1. Photography Basics

Basics of PhotographyM.V.Ramachandran

SLR

SLR

Early SLR

The 35-mm single-lens reflex

Twin-lens reflex

•The twin lens reflex camera has a separate viewing and taking lens,

• Light entering the top lens is reflected up by a fixed mirror to a viewing screen.

Twin-lens reflex

SLR TLR

Pinhole Camera

A simple camera can be built by making a pinhole in a box. Light passes through the hole and forms an inverted, backwards image of the subject on the back of the box..

Folding CameraFolding cameras, favoured for their compact design and movable bellows, have been in use for many years. The camera’s lens is incorporated into the bellows, which is slid back and forth along a rail to change focus. The dark cloth covering the photographer and the box body of the camera blocks out undesirable light.

Brownie Box Camera• Box cameras like this

“Brownie” were the earliest cameras used by the general public.

• Relatively simple in design and operation, they consisted of a wooden or plastic box,

• a drop-blade shutter, and a holding device for the film.

• easy operation makes it a popular camera among casual photographers.

Polaroid• The Polaroid, or instant,

camera delivers a finished print directly followingexposure.

• Advantage of this system is the convenience and speed of the results..

• Special film used in conjunction with the camera is designed to develop itself.

View Camera

• View cameras are used for portrait and still-life photography.

• A geared track, precision lenses, and a long bellows make the cameras fairly cumbersome, but they are capable of capturing difficult subjects such as buildings with a minimum of distortion.

Wet-Plate Camera

• Wet-plate cameras derived their name from the light-sensitive chemical coating applied to the photographic plate.

• The plate was used while wet, which was a messy but effective process that allowed photographers to make high-quality negatives with exposures of less than 30 seconds.

• Wet-plate cameras were used from the 1840s to the 1870.

Large Format Camera

• Large image size: 4x5 inches (10x12cm), the most popular format by far, up to 20x24 inches .

• Interchangeable lenses: you are not limited to a particular mount

LEFT: Depth of field is limited in closeup photography. Focus on the most important part of the subject such as the eyes of this robber fly. This image

shows the depth of fieldat f/3.5. RIGHT: Here is the same image using f/19 for more depth of field.

Depth of field

1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 <=== more light less light ==>

Shutter Speed and Aperture Settings

F-Stop

Aperture Settings

Shutter

• The shutter is the device that allows light to enter the camera and then shut it off again after a pre-determined length of time.

Shutter Dial

Shutter Functions

Leaf Shutter Focul Plane Shutter

Shutter

Shutter

Shutter

Depth of Field

Depth of Field

Focul Length

Lens

Lens- Field of View

Field of View

Field of View

Shots

Shots - Continued

• LS-long shot or FS (full shot). With people, this is a shot from the top of their heads to their feet..

• When applied to talent a MS is normally a shot from the waist up. (To save space we've used a vertical rather than a horizontal format in this illustration.)

• MCU (medium closeup) is a shot cropped between the shoulders and the belt line.

• A relatively straight-on CU (closeup)• XCUs are extreme closeups. On people this type of

shot is reserved for dramatic impact. XCU is often necessary to reveal important detail.

Digital Image Recording

Other Key PointsTri-pod/Stand/Mount Pad

Camera – working FunctionsLights/Flash

Flash Sync SpeedTriggerPrism

View finder (2)CCD

Hot ShoeFilm Speed ISOCompositions

Memory CardsFilming File Formats – TIFF (High quality)

JPEG (Compressed)RAW