Author Archives: Sarah

Fill Light to Lighten Shadows

  Fill light makes shadows less dark by adding light to them. Photographic materials can record detail and texture in either brightly lit areas or deeply shadowed ones but generally not in both at the same time. PDF: Fill Light to Lighten Shadows  

Using Artificial Light, Photolamp or Flash

  Artificial light sources let you bring your own light with you when the sun goes down, when you photograph in a relatively dark room, or when you need just a little more light than is available  naturally. Different sources produce light of different colour balances, an important factor if you are using colour films. PDF: Using Artificial Light Photolamp or Flash  

Simple Portrait Lighting

  Many fine portraits have been made using simple lighting setups. You don’t need a complicated arrangement of lights to make a good portrait. In fact, the simpler the setup, the more comfortable and relaxed your subject is likely to be. PDF: Simple Portrait Lighting  

The Main Light, The Strongest Source of Light

  The most realistic and usually most pleasing lighting resembles daylight, the light we see most often: one main source of light from above creating a single set of shadows. Lighting seems unrealistic (though there may be times when you will want that) if it comes from below or if it comes from two or more equally strong sources that produce shadows going in different directions. PDF: The Main Light, The Strongest Source of Light  

Understanding the Lighting Diagrams

  Naturally the diagrams should only be taken as a guide, as it is impossible to accurately represent the enormous variety of heads, dishes, softboxes, reflectors and so on that are available, while using an accessible range of diagrams, nor is it possible to  fully indicate lighting ratios and other such specifics. In practice, however, differences in equipment, and sometimes scale, should be small, and will anyhow at allow you to add your own personal stamp to the arrangement you’ re  seeking to replicate. In addition you’ll find technical details about the use of camera, film, exposure, lens etc. along with any useful hints and Read more

Lighting Diagrams, General Lighting Arrangement

  1. The Key light or Principal light is the one light which dominates all the others, creating the most noticeable highlights and casting the most important shadows. 2. The Fill-in light is used to illuminate the shadows cast by the Key light, bringing the overall contrast of the subject within the range of the sensitive material. …see full text PDF: Lighting Diagrams  

Slow Sync Flash

  Flash used normally will freeze moving object and if the exposure is correct, will evenly  illuminate everything within its range. But, as in every aspect of photography, creating rule braking can produce stunning results; and this is particularly the unorthodox technique of slow sync flash. PDF: Slow Sync Flash  

Combining Flash and Continuous Light

  Fill-in flash uses a combination of flash and daylight to make an exposure.  It is useful in strong daylight to fill in shadows formed by existing light. The effect is natural rather than harsh. PDF: Combining Flash and Continuous Light  

More About Flash, How to Position It

  Light from any source – a window, a continuously burning lamp, a flash – foltows the same general rule: The light falls off (gets dimmer) the farther the light source is from an object. But light from a flash comes and goes so fast that you can’t see the effect of the flash on a scene at the time you are taking the picture. Special exposure meters are designed for use with flash; you can’t use an ordinary exposure meter to meas. PDF: More About Flash, How to Position It  

How To Calculate your own Flash Exposure

  The Inverse square Jaw The Inverse square Jaw is the basis for flash exposure calculations.  The farther the light travels, the more the light rays spread out and the dimmer the  resulting illumination. …see full text To Calculate your own Flash Exposure To calculate your own flash exposure you need to know two things: the distance that the light travels to the subject and the guide number (a rating given by the manufacturer for the flash when used with a  specific film speed) …see full text Bounce Flash Travels an Extra Distance If you are calculating a bounce flash exposure, measure the distance not from flash to subject but Read more

Film Processing

Processing Your First Black and White Film 1. Your darkroom (kitchen, bathroom or cupboard) needs to be completely blocked out to stop light from entering. For windows use thick card cut to shape and held in place with blade canvas tape. …see full text PDF: Processing Your First Black and White Film   Processing a Film Easy Even if you have never developed a film before, you are unlikely to find it very difficult. You do not need a specially-built darkroom, and once you have loaded the film into the developing tank, the rest of the process takes place in daylight. …see full text PDF: Processing a Film Easy   Black and Read more

Film

Types and Technical Data It makes good sense to work with a limited range of well-chosen films. You get to know their performance  intimately – what each can contribute to your particular style of picture,  its response to different subject situations and, when  necessary, just how far you can abuse the film before results become unacceptable. … PDF: Films – types and technical data   Understanding Film …The Basics Film is, very simply, a light-sensitive emulsion on a plastic base. An easy way to think of film is to compare it with bread and butter. Think of the bread as the base, the butter as the emulsion. When you Read more

Colour Photographic Printing

  The colour processing that we shall be using is the subtractive method. Using the subtractive filters of yellow magenta and cyan. In practise you will only use two filters at any one time, as a third filter will simply reduce the effect of the other two.  In practise you will only use the filters magenta and yellow. …see full text PDF: Colour Printing   Min Test Strip  Print Size Exposure: Aperture – start at f8, First Test Strip: 5,10,20,40  sec, Adjust aperture to target 20  sec exposure… see full text A ring-around chart for neg/pos colour printing Filtration data shows what  to subtract from present filter settings Read more

Black & White Photographic Printing

  The Chemicals: There are three basic chemicals in the printing process. These are Developer, Stop and  Fix. Developer brings out the latent image, the magic part of the process. Stop does what it says, stops the image from coming out any further. Fix prevents any white light from darkening, fogging, fading or otherwise affecting the finished print i.e. fixing it. Printing Equipment and materials you’ll need Making a Contact Print Step by Step Processing a Print Step by Step Development …see full text PDF: Black  & White Photographic Printing   Photographic Paper Most black and white paper is coated on a base consisting of paper fibre sealed Read more

The View Camera

  Cameras and Accessories View cameras come in a variety of sizes, ranging in inches  from 2 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ up to 11 x 14 formats. There are larger models, but those are usually used only for special-purpose photography because of  the limits imposed  by  their massive size and weight. The two most popular sizes are 4×5  and 8 x 10. All monorail cameras are modular  in  design. These can be specifically configured in terms of bellows, monorail length, and type of back and front components to serve  a wide variety of photographic needs.  … PDF: Cameras and Accessories   Definitions The view camera is unique because its lens and back are Read more