Basics of Photography

							                      Basics of Photography
                                           by

                                   Chuck Lawsen

Intro
Photography is a wonderful balance of science and art. Before you can make great
images, I believe you have to have a good technical knowledge base of your photo
equipment (left brain) before you can create an aesthetically pleasing image.
Concentrate on understanding the basics of photography and learn how to maximize the
most out of such areas as: film, camera, lenses, and exposure first. Learning how to use
artistic skills (right brain) to develop a strength in such areas as balance, composition,
impact, and style (to name a few) should be addressed later. This discussion will focus
on the “left brain” or how to learn the nuts and bolts of photography. The first thing in
order to shoot like a pro in landscape photography is to use your camera in manual
mode from this point on. Set your mode to “M” and we’re going to wean you away from
using your camera like a point and shoot. You’ll learn how use your camera and lenses
as an effective tool to create an image you had full control of instead of the camera
making choices for you.

Film/DIGITAL
Film and, increasingly, digital sensors are the essential components of photography.
Without them a camera would have no way to capture light and create an image.
Photographic film is a coating of light sensitive material (called an emulsion) on a
transparent plastic backing. The emulsion contains tiny grains of light-sensitive
chemicals that respond to light by turning black. For digital, coated sensors take the
place of emulsion.

A) Print film versus Slide film
To explain how emulsion works I’ll first describe black and white negative film. When you
take a picture the emulsion receiving light responds by making a chemical change that is
visible after the film is processed. If you were to view the negative on a light table you
would discover that the areas on the film that got a lot of light (like a white cloud) will
become black, areas that received less light - gray, and areas that received little to no
light (dark shadows) will be clear. That is the case for negative film, one more step is
necessary to produce a positive image - that is of course making a print on photo paper.
This reverses black to white and white to black to render the image back to positive, the
way the scene looked to the eye when you photographed it.

    Now there are 2 kinds of film: negative and positive. The first, negative, was just
   explained; the other is a positive - also known as “slides” or “transparencies”. For
                                   simplicity sake slides
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are actually negative film that includes another step in its’ processing called “reversal”
that changes all blacks to white and all whites to black rendering the film a positive
image, just as you saw the scene with your eye originally. Color negative and positive
film actually are first a black and white emulsion layer with three layers of color (cyan,
magenta, and yellow for color negative and red, green and blue for transparencies) on
top of the black and white emulsion. So you see all film is actually black and white, and
color films have those three
extra layers of color on top of the b & w layer. From this point on I will describe negative
film as “print film” and positive as “slides”.

B) Latitiude
Which film should I use – negative or positive? i.e. do you want prints or slides? That’s a
personal choice and depends on how you would like to present your images, but there
are a few other points to consider besides their final presentation. One big item is that
print film is far more “forgiving” then slides, what I mean is that if when you took the
picture the exposure turned out to be a little dark (underexposed) or to bright
(overexposed), print film can still have a correctly exposed end result because it involves
that second step – making a positive print on photo paper. If your exposure was off by
even two stops to dark or light, the print can still look correctly exposed. I once was
shooting right beside a pro who was taking a motion picture of the same scene. After
talking to him a while, I asked him how he arrives at a proper exposure since he wants to
get it right the first time and to my astonishment he said all motion picture film is actually
a negative, not a positive film! A copy of the negative is made as a positive after the
original film is developed and you can get the properly exposed final product as long as
your within the 2 stops + or – latitude when it was shot. He says he doesn’t even worry
about the exposure when shooting because he can correct it later. However slides are
another case, they are very “unforgiving” and your exposure has to be pretty much “right
on the money” within + or – ½ stop, or they will be throwaways. Another point is for those
of you who would like to at some point pursue having your work published, the
publishing business requires photographers to submit slides, not prints. Digital images
and slide film have similar latitude and with both you need to watch out for clipped
“white” levels.

C) Film Speed
Some films are more sensitive to light than others, that is to say some will make that
chemical change when exposed to light quicker than others, this is referred to as film
speed. Films are rated with an ISO number to determine its’ speed, the larger the
number the “faster” it is. For example an ISO 100 speed is twice as fast as an ISO 50
rating and yet the 100 is half the speed of a 200 ISO rating. This is also true in digital
where ISO ratings are determined by how fast the sensor captures information. Like
everything in photography there are trade offs, the faster the speed the larger the grain,
that is when the clusters of light-sensitive chemicals are larger, we say it has larger grain
and makes the detail of the image less defined, in digital this is referred to as noise or
pixilation. The grain of an ISO 400 film is noticeably larger than a 100 ISO film. Another
trade off is the intensity of color for faster films as well as a color-shift that occurs with
some very high speed films and requires a color correcting filter. For scenic photography
I would suggest using the slowest film
                                           Page 3

possible, 50 or 100 is the choice of pros. Sometimes 200 is necessary in order to
maintain a faster shutter speed, but I would caution use of a speed any higher than that.
The trade off to go from 100 or even 200 to 400 for instance to gain a faster shutter
speed is way out weighed by the increase of grain/noise. Run a test using 100 vs. 400
and make 8 x 10’s of the same set up (lens choice and subject are the same) and you
will see what I mean. You can enlarge a print to 12 x 16 from a 35mm ISO 100 film and it
will look very sharp because the grain was so small.


Shutter speeds and F-stops
This is the big learning curve category, probably the most important one to discuss.
There is a distinct relationship between shutter speeds and f-stops (or aperture settings)
that once the right combination is found will render an optimum exposure. If you simply
picked an f stop setting, say f 8.0 e.g., and adjusted your shutter speed until the
metering device indicates that that is the right exposure, shoot the picture and for all
tense and purposes your picture should have a pleasing exposure, not to dark or bright,
just right. So then why are there so many shutter speeds and f - stops to chose from?

A) Shutter Speed
Shutter speeds are kind of a stopwatch of the camera. By increasing the number on the
shutter speed adjustment knob, you’ll increase the speed the shutter will open and close
to expose the film to light. Those numbers are actually fractions of a second e.g. 100 is
actually 1/100 of a second, pretty fast if you think about it. Try to do something 100 times
in one second, those guys who talk at lightning speed about the legal stuff at the end of
a commercial can’t even say a 100 words in a second. Now turn the knob again until it
indicates 200, that’s as you guessed, 1/200 of a second or twice as fast.100, which is
half as fast as 400 and so on. What this does is allows you to literally stop any action in
your photo with fast shutter speeds. Take a waterfall for example, photographed at 1/100
of a second it would stop most of the action, at 1/500 or even 1/1000 it will freeze the
action to the point that you’ll be able to see individual water droplets. However at 1
second or slower, for instance, the water will appear to be smooth and cotton like.
Wildlife photography offers the challenge of a subject that moves, sometimes fast and
the shutter speed you choose will definitely change the look of the subject. Let ’s say you
were photographing a deer running from left to right from your vantage point and you
panned your camera with the subject. A 1/1000 speed will freeze the action so that even
the legs are not blurred, 1/100 will show some blurring in the legs and the back ground
will start to have a slight smearing. 1/30 will be very smeared and the legs will be
completely blurred. The “B” setting is special. It stands for “Bulb” and the shutter will stay
open as long as you hold the shutter down, hours if you like. This is what you use with
the aid of a cable release to create time exposures.

B) F-stops
The other way to control the amount of light exposing the film is adjusting the f–stops.
First, there are several other interchangeable names for f–stops, mainly aperture or iris
settings, it’s like the pupil for your eye. F–stops actually control the volume of light that
exposes film at any given shutter speed. Think of a garden hose versus a large drain
pipe, say
                                           Page 4

4 feet in diameter. How long will it take you to fill a swimming pool with the garden hose?
Probably a couple days. Now fill
the same pool with the huge drain pipe, may not take an hour. F–stops are controlled by
a device called a diaphragm made up of blades that create a circular hole that increases
or decreases in size according to how it is set. It works just like the iris in your eye does
as it responds to the level of light that it is subjected to. When the lens is “wide – open” it
means that the blades won’t even be used at all and the lens is not restricted of any light
by the blades. When the lens is “stopped down” it means that an f–stop adjustment was
selected and the blades are used to create an aperture, or small hole, that restricts the
light passing through the lens. The size of the aperture controls the volume of light as
the garden hose
example controlled the volume of water. The numbers for f–stops control the size of the
aperture the blades are making and the larger the number, the smaller the aperture. An f
– stop of 4.0 is 1 full stop more, or the aperture hole we’re creating with the blades is
larger than f 5.6. So then an f–stop of f22. will create a very small aperture hole with our
blades. It would be wise to memorize the f – stop numbers to help mentally figure out
shutter speed/f – stop combinations for use in the field, they are:

1.0     1.4      2.0      2.8      4.0     5.6      8     11      16      22     32      45

Notice that starting with the first number, f 1.0, every other number is doubled (1, 2, 4, 8,
16, 32). The same for starting with the second number, f 1.4, every other number is
doubled (1.4, 2.8, 5.6, 11, 22, 45). Here is an illustration showing what different
apertures look like:




Hopefully it will start to make sense why the combination of any particular shutter speed
will dictate the f – stop you need to select (and visa versa) to render a properly exposed
photo. Let me explain that concept a bit. Take a reading with your camera and start by
selecting the shutter speed at 1/60. Now adjust the f–stop knob until the meter device is
at “O” or the device is saying it is centered. (i.e. if it is reading in the negative zone,
adjust the f–stop to a smaller number, remember the smaller the f–stop number the
                                           Page 5
more volume of light that will pass through the lens. If it is in the positive zone, adjust the
f–stops to a larger number, which is a smaller aperture hole). Now lets say in our
example you’ve adjusted your f–stop


  and it is at f 11 Your picture should have a good exposure with the combination of 1/60
second shutter at f 11. Now if we change one of these two parameters, shutter speed vs.
f–stop, the other parameter has to be changed to compensate for the equivalent gain or
loss of light to render a proper exposure. Let’s change the shutter speed to 1/125 or
twice as fast as the first example, what do you think the f–stop should now be changed
to in order to render a good exposure? If the amount of time is half (1/60 to 1/125) then
the f–stop should be adjusted to allow twice as much light or change from f 11 to f 8
(again, the smaller the f# the more volume of light). Confusing? Let’s now map out all the
possible
shutter/f–stop combinations we could make from our initial starting point of 1/ 60 second
shutter at f 11. Let’s say the aperture range of your lens is f 4 to f 22, all the
combinations would be:


Shutter: 1/500              1/250        1/125        1/60          1/30        1/15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F – stop:           4           5.6          8           11            16           22


Do you see now why it’s important to memorize the f–stops, once you’ve metered a
scene to get a combination shutter/f–stop, by changing one parameter you need to
compensate with the other, unless you don’t mind your picture grossly over or under
exposed.

Previously we discussed why one would choose different shutter speeds for different
motion effects, and a change of shutter speed means we have to adjust the f–stop to
compensate for a correct exposure. So is there any benefit we can obtain by selecting
different f-stops first and then adjusting the shutter to render proper exposure? Yes
indeed! In fact this is probably the greatest technique used in landscape photography.
This is big, big,   big!   One way to control how much of your image will be in focus
is to choose the smallest aperture possible that your lens will allow (increase the f–
number). The name for this phenomena is called: Depth of Field . Depth of field is
the area or “zone” that is in focus in front of and behind a point focused on, usually the
subject. There are essentially three things that will increase or decrease depth of field:
the focal length of the lens, the distance to the subject, and the f–stop. Let’s illustrate
using an example. We’ll keep the lens focal length a constant and say we have a 50mm
lens on a 35mm camera, focus on the subject which is 15 ft. away from you, how will
depth of field change from “wide open” at
f2.0 to all the way stopped down at f22?
                               Page 6




        Foreground        Subject              Background




F 2.0                   14’----17’



F 5.6                12------------22



F 11           9---------------------39



F16        8---------------------------------114


F22     7----------------------------------------------- ∞
                                          Page 7

The other two ways to control depth of field is to change the focal length of the lens and
change the distance to the subject. First the lens change, by using a wide angle lens you
increase depth of field, a telephoto lens will cause a decrease. And the 3rd way to
increase/decrease depth of field is to change the distance from the camera to the
subject. For instance, topographic maps are made from aerial photographs taken
thousands of feet above the ground. Set the focus to infinity and everything will be in
focus no matter what
f–stop is used because the distance is so great.



Lenses
The choice of what size lens to use is important for many reasons: composition, depth of
field, and available light to name a few. I think that composition is the first criteria of
importance in most circumstances. When originally looking at the scene with your eye,
try to imagine what elements will be important for a strong composition and what
elements would detract. Assuming you’re using a zoom lens, look through the viewfinder
adjusting the zoom in and out and maybe moving the camera slowly up and down and
side to side until you are pleased with what you see. If you need to change lenses to
obtain a more telephoto or wide angle view, then do this next, otherwise you’ve made
your choice of what focal length to use. Keep in mind that the wider the lens the more
depth of field you will have and conversely the longer (i.e. more telephoto) the lens the
less depth of field. Most people today have only zoom lenses, although very handy to
have a range of focal lengths to choose from in one lens, there is still a place for fixed
focal length lenses. If you need a “fast” lens for low light situation for instance like a
50mm f 1.4, only a fixed focal length lens can render such a fast speed (i.e. the widest f
stop, thus the fastest shutter speed for hand held images in a low light situation). Zoom
lenses are normally quite slow, the f stop rating is usually around f 3.5 to 5.6 which is 2
½ to 3 times slower than an f 1.4 lens. There are faster zooms but the price is out of
most peoples budgets. Other needs for fixed focal length is for specialized lenses, e.g.
macro, medical, perspective control, and swing/tilt lenses to name a few.

Focal length choices are also important for the way the subject will look too. A “normal”
length renders basically how your eye sees things, in 35mm it would be around a 50mm
length. A wide angle lens will start distorting the subject where the part closest to the
lens will look abnormally large and the parts of a subject further and further away look
abnormally small. A good example is when you use a wide angle for a portrait, the nose
looks big and the eyes, ears and head size look small. A telephoto lens will create the
illusion of “stacking” or compressing the view. A good example is a photo taken with a
long telephoto from a freeway overpass looking down on the traffic, the cars look short
and stubby and packed close together.
                                         Page 8




Camera Support
Tripods are the most common devices that are used to offer sturdy support for your
camera in order to eliminate camera shake. Tripods are essential for using a large
format camera as I do, but is it necessary for someone using a small camera since they
are so easy to hand hold? If you want to have complete control over the image if you’re
photographing scenics the answer is yes for several reasons. First, the obvious is that it
provides support. Not only is it essential when you have to use a slow shutter speed, but
it is also necessary for very long lenses unless you have one of the new image
stabilizing lenses. Second, it makes a great composing tool. What I mean is before you
even pull out a tripod, use your camera hand held to find a composition, once you have
the exact spot, including height off the ground and direction of view you want to
photograph, then place your tripod underneath your camera and extend the legs, then
place your camera on the tripod head. The head should have a quick release capability
so you don’t have to constantly screw and unscrew the camera onto the head. Now if
you need to take the camera off to meter for instance, your composition is safely intact
because it’s now locked on your tripod. I recommend you buy the sturdiest tripod you
can lug around and that it has no leg supports so you can spread the legs out completely
if you want to set it right on the ground. Also, steer away from the inexpensive models
you find in department store, your tripod is probably the most essential accessory you
will have to be able to shoot like a pro so it should not be made of plastic and the quick
release plate will also be made of metal. Here is an example of a tripod I do not
recommend that may have leg supports and has a lot of plastic parts. This model for
instance retails for under $30:
                                          Page 9




Now here is one that I do suggest:




Notice this tripod has no leg supports and allows different heights from fully extended to
very low t the ground. This is possible because first there is no center post, and second
the legs can be extended outward. Here is a photo of my tripod with the legs extended
outward allowing the camera to get very low to the ground:
                                          Page 10

Notice that there is no center post, it gets in the way if you want to get this low. Also, if
the center post is extended upward you are effectively defeating the purpose of having a
tripod
at all since the extended center post makes the camera wobbly again! You can purchase
a short center post for a lot of tripod models and some even come with a center post that
can be unscrewed into 2 pieces allowing you to use a very short column as an option.

Next is the tripod head, there are basically 2 kinds, a ball head and a pan/tilt head:




         Typical ball head                                Typical pan/tilt head

There are other kinds of equipment used for support like monopods and bean bags, but I
would only use them in a pinch, nothing beats a sturdy tripod.




Filters
I try to use filters sparingly, but there are occasions where they are necessary. I most
often use a polarizer to saturate the sky for a deeper blue, a warming filter to take blue
out of a shaded area or intensify the red rocks of Northern Arizona and Southern Utah,
and a split neutral density filter when the fore ground is in the shade and the sky is
bright. The following picture shows the warming filter I use the most on the left over the
desert scene. My preference is 81c, it is also named KR3 by some manufacturers. The
upper right is a polarizer and below it is a split neutral density which requires a filter
holder that accepts 3 or 4 inch filters. I suggest using a 3 stop split ND with a soft edge
at the transition from the dark area to the clear bottom half.
                                          Page 11




To make things simple so you don’t end up buying a set of filters for your different
lenses, buy one set and use step up rings to accommodate the different filter sizes that
each of your lenses have. Also whatever your largest filter size is, choose your set of
filters to be one size larger so you don’t vignette the corners when using a wide angle
lens. For instance say your largest filter size for one of your lenses is 67 mm, then
choose your filter size for your set of filters to be 72mm and use a 67 to 72mm step up
ring. Keep the step up ring on that lens permanently and get a 72mm lens cap for each
of your lenses. Now lets say you have 2 other lenses that have a filter size of 50mm and
55mm, you will need a 50 to 72 and a 55 to 72 step up ring for these lenses. Now when
you need to use a filter you can quickly spin one on and not fumble around trying to find
the right filter size for 3 different lenses, all your lenses are now set up to accept one
size and you will not have to worry about vignetting.

The last thing I want to mention is to be sure and shade your lens if the sun or light
source is in front of the camera to eliminate lens glare. Step in front of the camera, which
is on a tripod, right?, and to the side so you can see the lens and shade with your hand
or a hat.

                     That covers it for photo basics, happy shooting!
Chuck Lawsen Photography
  23425 N. 39th Dr #104-123
     Glendale, AZ 85310
     (623)582-8707 Fax:(623)322-1913
         charleslawsen@cox.net