to allow devices such as flashguns to be clipped on. See also Hotshoe.

Achromatic Lens system corrected to eliminate the effects of chromatic aberration.

Acid Chemical substances with pH below 7. Harmful to skin and eyes. Because acid neutralizes an alkali, acidic solutions are often used to halt development as in stop bath or fixer.

Adaptor ring Narrow threaded ring which fits the front rim of a lens to allow use of filters or accessories of a different ("step-up" or "step-down") diameter.

ADC (Analog Digital Converter) The piece of electronics which transforms the signal from a digital camera's sensor into a stream of digital information.

AE (automatic exposure) The camera adjusts the shutter and/or aperture settings itself, based on readings from a built-in light meter

AE lock (AE-L) Camera control which allows the user to hold the exposure settings made by an auto-exposure program before recomposing the picture.

Aerial perspective (also known as atmospheric perspective) Sense of depth conveyed by atmospheric haze, i.e., changes of tone with distance. Distant hills appear paler and possibly cooler in tone than similar features nearer the camera.

AF (auto focus) The camera adjusts the focus point of the lens itself using sensors to determine maximum sharpness.

AF lock (AF-L) Camera control which allows the user to hold the focus setting made by an auto-focusing lens before recomposing the picture.

Aliasing A rough edge effect ("jaggies") seen most clearly on diagonal or curved lines in an electronic image. Created by low pixel resolution. This staircase appearance is due to the large square pixels present.

Alkali Chemical substances with pH above 7. Harmful to skin and eyes. Solution feels slippery to the touch, can neutralize acid. See also Accelerator.

Ambient light General term covering existing subject lighting, i.e., not specially provided by the photographer.

Analog Continuously variable. A traditional negative is one example of analog data having a continuous range of tones in color or black to white. Often used to mean "non-digital."

Angle of view Angle, formed at the lens, between lines from the extreme limits of a (distant) scene just imaged within the diagonal of the picture format. Varies with focal length and format size.

Anhydrous (anhyd) Dehydrated form of a chemical. More concentrated than the same substance in crystalline form.

ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Present title of the organization once called American Standards Association. See also ASA.

Anti-aliasing filter (also known as the AA filter or low-pass filter) A filter that sits in front of most digital camera sensors to slightly blur the smallest details to minimize problems such as moiré caused by the way the sensor's bayer-patterri design perceives color.

Anti-halation Light-absorbing dye present in film to prevent reflection or spread of light within the film base itself giving "halos" around bright highlights. Dissolved during processing.

Aperture Circular or hexagonal opening within the lens used to control image brightness and depth of field. Usually variable in diameter and controlled by a diaphragm calibrated in f-numbers.

Aperture (Apple Aperture) Software application from Apple Inc. used for organizing and manipulating digital images.

Aperture preview SLR camera control to close the lens diaphragm to the actual setting used when exposing. For previewing depth of field effects in the image.

Aperture priority mode See Av.

App A downloadable mobile application, a computer program for smartphones, tablets, or other mobile devices.

APS (Active Pixel Sensor) A type of digital image sensor (see CMOS) where each pixel sensor contains its own amplifier. APS sensors consume less power and are faster than a CSS sensor and are widely used in cellphone cameras.

APS (Advanced Photographic System) System of easy-load cameras and film cartridges about 30 percent smaller than 35 mm, planned and introduced (1996) by a consortium of manufacturers: Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Minolta, and Nikon. All but defunct now, but see APS-C, APS-H.

APS-C, APS-H Originally terms describing Advanced Photographic System negative formats (see APS). These are now often used to describe the size of digital image sensors. They approximate to the APS dimensions of 25.1 x 16.7 mm (3:2 aspect ratio) for APS-C ("Classic") and 30.2 x 16.7 mm (16:9 aspect ratio) for APS-H ("High Definition").

Archival inks Inks made for digital printers that have long-lasting permanence.

Archival processing Procedures during processing aiming for the most stable image possible to ensure long life.

Array A single row of charge-coupled devices (CCDs), as used in flatbed scanners, etc., to respond to light and convert it to digital information.

Artificial light General term for any man-made light source. Artificial-light film, however, normally refers to tungsten illumination of 3200 K.

ASA (American Standards Association) Responsible for ASA system of speed rating. Doubling the ASA number denotes twice the light sensitivity. Now replaced by ISO.

Aspect ratio The ratio of the width to the height of an image. For example, 35 mm format film and sensors have an aspect ratio of 3:2, widescreen computer monitors and TV screens have an aspect ratio of 16:9.

Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) High speed Internet connection that runs over an existing phone line. Consumer ADSL systems are commonly known as "Broadband."

Auto focus System by which the lens automatically focuses the image (for a chosen area of subject). See also AF.

Av (aperture value; also known as aperture priority mode) Auto-exposure camera metering mode. You choose the aperture, and the camera's meter sets an appropriate shutter speed.

Bag bellows Short, baggy form of bellows used on view cameras when working with a wide-angle lens. Allows camera movements otherwise restricted by standard lens bellows.

Ball and socket Swiveling ball joint between camera and tripod, monopod, etc. Typically allows setting at any angle with a single locking control.

Barndoors Set of folding metal flaps fitted around the front of a spotlight. Controls light spill, or limits beam.

Baryta papers See Fiber-based paper.

Baseboard camera (also known as a field camera) View camera with fold-open baseboard, which supports lens and bellows.

Batch number Data printed on film and paper packaging at manufacture. Small production variations occur in speed, contrast, and color but materials from the same batch will be consistent.

Bellows Concertina shaped light-tight sleeve used on some cameras and enlargers between lens and film to allow extensive focus adjustment.

Between-lens shutter Bladed (or "leaf") shutter positioned between elements of a lens, close to the aperture.

Bit (b) A binary digit. Basic digital quantity representing either 1 or 0. The smallest unit of computer information.

Bit depth While color spaces define the gamut of a particular device or media, the bit depth defines the number of colors that can fill that gamut. Most images are 8 bits per channel (normally just referred to as 8 bits) but in photography it is common to work on 16-bit images which provide more color information, helpful if you are manipulating the color or tonality of your images or interpolating (digitally enlarging) your image. If you have an 8-bit file and you convert it to 16-bit, there will be no increase in information. Typically screens and printers can only reproduce 8 bits of color, so the extra color information provided by 16 bit is only of use for manipulating or enlarging your image. 16-bit files are twice the size of 8-bit files, so can take up considerable hard drive space.

Bitmap An image made up of pixels.

Bleacher Chemical able to erase or reduce image density.

Blog A regularly updated (normally diary style) website, either with new images or text—or both.

Blonde A tungsten lamp rated at 2 kilowatts (2000 W). Usually yellow-bodied, hence the name.

Blooming (1) In digital photography, refers to halos or streaks recorded around images of bright light sources or other intense highlights.

Blooming (2) On lenses, refers to fungal growths on the glass surfaces due to storage in damp conditions. The fungus produces an acid which can etch the glass, leading to degraded image contrast and sharpness.

Blue-sensitive Emulsion sensitive to the blue and UV regions only of the visible spectrum.

Bluetooth A wireless technology for transmitting data over short distances.

Blu-Ray Recording medium physically the same size as a CD or DVD but capable of storing more data—up to 50GB.

Bokeh A descriptive term for the way in which out of focus points are rendered. From a Japanese word meaning fuzziness or dizziness.

Bracket In exposure, to take several versions of a shot giving different levels of exposure, usually either side of the metered value.

Brief See Bulb.

Brightness range See Subject brightness range.

Broadband See ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line).

Bromide paper Printing paper with predominantly silver-bromide emulsion.

Browser Software which permits your computer to transfer information and display multimedia sites on the Internet, e.g., Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer.

B setting See Bulb.

Buffer Chemical substance(s) used to help maintain the pH (acidity or basicity), and therefore the activity, of a solution such as developer or fixer.

Buffer memory A built-in memory where the camera can temporarily save images before saving them to the memory card. A buffer allows you to shoot a burst of several shots without having to wait until the images have been written to disk.

Bulb (also known as "brief") The B setting on a shutter—keeps the shutter open for as long as the release remains pressed.

Bulk film Film sold in long lengths, usually in cans either for reloading into cassettes or for specialist camera backs.

Burning-in See Printing-in.

Byte (B) A (small) measurement of the memory or storage space in a computer. One byte equals 8 bits. One kilobyte represents 1024 bytes. See also Gigabyte, Megabyte, and Terabyte.

Cable release Remote shutter control via flexible cable or electric cord which attaches to the camera. Allows the shutter to be fired (or held open on B) without camera shake.

Cadmium (di)sulfide See CdS.

Callier effect A contrast effect caused by the scattering of light through a condenser enlarger. The denser negative highlights scatter more light than the clear shadows, resulting in abnormally high contrast and a lack of highlight detail.

Cameraphone Cellphone with built-in camera.

Capacitor Unit for storing and subsequently releasing a pulse of electricity

Cassette Light-proof metal or plastic film container with light-tight entry slot. Permits camera loading in normal lighting.

Cast Overall bias toward one color.

CCD (charge-coupled device) Electronic light-sensitive surface, e.g., modern substitute for film in digital cameras. In simpler form used in AF systems to detect image sharpness.

CC filter Color compensating filter used to correct color bias mainly when printing. Filters are produced in primary and secondary colors plus ND in a range of densities.

CD-R Compact disk, recordable. A CD to which digital data can be written once only, but read many times. Cannot be erased. Typical capacity is 700MB.

CD-ROM Compact disk with read-only memory. Non-rewritable disk used to provide software programs, etc.

CD-RW Compact disk, read/write. A CD to which data can be read and written many times. (Old data is erased by laser beam.)

CdS Cadmium disulfide; used in the battery powered light sensor cell, commonly utilized in hand-held exposure meters.

C-41 process Processing procedure used for the vast majority of color (and monochrome chromogenic) negative films. Originally developed by Kodak but used by all major manufacturers.

Changing bag A bag of opaque fabric with light-proof armholes, allowing film holders, cameras, or tanks to be loaded or unloaded in normal liahtirig conditions.

Characteristic curve (also known as an H-D curve) Graph relating exposure to resulting image density, under given development conditions. See p. 369 and Figure 10.43.

Chemical processing All developing and printing processes that use chemicals to produce prints/slides from negative and/or transparency film.

Chlorobromide paper Warm-tone printing paper. Uses emulsion containing silver chloride and silver bromide.

Chromatic aberration A lens defect where the lens fails to focus different colors at the same point. Colored fringes appear around objects, especially at the edges of the frame.

Chromogenic film Films that form a final dye image rather than one of silver, when given appropriate dye-coupled processing (-41 for example). Includes monochrome film designed to be processed with standard color film chemistry.

CI See Contrast index.

CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) Originator of a standard system for precise description of colors.

Cinemagraph Still photographs that display minor movements repeated and give illusion of watching a short video. See also GIF.

Circles of confusion Disks of light making up the image formed by a lens, from each point of light in the subject. The smaller these disks, the sharper the optical image appears.

Clearing time The time taken in a fixing bath for a film emulsion to lose its milky appearance. As a rule of thumb, most materials are fully fixed when twice the clearing time has elapsed.

Click stops Aperture settings which you can set by physical "feel" as well as by following a printed scale.

Clip test Processing a small piece of film cut from one end of a roll to determine suitable processing times.

Cloning Digital manipulation process where a small area of an image is copied and then superimposed on another spot

Close-up lens Additional element added to the main lens, to focus close objects.

CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) A type of image sensor widely used in digital cameras. See also APS and CCD.

CMYK Cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). The color printing model predominantly used for mass-produced printing material such as books and magazines. It can also be found in some inkjet and dye sublimation printers.

Coating (1) Transparent material deposited on lens glass to suppress surface reflections and improve image contrast.

Coating (2) Top layer of photographic or inkjet paper which gives it a texture; matt, luster, glossy, etc.

Cold-light (cold cathode) enlarger Enlarger using a fluorescent tube grid. Gives bright, diffused illumination without producing a lot of heat.

Color balance (digital) In most digital cameras the color balance is set automatically. You can also set it manually by photographing a neutral surface. The camera then calculates the Kelvin degree required.

Color balance (film) Relates to the lighting under which a color film is designed to record subject colors accurately. Typically expressed as daylight balance (5500 K) or tungsten light balance (3200 K). See also Kelvin.

Color head An enlarger lamp head with a color printing filter system built in.

Color spaces (also known as color profiles) These are necessary for consistent color reproduction across different devices and medias. A color space essentially specifies the gamut (the range of colors) of a medium or device (an image itself, or a screen, or a combination of printer and paper, for example). It is important to always work with a color space attached to your device, and to be aware when converting from a larger color space to a smaller space, as part of a "color managed" workflow. The most common color spaces in digital photography are sRGB, ProPhotoRGB and AdobeRGB, although it is common to create totally unique color spaces for your computer monitor or download color spaces for printers.

Color temperature Way of defining the color of a (continuous spectrum) light source, usually expressed in Kelvin (K).

Color wheel Diagram in which the colors of the visual spectrum are shown "bent" into a circle, with each color facing its complementary; see Figure 3.46

Complementary colors Resulting color (cyan, magenta, or yellow) when one of the three primary colors (red, green, or blue) is subtracted from white light. Also called "subtractive primaries," "secondary colors."

CompactFlash Type of digital-camera removable memory card.

Compound lens One with more than one glass element. Virtually all photographic lenses are compound.

Compression Electronic "squashing" to reduce file size and therefore its storage needs, and minimize the time taken to transmit it via networks. Greatest compression can be achieved by means of "lossy" methods such as JPEG, but at the cost of poorer image resolution.

Condenser Simple lens system to concentrate and direct light from a source, e.g., in a spotlight or enlarger.

Contact print Print made with paper exposed in direct contact with negative, therefore matching it in size.

Contrast The difference between extremes: of lighting, of negative or print tone values, of subject reflectance range, etc. The greater the difference between extremes present together, the higher the contrast.

Contrast index A numerical index relating image brightness range to resulting processed density range when "correctly exposed" on the film's characteristic curve; therefore relates to development and contrast. (Most general-purpose negatives to be printed on diffuser enlargers are developed to a CI of 0.56.)

Conversion filter Color filter used to compensate for differences between the color temperature of the light source and the color balance of the film, where the two differ.

Converter lens Multi-element lens unit specially designed to (typically) double the focal length of each of a given range of long focal length camera lenses. Fits between prime lens and camera body.

Covering power The area of image of useful quality that a lens will produce. Must exceed camera picture format, generously so if movements are to be used.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) Solid-state electronic chip housed within a computer or camera. In the camera it is used to compute exposure, focusing, etc., from data input by other electronic components. In a computer it translates, intercepts, and executes instructions received as digital data, communicating with and transferring data between itself and all other internal circuits.

Cropping To trim one or more edges of an image, usually to improve composition.

Cropping tool A tool in image editing software. Allows you to trim an image as you would mask the borders of an enlargement being made in the darkroom.

Cross front Camera movement. Sideways shift of lens, parallel to film plane.

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) A screen to view images as in televisions or computers, now largely superseded by LCD and plasma displays.

C-type A type of color print made using light to convert a color negative image into a positive one. Requires chemical processing. See also Lambda and RA-4.

Curtain sync (first curtain sync) Shutter setting which fires the flash at the start of the exposure; the normal setting on most cameras.

Curtain sync (second curtain sync) Shutter setting which fires the flash just before the end of the exposure.

Curves A digital adjustment available in most image manipulation and raw processing applications. A diagonal line is transposed over an image's histogram, and clicking on the line creates a point linked to the tones below it on the histogram. These points can then be dragged up and down (up to brighten and down to darken) the tones on the histogram below them. Curves are an especially effective way of adjusting the luminance, contrast, and color balance of your image.

Cut-off Term describing the blocking-off of image light ("vignetting") usually at one or more corners of the picture format. May be caused by using the wrong lens on camera or enlarger, accessories such as lens hoods which are too small, or excessive use of certain camera movements.

Cyan Complementary color to red, composed of blue and green light.

Darkslide Removable plastic or metal sheet fronting a sheet film holder or film magazine; often used to describe the whole sheet film holder.

Daylight film Color film balanced for subject lighting of 5400-5500 K.

Daylight tank Film processing container with a light trapped lid allowing development in normal lighting.

DCS (digital camera system) Prefix used for a number of Kodak camera models.

Dedicated flash Flash unit which fully integrates with camera electronics. Ensures that the shutter speed is correctly set for flash; detects film speed, aperture, light reading, subject distance, etc.

Dense Dark or "thick," e.g., a negative or slide which transmits little light. Opposite of "thin."

Densitometer Electro-optical instrument for reading the densities of a film or paper image.

Density Numerical value for the darkness of a tone on a processed film or paper.

Depth of field Distance between nearest and farthest parts of a subject which can be imaged in acceptably sharp focus at one setting of the lens.

Depth of focus Distance the film (or printing paper) can be positioned either side of true focus while maintaining an acceptably sharp image, without refocusing the lens.

Developing agent Chemical ingredient(s) of a developer with the primary function of reducing light-struck silver halides to black metallic silver.

Dialogue box On a computer, a special window (often in fly-out form) which may appear on screen as part of a photo manipulation program. It asks the user for information and/or commands before a task is completed.

Diaphragm Variable diameter hole formed by an overlapping series of blades. See also Aperture.

Differential focus Using a small depth of field so only a selected part of the image is in sharp focus.

Diffraction Minute change in the path of light rays when they pass close to an opaque edge. The cause of poorer image quality if a lens is used with an extremely small aperture.

Diffuser Translucent material placed over a light source, such as a studio light or enlarger bulb, to make the light soft and evenly spread.

Digiscope A device used to clamp a camera to a telescope or microscope so as to photograph the image directly off its eyepiece. Most commonly used with compact or small digital cameras.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) Refers to the way we manage our digital image files. Photographers will quickly build image libraries containing thousands of images, often including multiple versions of the same images. Such image libraries are especially hard to organize and keep track of. Methods of keeping track of such systems involve using image browsing applications or more complex database applications that allow you to add searchable keywords to images, add images to multiple libraries or groups, or access fast preview images at speed even if a hard drive containing the images is not connected to the computer. DAM refers to the theory and practice of keeping control of your digital imagery as a whole.

Digital camera A camera or camera back in which a CMOS/CCD chip and supporting electronics replace film.

Digital camera back A device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of a film holder to create digital photographs.

Digital image An image defined by a stream of digitized electronic data, typically made visible by display on a computer monitor screen.

Digital zoom Not really a zoom but a crop of an image using a technology called "interpolation" that crops in on the detail when you hit the outer limit of the optical zoom.

Digitize Process of converting analog data, which is continuously variable, into digital data represented by a code made up of combinations of only two (binary) digits, 0 and 1. In this binary form, pictures can be processed by computer.

DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) German-based system of film speed rating, much used in Europe. An increase of 3 DIN denotes twice the light sensitivity. Now replaced by ISO.

Diopter (or dioptre) A measure of the strength, or light-bending power, of a lens. The higher the diopter, the greater the magnification, and the shorter the focal length.

Dodging See Shading.

dpi (dots per inch) A measurement of the resolution of a computer scanner, monitor (72 dpi), or printer (typically 300 dpi).

Dragging Holding down the computer mouse button while moving it, to reposition items on the monitor screen, etc.

Dreamweaver Software application from Adobe Systems Inc. used for building and managing websites.

Drum scanner Specialist machine that requires significant expertise and practice to use. Film is "wet mounted," where a small amount of special fluid is placed between a clear plastic wrap, the film, and the "drum" (a clear plastic tube). Wet mounting has the effect of focusing the light on the emulsion itself (rather than any imperfections on the film surface), greatly improving clarity. The drum then spins at great speed around the sensor while scanning. Drum scanners use photo multiplier tubes (PMTs) rather than CCD sensors (as used by the majority of scanners), meaning they are more sensitive to subtle changes in tone.

Drying mark Uneven patch of density on film emulsion, due to uneven drying. Cannot be rubbed off but can sometimes be reduced by resoaking.

Dry mounting Bonding a photograph to a mount by placing dry, heat-sensitive tissue between the two and applying pressure and heat.

DSLM See Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras.

DSLR Digital single-lens reflex camera.

DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) Recording medium physically the same size as a CD but capable of storing more data. See also Blu-Ray.

DVD-R Recordable DVD with a capacity of 4.6GB. See also CD-R.

DVD-RW Read/write DVD with a capacity of 4.6GB. See also CD-RW.

DX coding Direct electronic detection of film characteristics (speed, number of exposures, etc.). Read from the checker board pattern on a 35 mm film cassette by sensors in the camera's film-loading compartment.

Dye-image film See Chromogenic film.

Easel See Masking frame.

Edge numbers Frame number, film type information, etc, printed by light along film edges and so visible after processing.

Effective diameter (of lens aperture) Diameter of the light beam entering the lens which fills the diaphragm opening.

Electronic flash General term for common flash units which create light by electrical discharge through a gas-filled tube.

Electronic viewfinder (EVF) A tiny screen inside the camera that does away with the need for a mirror and prism to view images through the lens.

Element A single piece of glass which is combined with others to form a lens of high quality.

Emulsion The coating on film or paper. A mix of light-sensitive silver halides, plus additives, and gelatin.

E-6 process Color reversal processing procedure in widespread international use for most forms of color slide/transparency film.

EV (exposure value) A system used on some light meters. Each value expresses a series of shutter/aperture combinations all giving the same exposure effect, e.g., an EV of 12 means 1/250 at f/4, or 1/125 at f/5.6, or 1/60 at f/8; EV 13 means 1/500 at f/4, etc.

EVF See electronic viewfinder.

EXIF Metadata embedded into a digital raw file. Contains information such as shutter speed, aperture, etc. See also raw file.

Existing light See Ambient light.

Expiration date The "use by" date found stamped on the packaging of most light-sensitive materials.

Exposure compensation dial Camera control effectively overriding film speed setting (by up to one or two stops). Used when reading difficult subjects, or if film is later to be "pushed" or "held back" in processing to modify contrast.

Exposure index (EI) Measure of sensitivity to light for practical use. Expressed as a film speed setting (ISO).

Exposure latitude Variation in exposure level (over or under) which still produces acceptable results.

Extension tube Tube, fitted between lens and camera body, to extend lens-to-film distance and so allow focusing on very close subjects.

Eyepiece projection A method of photographing through optical devices such as telescopes or microscopes. The camera's lens is positioned where the human eye would be, i.e., immediately behind the eyepiece, and the image is formed by both devices in series.

Farmer's reducer An old name for a solution of potassium ferricyanide and hypo, used for bleaching tones on black and white prints and negatives.

Fast Relative term meaning comparatively very light sensitive.

Feathered edge In digital manipulation a command giving a soft (vignetted) edge to the whole image, or the area selected for cutting-out, darkening, etc. Helps avoid an obvious hard edge when printing-in or shading. Allows seamless montaging effects.

Ferrotype sheet Polished metal plate used for glazing glossy fiber-based prints.

Fiber-based paper Traditional type of photographic printing paper with an all-paper base.

Field camera See Baseboard camera.

File The term for a single document (e.g., a camera image) of digital data, as held on a storage device such as a computer's hard disk or some form of removable disk. Digital images need to be saved in a format that can be read by your software program(s). Typical image file formats are TIFF, JPEG, and PSD.

File size The volume of image information forming the contents of a digital file. Becomes larger as the data from a digital image becomes more complex. Measured in kilobytes or megabytes.

Fill-in Illumination that lightens shadows, so reducing contrast.

Film holder Double-sided holder for two sheet films, used with view cameras. See also Darkslide.

Film pack Stack of sheet films in a special holder. A tab or lever moves each in turn into the focal plane, e.g., instant picture peel apart material.

Film plane The position in the back of the camera in which the film lies during exposure.

Film scanner Device for converting the (analog) data of images on film into the digital data of image files. Incorporates a CCD array which scans the original.

Film speed Figure expressing relative light sensitivity. See also ISO.

Film writer/film recorder Device to convert digital files into analog images on silver halide photographic film, negative, or transparency.

Filter Optical device used on a lens to modify the image by altering its color by absorbing selected wavelengths.

Filter factor A measure of the amount of light absorbed by a filter, reducing image brightness.

FireWire A common cable protocol (IEEE 1394) for downloading and sending digital data from a variety of external devices such as printers and cameras. A brand name of Apple Inc. Other names include Sony's i.Link and Texas Instruments' Lynx. Faster than USB and so favored particularly for video.

Fisheye Extreme wide-angle lens, uncorrected for curvilinear distortion.

5K Image resolution found in some film cameras, such as Red digital cameras. See also 4K.

Fixed focus camera Camera (typically a very simple type) with a non-focus-adjustable lens. Usually set for its hyper-focal distance.

Fixer Chemical solution which converts silver halides into soluble salts. Used after development and before washing, it removes remaining light-sensitive halides, retaining the developed black silver image.

Flare Unwanted light scattered or reflected within a lens or camera/enlarger body. Can cause uneven patches in the image, reduce contrast, and degrade shadow detail.

Flashing Giving a small extra exposure (to an even source of illumination) before or after image exposure. Lowers the contrast of the photographic material.

Flat A subject or image lacking contrast, having minimal tonal range.

Flatbed scanner Light box with an internal CCD array able to digitally scan-in photographic prints, etc., placed face down on its flat glass upper surface.

Flickr An image-hosting website widely used by people sharing personal photos and video clips online.

Floodlight Powerful artificial light source giving illumination over a wide area.

f-numbers international sequence of numbers expressing relative aperture, i.e., lens focal length divided by effective aperture diameter. Each change of f-number halves or doubles image brightness.

Focal length Distance between the image and lens when the lens is focused for an infinity subject. More precisely, the distance between the image center and the lens's rear nodal point.

Focal length multiplier The difference in size between a 35 mm frame and an APS frame, and is a ratio of either 1.5 or 1.6 depending on the size of the sensor.

Focal plane Plane on which a sharp-focus image is formed. Usually at right angles to lens axis.

Fog Unwanted veil of density (or bleached appearance, in reversal materials). Caused by accidental exposure to light or chemical reaction.

Format or "frame" General term for the picture area given by a camera. See also Aspect ratio, and p. 101.

4K Resolution of a display or content that has horizontal resolution of 4000 pixels (compared to HD resolution of 1080 pixels).

Fps (frames per second) The rate at which images are continuously produced; refers to the number of frames (photographs) the camera can take in a second when the shutter release is held down.

FP sync Setting for flashguns allowing the use of flash with shutter speeds faster than the camera's sync speed.

f-stops See f-numbers.

Full frame sensor A digital camera CCD or CMOS sensor that is the same size as a frame of 35 mm film.

Gamma Tangent of the angle made between the base and straight-line portion of a film's characteristic curve. Used as a measure of contrast.

Gamut The range of colors reproducible by a particular display screen, inkjet printer, or other digital imaging device.

Gel Term used to describe large sheets of colored material which act as filters over lights. Sometimes used to describe flexible acetate or polyester lens filters.

Gelatin Natural protein used to suspend silver halides evenly in an emulsion form on film and paper. Swells to permit entry and removal of chemical solutions.

Giclée print A type of inkjet print of high quality and good archival stability.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) The feature of storing more than one image in a single file that gives the suggestion of movement between the different images.

Gigabyte (GB) Unit of computer memory equivalent to 1024 megabytes.

Gimp (GNU image manipulation program) A freely distributed software program for working on digital images.

Gobo Shape made from metal or cardboard which is added to the light source to project shadow effects such as window frames, tree branch effects, etc.

Gradation Variation in tone. Tonal range or scale.

Graded papers Printing papers of fixed contrast. You purchase the grade you need as indicated by a number on the packaging. The lower the number, the lower the contrast.

Gradient Digital manipulation term for filling an area with a color or gray tone which gradually changes in density across the filled zone.

Graduate Calibrated container for measuring liquids.

Grain Clumps of processed silver halides forming the image. Coarse grain reduces fine detail and gives a mealy appearance to even areas of tone.

Gray card Neutral mid-gray (18 percent reflectance) card used to simulate midpoint of the tones in an average scene for exposure and color balance measurement.

Grayscale A digital image containing only shades of gray, black, or white.

Green screen (also known as chroma key compositing) A special effects technique used in digital postproduction. Two or more images or video streams are layered together based on color hues. A color range, such as green, is made transparent on the top layer, revealing another image behind.

Guide number Number for simple flash exposure calculations, being flashgun distance from subject times the f-number required (when using ISO 100/21° film). Normally relates to distances in meters.

Gum arabic Glue used on the flaps of envelopes to seal them.

Half plate Old glass-plate negative format. See also Whole plate.

Halftone Full tone-range photograph broken down into tiny dots of differing sizes, for ink reproduction on the printed page.

Halides Alkali salts such as potassium iodide or potassium bromide, which when combined with silver nitrate form light-sensitive silver halides.

Hard Contrasty—harsh tone values.

Hard disk/hard drive High capacity magnetic disk, usually held internally in a computer, forming the main storage device for programs and image files.

Hardener Chemical which toughens the emulsion gelatin to reduce the risk of damage from abrasion, etc., while washing.

High Definition (HD) video Any TV or video system with a resolution of higher than the standard of 640 x 480 pixels. Typical HD resolutions are 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 pixels.

High end Digital equipment capable of capturing, manipulating, or outputting high resolution image files.

High key Scene or picture consisting predominantly of pale, delicate tones and colors.

Highlights The brightest, lightest parts of the subject or print.

Histogram A graphical representation of the tones in your image. The far-left side represents absolute black and the far-right represents absolute white. We use histograms on our cameras to help us judge exposure. A good histogram should roughly sit in the middle of the graph and not contain too much data at the far left and far right of the graph (as these areas are "clipped" absolute white or black tones). And we use histograms on our computers when manipulating our images, so we can continue to check we are not "clipping" any highlight or shadow tones when using tools such as curves or levels that effectively display over a histogram.

Holding back (also known as pulling) Reducing development (often to lower contrast). Usually preceded by increased exposure. Term is sometimes used to mean shading or dodging when printing.

Home page The opening page of a website. Introduces contents, and offers click-on links to other pages.

Hotshoe Flashgun accessory clipping point built into the camera; it incorporates electrical contacts allowing the shutter and flashgun to synchronize. Generally a standardized design.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) A series of instructions which tell a web browser how to display website data. The "language" in which websites are written.

Hue A particular precise gradation of color.

Hybrid cameras (also known as bridge cameras) A hybrid between compact cameras and DSLRs.

Hyperfocal distance The closest subject distance which is acceptably sharp while the lens is focused on infinity. Setting the focus point at this distance extends the available depth of field to its maximum. See Figure 3.15.

Hypo Abbreviation for sodium hyposulfite, the fixing agent since renamed sodium thiosulfate. Also the common term for all fixing baths.

Icons Small graphic symbols displayed on the computer monitor. These provide "click-on" positions for your cursor to command applications, open or close files, activate tools, etc. See also Thumbnail.

IEEE 1394 See FireWire.

Image stabilization System of motion sensors and moving optics or CCD used to minimize the effects of camera shake.

Incandescent light Illumination produced from an electrically heated source, such as the tungsten-wire filament of a light bulb.

Incident light Light falling on a subject, surface, etc.

Incident light reading Using an exposure meter at the subject position, pointed toward the camera, with a diffuser over the light sensor.

InDesign Software application from Adobe Systems Inc. used for book and magazine design and layout.

Infinity A subject so distant that light from it effectively reaches the lens as parallel rays. (In practical terms the far horizon.)

Infra-red (IR) Wavelengths longer than about 720 nm. Invisible to the naked eye and all but specialist films or CCDs.

Inkjet printer Converts digital images into microscopic dots of ink on paper, so creating a final print in color or monochrome.

Instant picture material Photographic material with integral processing.

Intensification Chemical treatment of negative materials to Increase image density and contrast.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) A company which provides you with access to the Internet.

Interpolation (also known as upscaling or uprezzing) A mathematical term referring to adding additional data points. Practically in photography, interpolation allows us to add more pixels to a digital image so that it can be printed larger without producing visible jagged-edged pixels. Interpolation can be applied using image manipulation applications such as Photoshop, or by using specialist applications or plugins.

Inverse square law The rule that says light intensity at a surface is inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the source, e.g., half the distance equals four times the intensity.

Inverted telephoto lens A lens with rear nodal point well behind its rear element. It therefore has a short focal length but relatively long lens-to-image distance, allowing space for an SLR mirror system.

iPhoto An image cataloging and manipulation program from Apple Inc. Simpler and more basic than Aperture. Only available for the Mac platform.

IR focus setting Red line sometimes located to one side of the lens focus-setting mark, used when taking pictures on IR film.

Iris See Diaphragm.

ISO (International Standards Organization) Responsible for ISO film speed system. Combines previous ASA and DIN figures, e.g., ISO 400/27°.

JCII (Japan Camera Inspection and Testing Institute) Quality monitoring organization for Japanese optical equipment.

Joule See Watt-second.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) An image file format that specializes in compressing images down to very small file sizes. Because of this, JPEG is the most popular format for web use; however, it's "lossy" compression format makes it unsuitable as a high quality archival file format. JPEG does not support saving Photoshop layers or 16-bit depth.

Kelvin (K) Measurement unit of color. Equals the temperature, absolute scale, to which a metal black body radiator would have to be heated to match the color of the source. Named after the scientist Lord Kelvin.

Key light Main light source, usually casting the predominant shadows.

Kilobyte (KB) A measurement of digital file size, computer storage, or memory space. One KB is 1024 bytes of information.

Kilowatt Unit of (usually electrical) power; 1000 watts.

Lambda A type of print made using lasers or LED systems to expose a digital image onto C-type or other analog color material.

Large format General term for cameras taking pictures larger than about 6 x 9 cm.

Latent image Exposed but still invisible image before processing.

Latitude Permissible variation. Can apply to focusing, exposure, development, temperature, etc.

LCD See Liquid crystal display.

Leaf shutter See Between-lens shutter.

LED (Light Emitting Diode) Tiny lamp used on equipment for light signaling—camera viewfinder information, battery check, etc.

Lens hood, or shade Shield surrounding lens (just outside image field of view) to intercept sidelight, prevent flare.

Lighting contrast ratio The ratio between deepest shadow and brightest lit areas of a scene. Assumes that in both instances the tone of the actual subject remains the same (gray card in each area, for example).

LightJet See Lambda.

Light meter Device for measuring light and converting this into exposure settings.

Lightroom Software application from Adobe Systems Inc. used for organizing and manipulating digital images.

Light trap Usually some form of baffle to stop entry of light yet allow passage of air, solution, objects, according to application.

Linear perspective Impression of depth in a picture given by apparent convergence of parallel lines, and changes of scale between foreground and background elements.

Line image Very high contrast black/white image with no midtones at all, as needed for copies of line diagrams or drawings.

Liquid crystal display (LCD) Electronically energized panel used in film cameras to display settings, and in digital cameras to show the picture before and after exposure.

Lith (lithographic) film Highest-contrast film able to yield negatives with very intense blacks. For making line images.

Live View Feature on some DSLR cameras which allows you to use the LCD screen as a viewfinder.

Location photography Photography away from the studio.

Long focus lens A lens of longer focal length than normal for the format. See also Telephoto.

Long-peaking flash Electronic flash utilizing a fast stroboscopic principle to give an effectively long and even peak of light. This "long burn" allows a focal plane shutter slit to cross and evenly expose the full picture format, at fastest speeds.

Lossless compression A non-destructive method of reducing the size of digital files. Avoids loss of quality relative to the original file when decompressed. TIFF is one such example.

Lossy compression Method of greatly reducing digital file size by discarding data. Entails loss of quality of image when decompressed. JPEG is one such example.

Low key Scene or picture consisting predominantly of dark tones, somber colors.

Lumen Unit of illumination or light output.

Luminance The slightly more technical term we use to refer to the brightness of an image. It very specifically just refers to brightness, and not the hue, saturation, or quality of light.

Lux See Lumen.

Macro lens Lens specially corrected to give optimum definition at close subject distances.

Macrophotography See Photomacrography.

Macro setting A special, close focusing setting offered on some lenses (typically zooms).

Macro zoom Macro lens which can also be varied in its focal length.

Magenta Complementary color to green, composed of blue and red light.

Magnification In photography, means linear magnification (height of object divided into height of its image).

Manual mode Selectable option on a multi-mode camera whereby you choose and make all the exposure settings.

Marquee tool A computer image manipulation selection tool used to outline an area of an image with a broken line showing where changes are to be made.

Masking frame Adjustable frame which holds printing paper flat during exposure under the enlarger. Also covers edges of the paper to form white borders.

Matte, or overmat Cardboard rectangle with cut-out opening, placed over the print to isolate the finished picture.

Maximum aperture The widest opening (lowest f-number) a lens offers.

Medium density fiberboard (MDF) A solid board available in various thicknesses made from wood fibers bonded together with synthetic resin adhesive. It is useful for mounting prints.

Medium format camera Camera taking pictures larger than 35 mm but smaller than sheet film sizes. A 120 rollfilm camera, for example.

Megabyte (MB) A measurement of digital file size, computer storage, or memory space; 1MB is 1024 kilobytes of information.

Metadata Information recorded along with the image in some digital formats. See also EXIF.

Microphotography Production of extremely small photographic images, e.g., in microfilming of documents.

Micro System cameras See Hybrid cameras and Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens cameras.

Midtone A tone about midway between highlight and shadow values in a scene.

MILC See Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras.

Mirror lens (also known as "catadioptric" lens) Lens using mirrors as well as glass elements. The design makes long focal length lenses more compact and less weighty, but more squat.

Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras (MILC or DSLM) Digital cameras that do not use internal mirrors or a prism to view the image but rely on an electronic viewfinder.

Mode One of a series of settings on camera equipment which define how exposure or other settings are made. See also Av, Tv, and Program.

Modeling light Continuous light source, positioned close to a flash tube, used to preview exact lighting effects before shooting with the flash itself.

Modem Device to convert digital data from a computer into analog form capable of being carried (as sound) over regular telephone lines. Also acts in reverse, converting incoming analog data back into digital data.

Moiré A defect of the way digital camera sensors perceive color and tone, resulting in a non-existent pattern appearing in images in areas of repetitive detail (such as stripes and dots). Moiré occurs when repetitive details exceed the resolution of the camera and due to the nature of the bayer sensor design needing to average several photosites to perceive color and tone details, resulting in the repetitive details being deformed by the averaging.

Monochrome Single color. Also general term for all forms of black and white photography.

Monorail camera Metal-framed camera built on a rail allowing a wide range of camera movements.

MOTO (Moving Photo) Uses video and cinematography to create a hybrid form of photography.

Motor drive Motor which winds on film after each exposure.

M sync Flash setting for old type flashbulbs which delays the shutter opening to allow the bulb to reach its peak brightness.

MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) A measure of the contrast of an image taken of a test chart as compared with the original. Used in assessing lens performance.

Multicoating Microscopically thin layer on lens elements which reduces flare.

Multigrade See Variable contrast paper.

Museum board A cardboard (used to make window mattes) which is free from chemicals that may reduce the permanence of prints. Essentially it is acid-free board that has long-lasting permanence.

ND See Neutral density filter.

Negative Image on film in which tones are reversed relative to the original subject.

Negative sandwich Two or more negatives placed in the enlarger at the same time to produce a print.

Neutral density filter Colorless gray filter which simply dims the image by a known amount.

Noise The digital equivalent to grain. Digital artifacts marring the tones of a digital image when a high ISO is used; the higher the ISO, the worse the noise will become. Noise is akin to turning up the sensitivity of a microphone; while it will pick up quieter sounds, it will also pick up interference that will degrade the quality. As sensor designs improve, we are able to use higher and higher ISO settings with significantly less visible noise than was possible even in the cameras made just a few years ago.

Notch code Notches on one edge of sheet film, shape-coded to identify film type.

NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) The standard color encoding system for analog television in America with a standard TV broadcast rate of 29.97 fps. See also PAL and Fps.

Object The thing photographed. See also Subject.

One-shot processing Processing in fresh solution, which is then discarded rather than used again.

On-the-fly A term used when referring to digital procedures that happen in real time.

Opacity Incident light divided by light transmitted (or reflected, if tone is on a non-transparent base).

Opaque Impervious to light.

Open flash Firing flash manually while the camera shutter remains open.

"Opening up" Changing to a wider lens aperture.

Optical axis An imaginary line through the exact center of a lens system.

Optical resolution In digital cameras the true maximum resolution possible is a product of CCD resolution and lens quality without resort to interpolation.

Optimum aperture Lens f-stop setting which results in the highest image quality.

Ortho (orthochrornatic) Selective sensitivity to colors. An example of an ortho material is black and white printing paper, which is sensitive to the blue end of the spectrum but does not react to red safelighting.

OTF (off the film) Light measurement of the image while on the film surface during exposure—essential for through-the-lens reading of flash exposures.

P See Program.

PAL (Phase Alternation Line) The standard color encoding system for analog television for most of Europe with a standard TV broadcast rate of 25 fps. See also NTSC and Fps.

Pan and tilt head Tripod head allowing smooth horizontal and vertical pivoting of the camera, usually with independent controls.

Panchromatic Material equally sensitive to all parts of the visible spectrum.

Pan film See Panchromatic.

Panning Pivoting the camera to follow movement of the subject.

Panorama camera Camera giving a long, narrow image covering a very wide horizontal angle of view. Specialist models can rotate to give up to 360°.

Parallax Difference in viewpoint which occurs when a camera's viewfinding system is in a position separate from the taking lens, as in compact and TLR cameras.

PC lens (perspective control lens) A lens of wide covering power on a shift (and sometimes also pivoting) mount. See Shift lens.

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) card (also known as a PC card) These removable cards include types I, II, and III and are used to store images or add extra functions to computers. In digital cameras they have been largely replaced by lesser capacity but smaller cards such as SmartMedia.

PE European code for resin-coated paper. See also Resin-coated paper.

Pentaprism Multi-sided silvered glass prism. Converts the laterally reversed image on the focusing screen of an SLR camera to right-reading, as well as reflecting it to the eyepiece.

Perspective The relationship of size, position, and shape of three-dimensional objects as represented in two dimensions, i.e., a flat picture.

pH Acid/basic scale, spanning 0 to 14. Based on the hydrogen ion concentration in a solution. 7.0 is neutral, e.g., distilled water. Chemical solutions with higher pH ratings are increasingly alkaline, lower ones acid.

Photo etching A method of printmaking in which a metal plate that has been coated with a light-sensitive material is exposed to light; the resulting image is then cut into the surface using an acid. Ink is then rubbed into the "cuts" and transferred to paper.

Photoflood Bright tungsten studio-lamp bulb. Usually 3400 K color temperature.

Photogram Image recorded by placing an object directly between sensitive film (or paper) and a light source. Similarly, objects placed on the top glass surface of a flatbed digital scanner.

Photomacrography Preferred term for extreme close-up photography giving magnification of x1 or larger, without use of a microscope.

Photomicrography Photography carried out through a microscope.

Photoshop Software application from Adobe Systems Inc. used for manipulating digital images.

Pictbridge enabled printer A printer with a built-in digital card reader which enables you to bypass the computer when printing out your photographs.

Pinhole camera A camera that has a very small hole in place of the lens. Images are typically less sharp and much dimmer than those made by a lens. Pinhole cameras can be made out of many different things, from a tin can to a handmade wooden box.

Pixelated A digital image which has been enlarged to the point where the pixels are clearly visible as individual blocks of color or tone.

Pixels An abbreviation of "picture elements." Pixels are the individual dots of color positioned in a grid that make up every digital image; from the pixels of a camera's sensor, to the pixels making up a print, to the pixels on a screen. Different devices have different densities of pixels; we refer to this as ppi "pixels per inch." Prints, for example, are nearly always 300 ppi as it's agreed that the human eye cannot perceive detail smaller than this. Screens vary greatly in ppi, meaning images will vary greatly in scale depending on the size of the pixels (a smartphone for example will have incredibly tiny tightly spaced pixels, so will display an image much smaller than a computer monitor with a much lower ppi).

Polarized light Light waves restricted to vibrate in one plane at right angles to their path of direction.

Polarizing filter Gray-looking filter; allows light waves vibrating in only one plane to pass through.

Polaroid Instant picture company which made "self-processing" pictures from 1947 to 2009. The term is still often used to mean any instant picture film.

Polaroid back Camera magazine or film holder accepting instant picture material.

Positive Image with tone values similar to those of the original subject.

PQ Developer using phenidone and hydroquinone as developing agents.

Preservative Chemical ingredient of a processing solution. Maintains its activity by reducing oxidation effects over time.

Press focus Lever on most large format camera shutters. Locks open the shutter blades to allow image focusing.

Primary colors Of light: red, green, and blue.

Printing-in (also known as burning-in) Giving additional exposure time to some chosen area, during printing.

Program, programme, or P Setting mode for fully automatic exposure control. The camera sets both aperture and shutter settings based on its own built-in program(s).

PSD (Photoshop Document) Adobe Photoshop's proprietary file format. A lossless and archival format that supports saving Photoshop layers and 16-bit depth. File sizes can be large because image data is never compressed. For saving Images larger than 4GB, Photoshop's alternative "Large Document Format" PSB file can be used.

Pulling See Holding back.

Push-processing Increasing development, usually to improve speed or increase contrast.

Q-Lab An auditing service for professional processing labs run by Kodak to ensure quality standards.

Quarter plate See Whole plate.

Quartz iodine (QI) Compact tungsten filament lamp. Gives high light output for its wattage and maintains color temperature and intensity throughout its life.

RA-4 The commonest chemical process used to process color print materials such as C-type. Usually automated.

RAID (Redundant Array of independent Disks) Provides us with a way of organizing multiple hard drives to work together in different ways. RAID1 allows us to set up two hard drives to mirror each other (an effective way of storing your data on two drives in case of drive failure). RAIDO allows us to split data between two or more hard drives (known as striping), allowing faster read and write speeds. Alternatively, a mix of mirroring and striping on four or more drives provides the best of both worlds. Specific RAID hard drives can be purchased or multiple hard drives can be configured as RAID using your operating system's software.

RAM (Random Access Memory) Temporary memory used within a computer when it is switched on. Large amounts of RAM are required by a manipulation program in order to run its many image changes.

Rangefinder Optical device for assessing subject distance by comparison from two separate viewpoints.

Rapid fixer Fast-acting fixing bath using ammonium thiosulfate or thiocyanate as the fixing agent.

Raw file Not a particular file format (as different companies have their own proprietary formats, and even different formats for different model cameras) but instead refers to the fact that it is the raw data straight from the camera. The raw file itself contains the greatest amount of data, but technically it is not (yet) a photograph; in fact it is a strange looking "mosaic" of red, green, and blue pixels, so needs to be "demosaiced," otherwise known as "processing," into a JPEG, TIFF, or PSD file. This can either be done by the camera itself or by using an application, giving the photographer control over how the raw data is interpreted and so how the image will appear.

RC paper See Resin-coated paper.

Rebate The unexposed edge of a negative, often printed with frame numbers, etc.

Reciprocity law Exposure equals intensity multiplied by time. This relationship breaks down at extremely long (and short) exposure times, known as reciprocity failure.

Redhead A tungsten lamp rated at 800 watts. The name comes from the red housing.

Reducer Chemical able to lower the density of a processed image. (Paradoxically the term "reducing agent" is also applied to developing agents.)

Reflected-light reading Measuring exposure (often from the camera position) with the light sensor pointing toward the subject.

Reflector Surface used to bounce light.

Reflex camera Camera using one or more mirrors in its viewfinder system.

Refraction Change in the direction of light as it passes obliquely from one transparent medium into another of different refractive index, e.g., from air to water.

Relative aperture See f-numbers.

Remote control Alternative to a cable or electric cord release on newer cameras, using infra-red signals to fire the shutter.

Removable (external) hard disk Storage medium for digital data which you can physically transport and connect to another computer to download its information.

Replenisher Solution of chemicals (mostly developing agents) designed to be added in controlled amounts to a particular developer, to maintain its activity and compensate for repeated use.

Resin-coated paper Printing paper which differs from the fiber-based type by the addition of a clear resin (plastic) coating which reduces the amount of chemistry absorbed, reducing processing times.

Resolution (1) Digital image quality as measured by multiplying the number of horizontal and vertical pixels. Results in a figure for resolution in pixels per inch.

Resolution (2) Ability of a lens to record fine detail, sometimes referred to as resolving power, expressed in lines per mm.

Resolving power See Resolution (2).

Restrainer Chemical component of developer which restrains it from acting on unexposed halides.

Reticulation A "wrinkly" overall pattern created in an emulsion during processing, due to extreme changes of temperature or pH. More common in older films.

Retouching The process of manually altering an image to add or remove details. Often used interchangeably with "spotting," though that is restricted to eliminating defects such as dust marks.

Reversal system Combination of emulsion and processing which produces a direct image of similar tonal values to those of the picture exposed onto the material. A typical example is a color transparency (slide).

RGB Red, green, and blue. The color mode used on all screens and most inkjet printers. Each color reproduced is a mixture of red, green, and blue.

Ring flash Circular electronic flash tube, fitted around the camera lens, yielding even and almost shadowless illumination.

Rising front Camera design feature which allows the lens to be raised, parallel to the film plane.

Rollfilm Any film larger than 35 mm which comes as a roll. Typically 120, 220, or 620 film formats.

Rollfilm back Adaptor back allowing rollfilm to be used in a larger format camera.

ROM (read-only memory) A type of computer memory able to store data which can be read later but cannot be subsequently amended. Used to contain the basic code that allows the central processing unit to work. See CD-ROM.

Sabattier effect (also known as pseudo-solarization) The result of re-exposing film or a print to light before development is complete.

Safelight A darkroom working light of the correct color and intensity that will not affect the light-sensitive material in use, e.g., red/orange for regular blue-sensitive bromide paper.

Saturated color A strong, pure hue—undiluted by white, gray, or other colors.

Scanner Device for converting existing (analog) images—photographic prints, negatives, slides, etc.—into digital form.

Scanning back A device which operates much like a flatbed scanner. Mounted at the back of a 5 x 4 inch camera, it slowly scans the scene in front of it. Mostly used in a controlled studio environment and for archival purposes in museums.

Scrim Metal or glass fiber mesh attachment to the front of a lighting unit which reduces intensity without altering lighting quality or color.

SD (Secure Digital) card A memory card for storing digital information.

Search engine A website through which one can search for content on other websites by inputting keywords.

Secondary colors See Complementary colors.

Secure digital A fast digital storage card available in sizes up to 32GB arid used predominantly in compact digital cameras.

Selective focusing Precise focus setting and shallow depth of field, used to isolate a chosen part of a scene.

Self-timer Delayed-action shutter release.

Sensitometry Scientific analysis of the behavior of photographic materials in their response to exposure and development.

Sepia A color ranging from reddish brown to chocolate, as formed in toning processes by different combinations of toner and silver halide emulsion. Also an option in some digital image processing software.

Shading Blocking off light from part of the picture during some or all of the exposure, usually in printing.

Shadows In exposure or sensitometric terms, the darkest tones in the subject.

Sharp In focus and not blurred.

Sharpening An adjustment applied using digital image manipulation applications whereby the application looks for areas of contrast in your image and increases the contrast at these points, making the image appear visibly sharper or clearer. The term for increasing visible sharpness through increased edge contrast is "acutance." Sharpening is device dependent, meaning the amount of sharpening applied depends on the scale and media that you will be outputting onto. For this reason it is best to leave sharpening until the very last step, so it is applied only when you know exactly what your mode of output will be.

Sheet film Light-sensitive film in the form of single sheets.

Shift camera General term for a bellowless, wide-angle lens architectural camera with movements limited to up/down/sideways shift of the lens panel. No pivots or swings.

Shift lens Wide-covering-power lens in a mount permitting it to be shifted off-center relative to the optical axis. Useful in cameras lacking movement. Some models allow the lens to be tilted in relation to the image plane too.

Shutter Mechanical device used to control the time of exposure in the camera.

Shutter priority mode See Tv.

Silhouette An image showing the subject as a solid black shape against a white background.

Silicone release paper Heatproof non-stick sheet used in dry mounting to prevent the print adhering to the press.

Silver halides Light-sensitive compounds of silver and alkali salts of halogen chemicals, such as bromine, chlorine, and iodine.

Single-use camera Simple, ready-loaded camera, broken open and disposed of by the lab when processing the exposed film.

Slave unit Electronic device that reacts to light from another flash and fires a second unit simultaneously.

SLR Single-lens reflex.

SmartMedia A PC card which fits into a digital camera or (typically through an adaptor) into a computer or printer to allow storage or transfer of data.

Snoot Conical black tube fitting over a spotlight or small floodlight. Restricts lighting to an even, circular patch.

Soft (1) Low contrast.

Soft (2) Slightly unsharp or blurred.

Soft proofing A method of digitally previewing what the final print may look like before we even make the first physical print, allowing us to make adjustments to the file before any ink or paper is wasted. This is achieved by loading a color space (known as an ICC color profile) specific to the paper and printer you wish to use and applying it to your image using Photoshop or another image manipulation application.

Solarization Reversal (either partially or totally) of the tones in a photograph caused by massive overexposure, often during processing. Now an effect in some digital image manipulation programs.

Spectrum Radiant energy arranged by wavelength. The visible spectrum, experienced as light, spans 400-700 nm.

Specular reflection Light which is perfectly reflected, as by a highly shiny surface such as a mirror, glass, smooth water, etc.

Speed (of emulsion) A material's relative sensitivity to light.

Spherical aberration Lens defect which causes the image to be formed in a partially curved instead of flat plane, resulting in poor image definition over the whole area. Effects can be reduced by using a small aperture to increase depth of focus.

Spill kill Small reflector/light control ring which stops the spread of light in all directions. Often used in conjunction with an umbrella reflector.

Spot meter Hand meter, with aiming viewfinder able to pick out small areas of (often distant) subjects and so make precise exposure readings.

Spot mode A TTL metering mode option which allows a narrow-angle exposure reading of the subject. The small area measured is outlined on the camera's focusing screen.

Spotting Retouching-in small, mainly white, specks or hairs—generally on prints—using watercolor, dye, or pencil. Can also be performed digitally using image manipulation programs.

Squeegee Rubber blade or roller device used to remove water from the surface of prints, etc.

Stabilization Chemical process used either instead of or in addition to fixing. Undeveloped halides are converted to more stable compounds to reduce washing times or increase material longevity.

Standard lens The lens most regularly supplied for the camera size; typically, it has a focal length equal to the diagonal of the picture format. Covers a field of view roughly the same as the human eye.

Still life General term for an inanimate object, set up and arranged in or out of the studio.

Stock solution Chemical stored in concentrated liquid form which is then diluted for use.

Stop Correctly used, this means aperture but also commonly used to mean an increment of half or twice the exposure value. See f-numbers.

Stop bath Acidic solution which halts development, and reduces fixer contamination by the alkaline developer.

Stop motion or stop frame An animation technique where individual frames are sequenced to give the appearance of an object moving.

Stopping down Changing to a smaller aperture (higher f-number).

Strobe Old, mainly US, general term for electronic flash. (It was a trade name for a manufacturer of studio flash equipment.) Strictly it means a fast-repeating stroboscopic lamp or flash which may fire many times a second.

Subject The thing being photographed. Term used interchangeably with object, although more relevant to a person, scene, or situation.

Subject brightness range The ratio between the most brightly lit reflective part and the most dimly lit dark toned part of the subject appearing in your picture.

Supplementary lens See Close-up lens.

Synchro-sun Flash from the camera used to "fill-in" shadows cast by sunlight.

Sync lead Cable connecting flashgun to camera shutter, for synchronized flash firing.

Tablet A mobile computer with a touchscreen display, such as an iPad and notebooks.

Technical camera See View camera.

Tele-converter See Converter lens.

Telephoto Long focal length lens with shorter back focus, allowing it to be relatively compact.

Tempering bath Large tank or deep tray containing temperature-controlled air or water. Accepts drums, tanks, bottles, or trays to maintain their solution temperature before and during processing.

Terabyte 1024 gigabytes.

Test strip Full or part sheet of photographic paper given a number of different exposures to help determine the correct print setting.

Tethered shooting Involves attaching your digital camera to a computer via a USB or FireWire cable and using an application that will automatically download and display the images you are shooting. Tethered shooting allows you to make use of the computer's much larger and higher quality display to adjust focus, composition, and color. Tethered shooting is very common in advertising shoots, where often a "digital operator" will be employed to watch over and optimize the images as they come into the computer; especially useful if a client is present and watching over

"Thick" image Dense, dark result on film.

"Thin" image Pale, ghost-like film, lacking density.

Thumbnail Small version of a larger digital image used as a visual reference for locating and identifying image files on a computer or printed reference sheet. See also Icons.

Thyristor flash Automatic sensor on a flashgun which measures the light reflected from the subject during exposure and cuts off the power when exposure is deemed correct.

TIFF (Tagged Image Format File) A lossless and archival format that supports saving Photoshop layers and 16-bit depth. File sizes can be large but TIFF files can be compressed in a lossless manner, saving a little disk space.

Tilt and shift lens See Shift lens.

Time-lapse A sequence of images taken at fixed intervals at a slower rate, which when played at normal speed gives the appearance of moving faster.

Tinting Applying color (oils, dye, watercolors) to a print by hand.

TLR Twin-lens reflex.

Toning Converting a black silver image into a colored compound or dye. The base remains unaffected.

Transparency Positive image on film. Includes both 35 mm slides and larger formats.

T setting "Time" setting available on some large format camera shutters. The release is pressed once to lock the shutter open, and then pressed again to close it.

TTL Through-the-lens camera reading, e.g., of exposure.

Tungsten-light film Color film balanced to suit tungsten light sources of 3200 K.

Tv (time value; also known as shutter priority mode) Auto-exposure camera metering mode. You choose the shutter speed; the meter sets the aperture.

Ultraviolet Wide band of wavelengths less than about 390 nm. Invisible to the human eye.

Undo A digital manipulation program command which reverses the last editing command you applied to an image. Programs offering multiple Undo allow you to work backward over a number of commands.

"Universal" developer A developer designed for both films and prints (at different dilutions).

Unsharp masking (digital) Selective sharpening of the image in areas of high contrast, with little effect on areas of solid tone or color. An effective method of improving the visual appearance of sharpness and detail.

Up-rating Increasing the film's speed setting (or selecting a minus setting on the exposure compensation dial) to suit difficult shooting conditions. Followed up with extended development.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) A very common cable protocol for downloading and sending digital data from a variety of external devices such as printers and cameras.

UV filter Filter absorbing ultraviolet light only. Appears colorless.

Vanishing point The point on the horizon where parallel lines seem to meet in a two-dimensional image.

Variable contrast paper Monochrome printing paper that changes its contrast characteristics with the color of the exposing light. Controlled by filters. Multigrade, Polygrade, Varigrade, and Polymax are all trade names for variable contrast papers.

VGA (Video Graphics Array) The established standard term for digital resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Found in low-end cameras used as computer peripherals.

Vibrance A control found on Photoshop or other digital image manipulation apps or raw file processing applications. Vibrance increases the saturation of an image, but selectively, adding more saturation to the less-saturated colors and leaving the already-saturated colors.

View camera Camera (usually large format) in which the image is viewed and focused on a screen in the film plane, later replaced by a film holder. View cameras are primarily used on a stand or tripod.

Viewpoint The position from which the camera views the subject.

Vignetting Fading off the sides of a picture into plain black or white, instead of having abrupt edges.

Warm tone A brownish black and white silver image.

Watt Unit of power, usually in electrical devices.

Watt-second Light output given by 1 watt burning for 1 second. Used to quantify and compare the power output of electronic flash (but ignores the influence of flash-head reflector or diffuser on exposure).

Wetting agent Detergent-type additive used in minute quantities to lower the surface tension of water. Assists the even action of most non-acid solutions, and of drying.

White balance The temperature of the light recorded by the image sensor or film. White balance is set on the camera by either selecting a preset white balance that matches the lighting scenario (sunny, cloudy, tungsten, etc.) or programming in the white balance manually. If you are shooting to raw format, then it can be set after the photograph is made, when processing the raw file. White balance is set in Kelvin; low Kelvin numbers are suitable for warm light (such as a setting sun, tungsten lights, or candle light), while high Kelvin numbers are appropriate for cool light.

White light Illumination containing a mixture of all wavelengths of the visible spectrum.

Whole plate An obsolete film and paper format measuring 6.5 x 8.5 inches. Half-plate and quarter-plate sizes were also manufactured.

Wide-angle lens Short focal length lens of extreme covering power, used to give a wide angle of view.

Wide-carriage printers Inkjet printers capable of outputting poster-size color prints, e.g., over a meter wide and of unlimited length.

Window matte Cardboard surround used to frame photographic images when behind glass.

Working solution Liquid chemical at the dilution strength actually needed for use.

WWW (World Wide Web) That part of the Internet which involves servers being able to communicate with other computers on global telecommunication networks. Provides an infinite web of links to information stored in hundreds of thousands of servers all over the world. Makes possible electronic publishing.

X sync Setting or socket for electronic flash.

Zone system Method of controlling final print tone range, starting with your light readings of the original subject. Pictures are previsualized as having up to nine tone zones, adjusted by exposure and development. Propounded by photographers Ansel Adams and Minor White.

Zooming Altering the focal length of a zoom lens.

Zoom lens Lens continuously variable over a range of focal lengths, while maintaining the same focus setting.

Zoom range The relationship of longest to shortest focal lengths offered by a zoom lens, e.g., x2, x3, etc.

Index

aberrations 46

academic photography 25

ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) 267-74

Basic tab 269-70

batch processing 273-4

color balance 269-70

Detail tab 272-3

Lens Correction tab 271-2

Tone Curve tab 270-1

workflow options 267-8

'acutance' developers 365-6

Adams, Andy 502

Adams, Ansel 16,369

ADC (analog to digital converter) 102

adhesive tape, mounting 490-1

adhesives, liquid 491

Adobe Bridge 264-6

Adobe Camera Raw see ACR

Adobe Flash 472

Adobe Lightroom 292

Adobe Photoshop 108, 241, 244, 251, 286-7, 291-2, 293-311

actions/Actions panel 329

adjustment layers 301-6

Adobe Bridge 264

Brushes 306-8

cinemagraph 478-9

Clone Stamp tool 321

color 255, 305, 316-20

Content Aware 323

contrast 311-16

Crop Tool 324-6

Curves adjustment 312-14, 317-18

Dodge and Burn tools 315-16

GIF 474-6

Healing tools 321-3

Hue/Saturation adjustment 305, 318-19

image adjustments 520-1

layer masks 299-301

Layers panel 295-9

Magic Wand tool 309-10

panoramic joiners with Photomerge 326-8

Photo Filter adjustment 305, 319-20

Refine Edge tool 310-11

retouching tools 320-3

Save for Web function 254, 445, 446

selections 308-11

Shadows/Highlights adjustment 314-15

shortcuts 331

time-lapse photography 460-2

Unsharp Mask 280

upscaling 281

workspace 293-5

Adobe Premier Pro 470-1

AdobeRGB 108-9, 246, 247

Advanced Photographic System (APS) 105, 340

advertising 174, 192, 193

Ainsworth, William 436

air drying units 392

airbrushing 291

aliasing 103

Alkazi Foundation (New Delhi) 197

all-in-one applications 261-3

amateur film 352

angle of view 57-8, 60, 95, 144

animation, GIFS 471-81

anti-aliasing 155, 238, 272

aperture 48-50, 51, 52, 73, 87, 99

enlargers 421

priority 141

and shutter in setting exposure 135-6

time-lapse photography 454

Apple iMovie 469

Apple Macs 238

apps, software alternatives to interval timers 457

APS see Advanced Photographic System

architecture 227

archives/archiving 197, 286-7, 413-15

Arnatt, Keith 23

art 13, 15-17, 195-6, 522-9

Arts Council England 197

aspect ratio 439-41

Association of Photographers (AOP) 193

Atkins, Anna 194

Aureobasidium pullutans 75

auto bracketing 163

auto exposure (AE) 112, 149-50

auto focus (AF) 47, 111-12, 115, 116, 216, 275

automatic film cameras 121-2

background lighting 229

backing up 287, 444

backlighting 210

balance 184-5

Barth, Uta 23

Barthes, Roland 187

baseboard view cameras 125, 127

batch processing 459

battery flash units 153

beauty 12-13

Beck, Jamie 472

bellows 64,72

Benjamin Stone Archive 197

Berry, Tony 472

bit depth 108, 249-51

'black' filters 83, 344

black and white film 5-7, 335, 345-7

characteristic curves 369, 513-18

color filters 81

color sensitivity 344, 347

exposure measurement 159-61, 163

negative types 345-6

permanence 374

processing 355, 363-9

special-purpose films 346-7

black and white printing

chemical afterwork 408-11

common faults 401-2

contact sheets 393-5

developing prints 388-93

enlarging 395-401

permanence and archiving 413-15

printing papers 382-7

retouching 408-9

techniques 381-428

variations 402-8

bleach, iodine 412-13

bleach-out 411

bleachers 517

blur 178-9

Bolland, Mark 170

bonding prints 490

books, publishing in 194-5

Bool, Roger 176,188

borders 403, 497

bounce cards 220

bounced flash 156

bracketing, exposure 163

Bradley, Samuel 231

Brandt, Bill 19, 173

Bresson, Cartier 187

bridge cameras see hybrid cameras

brightness 36-7, 49-50, 83, 145-6, 304

Bruce, Andrew 210, 455

Buchanon, Roger 38

built-in flash 112-13

built-in meters 137-43

Burg, Kevin 472

'burnt out' 398

C-41 processing kits 349, 350, 369, 370

cameraphones 109-10

cameras 93-131

accessories 75-6

cases 76

comparison between analog and digital 129

components 93-100

film 118-27

hybrid 116-17, 139

kits 75-7

movements 126, 507-12

types 100-1

Cameron, Julia Margaret 22, 23

Capture One 292

card readers 260-1

Cartier-Bresson, Henri 8,23

cases, camera 76

Cass, Pele 447-8

catchlight 207

center-weighted light reading 139-40

characteristic curves 159, 161, 513-14

charge-coupled devices (CCDs) 102, 115, 117

chemicals

afterwork 408-11

alternative forms 518

formulae 515-18

health and safety 519

processing 488

solution preparation 358-9

chrome films 350-1

chromogenic films 346, 370-1, 379

cinemagraphs 435, 438, 476-81

circles of confusion 52, 54, 506

circuit protection 520

circular polarizers 84, 87

Claerbout, David 434

clip tests 163

close-up equipment 71-4

close-up images 40-1, 147

CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductors) 4,102

CMYK 244-5

codecs 464

color

balance 269-70, 305, 316-17, 349, 350

bit depth 249-51

black and white printing 384

complimentary 347-8

contrast 311-16

digital cameras 108-9

filters 78, 82-3, 102

gamut 249

historical aspects 19

lighting 30-1, 211-13

noise 272

Photoshop settings 255, 305, 316-20

printing papers 384-5

response to 512

schemes 174

sensitivity 337, 344-5, 347

spectrum 348

subject features 173-6

temperature 212-13, 255-7

color film 5-7, 174-5, 335, 347-52

characteristic curves 514

daylight color temperature 212

exposure measurement 161-2, 163

negative types 349-50

processing 5, 355, 371-2

reversal types 350, 353

slides/transparencies 350-2

storage 352

color models 243-5

color spaces/profiles 245-8

commercial mounting 492

commercial photography 192

compact cameras 110-13, 138

auto exposure (AE) 112

auto focus (AF) 111-12

exposure 137

flash 112-13,153

light meters 144

parallax error 67

'red eye' 113

zoom lens 112

CompactFlash (CF) cards 242-3

competitions, photographic 495

complimentary metal oxide semiconductors see CMOs

composition 8-9, 168-98, 452

computers 236-8

condenser enlargers 369, 400, 421

contact sheets 278-9, 393-5

content and meaning 21-3, 179-80

contrast

control filters 424

increasing 401

local control 399-400

papers 385-7

reducing 400-1

converging lenses 39-40

conversion filters 82

conversion tables 518

copying images 230

correction filters 82

creativity 7

Crewdson, Gregory 22

cropping 58, 183, 188, 191, 324-6, 459-60

cross front movement 507

cross processing 369

Cunningham, Imogen 16

curriculum vitae 195

Dali, Salvador 14

Dalton, Stephen 20

dark halo 220

darkening images 398-400

darkroom organization 415-19

dry bench items 417-18

layout 415-17

safelighting 387-8

wet bench items 418-19

database image management system 261-3

Daugerre, Louis 125

daylight 226-7

daylight tanks 361, 362

dedicated film scanners 274-5

dedicated flash systems 154-5

deep tanks 356, 357, 361, 365, 366

Delano, Jack 172

Demachy, Robert 15,23

depth of field 50-4, 69, 170

depth of focus 55-7

developers 363, 516

'acutance' 365—6

chemical formulae 515-18

choosing 365-6

chromogenic films 370-1, 379

color slides/transparencies 371-2

lith prints 407

print development 388-9

'push/pull' processing 368-9

trays 390

types 364

diCorcia, Philip-Lorca 220

diffraction 39, 50, 87

diffused flashguns 227

diffuser enlargers 421-2

diffusers 87

digital asset management 261-8

digital backs 76, 117-18

digital cameras 5, 101, 120, 239

bit depth 108

cameraphones 109-10

color modes 108-9

compact and point-and-shoot cameras 110-13

comparison with analog cameras 129

exposure 134

getting started with 102-9

image stabilizer 108

megapixel debate 103-5

noise and pixel identity 106

optical and digital zoon 107

raw format 239

scaling 190

sensor sizes 105-6

structuring pictures 182

tethering 259-60

white balance 108, 212

digital files, filing and archiving 493

digital filter effects 81-2

digital manipulation 3, 185, 187, 188, 291

digital notebook 520-1

digital operator 260

digital postproduction 291-333

color 311-20

contrast 311-16

cropping 324-6

retouching 320-4, 494

see also Adobe Photoshop

digital prints 488-9

digital single-lens reflex cameras see DSLRs

digital workflow 235-89

archiving 286-7

before shooting 235-55

bit depth 249-51

color models in photography 243-5

color spaces/profiles 245-8

digitizing film 274-8

downloading images 260-6

during the shoot 255-60

file formats 238-42

filing for output 278-86

film scanning resolution 255

hardware 236-8

memory cards 242-3

pixels 251-4

processing raw files 267-74

screen calibration 248-9

size 191

digital zoom 107

direct vision viewfinders 95, 123

direction of lighting 207-10

displaying prints 414-15

distance from subject 36-7

distortions 66,70

DNG Converter 267

documentary photographers 59, 188-9

dodging 398

domestic settings 198-9

double printing 404-5

downloading images 260-6

drum processing 362

drum scanners 275

dry bench items 417-18

dry mounting 489-90

drying

film 358

prints 391-2

drying racks 391

DSLR videos 434, 464-71

editing 469-70

equipment 466-8

exporting final edit 471

importing files in Adobe Premier Pro 470-1

rigs 467-8

setting considerations 465-6

transferring video footage 468-9

DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex cameras) 5, 94, 113-16

advantages 116

auto-focusing 115

exposure 137

flash 115

full frame sensor 106

lenses 116

Live View 114

shooting tethered 259

time-lapse photography 448

video-enabled 434

dye-coupled development 409

dye inks 488

E-6 processing kits 350, 371

ebooks195

edge lines 403

Edgerton, Dr. Harold 23

editing

DSLR videos 469-70

time-lapse imacies 458-60, 462-3

editorial photography 192,193

Eggleston, William 19

electrical hazards 519-20

electronic flash 143, 150, 211, 218

electronic viewfinders (EVFs) 95, 116-17

emphasis 186-8

emulsions

black and white film 337

color film 344-5, 348

liquid 407-8

silver halide 336-8, 488

enlargers 417-18, 419-25

care of 425

choosing 419

contact prints 393

contrast control filters 424

contrast printing papers 385

illumination 421-2

lens 420-1

negative size 420

print size 422-4

Sabattier effect 406-7

timers 393, 417

enlarging 395-8

controls during 398-401

focal length changes 59

equipment

black and white printing 415-25

close-up 71-5

contact print 393

DSLR video 466-8

film processing 355-6

lighting 205-6, 215-25

time-lapse photography 448-50

Erwitt, Elliott 169

etching 411

Evans, Jason 13, 190, 193

Evans, Walker 63

exhibitions 195-6, 496-8

exposure 506

ACR 270

black and white negatives 159-61

bracketing 163

color negatives 161-2

contact sheets 393-5

depth of field 50-4

different film types 158-63

enlarging 396-7

errors 367

factors determining 134-7

flash photography 150-8

histograms 258

latitude 162

local controls 398-9

measurement 100, 133-65

Photoshop 305

practical tips 149-50

response to length of 512-15

setting modes 140-3

slides and transparencies 162-3

tables and guides 159

tethered 258-60

expressions 180

f-numbers 48—50, 68 see also aperture

f-stop method 394,397

family albums 198-9

Farmer's print reducer 411-12

fashion photography 435

feathering 310

fiber-based papers 66, 67, 382-3, 413, 488

file formats 238-42

file names 261, 262, 459

filing for output 278-86

filing prints/negatives 493

fill-in flash 156-7, 227

film 335-78

choosing 353-4

common features 339-45

digitizing 274-8

exposure 158-63

grain 342-3

housing 118-20

manufacture of 336-8

response 512-15

scanning resolution 255

sensitivity to colors 344-5

sharpness 342-3

silver halide emulsions 336-8

sizes and packings 5-6, 339-40

speed rating 340-2

storage 352-3, 375

film cameras 118-27

direct viewfinders 95, 123

format shape 120-1

large format 125-7, 128, 134

manual or automatic 121-2

rangefinders 123-5

specials 125

twin-lens reflex (TLR) 122-3

film processing 355-61

agitation 361

black and white (silver image) negatives 363-9

chemical solution preparation 358-9

chromogenic films 370-1

color slides/transparencies 371-3

drying film 358

equipment and general preparations 355-6

permanence of processed results 374-5

sheet film 361-2

tanks 359-62

temperature control 362

working layout 357-8

filters 75, 77-87

'black' 83, 344

black and white photography 81

color compensating 82-3

color photography 82-3

colored 78, 81, 82—3

contrast control 424

conversion 82

correction 82

digital filter effects 81-2

dyed 78

glass/resin 78

graduated 87

hand-held meters 148

neutral density 83

polarizing 84-7

special-effects 87

types 78

ultraviolet 83

finishing work 487-505

fixers 517

black and white printing 389-90

chemical formulae 517

permanence of prints 413-14

processing 363, 366

flash-based sites 501

flash meters 155-6, 158

flash/flash photography 177-9, 213-14, 215-16

bounced 156

compact cameras and built-in 112-13

dedicated 154-5

DSLRs 115

duration 178-9

equipment 218-24

exposure measurement 150-6, 150-8

fill-in 156-7

guide number (GN) 151-3

intensity 213-14

movement 177-8

movement-freezing quality 223

open 151

recycling/recharging 158

ring 218-20

self-regulating 153-4

shutter speed 98

studio 220-3

triggering 215-16

units 218-23

using more than one 157-8

flashguns 158, 211, 215, 216, 218-20, 227

flat objects 149

flatbed scanners 274

flattened perspective 61, 63

Flickr 501

floodlights 230

fluorescent lighting 213, 214, 215, 224

fluid heat tripods 466

focal length 40, 57-66, 67-9, 71

focal plane (FP) shutters 97, 98, 150, 217

focusing 46-8

accessories 75-6

close-up 147-9

enlargers 418

fogging 352, 387, 393, 400, 403, 417

Fontcuberta, Joan 11, 22

form 172-3

format shape 120-1

Fox, Anna 209

FP see focal plane shutters

frame rate

cinemagraphs 480-1

DSLR video 465-6

moving images 441-2

frames/framing 492-3

exhibitions 497

frame within the frame 183

movement 188

time-lapse photography 458

fresnel lenses 219

full frame sensors 106

fuse ratings 225

galleries 195

online 498

photography for independent 196-7

see also exhibitions

Galton, Sir Francis 12

gelatin 78, 82-3, 336

generator systems 220-3

Gersht, Ori 25

gestures 180, 187

Ghirri, Luigi 174

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) 435, 437, 438, 471-6, 480-1

Giffin, Brian 7

Godwin, Fay 186

gold tones 417

Golden Mean 187

graded papers 385, 400

graduated filters 87

Grannan, Katy 21-2

Graphic Interchange Format see GIF

graphics tablets 237

gray card reading 146, 149

grease pencils 189, 190

guide numbers (GN) 151-3

halises 336

'halo' effect 338

Halsman, Philip 14

hand meters 75, 143-8

hard drives 286-7

hard light 207, 210, 211, 228, 230

Haughey, Anthony 183, 184

Hayashi, Masumi 203

hazards 519

health and safety 358, 519-20

Hers, Francois 174

Hetherington, Tim 435

high speed photography 23

Hinde, John 174

histograms 258-9

hoods, lens 75

horizontal composition 182-3

Hughes, Ryan Enn 432

hybrid cameras 116-17, 139

hyperfocal distance 54

illumination see light/lighting

Imacon/Hasselblad 3F scanning 277-8

image-text-based work 180

images

adjustments 520-1

controlling 45-90

distance 506

editing software 245

formation 4—5, 37-41

optimization 445

organizing and editing time-lapse 458

reduction 411-12

resolution 465

size 497, 500, 506

stabilization 71, 108

incident Light reading 146-7

infrared triggers 216

installations 497

instant print sheet materials 339-40

intensity of light 36-7, 213-14

interchangeable lenses 64-6

Internet

pictures on the 499

publishing on the 194

interpolation 281-2

interval timers 457

inverse square law 36

iodine bleach 412-13

ISO ratings 6, 99, 142, 340-1, 455-6

Johannessen, Toril 498

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) 239, 240-1, 445, 451, 500

Kanemura, Osamu 186

Kennedy, Hunter 176

Kenny, Steven 222

Kertész, André 19

Killian, Professor D. 23

King, Lucinda 476

Kito, Shiho 182

Knight, Nick 435

Knorr, Karen 502

Kruger, Barbara 180

Lang, Helmut 13

large format cameras 125-7, 128, 134

latitude, exposure 161-2, 163, 514

Lau, Grace 21, 22

LCDs (liquid-crystal display) screens 94, 258

leaf shutters 216

LEDs (light emitting diodes) 224, 467

Lee, Russell 169

lens hoods 75

lenses 45-77

35mm cameras 66, 69, 72

angle of view 57-8

aperture and f-numbers 48-50, 51, 73, 99

attachments 87

care of 74-5

close-up equipment 71-4

construction 46

coverage 65, 508

depth of field 50-4, 69

depth of focus 55-7

digital cameras 58

DSLRs 116

enlargers 420-1, 423

essentials and extras 75-6

focal length 40, 57-8, 58-66, 67-9, 71

focusing 46-8

hybrid cameras 116

image distance calculation 56-7

image formation 39-41

image stabilization 71

independent 66

interchangeable 64-6

kits 66-70

large format cameras 125-6

macro 69, 73

rangefinder cameras 124

SLRs 71

wide-angle 66

zooms 68-70, 73

light/lighting 29-43, 205-33

accessories 225

characteristics 30, 206-14

cinemagraphs 477

colors 30-1, 211-13

continuous sources 224

contrast 210-11

copying 230

darkroom 415-16, 417

direction 207-10

distance 36-7

DSLR video 467

emphasis 187

enlargers 421-2

equipment 205-6, 215-25

exhibitions 496,497

existing 226-7

exposure 134,137-48

fully controlled 227-30

highly reflective surfaces 231

image formation 37-41

intensity/brightness 36-7, 213-14

macro work 230

measurement 99-100

opaque materials 33-4

pattern 172

planning of 193

problems 225-30

quality 206-7

reaching a surface 32-6

refraction 34-5, 39

servicing of 225

shadows 31-2, 210

shape 170

texture 170, 171

time-lapse photography 454, 456

transparency/translucency 34, 230

unevenness 211

wavelengths 30-1, 33

whole picture 35-6

see also flash/flash photography

light meters 137-48 see also built-in meters; flash meters; hand meters

light-tight holder 119

light-tight tanks 355, 361

light trap 415-16

line film 346-7

line-of-sight viewfinders 95

lines 185-6

Lipper, Susan 174

liquid adhesives 491

liquid emulsion 407-8

liquid-crystal display see LCDs

lith prints 407

loading reels 359-61

local controls

contrast 399-400

exposure 398-9

loupes 395

Lowe, Tom 432

luminance noise 272

Lum, Ken 180

McConnell, Gareth 7

machine processing 392-3

macro lenses 69, 73

macro photography 57, 219

magazines, publishing in 194-5

magnification 506

Mahr, Mari 23

Man Ray 406

managing work 193-4

Manchot, Melanie 407

manual film cameras 101, 121-2

manual mode 140

Marker, Chris 434

masking frames 396, 402, 403, 417, 418

matte board 403

Meadows, Daniel 179

meaning 179-80

medical photography 12, 23

medium format cameras 117-18, 128, 139, 339

megapixels 103-5, 106

memory cards 242-3, 451—2, 469

meters see light meters

Meyerowitz, Joel 10

Micro System cameras 95

Microsoft Windows 238, 469

modeling lamps 215, 223, 230

models 193

monitors 248-9

monochrome see black and white

monographs 194

monoheads 220, 222-3

monorail view cameras 127

Moore, David 220, 221

Morrissey, Trish 198, 199

MOTO (Moving Photo) 434

mounting 414-15, 489-92

adhesive tape 490-1

commercial 492

directly to the wall 491-2

dry 489-90

liquid adhesives 491

Perspex 490

movement 176-9

camera 126, 507-12

cinemagraph 476, 478

framing 188

moving images 437-8

moving images 431-84

cinemagraphs 476-81

data storage 442-4

DSLR videos 464-84

essentials 439-44

frame rate 441-2

GIFs 471-6

movement 437-8

new forms 432-7

offline and online screen display 444-5

picture aspect ratio 439

planning your work 438-9

time-lapse photography 432—3, 446—64

video resolution 441

multi-zone metering 139

museums 196-7

Muybridge, Eadweard 23, 24

Nauman, Bruce 18

negatives

black and white 345-6, 363-75

carriers 424-5

chromogenic film 370-1

color 347-8, 370-5

contact sheets 393-5

enlarging 396, 420

filing and archiving 493

intensifies 516

magnification 422-3

sandwich 405

scanning 275-7

storage 375

neutral density filters 83

Newman, Arnold 9

news photography 11

Newton's rings 425

noise

ACR and reduction 272

digital camera 106

Nolle, Christian 171

objectivity 2-3

off the film (OTF) 137

opaque materials 33

open flash 151

optical calculations 506-7

optical image stabilization (OIS) 108

optical zoom 107

Otsuka, Chino 14

PaintShop Pro 520-1

panchromatic films 344, 347, 513

panchromatic printing papers 387

panoramas 326-8

papers

contrast printing 385,424

enlargers 396

printing 382-7

parallax error 95, 96, 123

Pare, Eric 432, 433

Parks, Gordon 17

Parr, Martin 19, 23, 175

pattern 171, 172

peel apart materials 340, 341

permanence 413-15, 487-9

perspective 169

flattened 61, 63

focal length and altering 59-64

Photoshop 325-6

steep 61

Perspex mounting 490

Phillips, Emma 450

photo libraries 193-4

photo-sharing sites 501

photograms 15, 403-4

photography

changing attitudes 15-20

getting your work noticed 495-9

new forms 432-7

personal styles and approaches 20-3

processes 3, 4-9

roles 9-13

timeline 522-30

photography organizations 196

photojournalism 435

Photoshop see Adobe Photoshop

pictorialism 15, 16

picture aspect ratio 439-41, 465

picture organization 2, 8-9, 167-99

picture structuring 8-9

pinhole images 37-9, 46

Pinterest 501

pivoting movements 507, 508, 510

pixels 103-5, 106, 251-3, 451

placing 189-91

plugins 281

point of view 169

point-and-shoot cameras see compact cameras

polarizing filters 84-7

portable flashguns 75

portfolios 193, 495-6

portraits 36, 63, 81, 112-13, 120, 156, 179-80, 229

post production, digital 291-333

ppi 253-4,255

pre-flashing 400-1

presenting work 487-505

print faults 401-2

print reducers

Farmer's 411-12

iodine bleach 412-13

printers 244-5, 249

printing

black and white 381-428

double 404-5

at home 286

Sabattier effect 406

printing papers 382-7

base type 382-3

choosing 387

contrast 385-7

image 'color' 384-5

safelighting and sensitivity 387-8

surface finish and size 384

thickness and tint 383-4

prints

common faults 401-2

developing 388-93

digital 488-9

drying 291-2

filing and archiving 493

from prints 404

lith 407

machine processing 392-3

mounting and displaying 414-15

permanence 413-14, 487-9

silver halide 488

size 422-4

spotting 408

washing 390-1

processing

black and white 353, 363-9

chemical 488

film 355-61

permanence of results 374-5

tanks 359-62

working layout 357-8

professional film 352

programmed exposure modes 141-2

ProPhotoRGB 246, 247-8

proportions 182-4

PSD (Photoshop Document) 241, 242

pseudo-solarization 406

publications 499

punctum 187

'push/pull' processing 368-9, 372

quality of light 206-7, 223

Quick mask mode 480

radio triggers 215-16

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) 287

'rainbow' effects 87

Rajkovic, Milos 'Sholim' 472

Random Access Memory (RAM) 236

rangefinders 123-5

raw files 238-40, 250, 257, 292

Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 267—74

DSLR video 465

processing 267-74

time-lapse photography 451

Ray-Jones, Tony 6

RC (resin-coated) papers 382, 383, 413

Reas, Paul 169, 185

reciprocity failure 341, 512-15

'red eye' 113

red filters 424

reducers

Farmer's 411-12

iodine bleach 412-13

reflections 33-4

reflective readings 143

reflective surfaces 231

reflex cameras 122—3 see also SLR cameras

refraction 34-5, 39

refractive index 40

residual fixer tests 516

resin-coated paper see RC papers

response to light 512-13

retouching 320—3, 408-9, 493-4

reversal film 350, 353, 371

RGB color model 108-9, 243-4, 245

Richon, Oliver 206

ring flashes 218-20

rising front movement 507, 508-9

Robinson, H.P. 22

Robinson, Sam 500

Rule of Thirds 187, 325

Ruscha, Ed 18

Sabattier effect 406-7

safety see health and safety

Salter, Martin 190

Sawdon Smith, Richard 404

scale/scaling 189-91

scanners/scanning 274-8

Scheimpflug correction 511, 512

scientific images 12

screen calibration 248-9

screen resolution 444-5

scrims 214

Seawright, Paul 172

Secure Digital (SD) cards 243,443

selenium toning 409, 517

self-expression 2-3, 13, 25

self-publishing 194

self-regulating flash 152, 153-4

sensitivity

printing paper 387-8

to color 337, 344-5, 347

sensors 105-6

shading 398-9, 400

shadows

ACR 270

enlarging 398, 400

light/lighting 31-2, 210

Photoshop 314-15

shadow-filling 210

shape 170, 171

softening harsh 227

shape 169-70

sharpening 272—3, 279-80

sheet films 120, 339, 361-2

Sherman, Cindy 23

Shiel, Loch 176

shift lens 69

shifting 68, 219, 284, 404, 507, 509

Shore, Stephen 19

shutters 95-9

aperture in setting exposure 135-7

'between-lens' 95-6

focal plane 150, 217

lag 150-1

leaf 216

priority 141

rangefinder cameras 123

rear (focal plane) (FP) 97

retensioning 98-9

speeds 97-9, 454-5

sync speed 217

types 216-17

silver halide emulsions 336-8, 488

silver image negatives 363-9 see also black and white film

single-lens reflex cameras see SLR cameras

size of pictures 40, 191, 497, 500, 506

calculations 385

and exhibitions 196

slide films 350-2

color 350, 371-3

exposure measurement 162-3

storage 374

SLRs (single-lens reflex) cameras 122

built-in meters 137

depth of field 52

flash 154, 157

focal length 57

video-enabled digital 431-2

viewfinder eyecup 75

see also DSLRs

small format cameras 50, 56—7, 58, 97, 101, 128 see also compact cameras

smartphones 110, 252

Smith, Christopher 83

Smithson, Robert 18

snoots 220, 230

softproofing 282-5

solarization see Sabattier effect

Southam, Jem 198

special-effects filters 87

special-purpose monochrome films 346-7

specular reflection 33

Spence, Jo 198-9

split-toning 405

spot metering 140, 147

spotting 408-9, 493-4

square pictures 183

sRGB color mode 246-7

'starbursts' 87

Starkey, Hannah 22, 183

steep perspective 61

Stewart, Christopher 10

Stoffel, Pierre 178

Stone, Benjamin 198

stop baths 363, 366, 389-90, 517

stopping down 96, 99, 341, 396

storage

film 352-3, 375

moving images 442-4

straightening an image 325

Strand, Paul 16

structuring pictures 168, 181-91

studio flashes 220-3

studio portraiture 229

style 20-1

subject features 168-80

Sugimoto, Hiroshi 23, 24

sulfide toners 516

Sunny 16 rule 150

supplementary light 226-7

surfaces 32-6, 176, 231

swing back movement 510, 511

swing first movement 510, 511

symmetry 185

sync speed 217

T adaptors 74

T mount 74

Tagged Image File Format see TIFF

tanks 355-62

Taylor-Johnson, Sam 432

technical routines 7

telephoto lenses 67-8, 142

temperature control 355, 362-3, 390

tempering unit 362

tent lighting 231

texture 170

thickness of paper 383-4

35mm enlargers 420

35mm cameras 74

close-up equipment 71

focal length changes 58

lenses 66, 69, 72

35mm film 5, 339, 342

processing tanks 359-61

through the lens see TTL

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) 239, 241-2

time-lapse photography 432-3, 446-64

compiling final movie 460-1

editing style 462-3

equipment 448-50

exporting final moving image 464

location and composition 452

organizing and editing 458-60

planning 449-50

postproduction 457-8

raw or JPEG 451

shooting considerations 453-7

subjects 450

time intervals 452-3

video file formats 463-4

timeline 522-9

timer remote controller 456-7

tinting 410-11

TLR (twin-lens reflex) cameras 122-3

tone values 173-6

toning 409-10, 517

torches 224

transparency/transparencies

color 371-3

exposure measurement 162-3

light/lighting 34, 230

storage 374

see also slide film

triggering flash 215-16

tripods 75, 228, 448

DSLR videos 466

fluid heat 466

time-lapse photography 453

TTL (through the lens) 72-3, 81, 87, 115-16, 137, 154-5

tungsten lighting 213, 214, 224, 227

twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras 122-3

ultraviolet (UV) filters 83

umbrella reflectors 207, 221

university archives 197

up-rating film speed 150, 341-2

upscaling 281-2

variable-contrast (VC) papers 385-7, 388, 400, 405, 418

vertical composition 182-3

Victoria and Albert Museum (London) 197

videos 432, 434-5, 435

DSLR 464-71

file formats 463-4

resolution 441

view camera design 125-7

viewfinders 75-6, 181

composition 181-2

direct vision 95

DSLR video 468

electronic 95

line-of-sight 95

vignette/vignetting 402

Vincent, Shaun 264

visible spectrum 30-1

Vitale, Ami 435

Wall, Jeff 22, 23

washing

film 357-8, 366

prints 390-1

wavelengths 30-1, 33

web sites, building your own 499-503

wedding photography 125

Weifenbach, Terri 4

Weston, Edward 16, 173

wet bench items 418-19

white balance 108, 212, 255-8, 269

white light 211

White, Minor 19

wide-angle lenses 58, 59, 142

attachments 68

distortion 64

movement of camera 507, 508, 509

perspective 61, 64

Williams, Greg 434-5

Windows PC 238

Windows Video Maker 469

Winn, Albert J. 404

Winogrand, Garry 9, 169

working layout 357-8

World Wide Web, optimizing images for 445

Wright, David 454

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) 500

X-pro 369-70

Zhang, O. 180

zone focusing 53, 54

zoom lenses 68-70, 73, 107, 112