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Digital Photography Notes
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Photo Basics
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THE CAMERA

CAMERA - A picture-taking device usually consisting of a light-tight box, a film holder, a shutter to admit a measured quantity of light, and a lens to focus the image.
-the four types of cameras are categorized according to their viewing systems:
  1. View Camera - focusing image is seen directly through the lens which will take the picture. Usually on a piece of ground glass.
  2. Rangefinder/Viewfinder Cameras - focusing image is seen through a simple lens "window" which shows an approximation of the final picture view, but not the exact view.
  3. Single Lens Reflex - focusing image is reflected from the actual taking lens by a mirror onto a piece of ground glass.
  4. Twin Lens Reflex - focusing image is reflected onto a piece of ground glass from a focusing lens which is generally situated directly above the taking lens - this focusing system encounters the same problem as Rangefinder/Viewfinder Cameras in that the focused image is an approximation of the final picture view.
SHUTTER - A mechanism that opens and closes to admit light into a camera for a measured length of time.
  • a shutter controls the amount of light to reach the film by how long it remains open
  • each shutter setting is half (or double) the time of the next one
  • there are two major types of shutters:
    1. Focal-plane shutter - admits light to expose film by moving a slit or opening in a roller blind just in front of the film (focal) plane - generally faster shutter speeds are available using this type of mechanism
    2. Leaf Shutter - admits light to expose film by opening and shutting a circle of overlapping metal leaves
The shutter markings on an average 35mm SLR camera are: B • 2 • 1 • 2 • 4 • 8 • 15 • 30 • 60 • 125 • 500 • 1000 • 2000

-B or Bulb keeps the shutter open as long as the release button is held down.
-The numbers to the right of the B setting generally denote seconds in decreasing order headed towards one. For instance in the case above, the bold 2 and 1 mean 2 and 1 seconds respectively
-Shutter settings which are less than one second in length are listed next as ascending whole numbers. This may be misleading however as these numbers actually denote fractions of seconds.

In this example the numbers

2 • 4 • 8 • 15 • 30 • 60 • 125 • 500 • 1000
actually denote times which are:
1/2 • 1/4 • 1/8 • 1/15 • 1/30 • 1/60 • 1/125 • 1/500 • 1/1000
of a second
• SHUTTER AS CONTROLLER OF MOTION
-The shutter controls motion in a photograph by how long it remains open
-Generally speeds of 1/60 or 1/125 will stop motion however if an object is moving quite quickly across the camera frame faster speeds may be necessary
-"Camera Shake" is a term used to describe blur caused by camera movement during exposure. A camera can generally be hand held without noticeable camera shake at 1/30 or 1/15 of a second
-The amount of blur caused by a moving object is not determined by how fast the object is moving, but instead by how far it moves across the camera plane. For instance a speeding car photographed from 10 feet away may be completely blurred at 1/125 of a second, while from 500 feet away may show only the slightest signs of blurring. This is because the car which is nearby passes across more of the film plane than the car which is very far away.
-In order to stop blur one can:
-shorten shutter speed (thus making it necessary to increase aperture)
-pan which means to follow the moving object with the camera (thus blurring the background while sharpening the moving subject)

• APERTURE - The size of the lens opening through which light passes. (The "relative aperture" is measured as the focal length of the lens divided by the diameter of the aperture)
- the aperture works like the pupil of an eye shutting down in instances of bright light and opening up when there is not much light
-Diaphragm - a ring of thin, overlapping metal leaves located inside the lens which open or close to allow more or less light through the lens
-Aperture settings are described as F-stops
-the F-stops on an average 35mm SLR camera are:
2.8 • 4 • 5.6 • 8 • 11 • 16 • 22 • 32
-each F-stop admits half (or double) the light of the previous one
-f/2.8 (or f/1.4 if your lens is equipped with it) is the widest aperture meaning it allows in the most light. Each subsequent aperture allows in half as much light.
For instance in this example:
2.8 • 4 • 5.6 • 8 • 11 • 16 • 22 • 32
if we give the light admitted by f/2.8 the value of one then we may look at it this way:
f/2.8 = 1 • f/4 = 1/2 • f/5.6 = 1/4 • f/8 = 1/8• f/11 = 1/16
f/16 = 1/32 • f/22 = 1/64 • f/32 = 1/128
-"stopping down" refers to allowing less light into the lens therefore using a higher aperture such as from f/11 to f/16
-"opening up" refers to allowing more light into the lens and therefore using a lower aperture such as from f/8 to f/5.6
• APERTURE AS CONTROLLER OF DEPTH OF FIELD
-a change in aperture size affects the sharpness of the image as well as the amount of light entering the camera
-The smaller an aperture (which means the higher the f/number) the greater the overall clarity in the picture.

• DEPTH OF FIELD - refers to the area of acceptable sharpness in a photograph - the smaller the aperture the greater the depth of field
-"circles of confusion" are tiny circles of light formed by a lens as it projects the image of a single point of a subject. The smaller the diameters of all the circles of confusion in an image, the sharper the image will be
-a "depth of field scale" often appears printed on the lens as paired numbers that bracket the distances of the nearest and farthest points of the depth of field
-an example of changing depth of field: if a row of pillars moving away from the photographer is photographed with a lens set at f/22 more of it will appear in focus than if it were taken at f/2.8THE LENS
(notes derived from UPTON and UPTON's PHOTOGRAPHY 4th edition)
• LENS -a piece or several pieces of optical glass shaped to focus an image of a subject

• CIRCLES OF CONFUSION -the tiny circle of light formed by a lens as it projects the image of a single point of a subject. The smaller the diameters of all the circles of confusion in an image, the sharper the image will be.

• LENS - the lens of a modern camera collects a large number of light rays from a single point on an object and refracts, or bends, them towards each other so that they converge at a single point
-convex lens
-focal point: is the point of convergence described above
-focal plane: is the plane on which the focal points fall
-film plane: is the focal plane in a camera
• FOCAL LENGTH -is the distance between the lens and the focal plane when the lens is focused on infinity.
-lenses are usually described as focal lengths (for example a 50mm lens has a focal length of 50 mm)
-a wide angle lens will have a short focal length (ie 7.5mm)
-a wide angle lens increases the angle of view, and thus reduces the size of objects within the image as compared to the size of objects within an image formed by a normal lens
-a telephoto (narrow angle lens) will have a long focal length (ie 1000mm)
-a telephoto lens has a narrower angle of view and a greater magnification than that of a normal lens
-normal-focal-length approximates human vision
-normal-focal-length changes depending on negative size, but for 35mm negatives it is around 50mm
-distortions can be caused by all lenses, but are most apparent in wide angle and telephoto lenses
• DEPTH OF FIELD -(see chapter 2)
-a lens can focus on only one distance at a time. this is called the plane of critical focus. Everything on the plane of critical focus will be in focus (for instance if I focus on a car 10 feet away and near the car is a person also 10 feet away from my lens then both will be in focus)
-there is an area preceding and following the plane of critical focus which will appear in focus to the human eye
-the closer the plane of critical focus is to the camera the smaller the depth of field
-the same aperture on a long lens will have a narrower depth of field than on a short lens (for example f/8 on a 70mm lens will have a narrower depth of field than f/8 on a 28mm lens) (this is because of RELATIVE APERTURE - the aperture on a 70mm lens is actually bigger than the aperture on a 28mm lens, but relatively they are the same, because they both allow the same amount of light to reach the film plane)
• PERSPECTIVE -is the relative size and depth of objects within the image
-perspective is controlled by the distance between the lens and the subject
-objects closer to the lens will appear larger in the picture in relation to subj ects farther awayndows will also be covered.
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(notes derived from UPTON and UPTON's PHOTOGRAPHY 4th edition)