Student handbook 2014 - PIC Photographic Imaging College

PIC Student Course Notes
Welcome to the PIC Course
This notebook has all sorts of information that can be used
in conjunction with your classes.
The book lists background information and further areas of
research for your major areas throughout the year.
It has links to other sources of information if your reading
this on a computer connected to the internet.
The course is broken down into four major areas of study.
• Camera
• Studio
• Output/Darkroom
• Folio
Have a read if you have any suggestions for improvement
let us know, [email protected]
Camera
The Eye and the Camera
Looking at the human eye helps us understand how the
camera works.
The lens of the eye is like the lens of a camera.
In both the eye and the camera:
the lens focuses an image of the surroundings on a light
sensitive surface - the retina of the eye and the film of the
camera.
the light sensitive material is protected within a light-tight
container - the eyeball of the eye and the body of the
camera.
a mechanism shuts off the light passing through the
lens to the interior of the container - the lid of the eye
and the shutter of the camera.
the size of the lens opening [aperture], is regulated
by the iris diaphragm
But there are important differences:
The eye adjusts automatically to high and low light
conditions
in a dark room the iris of the eye opens wide to allow as
much light as possible to enter.
in bright light the iris closes down to prevent too much light
from entering.
The eye continually shifts it’s focus as you move your eye
around
Observe the pupil in your own eye in a mirror as you switch
a bright light on and off. You will see the iris adjust the size
of your pupil accordingly. Adjustable cameras don’t adjust
for extreme light conditions automatically. You must
regulate the light entering the camera. Some newer
cameras have semi-automatic features to help you do this.
The eye sees selectively, the camera sees indiscriminately.
People observe only details relevant to them. Their minds
filter out what they don’t need to see. The camera sees all
details in the view and records all details on the film.e.g.
when your photo has a pole or tree growing out of your
subject’s head. The photographer saw only the subject but
the camera saw all details in its field of view.
As a photographer you must train yourself to see what the
camera sees.
Note : A detailed chapter on this topic is to be found in
A.Feninger, ‘The Complete Colour Photographer’ ISBN 0
500 01061, Part iv, available in the PIC library
Camera Care and Handling.
Parts of the Analogue Camera
Function of the parts of the camera
How handle/shoot with a camera.
Composition?
Parts of the camera.
A camera is a light tight box, with a
lens attached. Today’s modern
cameras have very sophisticated
controls, that allow the operator many
choices. Some of the controls are
necessary others sometimes hinder
creativity.
The majority of modern handheld
cameras have a built in light meter, a
dial to control shutter speeds and a
dial to control the aperture usually
situated on the lens. This is all we
need as creative individuals, any thing
else is an add on.
Handling cameras.
Never,
◆
◆
◆
◆
Always,
◦
◦
◦
◦
Touch the lens.
Touch the shutter curtains.
Drop the camera.
Expose the camera to sea,
salt,water, extremes of heat
and cold
Wear the camera strap.
Use a Lens hood
Leave the UV filter on
Keep the lens cap on when
not in use
Holding a camera to shoot.
Assuming we want the most
photographic quality of images we can
possibly produce we need to follow a
few basic guidelines.
Pay attention to these points: • Grip
Stance
When holding a camera, tuck your
elbows in, spread your feet squarely
apart and try and make your whole
posture as steady as possible.
Support/s
If possible use any or all extra support
you can. This could be a tripod or a
wall to lean on,
Composition?
Composition is one of the most
important aesthetic considerations
that is applied to all photography. It is
a simple and powerful way to add all
the extra emphasis you need to any
image. There are only a few guidelines
to making a good composition. but
ultimately the guidelines are simply
here to help us be better
photographers.
• Stance
• Support/s
Grip
Hold the camera firmly in your hands,
rest the camera in the palm of one
hand and wrap the other around it,
keep your fingers clear of the lens].
When pressing the shutter, gently
stroke or squeeze it. Jabbing or
stabbing ‘might’ produce camera
shake.
5
Maintain & prepare photo equipment.
Camera use - Do’s [Analogue]
1.
Check that wind-on lever
cocks shutter, that the shutter
works and that where
present, the “cocked
shutter” indicator shows red
when the shutter is cocked.
Or for a digital camera make
sure the battery is charged
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
Turn aperture ring and look
to see if aperture opens and
closes
Open camera back and
observe shutter and aperture
11.
12.
13.
Look through viewfinder at
bright and dark areas and
check that light meter is
functioning. It should indicate
slower speeds and larger
14.
apertures for darker subjects
and shorter exposures for
brighter subjects.
Once film is loaded in
camera , check that rewind
exposures on your film or
getting all the exposures on
the first frame only.
Change the ISO speed and
check that light metre
indicates more exposure
needed as ISO speed is
lower and less exposure
needed as ISO speed is
increased.
Always support camera when
opening camera back so that
back doesn’t swing out and
flop open. This puts pressure
on back’s hinges and can
bend the actual back so that
it does not close properly.
Check inside camera for
dust, particles etc. Gently
blow out with blower brush. If
they are visibly dirty or
greasy, wipe film tracks or
film pressure plate very
Change speed and release
shutter. You should clearly
notice the difference
between slow and fast
shutter speeds.
lever moves as you advance
the film. Faulty film advance
or rewind levers or film not
being loaded properly are
main cause of getting no
8.
10.
and has enough power to run
the camera.
Check Exposure/frame
counter numbers change in
their window.
changes as you press the
shutter button. Press ‘B’. You
should be able to look
through camera when it’s on
‘B’
5.
9.
15.
16.
17.
gently with cleaning cloth.
Check shutter curtains or
blades by looking to see that
they are not damaged and
that there is no dust or
foreign material on them.
Never touch shutter curtains
with fingers or other objects.
If blades are damaged in any
way, then camera must be
sent for repairs.
If light meter , shutter button,
shutter speeds, apertures,
ISO etc, are not functioning
then camera must be sent
for repairs
Look through viewfinder to
check that viewfinder is clear
and that lens is not dirty.
Check battery compartment
is clean. Batteries should be
replaced at regular intervals.
If using a Flash, attach the
flash and fire off a test flash.
Check any other extra
Camera Use Don’ts
1.
Never point cameras directly
at the sun.
2.
Always attach the lens hood.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
This will prevent flare and
give some protection to the
lens body from knocks.
Wear the camera strap so
that there is no danger of the
camera being dropped.
If moving from a cold area to
warm, allow camera to warm
up before shooting. You may
get condensation on lens.
Don’t touch lens with fingers
or wipe lens with hankies,
normal tissues etc.
Don’t use any cleaning fluids
on camera bodies. Blow off
dust with blower brush or
wipe gently with lint free
cloth.
Keep all photographic
equipment away from food,
smoke, gases, chemicals,
heat, humidity, dust, water,
especially salt water.
Maintaining the Camera Lens.
1.
Keep a UV filter on the lens at
all times. This will protect the
2.
3.
functions your particular
camera may have.
4.
5.
actual surface of the lens as
well as filtering out the sun’s
[blue] ultra-violet rays.
Keep the lens cap on to
protect lens when you are
not shooting.
Dust or small particles on
lens should be gently swept
off or blown off with blower
brush.
Greasy finger prints or other
water or grease marks may
be removed by special lens
tissue.
More stubborn marks may
require the lens tissue to be
moistened with lens cleaning
fluid.
6
Camera Pre-Shoot Checklist
Use this check sheet before you commence any planned shoot. And when you return equipment.
Borrowing
Returning
Battery
Battery
Battery/Spare
Battery/Spare
Battery Charger
Battery Charger
Lens hood
Lens hood
UV Filter
UV Filter
Clean Lens?
Clean Lens?
Memory Card, empty?
Memory Card, empty?
ISO setting
Neck strap
White Balance
USB Download cable
RAW/JPEG
Manual/Quickstart card?
Colour Space, Adobe RGB
Neck strap
USB Download cable
Manual/Quickstart card? Battery
7
How do I make my photos look their best?
Let’s talk a little bit about pictures and
why we love them.
Pictures can be beautiful, powerful
emotional and riveting. They can
decorate a space like a gallery or
home; be published in many formats
including books magazines and now
online. A well executed landscape can
lift the viewer back to another time
and place. A still life can evoke
hunger, capture a mood of serenity,
warmth. A powerful portrait of a
person can look into their soul, and let
you share their lives of smiles, anguish
or tears. A great picture
communicates. Think about it. There is
a huge market out there for
photographs because publishers
know that the people who buy their
materials will be drawn to good
photographs that reach out to them.
Visual communication is something
that we’re all born being able to relate
to. ‘Seeing comes before speaking’.
Your subject matter is only limited by
your imagination.
But what makes a photograph
successful? The answer is a fairly
simple one, and you can improve your
photography today by learning a few
very basic rules. One disclaimer,
though. As the old saying goes, rules
are meant to be broken. Some of the
best photographs very purposely
break a lot of the basic “rules” of
photography. But to break the rules in
a way that enhances a photograph
and effectively turns it into a great
photo, you first have to know the rules
and have a reason for wanting to
break them.
So today we’re going to talk about
simple photographic rules that will
make your pictures better.I call these
rules guidelines and they are called
the three P’s, Proximity, Position and
Point of View.
Proximity
The first 3 rules for proximity are:Get Closer.
Get Closer.
Get Closer.
Fill the frame with as much of the
subject as you can, are able, dare
or have time to. This will
demonstrate what it is you are
photographing, very quickly and
clearly.
Position
Most really strong photographs
position their main elements in certain
specific places of the frame. When
you think about where you put your
subject in the photograph, you are
composing your image. Think about it.
When a painter starts out with a blank
canvas, he or she has free reign to
decide where to put that river, those
mountains, the trees, clouds and
anything else that needs to be
included. Creating a photograph, you
should go through the same process.
Nine times out of ten when I see a
photo of the flower with Barbie or
some other object lying in the
background, the flower itself has been
dead centre in the frame. This is
simply natural instinct for us to
compose a photograph this way.
When we are looking at the flower, our
eyes are focused directly in front of us.
We don’t put the flower on the table,
bring our ear down to the flower and
then try and shift our eyes to see the
flower out of the corners of them.
Some part of our brain knows that and
wants to place the subject right there
in the middle of the frame, where our
eyes would normally look. The trick is
to realise that when the picture is
taken and all is said and done, you will
have that small rectangle to hold out in
front of you and look at, and then you
can look at it by focusing your eyes
straight forward. Until then, forget
about centreing your subjects. This is
a harder concept to master than you
might believe at first. Once you try it a
few times and see for yourself with
your own images the difference that it
makes, it will get much easier.
There are several “classic” ways to
compose a photograph. To use these
methods, you will need to train
yourself to see your subjects in terms
of lines and shapes. Sometimes lines
in a photograph are obvious, like the
horizon in a sunset picture. Other
times, the main lines in a photograph
are not nearly so obvious. One way to
see the main shapes in your
photographs is by squinting your eyes
until the image almost becomes a blur,
then you’ll see any lines and shapes
created by the shadows and light. This
is a great way to look at a scene when
you’re thinking about how to compose
a photograph. You may notice how
shadows blend together in a way that
might not be immediately obvious
otherwise, creating shapes and forms
that the viewer may not consciously
notice when looking at a photograph,
but that will definitely impact their
perception of the image, nonetheless.
Composition: Rule of thirds
The rule of thirds sometimes know as
the golden mean.
The Rule Of Thirds & The Golden
Mean
One of the most commonly talkedabout rules in
photography is the
rule of thirds. The
concept is best
explained by taking
your canvas and
dividing it up into
thirds, both
vertically and
horizontally, so that
you essentially wind
up with a tic-tac-toe board.
The rule of thirds should be used as a
guideline for when you have vertical or
horizontal lines in your image. You will
probably hear more about this
photographic “rule” than any other, so
I’ll explain it fairly in depth here and try
to give you an understanding of why it
is so effective. The rule of thirds is
8
derived from another rule called the
“Golden Mean” that says that the main
subjects of an image should be placed
at the intersecting points created
[roughly] by the lines mentioned
above, thusly:
So if you are composing a photograph
of a sunset, try placing that horizon
line one-third of the way from the top
or bottom of your image, to include
either more foreground or more sky.
You’ll notice a stronger landscape this
way.
I’ll interject a little art history and math
lesson here to explain the theory
behind the Golden Mean.
The Golden Mean is a number sort of
like Pi, from your high school days in
math class. Whereas Pi is equal to
3.14-yadda-yadda-yadda [math was
never my best subject] and is handy
for all sorts of geometrical things, the
Golden Mean is equal to 1.618-yaddayadda-yadda. Mathematicians use the
Greek letter Phi when they’re talking
about the Golden Mean. This is
derived from something else you may
or may not remember from your math
days called the Fibonacci Series.
Fibonacci was an Italian
mathematician born around 1170 A.D.
who, for reasons unbeknownst to me
[What really possesses
mathematicians to do anything, I
wonder? Maybe the same thing that
makes us take pictures?], decided one
day to start with the numbers zero and
one and add them together. Okay, that
just gave him the number one again.
Big deal. Then what? Then he added
the last number he used [one] to his
new resulting number [one] and got
two. He did it again by adding one and
two and got three. Then next time...
Well, let me just lay it out this way, it’s
easier to visualise:
0+1 = 1
1+1 = 2
1+2 = 3
2+3 = 5
3+5 = 8
5+8 = 13
8+13 = 21
13+21 = 34
21+34 = 55
34+55 = 89
55+89 = 144
89+144 = 233
144+233 = 377
233+377 = 610
And you can keep going like that
forever. All right. What does that
prove? Nothing, as far as I can tell.
BUT, if you take the ratios created by
these numbers, an interesting pattern
appears.
[I promise, this is all going to get back
to photography... just keep reading...]
Ratio = 1 to 0 = 0
Ratio = 1 to 1 = 1
Ratio = 2 to 1 = 2
Ratio = 3 to 2 = 1.5
Ratio = 5 to 3 = 1.6666
Ratio = 8 to 5 = 1.6
Ratio = 13 to 8 = 1.625
Ratio = 21 to13 = 1.61538
Ratio = 34 to 21 = 1.61538
Ratio = 55 to 34 = 1.61764
Ratio = 89 to 55 = 1.6181
Ratio = 144 to 89 = 1.6179
Ratio = 233 to 144 = 1.6180
Ratio = 377 to 233 = 1.6180
Okay - whew! - the boring part is
mostly over. Now we’ll talk about
what this actually means in the
world of taking pictures. Let’s
look at this diagram below.
If you look at the grey lines in the
image, they make up squares. When
all of these squares are put together in
the way they make up this picture,
they come together to form a
rectangle. The ratio of the squares in
this rectangle is composed of our
magic number, 1.618! Here’s where it
actually gets interesting. If you’ve
hung on this long, I commend you.
This ratio is found all over in the
natural world. Have you ever seen a
nautilus seashell that’s been sawed
open? Its growth rate follows the
curve in this image, 1.618 - exactly.
Same with the little spirals that
compose the interior pattern of a
sunflower, where the seeds are.
Leonardo DaVinci based all sorts of
his artwork, experiments and theories
on the Golden Mean. The vast majority
of flowers have petals that number 3,
5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 or even 89. Even
symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven
can be broken down into this ratio whether that was on purpose or
coincidental is anyone’s guess. Mozart
is rumoured to have been a hobbyist
mathematician. A study was done a
few years back on top fashion models.
Their faces, interestingly enough, have
a number of characteristics with
exactly the ratio 1.618. These
numbers are everywhere in nature,
and on some basic, instinctive level,
the human eye tends to find beauty in
things that correspond with this ratio.
So that tells us where the idea behind
the rule of thirds came from.
Technically, if you draw grid marks on
your frame and break it up into
eighths, then draw your dividing lines
down at the mark of three eighths on
each side, you’ve got the spots where
the Golden Mean
hits.
However, when
you’re looking
through your
viewfinder, it’s not
like you’re going
to get out your
tape measure and divide everything
into eighths, hence we use the rule of
thirds, which is very close for all
practical purposes.
Point of View.
The last thing we’ll talk about in this
lesson is point of view. Specifically,
your point of view, as the
photographer. How many times have
you seen something worth taking a
photo of - maybe a barn, a tree, or
your dog - and picked up your camera
to snap a picture right then and there?
If this is the way you go about taking
photos, you can dramatically improve
your technique with one simple
9
process. Walk around the subject. All
the way around it. See how the
background changes as you move
360 degrees around your subject.
Then lie down on the ground and point
the camera up at your subject. Okay, if
it’s your dog, you might have to watch
out so he doesn’t come over and lick
the camera lens, but you get the point.
Climb a ladder and look down, trying
the same thing. Tilt the camera
vertically, even diagonally. Take a
whole roll of film [or fill a whole
memory card if you use a digital
camera] of the same subject from
drastically different points of view and
compare the results. You might
surprise yourself. You’ll definitely
surprise the viewer by trying
something different and that will add
impact to your photo.
When you’re walking around your
subject finding different points of view,
watch out for what is in the
background. Not “Barbie the
distracting element” that we already
covered, but if you’re taking a photo of
your Aunt Sally sitting in the back yard
knitting a sweater, watch out for that
tree behind her. Many a photo has
been ruined because Aunt Sally’s hair
is the same color as the tree bark and
when you’ve taken the pictures and
are looking at the final product, you
notice that it actually appears as if that
tree branch is growing out of her head!
The trick is to look - really look through that viewfinder before you
snap the shutter. Make sure every
single element is something you want
in the photograph and that each
element is in the exact spot that you
want it.
Further references
Michael Langford, pg 132, ‘Basic
Photography’ pub by focal press
Arnold Gassan, pg 67, ‘Handbook for
contemporary Photography’ 4th ed,
pub Light Impressions
10
Depth Of Field
Part I DOF
Part II Movement
Depth of field is governed by 4 factors. Aperture, Camera to subject distance , Type of lens, Point of focus.
Aperture
The smaller the aperture the greater the depth of field
Therefore, f2.8 gives less depth of field than f22
Some uses for these are shallow DOF for portraits and deep DOF for landscapes, this is not a RULE rather a
beginning point.
Camera to Subject Distance
The closer the camera is to the subject the lower the DOF even at f22
Type of Lens
The wider angle the lens the greater the DOF, [Wide Angle],
Wide = shorter than “Normal“
The narrower the lens the shallower the DOF [Telephoto or Zoom].
Narrower =longer than “normal.“
Point of focus
The closer the point of focus the shallower the D.O.F,
Focusing on someone’s nose in a portrait at f2.8 may leave the eyes out of focus, it’s better to always focus
on what you want in focus to achieve the
correct focus.
References:Horenstein, “Beyond Basic Photography”
page 50, 221-225
Langford, “Basic Photography” page 178
Depth Of Field Control & Lenses
Depth of field
Distance between the nearest and
furthest parts of a subject which can
be imaged in acceptably sharp focus
at one setting of the lens.
Short focal length lenses.
Also called wide-angle lenses, run
from super-wide 15mm and fish-eye
types, through 21mm, 24mm, 28mm
and 35mm. Different manufacturers
make some or all of the above focal
lengths for their own cameras, or a
variety of S.L.R’s. If you cannot get all
of those listed for your brand of
camera, don’t worry, they are so
similar that 21mm or 24mm lenses are
nearly interchangeable for practical
use.
Medium focal length lenses.
These include the so-called normal
range from 50mm through 55mm The
normal label is applied when the focal
length of the lens is close to the
diagonal of the image area on the
negative. 35mm negs are about 2" on
the diagonal - approximately 50mm.
This is considered a pleasant medium
focal length for this picture size.
Long focal length lenses.
Also called telephoto lenses, begin
about 85mm and run to 200mm,
300mm and as long as a strong man
[person, photographer], is able to lift
without a block and tackle.
The importance of focal length for
depth of field.
Knowing that a wide-angle lens will
give you more d.o.f. at any aperture
than a telephoto lens will at the same
aperture and from the same camerato-subject distance, you begin to
conceive where and why certain
lenses are more useful than others. In
crowds, in small rooms or any tight
space, or for more inherent d.o.f.
when shooting a scene or still life,
choose a wide-angle lens. Even
without being stopped down to f16
the smallest opening on most S.L.R
lenses [except for the macro close-up
type], you get good to fantastic d.o.f.
with 21mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm
lenses.
In situations where you want relatively
shallow d.o.f. such as a portrait with
an out-of-focus background, choose a
medium or long focal length lens, and
shoot at medium or large apertures.
With experience you learn that a
135mm lens at f11 from a distance of
about 5 feet will give you a nice sharp
image of someone, but distracting
objects behind the person appear
softly focused.
Of course, when you need the
magnifying power of a telephoto lens,
especially if you can’t move closer to a
subject, there is no substitute for
135mm or longer. After about 200mm,
S.L.R lenses tend to become pretty
heavy and bulky to tote around
casually, but these types are all sold
with their own cases and shoulder
straps to make them more
comfortably portable.
Focusing distance
The closer you focus on any scene or
object the less d.o.f. a lens produces
at a given aperture and focal length.
In reverse, as a camera to focusing
point distance increases, d.o.f. also
expands.
Suppose you focus at 1.5 meters with
a 50mm lens set at f8. d.o.f. is only
about 50 cm from 1 metre to 1.5
meters”. Now move back to 3 meters
and focus on the same subject. With
the lens opening still at f8 d.o.f. has
increased to more than 2.5 meters.
Knowing about d.o.f. and how
to control it helps you choose
where you will place your
camera, which lens will be
most effective for a particular
subject, and what lens
opening will be feasible for
the d.o.f. needed to
accomplish the photographic
feat you’re tackling. If you
think in meters, you’ll be
pleased to note the d.o.f.
markings are in meters as well
as feet.
D.O.F. seems to be one of the
least understood principles of
photography, but it is neither tricky nor
mysterious. Being able to control it
gives you a lot more mastery of
images than you could hope for with a
less sophisticated camera. It
becomes easy to visualise how much
of a picture will be sharp. If you shoot
a distant scene focused at or near
infinity, you’ll have complete
sharpness at any aperture if nothing is
closer to your lens than about 100
feet. If you shoot a face in a crowd
and want selective focus [or selective
out-of-focus ] you’ll use a fairly large
lens opening, depending on your
distance to the person. This will blur
the background so it is
noncompetitive with the main visual
interest.
Hyperfocal Distance.
When a lens is focused at infinity, the
near limit of d.o.f. is called the “Hyperfocal” distance for that particular
aperture [it will vary with each aperture
setting as you have already
experienced in the previous section on
“Aperture”.
In lens A aperture is f8 and lens is
focused at infinity – d.o.f extends from
7 meters to infinity. However for
maximum d.o.f., that is a greater
hyper-focal distance, should set the
distance scale so that the infinity mark
lines up opposite your f-stop on the
d.of. scale [see Lens B].
Now with lens still set to f8, d.o.f.,
extends from 3 1/4 meters to infinity,
that is, everything from 3 1/4 meters
to infinity will be sharp.
Greatest hyper-focal distance is
obtained by setting infinity at the
smallest apertures - and even greater
on a wide angle lens.
Remember you set infinity to the f
stop not the focusing mark on the
d.o.f. scale. this is an effective
method of getting in in focus both the
foreground and background of a
scene that extends to the far
distance.
Similarly you can pre-set a smaller
distance on lens to a particular f-stop,
to get a narrow area in focus. This is
particularly effective when you don’t
have time to focus.
13
Lenses & Lens Characteristics
let pass when it is open to its widest
aperture. Just as a large window
allows much light into a room, a large
lens opening allows much light into
the camera. Smaller windows, like
smaller lenses, allow less light to pass.
The speed of a lens is expressed by
the symbol f/-, such as f/2.8 or f/2.0.
The more light the lens allows to pass,
the “faster” the lens.
Key concepts:
Focal length [F], focal point, object at
infinity, negative format, normal lens,
telephoto lens, wide-angle lens, speed
f/-, maximum aperture, f/=F/d
Two major characteristics of the
camera lens are its speed and its focal
length. The focal length [F] of a lens is
the distance between the lens and the
focal point where a sharp image of an
object at infinity is formed.
Have you ever used a magnifying
glass to focus an image of the sun on
a piece of paper or a leaf? The focal
length of the magnifying glass is the
distance between the glass and the
image of the sun when it is in sharp
focus. The sun, of course, is very far
away and we may consider it an
object at infinity. Practically speaking,
we may consider any object more than
15 meters away from the lens an
object at infinity.
You do not have to measure the focal
length of a lens - the manufacturer
inscribes this information of the lens
barrel. The focal length of most lenses
never changes because it is a
characteristic of the design to which
the lens is ground. [Zoom lenses are
an exception - their focal length is
variable and can be adjusted as
needed].
Normally a camera is fitted with a lens
having a focal length approximating
the diagonal of the negative format
used in that camera. Thus the normal
lens for a camera using a 6 cm by 6
cm negative format would be
approximately 8cm. The normal lens
for a 35mm camera using a 24mm by
36mm film format would be
approximately 43mm.
Actually, the f/value of the lens is a
precise way of expressing the
relationship between the diameter [d]
of the lens at its maximum aperture
and the focal length [F] of the lens.
The f/value of the lens is calculated as
follows:
focal length
diameter of lens d
= f stop
Any given f/value defines an exact
relationship between the lens aperture
and the area of the negative format no
matter what camera or lens is in use.
The system of f/values provides a
common standard of light
measurement for all cameras under all
conditions.
The diagram above shows shows how
this was calculated using the formula
for finding the diagonal of a rectangle.
Longer-than-normal length lenses are
commonly known as telephoto lenses;
their use will increase the image size
on the negative. The effect is similar
to looking at an object through a
telescope. Lenses with shorter-thannormal focal length are known as
wide-angle lenses; their use will
reduce the image size on the negative.
The effect is that more peripheral
details are included in the picture at
any given distance. Lenses with
longer or shorter focal lengths also
have differing angles of view. That is,
they see less or more of the peripheral
details in a scene than a normal lens
at the same distance. Figure 2-2,
below, shows the different angles of
view associated with lenses of
differing focal lengths.
The second major characteristic of a
lens is its speed. The speed of a lens
expresses how much light the lens will
The manufacturer inscribes the f/value
on the barrel of the lens. An f/2.0. lens
has a diameter that measures one half
of its focal
length, an f/4.0
lens has a
diameter one
fourth of its
focal length,
14
and so on. The greater the diameter
of the lens, the more light that can
pass through it at its widest
aperture. Thus larger diameter
lenses for any given focal length are
faster lenses; f/2.0. is faster than f/
4.0 is faster than f/5.6 and so on
Another diagram showing the
differences in angle of view from
many lenses on a 35mm film
camera.
15
How Images Are Formed
Pinhole Images
When light reflects off a subject and
passes through a pinhole, it forms an
upside down image on a surface
placed behind the pin hole. The light
which reflects off the bottom of the
subject passes through the pinhole
and continues in a straight line to the
top of the material placed behind the
pinhole. The size of the pinhole
determines how much sharpness
there is in the image that is formed.
The distance of the light sensitive
material to the pinhole determines the
size and angle of view of the image.
A pinhole creates images with very
small circles of light, which directly
relate to the size of the pinhole. The
resulting image is not formed by
points of light, as it would be with a
lens, therefore it has low sharpness
which is equal from foreground to
background [unlimited depth of field].
Small pinholes also have low image
brightness resulting in long exposures.
Refraction
Light slows when passing from air to
glass and slows even more when
passing from air to water. If the light is
traveling at an angle to the surface of
the denser material it slows unevenly.
The side of the light wave which hits
the material first drags and alters the
direction of the light.
Resolving power
Resolving power is the ability of an
image - formation process, [i.e.
camera lens, enlarging lens, printing
materials etc ] to individually or in
combination reproduce a test graphic
[see diagram to the left] so that
individual elements of the image can
be seen distinctly. Targets used to
measure resolving power have
alternating light and dark lines at
varying distances and widths. USAF
and ANSI resolution targets are in the
form of parallel bars forming a spiral.
These bars decrease in size and
increase in line frequency the closer
they are to the centre.
The RIT target is alphanumeric. The
smallest set of numbers must be
correctly identified to be correctly
resolved.
To test the resolving power of a lens, a
target is placed on the lens axis at the
specified distance [for example 21
times the focal length] to produce an
image at a specified scale of
reproduction. The image is viewed
with a magnifier, a target is chosen,
where the finest set of
elements can be seen
distinctly. This has a
specific reference to
lines/mm.
Dispersion
Refraction bends shorter wavelengths
slightly more than longer wavelengths,
creating dispersion of white light into
an array of colours.
Diffraction
Stopping down
[making the aperture
smaller] increases the
diffraction of light,
which reduces image
sharpness, outlines of
objects become less
defined. When the aperture is so small
light hits the sides of the aperture and
bounces outwards instead of in a
straight line when it leaves the other
side. It is because light travels in
waves, that the wave edge hits the
aperture and bows out. Resolving
power values are based on an 8x10
print viewed at a distance of 10
inches. Minimum acceptable resolving
power is 10 lines/mm. A lens stopped
down to f64, has maximum resolving
power of 28 lines/mm which is
acceptable for an 8x10 neg because it
doesn’t have to be blown up. But a 35
mm negative would have to be blown
up 8 times to make an 8x10 print.
Therefore if a 35 mm camera were
closed down to f64 it would produce
on the neg 28lines/mm, but blowing it
up 8 times, for an 8x10 print, would
divide that diffraction-resolving power
by 8 resulting in3.5 lines/mm, which is
unacceptable. F16 produces 112lines/
mm which when divided by 8 results
in14lines/mm. This is why lenses for
35 mm cameras are not usually
calibrated for smaller apertures other
than f22 [which gives 10lines/mm].
16
Exposure.
What is exposure?
The Macquarie dictionary defines
exposure as:“the act of presenting a sensitive
material to the action of light ”1
This definition does not offer us much
at all? If we were simply to present
our light sensitive material to light. We
would have an out of focus black slab
of exposed negative. We need to use
devices such as lenses and light
meters to produce an image!
In fact an image can be made with out
a light meter and lens, a pinhole and
an estimate can be made, but we are
now beyond this guesswork approach
at photography and now should be
aiming for the best exposure in any
given situation. This can be achieved
by the correct use of a light meter, the
artistic choice of lenses appropriate
the the desired or pre-visualised
results.
I would like to add the word measured
to the above definition. Therefore the
the dictionary definition reads, the act
of presenting a sensitive material to a
measured action of light.
Measurement now enables some level
of control over the final appearance of
the negative which will then produce a
reasonable print. To achieve this
measurement we need some means of
calculating the light levels around us.
How do we measure exposure?
Most photographers will use a light
meter.There are two main types of
light meter used today, reflective and
incident. The reflective light meter
measures the light reflected back from
the subject and the incident measures
the light falling on the subject. There
are many light meters available on the
market today but all have one thing in
common, they measure light and give
it a value that then is translated back
into a useful shutter speed and
aperture combination. What is this
value? This value is a tone called
middle grey. Middle grey because it
resides in the middle between the two
extremes of highlight and shadow.
All light meters read for middle grey.
Why aren’t all our pictures all grey
then?
So when we point a light meter at an
object regardless of its colour, the light
meter tells us to give it enough
exposure to produce a grey
photograph [ with black and white
film]. As most situations have a
mixture of tones, trees skin clothes of
different colours, etc these items
reflect different amounts of light. So
the film receives more or less light
depending on it’s colour, as indicated
by the light meter in the camera.
Who controls who?
What happens when we present a
scene to the camera that does not
have a mixture of tones, with in it? It
is likely that we will end up with a grey
photograph. Fine if we are
photographing a grey object, not so if
it is something else. One way to
measure a scene effectively is to get
as close as possible to the subject
and take a reading off it. This method
works well when the person/subject is
in shadow, for example.
[ ie day or night ]
Film sensitivity/speed
Aperture
Shutter speed
As we can not control the quantity of
light [ day or night ], we are left to the
ISO, aperture and shutter to control
the amount of light striking the film,
guided by the light meter.1
This is called the exposure triangle.
Where can I find more?
Try these references,
“Black & White Photography, a basic
manual” chap 5 pg 43
by Henry Horenstein pub by Little
Brown & company
“Basic Photography”,chap 10, pg 186
by Michael Langford, pub by Focal
press
“The Negative” chap 3, pg 29
What other aspects of exposure do I
need to consider?
Alls well and fine but
what about other
things like
movement, and
Depth of Field?
Each exposure
setting given by the
camera has an
equivalent setting
that will let in an
equal amount of
light. For example,
f2.8 @ 1/500 is equal
to f16 @ 1/15 of a
second. The final
choice then is either
amount of depth of
field, or the amount
of movement in the
shot, that you want.
So how do I get it
all to work?
Exposure is tied in to
several factors.
Quantity of light
17
Aperture and Image Brightness
Relationship between Aperture and
Image Brightness.
The Aperture is the opening in a lens
which allows light to pass through to
the film plane in the camera body. It
controls the amount of light reaching
the film thus enabling a correct
exposure to be made under different
lighting conditions.
The aperture is made up of a moving
diaphragm, in the form of a series of
overlapping leaves, usually black
metal blades. The diaphragm is
usually controlled by a ring on the lens
barrel. Turning the ring allows the
aperture to be opened or closed from
full open diameter to the smallest
circular opening.
Because the aperture is in the middle
of the lens it dims or brightens the
light from the image evenly. Different
sized apertures are indicated by f
numbers, also known as f stops.
These are marked on the side of the
lens. F numbers are an internationally
agreed upon geometric sequence of
numbers indicating the amount of light
passing through the aperture. Each f
number progressively double s or
halves the amount of light reaching the
film.
the effective aperture. [ ratio of
aperture to focal length ]
Effective aperture is the diameter of
the light beam that files the open
diaphragm of the lens, [ maximum
aperture ]. The effective aperture is
slightly smaller then the real aperture
because the diaphragm is usually
positioned behind the very front of the
lens and light is converged from the
front lens element through the
diaphragm.
Because the aperture changes
proportionally to the focal length of the
lens, the same f stop will give the
same exposure with different lenses
that are focused on the same subject.
For example:
f4, lets in the same amount of light
in a 100 mm and 50 mm lens.
f4, is 1/4 the focal length of each
lens.
In a 100 mm lens the effective
aperture is 25 mm f4 = 100/25
In a 50 mm lens the effective
aperture is 12.5mm f4 = 50/12.5
The series of apertures on most
cameras is:
f 1.4, f 1.8, f 2.0, f 2.8, f4, f 5.6, f8,
f11, f16, f22. Other cameras or
lenses may also have f1, f 32, f64.
Larger f stop numbers represent
smaller apertures and smaller f stops
represent larger apertures. As you
stop down - increase numbers - you
let more light in. Thus the amount of
light passing through the aperture
doubles as the aperture increases or
halves as it gets smaller. For example,
f 5.6, lets twice as much light through
as f8, f16 lets half as much light
through as f11, and 1/4 as much light
as f8.
The f number is the same as the
relative aperture and is calculated by
dividing the focal length of the lens by
18
Exposure & Light Meters.
Exposure
The function of exposure calculation is
considered the most important
function that you will have to carry out
after you have visualised the image
you are seeking. This visualisation is
the concept of projecting the final
image that you are creating in your
mind, prior to carrying out any
practical action to achieve this. You
must be capable of assessing the
tonal range presented to you and be
able to measure accurately the
reflectance values.
type] that control the function of
obtaining a correct exposure are the
film speed, the aperture and the
shutter speed.
To become a competent operator of
your equipment and not a slave to it,
you should learn the f numbers on
your aperture ring and the settings on
your shutter dial.
speed range, hence an exposure
setting of:
f4 at 1/60 = f8 at 1/15.
How Aperture & Shutter Speeds
Combine.
Most photographers tend to use the
dial calculator that is situated on the
meter. With built in meters [T.T.L] there
is no scale, only the ability to match
both aperture and shutter speed to
achieve the correct reading or setting
of the meter in the camera.
Therefore to achieve a print to the
correct tones that you have visualised
you will need to know what zone the
tone falls into, which is called making
zone adjustments. One method which
is used to control the required tonal
values is to use the ‘Middle Grey’
reading method. Take a selected light
reading from a neutral test card to give
you a correct reading for a mid grey
value under the prevailing light
conditions. However, if there are
highlight areas and low light areas
falling on the subject it will make it
impossible to achieve a balanced
exposure for all the areas of the scene
being photographed.
Another method used to achieve a
balance of tonal range in your
exposure is called “Averaging high
and low values”. This is achieved by
taking readings on the highlight areas
and the low light areas and to then
average the readings and take the
middle scale to set your exposure.
A final method which can be used, is
to take a spot reading of the area of
importance in your visualisation and to
then place this into the appropriate
zone, and leave all the remaining
values to fall into their own zones,
whatever they may be after processing
and printing. As already mentioned,
the settings on your camera [T.T.L
Shutter Speed Range - expressed in
fractions of a second.
B, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500,
1000, 2000.
“B” is reminiscent of when
photographers used a round rubber air
filled BULB to trigger the shutter.
Most exposures were well in excess of
one second duration. Hence “B” is
used for long exposures where the
shutter is required to be held open.
This is done by either by keeping the
finger on the shutter release or by
using a cable release with a locking
device which keeps the shutter
release locked down.
Lens Aperture Range
[Pentax K1000, 50mm lens].
Apertures are expressed in terms of f
stops.
f2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22.
Exposure is controlled by a
combination of shutter speed and
aperture selection on the camera,
according to the particular film speed
being used. The number of units of
light for each change in f stops
doubles as the aperture increases or
halves as it gets smaller. There is a
direct relationship of this to the shutter
19
Exposure and Action [ Movement].
Very fast shutter speeds normally are
thought necessary to stop or freeze
the action of a fast-moving subject.
Yet you don’t need a camera with a
shutter speed of 1/1000 second to
take good action photographs. You’ll
bring home good action shots if you
understand a few basics about speed,
light, film and camera techniques.
Speed is relative. Three factors affect
the apparent speed of your subject:[1] the speed of the subject itself,
[2] the distance between the
subject and the camera, and
[3] the angle of movement relative
to the camera’s axis.
Obviously you will need a faster
shutter speed to stop or freeze the
action of a speeding racing car or a
football player streaking for the goal
line than you will need for a person
walking slowly down the street. To
freeze the action of a moving subject,
the shutter must open and close again
before the image of the subject
perceptibly changes position on the
film.
Consequently, normally we require
faster shutter speeds to stop the
action of faster-moving subjects.
The camera-to-subject distance. As
you stand by the highway watching
speeding cars go by, you may observe
them to zoom rapidly past you. But
move back from the edge of the
highway one hundred feet or so, and
the apparent speed of the cars is
considerably less. On the horizon,
speeding cars may appear to be
moving hardly at all.
Translated into shutter settings, a
general guideline for this effect might
state:
The closer the camera is to the
moving object, the faster the shutter
setting needed to stop or freeze it
apparent movement.
photograph a moving object moving
more directly toward you than across
your line of vision, and its action can
be stopped with a slower shutter
speed.
Stopping fast-moving action most
often does require fast shutter
speeds, but fast shutter speeds in turn
require larger aperture settings to
maintain equivalent exposure. You will
recall that large apertures decrease
depth of field. Thus obtaining great
depth of field tends to pose a problem
in action photography as in any
situation requiring a fast shutter.
How Can You Use Both A Fast
Shutter And A Small Aperture?
One way is to select a faster film. As
film speed is increased, the amount of
exposure required is reduced,
permitting the use of smaller apertures
with your fast shutter setting. Another
way is to use some form of
supplementary lighting, such as flash
or strobe. Additional light intensity
also will permit smaller apertures with
your fast shutter setting.
Good action shots do not always
require you to stop the action of your
subject. You can enhance the sense
of movement in your photography by
using a slow shutter and deliberately
blurring the movement of details. By
using a very slow shutter and
stationary camera, for example, you
can make your fast moving subject
appear blurred against a static
background.
Or you may choose to use another
slow shutter technique known as
panning. In panning, use your eyelevel viewfinder and spot your subject
as it moves into view. Then pivot your
head and shoulders so that you keep
the subject in the viewfinder at all
times. When your subject is in correct
view, release the shutter without
interrupting your pivot. Be sure to
follow through, just as you would in a
tennis serve, after you snap the
shutter. The trick is to have the
camera moving at the same speed
and in the same direction as the
subject. The resulting photography will
show your subject - car, motorcycle,
runner, surfer - frozen in clear focus.
The background and foreground,
however, will be a mass of blurs and
streaks caused by the camera’s
movement during exposure.
Panning gives a nice sense of speed
and you will have stopped the
subject’s movement with a relatively
slow shutter speed. Panning works
best at shutter speeds under 1/30sec.
The angle of the subject’s movement
relative to the axis of the camera.
Once again, a car moving directly
toward you may appear to be moving
hardly at all, whereas the same car at
the same distance moving across your
line of vision may appear to be moving
quite rapidly. Position yourself to
20
Camera Assignments
Manual Exposure Mode
Using manual exposure mode on our
cameras.
Manual mode is chosen by selecting
As an example, sports photographers
and photojournalists often need
lighting fast reflexes to capture
The approach you use it entirely up to
you, and may change as the situation
changes. There is ultimately no right or
the M function on the dial on the top of
the camera body.
moments that may never repeat
themselves, so too, wedding
photographers, to a lesser degree.
Photojournalists, and wedding
photographers may compromise on
wrong way to do this just what works
for you and understanding what is
gained and lost by each is what we will
endeavour to learn here.
Understanding how and when to use
their choices and choose to shoot in
semi-automatic mode, such as Av or
Tv mode.
each mode on your camera will help
you to make better pictures and
increase your employment
opportunities.
Manual allows us to determine how
our pictures will look, technically and
aesthetically.
Some situations require careful
exposure and control of our files.
Others require quick responses,
choosing the right mode for the right
situation is the first choice you will
make as a professional photographer.
Program mode Assignment
Who sees better you or your
camera, in program mode?
Exercise 1
Working in pairs, one person puts on
a blindfold. The other does not.
The person who can see has no
camera. The person blindfolded has
a camera, and receives instructions
from the person who can see on
where and how to point the camera
and when to trip the shutter. Only the
person not wearing the blindfold is
permitted to see the pictures as they
are made, only take one picture of
each object, and you must not delete
any pictures while on location. You
may use the camera in program
mode.
Make this series of pictures
Have the pictures succeeded, if so
why? If they didn’t succeed, why
not? How much impact did the
A fat, doorknob
A Sexy red car
A lonely seat
Some happy rubbish
Download your pictures to your
instructions have over the camera’s
ability to see impact on the results do
you think? How much did the lack of
camera controls impact on the final
results?
computer make a proof-sheet
[onscreen] of all the images compare
differences, to what each person saw
and what resulted. Once you have
downloaded from your camera to
computer, then delete the files from
your camera or card.
Assessment, in class discuss the
following.
Exposure Options Assignment
Exercise 2
Make an exposure wheel, from
materials provided in class.
Go outside take a light reading with
your light meter, make a picture, now
using your exposure guide wheel,
choose a different set of settings for
your camera and make the same
picture again.
Try this in a variety of lighting
situations, make at least 24 different
pictures, bring them back to class.
Delete nothing from your camera.
Download your pictures to your
computer make a proof-sheet of
each image compare differences.
Once you have downloaded from
your camera to computer, then delete
the files from your camera or card.
Assessment
Make a proofs518heet of your shoot,
discuss any differences and
observations you have drawn from
the exercise.
22
Camera Metering Modes
How to Use Digital SLR Camera
Metering Modes
Spot, Centre-Weighted, Evaluative/
Matrix Meters on Canon, Nikon etc
Mar 24, 2010 Yuen Kit Mun
How the different DSLR metering
types work, and when to use them.
Advantages and disadvantages of
spot
centre-weighted
matrix/pattern/
evaluative meters
Choosing the right metering type (also
called pattern or mode) to use, is
important for correctly setting camera
exposure. The wrong metering type (or
using the right meter in the wrong
way), can result in over or underexposed photos. Metering type or
mode should not be confused with
exposure mode (aperture-priority,
shutter-priority). Metering refers to
how the SLR's built-in light meter
measures the light coming in from the
lens (TTL: Through The Lens) and
calculates a brightness value to send
to the exposure mode computer.
Centre-Weighted Metering
In most photographs, the subject
(usually people) is in the centre. If the
background is lighter or darker than
the subject, a simple averaging light
meter will give the wrong brightness
value.
This is where centre-weighted meters
come in. A centre circle carries more
"weight" when the light meter
averages out the brightness across
the scene, to come up with one overall
brightness value. For example the
Nikon D90 has a selectable 6, 8 or
10mm diameter circle (on a 24 x
16mm sensor) that is weighted at
75%, while the rest of the frame
compensation (or using manual
exposure mode), even tricky lighting
situations can be quickly and reliably
handled. For many situations metering
off the floor or other mid-toned
(medium brightness) area, then locking
the exposure (pressing the shutterrelease button halfway), results in
accurate exposures: Backlight, where
the sun is behind the person (aim the
camera at the ground with the sun and
sky completely out of the viewfinder,
then lock the exposure). Very light or
dark clothing (aim the camera at the
floor: most carpets, tiles and wooden
flooring will give the correct exposure).
If a suitable surface cannot be found,
the camera can be aimed to straddle
the border between a light and a dark
area. Like a spot meter, exposure
compensation can also be used
together with metering off very dark or
light areas (clothing, snow).
How to Use a Spot Meter
A spot meter measures the brightness
of a small circle in the centre of the
viewfinder. For example the Nikon D90
uses a 3.5mm diameter circle in the
centre of the frame, for 100% of the
brightness measurement.
The simplest way to use a spot meter
is to measure a mid-toned area. Unlike
a centre-weighted meter, something
as small as a person's face can be
used. The disadvantage is that moving
the camera a bit can cause a large
change in the brightness reading. This
makes the spot meter unsuitable for
quick exposures.
Like a centre-weighted meter, a spot
meter can also be used to meter white
clothing or snow (add +2 exposure
compensation) or dark clothing (add
-2 exposure compensation).
Matrix (Nikon) or Pattern/Evaluative
(Canon) Metering.
Today's computerised DSLRs use
smart light meters that try to add a
professional photographer's judgment:
The brightness and color of many
different areas of the scene (10 to 100,
often more) is measured individually.
This pattern is compared ("evaluated")
against a database of thousands of
professionally exposed photographs,
which also contains information on
any exposure compensation used.
Based on the closest match, an
adjusted brightness value is output.
This is supposed to handle tricky
lighting situations such as backlight,
snow, black clothing, candlelight etc.
However, the results won't be perfect.
Intelligent use of centre-weighted and
spot meters will give more consistently
good results. Let's say a photographer
wants to photograph a man sitting in
the shadow of a doorway, with a sunlit
garden in the background (assume no
flash is to be used): Portrait
photographers will expose for the man
and over-expose the garden.
Landscape photographers will expose
for the garden and leave the man in
shadow, because we don't see overexposed areas in real life.
Depending on the photographer, either
solution can be correct. The matrix
meter will choose one solution, which
may or may not be what the
photographer wants. The
photographer can aim-off and use
exposure-lock to choose the area to
expose for, but that's just forcing the
matrix meter to act like a centreweighted meter.
contributes only 25% of the final
brightness reading. It is a good
default, general purpose mode to use
for both beginners and professional
photographers. By aiming-off and
using exposure lock and
23
Metering modes, [Exercise]
Exercise 3
Pair up with another student, use a
camera on a tripod, take portraits of
each other under varying lighting
conditions.
For example, find a place where you
can stand in the full sun, make a
portrait, with the sun,
Behind you, with the camera in, spot,
centre-weighted, matrix/pattern/
evaluative metering mode. [3 pictures]
Behind the subject, with the camera
in, spot, centre-weighted, matrix/
pattern/evaluative metering mode. [3
pictures]
Over your left shoulder, with the
camera in, spot, centre-weighted,
matrix/pattern/evaluative metering
mode. [3 pictures]
Over your right shoulder, with the
camera in, spot, centre-weighted,
matrix/pattern/evaluative metering
mode. [3 pictures]
Submit the proof-sheet and discuss
the results with your trainer.
Now go find a place where there is
some shade, and make the same
series of portraits as above.
Download the 24 images to a
computer in the computer lab and
examine the differences.
Write up a report on your conclusions,
ask yourself, which ones look the way
you expected, which ones look
incorrect, are there some pictures
where the differences are minute and
some where the differences are large?
Is there one general method of
metering that covers all situations?
Make a proof sheet using bridge.
ISO/Noise
Exercise 5
Indoors, at night, using a tripod set
up a scene or a portrait using only
the available light, set the ISO on
your DSLR to it’s lowest, either, 50,
100, or 200 ISO, and your camera to
manual mode. Take a general reading
of the scene. Write down the
exposure settings. Make an image.
Now, without moving the camera, set
the ISO to the next highest, eg 100
up to 200. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image. Now,
without moving the camera, set the
ISO to the next highest, eg 200 up to
400. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image. Now,
without moving the camera, set the
ISO to the next highest, eg 400 up to
800. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image. Keep going
until you run out of ISO settings.
Download the images from your
camera. Create a Proof sheet from
the exercise.
Open each image in photoshop.
Examine the image, paying special
attention to areas such as the
place on each image, in consultation
with your trainer discuss any issues
you see.
Assessment
Examine the image, paying special
attention to areas such as the
shadows, and highlights, take a
series of readings across in the same
place on each image, in consultation
with your teacher discuss any issues
you see.
shadows, and highlights, take a
series of readings across in the same
24
Aesthetic Camera Controls
Two controls that you can use to use
to enhance greatly your folio are,
Depth of Field
Movement.
These are best described as aesthetic
controls, as opposed to all the
technical issues we’ve looked at so
far.
Depth of Field or DOF, is best
described as;
Distance between the nearest and
furthest parts of a subject which can
be imaged in acceptably sharp focus
at one setting of the lens.
About DOF
Part I DOF
Part II Movement
Depth of field is governed by 4 factors
1. Aperture
2. Camera to subject distance
3. Type of lens
4. Point of focus.
Aperture
The smaller the aperture the greater
the depth of field
Therefore, f2.8 gives less depth of field
than f22
Some uses for these are shallow DOF
for portraits and deep DOF for
landscapes, this is not a RULE rather
a beginning point.
Camera to Subject Distance
The closer the camera is to the
subject the lower the DOF even at f22
Type of Lens
The wider angle the lens the greater
the DOF, [Wide Angle],
Wide = shorter than “Normal“
The narrower the lens the shallower
the DOF [Telephoto or Zoom].
Narrower =longer than “normal.“
Point of focus
The closer the point of focus the
shallower the D.O.F,
Focusing on someone’s nose in a
portrait at f2.8 may leave the eyes out
of focus, it’s better to always focus on
what you want in focus to achieve the
correct focus.
Short focal length lenses.
Also called wide-angle lenses, these
lenses run from super-wide 15mm and
fish-eye types, through 21mm, 24mm,
28mm and 35mm. Different
manufacturers make some or all of the
above focal lengths for their own
cameras, or a variety of S.L.R’s. If you
cannot get all of those listed for your
brand of camera, don’t worry, they are
so similar that 21mm or 24mm lenses
are nearly interchangeable for
practical use.
Medium focal length lenses.
These include the so-called normal
range from 50mm through 55mm, this
is an analogue film camera’s diagonal
measurement of the film, in digital it
varies on camera models but is
usually, 32~38mm. The normal label is
applied when the focal length of the
lens is close to the diagonal of the
image area on the negative. There
35mm negs are approximately 50mm
across the diagonal, the sizes varies
on digital cameras. This is considered
a pleasant medium focal length for
this picture size.
Long focal length lenses.
Also called telephoto lenses, begin
about 85mm and run to 200mm,
300mm and as long as a strong
person/photographer, is able to lift
without a block and tackle.
The importance of focal length for
depth of field.
Knowing that a wide angle lens will
give you more d.o.f. At any aperture
than a telephoto lens will at the same
aperture and from the same camera to
subject distance, you begin to
conceive where and why certain
lenses are more useful than others. In
crowds, in small rooms or any tight
space, or for more inherent d.o.f.
when shooting a scene or still life,
choose a wide-angle lens. Even
without being stopped down to f16
the smallest opening on most S.L.R
lenses [except for the macro close-up
type], you get good to fantastic d.o.f.
with 21mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm
lenses. In situations where you want
relatively shallow d.o.f. such as a
portrait with an out-of focus
background, choose a medium or long
focal length lens, and shoot at
medium or large apertures. With
experience you learn that a 135mm
lens at f11 from a distance of about 5
feet will give you a nice sharp image of
someone, but distracting objects
behind the person appear softly
focused.
Of course, when you need the
magnifying power of a telephoto lens,
especially if you can’t move closer to a
subject, there is no substitute for
135mm or longer. After about 200mm,
S.L.R lenses tend to become pretty
heavy and bulky to tote around
casually, but these types are all sold
with their own cases and shoulder
straps to make them more
comfortably portable.
Focusing distance
The closer you focus on any scene or
object the less d.o.f. a lens produces
at a given aperture and focal length. In
reverse, as a camera to focusing point
distance increases, d.o.f. also
expands.
Suppose you focus at 1.5 meters with
a 50mm lens set at f8. d.o.f. is only
about 50 cm from 1 metre to 1.5
meters”. Now move back to 3 meters
and focus on the same subject. With
the lens opening still at f8 d.o.f. has
increased to more than 2.5 meters.
Knowing about d.o.f. and how to
control it helps you choose where you
will place your camera, which lens will
be most effective for a particular
subject, and what lens opening will be
feasible for the d.o.f. needed to
accomplish the photographic feat
you’re tackling. If you think in meters,
you’ll be pleased to note the d.o.f.
markings are in meters as well as feet.
D.O.F. seems to be one of the least
understood principles of photography,
but it is neither tricky nor mysterious.
Being able to control it gives you a lot
more mastery of images than you
could hope for with a less
sophisticated camera. It becomes
easy to visualise how much of a
picture will be sharp. If you shoot a
distant scene focused at or near
infinity, you’ll have complete
sharpness at any aperture if nothing is
closer to your lens than about 100
feet. If you shoot a face in a crowd
and want selective focus [or selective
out-of-focus ] you’ll use a fairly large
lens opening, depending on your
distance to the person. This will blur
the background so it is
noncompetitive with the main visual
interest.
Hyper-focal Distance.
When a lens is focused at infinity, the
near limit of d.o.f. is called the “Hyperfocal” distance for that particular
aperture [it will vary with each aperture
setting as you have already
experienced in the previous section on
“Aperture”.
In lens A aperture is ƒ8 and lens is
focused at infinity – d.o.f extends from
7 meters to infinity. However for
maximum d.o.f., that is a greater
hyper-focal distance, should set the
distance scale so that the infinity mark
lines up opposite your ƒ-stop on the
d.of. scale [see Lens B].
Now with lens still set to f8, d.o.f.,
extends from 3 1/4 meters to infinity,
that is, everything from 3 1/4 meters to
infinity will be sharp.
Greatest hyper-focal distance is
obtained by setting infinity at the
Left a lens using hyper-focal distance, right a
lens focused on infinity.
smallest apertures - and even greater
on a wide angle lens.
Remember you set infinity to the ƒ
stop not the focusing mark on the
d.o.f. scale. This is an effective
method of getting in in focus both the
foreground and background of a
scene that extends to the far distance.
Similarly you can pre-set a smaller
distance on lens to a particular ƒ-stop,
to get a narrow area in focus. This is
particularly effective when you don’t
have time to focus.
The lens on the left has a grater amount of DOF
extending from almost 3 meters to infinity. The
lens on the right only has a DOF from, 7 meters
to infinity.
Lenses Assignments
To provide the student with an
opportunity to explore the Practical
and aesthetic possibilities when using
different focal length lenses. such as
“Wide Angle”, “Standard” and
“Telephoto” Lenses.
We will also investigate lens
characteristic such as “angle of view”
and “perspective”
You will need lots of room, so work
outside. Use a Tripod. When
composing the image in your
viewfinder. Make sure that you
allocate objects to the foreground for
example a person standing favouring
left of frame and no closer than 1.5
meters in front of the camera. Another
object allocated to the middle ground
& another to the Horizon Line. The
choice of subject matter is up to You.
Once you are satisfied with your
composition,
1. Set your Aperture at f4
2. Take a Grey card Reading to
establish your first exposure, at the
same time adjust your shutter speed
control to achieve the appropriate
shutter speed.
Part B Task Two:- Lens Perspective
1. Set your Aperture at f4
2. Do a Grey card reading to establish
your first exposure. At the same
time adjust your shutter speed
control to achieve the appropriate
shutter speed.
3. Use the same subject matter as in
Task One.
On this Occasion you will need to pay
particular attention to the
Top & Bottom of the Viewfinder frame
1. Re compose the frame to establish
key reference point. In this Example
the key point is the boy’s head and
waist
2. In the next series of shots each time
you use a different lens, you are to
maintain these reference points.
3. Unlike Task One you will now be
forced to move your Camera .
3. Focus on the the nearest
object.Part A.Task One,
Lens Angle of View:Shoot Frame 1 using a 50 mm Lens
Shoot Frame 2 using a 28mm Lens.
Shoot Frame 3 using a 200mm lens.
The Key to your success is that
camera needs to remain at the one
constant position.
27
Depth of Field
Exercise 7 D.O.F.
1. Set your camera to Av mode, turn
the dial on the camera until the
smallest number is displayed, Write
this down.
2. Now turn the dial to the other
extreme, note or count the numbers
as you go, when you reach the end,
write this number down. Try and
calculate the middle number.
3. Go to the store and collect the
cardboard with numbers written on
them, and a tripod.
4. Set your camera to Av mode.
5. Use a tripod
6. Lay the numbers out in a fashion
similar to the photos below. Note
the number 1 should be at least
50cm and no more than 1 meter
away from the camera, and the
number 4 should be over 5 meters
10.Now focus on the number 2 and
work through the same sequence of
pictures.
away.
7. Focus on the number 1 card, set
your aperture to the smallest
number, or widest setting, already
determined in class ie ƒ 2.8 or ƒ 3.4
11.Next refocus on the number 3 and
make the same sequence of
pictures
12.Finally focus on the number 4 and
make the same sequence of
or ƒ 5.6. Take a picture of the
number one.
8. Without re-focusing, change your
aperture to the middle aperture
calculated in class, make a picture.
numbers.
13.Assessment
Take your camera to the Digital lab,
download your images from your
9. Without re-focusing, change your
aperture to the maximum aperture
calculated in class, make a picture.
camera. Then erase them from your
card. Make a proof sheet of the
assignment and show them to your
trainer, discuss the results.
28
Controlling Movement
PART ONE
Set your format to medium to high
jpeg. Select an ISO of 100 or 200. AV
mode should also be selected on the
mode dial at the top of your camera.
Auto White balance is fine, however
you may wish to manually select an
appropriate WB setting according to
the lighting conditions outside.
Attach your camera to a tripod.
Photograph some traffic moving
across your viewfinder at a constant
speed.
Compose your image and focus on
the point that the car will be passing.
THEN experiment with panning.
Then in Av Mode, choose the
smallest aperture on your camera,
usually ƒ 16 or ƒ 22. Your camera will
automatically select an appropriate
shutter speed to balance the
exposure.
PART TWO
Use the same settings as in Part one.
1. Set up your tripod on a freeway
overpass/ foot-bridge.
2. Then in Av Mode, choose the
smallest aperture on your camera,
usually ƒ 16 or ƒ 22,
with your camera. When it is directly
in front of you, press the shutter
release button.
Change your aperture by one stop, to
ƒ 11 or ƒ 16, and take the same
photo.
6. Keep going until you run out of
apertures.
Set your camera to Shutter Speed
Priority Mode. (TV) Select 1/30
second. (A corresponding aperture
will be chosen by your camera).
Enable your camera to be moved
from left to right on your tripod.
Choose a moving car (left to right/
right to left) and track it’s movement
4. Photograph Some traffic moving
towards you at a constant speed.
5. Change your aperture by one stop,
to ƒ 11 or ƒ 16, and take the same
photo,
6. Keep going until you run out of
apertures.
7. Repeat this process with traffic
moving away from you.
29
Push Processing
The Ramifications of adjusting the
ISO on your camera.
Objective:To enable the student to gain practical
experience in the method of Push
Processing of B & W films, or
adjusting their DSLR’s ISO. which will
allow them to take photos in low
lighting conditions using available
light.
Task:- Part A, Using B&W film, T-max
400, load the film into your camera
and set the ISO to 1600, or 3200 ISO.
Shoot the roll of film under low light
conditions such as concerts indoors
or at night.
Task:- Part B Using T-Max 3200 film
shoot load the film into your camera
and set the ISO to 1600, or 3200 ISO.
Shoot the roll of film under low light
conditions such as concerts indoors
or at night.
Push Processing Film
Process the films according to the
information below. Remember, these
are starting points only and may
require adjustment if you like the look
of the results and the process
involved. Make a proof sheet of both
films to edge black.
T-Max films require an increase in
development time of approximately
25% for each 1 stop under exposure.
The listing below gives an indication of
how to calculate your* new
development time.
Remember; use D-76 Straight for 8
minutes at 20º Celsius as a starting
point.
T-max 400 24ºC 1+4 10 mins T-Max
Developer
400 iso 8 minutes
800 iso 12 minutes
1600 iso 15 minutes
3200 iso 18 mins 45 secs
Task:-Part C Indoors, at night, using a
tripod set up a scene or a portrait
using only the available light, set the
ISO on your DSLR to it’s lowest, either,
50, 100, or 200 ISO, and your camera
to manual mode. Take a general
reading of the scene. Write down the
exposure settings. Make an image.
Now, without moving the camera, set
the ISO to the next highest, eg 100 up
T-Max 3200 24ºC T-Max Developer
1600 11mins 30 secs
3200 15 mins
6400 17 mins 30 secs
Push Processing Digital Files.
Download the images from your
camera. Create a Proof sheet from the
exercise.
Open each image in photoshop.
Examine the image, paying special
attention to areas such as the
shadows, and highlights, take a series
of readings across in the same place
on each image, in consultation with
your teacher discuss any issues you
see.
Assessment Dgitial
Examine the image, paying special
attention to areas such as the
shadows, and highlights, take a series
of readings across in the same place
on each image, in consultation with
your teacher dicuss any issues you
see.
Read, more info on the Kodak
Website, if you are reading this on a
computer conneced to the interent.
[http://www.kodak.com/global/en/
professional/support/techPubs/o3/
O3wp3.jhtml#1271356]
Rebsites/Reading on Digital Noise
Noisy Photos
to 200. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image.
Next, without moving the camera, set
the ISO to the next highest, eg 200 up
to 400. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image.
Next, without moving the camera, set
the ISO to the next highest, eg 400 up
to 800. Write down the exposure
settings. Make an image.
Keep going until yo run out of ISO
settings.
30
Organising your work
Keeping Analogue & Digital files organised
Exercise 10
Part A Digital
Burn all the exercises from this class
to a DVD. Make sure each exercise is
clearly labelled and submit this to
your trainer for assessment
Part B Analogue
File all your negatives and proof
sheets in a systematic way and
demonstrate this to your trainer.
Open Toast
Click the new disk icon at the
bottom of the program window to
create a new disk, name the session
something meaningful for the future
Click the plus symbol to add some
files to the session.
Navigate to the folder containing
these files.
Click the big red button, bottom
right
Enter the number of copies you ar e
making, but leave all the other
settings as default.
Insert a blank disc when prompted.
31
Output
Darkroom/Printing
Latent Images and Developers
The relationship between
photographic developers and latent
images.
images. The latent image is created by
the camera or enlarger, and the action
of that exposure is amplified/
developer change the exposed silver
halides to metallic silver. The factors
controlling the action of the developer
"From its inception up to the present,
photography has depended mainly on
the response of silver compounds to
light. With some exceptions, the
effect of light has been to produce a
converted by the development
process.What is the difference
between a latent image and a visible
image?
A latent image is the image formed on
on the latent image are:-
latent image on a light-sensitive
surface that usually consists of an
emulsion of one or more silver halides
in gelatin. This image is made visible
as the result of chemical process
the film or paper by the action of
exposure of light to the film or paper.
This image stays invisible until the
action of a developer is applied to the
negative or paper. After the action of
known as development.
developer the image becomes visible.
When a silver halide emulsion on film
or paper has been exposed to a light
image, a latent image is formed in the
How does a developer contribute to
the formation of an image?
The developer chemically converts the
emulsion; in most circumstances this
image would not be visible because of
the small amount of silver
produced.The development process
amplifies this image by a factor of up
latent image into the visible image by
a process called reduction. For a more
thorough explanation of the concepts
and principles of reduction see:"Photographic Materials and
Processes" Stroebel, Compton,
Current, Zakia pg 240.
to 10 to the power of 9, producing the
final silver image."†
From the above we can see that
development is a crucial factor in the
What happens when we add
developer?
Reduction is a process where the
production of silver photographic
action of several components of the
◦
◦
◦
Time.
Temperature.
Type of developer.These three
factors, affect the end result
of the quality of the image.
Time.
The longer the image is in the
developer the denser the highlights.
For a negative this means an incrrease
in contrast and in the case of the
prints a lowering of contrast.
Temperature.
The activity of the developer is
governed by its temperature. This
activity increases as the developer
gets hotter and decreases as it gets
colder. Therefore a consistent
approach to development temperature
is required. Generally 20 degrees
celsius is chosen as a bench mark.
Any deviations from this will require an
increase or decrease in time.
Type of developer.
Each developer on the market has it's
own inherent characteristics that
affect the development of the latent
image. These characteristics can
range from issues such as contrast,
speed. In the case of negatives grain
and in the case of prints print colour
and tonality are modified by the type
of developer used. The individual
components of a developer and their
proportion to each other are what
make a developer work they way they
do. There are many texts available
that discuss this in depth, see the
bibliography for further info.
It is therefore important to develop
( no pun intended ) a consistent
system of development that is
controlled in all these areas.
Processing B&W film
The Chemicals
Film Developer:
The function of the developer is to
change each exposed silver halide
grain which is suspended in the
emulsion into a black, metallic silver
grain without significantly changing
the unexposed grains. Many of these
grains of black metallic silver together
make up the image.
Stop Bath:
The stop bath immediately stops the
action of the developer and
neutralises the film in readiness for the
fixer.
Film Fix:
The fixer makes the image permanent
by changing the unexposed silver
grains [which were therefore not
changed to black metallic silver] into a
soluble silver salt which is later
removed in running water. This means
that only the black metallic silver
grains remain in the emulsion.
Steps For Developing Films [Part
One]
Rinse between fixing and HCA to clear
some of the fixer
2 REEL TANK - 600 ml
5 REEL TANK - 1250 ml
Hypo Clearing Agent - H.C.A.:
This chemical removes much of the
fixer from the film and is a water
saving aid. The film now needs only a
minimal wash in running water [about
10mins. ] and makes the negative
more permanent.
Organise ALL chemistry in advance.
Then test the Fixer.
Water:
fill tank and dump for 20sec then 10
sec 5sec
Photoflo - wetting agent:
This enables the film to dry without
spots or streaks.
Fixer Test:
This must be done each time you
process film.
Hold the ‘tail’ from your film in the jug
of fixer and agitate until the film is
clear.
Note the time taken. Your correct
fixing time is 3 times the clearing time.
If the film takes longer than 3 minutes
to clear, discard the fixer, which is
becoming exhausted, and use fresh
fixer.
[Check with a staff member first].
If some opacity [milkiness] remains it
is not fixed.
Tank Volumes
Total Volumes required to process 35mm film n Jobo Tanks
2 reel
60ml
540 ml
600 ml
5 reel
125 ml
1125 ml
1250 ml
Step 1
Developer
Step 2
Stop Bath
Ready to Use
Step 3
Fixer
Ready to Use
Step 4
HCA, Hypo Clearing Agent Ready to Use
Step 5
Wash
Step 6
Ready to Use
Ready to Use
34
Steps For Processing Film Detailed
Step 1
Set the Same Temperature for all chemicals [see developing step 2]
Step 2
Presoak the film in water the same temperature as your developer for 2 minutes:
Pour in and agitate for the first 30 seconds
Agitate for twice every 30 seconds
Pour out 15 secs before time is up
Step 3
Developer.
Kodak T-Max 1:4 Temperature 24ºC Time 6 minutes.
Check the Temperature
Pour in and agitate for the first 30 seconds
Agitate for 5 secs every minute. Pour out 15 secs before time is up
Step 4
Stop Bath
Check the Temperature
Pour in and agitate for 30 secs maximum time
Pour out and keep
Step 5
Fixer, test before use. Fixing time is twice the clearing time.
Check the Temperature
Pour in and agitate for 30secs and then 5 secs every 30 sec.
Time is dependent upon your test conducted BEFORE you started, but is a minimum of 3
minutes and a maximum of 9 minutes.
Pour out and keep
If film is clear, continue, if Milky then pour fixer back and continue agitating until clear.
Pour out and keep..
Step 6
Fill tank with water, and let sit for 5 minutes, pour out.
Step 7
H.C.A [Hypo Clearing Agent]
Check the Temperature
Pour in and agitate for 5 secs every 30 secs
Time 3 minutes
Pour out and keep
Step 8
Wash:
Fill tank with water at least 20ºc, leave to soak for 2minutes. Dump water. Fill tank and
agitate vigorously for 20 seconds. Dump water. Fill tank again and agitate for 10 seconds.
Dump water. Fill tank again and agitate for 5 seconds,. Dump water.
Step 9
Photo Flo or Wetting Agent
Fill tank with water and add 2 drops of photo-flo.. Dip film twice then shake off excess and
remove from the reel, dump photo-flo in sink.
Step 10
Write your name and group number on a scrap of paper, hang the film in the film drying
cupboard, with your name and group number attached to the base of the film.
Step 11
Clean Up
Developer goes in the waste collection bottle/container
All other chemistry in to the bottles it came from
Clean all the equipment you used, and put it where it belongs.
Wet Reel and Tanks on the WET RACK, jugs and beakers back on the hooks.
35
PUSH PROCESSING (B/W)
These are general guidelines when no
published development times are
available.
To use this chart multiply the
published time at recommended ASA
by the factor in parenthesis (ie. If Tri-X
rated at 400ASA is normally
developed for 6 mins in a standard
soup, then when Tri-X is pushed three
stops to 3200ASA development would
be: 6 x 4.5 = 27 mins).
Standard Developer
1 stop push = (x1.5)
2 stop push = (x2.25)
3 stop push = (x4.5)
TMax Films
1 stop push = no change
2 stop push = (x1.33)
3 stop push = (x1.66)
Compensating Developer
1 stop push = (x1.4)
2 stop push = (x1.85)
3 stop push = (x2.5)
*Compensating developers include
Microphen, TMax, and any other
developers which are specifically
formulated for push processing
Please use these recommendations as
starting points only. In many cases
these times will prove excessive, but
when all else fails they can be a good
guideline. Please note separate data
for Tmax films.
36
Darkroom procedure. Darkroom Etiquette.
1. Move quietly and slowly to avoid
vibration.
12. After packing up, switch off
power and remove enlarger plug.
2. First person/persons in set up
darkroom and prepare chemicals.
(Fill trays and re-fill containers).
13. Cover enlarger with protective
cover/pillow case.
3. Clean bench top with damp
sponge to remove dust.
4. Prepare equipment before
switching on safelights.
5. Report damaged or missing
equipment to teacher.
6. Wash out developer measurer
before starting.
7. Replenish chemical stock when
empty (performed by duty group).
8. Place tag on enlarger number
before starting.
14. Cleaning up is the responsibility
of all those working in the
darkrooms.
15. Use your initiative at all times and
help your fellow students. BE
TIDY!
16. Do not leave print viewing trays
near the print drier. They belong
in the darkroom in their racks.
Note :
Work areas, darkrooms, studios, etc.
May not be used outside your
scheduled times. (See timetable)
9. Always agitate prints and move
them along, do not leave them in
trays.
10. Keep all paper (test strips also) in
your black carry bag.
11. Do not leave paper exposed to
safelight, it will fog.
37
Introduction To The Enlarger
The enlarger operates like a slide
projector mounted vertically on a
column. A lamp shines light through
the negative and is focused through a
lens to expose the negative image on
the printing paper:
• Image size is determined by distance
between the enlarger head and the
paper.
• Focus is determined by moving the
lens closer or further from the
negative.
• Exposure is controlled by the timer
and lens f stops (similar to camera
apertures).
An enlarger should spread light rays
evenly over the negative.
A Diffusion enlarger scatters the light
evenly over the negative and produces
about one grade less contrast than a
condenser enlarger and minimises
faults such as scratches and dust.
The Condenser enlarger gathers the
lamp’s rays and sends them straight
through the negative.
A Diffusion enlarger scatters
unfocused light over the negative.
Black and white contrast is lower and
the effect of dust on the film and other
defects is minimised. In this simple
diffusion system, light from an
incandescent bulb passes through a
sheet of cloudy glass onto the
negative.
Diffusion or Colour head enlarger, for
colour and B&W printing
A Condenser uses one or more
inserts to collect light and concentrate
it directly on the negative. Exposures
are shorter and black and white print
contrast higher than a diffusion
enlarger.
Another type of diffusion enlarger
bounces light from a high intensity
tungsten - halogen bulb into a
diffusion chamber above the negative.
In this colour head three colour filters
are built into the head for colour
printing or variable contrast printing.
Condenser enlarger, for B&W printing
38
Darkroom Tray Set Up
The sequence for processing printing
paper in the wet darkroom is,
Developer, Stop Bath, Fixer, Rinse,
Fixer 2, HCA then Wash.
Test sheets may be viewed after the
1st rinse.
Once prints have been washed
thoroughly they can be put in the
driers.
All information (concerning exposure
details and filters used) must be
written in 2b pencil only.
All wet paper must be carried in trays
provided.
Proof Sheet Exposure Assignment.
To determine the correct exposure
for making proof sheets.
Testing exposure
1. Set the height of the enlarger so
that the light will amply cover a sheet
of 8" x 10" paper.
2. Open the lens to widest aperture.
3. Focus the edge of the light.
4. Set the lens aperture to f 5.6 (this
is a starting point).
5. Set timer to 5 sec, depending on
height.
6. Cut a piece of paper 5 cm wide,
from the end of a 10 x 8 sheet.
7. Place a clear film strip onto the
paper, emulsion to emulsion.
8. Cover with Proof sheet glass.
9. Cover four frames with card,
leaving one half frame to be
exposed.
10. Expose the paper by turning on
the timer.
11. Move card one centimeter at a
time until the whole strip is exposed.
Mark the test strip of paper with felt
pens or pencil where you are to place
the card.
12. Write your details on the back of
your test strip, such as
name
date,
exposure,
enlarger No.
Filter.
• The exposure immediately before
that is the ‘minimum exposure time
for maximum black’.
• Re-test if too light, by increasing
time, or if too dark by reducing the
time.
• Once this test is done and you
have determined the correct time
there is no need to do this test
again unless you change your
system in the following areas: time/
temperature or film/dev
combination.
Keep an accurate RECORD: (in note
book or back of unexposed paper)
Name
Group No
Enlarger No.
F Stop
Exposure Time in secs
13. Process the paper.
Exposure Test For Proof Sheet
After completing a routine step test,
you will notice a range of tones
progressing from light to dark.
Identify a point on the contact print
where you cannot distinguish a tonal
change.
Summary
As paper is progressively exposed to
light it will gradually change from
light greyish to black (similar to film).
At first a visible difference will be
seen between the steps in exposure.
As the time increases, the changes
will become less noticeable to a
point where a change in the density
(black) will become indistinguishable
Steps In Making A Contact / Proof Sheet
(even though there has been a change
in exposure). Follow the steps as
outlined on the instruction sheets on
test exposure to determine the time
for proof sheeting. When the correct
time is determined, make a proof
sheet by exposing a whole sheet of
paper.
1. Place the strips of negatives
(approx. 5 frames) onto the paper
with the shiny side up (six strips
per 8 x 10 sheet), cover with proof
sheet glass.
2. Expose paper by pressing timer
switch, use the time selected in
‘minimum exposure for maximum’
exposure test on previous page.
3. Process paper.
4. Unexposed paper must be kept in
the black light proof bags
provided.
Processing steps for RC paper
1. Developer time 1-2 min., agitate
all chemicals
2. Stop Bath (water rinse)- time 30
sec.
3. 1st Fixer time 1 min., maximum 2
4. Rinse time 1 min
5. 2nd Fixer time 1 min
6. Hypo Clearing Agent time 2 min.,
maximum
7. Print washing time - 10 mins.,
minimum
40
Standard Print Assignment
Steps In Making A Standard Print
Learning Outcome
To enable students to successfully produce a ‘standard
print’ using a set method. This will enable students to make
constructive decisions and to plan procedure and apply
printing techniques which will result in a desired print. By
using a method which ensures a full-scale tonal range in the
print, students will achieve consistency in their results.
Method
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Clean working bench and negative.
Place negative in enlarger, shiny side up
Insert 21/2 filter.
Open lens aperture to the brightest f stop.
Set height of enlarger to suit required image size
(full negative image).
Focus image.
Set aperture to f8.
Cut a piece of paper for a test strip, 40 x 250mm,
use your pen to mark lines across the paper at
30mm intervals.
Place paper on easel shiny side up (emulsion up).
Set timer to 3 sec. (depending on the degree of
enlargement and negative density).
Select an area of the image which has both
highlights and shadow areas.
Cover test strip with a piece of card, expose and
move card, 30mm at a time, to have at least six
exposures.
Process, (see sheet on Making a proof sheet for
steps).
Choose the exposure time that gives a correct skin
tone.
Cut a piece of paper for a test exposure. (A second
test strip)
Place on easel and expose for new time, using the
same method as you used for test strip.
Process and check results (re-test if not right).
Place full sheet of paper into easel.
Expose and process paper.Multi - Grade Filters
And Printing Paper
‘In printing we accept the negative as a starting point that
determines much, but not all of the final image. Just as
different photographers can interpret one subject in
numerous ways, depending on personal vision, so might
they each make varying prints from identical negatives.’
Ansell Adams 1983
Evaluating Density And Contrast In A Print.
Prints are judged by density and contrast. This can be
measured objectively and subjectively. The goal in printing is
usually to make a full scale print one that contains a good
range of tones (rich blacks, many shades of grey, brilliant
whites etc.).
Assignment:- Using Multi-grade Filters.
Exposure governs the appearance of the Highlights
Changing filters changes the appearance of the Shadows.
Multi-grade filters are used with variable contrast papers.
Variable contrast paper is coated with two emulsions, one
which is sensitive to yellow/green light which yields low
contrast and the second emulsion is sensitive to blue/violet
light which produces high contrast.
The filters affect ‘the colour’ of the light that reaches the
printing paper from the enlarger light source and thus
control contrast. The lower the filter No. the lower the
contrast. The higher the Filter No. the higher the contrast.
Filters come in half steps. You can change the contrast in
different parts of a photograph by printing them with
different filters.Multi-grade RC Printing Test
Learning Outcome
To give students first hand experience in using multi-grade
filters and variable contrast RC papers.
Method
In consultation with a teacher select a negative of medium
contrast which has a wide range of tones. Select the middle
filter grade 21/2 and do a tone test to select the required
time. Make a print on 5" x 3 1/2" multigrade paper. Now
make a print at the same time using each of the whole
number filters.
That is, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Print Density
Refers to the overall darkness or lightness of the print. It is
controlled primarily by the amount of exposure given to the
paper the greater the exposure, the greater the density of
silver produced and the darker the print. Exposure can be
adjusted either by opening or closing the enlarger lens
aperture or by changing the exposure time.
41
Print Contrast
Is the difference in brightness between light and dark areas
within the print. The contrast in a print is controlled mainly
by the contrast grade of the paper or, with the variable
contrast paper and by the filter you select.
A Low Contrast Print
Sometimes called a flat print seems grey and weak, with no
definite blacks or brilliant whites.
A High Contrast Print
Sometimes called a hard print seems harsh and too
contrasty - large shadow areas seem too dark and may print
as solid black. Highlights (very light areas) seem too light
and may be completely ‘blown out’ (texture and detail are
missing in shadows, high lights or both.
Note:
By the time you are ready to make a print, the contrast of
the negative has been set, mostly by the contrast in the
subject itself, the type of film, and the way it was developed.
Suggested reading list for black and white printing.
“Over Exposure Health Hazards in Photography”
Susan D Shaw and Monona Rossol, Allworth Press, 1991
“The Print”
Ansel Adams, Little, Brown and Co. A Bulfinch Press Book,
1993
“Black and White Photography, a Basic Manual”,
“Making the Print”
Henry Horenstein, Little, Brown and Co. 1983. Chapter 8
Basic Photography 5th edition,
Black and white printing: facilities and processes
Chapter 13 Black and white printing techniques.
Michael Langford, Focal press 1996, chapter 12
“The Darkroom Cookbook.”
Stephen G Anchell, Focal Press, 1994
“The Variable Contrast Printing Manual”
Steve Anchell, Focal Press, 1997
General tips on B&W Printing, with Silver Gelatin.
How to make good prints quickly?
I encounter several reoccurring
mistakes with students learning to
‘print’. Especially with fibre based
silver gelatin papers. After time
management which I think affects us
all, maximising information garnished
from a test strip is one of the next
issues that can be addressed by any
student quickly and easily. [Even I
need to learn better time management
skills!]There are others.
They are:Making time count in the darkroom?
How to learn as much as possible as
quickly as possible, i.e. learn from our
mistakes?
How to learn when to go back and try
again, but differently this time?
Making time count.
The best way to make time count is to
get the most out of each test strip.So
how does one get the most
information from a test strip, in the
immortal words of real estate agents
the world over. ‘Position position
position’!
Careful placement of the initial test
strip will allow you to make quick
decisions based on the feedback you
receive from the test strip, if that
placement is optimised to give that
feedback. So put the test strip in a
position where you can give a trial
exposure to BOTH the shadows and
the highlights in a single test strip.
These two main areas the
HIGHLIGHTS and SHADOWS, govern
decisions on exposure time and
contrast or filter choice. If the test strip
has both highlights and shadows then
the choice made for the best exposure
time can be checked against the
corresponding shadow value, and if
needed a change can be implemented
at this stage saving one whole test
strip. Of course the actual placement
will vary from print to print, so long as
the test strip includes the necessary
tones the printer can save lots of time.
Learning from our Mistakes.
This may seem really simple but it
takes a students a while to realise this,
but the simple act of bringing the last
test strip out with you each time you
need to look at your work will help
immensely It will have a two fold
effect.
You will learn more about printing
quicker
You will learn if you are making the
right kind of decisions quickly.
A. In the days before Photoshop
extreme patience was needed here,
now it’s not so tough. The quantity of
imperfections though may even make
Photoshop™ a no goer here.
In the end you need to evaluate the
quality of the shot and it’s suitability in
your folio/job. Does it justify 4 days in
the darkroom? Maybe you can justify
continuing with it then if it is that ONE
shot!
Is it impossible for me to go back and
re-shoot? Then - sigh - you’ll just have
to keep slugging away at it.
So bring each test strip or work print
out of the darkroom every time you
need to examine your results and
before you know it you’ll be a ‘gun
printer’ in no time. Writing on the back
of your test strip as well helps
immensely, use pencil though!
Enough is Enough
Sometimes it is better to face up to
reality and just re-shoot or try another
negative. If you have made your proof
sheet to edge black, then maybe you
wont even need to go in the darkroom,
but sometimes this ‘judgment’ gets
the better of us and we ‘think our negs
are ok’. If you have been in the
darkroom for many hours and have
nothing concrete to show for it then
perhaps it’s time to re-shoot.Learning
when a neg is beyond printing is the
hardest lesson to learn of all.
Here’s some questions/answers to
help you make that choice.
Q. Have I tried both different aperture
exposure combinations to get a good
white and black? None of them come
close less time makes the white too
grey, a higher filter makes the print too
harsh or not harsh enough?
A. The neg is probably so badly
exposed and developed that no end of
work can fix it, time to re-shoot.
Q. I am up to huge time say over
150% more time for burning in on this
print?
A. This neg is so over developed that
no end of work will fix it time to
reconsider it’s worth or re-shoot
Q. Looks like some one tried to skate
on this neg or did I really take that
shot in snow storm?
43
Advanced Options for B&W Silver Gelatin Printing.
Split Filter Printing, Making fine
prints with todays Materials
One of the most ignored aspects to
Multi contrast papers is the ability to
use more than one filter to make a
print. As the main paper
manufacturers are now cutting back or
reducing the varieties of fibre based
papers that they offer,a good
understanding of how to exploit the
current crop of Multi Contrast papers
is essential. As a resource for further
research I highly recommend Steve
Anchell’s book, ’The Variable Contrast
Printing Manual’pub Focal Press 1997.
Multi contrast papers are are relatively
recent innovation in the world of Black
and White photography. It was first
thought to have been introduced to
the world around 1940 - the idea had
existed for a lot longer since 1912 but
the then current crop of emulsions
could not support it - Frank F. Renwick
a scientist at Ilford.1
Multi-grade papers didn’t really catch
on when they were commercially
introduced, they were considered
‘inferior’ to the more established
graded fibre based papers. As
someone who has only used modern
fibre based papers I can’t offer an
opinion here. My favourite papers;
when they were available; had
characteristics that I exploited with my
film exposure and processing. I felt
these graded papers were superior
especially given my overall approach
to printing papers and developers.
However during my recent Masters
project I discovered to my horror that
Agfa has stopped making my favourite
paper, ‘Portriga Rapid’. This means
that I’m now going to have to think
about using Multi contrast papers.
The best way to ‘exploit’ the papers
then is to use more than one filter to
print them. There are several ways to
do this, all have one thing in common
though. The filters need to be in a
position where they are easily
accessible. This is usually under the
lens - a word of warning keep the filter
as close as possible to the lens to
avoid possible image degradation
caused by dust and scratches on it this then means at any point the filter
can be changed with out disturbing
the negative in the enlarger.
The most simple and direct way to use
more than one filter in printing is to
use a higher or lower number to burn
in areas locally in the print. For
example, you can lower the contrast
of the sky in an image by ‘burning in’
using a lower numbered filter than the
one used to make the print. Or
conversely you can burn in the
shadow areas with a higher contrast
filter to make the shadows more
contrasty.
A more complex approach is to
combine both the highest filter and the
lowest filter, to add more versatility to
the whole process.
Say you liked the 30 second exposure
time for the ‘00’ filter this means that
when you return to the darkroom and
do your next test strip it will have an
exposure time of 25 seconds on
filter‘5’ and 30 seconds on filter ‘00’.
If you are pleased with the results,
proceed, however, and this where the
advantages of this paper real kick in,
try another exposure time at say 20
seconds on filter ‘5’ and 35 on filter
‘00’. This will give a different contrast
to simply lowering the filter from 2.5 to
1.5 for example.
Split filter printing will not create any
contrast that the paper cannot. What it
will allow is precise control over the
values in the print.
Here’s how it works.
First place your highest number filter
in your filter draw, say a number
‘5’filter. Place your paper in the easel
and do a series of test times across
the paper. Next change the filter,
leaving the paper in the easel. Put in
the lowest filter in the pack. Ilford
make a ‘00’. Now do another test strip
this time expose the paper at 90
degrees to the first test. Process as
normal and examine the print.
You should be presented with a print
that has a dark and overly contrasty
appearance on one corner, and the
opposite on the adjacent corner.
Counting across the paper in one
direction, pick the time that best suits
your intention. From that time count
the other exposure time for the other
filter.
This combination of times will be your
next test strip.
What this means is this, say you
counted across five exposure times on
the test strip in the 5 filter direction,
and they were 5 seconds each. This
gives you an exposure time of 25
seconds with filter 5.
44
Fibre Based Paper Developers. Assignment.
Objective.
Evaluate the characteristics
associated with a variety of printing
materials.
Use the following developers
1. Agfa Multi contrast Developer.
2. Agfa Neutol Developer.
Print a well exposed negative in a
variety of paper developers .
Take a well Exposed Negative, print
on 2 different papers. Get the paper
from the store. Use the developers
listed above.
When you make your prints, match
each print’s highlights carefully.
Expose the paper as much as each
developer and paper type needs and
do not change filters.
Develop each print for three minutes.
Make notes on the back of the print
as to the type of paper,type of
developer and all enlarger settings,
including exposure time, aperture
and filter used before putting the
paper in the developer. [Do this
before you immerse the paper in the
devlopers]
File all results in your technical
journal, and write up your
conclusions. Points to look for are print colour, [is it warm or cool in
appearance], contrast [local /global]
differences in exposure time and rate
of development.
45
Toning Silver Gelatin Prints.
Toning silver Gealtin prints serves a
two fold function.
1. To make the print more archival
2. To change or modify aesthetic
values in a print.
Here's a definition from http://
photography.about.com.
Toning means any procedure used to
change the colour of the black and
white photographic image. It differs
from dyeing, which is used to colour
the base material on which the image
is coated.
Toning is used for two purposes, first
and most obviously for aesthetic effect
in changing the colour, but also some
toners make the image more stable.
Toners used for archival purposes
include gold, selenium and sulphide
toning. Gold toning is seldom used,
largely because of its cost, but also
the cold blue-black tones produced
are seldom desirable. Selenium toning
is widely used for archival purposes
and also for the slight cooling of the
image and the more intense blacks it
produces. By far the most effective
archivally is however sulphide toning,
but it also gives a sepia colour.
presence of various environmental
pollutants.
You should always take normal
precautions - such as wearing safety
glasses and avoiding skin contact by
wearing gloves or otherwise - when
handling chemicals, and store them in
sealed labelled bottles out of the reach
of children. Always read the MSDS
safety information on all chemicals
you use.
Fixing: of Toned Prints
Adequate fixing is necessary to
remove unexposed silver halides,
which, if left in place, would react with
light and degrade the image. Most
practitioners today use Ilford’s
processing method for prints, which
specifies rapid fix (with ammonium
thiosulfate instead of
sodium thiosulfate) at
“film” strength, i.e.,
diluted 1:3 or 1:4 instead
of the old “paper”
dilution of 1:7, for about
one minute (compared to
the 5 to 10 minutes required in a
sodium thiosulfate fix). The
concentrated ammonium thiosulfate
provides adequate removal of
unexposed silver halides while
reduced time in the solution prevents
fix from penetrating into the paper
base where it is very difficult to
remove. Photographers would do well
to remember that over-fixing of prints
is equally detrimental to archival
quality, in the long term, as under-
Silver halides are the
most sensitive materials
available for use in
photographic emulsions,
but unfortunately metallic
silver oxidizes very readily, so that
silver images formed in our prints
require protection or stabilization in
some way. Archival processing
involves fixing paper adequately to
remove unexposed silver halides,
washing appropriately to remove
excess fixer, and preferably treatment
with some sort of toning or
sequestering solution to prevent the
emulsion silver from oxidising in the
fixing. My personal method for prints
is to utilize two trays of rapid fix,
agitating the print in each tray for 30
to 45 seconds. When the second tray
of fix has reached half its
recommended capacity, it moves to
the first tray and I prepare a second
tray of fresh fixer. The two-tray
method increases the useful life of the
fix by reducing contamination in the
second fix, assuring adequate fixation.
Kodak’s “Residual Silver Test Solution
ST-1” may be used to determine if
paper or film is properly fixed. I
should note that the traditional
method of fixing prints in a sodium
thiosulfate solution for 5 to 10 minutes
is perfectly acceptable, so long as
fixing and washing times are
adequate.
Washing of Toned Prints
Adequate washing is necessary to
remove residual thiosulfates (fix) in the
print, which could otherwise cause the
print to deteriorate over time. With the
use of a wash aid such as Kodak
Hypo Clearing Agent, Orbit Bath, or
Perma-wash, the time required for
washing prints can be reduced to a
half-hour or less, assuming that
Ilford’s method of rapid fixing has
been followed.
Toning Affects.
Sepia Toner
Sepia in highly dilute forms can be
used to tone only the highlights, it is a
two part toner which if each part of
the process is modified in terms of
timing different results can be
achieved. Sepia is a warm toned
toner and will warm the print colour
up.
Selenium Toner.
Selenium mainly affects the shadow
areas of a print. It intensifies the
blacks and cools the overall print
colour down.
Given this information it is possible to
achieve an effect whereby the
highlights are warm and the shadows
cool in colour thereby achieving a
rather interesting look. This look can
affect the spatiality of the prints as
warm colours come forward and cool
colours recede.
Both toners, will stabilise a print and
make it more archival, and able to
endure the ravishes of time.
Tea
Assignment Print Toning
Time and Dilution
Most toning is done by inspection this
means, that the actual time that you
leave the print in the toner will depend
on the degree of the effect you
require. Dilution also affects the
results, the stronger the dilution the
quicker you will see the depth and
intensity of the print colour. We
recommend lower levels of dilution
thereby allowing easier control over
the final results.
Sepia & Selenium combined.
Use the Sepia first!!!
Sepia
Soak in water first, then part “A”
bleach 1 +32, 30 seconds.
Rinse in the middle tray of water
Part “B” toner 1+16, 1 minute.
Give the print a very thorough rinse!!
Selenium
1 + 3, 2 minutes.
HCA the print for 3 minutes
Set up the appropriate trays in a well
ventilated area, get out all the tongs.
Set up trays for the toners and a
separate tray for HCA for each toner.
One large tray of water is required to
soak all the prints before starting.
As a starting point for you we will give
you a list of suggested starting times.
Write these on the back of your prints
Before you start toning.
You have a spare print/s to use as an
experiment.
As always all solutions are at 20˚
Celsius.
Sepia toner, steps.
Set up three trays one with water in it,
one with the bleach in it, and one with
the toner in it.
Soak in water first, then part “A”
bleach 1 +32, 30 seconds. Rinse in
the middle tray of water, then, part “B”
toner 1+16, 1 minute. Finally HCA the
print for 3 minutes
Soak in water first, then Part “A”
bleach 1 +32, 60 seconds. Rinse in
the middle tray of water, then, part
“B” toner 1+16, 4 minutes. Finally
HCA the print for 3 minutes
As long as you desire, at least 4
minutes though.
Use the last print to experiment
One print is to remain un-toned to
allow you to compare the effects of
the toners on your prints, some
affects are subtle and this will enable
you to “see” the results.
Washing and drying.
At tthe end of the toning session add
the prints to the archival washer for a
60 minute wash, then hang in the
processing room to dry.
Further Research
Exploring Black and White
Photography 2nd Edition by Arnold
Gassan published McGraw Hill 1993
The Darkroom Cookbook, by Stephen
G Anchell, published by Focal Press
1994
Beyond Basic Photography, by Henry
Horenstein, published by Little Brown
and Company 1977
The Print, by Ansel Adams, published
by Little Brown and Company 1988
Basic Photography 5th Edition by M
Langford, published by Focal press,
1996
Selenium Toner, steps
Selenium Toner. 1+3
Soak in water first.
Transfer the print to the tray for 2
minutes agitate constantly.
Transfer the print to the HCA the print
for 3 minutes
Selenium Toner. 1+9
Soak in water first
Transfer the print to the tray for 4
minutes.
Finally HCA the print for 3 minutes
47
Photography
&
Computers
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of
Until the advent of such technology,
equipment such as computer
photography that uses an array of light
photographs were made by exposing
tomography scanners and radio
sensitive sensors to capture the image
light sensitive photographic film, and
telescopes. Digital images can also be
focused by the lens, as opposed to an
used chemical photographic
made by scanning conventional
exposure on light sensitive film. The
processing to develop and stabilise
photographic images.
captured image is then stored as a
the image. By contrast, digital
digital file ready for digital processing
photographs can be displayed,
(colour correction, sizing, cropping,
printed, stored, manipulated,
etc.), viewing or printing.
transmitted, and
archived using
digital and
computer
techniques, without
chemical
processing.
Digital photography
is one of several forms of digital
imaging. Digital images are also
created by non-photographic
Introduction to Digital Photography
There are two main ways of making
computer images: either raster or
vector.
Raster images or [bitmapped] are
made up in a grid fashion of pixels.
Paint programs use bitmapped
images. Resolution is an important
consideration when working with
raster images because if it is too low,
ie. 72 ppi when scanned or created,
edges may appear jagged. The
squares [pixels] that make up the
image become bigger because there
are less of them
Vector images are made up of
mathematically defined lines or
curves. that refer to a specific shape
drawn at a specific location on the
page. The shapes may be moved
enlarged or reduced without changes
to the rest of the image or changing
the clarity or sharpness of the lines.
Resolution
An important factor in bitmapped files
is resolution. There are several types:
image resolution, bit resolution,
monitor resolution, screen ruling, and
output resolution.
Image Resolution
This refers to the amount of pixels in
an image when created or scanned.,
and is measured in pixels per inch.
The image resolution you set
determines the resolution of the image
when it is exported into a desktop
publishing program and the maximum
resolution at which you can print the
image.
You need to be aware of how you are
going to transport the image around
and what kind of printing facilities you
will use. The more pixels per inch in
an image the greater the amount of
data, which increases your file size.
Bigger file sizes require more RAM,
take longer to do manipulations and
longer to print out, yet have greater
detail.
An image with a resolution of 72 ppi is
72 pixels x 72 pixels = 5184 pixels
[1square inch]
A 3 inch square image at 72 ppi is 216
pixels x 216 pixels = 46,656 ppixels
A 3 inch square image at 360 ppi is
900 x 900 = 810,000 pixels.
Bit Resolution
This refers to BITS per PIXEL or how
much colour information is available
for each pixel. Also referred to as
pixel depth or bit depth. Greater bit
depth means more available colours
and more accurate colour
representation in the image.
A pixel with a bit depth of 1 has 2
possible values, on or off.
A pixel with a bit depth of 8 has 28, or
256 possible values.
A pixel with a bit depth of 24 has 224,
or 16 million possible values.
Monitor Resolution
This determines the size an image will
be displayed.
An image with 114 ppi is displayed at
twice its actual size on a 72 dpi [dots
per inch] monitor, because only 72 of
the 144 pixels can be displayed per
inch.
Output Resolution
This refers to the number of dots per
inch [dpi] that the output device or
printer is capable of. Laser printers
usually have an output resolution of
300 to 600 dpi. High end
imagesetters can print at 1200 dpi,
2400 dpi or higher. Generally though
output devices are measured in lines
per inch, including printers and film
recorders.
Image Size
This refers to height, width and ppi. If
you change any of these
independently the file size will change.
In Photoshop there is an option for
changing the image size. The dialogue
box for image size gives you
information on an ability to change File size,
Pixel dimensions (in height and width),
Print size
Height and Width (in pixels, cm,
inches)
Resolution (in ppi or ppcm)
Height and width can be locked in
together by checking the constrain
proportions box, then, if height
changes automatically width changes.
Resolution can also be locked into
height and width, by un-checking the
resample image box. Un-checking
resample image means the existing
pixels are used to make up the image
size if the height or width is changed.
For example If the original image has
a File size of 2.32 mb 900 pixels by
900 pixels
Height 3 in, Width 3 inches
Resolution of 300 ppi
If you change the height to 4 in
Width becomes 4 in
Image is still 900 pixels by 900 pixels
Resolution becomes 225 ppi
File size remains 2.32 mb
To change height or width without
changing the resolution, the resample
image box must be checked. Now if
you make the height or width bigger
Photoshop will check the range of the
image for similar pixels to add.
With this option, if you change the
height to 4 inches
Width changes to 4 in
Resolution remains 300 ppi
File size changes to 4.12 mb
Pixel dimensions 1200 pixel by 1200
pixel
This is however a less than
satisfactory way of changing image
size in Photoshop™. This method
works well if you are making the image
smaller but does not produce
satisfactory results if the image is
needed to be bigger. This is because
Photoshop™ examines each pixel and
“guesses” the value that the new pixel
should be producing less than photo
realistic images. The lesson here is
that scan in your image at the
appropriate size for your desired
result.
50
Digital Photography Characteristics
Some general characteristics of an
analogue photograph:• mechanically produced origins
• potential for mass reproduction
• links with commerce
• apparent lack of the need for
‘artistic’ skill.
• in transition: always easily open to
manipulation
• in transit: transmittable, mobile, and
viewed on screens
• in a transient state: ephemeral,
inherently erasable and can be
destroyed with little physical effort
Digital photographs offer a different
experience to their analogue
counterparts. Photography as a
medium has gone through a process
of ‘dematerialisation’. Digital files are
virtual, rather than physical objects. As
Batchen was arguing by 2001:
[T]he substance of a [digital] image,
the matter of its identity, no longer has
to do with paper or particles of silver
or pictorial appearance or place of
origin; instead it comprises a pliable
sequence of digital codes and electrical impulses . . . It is their
reproduction, consumption, flow and
exchange, maintenance and
disruption, that already constitute our
culture.
(Batchen 2001: 155)
Such photographic images are now as
likely to be viewed on screens – via
computer monitors, mobile phones,
digital photo frames, shop displays,
street advertising, plasmas – as they
are in print. We live in what Manovich
calls ‘the society of the
screen’ (Manovich 2001: 94). This can
be seen as changing the viewer or
viewers’ relationship to the image,
effectively disembodying the observer.
Manovich contends that images on
screens move, while viewers remain
immobile (2001: 94–115; see also
Chapter 3). Physical relationships with
photographs alter as a result. For
example, to look closely at a material
photograph on paper, Joanna
Sassoon notes, involves moving the
photograph or moving the body nearer
to it. A digital photographic image on
a computer screen can be zoomed in
taken than ever before. These images
are captured with the instantaneity
that has been part of photography for
and out of via the mouse or keyboard
with almost no movement by the
viewer (Sassoon 2004: 192).
Nevertheless, it can be countered that
viewing digital photographs on hand-
most of its existence – but there are
also more photographs being instantly
deleted than ever before too (see
Rubinstein and Sluis 2008: 13). The
erasing of a digital file can happen as
held devices (mobile phones, iPods,
portable digital photo frames in the
form of key rings, etc.) often returns
the image to a social object to be
passed around and discussed
quickly as its creation: it is much
faster, more final and far less
physically demanding than the
material destruction of a fixed
negative or printed photograph.
(Manovich 2001: 114). Furthermore it
is important to note that the simulation
of physically connecting with pictures
via the ‘touch screens’ of some digital
devices (such as iPhones) now closely
Mitchell has contended that digital
files require no negative or print to
exist and can, in principle, be
endlessly replicated (Mitchell 1992: 6),
although Manovich has pointed out
simulates the materiality of physical
photographs (Edwards 2009: 31–33).
Photographs in digital form are more
mobile than ever, being transmitted
around the world (often within
that duplication often leads to a loss
of digital information via compression
(for example by turning a file into a
JPEG) (Manovich 2001: 54).
Transmission online also means that
seconds of being taken) from email to
email, website to website, uploaded
and downloaded. With
smaller memory size images are used,
resulting in images with an absence of
fine detail (see Chapter 6). Digital
cameras, memory cards and memory
sticks can, of course, also be lost.
© Bull, Stephen, Dec 15, 2009, Photography
Routledge, Hoboken, ISBN:
9780203867297digital technology,
electronic mass reproduction of
photographs goes way beyond
Benjamin’s idea of mechanical mass
reproduction (Benjamin 1999). In this
sense the digitally reproduced image
shares some charac- teristics with the
postmodernist thinker Jean
Baudrillard’s idea of the simulacrum.
Extending Benjamin’s ideas relating to
the era of modernity, in the 1980s
Baudrillard argued that we increasingly
live in a virtual world of copies –
simulacra – for which the real original
has been lost. The simulacrum is a
copy of a copy of a copy . . . ad
infinitum (Baudrillard 1984: 253–281).
Like the simulacrum, the digital
photograph has no definitive original
version, yet is capable of going
anywhere. Digital photographs are
simultaneously everywhere and
nowhere.
With digital cameras and camera
phones more photographs are being
However, the ability to endlessly backup digital images combined with the
ease in which erasure can occur,
mean it could be argued that the loss
of a digital file no longer involves the
potential trauma that Barthes
identified with the physical destruction
of the printed photograph, or of the
unique negative
Kodak’s First Digital Camera 1975
In December of 1975, after a year of
piecing together a bunch of new
technology in a back lab at the
audiences throughout 1976. In what
has got to be one of the most
insensitive choices of demonstration
playback system. I especially
remember working with Jim for many
hours in the lab bringing this concept
Elmgrove Plant in Rochester, we were
ready to try it. “It” being a rather oddlooking collection of digital circuits
that we desperately tried to convince
ourselves was a portable camera. It
titles ever, we called it “Film-less
Photography”. Talk about warming up
your audience!
After taking a few pictures of the
to life. Finally, I remember my
visionary supervisor, the late Gareth
Lloyd, who supported this concept
and helped enormously in its
presentation to our internal world at
had a lens that we took from a used
parts bin from the Super 8 movie
camera production line downstairs
from our little lab on the second floor
in Bldg 4. On the side of our portable
attendees at the meeting and
displaying them on the TV set in the
room, the questions started coming. Why would anyone ever want to view
his or her pictures on a TV? How
Kodak. In thinking back on it, one
could not have had a better
environment in which to “be crazy.”
Many developments have happened
between this early work and today. contraption, we shoehorned in a
portable digital cassette
instrumentation recorder. Add to that
16 nickel cadmium batteries, a highly
temperamental new type of CCD
would you store these images? What
does an electronic photo album look
like? When would this type of
approach be available to the
consumer? Although we attempted to
Personal computers, the Internet, wide
bandwidth connections and personal
desktop photographic printing are just
a few of these. It is funny now to look
back on this project and realise that
imaging area array, an a/d converter
implementation stolen from a digital
voltmeter application, several dozen
digital and analog circuits all wired
together on approximately half a
address the last question by applying
Moore’s law to our architecture (15 to
20 years to reach the consumer), we
had no idea how to answer these or
the many other challenges that were
we were not really thinking of this as
the world’s first digital camera. We
were looking at it as a distant
possibility. Maybe a line from the
dozen circuit boards, and you have
our interpretation of what a portable
all electronic still camera might look
like.
suggested by this approach. An
internal report was written and a
patent was granted on this concept in
1978 (US 4,131,919). I kept the
prototype camera with me as I moved
It was a camera that didn’t use any
film to capture still images - a camera
that would capture images using a
CCD imager and digitise the captured
throughout the company over the last
30 years, mostly as a personal
reminder of this most fun project. Outside of the patent, there was no
public disclosure of our work until
scene and store the digital info on a
standard cassette. It took 23 seconds
to record the digitised image to the
cassette. The image was viewed by
removing the cassette from the
camera and placing it in a custom
playback device. This playback
device incorporated a cassette reader
and a specially built frame store. This
custom frame store received the data
from the tape, interpolated the 100
captured lines to 400 lines, and
generated a standard NTSC video
signal, which was then sent to a
television set.
There you have it. No film required to
capture and no printing required to
view your snapshots. That’s what we
demonstrated to many internal Kodak
technical report written at the time
sums it up best.
“The camera described in this report
represents a first attempt
demonstrating a photographic system
which may, with improvements in
technology, substantially impact the
way pictures will be taken in the
future.”
2001.
The “we” in this
narrative was
largely the people
of the Kodak
Apparatus Division
Research
Laboratory in the
mid 1970’s and, in
particular, several
enormously
talented
technicians - Rick
Osiecki, Bob
DeYager and Jim
Schueckler. All
were key to
building the
camera and
52
History of digital photography The beginning:
You may be surprised to learn that the
origins of digital photography lie as far
back as the 1950s. Yes, it’s the time of
the baby boomers, the cold war and
the space race!
These are events that do actually have
significance in the history of digital
photography. I’ll come to those later,
but the first significant development in
comes from another boom of the era –
television!
In 1952 the
first video
tape recorders
were used to
record TV
programs.
Before this,
most
television was
either live, or
was a broadcast movie.
With video tape an image was
recorded, not as an image in itself, but
as a coded signal on tape. Later the
coded tape was run through a
decoding machine (i.e. a video tape
player) and the machine converted the
coded signal back into pictures.
This is an important step in the history
of digital photography. Video differed
from the films that had gone before
because film records an actual image,
frame by frame.
Pull out an old cinema reel and you’ll
see the frames. Pull out cassette tape
and you’ll see nothing! It needs to be
decoded for you first.
The effect is the same as comparing
film vs digital photography. Look at a
developed film (the negative or slide)
and you will see an image.
Pull a memory card out of a digital
camera and there’s nothing to see.
The image held on the card needs to
be decoded first.
The scanner appears
History of digital photography – the
scanner:
Back to the history of digital
photography rather than the history of
the moving image. The next significant
step would be the development of
image scanners.
These didn’t actually take
photographs, but they did copy an
image already created.
In 1957 a “drum scanner” was
developed by Russell Kirsch. The
scanner picked up the different
intensities of light and shade in a
picture. It saved them as a binary, i.e.
digital, signal.
NB: Photocopiers stem from the
development of this technology. The
first one was made by Xerox in 1959.
A huge thing, slow and expensive. But
remarkably popular nonetheless.
Up, up and away!
History of digital photography – the
space race!
As I mentioned above, the space race
has a big part to play in the history of
digital photography.
It’s 1957. Von Braun is in the American
corner, and Sergei Korolev in the
Russian corner. Both are trying to
launch a satellite into space.
The Russians win that round with the
launch of "Sputnik" in October 1957.
The race was
really on! The
next challenge
was to launch
a man into
space. We’re
bring the film back to Earth somehow.
And if it didn’t make it back to Earth –
no pictures at all!
So a new system was invented that
didn’t need film.
Digital cameras were the answer. They
could record photographs and ‘beam’
the digital signal back to Earth. The
signal was then decoded and the
image could be viewed. This then is
clearly a big development in the
history of digital photography.
History of digital photography –
digital cameras come to Earth!
Following the exploits of digital
cameras in space, the concept of
photography without film came back
to Earth in 1973. An engineer, Steven
Sasson, working for Kodak used a
CCD to produce a digital image.
This camera weighed in at a hefty 8
pounds. And it only had 0.1
megapixels - not really designed for
the consumer then!
To be fair, it was experimental rather
than commercial. Importantly though it
truly was a digital camera in the way
we are familiar, because it recorded
images onto a solid chip (CCD) rather
than onto tape.
Clearly more development was
needed. At this point people were
beginning to realise that digital
cameras may have a use back here on
Earth.
Nobody expected film to be replaced
by digital cameras at this stage
though. The first consumer digital
cameras are still some way off.
moving into
the 1960’s now.
Why was the space race important to
the history of digital photography?
Well, very early on politicians on both
sides of the cold war realized that if a
satellite could be launched into space
it could carry a camera. With a camera
on board it could spy on the enemy.
The problem of course was this –
there are no film developers in space!
Taking pictures on film meant you had
53
The first consumer digital cameras:
Following the exploits of digital
cameras in space, the history of digital
photography moves back to Earth
here. This page covers the history of
consumer digital cameras – the ones
we are all familiar with.
A new era in photography began on
August 25, 1981 when Sony unveiled
a prototype of the company's first still
video camera, the Mavica (Magnetic
Video Camera).
It recorded analog images on two-inch
floppy disks (memory sticks hadn’t
been invented back then!) and played
them back on a TV set or Video
monitor.
NB: The ‘Mavica’ name comes from
Magnetic video camera.
The Mavica was not a digital camera,
but a still analog
version of the
video cameras
of the time.
The difference
between still
video images
and digital
images is a bit
like the difference between analog
vinyl LP records and today’s digital
music.
The analog version is a physical
representation of music; while the
digital version is an encoding of the
music.
Various companies produced still
video cameras throughout the ‘80s. In
1988 Fuji marketed the first consumer
all –digital camera, the DS-1P. In 1990
Dycam marketed the first consumer
digital camera sold in the United
States, the Dycam Model 1 (also sold
by Logitech as the Fotoman).
Storing images on floppy disks was an
important development because it
meant that, the number of
photographs that could be stored
was, effectively, limitless. If you filled
the floppy disk up with photographs
you just inserted a new blank disc.
The capacity of these blank disks was
less than 1MB. Back in 1981, and with
a Mavica, you could store about 25
photographs on one disk.
NB: A high quality photograph from
today's digital cameras is easily 1mb.
At best you'd only be able to store one
photograph on a floppy disk!
Thankfully, the memory card has been
invented since then, capable of storing
hundreds of digital photos.
From this point forward the history of
digital photography is one of
improvement rather than new
development, with the possible
exception of the Foveon X3 image
sensor.
The race for more megapixels
History of digital photography –
sensor improvements:
The improvements of digital imaging
sensors is an important part of the
history of digital photography. In 1981
Sony’s Mavica, with 0.3 megapixels,
was never going to be enough for
good quality digital photography.
Viewing photographs on screen was
possible, but prints were lousy!
To get good quality photographic
prints the resolution had to be
improved. To get a good quality
snapshot print you need to have at
least 2 megapixels, and ideally 3MP.
So, although Sony were first through
the door of the digital photography
party, their first digital camera was
limited in both its use and popularity.
For consumers, the history of digital
photography springs to life with the
introduction of 2 and 3 megapixel
cameras.
Nikon were first past the post on this
one, introducing two 2 megapixel
cameras at the start of 1999. One
camera had a zoom lens (the “Coolpix
950”, shown here), the other (“Coolpix
700”) had a fixed focal length.
History of digital photography – The
Foveon sensor:
In 2002 Foveon started producing a
new image sensor. The reason why
this is an advance is that up until this
point digital camera sensors have
recorded only one type of light at a
given location.
Individual ‘photosites’ (these are the
pixels of the sensor) collect
information about either red or green
or blue light.
The difference with the Foveon sensor
is that it collects information about
Red, green and blue light at every
photosite. The image below illustrates
the difference:
A Rebel with is born
NB: Kodak had already introduced
“professional” digital cameras with 6
megapixels before 1999, but their
camera could hardly be considered
one for the consumer – it weighed
3.75 pounds and had all the style of a
house-brick!
It's not just
about the
size of your
megapixels,
it's what you
do with them!
54
History of digital photography –
consumer SLRs:
The development of digital cameras
continues from this point with the
cameras steadily improving all the
time. They now have even more
megapixels and cost even less.
The next significant step in the
history of digital photography is the
introduction of the digital SLR.
Digital SLRs had been available up
until now, but they were strictly for
the professionals. Costly and heavy
they were never going to become
mainstream. Canon changed all
that in August of 2003.
In the summer of 2003 Britain was
recording its hottest day ever (101.3
degrees at Faversham in Kent) and
the lights went out on 50 million
North Americans – the result of a
massive power outage. Canon was
launching the Digital Rebel.
This camera is of huge significance
in the history of digital photography
because it was the first affordable
digital SLR.
Suddenly keen amateurs with film
SLRs, who had built up a lens
collection, could just take their
lenses from their old film cameras
and attach them to the new Canon.
The camera also offered fast
response times unlike the compact
cameras up until this point.
For film, the end is nigh
What of the future history of
digital photography . . .
The improvements in film
photography led to smaller and
better cameras; the improvements
made throughout the history of
digital photography have led to
more pixels, smaller cameras, lower
costs and greater memory capacity.
Today it’s possible to buy a
reasonable 8 megapixel camera for
under $300.
Technology never stands still
though. Few would have predicted
the stunning growth of digital
photography, even ten years ago.
And now digital cameras outsell
film. Some manufacturers have
already pulled out of the film market
completely. So, with film cameras
going the way of the dodo, perhaps
the history of digital photography
truly starts now?
Sub 3 megapixel cameras are now
very hard to come by. The starting
image resolution for a "bottom of
the range" digital camera is now
around the 6 megapixel mark.
An interesting development is now
the growth of digital cameras aimed
specifically at children. Last year
(2007) Fisher Price and Vtech have
both recently launched digital
cameras aimed specifically at
children.
These models are robust, and
cheaper than the "adult" versions.
As I said earlier, the history of digital
photography continues to evolve.
The Lytro camera is in 2011 the camera of the
future
55
Film compared to Digital
As a starting point it is worth
remembering how a photograph is
taken in the first place.
In simple terms, light focused
through a lens hits some sort of light
sensitive material. In the case of film
the material it hits is the film itself.
For digital
The light sensitive particles of an
image sensor are called photo-sites.
These record the intensity of light at
a certain point. There are millions of
these photo-sites on a sensor. They
are effectively the pixels in
“megapixels”.
In film the light sensitive particles are
colour sensitive emulsions. These
contain fine particles. The particles
are seen in the final image as film
“grain”.
Film vs Digital - Practical
differences:
The table below illustrates some of
the practical differences of film vs
digital cameras. Negative points are
in green, positive in red, neutral in
purple
Film:
Digital:
Image captured and stored on the film itself.
Image captured on the image sensor and recorded onto a
memory card.
Once film is exposed to light it cannot be used again – more
film has to be bought.
Once a memory card is full of images, they can be
downloaded onto a computer. The memory card can then
be wiped and used again.
To view photographs the film has to be developed using
special chemicals.
Photographs can be viewed instantly, either on the digital
camera or on a computer.
Editing photographs can very difficult to master and requires
a darkroom.
Editing of photographs is faster and can be done on a
home computer.
Batteries last a long time in a film camera.
Digital cameras eat batteries at a fair rate of knots!
Film cameras are usually very responsive quick to start up,
quick to focus and no delay on releasing the shutter.
Compact digital cameras take a couple of seconds to start
up, can be slower to focus and some have a fraction of a
second shutter delay.
[NB: Digital SLRs suffer far less than compacts]
It’s worth having a look at these practical differences
because the issue of film vs digital is not only about picture
quality.
There's more to film vs digital than
just the quality
If a digital camera is slow to start and
focus you may well miss photos that a
film camera would have captured.
The quality of digital cameras may
impress. But that’s of little
consequence if the subject you were
photographing has moved on before
the camera was ready to take the
picture!
How does the quality of film vs digital
vary?
Film vs Digital – differences in quality:
It used to be the case, not that long
ago, that digital cameras never
matched the quality of film cameras.
Slowly the gap narrowed. Good (and
very expensive!) digital cameras began
to take better quality photos than
cheaper film cameras.
Then the more affordable digital
cameras improved. To get better
quality with film you had to start
spending more money on better
line is near, and digital is edging ahead
all the time.
Film vs digital and the tonal range
For a balanced film vs digital
discussion we have to realise that
there is more to quality than just
producing a sharp picture. The tonal
range also matters.
In simple terms, tonal range is the
number of grades of light to dark in a
photograph. Digital photography is
generally limited to 256 grades. Film is
effectively an analogue medium so
theoretically can produce limitless
grades of light to dark. In the issue of
tonal range, film seems to win the film
vs digital debate.
How does this limited tonal range
affect digital photography? With a
digital camera, bright areas of an
image can record as pure white. Even
though there are actually some shades
within that area. These parts of an
image are said to be burnt out or
blown highlights.
equipment. The film vs digital
pendulum was swinging in favour of
digital.
The same applies to dark, but not
quite black areas of pictures. Digital
cameras will record the whole area as
pure black. This is less of a problem
as the human eye doesn’t notice these
These days the quality of digital
dark areas so much.
Digital camera quality is often
measured in megapixels. More
megapixels means every individual
pixel (or dot) in the final picture will be
smaller. The smaller they are, the
sharper the picture will be
Be careful though! The number of
megapixels alone doesn’t always
make a good camera.
For film, the equivalent "pixels" are
actually film "grains".
The size of the grains depends on the
speed of the film used – faster film
(more sensitive to light), has larger
grains. These grains will be visible in
the final print. Concerning film vs
digital, a good quality 4 megapixel
digital camera equals fast film, pixel
for grain.
Most people would use slower film
though, so this is what we should
compare for a balanced film vs digital
comparison. For standard film it is
generally considered that a good 8
megapixel digital camera is about
equal, pixel for grain.
cameras outstrips all but the most
specialised film cameras. And by
specialised I mean large and medium
format cameras.
I took the photograph below at the
Chinese New Year Celebrations in
London (great day out by the way!).
The evidence for this lies in the sale of
cameras. Kodak has already pulled
The clouds in the photograph clearly
show the differences in tonal range
from film vs digital.
out of the film market. Even Nikon’s
professional film cameras are going,
with the sole exception of the Nikon
F6 – their highest spec film camera.
The first image shows what film can
produce. The second shows the
blown highlights that can sometimes
result from digital photography.
Professional photographers demand
high quality. If the professionals are
leaving film cameras behind then it’s
safe to assume that digital cameras
have come of age.
If anyone thinks digital hasn't won the
film vs digital competition, they must
at least acknowledge that the finish
Film vs digital - what about the
"grain"?
Film vs Digital – "grain" vs
"megapixels":
Finally, you may be interested to find
out how “megapixels” fit into the film
vs digital debate.
57
Film vs digital - conclusion
Well, that's a tough one. No matter
what people say, when it comes to
film vs digital there will be fans on
photographers will ever notice the
difference.
both sides of the fence.
One of the easiest ways to think
about the film vs digital issue is to
relate it to vinyl records and CDs.
CDs are convenient - easy to find a
track, play well, no scratches or
rumble. With CDs people have
access to good quality music that's
in a format that's easy to use.
Butvinyl records are still on sale.
Hardened music fans insist that the
quality of vinyl can never be
matched by the quality of a CD. And
in theory they are right. An analogue
record has all the tones, the digital
CD only has some.
Can the average person tell the
difference? Nope! They prefer the
convenience of CDs, and well, they
sound just fine, don't they?
The same can be said of film vs
digital. Film is analogue. It has all the
tones. But digital is easier to use,
and can most people tell the
difference? Nope!
As a final conclusion about film vs
digital then - film will always have its
fans, but digital will be the most
popular. And as for quality - only the
really, really pickiest of
58
Colour and computers
The properties of colour can be
mathematically defined using one of
several colour models.
Four of the most common models are1.
hue, saturation and
brightness [HSB];
2.
red, green and blue [RGB];
3.
cyan, magenta, yellow, and
black [CMYK];
4.
CIE L*a*b*
1. HSB
HSB is based on human perception of
colour.
Hue is the wavelength of light
reflected from an object.
Saturation is the strength and purity of
the colour.
Brightness is relative to the darkness
or lightness of the colour, and is
usually measured as a percentage
from 0% [black] to 100% [white].
2. RGB
RGB model is based on the three
primary colours red, green, and blue.
When the three primary colours
overlap they create secondary
colours, cyan, yellow and magenta.
Adding all the colours together creates
white, thus they are called additive
colours. Additive colours are used for
lighting, film, video, film recorders and
monitors. A monitor creates colours
by emitting light through red green
and blue phosphors.
3. CMYK
CMYK model is based on the
absorbing quality of ink printed on
paper. In theory, pure cyan, magenta
and yellow pigments should combine
to absorb all colour producing black,
for this reason they are called
subtractive colours. Because printing
inks contain some impurities they
actually make a muddy brown, a black
ink must be added to get a true black.
The letter K is used for black so there
is no confusion with calling it blue.
4. L*a*b*
L*a*b* colour is designed to be device
independent. It creates consistent
colour regardless of the specific
devices, such as monitor, printer, or
computer, that you use to create or
output the image. Lab colour consists
of a luminance, or lightness
component [L], and two chromatic
components: the a component, which
ranges from green to red, and the b
component which ranges from blue to
yellow.
59
File Formats in digital Photography.
File formats are the way data is saved
to a disk. Particular file formats are
required for specific uses.
RAW
Most professional level DSLRs and
some high end point and shoot
cameras allow images to be captured
in a raw unprocessed format. Each
camera maker and sometimes even
each camera model may have a
different proprietary format. Convert
your files to DNG the universal format
to archive and make them future
proof. Shooting in RAW has
advantages over JPEG most of the
time. So unless you are pressed for
time or disk space it is better to shoot
in RAW and use a computer to convert
them to a useable format, after the
shoot.
PSD
Photoshop format is the default file
format and the only format that
supports most Photoshop features
besides the Large Document Format
(PSB). Due to the tight integration
between Adobe products, other
Adobe applications like Adobe
Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe
Premiere, Adobe After Effects, and
Adobe GoLive can directly import PSD
files and preserve many Photoshop
features.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format. A graphics
file format developed jointly by
Microsoft and Aldus as a format for
desktop publishing and scanner
applications. This format is used for
taking files from one platform to
another (Macintosh to IBM to
Macintosh). It comes with LZW
compression (A loss-less
compression), which saves in
Macintosh or IBM byte order.
PICT
Bit-mapped file format
EPS
Encapsulated Postscript Format. A
picture file format that depicts
postscript accurately on a computer
screen display, and provides high
resolution output. EPS consists of two
files: A bitmap file for screen display,
and the postscript code for output.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. An
image compression standard. It has
scalable algorithm- compression
factors between 7:1 and 50:1. It’s
symmetrical - compresses and
decompresses in the same number of
operations in the same amount of
time. When pixels are discarded when
compressing the file exactly the same
ones are not necessarily replaced
when opening and decompressing the
file.
GIF
CompuServe’s Graphics Interchange
Format. For on-line services and to
pass documents between other types
of computers. Greyscale and Indexed
colour files only with a maximum of 8
bits per pixel.
60
Photoshop
The Photoshop Desktop.
The Photoshop desktop consists of
three main components.
✤
The menu bar,
✤
The toolbox
✤
The palettes
The menu always appears at the top
foreground and background colour
icons, which provide access to the
colour picker. The default colours icon
and the switch colours icon are also in
this area.
If you look closely, some tools has a
small black triangle in the lower right
corner. This is a visual cue given to us
by the programs designers to tell us
through where others have a clear
space.
Layers allow you to have a number of
images in one file. When pasting in a
new selection to a file it automatically
becomes a layer. If an image is made
up of a stack of layers the editing
capabilities are far more flexible.
Individual layers may be edited
separately.
Once the layers are flattened (become
one layer) editing becomes more
difficult, because there is only one
component.
of the screen. Press on a menu name
to access the list of commands
associated with it. The commands are
actions which apply to either, all of the
image, or to a selection, or layer.
Except for the select menu
which alters a selection.
Before you can apply most
of these commands the
computer needs to know
what you wish to work with
by selecting it.
The toolbox contains icons
for Selection, Painting &
Editing tools.
Each of the tools have
different options in the
options palettes. When a
new tool is selected the
options palette changes to
the appropriate
specifications. The tools in
the upper portion of the
toolbox are used for
selection. The tools in the
middle section of the toolbox
are used for painting. The
tools are connected to the
brushes and colour pickers
palettes as well as the
options palettes. The tools
in the lower portion of the
toolbox have various uses.
Below the tools are
that there are more tools situated
under this tool. Click and hold on
these tools and you will be shown
various other tools that maybe
accessible beneath it.
Photoshop Layers
Layers are like animation cells, a clear
acetate sheet with an image on it.
These sheets [layers] can be stacked
on top of each and their stacking
When working on a particular part of
an image you must make sure that
the layer you are working on is
selected. Failing to choose it is a
mistake that often happens, and you
find you can’t do what you wish to.
Layers may be accessed either
through the layers palette or the layers
menu, on the menu bar.
order changed around, deleted or
added to [see right].
When looking down into the stack
parts of some images can show
61
Opening And Saving Files On The
Macintosh
To open an application - Double
click it’s icon in the dock found at
the bottom of the screen.
Opening A File
With this application open, go to
[ from the menu bar] file and open
A dialogue box appears. At the top
of the box there is either a strip with
name of the application you are
using, or depending on the
application the last person to use
the computer used, with an open
folder symbol in it. This strip
indicates to you which location you
are in, on the hard drive of the
computer. It is from here that you
move around to other locations, by
clicking on the strip a drop down
menu appears and you click on the
file or location, that you wish to go
such as desktop or disks.
Saving A File
Go to FILE and SAVE AS
At the top of the box there is a strip
with the name of the last folder
saved to you. This strip indicates to
you what location you are in, and it
is from here that you move around
to other locations, eg, disks and
drives.
Saving
There are three methods of saving :
Save, Save As & Save As A Copy
Save, will save changes to an
already existing file - in the same
location, name and file type replacing the existing file.
Save As, allows you to save
changes you have made - in a new
location, a new name or different
file type - without affecting the
original file. The original file is still in
its original place with no changes.
Save As A Copy, allows you to save
a copy in any location or the same
location.
Click on the strip to find your way
to the desktop, where your zip or
cd is located. A short cut to the
desktop is to click on the button
marked desktop. In the dialogue
box it will now show a list of what
is on the desktop. Choose the disk
you wish to save to, by double
clicking on it in the list. Rename
your file and click on the save
button. Close the file and
application.
62
Colour Modes, in Photoshop & Digital Photography
Colour Mode In photoshop is
accessed via the Menu bar.
Image>Image Mode.
Greyscale
Greyscale mode uses up to 256
shades of gray. Every pixel of a
greyscale image has a brightness
value ranging from 0 (black) to 255
(white). Greyscale values can also be
measured as percentages of black ink
coverage (0% is equal to white, 100%
to black). Images produced using
black-and-white or greyscale scanners
typically are displayed in Greyscale
mode.
Indexed Colour
Indexed Color mode produces 8-bit
image files with at most 256 colors.
When converting to indexed color,
Photoshop builds a color lookup table
(CLUT), which stores and indexes the
colors in the image. If a color in the
original image does not appear in the
table, the program chooses the
closest one or uses dithering to
simulate the color using available
colors.
CMYK
In Photoshop’s CMYK mode, each
pixel is assigned a percentage value
for each of the process inks. The
lightest (highlight) colors are assigned
small percentages of process ink
colors, the darker (shadow) colors
higher percentages. For example, a
bright red might contain 2% cyan,
93% magenta, 90% yellow, and 0%
black. In CMYK images, pure white is
generated when all four components
have values of 0%
L.A.B.
In Photoshop, the Lab Color mode has
a lightness component (L) that can
range from 0 to 100. In the Adobe
Color Picker, the a component (greenred axis) and the b component (blueyellow axis) can range from +7 to - In
the Color palette, the a component
and the b component can range from
+0 to -0.
Channels
Every Photoshop image has one or
more channels, each storing
information about color elements in
the image. The number of default
color channels in an image depends
on its color mode. For example, a
CMYK image has at least four
channels, one each for cyan, magenta,
yellow, and black information. Think of
a channel as analogous to a plate in
the printing process, with a separate
plate applying each layer of color.
RGB
Photoshop’s RGB Color mode uses
the RGB model, assigning an intensity
value to each pixel ranging from 0
(black) to 255 (white) for each of the
RGB (red, green, blue) components in
a color image. For example, a bright
red color might have an R value of
246, a G value of 20, and a B value of
50. When the values of all three
components are equal, the result is a
shade of neutral gray. When the value
of all components are 255, the result is
pure white; when the values are 0,
pure black.
63
Photoshop
The Photoshop Interface.
Let’s look at some elements of the
work space in Photoshop™.
A quick glance shows us that the
screen has a series of words running
across the top, [Menu bar] a tool
palette running down the left side of
the screen, [Tool Palette] and a series
of palettes running down the right side
of the screen [Palettes].
Directly under the Menu bar is the
options bar/palette.
All this is modifiable to your own
preferences, we will however, start
with the default settings from the
program, feel free to move them
around as you see fit, if at any stage
you wish to reset them go to [click and
hold on] Window [scroll down to]
Reset Palette Locations. This will
reinstate the default palette settings
for the program. In the world of
computer texts, this series of steps is
commonly written as this Go to
Window>Reset Palettes Locations
Photoshop’s Menu bar
The menu bar always appears at the
top of the screen. Press on a menu
name to access the list of commands
associated with it. The commands are
actions which apply to either, all of the
image, or to a selection, or layer.
Except for the select menu which
alters a selection. Before you can
apply most of these commands the
computer needs to know what you
wish to work with by selecting it. The
most important of these is the help
menu, if you get stuck or need help at
any time, this will help you solve
problems and pages can even be
printed out for future reference.
Tool palette
The tool box contains icons
for SELECTION, PAINTING
and EDITING tools.
Each of the tools have
different options in the
options palettes. [Situated
under the Menu bar]. When a
new tool is selected the
options palette changes to
the appropriate
specifications. The tools in
the upper portion of the tool
box are used for selection.
The tools in the middle
section of the tool box are
used for painting. The tools
are connected to the brushes
and colour pickers palettes
as well as the options
palettes. The tools in the
lower portion of the tool box
have various uses.
Below the tools are
foreground and background
colour icons, which provide
access to the colour picker.
The default colours icon and
the switch colours icon are also in this
area.
If you look closely, some tools have a
small black triangle in the lower right
corner. This is a visual cue given to us
by the programs designers to tell us
that there are more tools situated
under this tool. Click and hold on
these tools and you will be shown
various other tools that maybe
accessible beneath it.
Photoshop Layers/Layers Palette
Layers are like animation cells, a clear
acetate sheet with an image on it.
These sheets [layers] can be stacked
on top of each and their stacking
order changed around, deleted or
added to [see right].
When looking down into the stack
parts of some images can show
through where others have a clear
space.
Layers allow you to have a number of
images in one file. When pasting in a
new selection to a file it automatically
becomes a layer. If an image is made
up of a stack of layers the editing
capabilities are far more flexible.
The Layers palette lists all layers, layer
sets, and layer effects in an image.
You can accomplish many tasks such
as creating, hiding, displaying,
copying, and deleting layers using the
buttons in the Layers palette. You can
access additional commands and
options in the Layers palette menu
and the Layers menu.
Individual layers may be edited
separately.
Once the layers are flattened (become
one layer) editing becomes more
difficult, because there is only one
component.
When working on a particular part of
an image you must make sure that
the layer you are working on is
selected. Failing to choose it is a
mistake that often happens, and you
find you can’t do what you wish to.
Layers may be accessed either
through the layers palette or the layers
menu, on the menu bar.
Paths Palette
This is the palette that show you any
paths you have made, useful for
making complex selections and
storing them. The Paths palette lists
the name and a thumbnail image of
each saved path, the current work
path, and the current vector mask.
Decreasing the size of thumbnails or
turning them off lets you list more
paths in the palette, and turning
thumbnails off can improve
performance. To view a path, you
must first select it in the Paths palette.
64
Channels palette.
This is where all the information for
each images channels is displayed, as
well as extra channels created by
Alpha Masks.
The Channels palette lets you create
and manage channels and monitor the
effects of editing. The palette lists all
channels in the image composite
channel first (for RGB, CMYK, and Lab
images), then individual color
channels,spot color channels, and
finally alpha channels. A thumbnail of
the channel’s contents appears to the
left of the channel name; the
thumbnail automatically updates as
you edit the channel.
Info Palette.
This palette can be used like a
densitometer and is indispensable
when measuring certain elements in
an image such as colour, density and
size. You can use the Info palette and
the Color palette to see the color value
of pixels as you make color
corrections. This feedback is useful
while you make color adjustments. For
instance, referring to the color values
can help when neutralizing a color
cast or can alert you to whether a
color is saturated.
When you work with a color
adjustment dialog box, the Info palette
displays two sets of color values for
the pixels under the pointer. The value
in the left column is the original color
value. The value in the right column is
the color value after the adjustment is
made.
History Palette
The History palette lets you jump to
any recent state of the image created
during the current working session.
Each time you apply a change to an
image, the new state of that image is
added to the palette. For example, if
you select, paint, and rotate part of an
image, each of those states is listed
separately in the palette. You can then
select any of the states, and the image
will revert to how it looked when that
change was first applied. You can then
work from that state
Histogram Palette
The Histogram palette offers many
options for viewing tonal and color
information about an image. By
default, the histogram displays the
tonal range of the entire image. To
display histogram data for a portion of
the image, first select that portion.
The Options Bar/Palette
Most tools have options that are
displayed in the options bar. The
options bar is context sensitive and
changes as different tools are
selected. Some settings in the options
bar are common to several tools (such
as painting modes and opacity), and
some are specific to one tool (such as
the Auto Erase setting for the Pencil
tool).You can move the options bar
anywhere in the work area using the
gripper bar, and dock it at the top or
bottom of the screen. Tool tips appear
when you hold the pointer over a tool.
Actions Palette
You use the Actions palette to record,
play, edit, and delete individual
actions. This palette also lets you save
and load action files. In Photoshop,
actions are grouped into sets you can
create new sets to better organize
your actions.
Navigator Palette
If the entire image is not visible in the
document window, you can navigate
to bring another area of the image into
view. In Photoshop, you can also use
the Navigator palette to quickly
change the view of an image.
65
A Closer Look At The Photoshop
Tool Bar
Far right is the tool bar with some of
the more common tools shown.Some
tools have a small black triangle on
the bottom right corner They show
what other tools are under the existing
tool when the small black arrow is
clicked on and held. Also if you hover
the mouse over each tool you will get
the listing of each tool’s name and it’s
shortcut key
They are in order from top to bottom.
Basic Selection Tools
Rectangular marquee tool, Elliptical
marquee tool, horizontal single pixel
tool, vertical single pixel tool. All used
to make simple selections based on
the shape of the tool chosen.
Advanced Selection Tools
Free hand Lasso Tool, Polygon Lasso
tool, Magnetic lasso tool. Used to
make more complicated selections
than the Marquee tool based on
freehand drawing.
Burn Dodge & Sponge tools.
Burn and dodge are used to darken or
lighten local areas of an image, the
sponge tool for desaturation, locally.
The Photoshop Toolbar
Basic Cloning Tools
This are simple tools that copy pixels
directly from one are to another
Intelligent Cloning/Healing Tools
Rubber stamp tool, rubber stamp
pattern tool. Used to repair or clone
areas of an image, in a way that
mimics the surrounding area that is
being repaired.
66
Scanning
It is important to tailor your scan to the
desired quality of the final output of
the image.
If the image is to be used only on the
screen. The resolution of the image
need only be 72 ppi, the same as the
screen.
If the image is to be output to a printer
the resolution depends on the quality
of output you need as well as the
resolution of the printer and the size of
the original document to the scanned
image.
Another consideration would be the
file size as it directly affects the time
required for the printer to process the
image.
Screen Frequency, also known as
screen ruling, refers to the number of
halftone cells per inch in the halftone
screen used to print a greyscale image
or colour separation. Screen
frequency is measured in lines per
inch [lpi]. The detail in a printed image
results from a combination of
resolution and screen frequency.
To produce a quality halftone image,
the image resolution should be twice
the lpi value of the halftone screen
used to print the image. A screen
ruling of 177 lpi has more detail than
85 lpi. Typical screens for common
usage would be 65# for newspaper,
85# for small offset printing, 100# for
medium black and white, 150# for
normal quality process colour printing.
Scanning a general overview.
Software varies from scanner to
scanner, so it is difficult to document
all scanner interfaces. There are
however several consistent sets of
value that need to paid attention to,
sometimes known as, Input Values.
The settings that are important are:Output size
◦
Bit Depth
◦
Resolution
◦
Screen resolution should be at 72 dpi,
the lowest common denominator
available world wide, this also applies
to CD Rom.
If you send the file to any other
“Output device” consult with the
Bureau/Laboratory that is outputting
the file.
Always scan enough data to make a
print the size you want it to be.
Always scan at a bit depth of 48 bits
for colour and 16 bit for Black & White.
Always set the resolution for the
appropriate device that you are
sending your output to.
Some output devices are, Screen/
Monitor, Inkjet, CD ROm, Pegasus,
Lambda. All have their own output
resolutions.
We use Inkjet printers here at PIC and
they require a resolution of either 180
dpi, or 360 dpi, other printers may
require different resolutions so consult
a Teacher if you’re not sure.
67
Scanning Guide, or how big should my scan be?
Physical Sizes & File sizes
When scanning a negative, slide or other art work, before turning on a computer or scanner, answer the following questions.
How big do I want the final piece to be? Where am I sending the image to be output? What is the resolution of the output
device I am sending too? Is it a colour image? What bit depth do I need to have the image set to for the output device?
Answering these questions will help you read the table below to scan in the best possible image for the best possible output.
Use the scanning interface to then get the needed values for your output.
Digital files [Sizes in Megabytes]*
Physical Output Size
5 x7
8 x 10
11 x 14
12 x 16
A4 21x29 cm
A3 29x42cm
Resolution
12 Bit colour
24 bit colour
8 bit b&w
16 bit b&w
180
3.24
16.49
1.08
2.16
360
13
26
4.33
8.65
300
9
18
3m
6
180
7.42
14.8
2.47
4.94
360
29.7
59.3
9.89
19.8
300
20
41
6.8
13.7
180
14.3
28.6
4.76
9.52
360
57.1
114.2
19
38.1
300
39.7
79.3
13.2
26.4
180
17.8
35.6
5.93
11.9
360
71.2
142.4
23.7
47.5
300
49.4
98.9
16.5
33
180
8.75
17.5
2.92
5.83
360
35
70
11.7
23.3
300
24.3
48.6
8.1
16.2
180
17.5
35.0
5.83
11.7
360
70
140
23
46.7
300
48.6
97.2
16.2
32.4
As any good image maker knows an
image can be made to look better or
suit your intentions with some
manipulation. The degree of
manipulation and desired final look of
the image is limited only by your
imagination when using a program like
‘Adobe Photoshop™’.
Some of the approaches used in the
traditional darkroom can be easily
applied in this software package.
Techniques like burning and dodging,
bleaching, toning, hand colouring,
spotting, local contrast control and
overall contrast control are all easily
achieved in ‘Photoshop™’.
Surprisingly selections are not always
the best way to undertake these tasks,
and we will show you a few tips on
how to achieve this.
Move the mouse over the tool bar if
you leave the mouse there for a
moment or two the name of the tool
will pop out as well as the shortcut key
to access it.
Look art the picture displayed with in
the dialog box [right], If there are gaps
on the ends of the image drag these
all inwards, [check each channel by
holding down on the channels drop
down menu and drag these inward],
and click ok.
Save this image ready to begin your
creation.
Levels
Depending on the job at hand will
depend on where the tool we choose.
However as a first move it’s often a
good idea to check the levels of the
scan/digital file/capture you have just
completed.
Go to image> adjust>levels
69
What and How to Edit in Photoshop?
Photoshop is a powerful industry
standard image editing tool. Like all
tools of this nature “with great power
Spend quality time with your images
first, use a tool like Bridge, or
Lightroom to sort and organise, then
comes great responsibility”.
Photoshop is a destructive editing tool
that destroys pixels as it works, as a
consequence to produce the best
prints we can, we must use everything
when you are happy with your
selection study each image closely
use tools like the eye dropper tool to
measure key areas in your image. Key
areas could be:Highlights, the bright areas
Shadows the dark areas
Skin tones, or any area you feel is
important to the final piece and what
you are trying to say
The zone ruler will help you decide
what areas need attention if yo need
to make a print as some areas may
look ok on screen but be blocked up
at our disposal to minimise this.
Fortunately photoshop provides the
very tool to allow this. Adjustment
Layers. Anything you could possibly
want to manipulate in an image in
photoshop can be done using either
adjustment layers or layer masks, this
includes but is not limited to:
Brightness/contrast
✴
Levels
✴
Curves
✴
Montage
✴
Toning
✴
Spot Colour
How to commence editing an image in
photoshop depends primarily on your
own ideas and vision in how you want
the image to print, and to a lesser
extent by the limitations imposed by
on paper, particularly values under
25RGB or over 252 RGB.
For specific instructions on how to use
these tools refer to the section of the
book for each
Remember Photoshop is a pixel
editing program and destroys pixels
as you work.
A series of adjustment layers used to
manipulate an image to our intended
vision.
the output media, and by media I
mean paper or screen for example.
A screen has more contrast and is
backlit making colours rich and
delightful to look at. Paper prints on
the other hand have other outside
influences that change the way our
images look, just choosing the wrong
type of media in the print dialog box
will have drastic affects on how our
pictures will look.
70
Creating a Zone Ruler inPhotoshop
Follow these instructions,
1. Open photoshop
1.1 Got Photoshop>Preferences>Units
and Guides
1.1.1 Set the units to MM
2. Go to file>new. Create a new file with
these dimensions. 297mm x
210mm [A4] @ 180 dpi.
Background white.
3. Go to View>rulers, [if the rulers are
not already displayed].
4. Create a new empty layer.
5. Drag the guides down from the
edges of the document window.
5.1 Drag the left hand guide until it’s
about 1cm in from the left,
5.2 Drag the top guide down until it’s a
little off centre.
5.3 Now grab both zero points from the
top left corner of the document
window down until they read zero at
the intersecting guides on the
document.
5.4 Now grab the guide from the right
hand side of the screen until it
reaches 220mm
5.5 Grab the guide from the bottom of
the window and bring it up until it
reaches, 50mm.
6. Choose the rectangular marquee
tool. Make sure the options are as
follows, new selection, feather 0
pixels [or what ever measurement
system you have chosen from the
preferences] all other fields are
empty.
6.1 Using the rectangular marquee tool
click hold and drag from the zero
point in the top left corner of the
document window to the bottom
right hand corner of the guides on
the document. Let go of the mouse
you have a rectangular marquee
that is 5cm x 22 cm.
7. Go to Edit>stroke, in the dialogue
box presented to you fill in this
information, width 3mm, color
black, location outside, blending
mode normal, opacity 100%. Click
ok.
8. Choose the Gradient tool.
9. Hit “D” on the Keyboard, this returns
the colour swatch to the default
colours of Black foreground and
white background.
10. On the gradient tools option
palette, make sure that the gradient
runs from black to white, is set to
linear gradient, blending mode is
normal, opacity 100%, dither is
checked, transparency is checked.
11. Holding down the shift key, click
hold and drag across the
rectangular selection, which should
still be active, from left to right.
12. You know have a gradient that runs
from left to right and black to white,
save the file in your folder as zone
ruler.psd
12.1 Drag a guide down from the top
to about halfway down, dividing the
rule in half.
13. Select the rectangular Marquee tool
again, with all the same settings
except, choose subtract from
selections, on the options palette.
Divide the selection in half
lengthways.
13.1 Got Edit>Fill and fill the selection
with the foreground colour [black.]
14. Still with the subtract selection
chosen in the options for the
Marquee, now draw a 2cm
selection along from the black end
of the gradient [left to right]
15 With the selection still active, click
on the foreground colour swatch.
15.1 From the dialogue box now enter
this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 0% ok this
dialogue box
15.2 The foreground colour should now
be 100% black.
16. Go to edit>fill
16.1 From this dialogue box make sure
that the settings, are foreground
color, blending mode is normal, and
opacity is 100%
16.2 Ok this and the selection fills with
100% black.
17. Select the rectangular Marquee tool
again, with all the same settings.
18. With the subtract selection chosen
in the options for the Marquee, now
draw a 2cm selection along from
the black end of the gradient [left to
right]
19. With the selection still active, click
on the foreground colour swatch.
19.1 From the dialogue box now enter
this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 10% ok this
dialogue box.
19.2 The foreground colour should now
be 80% black.
20. Go to edit>fill
20.1 From this dialogue box make sure
that the settings, are foreground
color, blending mode is normal, and
opacity is 100%
20.2 Ok this and the selection fills with
90% black.
21. Select the rectangular Marquee tool
again, with all the same settings.
22. With the subtract selection chosen
in the options for the Marquee, now
draw a 2cm selection along from
the black end of the gradient [left to
right]
23. Select the rectangular Marquee tool
again, with all the same settings.
24. With the subtract selection chosen
in the options for the Marquee, now
draw a 2cm selection along from
the black end of the gradient [left to
right]
25. With the selection still active, click
on the foreground colour swatch.
25.1 From the dialogue box now enter
this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 20% ok this
dialogue box.
25.2 The foreground colour should now
be 700% black.
26. Go to edit>fill
26.1 From this dialogue box make sure
that the settings, are foreground
color, blending mode is normal, and
opacity is 100%
26.2 Ok this and the selection fills with
70% black.
27. Select the rectangular Marquee tool
again, with all the same settings.
28. With the subtract selection chosen
in the options for the Marquee, now
draw a 2cm selection along from
the black end of the gradient [left to
right]
29. With the selection still active, click
on the foreground colour swatch.
29.1 From the dialogue box now enter
this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 30% ok this
dialogue box.
29.2 The foreground colour should now
be 70% black.
30. Go to edit>fill
30.1 From this dialogue box make sure
that the settings, are foreground
color, blending mode is normal, and
opacity is 100%
30.2 Ok this and the selection fills with
70% black.
31. Keep repeating this, process,
changing the values downward in
10% steps until you have ten steps
of black from 100% [black] to 0%
[white].
32. Label each step on the wedge with
the following sets of values,
• Zones, using Roman Numerals
• Percent grey, 10% 20%, etc
• Digital Values in rough steps of 25,
0, 25, 50 etc.
71
A completed zone ruler
72
Blending images together, in Photoshop.
Very subtle and ingenious blending
can be achieved in Photoshop™;
without ever using a direct selection
Note: The foreground and background
colors default to greyscale values
when the mask is active.
tool. This is achieved by Masking.
Masking is one of the most powerful
features in this software for
photographer and designer alike. How
you create the mask will depend on
Note make sue that the mask is icon is
the active icon on the layers palette,
this is indicated by a small line around
the image.
the task at hand but once created it is
an essential tool for manipulating
images, whether that be to blend two
different copies of the image together
[such as a high contrast and low
Do one of the following:
To subtract from the mask and reveal
the layer, paint the mask with white.
To make the layer partially visible,
paint the mask with gray.
contrast version] or two or more
distinctly different images together.
The main advantage to this
methodology is that all editing occurs
on the mask which contains no image
To add to the mask and hide the layer
or layer set, paint the mask with black.
pixels, thereby maintaining the
maximum amount of information in the
image throughout the entire editing
process. Masks can also be used in
conjunction with other tools such as
thumbnail in the Layers palette. The
paintbrush icon appears to the left of
the thumbnail to indicate that you are
editing the layer.
Varying opacities of the brush used to
the gradient tool, very useful for
blending in skies of different contrasts
for example. Masks can be made
based on contrast, luminosity, or
direct selections.
paint on the layer mask, will hide and
reveal varying amounts of the image
beneath it.
To edit the layer instead of the layer
mask, select it by clicking its
To create a mask.
In the Layers palette, select the layer
or layer set to which to add a mask.
Do one of the following:
To create a mask that reveals the
entire layer, click the New Layer Mask
button in the Layers palette, or choose
Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All.
To create a mask that hides the entire
layer, Alt click (Windows) or Optionclick (Mac OS) the New Layer Mask
button, or choose
Layer > Add Layer Mask > Hide All.
To Edit a Mask
Click the layer mask thumbnail in the
Layers palette to make it active.
Select any of the editing or painting
tools.
73
Spotting/Retouching Images, in Photoshop.
Hand colouring images.
This approach actually makes a full
colour image look hand coloured and
de-saturated.
Invariably any image that has been
scanned will require at the very least
some dust and scratch removal.
There are two ways to deal with this.
1. The clone tool
2. The dust and scratches filter
destroyed in increments within the
image, a drawback of Photoshop™
itself.
Painting on the layer mask will reveal
the image beneath it to give full colour.
Open an Image.
The clone tool is an excellent tool for
the removal of dust and spots. Simply
by sampling from an adjacent area,
[option clicking] and then clicking on
the unwanted spot removes the dust
or scratches.
Change the foreground colour to
white.
Duplicate background layer.
Layer>Duplicate Layer.
Painting with this colour and brush at
an opacity of 100% makes the image
appear black and white.
With the top layer selected, go to
Image > Adjustments> Channel Mixer.
Some points to bear in mind though.
Spot at a zoom factor of 100%
Use a soft edged brush that is roughly
1/3 larger than the original spot.
Sample a approximately 1 brush size
in distance away from the original
spot, being careful to choose similar
tones and values near the dust/
imperfection.
The dust and scratches filters is best
used on an image that has lots of
small dust spots that are so frequent
that the hours required to treat
individually is prohibitive. here’s how
to use the Dust and Scratches filter.
Duplicate the layer you are working
on.
Go to layer> duplicate layer.
Next go to filter>noise>dust and
scratches.
A dialog box appears.
Zero all settings
Drag the Radius slider to the right until
the spots disappear in the preview
window of the dialog box. The image
appears soft and fuzzy.
Now drag the threshold slider to the
right until the spots reappear, lower
the value until they
JUST disappear.
Click OK.
Go to the layers palette and change
the blending mode to darken for white
spots or Lighten for dark spots.
Go to layers>flatten image.
Subtle use of brush settings will
produce an image that appears hand
coloured soft and muted.
Check the Monochrome button on the
bottom of the dialog box.
You now have a greyscale version of
your image on top of the full colour
version.
Making sure the default colours are
set to black/white in the toolbar
choose black as your foreground
colour.
Set the brush to an opacity of 100% in
the options palette.
Painting on the layer mask will reveal
the image beneath it to give full colour.
Change the foreground colour to
white.
Painting with this colour and brush at
an opacity of 100% makes the image
appear black and white.
Subtle use of brush settings will
produce an image that appears hand
coloured soft and muted.
You have spotted and entire image,
quickly, this can be repeated at a
higher zoom factor until all spots are
removed. Using this method rather
than directly applying the filter means
that digital information is not being
74
Create a CD cover, using Photoshop
Digital Darkroom Assignment #2
Listen to the 4 pieces of music in
class. Think about the colours, moods,
ideas, emotions, they evoke.
Next create a CD cover, to the
following brief
The file must be 120mm x 120mm @
360 dpi
The cover MUST contain, the
following:1 image of your own [minimum] b&w
OR colour
1 image appropriated from elsewhere
and scanned [minimum] b&w OR
colour
1 image appropriated from elsewhere
using a camera, ie re-copied form
the copy stand.
1 image [minimum], appropriated from
the Internet. [Which is licensed to
be used in a such a manner, with
a text link back to it’s source.]
Some text, created in Photoshop.
Archive a CD/DVD of Images
Digital Darkroom Assignment #3
At the end of the year assemble all
your digital work to date in an
organised fashion using dates or some
other SYSTEM of organisation, with 1
main folder and as many sub-folders
as you need for your system of
organistaion, once organised, create
an expression media file of the
contents of the folder. Be sure to add
keywords, copyright information,
location details and any other metadata you feel is appropriate.
Open Expression Media, choose
file>import items>from files/folders.
[See diagram]
Digital file comparison
Digital Darkroom Assignment #4
Set your camera to shoot jpeg best
quality, largest file size
Put it on a tripod.
Shoot a scene, portrait or still life
Leave the camera and tripod where it
is, and change the settings on your
camera, to shoot raw.
Re-shoot the same shot as the jpeg.
Download the images at work and
compare the 2 files, make notes using
Photoshops note tool on each image
comparing the differences.
Burn the CD using toast.Make sure
you name the CD, with your name,
group & year.
Wrtie on the CD, your Name, Group, &
the year.
Use the techniques you’ve learnt in
class to create a collage of imagery.
Design a CD cover to make it stand
out.
Print this out.
Background
The CD cover can be for a band either
Hand in the CD in a jewel case, along
with your cover for assessment.
real or fictitious, for an album that
exists or one you made up. It must
however refer back to the music yu
listened to in class, in some way,
whether it is using colour, tone, shape,
mood, movement or any other
approach to get the idea across. Look
at your own CD collection try and
draw some inspiration from it, try
sketching some ideas out in advance.
Assessment
Submit the following for assessment
The file either on CD or a thumb-drive
as a photoshop file, un-flattended.
A print of the CD cover, including test
strips.
Due end of term 2
75
Studio
Studio Introduction
All photography is dependent on the
control and use of light to create an
image. Students must be aware of the
Learning Outcomes
To enable students to:
• correctly use a wide range of studio
Content
• Studio Equipment.
• Studio Book
effects of different kinds of illumination
with special regard for modelling
definition and mood. They must also
be capable of successfully selecting
and operating wide range of lighting
lighting and equipment.
• operate an electronic flash & flash
meter.
• experience a variety of studio type
photographic experiences, in
• Lighting
• Light Meter
• Studio Portrait
• Research Project
• Electronic Flash.
sources, lighting modifiers and
reflectors to create the desired lighting
effect. Coupled with this is the
knowledge of special image
requirements. This unit is used to
particular, portraiture.
• choose the most appropriate
equipment for the task at hand.
• gain communication and human
relation skills with other people so that
Studio
“I always prefer to work in the studio. It
isolates people from their environment.
They become in a sense ..........
teach studio photographic skills in
general and to extend the outdoor or
field experience of students by
introducing portable lighting.
they may be able to successfully relate
to a person who is modelling for them.
symbolic of themselves. I often feel
that people
come to me
to be
photographed as they would go to a
doctor or a fortune teller - to find out
how they are. So they’re dependent
left except the photograph - the
photograph and a kind of
embarrassment. They leave ...... and
a photographer. I’m never really
implicated. I don’t have any real
knowledge. It’s all a question of
on me. I have to engage them.
Otherwise there’s nothing to
photograph. The concentration
comes from me and involves them.
Sometimes the force of it grows so
I don’t know them. I’ve hardly heard
what they’ve said. If I met them a
week later in a room somewhere, I
expect they wouldn’t recognise me.
Because I don’t feel I was really
recognitions.”
strong that sounds in the studio go
unheard. Time stops. We share a
brief, intense intimacy. But it’s
unearned. It has no past - no future.
And when the sitting is over - when
there. At least the part of me that
was - is now in the photograph. And
the photographs have a reality for
me that the people don’t. It’s
through the photographs that I know
publishing Co. 1979
the picture is done - there’s nothing
them. Maybe it’s the nature of being
Richard Avedon
pg. 187 & 188 in “On Photography”
by Susan Sontag, pub.,Dell
78
Health and safety / Power, in the Studio
In settng up a studio it is important to
be aware of the health and safety
factors to ensure not only your safety,
but also that of any models or other
people who might have reason to use
or pass through that space. Many
devotees of photography have
romantic notions when they set up
studios in their homes, in the garage,
in fact, any space can become a
possibility when you are keen to follow
your passion. However, it is this
approach that creates a serious risk to
the user.
Without question working with
powered light sources is the most
danderous part of a photographer’s
job. It is important therefore that you
develop good work practices and
never allow familiarity to lead to
complacency and poor practices.
Electricity is dangerous. It can kill you.
It cannot be stressed strongly enough
that when designing your own studio,
that the lighting equipment and studio
power supply be either installed, or
checked in the case of existing supply,
by a qualified and licensed electrician.
Consideration must be given to the
total number of amps drawn by lamps,
to avoid exceeding the fuse rating.
Remember:This means that one 250 V
socket fused at 13 A will only power
3250 W of lighting. When servicing the
equipment check that your lighting
units and plugs are all properly
grounded (earthed). Ensure extension
leads are placed so as not to become
an intrusion to movement and
possible accident.. 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.
If something goes wrong with your
equipment never attempt to repair
lights or wiring unless you are
absolutely confident that you know
what you are doing.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Always turn off the power and
disconnect the cable before
changing a globe.
Never touch any part of a light or
cable with wet hands.
Exercise extreme care when
photographic liquids.
Always be cautious when moving
or connecting lights.• Never use
liquids near electricity.
Use heat resistant gloves when
handling tungsten lights.
Wear shoes with rubber soles.
Know where and how to use First
Aid Kit.
Know where and how to use the
Fire Extinguisher.
Ensure adequate ventilation of the
studio area.
Equipment / Essentials
• An area devoid of external light
sources, preferably a room with no
windows or one capable of being
darkened by the use of heavy
curtains or blinds.
• An AC power supply with circuit
breakers, distribution boards and
extension cables.
• Camera, lenses, accessories
• Two 500W flood lights (diffuse
tungsten light source), and
associated stands.
• Heavy duty tripod, preferably with
rising central column or arm.
• Hand held light meter capable of
measuring flash and ambient light.
• Film and Polaroid, Memory Cards.
• 18% grey card.
• First Aid Kit.
• Appropriate Fire Extinguisher.
• A system of stands and poles from
which to hang background
material.
• Stands (C-stands, vertical stands
with adjustable arm) to support
reflectors, diffusion material, colour
filtration.
• Table top.
• Preparation or work bench.
• Gaffer tape, heat resistant tracing
paper, reflectors, Stanley knife,
heat resistant gloves.
79
Studio Book.
Learning Outcome
The purpose of this exercise is to
assist you in the production of a
studio book that forms a tangible base
in which to experience, accumulate
props and ideas, having time to previsualise sets/concepts you may
intend to photograph. Hence the
importance of the setup and the
maintenance of your studio book lies
within the context procedure of Plan > Enactment > Record
Assessment Criteria
You are required to present your
studio book to provide evidence of
your ability to:
4.1 Ensure your work space is
adequate for purposes and available
for duration of shoot.
4.2 Select desired background,
appropriate to mood and concept
4.3 Construct any necessary
supports.
4.4 Ensure all necessary props are
available.
4.5 Determine legal responsibilities.
Method
You are required to maintain a book
that records your learning experiences
including:
1. Studio - Equipment and Layout.
2. Lecture notes, assignments,
demonstrations, your personal
research, workshops etc.
3. Development and translation of
your ideas / concepts in visual form sketches and diagrams.
4. Your PLAN for each shoot. Within
the studio procedure, technical
considerations must be documented,
planned and adhered to, especially
while you are at this stage in your
learning curve.
5. Your ENACTMENT for each shoot.
Sketches and diagrams of all
equipment set up (lighting, camera
positions and props) must be clearly
and accurately recorded. The success
of the shoot will hinge on how
accurately the studio book procedure
has been followed through, and will
act as a future reference.
6. Your RECORD for each shoot.
Exposure, proofs and examples.
(Recording your learning experiences
allows to evaluate your progress more
accurately and assists in developing
both ideas and skills).
80
Studio Lighting
In the early days of photography the
main function of subject lighting was
to give enough illumination to get a
reasonably short exposure. Today,
faster lenses and films allow you far
more options, so that lighting can be
used to express ( or repress ) chosen
aspects such as texture, form, detail
and mood.
The way you select and organise your
lighting is highly creative and
individualistic - in fact you will find
lighting one of the most stimulating,
exciting aspects of picture making.
The illumination of your subject relies
on the characteristics of light including
its straight line of travel, effect of size
of source, diffusion, reflection etc.
You can use each of them in various
practical ways to alter the appearance
of a subject, and they apply to any
light source, whether the sun, a
flashgun, a studio lamp or even a
candle.
By far the best place to learn lighting
is in the studio. Once you have
experienced how lighting works with
everything under your control, it is
easier to understand the cause and
effect of the many ‘existing light’
situations you will meet.
Light is light, and the image is
composed of the effects of reflected
light whether it is natural or “artificial.”
Within the natural world the light is
used as found, with few exceptions, in
a process that is essentially analytic.
The use of artificial light, on the other
hand, may be thought of as a process
of synthesis, where you are free to
control the amount and nature of the
light and direct it as you wish
Light in relation to photography, is:
Absence of darkness. You do need
the activity of light in order to see.
Without this activity all would be dark.
Contrary to painting, in studio
photography you do not start with a
white piece of canvas but with a black
one.
The moment you shine a light onto
your subject you bring into view some
details of that subject. How much and
which details will come into view is
strictly related to the position, and the
quality, of the light-source you are
using.The simplest form of light is the:
Point light-source. You know this light
very well because it is equivalent to
sun-light on a cloudless day.
give you relief, all you would be able to
see would be two-dimensional
shapes.
For all intent and purpose, light, in
relation to photography, travels in
straight lines. A Point light-source will
only illuminate (remove darkness from)
those surfaces that are exposed to it.
Not being able to go around corners
this light will ‘leave darkness’ on all
surfaces that are not directly facing it.
This we call creating a shadow.
This is very important because, by
controlling the value, shape and
intensity of those shadows, you can
create the three-dimensionality and
the mood you want.
You can control the properties of light
in different ways but the underpinning
principle is:
Light creates shadows
Shadows create dimension
Imagine a model draped in white
frontally lit, with a white backdrop.
With all the shadows falling behind the
model and out of sight, you have a
scene with the same visual values
right across the frame where the
model is barely visible.
By moving your light source to the
side you would bring the shadows into
full view on the opposite side to
provide contrast for your eyes to
distinguish. The shape and texture of
the model would now be quite visible.
As you can see Shadows are very
important because they help you draw
your subject. It is a fundamental
principle: you give value to your
highlights by the placement of your
shadows.
It is the shadows that make you see in
three-dimensions. Without shadows to
81
Exposure / Light Meter
Studio photographers have
traditionally made use of the incidentlight exposure meters, both because
their subjects may be too small to
read with a general-purpose reflected
light meter and as a means of
measuring separate light sources. The
incident meter is increasingly being
replaced by the spot meter because of
the greater precision it affords in
maintaining full control of the subject
contrast and luminance values. We will
study this later in depth but now we
will look at an overview of several
systems used for accurate film
exposure. Each system works well, in
most conditions, for either throughthe-lens or hand-held light meters.
Incident And Reflected Light
When light strikes a surface, it can be
transmitted through it, absorbed, or
reflected. If the substance is
transparent, like window glass, most
of the light will be transmitted,
although some is inevitably lost to
reflection and absorption. A
translucent material, like white tissue
paper, has a considerably lower
transmission and diffuses the light
passing through it, while opaque
substances transmit no visible
radiation. The proportion of light that
is transmitted, absorbed, or reflected
is often a function of wavelength; if
some wavelengths are transmitted or
reflected in greater amounts than
others, we perceive a characteristic
colour for that object.
Incident Light
Objects that we see and photograph
are illuminated by incident light falling
on them from sun and sky, or from
artificial light sources. The incident
light, or illuminance, can be measured
in units of foot-candles, which
originally referred to the illumination
provided by a “standard candle”
located one foot from a surface.
An incident light meter is used to
measure the amount of light falling on
a subject as one means of determining
camera exposure. Such meters
contain a diffusing hemisphere or disc
over the photocell to “average” all the
light falling on them. The incident light
meter is held at the subject and
usually directed toward the camera, so
that all light incident upon the side of
the subject being photographed is
integrated in the single reading.
For an incident-light reading, you slip
the white plastic diffusing dome over
the meter’s measuring window. Then
the meter is held in the same lighting
conditions as the subject, pointing
towards the camera. It therefore takes
into account all the (scrambled) light
reading the subject, rather than the
subject’s reflective properties. The
plastic dome transmits 18% of the
light, so you end up with much the
same situation as a grey-card reading,
but in a more convenient form.
Reflected Light.
Reflected light is the light that reflects
off the subject and bounces back to
the meter. To read reflected light, the
meter is pointed directly at the
subject. Most light meters read
reflected light. This is undertaken with
the invercone removed. The meter’s
light sensitive cell has an angle of
acceptance approximately equivalent
to a normal lens. With a spot meter
attachment this angle can be reduced
to five degrees for precise
measurements within the subject. The
exposure that the meter recommends
is an average of the reflected light
from the light and dark tones present.
When light and dark tones are of equal
distribution within the frame this
average reading is suitable for
exposure. It must be remembered the
meter assumes everything reflects
light at the same level as an 18% grey
card.
The total luminance of a surface is
determined by the amount of light
incident upon it and a property of the
surface known as its reflectance. The
reflectance of a substance is
expressed as a percentage that
indicates the proportion of incident
light that is reflected by that material.
It is because of differences in
reflectance that we perceive some
objects as “white” and others as
“black,” regardless of whether we are
viewing them under bright daylight or
low-level illumination. A deep black
material may reflect less than 2% of
incident light, while a white substance
may reflect over 95%; no material,
however, has 100% reflectance since
some light is inevitably lost to
absorption and scatter.
Tonal Contrast
Leonardo Da Vinci was the first one to
recognise and apply the play of light
and shadows that in painting is called
Chiaroscuro (light and dark). In
Photography we call it Tonal Contrast.
The shadows cast by a particular
light-source will always have the same
quality and intensity; quite apart from
the position of the light-source in
relation to the subject and the camera.
You can however control the shadows’
visibility by changing the position of
the light-source relative to the subject
and the camera, as you have seen in
the example of the white model.
The Point light-source casts welldefined shadows of high intensity. This
gives your subject the greatest degree
of dimension (relief) because of the
high level of contrast between the
shadows and the highlights.
On an overcast day a scene would
definitely not have the same level of
contrast and would appear somewhat
softer (tonally flatter) than the same
scene on a sunny, cloudless day. The
main reason for the softer appearance
is due to the change in quality (size) of
the light-source.
Shadow’s Edge Transfer
A bank of thin clouds over the sun
acts very much like a diffuser. It
scatters the highly directional rays of
the sun across the sky making the
entire canopy a huge, multi-directional
light source.
In this situation all the surfaces not
facing the sun directly will still receive
a degree of illumination from the
edges of the clouds. This reduces the
82
intensity the shadows would have had
on a sunny, cloudless day.
Increasing the size of your light source
has also an effect on the quality of
your shadows’ edge. While the Point
of light-source creates shadows with a
sharp, well defined edge, a broader
light-source, being more diffused, will
give your shadows a softer, undefined
edge.The quality of the line separating
the shadows and the highlights is
known, in photography, as the
Shadows’ Edge Transfer.
The Sun and the Overcast Sky are the
two extremes types of light sources:
The point light source (the sun) and
the broadest, diffused one (overcast
sky). Any size in between these two
will offer you different qualities and
characteristics that you can exploit to
your advantage.
The choice of size of a light-source will
then be determined by the visual and
emotional effect you want to create.
The ‘drawing qualities’ of a smaller
light-source will chisel your subject, as
in painting, with minute, very accurate
and definite shadows. A larger lightsource will render the same subject in
broader, more impressionistic strokes
having less definition in its shadows.
83
Studio - Equipment & Layout
Learning Outcome
This exercise is designed to help the
student to learn where all the
equipment is located and what
function it has within the boundaries of
the studio.
Method.
You are required to make a sketch of
the studio layout, and to label all of the
equipment using a sketch and
description of the part and its function.
During the lesson, make rough
sketches and then transfer these into
your Studio Book.
Work Requirement.
This is to be presented for assessment
in your studio book as being your
introduction to the studio.
Specularity
As we have said, light, for all intent
and purpose, travels in straight lines.
From any point within the light source
a straight line of light (ray) will travel to
illuminate a surface. Once that ray hits
the surface it is reflected back at the
same angle of incidence.
Some of the light rays will be
absorbed by the surface’s qualities,
that is the reason why you can see
different tonal values as well as
colours - while the rest will be
reflected back to the eyes.
A smooth surface: the body of a car,
the smooth surface of a lake, the shiny
skin on a sweaty face, etc. works like
a mirror and will reflect all or most of
the light back to the eyes.
A rough surface: the sand on a beach;
the sandstone bricks of a building; the
matt surface of a face full of make-up,
etc. works like a diffuser and will
scatter most of the light’s rays in all
directions. The rays coming back to
the eyes will not have the same
concentrated intensity.
A rough or matt surface is made up of
infinitesimal smaller surfaces not
facing in the same direction as the
overall surface, very much like
pebbles on a beach. Although the
beach is facing the sky at a slight
angle, each pebble has its own
orientation to the sky.
Obviously the pebbles will reflect the
rays of light according to their own
orientation and not necessarily to the
orientation of the beach. In turn the
surface of each pebble will scatter the
light again according to its own
peculiarities.
Characteristics of Lighting.
There are three features of lighting
(black & white) to bear in mind: quality,
direction contrast.
Start by looking at these one at a time,
then see how they are combined in
different kinds of equipment and
techniques.
Quality of Lighting:
This is mostly concerned with the type
of shadow the light source causes
objects to cast - hard and clear cut, or
soft and graduated. Lighting quality
depends on the size of the source
relative to its distance from the
subject. Hardest light comes from
the most compact, point-like source,
such as a spotlight or projector bulb, a
small flashgun, a clear glass domestic
lamp, a lighted match or direct light
from the sun or moon. The sun
however, although “compact”, is a
very bright light source, providing a
huge variety of light qualities. These
light qualities will depend on latitude,
time of day, atmospheric and climatic
conditions. (The sun and moon are
vast in size, but because of their
immense distances they form
relatively small, compact sources in
our sky.) All these light sources are
very different in other respects, such
as intensity, but you will find they all
give sharp-edged shadows.
bounced from this for subject
illumination.
The opposite conversion is also
possible. You can make a large soft
source give hard illumination by
blocking it off with black card leaving
only a small hole. Indoors, if you
almost close opaque window blinds
you can produce fairly hard light even
when the sky outside is overcast.
The size and closeness of your light
source also change the character of
reflections from gloss-surfaced
subjects. A hard light source gives a
small, brilliant highlight. Typical of this
is the catchlight in the eyes of a
portrait. Soft light gives a paler, spread
highlight, which may sometimes dilute
the underlying colour of an entire
surface.
Softest light comes from a large,
enveloping source. You can make any
hard light source give soft lighting by
placing a large sheet of diffusing
material, such as tracing paper,
between it and the subject. The larger
and closer your diffuser is to your
subject the softer the lighting. Similarly
you can direct a hard source on to a
large matt reflector such as a whitelined umbrella, card, the ceiling or a
nearby wall, and use only the light
84
Sekonic Handheld Meter
1. Spherical diffusor (for incident light measurement).
5. Rotation direction indicator
6. Measuring button (red)
10. White index line for extension factor setting
11. Extension factors
12 .Eyelet for neckstrap
13. EV (Exposure Value) modification scale (+ and -)
14. Reading dot for cinematographers (1/50 sec)
15. White index line for EV modification setting
16. Sliding black cover for red signal
17. Exposure Time Scale
18. Aperture scale (f-stops)
19. Cine scale (frames per second)
20. Ribbed film speed setting disk
21. Index for ISO setting
22. Exposure Value (EV) scale
23. Setting ring for modified settings
24. Computer ring for setting
indicator needle
25 . White selector index for
measurement duration
26. Square setting mark for single
measurement with storage
31. Light entry aperture
34. Divisions for zone system
35. Key for recalling values from
store
37, 38 and 39 LED- Left, right and
centre
85
Direct and Multiple lighting
Direction Of Lighting:
In the studio take a series of shots
bounce back spilt main light in a soft,
The direction of your light source
with the following lighting setups when
diffused form.
determines where your subject’s light
two lights are used the front light is the
and shade will fall. This in turn affects
main light;
As a guide, an average subject lit with
the appearance of texture and volume
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
lighting contrast of 10:1 will just about
(form). There are infinite variations in
height and position around your
subject, particularly when you have
free movement of the light.
Frontal light - from next to the camera
illuminates detail, gives small
shadows, minimises texture and
flattens form. Reflective surfaces seen
Front light
Stage under
Front light and stage / under
Side light
Side light and front light.
Overhead
Overhead and front at 45º
Back or rimlight
Front at 45º with reflector and
backlight.
record with detail throughout, in a
black and white photograph. That
represents 3.5 stops difference
between exposure readings for the
most illuminated and most shaded
subject areas of inherently equal tone.
With experience you can judge how
contrast will translate onto film, but as
flat-on flare light straight back towards
Lighting Contrast
Lighting contrast is the ratio between
the lens. This is typical of direct flash
light reaching the lit parts (highlights)
lower lighting contrast than might
from the camera.
and the light reaching the shadowed
seem best at the time of shooting.
a beginner always remember to use
parts of your subject. That is: the
Side or top lighting - helps to
emphasise texture in surfaces facing
relationship between low and high
values present in the subject.
the camera, and shows the form of 3dimensional subjects.
Below - Lighting a subject from below
tends to give a macabre, dramatic,
even menacing effect.
By controlling the difference in value
between highlights and shadows you
can create a range of moods to suit
your purposes. Photographic film
cannot accommodate as wide a range
Back lighting - can create a bold edge
line and give you a strong shape, but
most of the subject detail is lost in
shadow which also flattens form. All
of brightness in the same scene as
can the eye. Often this means that
when you expose to get detail in the
featureless, even though you could
these changes of direction work with
see details there at the time.
both hard and soft light sources, but
Alternatively, exposing to suit
they are more marked with hard light
because of its sharp-edged shadows
due to increased brightness contrast
range.
shadows ‘burns out’ details in the
lighter areas. The problem is greatest
with side or top lighting, although the
lit surfaces then show excellent form
and texture there are often large
When another light is added to your
lighting set up, you need to determine
the balance of exposure between the
shadow areas. If you want to improve
shadow detail you could add an extra
direct light from the opposite direction
lights. You need to choose which light
( be careful not to form an extra set of
is to the main light and which are to
cross-shadows which can be
be the fill lights. Refer to lighting
ratios
confusing and unnatural ). Another
solution is to use a reflector board
near the subject’s shadow side to
86
High Key Lighting in the studio.
High key portraits have predominantly
lighter tones, with very little below
Zone V. resulting in an image that has
a white background and light face with
no shadows, the only dark areas are
the outline of the eyes and mouth.The
way to get this look is through a
combination of overexposure, plus
development and diffuse lighting.
The Setup
A white background that is illuminated
separately from the subject. Cutters
between these lights and the subject
to prevent flare and to prevent light
falling on the subject.
Position the subject a few meters in
front of the background making sure
no light from the background lights are
falling on the subject. Position two
lights, each with reflective umbrellas,
at a 45˚ angle to the subject.Use
reflectors if there are any shadows still
on the face.
Take an incident meter reading from
the subject.
Take reflective readings from various
parts of the background and ensure
that it is even and 3.5 stops brighter
than the incident reading taken at the
subject.
The incident reading is used as a
reference to set your aperture and
shutter speed. Overexpose by two
stops to push all the values up (i.e. if
the reading was f11 @ 1/60 second,
expose at 5.6 @ 1/60 second) and
when processing give the film +1
development to push up the highlight
values.
87
Low Key Lighting in The Studio.
Low key portraits have mostly darker
tones. Black background and dark
tones on the face with a few specular
highlights. The look can be similar to
the film genre of film noir, Mostly dark
with only a few selected areas
highlighted.
Generally the setup is this, a black
background place one or two spots to
the rear and side of the subject. This
light is for the highlights, without any
other lights the subjects face will be in
deep shadow. A little illumination is
needed to reveal more detail.
Reflected or diffused light needs to be
placed to the front of the subject.
There are two qualities of light being
used here. The spot, which is
illuminating the highlight, is a harder
light than the front reflected lights.
The Setup
For the purpose of learning this
technique we will use a specific
lighting setup.
A black background. Position the
subject a couple of meters in front of
the background so that the lights on
the subject don’t illuminate the
background.
Place a spot at 45˚ to the left at the
rear of the subject.
Place a cutter between the spot and
the subject.
Position two lights with reflective
umbrellas at 45˚to the front of the
subject.
Take an incident reading from the
spot. Take an incident reading from
the front lights. Make the left light the
same reading as the rear spot, and the
right light one stop less (i.e. if the spot
reads
f8@ 1/60 make the left front light f8 @
1/60 and the right front light f11 @
1/60)
88
Flash photography, a brief history
In the 1850’s it was discovered that
magnesium burned with an intense
white light, a characteristic that early
photographers were quick to adopt for
“seeing in the dark”. From the 1880’s
an explosive mixture of magnesium
cut with gun cotton was used to
illuminate night scenes. The shutter
was opened on “b” or bulb and the
powder touched off, emitting a flash of
light and distinctive clouds of choking
smoke.
Flashbulbs became smaller, first with
“peanut” bulbs filled with finely spun
zirconium wire, then flashcubes [Four
bulbs in one rotating head, each with
it’s own reflector]. The father of
electronic flash was Dr. Harold
Edgerton of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, [M I T], who
used flash and precisely timed
stroboscopic lights to freeze bullets
and capture sequential images of
humans and animals in motion.
In 1925, Dr. Paul Vierkotter invented
the flashbulb, a magnesium wire
encased in glass, which was triggered
by passing a low voltage current
through it. Reflective foil was
subsequently added, and parabolic
reflectors placed behind the bulb to
improve the direction of the flash’s
output.
A high voltage charge, collected in a
capacitor, passes through an inert
gas- filled tube when the shutter is
released. The brilliant flash of light
that results has a very short duration,
typically 1/500 to 1/1000 of a
second, [compared with around 1/60
of a second for type “M” flash bulbs]
which effectively becomes the fastest
allowable shutter speed. The light
output is at a colour temperature, of
around 5500 kelvin the same as
daylight.
The great advantage of these
lightweight portable units is their main
types:
The manual flash, that fires at full or
half power and requires calculation for
correct exposure settings.
The automatic flash that once set to a
designated f-number, calculates the
flash duration from light reflected off
the subject.
The dedicated flash unit. These flash
units link the camera’s metering
systems with the light output to give
extremely accurate exposure in most
lighting conditions
Measuring Exposure, for Flash
Control and exposure of electronic
flash differs in several ways from
continuous light source techniques.
When a flash unit is switched on, a
steady current is drawn into electrical
storage tanks, called capacitors,
which cause a ready signal to appear
when fully charged. The exposure
settings for the camera are dependent
upon the distance between the
subject and flash and the film speed
used, the closer the flash or more
sensitive the film the smaller the
aperture that is used, conversely the
less sensitive the film, or the further
away the flash from the subject the
wider the aperture used.
Shutter speeds do not affect the
exposure, however, most camera
manufacturers have a flash sync
speed marked on the shutter speed
dial, usually marked in red, this is the
fastest shutter speed you can use, you
may use lower for creative effects but
a higher shutter will result usually in
half exposed or unexposed negs.
How Electronic Flash Works
Most electronic flash units consist of a
flash tube set into a reflector,
batteries, and electrical circuits that
enable the flash to go off on
command. Also, there is an oscillator
that converts the low voltage of the
batteries to a much higher voltage
(typically 450 volts), and a capacitor
that accumulates and holds that high voltage electricity.
Additionally, on automatic units,
internal electronics can control the
power output of the flash in response
to a sensor that measures the flash
light reflecting back from the subject.
Such sensors are found on the front of
the flash, or may be inside the camera
and electronically connected to the
flash. When you trip the camera
shutter, a switch in the camera
simultaneously fires the flash. At that
moment, electrical energy stored in
the flash unit capacitor is released in a
sudden burst of power through the
flash tube, creating a flash of light.
The flash tube has an extremely long
life expectancy. It can fire thousands
of bursts before wearing out. Its burst
of intense light is so short (usually
1/1,000 of a second or faster) that fast
action can be frozen easily in most
picture-taking situations.
Flash Photography Depends On
Distance
When we photograph with available
light, camera-to-subject distance is a
concern only in regard to focusing and
composition; it has no bearing on the
amount of light that reaches the film,
and therefore does not affect the lens
opening or shutter settings.
In flash photography, subject distance
- or, more accurately, flash-to-subject
distance - is a much more significant
factor. Distance must always be
considered when taking flash pictures
because of the way light propagates.
The burst of light generated by the
flash unit immediately begins to
spread out as it leaves the flash tube.
The farther it travels, the more it
spreads out and the more its intensity
decreases. When the subject is near
the flash, the light has not spread out
very much and is therefore very bright;
in fact under some circumstances, it
may be too bright. Conversely, a
distant subject will receive much
dimmer light from the same flash. As
a consequence of this, when the flash
is set on manual, you must set the
lens to an aperture appropriate for the
light level found at each flash-tosubject distance. With automatic flash,
each lens aperture automatically
produces correctly exposed flash
pictures, but only over a prescribed
range of distances. As you change
apertures, the near and far limits of
that range shift.While this may sound
somewhat complicated, it is extremely
easy in practice. In most cases, all
necessary information is right on the
flash, and absolutely no calculations
are required.
Manual Mode, for Flash
Photography.
When you operate your flash in its
manual mode, it puts out the same
amount of light, for the same duration,
each time it is fired. With most flash
units, that amount of light is also the
maximum of which the equipment is
capable. (On some models, you can
set the power in manual mode to 1/2,
1/4, and less, of
maximum.)
In manual mode, you must use a
different lens aperture for each flashto-subject distance. Manual operation
of a flash is appropriate:
• when you wish to exceed the
distance limits available with
automatic exposure;
• when you feel the automatic
sensor may produce erroneous
exposures due to unusual subject
tone or placement;
• when the flash is removed from the
camera for direct, side, or
backlighting and the automatic
sensor cannot be placed near the
camera lens;
• when you are using more than one
flash unit that is not designed for
automatic, multiple flash operation.
Of course manual operation is
required with most studio size flash
equipment and other units that do not
have automatic sensors.
To use your flash on MANUAL, it must
be set to “M”.
Using the Metz 45 in Automatic
Mode
General:
When a flash is fired the sensor built
into the flash unit measures the light
reflected from the subject and
quenches the flash as soon as the
right quantity of light has been
received. The following should be
observed when taking flash shots in
automatic mode:
Make sure that the film speed is set
properly.
Heed that the subject is within the
working range of the automatic
aperture.
For a good flash result the aperture
selected on the camera lens must be
identical to the auto working aperture
on the flash gun.
Selection Of Automatic Mode:
Set the film speed setting knob on the
aperture calculator dial such that the
orange arrow points to the sensitivity
of the film used. The aperture
calculator dial allows 5 auto settings.
Be careful to lock the dial in place. In
between settings are not possible. On
the interior scale, the orange coloured
mark “N” indicates the f stop to be
selected on the camera. On the two
exterior scales, it shows the maximum
operating ranges in meter and feet.
When a wide angle diffuser is used,
the orange coloured mark “W” on the
aperture calculator dial indicates the
maximum operating range.
Auto Working Ranges:
Each of the automatic apertures has a
specific auto working range.
EXAMPLE:
0.5m to 4m (1,6ft to 13ft)
0.5m to 5.5m (1,6ft to 18ft)
0.7m to 8m (2,3ft to 26ft)
1.0m to 11m (3,3ft to 36ft)
1.5m to 16m (5,0ft to 52ft)
Exceeding the upper limit of the auto
working range may result in
underexposure, falling below the lower
limit will produce overexposure. Any
subject lying between the upper and
lower limits of the operating range will
be measured by the flash unit’s
automatic system and correctly
exposed (the limits given for the
operating ranges do not apply to
bounce flashing. As the working
ranges overlap you very often have the
facility of selecting the optimum
aperture for the composition of the
picture. All given distances are flashto-subject distances. The camera-tosubject distance may be different.
The best auto aperture for a specific
picture-taking situation is dependent
on the required operating range and
the desired depth-of-field. A lower fnumber will reduce the depth-of-field.
Lower f-numbers are used whenever
the background should be out-offocus in order to stress the
foreground. For standard pictures,
selection of the medium auto setting is
recommended. When the ISO 100/21
film is used, for example, the working
aperture is f/5.6. The operating range
then lies between 0.7m to 8m (2ft to
26ft)
AUTO CHECK illumination of the auto
check indicator tells you that the
exposure was correct. This feature is
very useful in bounce flash
applications for which the given
working ranges do not apply. The
firing of a trial flash by operation of the
manual firing button (holding the flash
unit as for normal photography)
enables you to find out if the available
light output is sufficient for the
aperture selected. If the auto check
indicator fails to light up upon firing a
trial flash stop the unit down to the
next smaller f-number or reduce the
distance to the reflecting subject.
Then fire another trial flash.
90
Automatic Flash Mode Examples:
Example 1:
Flash-to-subject distance: 2.5m (8ft)
Film speed: ISO 100/21
Proceed as follows:
Set the film speed.
As the flash-to-subject distance is
shorter than the maximum distances
of all 5 auto working apertures and
longer than the minimum distances,
you have a choice of selecting any
one of the 5 apertures. Because of the
better depth of field you will decide in
favour of aperture f11.
Set the index mark “N” on the
calculator dial to aperture f11.
Switch on unit.
The unit is ready for flashing when the
flash ready lamp lights up.
Example 2:
Flash-to-subject
distance:
6 m (20 ft)
Film
speed: ISO 100/21
Proceed as follows:
Set the film speed.
The flash-to-subject distance of 6m
allows the use of apertures f5.6 - f4 f2.8 taking the maximum working
ranges into account.
Since you desire a shallow depth-offield you will decide in favour of
aperture f2.8.
Set the index mark “N” on the
calculator dial to aperture f2.8.
Switch on unit.
The unit is ready for flashing when the
flash ready lamp lights up.
Fill In Flash
Although flash is primarily considered
a tool for lighting indoor scenes where
ambient light is too dim for successful
existing-light photography, you’ll find it
a useful and even exciting addition
outdoors in the day time or at night.
Compared with the human eye, all
films have considerably less ability to
record detail simultaneously in both
very dark shadows and very bright
highlight areas. This limitation is
somewhat more pronounced in slide
films than in negative materials. Flash
can be used to brighten shadow areas
so that details become apparent.
Flash can also become a creative tool
to tone down surroundings and
spotlight subjects.
to record on film as a silhouette. Fill-in
flash helps to balance exposure
between background and subject.
Outdoor lighting can often be
improved with the judicious use of
your electronic flash unit. Particularly
in a backlighted situation, you’ll find
that if you expose for the background,
your subject becomes a nearsilhouette. If you expose for the
subject in shadow, the background
will become overexposed. The
answer is to set your exposure for the
background and add some flash to
brighten the shadows on your subject.
Another case for fill-in flash occurs
when your subject is located near a
bright light source, such as a lamp or
window. When exposure is correct for
the subject the background is washed
out, and often the subject contrast is
noticeably decreased by lens flare.
On the other hand, exposing properly
for the bright light causes the subject
91
Guide Number Table to Determine Flash Exposure
Manual Mode
In the man ual mode, the setting of the camera aperture is de-
66
Setting and Determining the camera aperture
-
.
o
Camera Aperture
92
Electronic Flash Assignments
Assignment 1 Portraits using flash
Shutter Speed Must Be Set To Sync
With Flash
K1000 Sync is 1/60
Exposure
A Direct Flash ( attached to camera)
1. Exposure using Guide Number
Chart
a) Set ASA
b) Set flash meter to manual
c) Calculate camera aperture using
Guide Number Chart.
Camera aperture to be set =
Guide Number
Flash-to-subject distance
d Set aperture
e Compose / focus / shoot
2. Exposure using Auto Sensor
a) Set flash to desired f stop (f8)
(set index mark N to desired aperture )
b) Set camera to desired f stop (f8)
c) Check exposure by using auto
check button.
(if the auto check indicator fails to light
up upon firing a trial flash, stop the
unit down to the next smaller f number
or reduce the distance to the reflecting
subject.
Then fire another trial flash.
d) Reset aperture if necessary
e) Compose / focus / shoot.
3. Exposure using Flash Meter
Basic Off-camera Operation
Removing your flash unit from its
customary direct camera connection
offers myriad possibilities for pleasing
effects. On camera flash provides a
flat illumination that can be rather
harsh. When your flash is off the
camera, you create illumination that
gives shadows for form or that is
reflected for a softer quality.
Off-Camera Flash
While on camera flash is fast and
convenient, considerable improvement
in modeling – subject shape, texture,
and general appearance created by
the light – frequently occurs when you
position the flash away from the
camera. The goal is to have the light
falling on the subject more from the
side, top, or even bottom than directly
from the front.
Bounce Flash
Direct light sometimes produces hard
shadows. This can be avoided by
bouncing the flash. For this purpose,
the reflector is tilted upwards so that
the light is reflected off the ceiling or a
suitable reflective surface to give soft
overall illumination. The reflecting
surface must have a neutral colour or
be white.
Off camera direct flash mitigates some
of the unfavorable qualities of direct,
on camera flash, but direct light from a
small source, on or off the camera, is
still harsh. It cannot be used to
illuminate a scene evenly with
substantial from-to-back depth, and it
never looks like natural light – it
always looks like flash.
For every difficulty, there is usually a
solution. If the flash is aimed not at the
subject but a large surface such as a
wall, ceiling, or cardboard reflector,
that large surface now becomes the
source. The scene is then bathed with
soft, broad illumination that falls on
subjects from many directions. And
because it comes from the side or top,
and not directly from the front, shapes
and textures are nicely defined.
Furthermore, light bounced off a
ceiling simulates the indoor overhead
illumination with which we are so
familiar. Similarly, light bounced off a
wall falls on the subject in the same
beautiful manner as soft, indirect light
from a window. Bounce flash
photography looks believable.
The Bounce Surface
Select a bounce surface appropriate
for the subject. If the flash is too close
to the reflector, the light will not have
sufficient distance to spread out and
become a large source. Conversely, if
too far, the light may spread out more
than the subject requires, wasting
illumination.
Ceilings are traditional bounce
surfaces, but don’t hesitate to use
walls, a shade or binds pulled down
over a window, or even a cardboard
reflector. In all cases, the bounce
surface must be light in tone, and
proper colour rendition, the surface
should be white, slightly off-white, or
gray. Unusual colour results from
bouncing off a coloured surface.
Aiming the Flash
The flash head must be angled so that
light reflected from the bounce surface
will fall where you want it, this is best
accomplished by aiming the flash
head at a point midway between flash
and subject. Unsuccessful bounce
flash pictures can often be traced to
careless aiming – the light falls in front
of or behind the subject. Particularly
with the flash mounted on the camera,
it is easy to change the aim point of
the flash head accidentally as the
camera is moved for a desired
composition. Make sure also that
direct flash doesn’t accidentally spill
onto the subject.
Flash Operating Considerations
The desirable qualities of bounce flash
are obtained at the cost of:
1. Significantly limited range when
compared with direct flash.
2. The need to use relatively large
apertures, thereby limiting depth of
field.
3. Somewhat more complicated
exposure considerations.
Bouncing the light weakens its
intensity on the subject. The bounced
surface, even if white, absorbs some
light energy, and more significantly,
scatters the light in directions other
than toward the subject.
This diminished brightness dictates
larger apertures. And whatever the
flash unit’s range for direct flash, it will
be greatly diminished when used for
bounced. This is one case where highpower flash equipment and/or fast film
can be extremely helpful.
Bounce Flash Exposure
Bounce flashes in the automatic mode
1. Make sure that the sensor is
directed towards the subject.
2. Check for correct aperture setting
by firing trial flashes.
3. Change aperture if required.
4. Watch the auto check indicator.
5. The auto working ranges do not
apply here.
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Manual bounce flashing
1. Select manual mode. (In this mode
the aperture setting required for taking
shots in small rooms is:
f-number on camera lens = Guide
number
2 X flash-to-subject distance.
Bouncing Flash Into Umbrellas
Flash bounced from walls, ceilings,
and other flat reflectors is extremely
effective for room-size situations, and
even portraits and still lives. However,
these bounce surfaces leave much to
be desired in the way of directional
control. They also waste considerable
light energy, and they may have an
undesirable colour. What’s more, light
coloured walls and ceilings frequently
either do not exist at all or are too far
from the subject to be of much use.
A photographic umbrella, used to
reflect light from a flash, provides the
soft luminosity of a large light source.
Umbrella illumination has good
directional control, proper colour
characteristics, and wastes far less
light than a reflector. An umbrella,
stand, and flash also make a
reasonable portable package with
sophisticated capabilities.
Exposure with Umbrellas
Because the flash is mounted
completely away from the camera,
automatic exposure operation is only
possible if the flash unit has a remote
sensor or if you are using a TTL flash
system.
In manual mode, the modified guide
number system can be used. Of
course the flash-to-subject distance is
the sum of the umbrella-to-subject
distances.
Electronic Flash Prac. Assignment 2a
Portraits using flash 100 ISO
Shutter Speed Must Be Set To Sync
With Flash
K1000 Sync is 1/60
A.)Bounced Flash
Set Up:
Flash mounted on stand and
positioned so that it will bounce off the
wall onto the person.
Method:
1.Exposure using Flash Meter.
i.Set Flash to manual
ii.Point flash meter towards light
source (for incident light reading).
iii. Take a reading
iv. Set f stop.
2. Exposure using Remote Sensor
i. Set flash to f stop for estimated
distance (set index mark N to aperture
according to estimated distance)
ii. Set camera aperture
iii. Check exposure by using auto
check button. (If the auto check
indicator fails to light up upon firing a
trial flash, stop the unit down to the
next smaller f number or reduce the
distance to the reflecting subject.
Then fire another trial flash.
iv. Reset aperture if necessary
v. Compose / focus / shoot.
3. Exposure using Guide Number
Chart
i. Set ASA
ii. Set flash meter to manual
iii. Calculate camera aperture using
Guide Number Chart.
Camera aperture to be set = Guide
Number 2 x Flash-to-subject distance.
iv. Set aperture
Prac. Assignment 2B Portraits using
flash
100 ISO Shutter Speed Must Be Set
To Sync With Flash
K1000 Sync is 1/60
B). Bounced Flash
Set Up:
Flash mounted on Camera and
positioned so that it will bounce off the
wall onto the person. Rotate the head
so the sensor is pointing at the
person.
Method:
1. Exposure using Flash Meter.
v. Set Flash to manual
vi. Point flash meter towards light
source (for incident light reading).
vii. Take a reading
viii. Set f stop.
Method:
2. Exposure using Remote Sensor
ix. Set flash to f stop for estimated
distance (set index mark N to
aperture according to estimated
distance )
x. Set camera aperture
xi. Check exposure by using auto
check button. (If the auto check
indicator fails to light up upon firing a
trial flash, stop the unit down to the
next smaller f number or reduce the
distance to the reflecting subject.
Then fire another trial flash.
xii. Reset aperture if necessary
xiii. Compose / focus / shoot.
Method:
3. Exposure using Guide Number
Chart
i. Set ASA
ii. Set flash meter to manual
iii. Calculate camera aperture using
Guide Number Chart.
Camera aperture to be set =
Guide Number
2 x Flash-to-subject distance.
iv.) Set aperture
Prac. Assignment Two C
Portraits using flash
100 ISO
Shutter Speed Must Be Set To Sync
With Flash
K1000 Sync is 1/60
C.) Reflected Flash
Set Up:
Set up umbrella, white reflection type.
Flash mounted on stand facing
umbrella 45 - degree angle to subject.
Method:
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1. Exposure using Flash Meter.
v. Set Flash to manual
vi. Point flash meter towards light
source (for incident light reading).
vii. Take a reading
viii. Set f stop.
Method:
2. Exposure using Remote Sensor
xi. Set flash to f stop for estimated
distance (set index mark N to aperture
according to estimated distance )
xii. Set camera aperture
xiii. Check exposure by using auto
check button. ( If the auto check
indicator fails to light up upon firing a
trial flash, stop the unit down to the
next smaller f number or reduce the
distance to the reflecting subject.
Then fire another trial flash.
xiv.) Reset aperture if necessary
xv. Compose / focus / shoot.
Prac. Assignment Two D
Portraits using flash 100 ISO
Shutter Speed Must Be Set To Sync
With Flash
K1000 Sync is 1/60
D. Diffused Flash
Set Up:
Set up umbrella, white translucent
type.
Flash mounted on stand facing the
subject.
Method:
1. Exposure using Flash Meter.
xiii. Set Flash to manual
xiv. Point flash meter towards light
source (for incident light reading).
xv. Take a reading
xvi. Set f stop.
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Studio Assignments
Studio book, Assignment #1
The purpose of this exercise is to
assist you in the production of a
studio book that forms a tangible base
in which to experience, accumulate
props and ideas, having time to
previsualise sets/concepts you may
intend to photograph. Hence the
importance of the setup and the
maintenance of your studio book lies
within the context procedure of Plan > Enactment > Record
Method
You are required to maintain a book
that records your learning experiences
including:
1. Studio - Equipment and Layout.
2. Lecture notes, assignments,
demonstrations, your personal
research, workshops etc.
3. Development and translation of
your ideas / concepts in visual form sketches and diagrams.
4. Your PLAN for each shoot. Within
the studio procedure, technical
considerations must be documented,
planned and adhered to, especially
while you are at this stage in your
learning curve.
5. Your ENACTMENT for each shoot.
Sketches and diagrams of all
equipment set up (lighting, camera
positions and props) must be clearly
and accurately recorded. The success
of the shoot will hinge on how
accurately the studio book procedure
has been followed through, and will
act as a future reference.
6. Your RECORD for each shoot.
Exposure, proofs and examples.
(Recording your learning experiences
allows to evaluate your progress more
accurately and assists in developing
both ideas and skills).
Assessment Criteria
You are required to present your
studio book to provide evidence of
your ability to:
4.1 Ensure your work space is
adequate for purposes and available
for duration of shoot.
4.2 Select desired background,
appropriate to mood and concept
4.3 Construct any necessary
supports.
4.4 Ensure all necessary props are
available.
4.5 Determine legal responsibilities.
Multiple Lighting Assignment #2
Shoot a series of portraits in the
studio, using a variety of lighting setups.
Using the technique/s described in
class, set up the lights in Studio 1 and
produce a series of portraits, use
either an analogue or digital; camera.
Submit proof-sheets, analogue or
digital to your teacher for assessment.
In consultation with a teacher print 1
portrait, chosen from the proof sheet,
either in the darkroom or the digital
darkroom.
High Key Studio Assignment #3
Shoot a high key portrait in the studio.
Using the technique/s described in
class, set up the lights in Studio 1 and
produce a low key portrait, use either
an analogue or digital; camera.
Submit proof-sheets, analogue or
digital to your teacher for assessment.
In consultation with a teacher print 1
portrait, chosen from the proof sheet,
either in the darkroom or the digital
darkroom.
Low Key Studio Assignment #4
Shoot a Low key portrait in the studio.
Using the technique/s described in
class, set up the lights in Studio 1 and
produce a high key portrait, use either
an analogue or digita; camera.
Submit proof-sheets, analogue or
digital to your teacher for assessment.
In consultation with a teacher print 1
portrait, chosen from the proof sheet,
either in the darkroom or the digital
darkroom.
Electronic Flash Prac Studio
Assignment #5
Electronic Flash Prac.
Shoot Three Portraits using Fill-In
Flash Using 100 ISO film
Shutter Speed Must Be Set To Sync
With Flash Exposure.
Set Flash to Manual. Highlight
Reading using a grey card and Light
Meter or T.T.L.
SHOT 1 Portrait Outside In Daylight
(using flash as a fill-in source)
a) Located a position where the
person is in the shade.
b) Set the flash to manual
c) Take a grey card meter reading in
the sun - highlight reading.
e) Adjust the flash exposure.
SHOT 2 Portrait Inside
a) Locate the person in front of a
window.
b) Take a grey card meter reading
(Highlight reading)
c) Adjust the flash exposure.
As a variation to this exercise, take a
series of shots where you have
underexposed the background, one,
two or three stops.
Balance two sides:
a) Take a shadow reading
b) Take a highlight reading
c) Add 2 stops light to shadows
d) Set f-stop.
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Folio
Folio
This subject is one of the core
Photography units studied in First
Year.
and the appreciation of other
photographers and artists will be
facilitated. An appreciation of
students’ perceptions and
experiences. Formative ideas are to be
plotted in a visual diary. Each student
Through regular participation in group
discussions about students’ current
work, opportunities are provided for
students to:
be critical of their own work and that
photographers in a
social, historical and
aesthetic context will be
promoted through visits
to galleries, slide
will be encouraged to
develop an individual
style. This style will be
expressed in an end of
year folio of archivally
of their peers
analyse the relationship to previous
work and possible future directions
analyse their responses to their
subject and to their finished product
presentations and visiting
photographers. In this
way, students will build
an environment in which critical skills
and literacy in the language of the
treated photographs.
Here the development of artistic
concepts, the trialling of a variety of
approaches to a number of subjects
visual arts can be fostered among
peers.
Emphasis will be placed on
developing work which reflects
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Visual Diary
Students are required to establish a
Work Journal / Ideas Book / Visual
Diary containing drawings and/or
other visual materials.
This task is ongoing throughout the
year. It is an essential part of
recording, analysing and documenting
information which is relevant to
developing work for the folio.
The entries in the visual diary should
include students:
• written observations which reflect the
thinking,planning and experimental
stage of their folio.
• images collected from
magazines,newspapers, digital
images contact prints and
photocopies which provide
inspiration for development their
work.
• drawings,sketches, illustrations and
plans relating to future
photographic shoots or digital
image making.
• documentation relating to different
photographic techniques, materials
and processes.
• research notes into artists(past and
present) who inspire and motivate
them.
• poetry, lyrics and other personal
expressive writing.
Folio Review
Method
Regular reviews will be held at the end
of each term or as determined by the
group, and it is expected that all
students attend. Students should
bring a minimum of three new prints.
Concepts that are still being worked
through are acceptable, however
these concepts need to be articulated.
The Folio Review provides a forum to
offer positive criticism and
appreciation. The value of folio review
relies on participation.
During the review, identify the various
fields of photography and discuss how
your own and others images may fit
into these fields.
Evaluate images in the light of impact
and suitability to purpose.
Research Presentation
Learning Outcome
The student should be able to identify
ideas, issues and arguments
expressed in photographic works.
Apply interpretive frameworks in the
analysis of selected works so as to
develop personal points of view about
the meaning of the works.
Method
The major focus of this work
requirement is the photographer and
their styles with some consideration
given to influences such as the society
or culture in which the photographer
lived and worked. Photographers can
therefore be selected across a broad
period of time in order to gauge best
their individual styles or the unique
qualities contained in the artworks.
The analysis should include:Sources of inspiration and motivation.
Selection and interpretation of subject
matter.
Intentions of the works and artistic
qualities they contain.
Challenges and the use of techniques
and skills.
Presentation of a slide presentation
(approx. 10mins ).
80% attendance at all tutorials.
Analysis Of Two Styles
Students should be able to interpret
the formal qualities of photographic
works together with their content and
the messages they
convey.
include:•At least two photographers, one from
each of the selected periods.
•A study of images produced in the
two periods and a detailed study of
at least 2 photographs.
•A contrast and comparison of the
images studied.
•A historical, social and political
context in which the images were
produced.
The study should also include:• Interpreting formal qualities
• Style analysis
• Technique analysis
• Content and subject matter analysis
Write an essay of 500 words or more
containing references to the historical
and cultural context in which the art
styles were made.
Folio Proposal
To gain experience in writing
proposals.
To have an aim to work towards and
plan for.
Method
Write a plan for what you would like to
achieve for the year, ie. what you wish
to come out of the year with:
•ideas you wish to develop
•ways you can achieve these
• possible directions for your work
• examples of possible techniques
• diagrams, photographs,
photocopies as well as text to be
included
Method
Select and analyse
two photographic
periods to study. One
should be prior to
1970 and one post
1970 (contemporary).
Focus on their styles
with consideration
given to influences
such as the society
or culture in which
the photographers
lived and worked.
The analysis should
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Final Folio
To prepare a folio of a minimum of ten
photographic works that reflects your
individual ideas and demonstrates
visual literacy, technical competency
and an understanding of design.
Method
Stage 1 Present folio proposal
consisting of contact images and a
short written description.
Stage 2 Present a folio of at least 10
appropriately presented images for
assessment.
Assessment will take the form of
positive criticism.
Some of the criteria for consideration
may be:◆
Technical consideration of
negative & print quality.
◆
Composition.
◆
Use of light.
◆
Appropriate execution /
extension.
◆
Preparation For An Exhibition
To be able to research, analyse and
evaluate roles and methods involved
in the presentation of art works to an
audience and discuss contemporary
art industry issues.
Method
Archival / Permanence - the
◦
nature of Fibre Based Paper
& the procedure used in
printing. Matt cutting & dry
mounting.
Presentation – look at various
◦
forms of presentation and
installation.
Gallery – Look at issues in
◦
selecting a gallery space,
curating, lighting and
hanging.
Identify stages in the
◦
production of an exhibition.
Organisation - Determine a
◦
timetable for production.
Identify and assign roles in
◦
the organisation and
participation of the exhibition.
Discuss responsibilities
◦
arising from the roles.
Final presentation of finished
◦
artworks at an exhibition.
Content - creative
interpretation and
development of ideas.
Visual Diary is a vital component of
your folio.
This should outline:
■
General aims.
■
Explanation, experimentation
■
Artist influences. Inspiration
from a variety of media
■
Planning.
■
Re-shoots.
■
Evaluation
100
100
Photoshop Exercises
Creating Layer Masks
Creating Layer Masks with the Quick Select Tool & Layer Blending Options
For your CD Cover assignment you should aim to create at least one cover which comprises of two or more photographs.
There are a number of ways to do this. One method was demonstrated in class last week. This is another way, as well as a
‘follow on’ of technique from the multiple self-portrait assignment.
Select the quick select tool in Photoshop CS5. Click
and drag over the area you wish to create a mask.
Make sure your mask panel is visible (Window- Masks).
Click on the layer mask icon and a layer mask will
appear, much in the same way as you created the layer
masks for your multiple self-portrait assignment.
Click on Mask Edge in the dialog
box and another panel will appear.
You can now make adjustments to
fine tune your selection that will alter
and refine your layer mask.
You can also select different
viewing options as you refine your
layer mask. In this example Black
& White is used (K) so the mask
can be clearly seen. After
adjustments are made change to
On Layers (L)
As you can see, the mask created by the Quick
Select Tool is quite rough. The first stage of creating
more accurate mask is by checking the Smart Radius
box and adjusting the radius. In this example I have
increased the radius to approximately 89 so as to
include the fine outline of hair and the texture of
fabric. You can then switch viewing option to On
Layer (L) to se the accuracy of the mask.
Using the sliders you can adjust the mask edges ie.
Smooth, Feather, Contrast and Shift Edge
Digital Zone Ruler & Levels
Open up you digital zone ruler PSD file.
You will be looking at a selected photograph from your archives and analysing different parts of the image in terms of the digital values,
ink percentage values and the zone system values.
Open up an image which has even tonal distribution. ie. One that is not “high key” or “low key; one that has shadows, highlights and
mid-tones. For this exercise, select a JPEG file. (The image will be an RGB, 8 bit file.)
When you open your image, select the workspace, ANALYSIS from the top right corner. (It may be on the default “Essentials” setting).
You will notice that three panels will appear; The Histogram Panel, Info Panel and Channels/Layers Panel. (A “measurement log” panel
will appear at the
The Histogram Panel
The Histogram Panel offers many options for viewing tonal and colour information in an image. The Histogram is a graph which
shows the distribution of colour & tone in your image.
Each pixel in an image is comprised of some combination of Red, Green & Blue.
Each of these colours can have a brightness value ranging from 0 to 255 in an 8-bit digital image.
We refer to this as 256 levels of tone. A RGB Histogram is a graph of how many RGB brightness values are at each level from 0
to 255. This corresponds with the DIGITAL VALUES on your ZONE RULER.
Ensure that you have selected RGB in your Histogram channel to see this. THEN, select the alternative channel options to see
the distribution of individual colours and luminosity.
INFO Panel
The Info Panel can be used to determine measurements of certain elements in your image, such as colour, density and size. In
this exercise you will be looking at the different VALUES in your image that correlate to the ZONE RULER. (Digital values and
Percentage Ink Values) Subsequently you will be able to see where specific areas fall into certain ZONES.
103
In your INFO panel, select Panel Options from the
top right icon.
For your first analysis of your image, select
“Grayscale” for the first colour readout and “HSB
colour” for the second. This is an acronym for Hue
Saturation and Brightness.
K stands for black (as B stands for Blue)
Look at your Digital Zone Ruler.
What value does the K measure?
What value does the B measure?
Look at the demo image on the projection screen. What ZONES are being selected in the image? Move the cursor
over different areas of your image to determine the different zones.
Make sure you repeat this process with a number of different images; low key and high key images etc. Get into the
habit of analysing your photographs based on the histogram and the information present.
Now bring up an image that is High Key and Low Key. Analyse the results in the histogram panel and the
information panel.
The general rule in photography (be it analogue or digital) is to create an image which falls in between Zone 2
and Zone 9. Why is this so?
104
HOWEVER. Rules are made to be broken. This is just a general rule for achieving a photograph with even tonal variation.
You may wish to capture an low-key image which has a large sections that is Pure Black (Zone 0), for example.
105
Levels & The Histogram
In your Photoshop workflow, the first adjustment you will make to your image will be the Levels. The Levels adjustment is
used to control/alter the tonal range and colour balance of your image.
The Levels adjustment feature allows us to ensure that the image is using the full tonal range between white and black. It
shows the levels of exposure (LIGHT) present in your image. This directly relates to your zone ruler.
Before we begin to adjust the levels of an image, duplicate the locked, background layer.
Right-click on layer > Duplicate layer
Go to menu > Layer > Duplicate layer
OR
Click and drag layer into Create a New Layer icon at bottom
of layers panel.
NOTE!
The peaks and valleys represent the
number of pixels at that brightness value.
You will now apply a Levels adjustment layer to your image.
Using adjustment layers allows for non-destructive editing.
There are a number ways you could do this. (See demo in
class).
This way you are not changing/manipulating the actual
pixels of the image. As you can see the adjustments are
made on a separate floating layer. The adjustments made on
this layer effect the image below it.
Look at the distribution of Tones on your histograms. What
Zones do most of the areas fall under?
106
The Levels Dialog in Detail
Select Custom for more
accurate adjustments
Automatic Adjustment for
colour, contrast and Levels
The eye dropper tools can
be used as an alternative
to the Input sliders.
Shadow Slider
Mid-tone Slider
Highlight Slider
This calculates a more
accurate histogram
Return to adjustment list
Delete adjustment Layer
Switches panel to
expanded view
This adjustment
effects all layers
below
Reset to adjustment defaults
Press and hold to view previous state
Toggle layer visibility
107
The dialog box with a Histogram gives us an
indication of how many pixels appear at each
level of Brightness in the image. Level 0 on
the left is absolute black and Level 255 on
the right is absolute white. Therefore there
are 256 levels of brightness in each of the
channels. As you can see, a zone ruler of
sorts appears below the histogram in the
dialog box. Look at your Zone Ruler to see
the relationship.
Below the histogram are three sliders: black,
grey and white. These are called Input
Shadow Slider, Gamma Slider and Input
Highlight Slider, respectively.
With levels, the goal is to change contrast
without losing detail in the Shadows or
Highlights.
When this loss of detail occurs (in the
highlights or shadows), it is called “Clipping”.
You are essentially removing non-digital values
Starting with the Input Highlight Slider. Hold
down the alt/Option key and click your cursor on
the white slider. Your image will go black. (This is
called Threshold view.) From the demonstration
image, you will see that the clipping begins to
appear at the digital value of 211. (This is in
between Zone 8 and Zone 9 on the Zone ruler.)
Now do the same with the Input Shadow Slider.
You will notice that your screen will go white. In
the image pictured you will notice that there is a
small amount of clipping already.
It is therefore not necessary to move the black
slider in this example. This indicates that the
image was slightly underexposed when shot.
Youtube Videa Link to adjusting levels
It is important that you take note of the histogram
inside your digital camera after each exposure to
ensure that you are achieving correct exposures.
108
You will notice that as a result of adjusting the
Levels, your histogram will change and will
sometimes appear with broken lines.
This is called the “combing effect”. It signifies a loss
of information in the image.
This is because the tones/colours have been remapped/ re-distributed so as to spread across the
histogram.
You will notice that this combing is only affecting the
adjustment layer.
You can also target
individual colour
channels when using the
Levels adjustment.
109
Creating a Zone Ruler
Using Photoshop create and print a zone ruler to determine the accuracy and quality of the Epson Desktop Inkjet Printers.
Assignment.
Print one copy in Black and white mode and one copy in colour mode for your tech journal. Compare the two prints. Write up
your conclusions on the quality of the output versus the screen rendering of the image, as well as differences between the
two prints.
Follow these instructions,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Open Photoshop
Open the file called Zone Ruler.psd
Go to View>rulers, [if the rulers are not already displayed].
From the Layers Palette, create a new empty layer.
Drag the guides down from the edges of the document window.
1. Drag the left hand guide until it’s about 10mm in from the left,
2. Drag the top guide down until it’s at 40mm.
3. Now grab both zero points from the top left corner of the
document window down until they read zero at the
intersecting guides on the document.
4. Now grab the guide from the left hand side of the screen until
it reaches 220mm
5. Grab the guide from the top of the window and bring it down
until it reaches, 50mm.
6. Choose the rectangular marquee tool from the tools palette. Make
sure the options are as follows, new selection, feather 0 pixels [or
what ever measurement system you have chosen from the
preferences] all other fields are empty.
7. Using the rectangular marquee tool click hold and drag from the
zero point in the top left corner of the document window to the
bottom right hand corner of the guides on the document. Let go of
the mouse you have a rectangular marquee that is 50mm x 220
mm.
8. Go to Edit (top menu) > Stroke. In the dialog box presented to
you, fill in this information, width 3mm, color black, location
outside, blending mode normal, opacity 100%. Click ok.
9. Choose the Gradient tool from the tools palette/panel
10. Hit “D” on the Keyboard, this returns the colour swatch to the
default colours of Black foreground and white background.
11. On the gradient tools option palette, make sure that the gradient
runs from black to white, is set to linear gradient, blending mode
is normal, opacity 100%, dither is checked, transparency is
checked.
12. Holding down the shift key, click hold and drag across the
rectangular selection, which should still be active, from left to
right.
You now have a gradient that runs from left to right and black to white,
save the file in your folder as zone ruler.psd
13. Using your Guides, drag multiple guides from the left ruler to
create 20mm wide rectangles.
14. Using the squares that you have made using the guides, select
the rectangle marquee tool and select the first 20mm square with
the new selection option.
15. Select the foreground colour.
16. From the dialog box now enter this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 0% ok this dialog box
1. The foreground colour should now be 100% black.
17. Go to edit>fill
18. From this dialog box make sure that the settings, are foreground
colour, blending mode is normal and opacity is 100%
1. Ok this and the selection fills with 100% black.
19. Select the rectangular Marquee tool again, with all the same
settings.
110
20. With the new selection option chosen in the options for the
Marquee, now go to the next 20mm selection along from the
black end of the gradient [left to right.
21. With the selection still active, click on the foreground colour
swatch.
22. From the dialog box now enter this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
section of the box 10% ok this dialog box.
23. The foreground colour should now be 90% black.
24. Go to edit>fill
1. From this dialog box make sure that the settings, are
foreground color, blending mode is normal, and opacity is
100%
25. Ok this and the selection fills with 90% black.
26. Select the rectangular Marquee tool again, with all the same
settings.
27. With the new selection chosen in the options for the Marquee,
now draw another 20mm selection along from the black end of
the gradient (third square across)
28. With the selection still active, click on the foreground colour
swatch.
29. From the dialog box now enter this value in the ‘B‘ brightness
30. section of the box 20% ok this dialog box.
31. The foreground colour should now be 80% black.
32. Go to edit>fill
33. From this dialog box make sure that the settings, are
foreground color, blending mode is normal, and opacity is 100%
34. Ok this and the selection fills with 80% black.
35.
Keep repeating this, process, changing the values downward in10%
steps until you have ten steps of black from 100% [black] to 0%
[white].
36.
111
Multiple Self Portrait using Layer Masks
This evidence requirement requires you to
create a Multiple Self Portrait using layer
masks in Photoshop
What You Need
For this task you will need to work in
pairs.
You need a DSLR camera and a tripod
(one between two students)
Set your camera at 200 ISO on Manual
mode.
Set your image type and size as a large
JPG for the purpose of the assignment.
Remember to check that your images
have the correct exposure using the at
Your Brief
5. Create a folder on your computer
1. Before you even start thinking about
“Multiple Self Portrait” and download
technically putting together your image in
your images into the folder.
Photoshop, you need to think about how
6. Open Photoshop> Open all 4 of your
you want to portray yourself in your
images through the file>open pathways
multiple self portrait. You have the
in PS.
constraint of only using the PIC grounds
7. Using the move tool and keeping you
as your backdrop, so think about how
finger on shift, drag all the images into
you can be creative. Have fun with the
the one file.
task.
2. Once you have found your location,
set your tripod up with your camera and
make sure that you have your camera set
at 200 ISO, with the appropriate shutter
speed and aperture depending on the
light.
3. Take 4 self portrait shots in different
positions without moving the camera.
4. Once you have taken the appropriate
shots, take them back to the Digital room
and begin downloading your Images.
TTL function with your camera.
Remember to name all your
layers
The eye icon, turns the
visibility of the layer
on and off.
112
In Photoshop there are Layer Masks and Masks which
allow you to use the layer mask as a method of
concealing and revealing certain sections of your image.
This also can be directly used when making selections
and then further refining the selections using the brush
tool.
8. Using the lasso tool, make a selection around one of
the self portraits that you want to include in you multiple
self portrait.
9. Once your selection is active go to layer>layer mask,
you then are presented with 4 options; Reveal All, Hide
All, Reveal Selection & Hide Selection.
Reveal All & Hide All are associated to
creating layer masks over whole image
layers
Reveal Selection & Hide Selection are associated
to creating layer masks when there is an active
selection.
10. Make your selection and then go to Layer>Layer Mask> Reveal
Selection.
Make sure that when you are working
on the layer mask it is selected.
Layer Mask. Black is concealing the
image, and white is the area of the
image that is being revealed.
Use the brush tool with your foreground and and background
colours set to black and white (hit D to return them to their
defaults) and then follow the rule of black to conceal and white
to reveal and adjust your selection using the layer mask.
113
Processing a Raw file
Process a RAW file using Adobe
Camera Raw after making minor global
adjustments. Save as a TIFF file to a
desired folder, then open in Photoshop.
Alternatively, open in Photoshop
straight away and proceed with making
the following adjustments;
Localised Curve Adjustment Layers
Load a Levels adjustment layer. Ensure
there is no further highlight or shadow
clipping. Make further adjustments if
need be.
Load a CURVES adjustment layer.
Using the on screen adjustment tool,
isolate a specific area you wish make
localised tonal adjustments (ie. skin
tones, sky etc). Modify the curve
slightly to darken/lighten chosen area.
THEN click on the accompanying layer
mask. Invert layer mask (Command I).
Press D on your keyboard to ensure the
colour picker is on the default setting of
black & white. (Ensure that white is your
foreground colour). Use the brush (B) to
‘reveal’ the areas you wish to apply this
curve adjustment to.
neutral grey layer will appear. You will
see no change to your image.
Select black from your colour picker.
Select the Brush tool (or hit B on your
keyboard). In the Tool Options bar,
select a low brush opacity, ie 12%.
Brush over the areas you wish to
darken in exposure.
You may wish to repeat this process to
dodge certain areas (decrease/hold
back in exposure).
NOTE. You may wish to turn off the
visibility of your Curves group folder
and note differences.
Sharpening your Image
You now have a number of adjustment
layers in your layers panel. You will now
be creating a single layer which will
comprise of all the adjustments you
made so far. This will then be used to
apply a sharpening layer to your image.
Ensure the top layer is selected
(highlighted in blue). From the drop
NOTE. a low opacity brush is desirable.
Change the brush size according to the
area you are painting away to reveal
your adjustment. (On your keyboard,
use square bracket keys as a shortcut).
Repeat this process to one or more
other areas.
Grouping layers
Create a layer ‘group’ folder. (Command
G) then drop and drag curve
adjustment layers into said folder.
Name your folder “curves” or “curve
adjustments”.
Burning & Dodging
Just as you burn and dodge areas of a
print in the darkroom, you can also
apply a similar technique in Photoshop.
As an alternative to using the burning
and dodging tool from the Tools panel/
palette, you can use this method for
more accurate exposure adjustments.
Hold down the alt/option key and click
on the “Create a New Layer” icon at the
bottom of your Layers panel. A New
Layer dialog box will appear. Name your
layer “Burn”. (You will be creating an
additional ‘dodge’ layer separately.) The
Colour Selection should read “None”,
for Mode, scroll down to select “Soft
Light” and check “Fill with Soft-Lightneutral color (50% gray)”. (See below) A
down menu in your layers panel, select
Merge Visible, however as you do this,
hold done the Alt/Option key. Continue
to hold down after your mouse is
released. If you release the Alt/Option
key too soon, all layers will merge,
however adjustment layers will be lost.
The image will in effect, be flattened.
A new layer comprising of all layers
below it will be created. Duplicate this
layer. Name it “High Pass” or
“Sharpen”.
From the Filter drop down menu, select
Other - High Pass. A dialog box will
appear containing a preview window.
This is automatically set at 100%.
Decrease the size to properly view your
image. Move the slider to select a small
radius in pixels. (ie. 6.0%) It is a good
idea to make subtle changes to the
sharpness of your image. Click OK.
You will now need to change the Layer
Blending mode in order to see the
resulting effect. In the Drop Down menu
in your Layers panel, select Overlay and
observe the changes. Do the same with
Soft Light and Hard Light.
Experiment with Altering the Layer
Opacity to lessen the intensity of your
sharpening adjustment.
(Zoom in to better see the effect of the
sharpening)
Localised Sharpening
As with the demonstration of localised
curve adjustments, you should also
apply a Layer Mask to isolate specific
areas you wish to sharpen. Click on the
layer mask icon in your Layers panel.
Invert the Layer (Command I), select
white from the colour picker (press D to
default back to black & white if other
colours are present) and use the brush
tool to reveal the areas you wish to
sharpen. Once again, select a low
brush opacity to gradually reveal the
sharpened areas. Once again, further
adjust the Layer Opacity to the desired
level.
Turn the layer visibility off to see the
extent of the adjustment and assess it’s
effectiveness in relation to your image.
Remember, don’t go overboard with
any of these adjustments. Subtlety is
the key!!
NOTE! This is merely an exercise in the
exploration of different techniques. Do
not feel that you have to make
numerous adjustments to your image
every time. It may be a matter of only
adjusting the levels and curves, then
your image is ready for output.
You will now need to change the Layer
Blending mode in order to see the
resulting effect. In the Drop Down menu
in your Layers panel, select Overlay and
observe the changes. Do the same with
Soft Light and Hard Light.
Experiment with Altering the Layer
Opacity to lessen the intensity of your
sharpening adjustment.
(Zoom in to better see the effect of the
sharpening)
Spot Healing Tool
Cleaning up scanned negatives,using a
variety of tools. These tools are the
Spot Healing Tool, The cloning tool.
Healing Tool
In addition to the spot healing tool, the
Healing Brush Tool can be used to in a
similar way to the clone tool. Areas of
various sizes can be ‘sampled’ and
applied to another desired area. Hold
down the alt/Option key when clicking
the mouse/cursor on the desired
sample area (Source point). Where ever
you move the cursor a ‘preview’ of the
sample can be seen. Then, click on the
point where you want the area to be
cloned.
Clone Tool
You may still wish to use the
old faithful Clone Tool. It
works in a very similar way
to the Healing Brush Tool.
The source area is sampled by pressing
alt/Option and then cloned to another
destination. Unlike the Healing Tool, the
Clone Tool basically copy/pastes the
pixels from the source point. It does not
try to match the surrounding pixels in
terms of tonality/texture.
Deactivate the visibility of the top layer
and you will see where you have made
the corrections.
Working in this non-destructive way
allows you to easily fix mistakes. The
‘spots’ can be easily removed using the
eraser tool or lasso selection tool and
hitting Delete.
Create a new SEPARATE, non
destructive layer. Name the layer,
“Small Dust Marks” or another
appropriate title. Ensure you have
selected Sample All Layers in the top
Options menu bar.
Spot Healing Brush Tool
Using the Spot Healing Brush Tool
you may want to clean up a few small
dust marks. Choose a brush size just
marginally bigger than the dust mark
(left and right bracket keys are the short
cut to do so) and choose a low opacity
(‘soft”) brush size. Simply click over the
dust marks to watch them disappear.
Deactivate the visibility of the top
layer and you will see where you have
made the corrections.
Working in this non-destructive way
allows you to easily fix mistakes. The
‘spots’ can be easily removed using
Remove Spots with Eraser Tool
the eraser tool or lasso selection tool
and hitting Delete.
Remove Spots with lasso
selection and delete key
115
Photographic History
A Glossary of Alternative Silver Processes.
Albumen Print
Albumen printing paper was invented
by a Frenchman, Louis Blanquart-
sensitised the paper by brushing over
a solution of silver nitrate and gallic
acid. He placed it in the camera for
thiosulphate (hypo). Because there
was there was no negative , each
daguerreotype was a one-of- a-kind
Evard, around 1850. By 1855 it had
become the major photographic
printing technique, and it remained
dominant until the 1890’s. The paper
was prepared commercially by coating
exposure, then developed it by again
brushing on the silver/gallic acid
solution. He fixed it in sodium
thiosulphate (hypo). To make this
fairly dense paper negative more
image and, like the image in a mirror
reversed.
large sheets with a solution of egg
albumen and ammonium or sodium
chloride. It was dried, cut into smaller
sheets, and sold in this form.
Photographers sensitised it
transparent, Talbot applied a coating
of wax. He made prints from the
negative using the salted paper
process he invented in 1834.
Because of the texture of the paper,
printing papers containing light
sensitive silver chloride or silver
bromide in a gelatine emulsion.
Papers of this type first became
available in the 1870’s and are still in
themselves by floating the paper,
albumen-side-down in a tray
containing silver nitrate solution, The
silver nitrate combined with the
chloride in the albumen coating to
prints from calotype negatives did not
have the minute detail possible with
the daguerreotype, the rival process at
the time. But the calotype had a great
advantage over the daguerreotype in
use. Before their introduction, most
photographic printing was done on
albumen papers. The various gelatine
silver papers were superior to
albumen in that they came ready to
provide silver chloride, which darkens
on exposure to light.
After drying the paper, the
photographer printed it by contact
beneath a negative, exposing it to
that any number of prints could be
made. The calotype was supplanted
in the early 1850’s by the wet plate
negative. Since it used a glass
support instead of paper, the wet plate
use (photographers first had to
sensitise albumen paper themselves
before printing), were far more
sensitive to light, and were available
in different contrast grades to suit
sunlight. The image appeared during
exposure - no development was
necessary. It was then toned in a
solution of gold chloride and fixed in
sodium thiosulphate (hypo).
could better retain image detail.
different negatives. They made
printing and enlarging with artificial
light practical.
Albumen papers largely replaced plain
salted papers, although the latter
process remained in limited use
because it was inexpensive and could
be simply prepared at home or in a
process came in January 1839. It was
the first time the public learned of
photography. Daguerre had begun his
experiments around 1826, and four
years later formed a partnership with
Also known as Gum Bichromate
Alphonse Louis Poitevin patented the
first gum printing process in 1855. It
was based on a discovery made in
1839 that paper coated with
studio. Albumen had the advantage of
a gloss surface, which could preserve
image detail better than the matt
surface of salted paper and also made
the blacks appear deeper.
Joseph Niepce, another early
experimenter. Following up on one of
Niepce’s dicoveries,Daguerre found
that an iodised silver plate,
experimenter. Following up on one of
potassium dichromate (then called
bichromate) darkens on exposure to
light. About 1852, William Henry Fox
Talbot, the inventor of the calotype
process, had found that when a water-
Calotype
Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot
in 1840, the calotype was the first
practical method for making
Niepce’s discoveries, Daguerre found
that an iodised silver plate, exposed to
light, would produce an image if
developed with the mercury fumes.
The daguerreotype process involved
soluble colliod such as gum arabic or
gelatine was mixed with potassium
dichromate and exposed to light, the
colloid became hard and insoluble in
all except very hot water. Building on
photographic negatives based on the
principle that certain salts of silver are
sensitive to light and dark when
exposed. Talbot first brushed a
solution of silver nitrate over a sheet of
first sensitising a silver coated copper
plate by placing it in a box filled with
iodine vapour. This created lightsensitive silver iodide. After exposure
in a camera, the plate was in another
this, Poitevin coated paper with a
solution of gum arabic, finely ground
pigment, and dichromate, and
exposed it to sunlight beneath a
negative. In the shadow areas of the
paper, then dipped the paper in
potassium iodide. It could be stored
in this form until needed. Talbot
box containing mercury, which was
then toned in a solution of gold
chloride and fixed in sodium
colloids became completely insoluble,
but remained soluble in the highlights
and partly soluble in the middle tones.
Daguerreotype
The announcement of Louis Jacques
Mande Daguerre’s revolutionary
Gelatine silver
A general term for photographic
Gum print or Gum Bichromate
118
He then developed it in a tray of water.
The soluble gum dissolved in the
water, carrying the pigment with it. In
paper with common salt (sodium
chloride), then brushed it over with a
solution of silver nitrate. The two
using gold chloride, before the fixing
bath. Albumen image was toned using
gold chloride, before the fixing bath.
the exposed parts the pigment
remained on the paper, forming the
image.
One disadvantage of the process was
that the image was less sharp and the
chemicals combined to form silver
chloride, a substance that darkens
spontaneously on exposure to light.
The photosensitivity of silver chloride
had been known before Talbot’s time
Albumen paper began to replace
salted pictorialist photographs in the
1890’s.
tonal scale less accurate than was
possible on the then popular albumen
paper. One important advantage was
that pigments could be chosen that
were for more permanent than the
and others had experiments along the
same lines, but Talbot discovered that
its sensitivity could be greatly
increased if prepared using an excess
amount of silver nitrate, so that some
Invented by Frederick Scott Archer in
1851, the wet-plate, or collodion
process, was the most popular
method of negative making until the
introduction of the gelatine dry plate in
solver in an albumen print. The gum
process was largely forgotten until the
1890’s when it was revived by pictorial
photographers who found it especially
useful for creating effects resembling
silver nitrate was left over after the
reaction forming silver chloride. He
also discovered that he could fix the
exposed image, so that it could be
viewed in the light without continuing
the 1880’s. The photographer first
coated a sheet of glass with collodion
mixed with potassium iodide. The
collodion formed a clear film. Next, he
sensitised the plate by dipping it in a
those in impressionist paintings. One
of their methods was to develop the
image locally with a brush or a stream
of water to modify the tones or
eliminate unwanted details. It was
to darken, by washing it in a solution
of common salt, thus reversing the
nitrate/chloride balance. This crucial
fixing method had eluded the earlier
experimenters. Even so, Talbot did
bath of silver nitrate, placed it in the
camera for exposure, and afterwards
developed the image in ferrous
sulphate and fixed it in sodium
thiosulphate ( hypo). The process got
also possible to re-coat the dry image
with a gum solution of the same or a
different colour and print it again in
registration under the negative. This
deepened the tonal scale, adding rich
not reveal his discoveries until January
1839, prompted only by the
announcement of the daguerreotype.
its name from the fact that all of this
had to be done while the collodian
remained moist; otherwise the plate
lost it’s sensitivity. Collodian negatives
were usually printed on Albument
shadows and also allowed colour
effects to be introduced into the
image.
paper.
Salt print
1840’s through the 1860’s as a printing
paper for both calotypes and wetplate negatives. It was sensitised by
the photographer, printed by contact
in sunlight until the image had fully
Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot
in 1834, this was the first truly
successful photographic printing
method. Talbot coated a sheet of
appeared, then fixed in sodium
thiosulphate (hypo) - which had been
found to do a better fixing job than
salt. Sometimes the image was toned
and Hudson, s1983
Salt paper was popular from the
Wet Plate or Collodion Process
ref: “Photography as Fine Art” by
Douglas Davis, Published by Thames
119
The Early Beginnings of Photography
First, the name. We owe the name
"Photography" to Sir John Herschel,
who first used the term in 1839*, the
year the photographic process
became public. The word is derived
from the Greek words for light and
writing.
Angelo Sala, in the early seventeenth
century, noticed that powdered nitrate
of silver is blackened by the sun.
Before mentioning the stages that led
to the development of photography,
there is one amazing, quite uncanny
prediction made by a man called de la
Roche (1729- 1774) in a work called
Giphantie. In this imaginary tale, it was
possible to capture images from
nature, on a canvas which had been
coated with a sticky substance. This
surface, so the tale goes, would not
only provide a mirror image on the
sticky canvas, but would remain on it.
After it had been dried in the dark the
image would remain permanent. The
author would not have known how
prophetic this tale would be, only a
few decades after his death.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century Thomas Wedgwood was
conducting experiments; he had
successfully captured images, but his
silhouettes could not survive, as there
was no known method of making the
image permanent.
There are two distinct scientific
processes that combine to make
photography possible. It is somewhat
surprising that photography was not
invented earlier than the 1830s,
because these processes had been
known for quite some time. It was not
until the two distinct scientific
processes had been put together that
photography came into being.
The first of these processes was
optical. The Camera Obscura (dark
room) had been in existence for at
least four hundred years. There is a
drawing, dated 1519, of a Camera
Obscura by Leonardo da Vinci; about
this same period its use as an aid to
drawing was being advocated.
The second process was chemical.
For hundreds of years before
photography was invented, people
had been aware, for example, that
some colours are bleached in the sun,
but they had made little distinction
between heat, air and light.
In the sixteen hundreds Robert Boyle,
a founder of the Royal Society, had
reported that silver chloride turned
dark under exposure, but he appeared
to believe that it was caused by
exposure to the air, rather than to light.
In 1727 Johann Heinrich Schulze
discovered that certain liquids change
colour when exposed to light.
The first successful picture was
produced in June/July 1827 by
Niépce, using material that hardened
on exposure to light. This picture
required an exposure of eight hours.
On 4 January 1829 Niépce agreed to
go into partnership with Louis
Daguerre . Niépce died only four years
later, but Daguerre continued to
experiment. Soon he had discovered a
way of developing photographic
plates, a process which greatly
reduced the exposure time from eight
hours down to half an hour. He also
discovered that an image could be
made permanent by immersing it in
salt.
Following a report on this invention by
Paul Delaroche , a leading scholar of
the day, the French government
bought the rights to it in July 1839.
Details of the process were made
public on 19 August 1839, and
Daguerre named it the Daguerreotype.
The announcement that the
Daguerreotype "requires no
knowledge of drawing...." and that
"anyone may succeed.... and perform
as well as the author of the invention"
was greeted with enormous interest,
and "Daguerreomania" became a
craze overnight. An interesting
account of these days is given by a
writer called Gaudin , who was
present the day that the
announcement was made.
However, not all people welcomed this
exciting invention; some pundits
viewed in quite sinister terms. A
newspaper report in the Leipzig City
Advertiser stated:
"The wish to capture evanescent
reflections is not only impossible... but
the mere desire alone, the will to do
so, is blasphemy. God created man in
His own image, and no man- made
machine may fix the image of God. Is
it possible that God should have
abandoned His eternal principles, and
allowed a Frenchman... to give to the
world an invention of the Devil?"
At that time some artists saw in
photography a threat to their
livelihood, and some even prophesied
that painting would cease to exist.
The Daguerreotype process, though
good, was expensive, and each
picture was a once-only affair. That, to
many, would not have been regarded
as a disadvantage; it meant that the
owner of the portrait could be certain
that he had a piece of art that could
not be duplicated. If however two
copies were required, the only way of
coping with this was to use two
cameras side by side. There was,
therefore, a growing need for a means
of copying pictures which
daguerreotypes could never satisfy.
Different, and in a sense a rival to the
Daguerreotype, was the Calotype
invented by William Henry Fox Talbot ,
which was to provide the answer to
that problem. His paper to the Royal
Society of London, dated 31 January
1839, actually precedes the paper by
Daguerre; it was entitled "Some
account of the Art of Photogenic
drawing, or the process by which
natural objects may be made to
delineate themselves without the aid
of the artist's pencil." He wrote:
"How charming it would be if it were
possible to cause these natural
images to imprint themselves durably
and remain fixed on the paper!"
The earliest paper negative we know
of was produced in August 1835; it
depicts the now famous window at
Lacock Abbey, his home. The negative
is small (1" square), and poor in
quality, compared with the striking
images produced by the
Daguerreotype process. By 1840,
however, Talbot had made some
significant improvements, and by 1844
he was able to bring out a
photographically illustrated book
entitled "The Pencil of nature."
Compared with Daguerreotypes the
quality of the early Calotypes was
somewhat inferior. (See comments on
Claudet). However, the great
advantage of Talbot's method was
that an unlimited number of positive
prints could be made (see also
Brewster ). In fact, today's
photography is based on the same
principle, whereas by comparison the
Daguerreotype, for all its quality, was a
blind alley.
The mushrooming of photographic
establishments reflects photography's
growing popularity; from a mere
handful in the mid 1840s the number
had grown to 66 in 1855, and to 147
two years later. In London, a favourite
venue was Regent Street where, in the
peak in the mid 'sixties there were no
less than forty-two photographic
establishments! In America the growth
was just as dramatic: in 1850 there
were 77 photographic galleries in New
York alone. The demand for
photographs was such that Charles
Baudelaire (1826-1867), a well known
poet of the period and a critic of the
medium, commented:
"our squalid society has rushed,
Narcissus to a man, to gloat at its
trivial image on a scrap of metal."
Talbot's photography was on paper,
and inevitably the imperfections of the
paper were printed alongside with the
image, when a positive was made.
Several experimented with glass as a
basis for negatives, but the problem
was to make the silver solution stick to
the shiny surface of the glass. In 1848
a cousin of Nicephore Niépce, Abel
Niépce de Saint-Victor, perfected a
process of coating a glass plate with
white of egg sensitised with potassium
iodide, and washed with an acid
solution of silver nitrate. This new
( albumen ) process made for very fine
detail and much higher quality.
However, it was very slow, hence the
fact that photographs produced on
this substance were architecture and
landscapes; portraiture was simply not
possible.
Progress in this new art was slow in
England, compared with other
countries. Both Daguerre and Fox
Talbot were partly responsible, the
former for having rather slyly placed a
patent on his invention whilst the
French government had made it freely
available to the world, the latter for his
law-suits in connection with his
patents.
In 1851 a new era in photography was
introduced by Frederick Scott Archer ,
who introduced the Collodion process.
This process was much faster than
conventional methods, reducing
exposure times to two or three
seconds, thus opening up new
horizons in photography.
Prices for daguerreotypes varied, but
in general would cost about a guinea
(£1.05), which would be the weekly
wage for many workers. The collodion
process, however, was much cheaper;
prints could be made for as little as
one shilling (5p).
A further impetus was given to
photography for the masses by the
introduction of carte-de-visite
photographs by Andre Disdéri . This
developed into a mania, though it was
relatively short-lived.
The collodion process required that
the coating, exposure and
development of the image should be
done whilst the plate was still wet.
Another process developed by Archer
was named the Ambrotype , which
was a direct positive.
The wet collodion process, though in
its time a great step forward, required
a considerable amount of equipment
on location. There were various
attempts to preserve exposed plates
in wet collodion, for development at a
more convenient time and place, but
these preservatives lessened the
sensitivity of the material. It was clear,
then, that a dry method was required.
It is likely that the difficulties of the
process hastened the search for
instantaneous photography. Skaife, in
a pamphlet, aptly commented (1860):
"Speaking in general, instantaneous
photography is as elastic a term as the
expression 'long and short.'"
The next major step forward came in
1871, when Dr. Richard Maddox
discovered a way of using Gelatin
(which had been discovered only a
few years before) instead of glass as a
basis for the photographic plate. This
led to the development of the dry plate
process. Dry plates could be
developed much more quickly than
with any previous technique. Initially it
was very insensitive compared with
existing processes, but it was refined
to the extent that the idea of factorymade photographic material was now
becoming possible.
The introduction of the dry-plate
process marked a turning point. No
longer did one need the cumbersome
wet-plates, no longer was a darkroom
tent needed. One was very near the
day that pictures could be taken
without the photographer needing any
specialised knowledge.
Celluloid had been invented in the
early eighteen-sixties, and John
Carbutt persuaded a manufacturer to
produce very thin celluloid as a
backing for sensitive material. George
Eastman is particularly remembered
for introducing flexible film in 1884.
Four years later he introduced the box
camera, and photography could now
reach a much greater number of
people.
Other names of significance include
Herman Vogel , who developed a
means whereby film could become
sensitive to green light, and Eadweard
Muybridge who paved the way for
motion picture photography.
Popular in the Victorian times was
stereoscopic photography , which
reproduced images in three
dimensions. It is a process whose
popularity waxed and waned - as it
does now - reaching its heights in the
mid-Victorian era.
1) Well, actually, not quite. Whilst
Herschel used the term first in a
lecture before the Royal Society on
March 14, 1839, he was in fact
beaten to the post by an
anonymous writer with the initials
"J.M." a few weeks earlier, on
February 25. Eventually a scholar
was able to determine that this
anonymous writer was in fact
Johann von Maedler (1794-1874),
who was an astronomer in Berlin.
However, Hershel was
undoubtedly the person who, with
his fame and position, made the
word "photography" known to the
world.
This text has been lifted in its entirety
from the former website of Robert
Leggat, b 1941 - d 2011
2)
Significant Figures and Processes from the Beginnings of Photography to the 1920’s
The "291" Gallery
A growing dissatisfaction with the
photographic establishment in
England and in America at the turn of
the century led to the formation of
new groups such as the Linked Ring
in the UK, and a group of avantegarde photographers in the United
States, spearhearded by Stieglitz The
American group came to be known
as the Photo-Secession.
From November 1905 this group laid
on exhibitions of work at "The Little
Galleries of the Photo-Secession" at
291 Fifth Avenue, New York, which
came to be known simply as "291."
Though the idea initially had been to
display the new form of photography,
the 291 evolved to become a major
focal point of modern art. Paintings
exhibited included those of Cezanne,
Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, and
Toulouse-Lautrec. In 1917 the 291, in
financial difficulties, closed its doors,
though Stieglitz operated other
similar galleries up to the 1940s.
The ADDITIVE colour process
There are two different ways of
producing a colour, the additive and
the subtractive. In the additive
process, all colours can be made by
mixing three primary colours: red,
green and blue. Yellow, for example,
is a mixture of green and red light.
This process was first demonstrated,
in 1861, by Sir James Clerk Maxwell.
Though this was the first of the two,
it was the subtractive process which
was to become the standard colour
one in our lifetime.
had been thought of - even the slime
left by snails - nothing proved
reliable.
In 1848 a cousin of Nicephore
Niépce, Abel Niépce, perfected a
process which consisted of coating a
glass plate with salted white of egg
containing some potassium iodide.
The plate was then left to dry, after
which it was sensitised with an acid
solution of silver nitrate. After
exposure it was then developed in
gallic acid.
ALBUMEN process
In the late 1840s albumen came to
be used in the preparation of both
negatives and printing paper, in order
to increase the definition.
This new process made for very fine
detail and much higher quality.
However, it was very slow, with
exposure times ranging between five
and fifteen minutes, so it was used
for architectural or still life work, not
for portraiture.
The first development was at the
negative stage. Talbot's negatives
were on paper, and inevitably, when a
positive was made, the imperfections
of the paper were printed along with
the image. The answer would be to
use glass negatives rather than
paper, but the chemicals would not
adhere to the glass without a suitable
binder. Though several substances
The development of albumen printing
paper, two years later, met with much
greater success; this was introduced
in France by Blanquart-Evrard,
brought to this country by John
Mayall and made known in England
by Hugh Welch Diamond. (One
source, however, suggests that this
process was first described at the
Photographic Society by Henry
122
Pollock.) Until then, salted paper, with
its limitations of definition, had been
used. An article by Shadbolt in The
Journal of the Photographic Society
(1855) states the problem:
"The more the picture is kept upon the
surface of the paper, the more brilliant
is the effect, and the more perfectly is
the detail, especially that of the half
tones brought out, and that anything
like soaking the solutions into the
paper produces a flat and unsatisfying
effect."
Here the chemicals would be on the
paper rather than in it, as in the case
of the salted-paper process. It was a
glossy printing paper which produced
a very smooth surface and therefore
permitted reproduction in much
greater detail.
However, initially the albumen process
was not seen as the ideal answer.
Shadbolt, for example, continued:
"the offensive and vulgar glare which it
possesses sometimes is more
detrimental to pictorial effect than is
counter- balanced by other
advantages, and I see no reason why
all the delicacy of albumenized proofs
should not be retained by adopting
other means to this end, and yet be
free from so unpleasant a defect as
the glare alluded to..."
whilst Sutton wrote:
"As a matter of taste, I extremely
dislike prints on albumenized paper,
and they consequently never find a
place in my portfolio...", and evidently
had little time for
"those who prefer that peculiar kind of
vigour and brilliancy which is
exhibited by a piece of black sticking
plaster, or a well-polished Wellington
boot..."
To reduce the glaze, some diluted the
albumen. Nevertheless the process
began to catch on, and by the sixties
it was in general use, and continued to
be so until the turn of the century. Its
success may be judged by the fact
that one of the photographic journals
printed recipes for using the egg yolks
left over after the whites had been
used for photographic purposes. It
was said that one supplier of albumen
paper alone was using sixty
thousands eggs a day!
Albumen printing paper continued to
be in general use until the turn of the
century, when gelatine paper began to
replace it.
AMBROTYPE process
If a very thin under-exposed negative
is placed in front of a dark
background, the image appears like a
positive. This is because the silver
reflects some light whilst the areas
with no silver at all will appear black.
This is the principle behind the
Ambrotype process, the pictures
being more correctly known as
Collodion positives.
Ambrotypes were made from the
1850s and up to the late eighties, the
process having been invented by
Frederick Scott Archer in collaboration
with Peter Fry, a colleague.
Ambrotypes were direct positives,
made by under-exposing collodion on
glass negative, bleaching it, and then
placing a black background - usually
black velvet, occasionally varnish behind it. Though Ambrotypes slightly
resemble Daguerreotypes, the method
of production was very different, and
Ambrotypes were much cheaper.
The Ambrotype process was yet
another method of reducing the cost
of photography. It became popular for
a number of reasons:
•less exposure time was needed
•production was cheaper and
quicker, as no printing was
required
•as the negative could be mounted
the other way, by placing the
collodion side on top of the
backing material, there was no
lateral reversal, as there was in
most Daguerreotypes.
•unlike Daguerreotypes, they could
be viewed from any angle
Ambrotypes became very popular,
particularly in America. The process is
also called "Melainotype" in the
European continent. Another variant of
this was the Tintype process.
ARTISTS and Photography
The invention of the Daguerreotype
caused considerable concern to many
artists, who saw their means of
livelihood coming to an end.
Delaroche is credited with claiming
that painting was now dead, whilst it is
said that Sir William Ross, on his
death-bed in 1860, commented sadly
that "it was all up with future miniature
painting." It is also claimed, but with
scanty evidence, that Turner, looking
at an early daguerreotype, commented
that he was glad he had had his day!
Charles Baudelaire despised
photography as being a product of
industry. He felt it provided an
impression of reality that did not have
the 'spiritual momentum' which came
from the imagination. Whilst reviewing
a photographic exhibition in 1859,
clearly saw the need to put
photography firmly in its place:
"If photography is allowed to
supplement art in some of its
functions, it will soon have supplanted
or corrupted it altogether....its true
duty..is to be the servant of the
sciences and arts - but the very
humble servant, like printing or
shorthand, which have neither created
nor supplemented literature....
"Let it rescue from oblivion those
tumbling ruins, those books, prints
and manuscripts which time is
devouring, precious things whose
form is dissolving and which demand
a place in the archives of our memory
- it will be thanked and applauded.
But if it is allowed to encroach upon
the domain of the... imaginary, upon
anything whose value depends solely
upon the addition of something of a
man's soul, then it will be so much the
worse for us."
Some painters dubbed the new
invention "the foe-to-graphic art."
Certainly those artists who specialised
in miniature portraits suffered; in 1810
over 200 miniatures were exhibited at
the Royal Academy; this rose to 300 in
1830, but thirty years later only sixtyfour were exhibited, and in 1870 only
thirty-three.
On the other hand, the painter,
Gustave Courbet, recognised
photography as a useful aid in
depicting motifs. However, his
paintings seem to illustrate, by the
thickness of colour, that he saw
photography as consisting merely of a
copy of reality, and that painting went
much further.
A number of artists, seeing the writing
on the wall, turned to photography for
their livelihood, whilst others cashed in
on the fact that the images were in
monochrome, and began colouring
them in. Baudelaire's assertion that
photography had become "the refuge
of failed painters with too little talent"
was rather unfair, but it is true that a
number turned to this new medium for
their livelihood. By 1860 Claudet was
able to claim that miniature portraits
were no longer painted without the
assistance of photography.
In any case, absolute likeness was not
always what the sitter wanted. Alfred
Chalon, one of the last miniaturists,
when asked by Queen Victoria
whether photography was a threat to
miniature painting, replied "No Madam
- photography can't flatter!" Lady
Eastlake, wife of the Director of the
National Gallery (who also was the first
President of the Photographic Society)
also had her reservations, claiming
that whilst photography was more
exact, it had also become less true,
and that in portraiture the broad
suggestion of form had been replaced
by a fussy accumulation of irrelevant
detail:
"Every button is seen - piles of
stratified flounces in most accurate
drawing are there - but the likeness to
Rembrandt and Reynolds is gone!"
Clearly she did not share the dread
that painting was an art of the past.
However, a further blow to miniature
portraiture was to come when the
Carte-de-Visite craze began to
develop. By 1857 an Art Journal was
reporting that portrait photography
was becoming a public nuisance, with
photographers touting for custom
(much as artists do today at the
Montmartre, in Paris). "It has really
now become a matter for Police
interference both on the grounds of
propriety and public comfort!" the
writer thundered. In that same journal
Francis Frith claimed that photography
"has already almost entirely
superseded the craft of the miniature
painter, and is on the point of
touching, with an irresistible hand,
several other branches of skilled art."
In 1865 Claudet, by then a respected
photographer, came to the defence of
photography, following a blistering
article in a French journal:
"One cannot but acknowledge that
there are arts which are on their way
out and that it is photography which
has given them the death-blow! Why
are there no longer any miniaturists?
For the very simple reason that those
who want miniatures find that
photography does the job better and
instead of portraits more or less
accurate where form and expression
are concerned, it gives perfectly exact
resemblances that at least please the
heart and satisfy the memory."
An example of photography being
used for this purpose can be seen in a
portrait of Sir William Allen, by Sir
John Watson Gordon (1837), Royal
Academy; this clearly comes from an
1843 Calotype. See also Muybridge,
whose work led to a change in the
way artists painted horses on the
move.
Man Ray, born later than this period,
made an interesting observation on
this apparent controversy.
Miniature painting, in fact, made a
comeback at the turn of the century.
Though photography was seen by
some as the invention that was killing
art, this is a one-sided view, because
it also proved to be an aid to their
work. Portrait photographers found
that by employing photography the
number of sittings required could be
reduced or even eliminated. Joshua
Reynolds sometimes needed up to
fifty sittings for portraits; it is said that
his painting of Sir George Beaumont
had required twelve sittings for the
painting of the cravat alone!
A problem is that few painters would
readily admit to using photography as
an aid, almost as though this were a
form of cheating! David Octavius Hill
used photography to make a record of
people to be painted, whilst in the
1860s Robert Howlett was employed
to take photographs of groups of
people attending the Derby from the
top of a cab, these photographs later
being used as group studies in William
Powell Frith's painting "Derby Day."
This however did not stop William
Powell Frith from observing, thirty
years later, that in his opinion
photography had not benefited art at
all. Others who used photography to
assist them in painting included
Negre, Tissot, Gaugin, Cèzanne,
Lautrec, Delacroix and Degas.
124
ATGET, Eugene
b. 12 February 1857; d. 4 August 1927
Eugene Atget studied acting and
played with a theatre group in the
suburbs of Paris, but had to abandon
this in 1887 because of a recurrent
throat infection. The following year he
began to take photographs. Though
he earned his living by taking
photographs, he never described
himself as a photographer, preferring
"author-producer." He produced a
documentary of the architecture and
people of Paris, many of his pictures
having been taken in areas shortly to
be demolished.
During the thirty years he worked,
developed an extensive filing system
for his many negatives and prints, and
his legacy amounts to several
thousand images.
His street photographs were not very
different from that of his contemporary
Paul Martin, but he also revealed a
remarkable capacity for "seeing"
pictures. Whereas lesser mortals
might take very similar photographs of
well-known landmarks, one could
picture Atget's attention being drawn
by what they would regard as
mundane situations. He would
photograph the same subject from
different viewpoints and at different
times, demonstrating that two pictures
of one subject can have very different
meanings and appeal.
Eugene Atget was a largely unknown
character round which a number of
myths have emerged: he is pictured as
a tramp-like character wandering
around with his camera, or a naive
photographer who did not understand
how much his work would command.
He was certainly a very much
underrated photographer, unknown
during his lifetime, dying in total
obscurity, but now acknowledged as
one of the most outstanding of artists.
If he was not a surrealist himself, he
certainly influenced this movement.
BRADY, Mathew
b. 1823; d. Jan 15, 1896
Though Roger Fenton was the first to
document war in photographs,
Mathew Brady, who documented the
American Civil War (1861-1865), was
probably one of the greatest of
photographic documentary
photographers.
In 1839 Brady met, and became a
student to Samuel Morse. That same
year he met Louis Daguerre and went
back to the United States to capitalise
upon the invention of the
Daguerreotype, establishing what
proved to be a highly successful
Gallery.
Another photographer in Brady's team
was Timothy O'Sullivan, who worked
for him until 1863.
The process Brady's team used was
the collodion one, invented by
Frederick Scott Archer. The limitations
of equipment and materials prevented
any action shots, but such people
brought back some seven thousand
pictures which well portrayed the
realities of war. Perhaps the most
famous of these is "Harvest of Death"
photographed by O'Sullivan.
The New York Illustrated News for 26
March 1851 reads:
"M.B. BRADY, Esq., the eminent
daguerreotypist, has lately opened a
new saloon for the purposes of his art,
in one of the best buildings on
Broadway, New York. On the occasion
of the first opening, a large number of
ladies and gentlemen, comprising
many distinguished persons, were
invited, and partook of Mr. Brady's
hospitality at a splendid dinner. The
saloon is one hundred and fifty feet
long, finished and furnished in the
most costly manner.
Mr. Brady is one of the oldest
daguerreotype artists in the country,
and one of the most successful, too.
He is the author of many valuable
improvements connected with the art,
his pictures having a world-wide fame
for fidelity and elegance."
In 1856 William Gardner , a Scot,
joined him, and the company's
success became even more marked.
Brady himself did not take many of the
photographs which bear his name; he
had set himself up as a portrait
photographer, and had equipped a
number of photographers (twenty, it is
said) with what were to become
known as "What-is-it?" darkroom
wagons to cover the War, with the
ruling that his name, as employer,
rather than the names of the
photographers themselves, would
appear on the photographs
themselves.
A comment attributed to Brady is "The
camera is the eye of history." He
clearly saw his mission as that of a
photographic historian, and our
knowledge of this important era of
American history is the better for it.
The New York Times, 20 October 1862
commented on the display of pictures
taken at Antietam: "Mr. Brady has
done something to bring home to us
the terrible reality and earnestness of
war. If he has not brought bodies and
laid them in our door-yards and along
the streets, he has done something
very like it...."
Perhaps they were too real and
detailed. The editorial continued:
"These pictures have a terrible
distinctness. By the aid of the
magnifying-glass, the very features of
the slain may be distinguished. We
would scarcely choose to be in the
gallery, when one of the women
bending over them should recognise a
husband, son, or a brother in the still,
lifeless lines of bodies, that lie ready
for the gaping trenches."
Though Brady's work was much
admired at the time, he gained little in
financial terms; tired of this long war,
people did not want reminders of it
and whereas Fenton had clearly taken
125
his pictures with an eye to selling
them, Brady's were honest sometimes brutally so, and people no
longer wanted his pictures. Brady had
invested a fortune into this business,
but faced bankruptcy. In 1875
Congress purchased his archive of
photographs for $2,840 at public
auction, and granted him $25,000, but
this was not enough to cover his
debts, and he died alone, an alcoholic,
and penniless. "No one" he said " will
ever know what I went through to
secure those negatives. The world can
never appreciate it. It changed the
whole course of my life."
Though financially his enterprise
failed, Mathew Brady had a significant
effect on the art of photography,
demonstrating that war photographs
need not necessarily be purely posed
ones. His work represents the first
instance of what one may call
documentary photography.
From 1845 Brady had embarked upon
an ambitious project to photograph
many famous people of the time, and
in 1850 published "A Gallery of
Illustrious Americans. Among his
portraits was one of Abraham Lincoln,
which was reproduced and circulated
during Lincoln's first Presidential
campaign. Lincoln himself was to
declare later: "Make no mistake,
gentlemen, Brady made me
President!"
The majority of Brady's vast collection
may be seen in the House of Congress
in Washington.
CAMERA LUCIDA
The Camera Lucida, designed in 1807
by Dr. William Wollaston, was an aid to
drawing It was a reflecting prism
which enabled artists to draw outlines
in correct perspective. No darkroom
was needed. The paper was laid flat
on the drawing board, and the artist
would look through a lens containing
the prism, so that he could see both
the paper and a faint image of the
subject to be drawn. He would then fill
in the image. However, as anyone who
has tried using these will know only
too well, that too required artistic
skills, as Fox Talbot also discovered.
See also Camera Obscura.
CAMERA OBSCURA
The Camera Obscura (Latin for Dark
room) was a dark box or room with a
hole in one end. If the hole was small
enough, an inverted image would be
seen on the opposite wall. Such a
principle was known by thinkers as
early as Aristotle (c. 300 BC). It is said
that Roger Bacon invented the camera
obscura just before the year 1300, but
this has never been accepted by
scholars; more plausible is the claim
that he used one to observe solar
eclipses. In fact, the Arabian scholar
Hassan ibn Hassan (also known as Ibn
al Haitam), in the 10th century,
described what can be called a
camera obscura in his writings;
manuscripts of his observations are to
be found in the India Office Library in
London.
The earliest record of the uses of a
camera obscura can be found in the
writings of Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519). At about the same period
Daniel Barbaro, a Venetian,
recommended the camera as an aid to
drawing and perspective. He wrote:
"Close all shutters and doors until no
light enters the camera except through
the lens, and opposite hold a piece of
paper, which you move forward and
backward until the scene appears in
the sharpest detail. There on the paper
you will see the whole view as it really
is, with its distances, its colours and
shadows and motion, the clouds, the
water twinkling, the birds flying. By
holding the paper steady you can
trace the whole perspective with a
pen, shade it and delicately colour it
from nature."
In the mid sixteenth century Giovanni
Battista della Porta (1538-1615)
published what is believed to be the
first account of the possibilities as an
aid to drawing. It is said that he made
a huge "camera" in which he seated
his guests, having arranged for a
group of actors to perform outside so
that the visitors could observe the
images on the wall. The story goes,
however, that the sight of up-side
down performing images was too
much for the visitors; they panicked
and fled, and Battista was later
brought to court on a charge of
sorcery!
In his essay "On the form of the
Eclipse" he wrote: "The image of the
sun at the time of the eclipse, unless it
is total, demonstrates that when its
light passes through a narrow, round
hole and is cast on a plane opposite to
the hole it takes on the form of a
moon-sickle.
Though Battista's account is wrapped
up in a study of the occult, it is likely
that from that time onwards many
artists will have used a camera
obscura to aid them in drawing,
though either because of the
association with the occult, or
because they felt that in some way
their artistry was lessened, few would
admit to using one. Several are said to
have used them; these include
Giovanni Canale - better known as
Canaletto (1697- 1768), Vermeer
(1632-1675), Joshua Reynolds
(1723-1792), and Paul Sandby
(1725-1809), a founding member of
the Royal Academy.
The image of the sun shows this
peculiarity only when the hole is very
small. When the hole is enlarged, the
picture changes... ."
Though some, including Joshua
Reynolds, warned against the
indiscriminate use of the camera
obscura, others, notably Algarotti, a
126
writer on art and science and a highly
influential man amongst artists,
strongly advocated its use in his
Essays on Painting (1764):
"the best modern painters among the
Italians have availed themselves of
this contrivance; nor is it possible that
they should have otherwise
represented things so much to the
life... Let the young painter, therefore,
begin as early as possible to study
these divine pictures...
Painters should make the same use of
the Camera Obscura, which
Naturalists and Astronomers make of
the microscope and telescope; for all
these instruments equally contribute
to make known, and represent
Nature."
About the same time, the lens was
being developed. Once again Roger
Bacon's name is associated with this;
some have claimed that it was he who
invented spectacles. Gerolomo
Cardano (1501- 1576), an Italian
mathematician, introduced a glass
disc in place of a pinhole in his
camera, and Barbaro also used a
convex lens. Why the name lens? It is
claimed that because Italian lenses
were by-convex, they seemed to
resemble the brown lentils they used
to make soup - so the lens came from
the Latin for lentil.
The first cameras were enormous.
Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) in a
book written in 1646, described one
which consisted of an outer shell with
lenses in the centre of each wall, and
an inner shell containing transparent
paper for drawing; the artist needed to
enter by a trapdoor.
Other versions also appeared. Sedan
chairs were converted, and tent-type
cameras were also in use - even up
the beginning of the nineteen
hundreds. Then smaller, portable ones
were made. Thus the camera obscura,
as it came to be known, became a
popular aid to sketching.
Another aid to drawing, but which
worked in a different way, was the
Camera Lucida, designed in 1807.
To give some idea of costs in the
earliest days of photography, it is
known that in 1839 Fox Talbot bought
several instruments including a
camera obscura for seven pounds
fifteen shillings (£7.75). At that time the
typical servant's wage would have
averaged between ten and twenty
pounds per year.
CAMERA WORK
This is the title given to an influential
quarterly journal which appeared in
1903 in the wake of the PhotoSecession movement. It was edited by
Alfred Stieglitz, and among the many
contributors were Frank Eugene,
Clarence White and Edward Jean
Steichen.
The first edition reads:
"Only examples of such work as gives
evidence of individuality and artistic
worth, regardless of school, or
contains some exceptional feature of
technical merit, or such as exemplifies
some treatment worthy of
consideration, will find recognition in
these pages."
This magazine was beautifully
produced. Some of the pictures were
printed on fine Japanese tissue, and
pasted in by hand. Many of the
articles were written by leading
authors.
The reception by British
photographers to the publication was
immediately favourable. That same
year "Photography" reported:
"There can be no other verdict but that
Camera Work beats all previous
records for dignity, good taste,
and...value."
"Amateur Photographer" for 1st
January 1903 also was full of praise.
(See Stieglitz). There were in total fifty
editions. The last publication was in
June 1917, when the Photo-Secession
movement had begun to lose its way.
The script clearly shows that further
editions were at the planning stage.
The June edition contains a letter (17
November 1916), addressed to
Stieglitz, from Frank Eugene, which
reads as follows:
"I have not received Camera Work for
a very long time, probably due to the
war, censorship, etc. etc....
The older I grow the more I appreciate
what you have accomplished with
your very wonderful publication. When
I see you I shall be delighted to tell
you how largely the possession of
Camera Work has helped me in my
work as a teacher, and what an
incentive it has always been to my
pupils towards a higher standard. It
does...for the man with the camera,
what the Bible has...for centuries, tried
to do for the man with the
conscience...."
Sadly this, the fiftieth edition, turned
out to be the last of this remarkable
series, of which few copies now
remain.
CAMERON, Julia Margaret
b. 11 June 1815; d. 26 January 1879
Julia Margaret Cameron was an
English photographer known for her
portraits of eminent people of the day,
and for her romantic pictures which,
despite their technical imperfections,
stand the test of time.
Her involvement in photography came
about as a result of the kindness of
her eldest daughter. Julia Margaret, by
this time was aged forty-nine, her
children had grown up, and her
husband was often abroad on
business. As a result she suffered from
loneliness, and her daughter, to make
her life more fulfilling, bought her a
camera. From this simple beginning a
new hobby began, which was to turn
into an obsession. The comments in
her book give a delightful glimpse of
this lady:
"I longed to arrest all beauty that came
before me, and at length the longing
has been satisfied. Its difficulty
enhanced the value of the pursuit. I
began with no knowledge of the art. I
did not know where to place my dark
box, how to focus my sitter, and my
first picture I effaced to my
consternation by rubbing my hand
over the filmy side of the glass..."
"I turned my coal-house into my dark
room, and a glazed fowl-house I had
given to my children became my glass
127
house! The hens were liberated, I hope
and believe not eaten. The profit of my
boys upon new laid eggs was
stopped, and all hands and hearts
sympathised in my new labour, since
the society of hens and chickens was
soon changed for that of poets,
prophets, painters and lovely
maidens...."
As to the delight that her first
successful portrait brought her......
"I took one child... appealing to her
feelings and telling her of the waste of
poor Mrs. Cameron's chemicals and
strength if she moved. The appeal had
its effect, and I now produced a
picture which I called "My first
success."
"I was in a transport of delight, I ran all
over the house to search for gifts for
the child. I felt as if she entirely had
made the picture. I printed, toned,
fixed and framed it, and presented it
to her father that same day: size 11 by
9 inches."
"Sweet, sunny haired little Annie! No
later prize has effaced the memory of
this joy....."
It has to be said that Julia Margaret
Cameron was not the best of
technicians. Some of her negatives
show uneven coating of collodion, and
above all, dust particles. Many of her
prints are faded. Indeed, a critical
entry in the Photographic Journal
commented: "Mrs. Cameron will do
better when she has learned the
proper use of her apparatus." Lewis
Carroll's comments were in the same
vein:
"In the evening Mrs. Cameron and I
had a mutual exhibition of
photographs. Hers are all taken
purposely out of focus - some are very
picturesque - some merely hideous however, she talks of them as if they
were triumphs of art."
Nevertheless, Cameron had a
tremendous capacity to visualise a
picture, and her portraits show a
measure of vitality which the work of
many others of the time did not.
Among her most famous portraits are
those of Herschel and Tennyson. She
was greatly appreciated abroad, and
won a number of major prizes. No less
a person than Victor Hugo, the poet,
wrote "No one has ever captured the
rays of the sun and used them as you
have. I throw myself at your feet". She
must also have been a tremendously
magnetic personality; Benjamin Jowett
wrote of her: "Perhaps she has a
tendency to make the house shake the
moment she enters, but in this dull
world that is a very excusable fault".
She was also influenced by the PreRaphaelite school, which sought to
return to artistic practices of Europe in
late Mediaeval times; a classic
example is the delightful portrait of
Alice Liddell (on whom the story of
Alice in Wonderland is based), entitled
"Alethea." Another is the "Kiss of
Peace." Many of her photographs of
women and children are undisguisedly
sentimental, others are delightful and
penetrating studies.
photography, or rather the lack of it;
Thomas Sutton wrote of her work:
"Admirable, expressive and vigorous,
but dreadfully opposed to
photographic conventions and
proprieties"
whilst The Photographic Journal for 15
February 1865 reads:
"Mrs. Cameron exhibits her series of
out of focus portraits of celebrities. We
must give this lady credit for daring
originality but at the expense of all
other photographic qualities."
The Photographic News, 20 March
1868, reporting upon one of her
exhibitions in London, reads:
We tend to remember her best
pictures. Some, to put it mildly, were
pretty awful. "Idylls of the King" , for
example, has a very poor attempt at a
moon on the top left, and cheesecloth
to represent water, whilst "The
Passing of Arthur" almost verges on
the ridiculous! Looking beyond the
banal, some remain as rather lovely
pictures; an example is "Venus
Chiding Cupid and Removing His
Wings."
"There is, in many cases, much
evidence of art feeling, especially in
the light and shade, and
composition... often being awkward.
The subjects... such as Sir John
Herschel, Henry Taylor, Holman Hunt,
Alfred Tennyson and others - are full of
interest in themselves, and are often
noble in form and appearance, a
circumstance which alone gives value
to the exhibition. Not even the
distinguished character of some of the
heads serve, however, to redeem the
result of wilfully imperfect
photography from being altogether
repulsive: one portrait of the Poet
Laureate presents him in a guise
which would be sufficient to convict
him, if he were ever charged as a
rogue and vagabond, before any
bench of magistrates in the
kingdom......."
One of photography's eccentrics, her
work is still admired and greatly
sought-after today. In her book
"Annals of my Glass House", which
was unfinished, she wrote of the
distinguished people who faced her
camera:
Her force of personality made her a
formidable photographer, capable of
bullying anyone, however famous, into
submission. Sitting for her could be
quite an ordeal. Tennyson once
brought Longfellow to her studio,
warning him:
"When I have such men before my
camera my whole soul has
endeavoured to do its duty towards
them, in recording faithfully the
greatness of the inner as well as the
features of the outer man"
"Longfellow, you will have to do
whatever she tells you. I shall return
soon and see what is left of you."
Exposures lasting between one minute
and as many as seven, the fact that
the pictures show such lack of self
consciousness may be largely due to
her overpowering personality.
The photographic press spoke harshly
of her technical mastery of
Commenting about a portrait of
Wilfred Ward, she once wrote to a
friend:
"I counted four hundred and five
hundred and got one good picture.
128
Poor Wilfrid said it was torture to sit so
long, that he was a martyr! I bid him
be still and be thankful. I said, I am the
martyr. Just try the taking instead of
the sitting!"
Because she believed in subdued
lighting and had large photographic
plates, exposures could last several
minutes. After each picture had been
taken she would disappear into her
coal-cellar cum darkroom, to prepare
another plate, her victims having been
warned not to move a muscle.
She was clearly supported by a longsuffering family. In her book she
writes:
"Personal sympathy has helped me on
very much. My husband from first to
last has watched every picture with
delight, and it is my daily habit to run
to him with every glass upon which a
fresh glory is newly stamped, and to
listen to his enthusiastic applause.
This habit of running into the diningroom with my wet pictures has stained
such an immense quantity of table
linen with nitrate of silver, indelible
stains, that I should have been
banished from any less indulgent
household...."
Cameron received honours abroad,
but recognition did not come easily at
home. She wrote:
"The Photographic Society of London
in their Journal would have dispirited
me very much had I not valued that
criticism at its worth. It was unsparing
and too manifestly unjust for me to
attend to it...."
She presented an album to Sir John
Herschel; this is now in the National
Portrait Gallery in London.
Julia died in Ceylon in January 1879.
In a lengthy obituary The Times gives
a vivid picture of this remarkable lady:
"Mrs. Cameron appealed to
a..wide...public by her pefectly original
and unique photographic work and
subject pictures in which, after a
daring fashion of her own, forfeiting
the sharpness of definition which
ordinary photographers strive for, and
which is one of the things artists most
dislike in photographic
portraiture...she produced a series of
heads and groups... unique in their
suggestiveness...
very popular, and the process is still
used occasionally.
Mrs. Cameron's singular ardour of
enthusiasm, the energy with which she
flung herself into whatever she
undertook, her rare forgetfulness of
self and readiness to help others,
endeared her to a wide circle of
friends.
CARTE-DE-VISITE photography
Cartes-de-visite were small visiting
card portraits (usually measuring 4 1/2
x 2 1/2") introduced by a Parisian
photographer, Andre Disdéri, who in
late 1854 patented a way of taking a
number of photographs on one plate
(usually eight), thus greatly reducing
production costs. (He was not actually
the first to produce them; this honour
belongs to an otherwise obscure
photographer called Dodero, from
Marseilles).
...so full of life and energy, so ripe with
plans and projects, so buoyant of
spirits, so vivid in her interests, so
keen in her friendships, and so
overflowing in her friendliness."
The Royal Photographic Society owns
nearly 800 of her albumen and carbon
prints and portraits, together with a
handwritten manuscript of her
autobiography.
Different types of cameras were
devised. Some had a mechanism
which rotated the photographic plate,
others had multiple lenses which
could be uncovered singly or all
together.
CARBON process
Print fading was a common
occurrence in the earliest days of
photography, and several people
sought to address themselves to this
problem. In the mid 1850s some
began to experiment with carbon, and
in 1864 Joseph Wilson Swan
perfected the process, which he also
patented.
The carte-de-visite did not catch on
until one day in May 1859 Napoleon
III, on his way to Italy with his army,
halted his troops and went into
Disdéri's studio in Paris, to have his
photograph taken. From this welcome
publicity Disdéri's fame began, and
two years later he was said to be
earning nearly £50,000 a year from
one studio alone. **
Prints made using this process came
in any colour, and were permanent.
The sensitising solution consisted of a
mixture of carbon, gelatin, the
colouring material, and potassium
bichromate. Once the paper was
exposed to light, the areas exposed
became insoluble in water.
Development consisted of washing
the unexposed soluble material away
in warm water.
In England carte-de-visite portraits
were taken of Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert. One firm paid a small
fortune for exclusive rights to
photograph the Royal Family, and this
signalled the way for a boom in
collecting pictures of the famous, or
having one's own carte-de-visite
made. It is said that the portraits of
Queen Victoria and the Royal Family
taken by John Mayall sold over one
hundred thousand copies.
The image being laterally reversed, it
needed to be transferred to another
base which was usually paper, but
which could be leather or wood; the
image was in relief.
A variation on the carbon process was
the Woodburytype, introduced a year
later.
Prints made by this process would
come in any colour, and were
permanent. Carbon prints became
Other public figures were often
persuaded to sit. Helmut Gernsheim, a
writer on the history of photography,
comments that they were called "sure
cards" because one could be sure that
each time a famous person consented
to sit, a small fortune would go to the
photographer! To print quickly, several
negatives were taken at a sitting: the
Photographic News for 24 September
1858 reported that no fewer than four
dozen negatives were taken of Lord
Olverston at one sitting!
129
During the 1860s the craze for these
cards became immense. An article in
the Photographic Journal, reports:
"The public are little aware of the sale
of the cartes de visite of celebrated
persons. As might be expected, the
chief demand is for members of the
Royal Fanily.... No greater tribute to
the memory of His late Royal
Highness the Prince Consort would
have been paid than the fact that
within one week of his decease no
less than 70,000 of his cartes de visite
were ordered...
Our great thoroughfares are filled with
photographers; there are not less than
thirty-five in Regent Street alone."
Sometimes the profits could be huge.
A Frenchman by the name of Oliver
Sarony, who was based in Yorkshire,
was said to be earning more then ten
thousand pounds a year - a fortune
last century. Little wonder that there
was speculation that Gladstone might
introduce a tax on the trade!
By the way, pirating of someone else's
work is not new; some firms copied
the photograph of a famous person
and made quite a healthy living!
The reasons for the success of these
cards were
their cheapness. The average price for
a card was a shilling (5p); mass
produced ones could be bought for
25p a dozen
they were small, light and easy to
collect, and many people began to
place these in photographic albums
collections of pictures, particularly of
royalty, became highly treasured (there
was no television, of course, in those
days!)
Cartes-de-visite were Albumen prints,
and it is on record that in Britain half a
million eggs were being delivered
yearly to one photographic studio
alone!
The props used in cartes-de-visite
seemed to follow certain fashions;
starting off with balustrades and
curtains, they moved to columns
(sometimes resting on the carpet!)
bridges and stiles, hammocks, palmtrees and bicycles. Sadly, quantity
rather than quality was the order of the
day, though there are some striking
exceptions.
To some extent the carte-de-visite
craze also put paid to photography in
which detail was a distinctive feature;
the work of Gustave Le Gray and of
the Bisson brothers, for example,
could not be reproduced on these
small cards, and thus their businesses
began to fall off.
By 1860 the carte de visite craze had
reached its climax. In his
autobiography H. P. Robinson states
that in 1859 his photographic business
had been about to collapse, but that
this innovation had saved it. By the
end of 1860 he had not only paid off
old debts and made additions to his
premises, but had invested a
considerable sum of money, two years
later being able to sell his business
and retire to live in London.
In May 1862, Marion & Co. announced
that it had published a series of
Cabinet views, 6.75 x 4.5 inches,
photographed by George Washington
Wilson, and the larger Cabinet
photographs remained in vogue until
the postcard was introduced at the
turn of the century. Stereoscopic
cards, whose popularity had
temporarily declined, also began to
experience a revival.
There are many examples of these
photographs in the Royal
Photographic Society's collection.
Some on current display are
accompanied by an advertisement by
the London Stereoscopic Society, for
twenty prints at one pound, "Detention
3 minutes."
** This story about Napoleon stopping
for a portrait has subsequently shown
to be untrue, but it makes a good
story and may have been put about
purely for publicity purposes!
COBURN, Alvin Langdon
b. 11 January 1882; d. 23 November
1966
Coburn was another outstanding
photographer who still, perhaps, is not
given the acclaim he deserves. He
was born in Boston, moving to
England as a young man. He began
taking photographs at the age of eight
(inspired by his cousin F. Holland Day,
became a founder-member of PhotoSecession and in 1903 was elected to
the Linked Ring, and at the early age
of twenty-five had exhibited a oneman show at the Royal Photographic
Society.
Coburn stressed the importance of
learning the techniques of
photography so that they became
totally automatic, "leaving the mind
free to devote itself to the really
important matter: direct contact with
what we wish to express."
Coburn made a number of urban
landscape pictures, with a definite
mood. He was also an accomplished
portrait photographer, and in 1913 and
1922 produced a two-volume
collection of photographs of
celebrities, entitled "Men of Mark." He
has a characteristic style in his
portraits. The writer George Bernard
Shaw, who sat for Coburn, and who
also had developed an interest in
photography, described him as "one
of the most accomplished and
sensitive artist photographers...living."
Coburn passionately believed in
liberating photography from the notion
that it is only artistic if it depicted
reality, and he is perhaps best known
for producing Vortographs, nonobjective photographs of such items
as a piece of wood or crystal, through
an arrangement of mirrors, resulting in
multiple images. In 1916 Coburn
designed an item the poet Ezra Pound
called a Vortoscope, which consisted
of three mirrors arranged like a
kaleidoscope, which enabled multipleimage photographs to be taken.
The British Journal of Photography (16
February 1917) comments on
Coburn's fascination for his
vortographs, and his assertion that the
creating of these
"was the most thrilling experience he
had ever had in all the realms of
photography. For over a quarter of a
century he had been using a camera
130
in one way or another, but never had
he discovered a medium to compare
with vortography for producing
aesthetic excitement and enjoyment."
COLLODION process
This process was introduced in 1851
and marks a watershed in
photography.
Between 1903-1909 his work
appeared in three editions of Camera
Work. Unfortunately Coburn lost
himself in astrology and the occult,
and his enthusiasm for photography
waned somewhat after the first world
war, though he again began taking
photographs in the 1950s.
Up till then the two processes in use
were the daguerreotype and the
calotype. Daguerreotypes were better
than calotypes in terms of detail and
quality, but could not be reproduced;
calotypes were reproducible, but
suffered from the fact that any print
would also show the imperfections of
the paper.
Thanks to the close friendship
between Coburn and Dudley
Johnston, Curator of the Royal
Photographic Society's Collection, the
Society owns a considerable number
of his fine works.
The search began, then, for a process
which would combine the best of both
processes - the ability to reproduce
fine detail and the capacity to make
multiple prints. The ideal would have
been to coat light sensitive material on
to glass, but the chemicals would not
adhere without a suitable binder which
obviously had to be clear. At first,
Albumen (the white of an egg) was
used. Then in 1851 Frederick Scott
Archer came across collodion.
Collodion was a viscous liquid guncotton dissolved in ether and
alcohol - which had only been
invented in 1846, but which quickly
found a use during the Crimean war;
when it dried it formed a very thin
clear film, which was ideal for dressing
and protecting wounds. (One can still
obtain this today, for painting over a
cut). Collodion was just the answer as
far as photography was concerned,
for it would provide the binding which
was so badly needed. Lewis Carroll,
himself a photographer who used
collodion, described the process in a
poem he called "Hiawatha's
Photography."
"First a piece of glass he coated
With Collodion, and plunged it In a
bath of Lunar Caustic Carefully
dissolved in water;
There he left it certain minutes.
Secondly my Hiawatha Made with
cunning hand a mixture Of the acid
Pyro-gallic,
And the Glacial Acetic,
And of alcohol and water:
This developed all the picture.
Finally he fixed each picture
With a saturate solution Of a certain
salt of Soda...."
This "soda" was, of course, hypo.
Sometimes potassium cyanide was
used, the advantage of this being that
the solutions could be washed out by
rinsing under a tap for a minute or so,
whereas hypo would need much more
washing time.
The collodion process had several
advantages.
being more sensitive to light than the
calotype process, it reduced the
exposure times drastically - to as little
as two or three seconds. This opened
up a new dimension for
photographers, who up till then had
generally to portray very still scenes or
people.
because a glass base was used, the
images were sharper than with a
calotype.
because the process was never
patented, photography became far
more widely used.
the price of a paper print was about a
tenth of that of a daguerreotype.
There was however one main
disadvantage: the process was by no
means an easy one. First the collodion
had to be spread carefully over the
entire plate. The plate then had to be
sensitised, exposed and developed
whilst the plate was still wet; the
sensitivity dropped once the collodion
had dried. It is often known as the wet
plate collodion process for this reason.
The process was labour-intensive
enough in a studio's darkroom, but
quite a feat if one wanted to do some
photography on location. Some took
complete darkroom tents, Fenton took
a caravan, and it is no mere
coincidence that many photographs
taken in this period happened to be
near rivers or streams! Moreover, at
this time there were no enlargements,
so if one wanted large prints, there
was no alternative but to carry very
large cameras. (It is such limitations of
the process that make the work of
people like the Bisson brothers,
Fenton, and others so remarkable).
131
One might also mention the safety
factor. The collodion mixture was not
only inflammable but highly explosive.
It is reported that several
photographers demolished their
darkrooms and homes, some even
losing their lives, as a result of
careless handling of the photographic
chemicals.
Despite the advantages the collodion
process offered, there were still many
who stoutly defended the calotype. A
writer in the Journal of the
Photographic Society (December
1856) wrote:
"for subjects where texture, gradations
of tint and distance are required, there
is nothing.... to compare with a good
picture from calotype or waxed paper
negative."
Moreover, the calotype process was
less of an ordeal, especially for travel
photographers; paper negatives could
be prepared at home, exposed on
location, and then developed upon
one's return. Hence Diamond used the
calotype process for some of his travel
photographs, though he used
collodion for portraiture and for his
medical photography.
Nevertheless the invention of this
process turned out to be a watershed
as far as photography was concerned:
cheaper alternatives, such as
Ambrotypes and Tintypes were
developed. The former was a positive
on glass, the latter a positive on metal;
stereoscopic photography began to
flourish;
the carte-de-visite craze started;
because of the faster speed of the
process, the analysis of movement
(see Muybridge) became possible.
The use of collodion caught on very
quickly indeed, and within a few years
few people used either the
Daguerreotype or Calotype process.
The records of the Photographic
Society give an interesting account of
the efforts to ensure even sensitivity of
the Collodion plates. As mentioned
above, these plates had to be dipped
into a nitrate of silver bath and
exposed whilst still wet. Exposure
would have to be almost immediate as
otherwise the top of the plate would
lose its moisture and the sensitivity
would become uneven. All sorts of
liquids were tried, including honey,
beer, and even rasperry syrup!
A variation on this was the Oxymel
process.
COLOUR, Photography
Though the invention of photography
had an immediate impact on the
whole art world, the early photographs
were in monochrome. As an additional
service, daguerreotypes could be
hand- painted, which kept a number
of painters of miniatures in business.
However, it was to be some time
before colour photography was to
become a reality.
In the 1860s James Clerk Maxwell,
using as a subject a tartan ribbon,
showed that three monochrome
images could be formed of a subject,
each one taken using a different
colour filter (red, blue and green). By
projecting these images using three
lanterns, each equipped with a
corresponding filter, the colours could
be recreated.
The results were somewhat
disappointing to Maxwell and his
collaborator Thomas Sutton, but
nevertheless they deserve the credit
for laying the foundations of
trichromate colour photography.
Interestingly, strictly speaking this
experiment should never have worked!
Maxwell did not know this, but at that
time the emulsion in use only
responded to light at the blue end of
the spectrum. So how could anything
have been recorded on the "red" and
"green" slides? It was not until one
hundred years later that when the
experiment was repeated, it was
discovered that the green filter had
also passed some blue light, whilst the
ribbon's red colours were also
reflecting ultra-violet rays, which had
been recorded on the red plate.
However, though this (by sheer
coincidence) produced the right effect,
it does not detract from Maxwell's
discovery, for with an appropriate
emulsion responding to all colours the
method works well.
In 1873 Herman Vogel discovered
sensitising dyes, which was a step
forward in the pursuit of full colour
photography. As a result of his work,
"orthochromatic" plates, sensitive to
all colours with the exception of red,
were produced.
When in 1906 "panchromatic" films,
sensitive to all colours, came into
production, some photographers
began taking three "separation"
negatives, using a viewer which
enabled one to see all three slides
superimposed upon one another.
In 1907 Auguste and Louis Lumière
produced plates they called
Autochrome, using a different system
from that above. The colours
appeared in delicate pastel shades,
often looking very dark, but were well
received at the time.
Back in 1869 Ducas du Hauron had
published a book offering another
method - the subtractive one - by
which colour could be re-created. One
of his suggestions had been that
instead of mixing colour lights, one
could combine dyed images; film
could be coated with three very thin
layers of emulsion, each sensitive to
the primary colours; once processed
as positives, the transparency could
then be viewed as a full colour
photograph. At the time, however, the
emulsions were such that none of his
proposals could be tested. It was not
until the mid 1930s that Kodak was to
produce a film based on this principle,
to be named Kodachrome; up till then
the additive methods suggested by
Maxwell had been used.
COMBINATION PRINTING
In the early days of photography the
material of the time was not sensitive
to red; it was highly sensitive to blue,
and therefore blue sky was rendered in
a very light tone. Most of the
photographs taken in the 40s and 50s
were usually of foreground landcapes
with blank skies - very little detail (if
any) in the sky. Roger Fenton, an
architectural and landscape
photographer and one of the fine
photographers of this period, did a lot
of experimental work on this. The
solution he adopted was to make
negatives a little thin in the foreground
and then to over-expose when making
the prints. This however was not an
ideal solution, and it was the problem
of this attempt to record sky that led
photographers to probably one of the
most interesting early concepts in
photography which we now call
"combination printing." Combination
Printing is the term given to the
technique of making pictures from
more than one negative or print. It can
take various forms:
printing two or more negatives, one
after the other, on the sheet of paper;
superimposing two negatives, printing
them both together;
cutting out parts of a number of prints,
and arranging, perhaps pasting them
on card or photographed background,
and then photographing the finished
result (montage).
Hippolyte Bayard was the first to
suggest that separate negatives of
clouds be used to print in the skies.
However, others, particularly William
Lake Price, began to explore the idea
of using combination printing to
produce compositions. The most
famous of the early combination prints
is "The two ways of life", by Rejlander,
who masked all areas of the
photograph other than the area being
printed. Rather different is the
technique by Henry Peach Robinson,
who made photomontages; his classic
example is "Fading Away."
The CYANOTYPE process
This is an early process first
introduced by John Herschel in 1842.
It is still in use today, and is more
commonly known as the blue-print
process.
In the early days paper was
impregnated with iron salts and then
used in contact printing. The paper
was then washed in water, and the
image would come out as a white
image on deep blue. Long expsoure
times were required, but one
advantage was that since the
chemicals were mainly sensitive to
Ultra-Violet rays, the solutions can be
prepared in subdued light, rather than
in a darkroom.
One of the earliest users of the
process was Anna Atkins, who
produced the first photographically
illustrated book.
DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mande
b. 18 November 1787; d. 10 July 1851
Daguerre (pronounced Dagair) was
perhaps the most famous of several
people who invented photography.
He began work as an apprentice
architect, and at the age of sixteen
was an assistant stage designer in a
Paris theatre, his elaborate stage
designs winning him considerable
acclaim. He had an astonishing
ingenuity in the handling of light and
lighting effects, and he supplied the
scenic and lighting effects for a
number of operas in theatres in Paris.
He developed an impressive illusions
theatre, which he termed Diorama; it
was a picture show with changing light
effects and huge paintings measuring
22 by 14 metres, of famous places.
This became the rage in the early
twenties.
He regularly used a camera obscura
as an aid to painting in perspective,
and this had led him to seek to freeze
the image. In 1826 he learned of the
work of Nicephore Niépce, and on 4
January 1829 signed up a partnership
with him.
The partnership was a short one,
Niépce dying in 1833, but Daguerre
continued to experiment. He made an
important discovery by accident. In
1835, so the story goes, he put an
exposed plate in his chemical
cupboard, and some days later found,
to his surprise, that the latent image
had developed. Daguerre eventually
concluded that this was due to the
presence of mercury vapour from a
broken thermometer. This important
discovery that a latent image could be
developed made it possible to reduce
the exposure time from some eight
hours to thirty minutes.
Though he now knew how to produce
an image, it was not until 1837 that he
was able to fix them. This new
process he called a Daguerreotype.
Daguerre advertised his process and
sought sponsorship, but few seemed
interested. He then turned to Francois
Arago, a politician, who immediately
saw the implications of this process,
took his case up, and the French
government commissioned a report on
the process, to be chaired by Paul
Delaroche. On 7 January 1839 an
announcement was made of the
discovery, but details were not
divulged until 19 August when the
process was announced publicly, the
French government having bought the
rights to the process from him, and
given it free to the world. However,
this process had also been patented in
England and Wales on 14 August only five days previously. As Lady
Eastlake pointed out:
"...by some chicanery a patent for the
daguerreotype was actually taken out
in England, which for a time rendered
this the only country which did not
profit by the liberality of the French
government. The early history of
photography is not so generous in
character as that of its maturity."
From the day the announcement was
made of this new discovery, the
process came to be used widely. The
claim was made that the
daguerreotype "requires no
knowledge of drawing...." and that
"anyone may succeed... and perform
as well as the author of the invention."
The Literary Gazette for 7 January
1839 read:
"Paris, 6th January 1839.
We have much pleasure in announcing
an important discovery made by M.
Daguerre, the celebrated painter of the
Diorama. This discovery seems like a
prodigy. It disconcerts all the theories
of science in light and optics and, if
borne out, promises to make a
revolution in the arts of design.
rinsing the plate in hot distilled water.
M. Daguerre has discovered a method
to fix the images which are
represented at the back of a camera
obscura; so that these images are not
the temporary reflection of the object,
but their fixed and durable impress,
which may be removed from the
presence of those objects like a
picture or an engraving."
His first plates were 8 1/2" by 6 1/2"; it
is interestting to note that this still
remains the standard "whole-plate"
today.
An article in La Gazette de France, of
the same date, also showed one of
the limitations of the process:
"Nature in motion cannot reproduce
itself, or at least can do so only with
great difficulty, by the technique in
question. In one of the boulevard
views.... it happened that all which
moved or walked did not appear in the
drawing...."
The early daguerreotypes had several
drawbacks.
the length of the exposure necessary
all but ruled out portraiture.
The image was laterally reversed (as
one sees oneself in a mirror). Many of
the portraits reveal this from the way
the coat was buttoned; if one required
a picture the right way round, the
camera would be pointed at a mirror
reflecting the sitter's image. Initially
this will not have bothered people,
who were used only to seeing their
mirror image in any case.
it was very fragile. perhaps most
limiting of all, it was a "once only"
system; what was needed was a
means whereby copies of a
photograph might easily be made.
Taken in 1839, this picture of a
boulevard gives the impression of
empty streets, because with long
exposures moving objects would not
register.
Daguerre's choice of chemicals was
such that the action of light left a milky
white image or mercury amalgam.
However, there was an exception
when a man stopped to have his
shoes shined, (see bottom left of the
larger picture) and though he and the
person shining the shoes remain
anonymous, they may have the
distinction of being the first people
ever to have been photographed.
In 1851 Daguerre
died. In a sense
this symbolically
ended an era, for
that very same
year a new
technique was
invented, which
was another milestone in photography
- the wet collodion process by
Frederick Scott Archer.
The DAGUERREOTYPE
This was a positive image on a metal
support.
The Daguerreotype was the first
successful photographic process, the
discovery being announced on 7
January 1839. The process consisted
of
exposing copper plates to iodine, the
fumes forming light-sensitive silver
iodide. The plate would have to be
used within an hour.
exposing to light - between 10 and 20
minutes, depending upon the light
available.
developing the plate over mercury
heated to 75 degrees Centigrade. This
caused the mercury to amalgamate
with the silver.
fixing the image in a warm solution of
common salt (later sodium sulphite
was used.)
The quality of the photographs was
stunning. However, the process had
its weaknesses:
the pictures could not be reproduced
and were therefore unique;
the surfaces were extremely delicate,
which is why they are often found
housed under glass in a case;
the image was reversed laterally, the
sitter seeing himself as he did when
looking at a mirror. (Sometimes the
camera lens was equipped with a
mirror to correct this);
the chemicals used (bromine and
chlorine fumes and hot mercury) were
highly toxic;
the images were difficult to view from
certain angles.
Many of the daguerreotypes that
remain are noticeable for their detail,
and this caused quite a sensation at
the time. Indeed, the Spectator (2
February 1839) called daguerreotypes
the "self operating process of Fine
Art." The reaction in America was also
one of amazement. The Journal "The
Knickerbocker" for December that
year quoted:
We have seen the views taken in Paris
by the 'Daguerreotype,' and have no
hesitation in avowing, that they are the
most remarkable objects of curiosity
and admiration, in the arts, that we
ever beheld. Their exquisite perfection
almost transcends the bounds of
sober belief.
Carl Dauthendey, a photographer who
became the first professional
daguerreotype photographer in St.
Petersburg, makes an interesting
comment on the way Daguerreotypes
were viewed:
134
"People were afraid at first to look for
any length of time at the pictures he
produced. They were embarrassed by
the clarity of these figures and
believed that the little, tiny faces of the
people in the pictures could see out at
them, so amazing did the
unaccustomed detail and the
unaccustomed truth to nature of the
first daguerreotypes appear to
everyone"
Sometimes the details might reveal
something that the photographer had
not intended. Fox Talbot, Daguerre's
rival, observed:
"It frequently happens, moreover - and
this is one of the charms of
photography - that the operator
himself discovers on examination,
perhaps long afterwards, that he has
depicted many things that he had no
notion of at the time. Sometimes
inscriptions and dates are found upon
the buildings, or printed placards most
irrelevant, are discovered upon their
walls: sometimes a distant dial-plate is
seen, and upon it - unconsciously
recorded - the hour of the day at
which the view was taken."
This capacity to record minute detail
was put to good use by Jean Baptiste
Louis Gros, an amateur who made the
first images of the Parthenon whilst on
a mission in Greece. On his return to
Paris he discovered that on close
inspection details which he had not
observed could be examined,
including the minutest sculptural
elements.
In the museum at the Royal
Photographic Society one of
Daguerre's cameras is displayed. It
was used by Talbot for his own
process. However, there is an
interesting omission: Daguerre's
cameras always had a label on the
side, bearing his signature, but Fox
Talbot appears to have removed this!
One problem with early
daguerreotypes was the length of
exposure required - 10 to 15 minutes
in bright sunlight. In fact, a
daguerreotype in the International
Museum in Rochester, depicting a
chapel, states that the picture was
taken between 4:40pm and 5:30pm on
19 April 1840. Such lengths were
hardly suitable for portraiture. Fox
Talbot noted in a letter dated 21 May
1852:
"Ld Brougham assured me once that
he sat for his Dabguerreotype portrait
half an hour in the sun and never
suffered so much in his life."
To make photography possible, rests
were used to keep the head still, and
sitters had often to cope with brilliant
sunlight. One photographer even used
to run flour on the sitter's face, in
order to reduce exposure time!
There was clearly a need to find some
more effective ways of reducing the
exposure time:
On the chemistry side, J.G. Goddard
started using bromide as well as
iodine to sensitise plates, while
Antoine Claudet experimented using
chlorine.
On the optical side, J. M. Petzval
invented a portrait lens with an
aperture of f3.6 (as opposed to f14,
which was currently being used.)
Petzval's lens was still being widely
used almost a century later.
The daguerreotype, aptly called a
"mirror with a memory", was an
amazing development, and one
cannot but marvel at the intricacy of
the detail. However, it was a blind alley
as far as photography was concerned.
DEVELOPMENT
The function of a developer is to
convert the invisible (latent) image into
a visible form. In the very earliest days
of photography exposures had to
continue until an image had been
formed, hence the need for very long
exposures.
It is said that Daguerre discovered
development accidentally, having
placed some unsuccessful sensitised
plates into a cupboard, and having
returned later to discover that the
plates bore an image. By further
experimentation he concluded that the
mercury in the same cupboard was
responsible for producing the image.
Fox Talbot also discovered that there
was such a thing as a latent image
that could be developed, and as a
result was able to reduce drastically
his exposure time - from as much as
an hour to a minute or less.
Taken together, these improvements
enabled photographers to use
exposures of between ten and thirty
seconds, thus making portraiture more
of a practical proposition. By March
1841 Beard had opened a studio at
the Royal Polytechnic Institution, while
Claudet opened one three months
later, behind St. Martin's church,
Trafalgar Square. In 1853 Daguerre's
patent expired, and many
daguerreotypists began to open for
business. At that time, of course, all
photographs were monochrome (it
was not until after the time of Maxwell
that colour photography became a
possibility), so many artists turned to
hand-colouring the photographs,
which were almost invariably
presented in ornate cases.
Colouring was a skilled and delicate
affair. Typical of the kits was the
Newman kit, dated 1850, with thirtysix colours. The colours would be
applied very carefully with a fine
brush, and then fixed simply by
breathing on the plate itself.
135
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
The history of photography is full of
people who with great intensity put
forward theories on the nature of
photography, or who denigrated the
work of others, or set up break-away
groups. These people have their
place, but fortunately there were
others who avoided controversy and
who set about recording the life and
times of the period in which they lived,
either from a sense of mission, or
simply to leave an accurate version of
their life and times for others.
Up to the time photography was
invented events were portrayed by
means of painting, and whilst many of
them evoke an emotional response it
is difficult to be sure that what we are
being presented with is not fanciful,
incorrect, or even blatantly dishonest.
There are, for example, so many
different paintings of Queen Elizabeth I
that it is not clear what she looked
like! (See also Alfred Chalon's
comments in Artists and
Photography.)
Photography does add to authenticity,
but the oft-quoted adage that "the
camera cannot lie" is a very
misleading one. Even with "straight"
photography (i.e. where neither
negative not print has been
retouched), there are many ways by
which the process can be used to
manipulate and mislead, for example
by selection of viewpoint, or by using
a picture out of context. Used
honestly, however, photography has
the capacity to capture a particular
moment in time, to reproduce images
in considerable detail, to overcome
language barriers, and compellingly to
draw attention to situations about
which we might otherwise be
unaware. This capacity was
immediately recognised by early
photographers
DRY-PLATE process
This was invented by Charles Bennett
in 1878, coming soon after Dr. Richard
Leach Maddox had suggested the use
of Gelatin as a binder. This new
process was revolutionary: from now
on portable darkrooms would no
longer be necessary; the process was
much more sensitive to light, and
therefore relatively fast shutter speeds
were possible; it led to a greater
degree of standardisation and quality
a new range of cameras (including
novel ones, such as used for example
by Paul Martin), began to appear.
EASTMAN, George
b. 12 July 1854; d. 14 March 1932
Up to the time of
Eastman
photography,
though already
popular, was still
considered too
complicated for
ordinary users,
and George
Eastman is
remembered for
having made
photography accessible to all.
Eastman started off as a bank clerk,
and then became interested in
photography. He is particularly
remembered for introducing flexible
film in 1884.
Four years later he introduced the box
camera incorporating roll film, and
with his slogan "You press the button,
we do the rest" he brought
photography to the masses.
The box camera had a simple lens
focusing on 8 feet and beyond. One
roll of film took a hundred images, all
circular in shape. The entire camera
would be posted to the factory where
the film was processed and the
camera re-loaded and returned to the
user, the charge for this being £2.2s
(£2.10).
The photographs were of about 65mm
diameter, and opened up a new world
for popular photography.
Eastman's contribution not only made
photography available to all, but also
resulted in a gradual change in what
constituted acceptable photography.
Paul Martin, who worked with a large
portable camera, had found it difficult
to get his informal pictures accepted
at exhibitions. To have pictures
accepted, he complained, one would
need to take "... a noble and dignified
subject, a cathedral or mountain..."
and that
"few envisaged the popular snapshot
until the coming of the hand camera
and the Kodak."
From the age of 76 onwards, Eastman
was becoming increasingly ill.
Eventually, having settled his affairs,
he took his own life. Next to his body
was a note which said simply "To my
friends, my work is done - why wait?"
EMERSON, Dr. Peter Henry
b. 13 May 1856; d. 12 May 1936
Many photographic historians claim
that Peter Henry Emerson made a
greater impression on Victorian
photography than any of his
contemporaries. An outstanding
scholar, he practised medicine before
abandoning it, at the age of 26, to take
up photography. Though some of his
work was included in books (he was
an authority on wild life in Norfolk), he
remained essentially an amateur.
At this period perhaps the leading
photographer of the day was Henry
Peach Robinson, who had published
an influential book, "Pictorial Effect in
Photography" - a book which ran to
several editions. Emerson condemned
this book out of hand, particularly
disliking the contrived photography by
Robinson, Rejlander, and Julia
Margaret Cameron and saw this
approach as arresting the
development of photography as a
136
medium in its own right, with no need
to emulate styles of painting.
Perhaps by then the time was right for
a new approach. Photographic
materials had evolved somewhat; new
faster materials were appearing,
making photography outdoors rather
different from what it had been in
earlier times.
In 1886 he was elected to the Council
of the Photographic Society, and
embarked upon a series of lectures to
put forward his views. Three years
later he published an influential (if
controversial) book entitled
"Naturalistic Photography for students
of Art" which one writer described as
"like dropping a bombshell at a teaparty." In it he made the case for
photography in which truth and
realism would replace contrived
photography.
"Photograph people as they really are
- do not dress them up" was his main
message: "The photographic
technique is perfect and needs
no...bungling"
He also very firmly rejected the
retouching of pictures, which he called
"the process by which a good, bad, or
indifferent photograph is converted
into a bad drawing or painting".
In effect he was advocating that one
should treat photography as a
technique in its own right, and not to
seek to imitate other art forms.
Emerson also argued that a
photographer should imitate the eye.
He claimed that one only sees
sharpness in the centre, and that the
image is slightly blurred at the
periphery, and therefore suggested
that one should make a photograph
slightly out of focus in order to achieve
that effect, merely ensuring that the
image in the centre is sharp. In his
book he wrote: "Nothing in nature has
a hard outline, but everything is seen
against something else, and its
outlines fade gently into something
else, often so subtly that you cannot
quite distinguish where one ends and
the other begins. In this mingled
decision and indecision, this lost and
found, lies all the charm and mystery
of nature"
This was a new departure. Up till then
photographers had tried to get
everything sharp; they may not always
have succeeded, but that was their
objective. Now Emerson was
advocation that photographers should
not
Some photographers greeted
Emerson's ideas with enthusiasm,
particularly George Davidson. Another
was Frank Sutcliff, who had a studio
at Whitby. However, his ideas did not
go down well with other
contemporaries. H.P.Robinson wrote:
"Healthy human eyes never saw any
part of a scene out of focus"
whilst Emerson retorted, in an
uncompromising manner: "I have yet
to learn that any one statement of
photography of Mr. H.P.Robinson has
ever had the slightest effect on me
except as a warning of what not to
do...."
advancement of artistic photography.
Until then he had denounced medals,
but in 1925, typical of his vanity, he
then started awarding his own
"Emerson" silver and bronze medals
to others, some posthumously. Among
the fifty-seven who gained his
approval in this manner were Hill and
Adamson, Nadar, Hippolyte Bayard,
Julia Margaret Cameron, and an
"unknown French photographer in
Paris, 1865, for an unknown lady with
a cigarette"! The reason for these
awards never became clear; some
have suggested that this was yet
another way of perpetuating his name.
Despite his egotism and unforgiving
nature to those who disagreed with
him, his work succeeded in laying
down the foundations of a new,
unsentimental type of work, and laying
the groundwork for the PhotoSecession movement.
and described Robinson's book
(Pictorial Effect in Photography) as
"the quintessence of literary fallacies
and art anachronisms."
Emerson was not the easiest of
people to get on with, and was
inclined not only to make sarcastic
and vitriolic remarks but also to erupt
into a fiery temper. His emphasis on
technique is probably what led to his
own undoing; he had begun to believe
that photography could be reduced to
technical rules and principles. Finding
that he could not achieve this, he
became frustrated and finally (possibly
angered by the success of the
Impressionism movement) he
renounced naturalistic photography in
a black-bordered pamphlet entitled
"The death of Naturalistic
Photography" (1890). He wrote: "I
have...I regret it deeply, compared
photographs to great works of art, and
photographers to great artists. It was
rash and thoughtless, and my
punishment is having to acknowledge
it now... In short, I throw my lot in with
those who say that Photography is a
very limited art. I deeply regret that I
have come to this conclusion..."
In 1895 Emerson was awarded the
Royal Photographic Society's
Progress Medal for work in the
137
ENLARGERS
The earliest
enlargers
used direct
sunlight, and
thus came to
be known as
"solar
cameras". It
was an
American, D.A. Woodward, who in
1857 first constructed an enlarger. It
was a cumbersome object. The sun
was collected by means of a convex
lens, and the camera has to be turned
with the sun. This design became the
model for a number of solar cameras.
The picture shows an advert for his
cameras, and a medal that he had
been awarded to him at a major
exhibition.
Another pioneer was Wothly, from
Aachen, who made a few
improvements to Woodward's solar
camera, and exhibited portraits almost
at life size.
Wothly's solar camera was a
monstrosity! The condenser had a
diameter of 1 metre. The heat of the
condensed rays of sun was such that
one had to have water troughs built in.
However, perhaps the first ever
reference to an enlarging process can
be attributed to Draper. In 1840 he
wrote:
"Exposures are made with a very small
camera on very small plates. They are
subsequently enlarged to the required
size in a larger camera on a rigid
stand. This method will probably
contribute very much to the practice
of the art."
Louis Jules Duboscq (1817-1886)
made an apparatus for enlarging by
electric light, and showed it to the
Paris Photographic Society in 1861.
Eventually, of course, the solar camera
disappeared from the photographic
industry and was replaced by
enlarging cameras that used arc
lamps. As the sensitivity of papers
increased, so it was possible to use
other sources of light.
However, even at the turn of the
century it was possible to buy simple
daylight enlargers. This one was made
by Griffin and Sons. The advert. in the
A.P. read as follows:
Messrs. J. J. Griffith and Sons Ltd.
have introduced an instrument which
should find a cordial welcome at the
hands of many an amateur who
desires to make bromide
enlargements without elaborate
apparatus. They are inexpensive, and
whilst folding into small space can be
erected quickly and by one
movement, there being no loose
screws or bolts. .... Having set up the
instrument, the user places his
negative in the groove at the small end
and sensitive paper in the box at the
large end. The camera is then taken
into daylight and exposed to the clear
sky for a period varying between a few
seconds and a minute or two. Upon
development of the exposed paper a
sharp, bright enlargement will be the
result.
The price of the enlarger to take
quarter-plate and enlarge to whole
plate, including meral exposure
shutter and achromatic lens, is 12s 6d
(62p).
May we also ask your attention to our
gaslight attachment for enlargers?
This consists of a parabolic reflector,
in from of which are fixed two
incandescent gas burners of a special
type. ... The attachment can be fitted
to almost any enlarger on the
market." (Cost, 10s 6d - 50p).
FADING of prints
Though (unlike Wedgwood), the early
photographers had learned to remove
the unused light-sensitive solutions by
fixing prints, they still had a major
problem in that many of the early
photographs had a tendency to fade.
So serious was the problem that in
1855 the Photographic Society formed
a committee to examine the causes of
fading; this committee, chaired by
Roger Fenton, received support from
an equally concerned Prince Albert,
who contributed £50 to its funds.
The major causes of fading which
were identified by the committee
included the presence of sulphur in
the prints, the presence of fixer
because of insufficient washing, and
(in some instances) the type of
mounting used. They recommended
more careful washing of prints. Most
members of the committee concluded
that gold toning would enhance the
life of prints (which indeed it did) and
also that some experimenting with
protective coatings on the print might
be helpful.
In 1856 Robert Howlett published a
booklet on the preservation of prints.
In the 1860s the carbon print process,
using pigment, became popular, the
process being perfected by Sir Joseph
Wilson Swan in 1866.
FENTON, Roger
b. Mar 1819; d. 8 Aug 1869
Roger Fenton is particularly known for
his coverage of the Crimean War,
which is a pity, because it only formed
a small proportion of his output in
other areas, notably landscape
photography, and also somewhat
obscures the major part he played in
promoting photography in general.
After studying at London University,
Fenton studied art in London, and
later in Paris under the painter Paul
Delaroche. However, having had little
success as a painter, in 1844 he
returned to London and studied law.
In January 1851 he visited Paris, and
was impressed by the freedom that
photographers in France had been
granted as a result of the
Daguerreotype process having been
made available to all. By contrast,
progress in England was slow
because of Talbot's claims arising
from his patent.
In 1852 he visited Russia, and his
photographs were amongst the first
ever to be seen in England,
guaranteeing him instant fame.
Back in England, he proposed the
formation of a Photographic Society,
and on 10 January 1853 this came
into being, and he served as its
Secretary for three years. (This is now
the Royal Photographic Society).
138
Fenton photographed Queen
Victoria's family, and also became the
official photographer to the British
Museum.
The Crimean War (1853-1956) was
one of many between Russia and the
Turks, but this time involved the British
and French. William Russell, a
journalist working for The Times, and
one of the first war correspondents,
began to send a series of disturbing
accounts of the conduct of this war,
and particularly the conditions under
which the British forces were fighting.
Less than 20% of the fatalities of the
forces were due to war wounds; the
majority of these were caused by
disease and the freezing cold. When
Russell began to report the
inadequacy of the medical facilities
and the fact that British soldiers, not
having even been issued with winter
uniforms, were dying with cold, feeling
over the government's handling of the
war began to mount.
In 1855, in response to this continuous
criticism of the government's handling
of the war, Fenton was commissioned
to photograph it, and produced over
350 pictures of the conflict.
Though he is seen as a war
photographer, his pictures showed a
very one-sided cosmetic view: as it
was largely a propaganda exercise, he
was bound to show the well-being of
the troops; he wanted to sell his
pictures, and gruesome realistic ones
were probably not very marketable!
many of his pictures were of the
officers, a sign, perhaps, of his sound
business sense! In fairness to him, he
often felt obliged to photograph them:
"If I refuse to take them," he
complained, "I get no facilities for
conveying my van from one locality to
another."
Fenton's war pictures, therefore, tend
to portray war as a gorgeous pageant;
there are no dead bodies, and one
might almost imagine that the Crimean
war was almost like a picnic. There are
no action shots (this for technical
reasons), but those of soldiers are
carefully posed groups, almost as if
they were cricketers just about to go
in to bat. It is this bias which makes
one question slightly whether he was a
true war photographer in the same
league as the Mathew Brady team.
Moreover, as an agent of the
government, his portrayals were
somewhat slanted; the charge of the
Light Brigade, for example, was one
disaster that was depicted as a
glorious event.
for the dust thus raised to settle before
coating a plate...."
As the summer arrived, Fenton found
that the developing liquid became so
hot that he could hardly put his hands
in it! He also had to stop work earlier
and earlier each day, many of his
portraits having been taken before
seven o'clock in the morning.
Upon returning from the Crimea (but
not before he too had endured
cholera) he had published bound
volumes of his prints. However, they
did not sell too well, as people hardly
wished to keep mementos of an event
which most would wish to forget.
The picture shows an area of
Balaklava.
One has to bear in mind the
considerable difficulties experienced
at this time by photographers on
location. Like all photographers of the
time, he found it necessary to take
with him all the sensitising and
processing equipment. To do this,
Fenton took with him a converted
wine-wagon as a caravan, and this
occasionally became the target,
probably being mistaken for an
ammunitions vehicle. In a lecture to
the Photographic Society he gave an
account of the conditions:
"Though (the van) was painted a light
colour externally, it grew so hot
towards noon as to burn the hand
when touched. As soon as the door
was closed to commence the
preparation of a plate, perspiration
started from every pore; and the sense
of relief was great when it was
possible to open the door and breathe
even the hot air outside."
Fenton also had his own battles...
Another reason for the lack of sales
was that the prints, still on salted
paper, had a tendency to fade. Fenton
himself was sufficiently concerned
about the fading of pictures, for he
chaired a Photographic Society
"Fading Committee."
Fenton also produced a number of
Stereoscopes of architecture,
landscapes and still life subjects. He
then produced a series of
photographs of cathedrals. For
reasons that are not clear, he gave up
taking photographs in 1861 and
returned to the law; it has been
suggested that this was because of
his dislike for the increasing
commercialisation of photography
It was probably his bout of cholera
which led to his early death at the age
of forty-nine. It is worth noting that this
prolific output and contribution to
photography was confined to just
eleven years or so.
Over six hundred of Fenton's prints
are now preserved at the
Photographic Museum in Bradford the most comprehensive archive of his
work.
"It was at this time that the plague of
flies commenced. Before preparing a
plate the first thing to be done was to
battle with them for possession of the
place. The necessary buffeting with
handkerchiefs and towels having
taken place, and the intruders having
being expelled, the moment the last
one was out, the door has to be
rapidly closed for fear of a fresh
invasion, and then some time allowed
139
FIXING
Fixing is the process of removing from
photographic materials the unused
light-sensitive solutions, thus making
the image more permanent.
Had Thomas Wedgwood been able to
fix his pictures, the invention of
photography would have been
attributable to him. However, it was
not until after his death that Sir John
Herschel discovered what Wedgwood
had found so elusive. In a paper
printed in the Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal ( 8 January 1819) Herschel
wrote "Muriate of silver (now known as
silver chloride), newly precipitated,
dissolves in this salt
(hyposulphite)....almost as readily as
sugar in water."
Sodium thiosulphate (incorrectly
known as Hypo) is still, in fact, a fixing
agent used today.
Though fixing made prints more
stable, fading was at first a problem
that needed to be addressed. One of
the causes was inadequate washing of
prints after processing. It was this
instability that caused people to
investigate more lasting processes
such as the Carbon one.
The introduction of GELATIN
The development of the Collodion
process marked a watershed in the
development of photography.
However, this wet-plate process had
limitations, one being that it was
necessary to keep the collodion moist.
For a number of years several
attempts were made to discover ways
of keeping the collodion moist for long
periods. The materials tried included
unusual ones like licorice, beer and
raspberry syrup! Some success was
achieved by using a mixture of
bromide in collodion. The ideal binder
would be one which enabled the
plates to be used only when dry. It
was not until 1871 that the next
breakthrough was achieved by Dr
Richard Leach Maddox, when he
began using gelatin.
In fact, as far back as 1850 Robert
Bingham had suggested the use of
gelatin, but this idea had not been
taken up at the time, presumably
because of the announcement of the
collodion process the following year.
Gelatin is a protein obtained from
animals, which is transparent and
odourless, and used in a number of
food processes. The first account of
its use in photography is in the British
Journal of Photography for 8
September 1871, when Maddox
suggested that the sensitising
chemicals could be coated on to a
glass plate in a gelatin rather than a
collodion emulsion.
Maddox's process, though
revolutionary, was far slower than
collodion. Several manufacturers
experimented with it, the most
successful being Charles Bennett,
who in 1878 announced a new gelatin
dry plate process. This was a major
breakthrough, particularly since
Bennett's process also considerably
enhanced the sensitivity of the
emulsion, reducing the exposure time
to one tenth of that required for the
collodion one.
This dry process
relieved photographers of the need to
carry about their own darkroom and
chemicals;
exposure could now be made on
location, development being left until
much later;
it also let to a greater degree of
standardisation, and a more scientific
approach to photography;
the science of sensitometry was
introduced at around this period, and
exposure calculators now began to
appear.
By the end of that decade the dry
plate had superseded the Wet Plate
entirely, and within a further ten years
the emulsion could be coated on
celluloid roll film.
GUM BICHROMATE PROCESS
The gum process was introduced in
1894, and was one of several
introduced about this period, enabling
photographers to obliterate many of
the photographic qualities. A gum
bichromate practitioner could alter the
tones, get rid of details, and using a
brush, pencil or rubber, could change
an image so much that it looked more
like a painting than a photograph.
The paper would be coated with gum
arabic mixed with a sensitive
chemical, which would harden on
exposure to light. The exposed gum
layer containing a pigment was then
washed with water, leaving the
hardened parts behind. The print
could then be treated with brushes
and thus be modified considerably.
Gum bichromate prints have little
detail, but may sometimes appear
almost like charcoal drawings.
Stieglitz, writing about the process,
said that in it "the artist has a medium
that permits the production of any
effect desired. These effects are so
"unphotographic" in the popular sense
of that word as to be described as
illegitimate by those ignorant of the
method of producing them. In this
process the photographer prepares
his own paper, using any kind of
surface most suited to the result
wanted, from the even-surfaced plate
paper to rough drawing parchment; he
is also at liberty to select the color in
which he wishes to finish his picture,
and can produce at will in india-ink,
red-chalk or any other color desired.
140
The print having been made he
moistens it, and with a spray of water
or brush can thin-out, shade, or
remove any portion of its surface.
Besides this, by a system of recoating, printing-over, etc., he can
combine almost any tone coloreffect."
Light to the Purpose of Pictorial
Representation," presented to the
Royal Society on 14 March 1839. He
also coined the terms "negative" and
positive" in this context, and also the
"snap-shot".
One of the leading exponents of this
process was Robert Demachy. It was
eventually superseded by the bromoil
one.
HERSCHEL, Sir John Frederick
William
b. 7 March 1792; d. 11 May 1871
The only son of the distinguished
British astronomer William Herschel,
Sir John himself also became a wellknown astronomer, and published an
influential book on the subject.
He became interested in capturing
and retaining images, and in 1839 had
managed to fix pictures using
hyposulphite of soda. In fact it was he
who had discovered twenty years
previously that hypo could dissolve
silver salts.
Herschel, of course, had the fortune to
be around just at the time both
Daguerre and Fox Talbot were
announcing their discoveries. He was
evidently very smitten by the
Daguerreotype, and conveyed the
following news to Fox Talbot:
"It is hardly too much to call them
miraculous. Certainly they surpass
anything I could have conceived as
within the bounds of reasonable
expectation.... Every gradation of light
and shade is given with a softness and
fidelity which sets all painting at an
immeasurable distance.... If you have
a few days at your disposition....come
and see!"
Fox Talbot, for his part, would not
have been very happy about this
news, as he was already upset that
Daguerre had pipped him to the post
in announcing his discovery!
It is also to Herschel that we also owe
the word "photography", a term which
he used in a paper entitled "Note on
the art of Photography, or The
Application of the Chemical Rays of
The picture of Heschel, above, was
taken by J M Cameron.
HILL and ADAMSON
Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson
were partners in the earliest days of
photography, their earliest known
photograph being dated August 1843.
Photographers of the day were either
artistically inclined or had a strong
scientific background, and this
partnership was an ideal combination:
Adamson was mainly responsible for
the more mechanistic aspects of the
process (exposure, development and
printing), and Hill for the direction,
posing and lighting. That, at least, is
the way Hill saw it, though it is likely
that Adamson, too, had an artistic
bent.
Restrictions on the Calotype process
imposed by Fox Talbot had arrested
the development of photography in
England, but since the patent did not
apply to Scotland these two early
photographers were able, in a very
short partnership, to produce a
considerable number of pictures.
At this period, of course, sunlight was
necessary, so even the interior
photography will have been outside,
with suitable props. In order to prevent
movement on the part of the sitters all
sorts of strategies were needed to
keep them still. In "The Bird Cage" for
example, the girl in the foreground has
her hand firmly on the cage, the girl to
the right has her hand fixed on the
shoulder of her companion, and her
back is against the doorway. The little
tell-tale shadows suggests that the girl
at the back also had her head cradled
- such devices were not uncommon
then.
One problem that Hill and Adamson
failed to resolve was the control of the
eye. Because the exposures were so
long, it seems that Hill told the sitters
to close their eyes rather than blink.
So in several of their pictures eyes
appear closed.
Some of the Hill and Adamson
pictures were to be reproduced many
years later in Camera Work, a very
influential publication produced at the
turn of the century. However,
Adamson is not credited, and in a
lengthy essay on the work of Hill by J.
Craig Annan, he is only mentioned in
passing.
141
Their Calotypes are now greatly
treasured, and many of these are
stored in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
produced. The Hill and Adamson
photographs are much valued today,
whilst Hill's paintings are ignored and
forgotten
HILL, David Octavius
b. 1802; d. 17 May 1870
David Octavius Hill devoted most of
his life to improving the arts in
Scotland. He published the first
lithographic view of Scotland in
"Sketches of Scenery in
Perthshire" (1821), and also produced
lithographs for "The Works of Robert
Burns." He was a portrait painter, and
once Secretary of the Scottish
Academy of painting, an Academy
which he himself had established.
HINE, Lewis Wickes
b. 26 September 1874; d. 3 November
1940
Lewis Hine was an American
sociologist who took up photography
in 1905 and used it as a documentary
tool, to show the working class
conditions of the poor immigrants
from Europe. From 1911- 1916 he
toured the US as official photographer
for the National Labor Committee,
where he depicted in a sensitive and
heart-rending manner the plight of
children working in the mills. He often
hid his camera so that he could take
authentic photographs, and had first
to learn how to get a presentable
picture without using flash.
In 1843 a major upheaval in the
Church of Scotland took place,
resulting in the formation of the Free
Church of Scotland. Its first meeting
took place in May that year, and was
considered sufficiently momentous to
have the event commemorated in a
painting. The task was quite
formidable, as there were four
hundred and seventy people present,
and it was intended that each of these
people should be present in the
painting. Sketching each person
individually would have been a
colossal task. A much respected
scientist of the day, Sir David
Brewster, saw in the newly invented
calotype process the solution, and
suggested that Hill, who was secretary
of the Scottish Academy, go into
partnership with a chemist, Robert
Adamson.
To this end Hill and Adamson took
individual portraits of the clerics. The
painting, which took twenty-three
years to complete, is in the Hall of the
Presbytery, Edinburgh, but the
photograph is the more remembered.
Hill was paid £1500 for the task. The
painting is very large, measuring 12ft x
4ft 8ins.
Hill and Adamson's pictures are all
calotypes. One of them has, on the
reverse, "Sol fecit" (the sun made it.)
In 1847 Robert Adamson died, aged
only 27, and Hill gave up photography
and returned to painting. The short
partnership is all the more remarkable
for the large output; in the four years
more than 1500 calotypes had been
Hine met with considerable opposition
from the employers, who accused him
of muck-raking. Sometimes he was
banned from the premises, on other
occasions the children were hidden
from view when he arrived. On
occasions Hine even posed as a fire
inspector, Bible salesman or insurance
agent in order to gain access to the
premises! Where he was banned from
premises, he would photograph the
children arriving at or leaving the
factory. Being anxious to provide
evidence that could not be
discredited, he even measured the
children by the buttons on his jacket,
having measured their height. In
1916-1917 he travelled some fifty
thousand miles in his quest.
Hine discovered and exposed some
appalling conditions, such as children
aged six or seven having to work as
many as twelve hours a day. Some of
his prints have comments on the back,
recording the circumstances. One
reads "Sandie Fiefer, 10; South
Carolina", another "Mart Payne, picks
20 lbs. cotton a day."
"I wanted to show things that had to
be corrected", Hine declared. He
produced several thousands of
pictures. It was not until the 1930s
that his work bore fruit, and child
labour became controlled.
In 1910 he wrote saying: "I am sure I
am right in my choice of work. My
child labor photos have already set the
authorities to work to see if such
things can be possible, They try to get
around the issue by crying forgery, but
that is the value of the dates and the
witnesses."
Owen Lovejoy, General Secretary of
the NCLC and Hine's contracting
supervisor, wrote: "The work that you
did under my direction was more
responsible than any or all other
efforts to bring the facts or conditions
of child labor employment to public
attention."
IMPRESSIONISM
This movement developed from
naturalistic painting, particularly
landscape, a central feature of 19th
Century art. It carried the realist
landscape painting of Courbet and
others a stage further, the accent
being on colour and light in rapid
brush- strokes.
The term itself comes from a Monet
painting entitled "Impression:
Sunrise", painted in 1872, a picture of
Le Havre in the mist. A malicious critic,
Louis Leroy, dubbed his work
"impressionist", using the term in a
derogatory way, but others warmed to
Monet's style and happily adopted the
name; from then onwards
Impressionism was a term
representing an experience arising
from a fleeting impression, rather than
laborious detail. Their work is
characterised by a variety of brushstrokes, and by high-key colours.
Other impressionists in the art world
included Degas, Renoir and Pissarro.
Sir Ernst Gombrich, the art historian,
commenting upon the impressionists,
writes:
142
"They discovered that if we look at
nature in the open, we do not see
individual objects each with its own
colour but rather a bright medley of
cones which blend in our eye or really
in our mind."
What brought these artists together
was not their strategies or general
approach, for they were widely
different; what united them was an
intense dislike for the art
establishment of the time, and
repeated rejections by the Salon jury
in France.
They looked with a measure of
contempt at the current establishment;
it is said that Sir Joshua Reynolds was
nicknamed "Sir Sloshua" by them.
Photography also had its
impressionists. In May 1874 a group of
them in Paris began to exhibit
photographs at the studio belonging
to Nadar. The group continued in
being for the next twelve years, and
work was exhibited by, among others,
Cezanne and Gaugin. Another
photographer who was influenced by
the impressionists was George
Davidson, who contended that a sharp
photograph was not always to be
striven for. For one of his photographs,
"The Onion field" (1890) he used
rough-surfaced paper and a soft-focus
technique.
The KODAK Story
Or part of it, at any rate! Kodak's
name will be remembered, not
because of any major technical
development, but because it was the
first company to produce equipment
that could be used by anyone. Up till
this time would-be photographers
virtually had to be chemists as well as
artists; they were picture makers in a
very real sense! When Kodak cameras
appeared on the scene, picture taking
came to the fore, and this paved the
way for people to concentrate on the
image, and leave the preparation and
the development processes to others.
The genius behind the Kodak camera
- and its name - was George Eastman.
His first box camera (the Eastman
Cossitt) was produced in 1886, but it
was too costly. In July 1888 the Kodak
camera was exhibited for the first time
in Minneapolis, and became an instant
success.
belongings as the portmanteau" ( a
leather trunk for clothes etc., opening
into two equal parts).
Why the name Kodak? It was short,
and easy to pronounce. In the 1920s
Eastman wrote: The letter "K" had
been a favourite with me - it seems a
strong, incisive sort of letter. It became
a question of trying out a great
number of combinations of letters that
made words starting and ending with
"K".
Other versions soon followed, the No.
2 Kodak camera introducing
transparent celluloid film for the first
time.
The Kodak was relatively small
(approximately 6"x3"x3") and though it
weighed nearly three pounds, was still
much lighter than current cameras.
There was no film counter, and the
camera was sold with film for 100
exposures (paper-based, incidentally).
The lens was wide, with a sixty degree
angle of view, thus anything from four
feet onwards would be in sharp focus.
Because of the wide angle, it was not
considered necessary to have a
viewfinder. However, the wide angle
lens had very poor definition at the
edges, so a circular mask was placed
in front of the film at the focal plane which was not to everybody's liking.
As the advertisements claimed, there
were only three simple movements to
make: setting the shutter, pressing the
exposure button, and winding the film
on. And at the end of the film one
simply sent the entire camera for
processing, and it would be returned
with a new film installed. Hence the
famous advertising slogan You Press
the Button, We do the rest! The Kodak
reached Britain fowards the end of
1888, and was immediately
acclaimed. The Amateur Photographer
review stated:
We venture to say that it is, without
exception, the most beautiful
instrument that has ever been offered
for the public in connection with
photography.
It rapidly became the tourist's camera.
From the Photographic News
Almanac, 1891:
"In my varied wanderings I have met
the gentleman with the black leather
covered box everywhere.... where the
American tourists swarm, the Kodak
seems as necessary a part of their
The camera was remarkably easy to
use. One holiday akrer in 1889 wrote:
"We have brought a litle photography
machine called the Kodak. It takes a
hundred views. All you have to do it
just pull a string and press a spring
and the business is done."
Fool-proof? Well. almost! A
photographic dealer recalled how
back in 1884 he has sold his first
camera:
"We sold one for a customer who was
departing on a pleasure trip round the
world. We loaded it for him and he
went away. He returned in about five
months and brought in his film to be
developed. The result was about
twenty five feet of clear film with a
very dense, black spot at one end. Our
travelled customer had made a
hundred exposures without once
turning the film!"
LANDSCAPE photography
From the earliest days of photography,
landscape work was popular, even
though it often involved considerable
trial and inconvenience, particularly
when the collodion process was used.
An interesting catalogue of landscape
photography is to be found in a
somewhat poetically-delivered lecture
by James Mudd, to the Manchester
Photographic Society in 1858:
"Landscape photography! How
pleasantly the words fall upon the ear
of the enthusiastic photographer.
What agreeable association are
connected with our excursions into
the country. How often have we
wandered along the rough sea-shore
or climbed the breezy hill-side, or
descended the shady valley, or toiled
along the rock bed of some mountain
stream, forgetting, in the excitement of
our pursuit, the burdens we carried, or
the roughness of the path we trod.
What delightful hours we passed in
wandering through the quiet ruins of
some venerable abbey, impressing,
with wondrous truth, upon the delicate
tablets we carried, the marvellous
beauty of Gothic window, of broken
column, and ivy wreathed arch. How
pleasant our visits to moss-green old
churches and picturesque cottages
and stately castles and a thousand
pretty nooks, in the shady wood, by
the river side, or in the hedgerow,
where the wild convolvulus, the
bramble and luxuriant fern have
arrested us in our wanderings...."
Among the leading landscape
photographers of this period were
Roger Fenton, P.H. Delamotte, and
Francis Bedford.
visible image, if one were to treat
exposed plates with the fumes of
heated mercury, an image would start
to appear. This was a major
breakthrough, because it enabled
much shorter exposures to be made.
In his record dated 23 September
1840 Talbot wrote about his calotype:
"Some very remarkable results were
obtained. Half a minute suffices for the
Camera, the paper when removed is
often perfectly blank but when kept in
the dark the picture begins to appear
spontaneously, and keeps improving
for several minutes, after which it
should be washed and fixed with
(iodine of potassium)."
For latent, then, read "hidden."
LARTIGUE, Jacques-Henri
b. 13 June 1894; d. 12 September
1986
Lartigue was a French photographer,
largely unknown until he was in his
seventies, when he was immediately
dubbed the "discovery of the century."
He started taking pictures at the age
of six, and one of his most famous
pictures was taken at Grand Prix in
1912 when he was aged eighteen. In
this picture he panned the camera so
that the car is sharp. The elliptical
shape of the wheel and the angle at
which the spectators were standing
are due to the fact that Lartigue used
a focal-plane shutter. He had
obviously panned the camera to keep
the vehicle sharp; whether the effect
caused by the focal-plane shutter was
intended or whether it was the result
of a lucky accident we are not told!
LIGHTING
In the early days of photography the
only source of light was, of course, the
sun, so most photography depended
upon long days and good weather. It
is said that Rejlander used a cat as a
primitive exposure meter: placing the
cat where the sitter should be, he
judged by looking at its eyes whether
it was worth taking any photographs
or whether his sitter should go home
and wait for better times! The nearer
to the birth of photography, the greater
the amount of lighting needed, as the
first chemical emulsions were very
insensitive.
Lartigue's interest in photography
waned after the first World War, in
favour of painting.
The first artificial light photography
dates back as far as 1839, when L.
Ibbetson used oxy-hydrogen light
(also known as limelight) when
photographing microscopic objects;
he made a daguerreotype in five
minutes which, he claimed, would
have taken twenty-five minutes in
normal daylight.
LATENT IMAGE, The
The earliest exposures were very long
indeed, and photographers would
peer into the camera to inspect the
image as it appeared. At the time it
had been assumed that if the image
did not appear, no change had
occurred. Then Daguerre and Fox
Talbot both independently and, it
seems, accidentally, discovered that
whilst short exposures produced no
Other possibilities were explored.
Nadar, for example, photographed the
sewers in Paris, using batteryoperated lighting. Later arc-lamps
were introduced, but it was not until
1877 that the first studio lit by electric
light was opened by Van der Weyde,
who had a studio in Regent Street.
Powered by a gas-driven dynamo, the
light was sufficient to permit
exposures of some 2 to 3 seconds for
a carte-de-visite.
Soon a number of studios started
using arc lighting. One advert (by
Arthur Langton, working in Belgravia,
London), boldly proclaims:
"My electric light installation is
perhaps the more powerful in London.
Photographs superior to daylight,
Pictures can now be taken in any
weather and at any time."
More from Arthur Langton's
advertisement:
"CAUTION Many photographers
advertise 'portrits taken by electric
light' but 9 out of 10 do not possess an
electric light, owing to its costlinss
they use an inferior and nasty
substitute... a pyrotechnic powder
which gives off poisonos fumes."
(His spelling, by the way!)
In June 1850 an experiment
conducted by Fox Talbot, probably
using static electricity stored in
Leyden jars, was conducted at the
Royal Society: a page of The Times
was fastened on to a wheel, which
then revolved rapidly. Writing about
this the following year Fox Talbot
stated:
"From this experiment the
conclusion...is that it is within our
power to obtain pictures of all moving
objects....providing we have the
means of sufficiently illuminating them
with a sudden electric flash."
The object then had been to arrest
fast action. A few years later William
Crookes, editor of the Photographic
News (October 1859) was responding
to a query put to him on how to light
some caves:
"A...brilliant light...can be obtained by
burning....magnesium in oxygen. A
piece of magnesium wire held by one
end in the hand, may be lighted at the
other extremity by holding it to a
candle... It then burns away of its own
accord evolving a light insupportably
brilliant to the unprotected eye...."
That same year Professor Robert
Bunsen (of Bunsen burner fame) was
also advocating the use of
144
magnesium. The first portrait using
magnesium was taken by Alfred
Brothers of Manchester (22 February
1864); some of the results of his
experiments may be found in the
Manchester Museum of Science and
Technology. It was however very
expensive at that time and did not
come into general use until there was
a dramatic fall in the cost of
magnesium a decade later. This,
coupled with the introduction of dry
plates in the 80s soon led to the
introduction of magnesium flashlamps.
They all used the same principle: a
small amount of this powder would be
blown, using a small rubber pump,
through a spirit flame, producing a
bright flash lasting about 1/15s. It also
produced much smoke and ash!
Then in the late 1880s it was
discovered that magnesium powder, if
mixed with an oxidising agent such as
potassium chlorate, would ignite with
very little persuasion. This led to the
introduction of flash powder. It would
be spread on a metal dish the flash
powder would be set of by percussion
- sparks from a flint wheel, electrical
fuse or just by applying a taper.
However the explosive flashpowder
could be quite dangerous if misused.
This was not really superseded until
the invention of the flashbulb in the
late 1920s.
Early flash photography was not
synchronised. This meant that one
had to put a camera on a tripod, open
the shutter, trigger the flash, and close
the shutter again - a technique known
as open flash.
Certainly early flash photography
could be a hazardous business. It is
said, for example, that Riis, working
during this period, twice managed to
set the places he was photographing
on fire!
In fact, the "open flash" technique,
with flash powder, was still being used
by some photographers until the
1950s. This was particularly so when,
for example, a large building was
being photographed; with someone
operating the shutter for multiple
exposures, it was possible to use the
flash at different places, to provide
more even illumination.
By varying the amount of grammes of
flash-powder, the distance covered
could also be varied. To give some
idea, using a panchromatic film of
about 25ASA and open flash
technique, at f8, a measure of 0.1
grammes of flash would permit the
flash-subject idstance to be about 8
feet, whilst 2.0 grammes would permit
an exposure 30 feet away. The earliest
known flash bulb was described in
1883. It consisted of a two pint
stoppered bottle which had white
paper stuck on it to act as a reflector.
To set the flash off, a spiral of ten or so
inches of magnesium on a wire skewer
was pre-lighted and plunged into the
oxygen.
It was not to be until 1927 that the
simple flash-bulb was to appear, and
1931 when Harold Egerton produced
the first electronic flash tube.
THE LINKED RING
Many artists regard the hanging of
their work at the Royal Academy
almost as an accolade. So too with
photographers. In the 1880s, the
exhibitions mounted by the
Photographic Society were regarded
as the premier event. However, several
of its members were becoming
increasingly dissatisfied with the
Society's emphasis on scientific as
opposed to aesthetic matters.
As time went on differences between
the photographic scientists and
photographic artists became greater
and more acrimonious, and Henry
Peach Robinson was becoming
increasingly frustrated by the failure of
the Photographic Society to recognise
that there was an artistic dimension as
well as a scientific one to
photography. The Photographic News
for 19 August 1892 pinpointed the
problem:
"If photography is ever to take up its
proper position as an art it must
detach itself from science and live a
separate existence."
Commenting upon the proceedings of
the Photographic Society, Robinson
wrote
"For years art has scarcely been
mentioned... The feeling that art had
nothing to do with the Society became
so pronounced two or three years ago
that one of the officials expressed his
opinion that papers on art may be
tolerated if they could be got and
there was nothing better to be had...."
The circumstances which led to the
final breakup between Robinson and
the Photographic Society were
relatively trivial, but they were the last
straw, and led to the resignation of
Robinson and George Davidson from
the Society. At that time Robinson was
a much respected Vice-President of
the Society, and had been a member
for many years, and his resignation
was followed by that of several other
distinguished photographers of the
time.
In May 1892, a few months after the
disastrous Council meeting which had
culminated in these resignations,
Robinson founded the Linked Ring, a
brotherhood consisting of a group of
photographers based in London,
pledged to enhance photography as a
fine art. Famous members of this
brotherhood (which was by invitation
only - one could not apply for it)
included Frank Sutcliffe, Frederick
Evans, Paul Martin, and Alfred
Stieglitz.
Though the formation of this group
was, as their publicity indicated, "a
means of bringing together those who
are interested in the development of
the highest form of Art of which
Photography is capable", it is also
very likely that serious photographers
were now trying to distance
themselves from the growth of
photography for all, brought about by
the introduction of simple cameras.
The idea that anyone could press a
button and take a photograph caused
the more dedicated to look for new
techniques which the "snap
photographers" would never aspire to.
The brotherhood put on a number of
exhibitions and sought to encourage
the work of innovative photographers,
including work by non-members. Its
first major exhibition took place in
November 1893, and was known as
the Photographic Salon, a title chosen
deliberately, in order to associate itself
with painting exhibitions, where the
same term was used. The exhibition
145
was very well received, and for a
number of years - up to the group's
demise, it was an important annual
event for photographers both in
England and abroad. The Link's
annual, "Photograms of the year",
became world famous.
By 1901 some of its members were
boldly stating that the Linked Ring had
demonstrated that "pictorial
photography is able to stand alone
and that it has a future entirely apart
from that which is purely mechanical."
A few years after the formation of this
brotherhood, a similar reaction to the
photographic establishment was
emerging in America, where the
Photo-Secession was formed.
Many of the more influential members
of the Photo-Secession also became
members of the Linked Ring, and
discontent began to arise because of
their domination of the Ring. At the
1908 exhibition of the Salon,
photographers discovered that many
of the exhibits (over 60%) were by
Americans. It was not so much their
quantity as their style which angered
many British members of the Link.
F.J.Mortimer, at the time Editor of the
influential magazine "Amateur
Photographer", organised at its offices
a "Salon des Refusés" of pictures not
admitted to the Salon. Meanwhile the
British members of the Link, being in
the majority, changed the rules for the
following year's exhibition, this leading
to the resignation from the
Brotherhood of several influential
Americans including Stieglitz and
Clarence White. The success of
Mortimer's exhibition, together with
internal strife within the Brotherhood
after these Americans had resigned,
led to the Linked Ring being
dissolved. In its place came the
London Salon, their first exhibition
being held in 1910.
The Salon continues to this day, and
its original interest, with photography
as art, and to "encourage that class of
photographic work where there is
distinct evidence of artistic feeling and
execution" remains the same.
However, membership is by invitation
only, and this exclusivity has resulted
in many exceptional photographers
who would sympathise with the aim of
the organization ignoring it,
considering the movement to have
become somewhat pretentious.
MICRO-PHOTOGRAPHY
This is photography made on a vastly
reduced scale, to be observed using a
microscope or projected using a
"magic lantern." Though George
Shadbolt is credited with being the
inventor of micro-photography, the
first known example of microphotography was by John Benjamin
Dancer, in 1839, when he produced
photographs 15mm in diameter.
microphotographic form, and then
were attached to the tails of carrier
pigeons. (For further details of this
interesting story see HERE). The
messages were subsequently
enlarged by projection. It is also said
that during the Russo-Japanese War
of 1904, spies used to smuggle secret
reports in micro-photographic form.
The term should not be (but often is!)
confused with photo-micrography; the
micro-photographic process is taken
to mean a substantial reduction of the
"real thing" either for archival,
portability or, as shown above,
clandestine purposes.
Thomas Sutton , in his 1858 Dictionary
of Photography, had little time for this
kind of work, which he dismissed as
"of little or no practical utility" and
"somewhat childish and trivial."
However, Sir David Brewster, a
prominent physicist and Principal of
Edinburgh University, was most
enthusiastic about Dancer's work, and
predicted that micro-photographs
might one day be used to send secret
messages in the event of war. In the
1857 edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica he wrote:
"Microscopic copies of despatches
and valuable papers and plans might
be placed in spaces not larger than a
full stop of a small blot of ink."
Brewster also took some of Dancer's
work on a tour in Europe. It was
probably as a result of this tour that
several opticians in France began
producing micro-photographs. Among
these was Rene Dagron, who
produced curios, placing
microphotographs in penholders,
signet rings and other objects. At one
stage Dargon employed over a
hundred in this flourishing trade.
Only a few years later, in the Siege of
Paris in 1870, Brewster's prediction
came true. Many people were able to
escape from Paris by balloon, but
because of the prevailing wind a
journey to Paris was not possible. To
maintain communication with Paris,
Dargon and his assistant escaped
from the city by balloon, and when
they reached the unoccupied zone, he
set about preparing a pigeon post
service. Messages were printed in
146
MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard
b. 9 April 1830; d. 8 May 1904
Edward James Muggeridge was born
in Kingston on Thames, and it is said
that because this area is associated
with the coronation of Saxon kings, he
took on a name closely resembling (as
he saw it) the Anglo Saxon equivalent.
In his early twenties he went to live in
America, gaining a reputation for his
landscape photographs of the
American West. As he used the
collodion process, like other travel
photographers he would have needed
to take with him all the sensitising and
processing equipment, as all three
processes of sensitisation, exposure
and processing needed to be done
while the plate was still wet.
During the late sixties and early
seventies he made some two
thousand pictures, exposing negatives
size 20x24 inch. Though he is not
given due acclaim, many his
landscape studies rank with the best.
However, Muybridge's main claim to
fame (apart from being tried and
acquitted for the murder of his wife's
lover!) was his exhaustive study of
movement. Just about this same time
the French physiologist Etienne Marey
was studying animal movement, and
his studies began to suggest that a
horse's movements were very different
from what one had imagined. One of
the people who became aware of this
research was Leland Stanford, a
former governor of California, who
owned a number of race horses.
Stanford was determined to find the
truth about this. It is said that he bet a
friend that when a horse gallops, at a
particular point all four feet are off the
ground simultaneously. To prove his
case he hired Muybridge to investigate
whether the claim was true.
By the 1870s lengthy exposures had
been reduced to a minimum, and thus
it became possible for photography to
begin to extend one's vision of reality.
It took a little time, however, for
Muybridge to perfect a way of
photographing which would supply
the answer, for the Collodion process
was rather slow.
Whilst working on this project
Muybridge also undertook other
assignments, and it was on his return
from one of these, we are told, that he
became aware that his wife was
having an affair with another soldier. In
true Wild West style he shot the
soldier dead, and was duly imprisoned
for murder; however, presumably
partly because of his connections, he
was acquitted a little later, and was
asked to photograph the Panama
railroad, some distance away from the
scene of the crime.
detailed study in this area. It contains
more than twenty thousand images.
Returning to his movement
experiments, a few years later
Muybridge was able to photograph a
horse galloping, using twenty four
cameras, each triggered off by the
breaking of a trip-wire on the course.
He not only proved Leland right, but
also showed that, contrary to what
painters had depicted, a horse's feet
are not, as hitherto believed,
outstretched, as if like a rockinghorse, but bunched together under the
belly. This discovery caused
considerable controversy, but
eventually became more generally
accepted.
NATURALISTIC Photography
In 1889 P.H. Emerson produced a
book entitled "Naturalistic
Photography for Students of Art." This
was at the time pictorialism was in
vogue, and Emerson was making the
plea that contrived photography, with
such manipulation as combination
printing, should have no place in
photography.
Muybridge's studies are very
comprehensive, and include some
detailed studies of men and women
walking, running, jumping, and so on.
In 1878 an article in Scientific
American published some of
Muybridge's sequences, and
suggested that readers might like to
cut the pictures out and place them in
a "zoetrope" so that the illusion of
movement might be re-created.
Intrigued by this, Muybridge
experimented further, and in time
invented the zoopraxiscope, an
instrument which in turn paved the
way for cine photography. This
invention was greeted with enormous
enthusiasm both in America, whilst in
England a demonstration at the Royal
Institution in 1882 attracted such
people as the Prince of Wales, the
Prime Minister (Gladstone), Tennyson,
and others.
In 1884 the University of Pennsylvania
commissioned Muybridge to make a
further study of animal and human
locomotion. The report, "Animal
Locomotion" was published three
years later and still ranks as the most
In 1900 Muybridge returned to
Kingston, where he died a few years
later. His zoopraxiscope, together with
many of his plates, were bequeathed
to the Kingston-upon-Thames
Museum, where they are on display.
Other plates are in the Royal
Photographic Society's collection.
Emerson's main claim was that one
should treat photography as a
legitimate art in its own right, rather
than seek to imitate other art forms;
imitation was not needed - it could
confer its own legitimacy without it.
Emerson's feeling was that
pictorialism was becoming somewhat
bogged down due to sentimentalism
and artificiality. At the same time,
others were becoming dissatisfied
with the fact that the Photographic
Society had become too concerned
with scientific rather than with artistic
aspects of photography.
Emerson urged that photographic
students should look at nature rather
than paintings, that one should look at
the range-finder or focusing screen
and see what kind of pictures this
created. He felt every student should
"..try to produce one picture of his
own...which shall show the author has
something to say and knows how to
say it; that is something to have
accomplished..."
PHOTO-SECESSION movement
Towards the end of the century there
was a growing dissatisfaction with the
photographic establishment in
England and in America. In England
this led to a mass of resignations from
the Photographic Society, and the
147
formation of a group known as the
Linked Ring, whilst in America, in
1902, an avant-garde group of
photographers, led by Stieglitz, also
sought to break away from the
orthodox approach to photography,
and from what they considered was
the stale work of fellowphotographers.
The American group came to be
known as the Photo-Secession, the
name Secession coming from groups
of artists in Austria and Germany who
had broken away from the academic
establishment.
Their rejection of establishment
photography was aptly summarised in
"Photograms of the year" for 1900:
"That wealth of trivial detail which was
admired in photography's early days
and which is still loved by the great
general public.... has gone out of
fashion with advanced workers on
both sides of the Atlantic."
"Amateur Photographer", April 10,
1902, published an acount of this
movement as follows:
Amongst the more advanced pictorial
workers in America a definite
movement has now taken place;
comparable in some respects with the
Link Ring movement in this country of
ten years or more ago, and at the
invitation of the National Arts Club of
New York, an Exhibition of
Photography is being held by
contributors who now for the first time
come before the public as an
organised body; under the name of
the Photo-Secessionists, the main
idea of which is to bring together in
America sympathetic spirits, whether
active photographers or simply those
interested in the movement.
The Exhibition is in many respects
unique, consisting as it does of “
picked ” prints only, and representing
only the very best work ever done in
America.
This American movement is...an
attempt... to produce pictures by
means of photography. Pictures, that
is to say, which shall stand the test of
criticism; that one would apply to a
picture in any other medium; that shall
be satisfactory in composition, colour
quality, tone and lighting; that shall
have esthetic charm and shall involve
some expression of the personal
feeling of the photographer.
The photographers who profess these
high artistic aims and scrupulously live
up to their principles and have the
ability
to practise them, are necessarily few
in number, though steadily increasing;
nor are they engaged in scholastic
discussions as to whether
photography can be reckoned among
the fine arts, for they leave such
theorising to the choppers of
academic logic. It is not with
phraseology they are concerned, but
with facts.
‘ Here is a print,’ they say in effect; ‘
has it any of the qualities that you find
in a black and white; does it give you
anything of the pleasurable feeling that
you experience before a picture in
some other medium? If not, we try
again; but if, on the other hand, it
does, then at least to the extent in
which this print has affected you, pray
acknowledge that there may be
possibility of artistic expression in a
pictorial photograph. How far the
camera is responsible for the result or
how far our own modification of its
record, we venture to say is not the
question; the sole point, as between
you and ourselves, being whether our
prints have aesthetic qualities and will
stand the test of the kind of criticism
that you apply to other pictures."
Characteristic of the photography of
this new movement was the
employment of special printing
processes (for example gum
bichromate), and of artwork which
lessened the detail on the finished
print.
The movement was not without its
critics. Sadakihi Hartmann reacted
strongly to the idea of manipulating
photographs, and decried those who
strove hard to make their pictures
seem as if they were not photographs
at all. In American Amateur
Photographer (1904) he wrote: "We
expect an etching to look like an
etching, and a lithograph to look like a
lithograph, why should not then a
photographic print look like a
photographic print?"
It was not that he objected to
retouching or "dodging": "'And what
do I call straight photography,' (one
might) say, 'can you define it?' Well,
that's easy enough. Rely on your
camera, on your eye, on your good
taste and your knowledge of
composition, consider every
fluctuation of color, light and shade,
study lines and values and space
division, patiently wait until the scene
or object of your pictured vision
reveals itself in its supremest moment
of beauty, in short, compose the
picture which you intend to take so
well that the negative will be
absolutely perfect and in need of no...
manipulation."
From November 1905 the group laid
on exhibitions of work at "The Little
Galleries of the Photo-Secession" at
291 Fifth Avenue, New York, which
came to be known simply as "291."
The group lasted about ten years,
though their influential and luxuriously
printed journal called Camera Work
continued publication for some years
after. Notable members included
Edward Steichen, Clarence White,
Gertrude Kasebier, and Alvin Langdon
Coburn.
Photographic FILM
The first photographic film is credited
to John Corbutt †, an Englishman
working in Philadelphia, who in 1888
coated sheets of celluloid with
photographic emulsion. The following
year George Eastman produced roll
film, designed for a new camera called
the Kodak; after exposure the film
would be returned still in the camera
for processing.
Daylight loading film was produced by
Eastman Kodak in 1894.
The early films were highly
inflammable, and gradually became
replaced by non inflammable cellulose
acetate in the 1930s. Cine projection
seemed to be a pretty hazardous
business, if the advice to users printed
in New Photographer, 2 January 1926
is anything to go by:
"Choose a room with more than one
exit door if possible, and make sure
that the windows can be easily
148
opened in the event of the film
charring and beginning to emit smoke,
as this smoke is poisonous... Keep a
bucket of damp sand close by the
projector, and at the first sign of a
flare-up throw the machine on the
bare floor and tip the sand all over it. If
this is done smartly without fuss, and
if the people are at once got out of the
room and the windows opened, no
great harm will accrue beyond the
destruction of the film..."
† Well, it depends where you look!
One book states that the idea of a
paper roll film was first conceived by
Arthur James Melhuish in 1854. Even
more interesting is the story of Revd.
Hannibal Goodwin, which clearly
suggests that Eastman Kodak had
made a claim to inventing film that
was unjustified.
PICTORIALISM
The modern usage of this term may
give a misleading picture of the
movement as it arose in the second
half of the nineteenth century; in any
case, like the all-embracing word "art"
it is a most elusive, intangible, and
highly subjective term. In modern
parlance it is sometimes taken to
suggest conservatism, and the
unwillingness to explore new
approaches. In its original meaning
anything that put the finished picture
first and the subject second was
pictorialism. Given such a meaning,
pictorialism by no means excluded
more modern trends; any photograph
that stressed atmosphere or viewpoint
rather than the subject would come
under this category.
By the second half of the nineteenth
century the novelty of capturing
images was beginning to wear off, and
some people were now beginning to
question whether the camera, as it
was then being used, was in fact too
accurate and too detailed in what it
recorded. This, coupled with the fact
that painting enjoyed a much higher
status than this new mechanistic
process, caused some photographers
to adopt new techniques which, as
they saw it, made photography more
of an art form. These new techniques
came also to be known as High-Art
photography.
In effect, the term Pictorialism is used
to describe photographs in which the
actual scene depicted is of less
importance than the artistic quality of
the image. Pictorialists would be more
concerned with the aesthetics and,
sometimes, the emotional impact of
the image, rather than what actually
was in front of their camera.
Because pictorialism was seen as
artistic photography, one would not be
surprised that current styles of art
would be reflected in their work; as
impressionism was in vogue at the
time, many photographs have more
than a passing resemblance to
paintings in this style.
Examples of this approach include
combination printing, the use of focus,
the manipulation of the negative, and
the use of techniques such as gum
bichromate, which greatly lessened
the detail and produced a more artistic
image.
Among the major workers who are
associated with this approach to
photography were Oscar Rejlander,
Henry Peach Robinson (who wrote a
major book entitled "Pictorial Effect in
Photography"), Robert Demachy, and
George Davidson.
PLATINUM printing
This process dates from 1873, when it
was introduced by William Willis. Plain
paper with sensitive iron salts (no
silver) was exposed in contact with a
negative. The print would then be
developed in a potassium oxalate
solution.
The process produced an image with
beautifully rich black tones, and a
tremendous tonal range, that makes
platinum prints stand out. It was also,
unlike other processes, permanent.
Amongst those who used this medium
were Peter Henry Emerson, Clarence
White , Frederick Evans, and Gertrude
Kasebier.
One of the reasons why this and the
gum-bichromate process became
more popular amongst serious
photographers was that these were
ways of distancing themselves from
the snapshooters which began to
proliferate as a result of the
introduction of the first Kodak
cameras and film; both processes
required skills above the level of the
casual amateur photographer.
Its use declined after the first world
war because of the rising cost of
platinum, when palladium largely
replaced it.
PORTRAITURE
Throughout history people have
sought to produce images either of
themselves or of others. The problem
is that the skills required to make
portraits are in short supply, and
therefore expensive. Until the
eighteenth century, therefore, portraits
were generally regarded as the
privilege of the wealthy.
In any case, artists are able, through
this medium, not only to depict what
they see, but what they believe or
prefer to portray. There are several
instances in which a famous
personality has been painted on
numerous occasions, and have such
striking differences that it is difficult to
know what the sitter really looked like!
The eighteenth century saw a demand
for portraits which were less
expensive, and this resulted in two
developments. One was the use of
miniature portraits, which were
relatively much less expensive; the
other was the popularity of profile
pictures, usually traces from the
shadow cast by a lamp, sometimes
cut freehand from paper. This
technique was named after Etienne de
Silhouette (1709-1767), who made
profiles, and such silhouettes, often
embellished with gold, became very
popular.
The invention of photography marked
a watershed as far as portraiture was
concerned, and it is not difficult to
understand why photography, from
the earliest days, had such an instant
appeal both in America and in Europe,
particularly in this area. Portraiture,
once only for the well-to-do, was now
available to all, as a natural leveller.
There was a lot of money to be made
out of the practice. One of the earliest
photographers, Richard Beard, was
said to have earned forty thousand
149
pounds in one year (a large sum today
- a fortune then!)
head, he explains in a voice and with a
look suggestive of lead and
gunpowder: 'Dare to move a muscle
and I'll blow your brains out....'"
However, this profession could also be
precarious. Beard himself became
bankrupt in 1847, and Scott Archer,
who invented the Wet Collodion
process, died penniless. Sutcliffe, the
brilliant photographer of Whitby, failed
in Tunbridge Wells, and had to sell out
and return to Whitby. Consequently
some photographers diversified.
Thomson in addition to being a
photographer, was a tobacconist, and
like others, would offer a photograph
and a cigar for six pence (2.5p) Others
combined photography with more
traditional art.
The portrait, though much sought
after, was often an event which one
had good cause to remember:
As the process was only sensitive to
blue or white, one had to dress in
appropriate colours. Henry Peach
Robinson used to provide very
specific hints;
the portrait could only be taken if the
weather was suitable; clients would
often have to climb a number of stairs,
as most of the studios were located
on the top of a building;
there were various methods of
keeping a sitter still, a popular one
being a metal clamp (hidden from the
camera) behind the sitter's head. (This
was not new to photography, one
must add - it was quite commonly
used on conventional portraiture).
One sitter recalled the ordeal:
"(He sat) for eight minutes, with strong
sunlight shining on his face and tears
trickling down his cheeks while...the
operator promenaded the room with
watch in hand, calling out the time
every five seconds, until the fountains
of his eyes were dry."
Another, advertising photography
"without pain" proposed to use gas on
his sitters, and once they were out for
the count, he would take the picture.
Yet another suggested
"A good dose of laudanum (opium) will
effectively prevent the sitters from
being conscious of themselves, of the
camera, or anything else. They
become most delightfully tractable,
and you can do anything with them
under such circumstances....."
Full length portraits often reveal how
carefully one posed people in order to
keep them still and yet provide a
natural posture. An interesting
photograph is "The Bird Cage" by Hill
and Adamson (a section of which is
shown on the above); one should note
how carefully the hands are placed in
this picture, and note also the tell-tale
shadow behind the head of the lady
on the right, which suggests that there
was some device to keep her head
still during exposure.
One problem which Hill and Adamson
were not able to resolve was eye
control. Exposures were very long
indeed, and it is likely that Hill (the
artist of the two) advised sitters to
close their eyes unless they were very
good at keeping their eyes open
without blinking.
Here is one way to solve the problem!
One of Fox Talbot's pictures, of his
wife and daughters: they are facing
the other way, and we only see their
hats! (Picture dated 19th April 1842)
Trying to keep a sitter still for this long
process must sometimes have been
quite a feat. The most extreme form of
persuasion comes from an article in
the American Journal of Photography,
1861, where we read of one operator
who had tried all sorts of means of
persuasion,
"...when it occurred to him that the
strongest of all human motives is fear.
As soon as he had completed his
adjustments, he suddenly draws a
revolver, and levelling it at the sitter's
Though there are many examples of
work before the invention of Collodion,
it was the discovery of this process
which triggered off the enormous
boom in portraiture. In April 1857 Lady
Elizabeth Eastlake, whose husband
had been the first President of the
Photographic Society, wrote: "Who
can number the legion of petty
dabblers, who display their trays of
specimens along every great
thoroughfare in London, executing for
our lowest servants, for one shilling,
that which no money would have
commanded... twenty years ago? Not
that photographers flock especially to
the metropolis; they are wanted
everywhere and found everywhere.
The large provincial cities abound with
the sun's votaries, the smallest town is
not without them; and if there be a
village so poor and remote as not to
maintain a regular establishment, a
visit from a photographic travelling
man gives it the advantages which the
rest of the world are enjoying. Thus,
where not half a generation ago the
existence of such a vocation was not
dreamt of, tens of thousands.... are
now following a new business,
practising a new pleasure, speaking in
a new language, and bound together
by a new sympathy."
It has to be said that this was a period
in which portraiture was perhaps more
characterised for the quantity of
production, rather than by its quality.
To some extent the early
photographers may be exonerated,
because of the technical aspects
which so dominated the process.
Nevertheless, many of the Carte-de-
150
visite portraits were verging on the
banal, their authors being apparently
more concerned with making a quick
profit than to "portray" the sitter. The
lighting for many of these was
uninteresting, the setting often so
stereotyped that one can almost date
the photographs by the props! Bluntly,
many images show evidence of very
fast impersonal photography where
the practitioner was out to make a
quick kill and had little time or interest
for the sitter as a person.
The length of exposure, coupled with
a conveyor-belt mentality by some
photographers, is the main reason
why so many pictures, particularly
daguerreotypes, appear so
impersonal. Sitters would either stare
into the camera or would look into the
distance, as Lewis Carroll put it in
Hiawatha's photography:
"With a look of pensive meaning
As of ducks that die in tempests"
The "style" being used was not only
determined by financial considerations
but to some extent by the demands of
the sitter; it was fashionable to have
pictures which took people out of the
real, possibly harsh world and
presented them as more well-to-do
than in real life, hence the use of
standard props which provided such
an image. Not all photographers of the
period may have welcomed this, but
the customer has always to be right;
Robinson is said to have commented
upon the many people who buy
clothes specially for the occasion, and
to have said "How am I to get a
likeness of a person who does not
look like herself?"
Many of the images are full-length
photographs, which show more of the
props and mock glamour than the
faces being portrayed, and given the
fact that a straight photograph (unlike
a portrait) can be cruel, such an
arrangement may have satisfied the
needs of both photographer and sitter!
Nevertheless, there are some
remarkable exceptions to this rather
dismal trend, where there is evidence
that the photographer went to great
lengths to portray the sitter as would a
painter, by making them feel at ease,
by producing close-ups of the face
that revealed their personality, by
using more adventurous lighting, and
by discarding trite backgrounds. Some
interesting advice to patrons was
provided by Edward Wilson, especially
on what to wear.
For such photographers, the motive
was not profit but quality. Among such
workers are Hill and Adamson, Julia
Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll and,
sometime later, Alvin Langdon
Coburn. Another photographer who
used portraiture, but for medical
reasons, was Hugh Welch Diamond.
PRE-RAPHAELITES
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood was
founded in 1848, and consisted of a
group of mainly British artists, all in
their twenties, who rejected the
neoclassical style which at that time
was in vogue, wishing to return to
what they felt to be purer Early
Renaissance art. Their name comes
from the fact that they believed that
Raphael had introduced the art they
so disliked. Though the movement
lasted only ten years or so, the impact
they had upon art in Britain at the time
was considerable.
The movement had in the main three
phases:
realist - where the emphasis was upon
historical and religious paintings (eg
Rossetti, Hunt)
"truth to nature" - where the stress
was upon contemporary scenes,
almost of surreal detail;
a fascination for the Middle Ages,
leading to painting of Arturian legend,
and mediaeval themes and styles.
They tended to look to the past for
their inspiration, and thus their
pictures had religious, mythological or
historical bases, particularly mediaeval
themes. Their message appeared to
be that truth was ugly, that to beautify
it to make "high art" dress people up contrive the situations.
Initially they all exhibited pictures
anonymously, all using the same
initials PRB. When a few years later
the names of the painters became
known, they were quite harshly taken
to task by Charles Dickens,
Amongst their number are names such
as Holman Hunt - who painted "The
Light of the World" (1853), and Dante
Rossetti. John Ruskin actively
promoted this trend, and though the
group disbanded in 1855, its ideas
continued for quite some time.
Among those who one might suggest
were influenced by the Pre- Raphaelite
movement were Lewis Carroll, Julia
Margaret Cameron, Henry Peach
Robinson and Francis Bedford. It
would be wrong to imagine that a
school of Pre-Raphaelite photography
existed, but rather that a number of
photographers shared some of the
sentiments typical of those who were
in the Brotherhood.
TONING, Print
Toning was a chemical process which
changed the colour of a photograph. It
had a further benefit in that a toned
image would be far more permanent.
Gold toning came into use in the
1850s, using gold chloride.
The tone of the prints varied
considerably, as the toning depended
upon such factors as the density of
the negative, the light, and even the
way the paper had been sized. (For
example, one finds that prints made in
England seem warmer than those
made in France, which was due to the
fact that paper sizing in England was
with gelatin).
SALTED PAPER
Until 1850, the earliest prints were
salt-paper ones. They were made by
coating sheets of paper with salt
dissolved in water, and then
sensitising the paper.
Salted papers were not subjected to
development. They were printed out;
that is to say they were contact prints,
placed in a frame with the negative,
but left to print out in the sun, a
process that would take approximately
thirty minutes. It would then be fixed in
the normal way.
Because the paper had been
sensitised in this manner, the image
151
was in the paper, rather than on it. The
texture of the paper, then, also
appeared on the image, and this
caused a loss of definition. Some
actually preferred this, and were not
taken by the glossy appearance of the
albumen paper which began to
supersede it (see for example
Shadbolt), preferring the matte form of
salted-paper.
SEPARATION negatives
It was James Clerk Maxwell who first
showed that by taking three separate
pictures, each through a filter (red,
blue and green) and by superimposing
the lantern slides (again with the
appropriate filter in each projector),
colours could be re- created. The
three negatives produced in this way
are called colour separation negatives,
because the visible spectrum has
been separated into three parts.
Early attempts to reproduce colour
began at the turn of the century, but
were out of the reach of all but the
more dedicated and wealthy
photographer. Initially the subjects
were still-life ones (obviously the three
images had to be exactly the same),
though cameras were then produced
which exposed three pictures
simultaneously.
SOCIAL REFORM, Photography
Very early in the days of photography
this medium began to be used as a
means of promoting social reform.
Richard Beard photographed street
scenes to illustrate a major project on
the poor in London; unfortunately
these are no longer in existence. In a
similar vein John Thomson illustrated
"Street Life in London" (1877); other
pioneers were Thomas Annan, a Scot,
who portrayed the slums of Glasgow,
and Paul Martin.
Eduard Steichen (he later changed his
name to Edward) was born in
Luxembourg, and when he was still a
baby the family emigrated to America.
He studied painting in Paris, and had
soon gained a reputation for his work
in photography.
In 1900 Clarence White saw his
photographs and lent some
encouragement to him. White also
wrote to Stieglitz, who bought some of
Steichen's photographs. In 1901
Steichen was elected to the Linked
Ring, and the following year he
became a founder of the PhotoSecession, and designed the cover for
Camera Work.
Until the first world war Steichen's
work consisted largely of photographs
in a post-impressionist style. Later he
was to burn all his paintings and
concentrate totally on photography.
Initially his photographs show an
impressionist influence, with soft
focus. He later turned his style to
"straight" photography.
In a somewhat whimsical mood
Steichen once wrote: "Some day there
may be... machinery that needs but to
be wound up and sent roaming o'er
hill and dale, through fields and
meadows, by babbling brooks and
shady woods - in short, a machine
that will discriminately select its
subject and, by means of a skillful
arrangement of springs and screws,
compose its motif, expose the plate,
develop, print, and even mount and
frame the result of its excursion, so
that there will be nothing for us to do
but to send it to the Royal
Photographic Society's exhibition and
gratefully to receive the 'Royal
Medal'."
In 1613 the Jesuit Francois d'Aguillion
(1567-1617), in his treatise, coined the
word "stéréoscopique" The first practical steps to
demonstrate the theory by
constructing equipment for the
purpose did not take place until the
1800s. Though most associate
Brewster with the invention, it was Sir
Charles Wheatstone who, in June
1838, gave an address to the Royal
Scottish Society of Arts on the
phenomena of binocular vision. In
describing the equipment, he said:
"I...propose that it be called a
Stereoscope, to indicate its property of
representing solid figures."
Wheatstone's actual stereoscope is
preserved at the Science Museum in
London. Eleven years were to elapse
before Sir David Brewster described a
binocular camera, and the first
stereoscopic photographs began to
be produced.
Early workers in this field include
Fenton, who took photographs in
Russia, when he visited there in 1852,
and Jules Duboscq, who made
stereoscopes and stereoscopic
daguerreotypes. Duboscq in turn
caused Antoine Claudet to become
interested in stereoscopy; indeed, it
was Claudet who patented
stereoscopes in 1853.
Jacob Riis, a journalist, photographed
the awful conditions in the slums of
New York, whilst Lewis Hine, towards
the end of the century, was involved in
a campaign to change child-labour
laws in the USA.
STEICHEN, Eduard Jean
b. 27 March 1879; d. 25 March 1973
Stereoscopic, or 3D photography,
works because it is able to recreate
the illusion of depth. Human eyes are
set about two-and-a-half inches apart,
so each eye sees an image slightly
differently. If one takes two separate
photographs that same distance
apart, with a suitable viewer it is
possible to recreate that illusion of
depth.
It comes as a surprise to many to
learn that the idea of stereoscopy
actually preceded photography.
Binocular drawings were made by
Giovanni Battista della Porta
(1538-1615), whilst about the same
period Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli
(1554-1640) produced drawings side
by side which clearly indicated his
understanding of binocular vision. STEREOSCOPIC photography
The stereoscope took off in a big way
when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
152
observed one at the exhibition at the
Crystal Palace, and Brewster
presented her with a stereoscope
made by Duboscq. This signalled the
beginning of a huge trade in
stereoscopes and images; it is
estimated that by the mid eighteenfifties over a million homes owned
one. One of the most successful
salesmen of stereoscopic cards was
George Nottage, later Lord Mayor of
London, his catalogues listing over
one hundred thousand views.
The most common process for making
stereoscopic cards was the Albumen
one, daguerreotype images being very
rare.
A variety of viewers became available,
from the simple Holmes viewer, shown
here, to cabinet-type viewers which
could store fifty or so positives.
A different way to view images is the
anaglyph process, which was
developed by Ducos Du Hauron, and
was a method of printing two images
on to one sheet. The process is still
quite popular today.
The London Stereoscopic and
Photographic Company came into
being in 1850 and continued for some
seventy years. Their output was
collossal; they listed over a hundred
thousand stereo photographs in their
1858 catalogue. In general they
tended to be views, plus some
portraits of comic scenes.
The Stereoscopic Society was
founded in 1893, and is one of two
societies operating in Britain which
continue to promote this form of
photography. It is still in existence,
and details can be found here.
Though there exist (quite expensive)
stereo cameras in the second-hand
market, if one is photographing a still
object a single camera is all that is
needed. An article in Amateur
Photographer, dated November 27,
1902, had a lengthy article, together
with examples of the picture
produced. Those able to uncross their
eyes so that the two pictures fuse can
see the stereo effect.
STIEGLITZ, ALFRED
b. January 1, 1864; d. July 13, 1946
Stieglitz, an American photographer,
probably did more than any other
individual to promote photography as
an art at the same level as other arts,
and has been dubbed the "patron
saint of straight photography."
It is said that at the age of eleven he
had begun to take an interest in
photography, and learned by
observing a local portrait
photographer work in the darkroom.
His blunt nature often came over: on
one occasion he observed the
photographer re-touching a plate, and
on enquiry, was told that this made the
subject look more natural - to which
he replied "I wouldn't do that if I were
you."
He studied mechanical engineering
and photography at the Polytechnic of
Berlin. In 1883 Stieglitz saw a camera
in a shop window in Berlin, bought it,
and photography in earnest began.
Many years later he wrote "I bought it
and carried it to my room and began
to fool around with it. It fascinated me,
first as a passion, then as an
obsession." From 1892 he was
becoming famous for his photographs
of everyday life in New York and Paris.
There is a tremendous atmospheric
quality in many of his outdoor scenes.
your subject, regardless of figures,
and carefully study the lines and
lighting. After having determined upon
these watch the passing figures and
await the moment in which everything
is in balance; that is, satisfied your
eye. This often means hours of patient
waiting. My picture, "Fifth Avenue,
Winter" is the result of a three hours'
stand during a fierce snow-storm on
February 22nd 1893, awaiting the
proper moment. My patience was duly
rewarded. Of course, the result
contained an element of chance, as I
might have stood there for hours
without succeeding in getting the
desired pictures."
In 1902 he became one of the
founders of the Photo-Secession, a
group of talented avant-garde artists.
In 1905 he also founded and directed
the Photo-Secession Gallery in 291
Fifth Avenue, New York, a gallery
which came to be known as the "291",
and which exhibited not only the work
of contemporary photographers, but
also works of Picasso, Rodin, Matisse
and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Speaking in New York, in 1902,
Stieglitz said
"The result is the only fair basis for
judgment. It is justifiable to use any
means upon a negative or paper to
attain the desired end."
In the 1890s Stieglitz took a pioneer
step in moving towards a hand-held
camera. In "The Hand Camera - its
present importance" (1897) he wrote:
Stieglitz, committed to the idea of
photography as art, often found this
challenged.
"The writer does not approve of
complicated mechanisms, as they are
sure to get out of order at important
moments, thus causing considerable
unnecessary swearing, and often the
loss of a precious opportunity. My own
camera is of the simplest pattern and
has never left me in the lurch, although
it has had some very tough handling...
A shutter working at a speed of onefourth to one-twenty-fifth of a second
will answer all purposes. A little blur in
a moving subject will often aid to
giving the impression of action and
motion.
"Artists who saw my early
photographs began to tell me that they
envied me; that my photographs were
superior to their paintngs, but that
unfortunately photography was not
an art.... I could not understand why
the artists should envy me for my
work, yet, in the same breath, decry it
because it was machine-made their...'art' painting - because handmade, being considered necessarily
superior....There I started my fight...for
the recongition of photography as a
new medium of expressions, to be
respected in its own right, on the same
basis as any other art form."
In order to obtain pictures by means of
the hand camera it is well to choose
In 1903 Stieglitz launched, edited and
published Camera Work - a magazine
153
which became world famous and
continued publication for a number of
years. Amateur Photographer was
most enthusiastic, and on its first
edition of 1903 wrote:
"For Camera Work as a whole we have
no words of praise too high, it stands
alone; and of Mr. Alfred Stieglitz
American photographers may well be
proud. It is difficult to estimate how
much he has done for the good of
photography, working for years
against opposition and without
sympathy, and it is to his extraordinary
capacity for work, his masterful
independence which compels
conviction, and his self-sacrificing
devotion that we owe the beautiful
work before us."
In 1907, it was during a trip to Europe
that one of his most well-known
photographs was taken It is called
"The Steerage":
"There were men and women and
children on the lower deck of the
steerage.... I longed to escape from
my surroundings and join them.... A
round straw hat, the funnel leaning
left, the stairway leaning right.... round
shapes of iron machinery... I saw a
picture of shapes and underlying that,
the feeling I had about life..."
Stieglitz did much to promote
photography, and to get it talked
about. There were two stages in his
life: at first he produced somewhat
romanticised pictures of an
Impressionistic style, then later
moving over to realism of a high order.
He also had pronounced views about
the current controversy over amateur
photographers and the professional.
Not the easiest of people to get on
with, his leadership was little short of
dictatorial and he was an insufferable
egocentric windbag, but he made a
distinct and influential contribution to
the development of new styles of
photography. He was a visionary of
the highest order. His own
photography alone makes him stand
out as one of the greatest of
photographers; his influence over
photography has been enormous.
STRAND, Paul
b. 16 October 1890; d. 31 March 1976
Paul Strand was an American who
was taught photography by one of his
school teachers, Lewis Hine, and who
became a successful photographer.
He was greatly influenced by the
Photo-Secession group, and made
some superb abstract close-up
pictures.
Initially he did some experimental
work in the medium, but then moved
over to what we know as straight
photography - work which relied
totally upon subject, viewpoint and
choice of lighting, rather than upon
any manipulation at either the negative
or the printing stage.
Some of his work appeared in the last
two editions of Camera Work
(1916-17). In what turned out to be the
last edition, Alfred Stieglitz described
Strand's work:
Strand's images were contact prints,
many from 10" by 8" negatives.
The SUBTRACTIVE process
There are two ways of producing a
colour, the additive process and the
subtractive one. In the subtractive
process a colour is produced by
subtracting colours from white light.
So to produce yellow, for example,
blue is subtracted from white.
The three filters associated with this
process are
blue-green (called cyan) which is white
minus red,
magenta, which is white minus green,
and
yellow, which is white minus blue.
This forms the basis of the current
colour photographic systems.
"His work is rooted in the best
tradition of photography. His vision is
potential. His work is pure. It is direct.
It does not rely upon tricks of process.
In whatever he does there is applied
intelligence. In the history of
photography there are but few
photographers who, from the point of
view of expression, have really done
much work of any importance. And by
importance we mean work that has
some relatively lasting quality, that
element which gives all art its real
significance... The work is brutally
direct. Devoid of any flim-flams;
devoid of trickery and any 'ism',
devoid of any attempt to mystify an
ignorant public...."
In this edition are "Blind" and "The
Fence." Both are well- known, the
latter clearly ignoring the conventional
rules of perspective.
Strand himself wrote: "Objectivity is of
the very essence of photography, its
contribution and at the same time its
limitation..." "Honesty no less than
intensity of vision is the prerequisite of
a living expression. This means a real
respect for the thing in front of... the
photographer... this is accomplished
without tricks of process or
manipulation through the use of
straight photographic methods..."
154
TALBOT, William Henry Fox
b. 11 February 1800; d. 17 September
1877
His signature is Henry Talbot, and
though he is said to have disliked
being called Fox Talbot, that name has
stuck.
Though Fox Talbot was not the first to
produce photographs, he made a
major contribution to the photographic
process as we know it today.
Talbot studied the classics and
mathematics at Cambridge, was
elected a Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society in 1822, and a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1832.
He was also an MP, Biblical scholar, a
Botanist and Assyriologist, making a
contribution to the deciphering of
cuneiform inscriptions brought to
England from Nineveh.
Though some of his pictures show a
measure of artistic taste, it was his
inability to draw which caused him to
experiment with a mechanical method
of capturing and retaining an image.
Talbot attempted to draw with the aid
of both a camera obscura and a
camera lucida when producing his
sketches, one of which was Villa Melzi.
Later he wrote:
"(In) October, 1833, I was amusing
myself on the lovely shores of the
Lake of Como in Italy, taking sketches
with a Camera Lucida, or rather, I
should say, attempting to make them;
but with the smallest possible amount
of success...
After various fruitless attempts I laid
aside the instrument and came to the
conclusion that its use required a
previous knowledge of drawing which
unfortunately I did not possess.
I then thought of trying again a
method which I had tried many years
before. This method was to take a
Camera Obscura and to throw the
image of the objects on a piece of
paper in its focus - fairy pictures,
creations of a moment, and destined
as rapidly to fade away...
It was during these thoughts that the
idea occurred to me... how charming it
would be if it were possible to cause
these natural images to imprint
themselves durably and remain fixed
on the paper!"
The earliest surviving paper negative is
of the now famous Oriel window in the
South Gallery at Lacock Abbey,
Wiltshire, where he lived. It is dated
August 1835. Talbot's comments read
"When first made, the squares of glass
about 200 in number could be
counted, with help of a lens."
Talbot described how he took his
pictures:
"Not having with me... a camera
obscura of any considerable size, I
constructed one out of a large box,
the image being thrown upon one end
of it by a good object-glass fixed at
the opposite end. The apparatus being
armed with a sensitive paper, was
taken out in a summar afternoon, and
placed about one hundred yards from
a building favourably illuminated by
the sun. An or so afterwards I opened
the box and I found depicted upon the
paper a very distinct representation of
the building, with the exception of
those parts of it which lay in the
shade. A little experience in this
branch of the art showed me that with
a smaller camera obscura the effect
would be produced in a smaller time.
Accordingly I had several small boxes
made, in which I fixed lenses of
shorter focus, and with these I
obtained very perfect, but extremely
small pictures..."
These "little boxes", measuring two or
three inches, were named
"mousetraps" by the family at Lacock,
because of the various places they
were to be found.
January 1839 was a busy month as far
as announcements of discoveries
were concerned. On 7 January
Daguerre announced the development
of his process. A few days later Talbot
wrote to Arago, who had promoted
Daguerre's invention, suggesting that
it was he, not Daguerre, who had
invented the photographic process.
(At that time he was unaware that the
process was entirely different). One of
Arago's fellow-scientists replied that
Daguerre had, in fact, devised a
number of processes over fourteen
years.
Doubtless annoyed that Daguerre had
been put in the lime-light he felt he
himself deserved, Talbot began to
publicise his own process. On 25
January 1839 he announced the
discovery at the Royal Institution of a
method of "photogenic drawing."
At the time the sensitivity of the
process was extremely poor. Then, in
September 1840 Fox Talbot
discovered the phenomenon of the
latent image. It is said that this was a
chance discovery, when he attempted
to re-sensitise some paper which had
failed to work in previous experiments;
as the chemical was applied, an
image, previously invisible, began to
appear. This was a major
breakthrough which led to drastically
lowered exposure times - from one
hour or so to 1-3 minutes. Talbot he
called the improved version the
calotype (from the Greek "Kalos",
meaning beautiful) and on 31 January
he gave a paper to the Royal Society
of London. The paper was entitled
"Some account of the Art of
Photogenic drawing, or the process by
which natural objects may be made to
delineate themselves without the aid
of the artist's pencil."
Talbot patented his invention on 8
February 1841, an act which
considerably arrested the
development of photography at the
time. The patent (a separate one being
taken out for France) applied to
England and Wales. Talbot chose not
to extend his patent to Scotland, and
this paved the way for some
outstanding photographs to be
produced in Edinburgh by Hill and
Adamson.
In 1844 Talbot began issuing a book
entitled "The Pencil of Nature", the
first commercial book to be illustrated
with actual photographs.* In order to
produce these prints, he helped his
former valet, Nicolaas Henneman to
set up the Reading Establishment, a
photographic processing studio within
relatively easy reach of both London
and Lacock. This however lasted only
four years, as it was not a financial
success.
Talbot's process in general never
reached the popularity of the
daguerreotype process, partly
155
because the latter produced such
amazing detail, but partly because
Talbot asked so much for the rights to
use his process. A writer of the time,
Henry Snelling, commented:
than is commonly supposed. (See
Talbot and patents.)
"He is a man of some wealth, I
believe, but he demands so high a
price for a single right.... that none can
be found who have the temerity to
purchase."
"I do not profess to have perfected an
art but to have commenced one, the
limits of which it is not possible at
present exactly to ascertain. I only
claim to have based this art on a
secure foundation."
Consequently calotypes never
flourished as they might have, and the
fault must lie largely with him.
The newly formed Calotype club
sought unsuccessfully to persuade
Talbot to relax his restrictions in order
to encourage the growth of
photography. It is claimed that Talbot,
somewhat put out by the fact that
Daguerre had received many honours
whilst he had been given none, was
reacting accordingly.
Sadly Talbot's name was somewhat
tarnished by his series of attempts to
enforce his patent. A claim in 1854
that the Collodion process was also
covered by his calotype patent. was
lost in court, and from then onwards,
knowing that the faster and better
collodion process was free for all to
use, there were no further restrictions
and photography began to take off in
a big way.
Having said this, there exists some
evidence that there had been a
concerted attempt to discredit Talbot
in order to overturn the patent. Talbot
increasingly viewed the defence of his
calotype patent as a defence of
Henneman, who had invested heavily
in setting up the Reading
Establishment . Talbot was
enormously loyal to Henneman, and
concerned about profit being made at
his expense It is possible, therefore,
that history has been a little too harsh
on Fox Talbot. He too had spent a
considerable amount of money
developing his invention, and it has
been suggested that his enforcement
of patents was more due to his careful
upbringing as far as finances were
concerned than his desire to make a
fortune. Other documents, particularly
relating to the early days of the
Photographic Society, reveal him to be
far more magnanimous and generous
Talbot summarised his achievement
thus:
The Royal Photographic Society has
two complete sets of the limited
edition of "Pencil of Nature", together
with many of Fox Talbot's letters,
books and documents.
The TINTYPE process
First, see Ambrotype. The tintype, also
known as a ferrotype, is a variation on
this, but produced on metallic sheet
(not, actually, tin) instead of glass. The
plate was coated with collodion and
sensitized just before use, as in the
wet plate process. It was introduced
by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in
1853**, and became instantly popular,
particularly in the United States,
though it was also widely used by
street photographers in Great Britain.
That this process appealed to street
photographers was not surprising:
the process was simple enough to
enable one to set up business without
much capital.
It was much faster than other
processes of the time: first, the base
did not need drying, and secondly, no
negative was needed, so it was a onestage process.
The material could easily be cut up
and therefore fitted into lockets,
brooches, etc.
The most common size was about the
same as the carte-de-visite, 2 1/4'' x 3
1/2'', but both larger and smaller
ferrotypes were made. The smallest
were "Little Gem" tintypes, about the
size of a postage-stamp, made
simultaneously on a single plate in a
camera with 12 or 16 lenses.
Compared with other processes the
tintype tones seem uninteresting. They
were often made by unskilled
photographers, and their quality was
very variable. They do have some
significance, however, in that they
made photography available to
working classes, not just to the more
well-to-do. Whereas up till then the
taking of a portrait had been more of a
special "event" from the introduction
of tintypes, we see more relaxed,
spontaneous poses.
Cheap to produce, a typical price for a
tintype was 6d (2 1/2p) and 1 shilling
(5p).
being more robust than ambrotypes it
could be carried about, sent in the
post, or mounted in an album.
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Some
tintypes that
remain are
somewhat
poignant.
The one
shown here
is of a child
who has
died. If this
seems
bizarre, it
would seem
to have been
quite a
practice in
the last
century.
In fact, the
original
name for
Tintype was "Melainotype." It is
perhaps worth adding that there was
no tin in them. Some have suggested
that the name after the tin shears used
to separate the images from the whole
plate, others that it was just a way of
saying "cheap metal" (ie non-silver).
The print would come out laterally
reversed (as one sees oneself in a
mirror); either people did not worry
about this, or just possibly they did
not discover it until after the
photographer had disappeared!***
Being quite rugged, tintypes could be
sent by post, and many astute
tintypists did quite a trade in America
during the Civil War, visiting the
encampments. Later, some even had
their shop on river-boats.
Tintypes were eventually superseded
by gelatin emulsion dry plates in the
1880s, though street photographers in
various parts of the world continued
with this process until the 1950s; the
writer well remembers being
photographed by one of these street
photographers in Argentina, when he
was a boy. Eventually, of course,
35mm and Polaroid photography were
to replace these entirely.
** Professor Hamilton L. Smith was the
first to make ferrotypes in the Unites
States, and he and Victor Moreau
Griswold introduced the process to
the photographic industry.
TRAVEL photography
To appreciate the impact that
photography made upon Victorian life
one needs to remind oneself what little
opportunity there was for any but the
rich to visit other lands. Consequently,
until photography was used, the
majority of people would have needed
to rely on the accuracy and integrity of
explorers. Photography at last made it
possible for a much larger proportion
of people to see for themselves
pictures of exotic lands afar and thus
at least enjoy a vicarious experience; it
also gave them an opportunity to
realise how incorrect some reports
had been.
The invention of photography also
coincided with the development of
steam boats and the railways.
Claudet waxed lyrical on the new
horizons opened up as a result of the
work of travel photographers:
"By our fireside we have the
advantage of examining (the pictures)
without being exposed to the
fatigue...and risks of the daring and
enterprising artists who, for our
gratification and instruction, have
traversed lands and seas, crossed
rivers and valleys, ascended rocks and
mountains with their heavy
photographic baggage..."
One needs perhaps to appreciate how
hard life as a travel photographer
could be. Because the processing had
to be done quickly after exposure,
photographers on location needed to
take away with them an enormous
amount of equipment - boxes of
plates, bottles galore, and of course
the camera. These were the days
before enlargers had been introduced,
so large cameras, some producing
plates size 12" by 16" (30cm by 40cm)
had to be transported - and they were
pretty heavy.
The following, a report on the
exploration of the Grand Canyon in
1871, gives us a flavour:
"The camera in its strong box was a
heavy load to carry up the rocks, but it
was nothing to the chemical and
plate- holder box, which in turn was a
featherweight compared with the
imitation hand organ which served for
a darkroom...."
Some did the journey, returning
without any pictures at all...
"The silver bath had got out of order,
and the horse bearing the camera fell
off a cliff and landed on top of the
camera..."
In this connection, though he was a
war photographer rather than a travel
one, it is worth seeing what Roger
Fenton had to cope with when he
worked at his photographs on
location.
One of the very earliest pioneers was
the Rev. George Bridges, who had
been taught photography by one of
Fox Talbot's assistants, and by 1852
he had produced some 1,500 paper
negatives of scenes in the
Mediterranean and Egypt.
The major pioneers in travel
photography include Maxime Du
Camp, Francis Frith, and Francis
Bedford, all of whom took
photographs in the Middle East. In
America John C. Fremont was the first
explorer to attempt to make a
photographic document of his travels,
but on his first attempt in 1842 he
failed to get any photographic results.
A Baltimore daguerreotypist, Solomon
Nunes Carvalho, was also a pioneer.
Interestingly, calotypes continued to
be used by some travel
photographers, because they were
less of an ordeal than collodion. After
all, calotypes, for all their
imperfections, permitted the
photographer to prepare paper
negatives at home, expose on
location, and then develop upon
returning home. Diamond, for
example, used the calotype process
for some of his travel photographs,
though once at home he reverted to
collodion for portraiture and for his
medical photography.
Other travel photographers include
Samuel Bourne, who took particularly
striking pictures of Indian architecture,
often under very trying conditions,
whilst Charles Clifford took some
excellent pictures of Spanish
architecture. Another photographer
who, though sporting an unforgettable
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name, is almost unknown, is Linnaeus
Tripe, who made many interesting
photographs of Burma. Also worthy of
mention are William Young who
photographed in East Africa, Herbert
Ponting who covered Captain Scott's
expedition, and Lord Carnarvon, who
photographed the tomb of
Tutankhamen.
VORTOGRAPHS and VORTICISM
With its roots in Futurism and Cubism,
Vorticism was a movement introduced
by the painter and writer Wynham
Lewis when he published "Blast:
Review of the Great English Vortex." In
this the traditional values were
ridiculed, and modern technology
exalted. This movement was
championed by the poet Ezra Pound,
and made popular by Alvin Langdon
Coburn, who was one of its leading
exponents.
Like all movements, a concise
definition can be misleading, but one
of the aims of the Vorticist
photographer was to mirror the
complexity of industrialised
civilisation. The roots of this were in
Cubism.
Another exponent of this relatively
short-lived movement (three years or
so) was Malcolm Arbuthnot, a regular
contributor to the Amateur
Photographer in the early part of the
20th century.
WAR, Photography
An early example of documentary
photography is the record of war,
which brought home to people some
grim realities which shattered their
fantasies. Photographers of note
include James Robertson, who
covered the siege of Sebastopol, and
Roger Fenton, who covered the
Crimean war, though the latter is more
adequately described as a public
relations exercise for the government
of the day.
Even as far back as 1839 the use of
photography in this area was being
talked about. Amongst the many uses
of the Daguerreotype, Joseph Louis
Gay-Lussac argued, was its capacity
to render a landscape precisely. He
cited one particular kind of landscape
to make his point:
... as three or four minutes are
sufficient for execution, a field of
battle, with its successive phases, can
be drawn with a degree of perfection
that could be obtained by no other
means.
So from the beginning of photography,
it was being seen as a means of
depicting war scenes. The American
poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing in
1863 stated:
`It is well enough for some Baron Gros
or Horace Vernet to please an imperial
master with fanciful portraits.... (but)
war and battles should have truth for
their delineator', and photography
would be more suitable for this.
One of the great names is that of
Mathew Brady who, with a large team
of photographers, covered the
American Civil War. One member of
his team was Timothy
O'Sullivan,whose picture "Harvest of
Death", taken at Gettysburg on 4th
July 1863 ranks amongst the most
famous of early historical
photographs.
To some extent it is difficult to avoid
seeing pictures showing the ravages
of war; indeed to some extent we have
become almost immune to it. To many
people of the time, however, war
would be something that was
conducted in far-off lands, and
therefore would conjure up pictures of
heroism and romanticism. Writing in
the Atlanta Monthly magazine, Oliver
Wendell Holmes showed how
photography injected a feeling of grim
reality into the situation, as he
surveyed pictures taken by Brady's
team:
"Let him who wishes to know what
war is look at this series of
illustrations. These wrecks of
manhood thrown together in careless
heaps or ranged in ghastly rows for
burial were alive but yesterday...
Many people would not look through
this series. Many, having seen it and
dreamed of its horrors, would lock it
up..that it might not thrill or revolt
those whose souls sickens at such
sights. It was so nearly like visiting the
battlefield...that all the emotions
excited by the actual sight..came back
to us. (It) gives us....some conception
of what a repulsive, brutal, sickening,
hideous thing it is, this dashing
together of two frantic mobs to which
we give the name of armies..."
What effect might this have upon
those who saw the photographs?
Artists could romanticise the event;
photographs told the truth (Well, did
they?! Not necessarily!) One beneficial
effect might have been to become
more aware of the ordinary soldier,
and his plight. In 1855 a telling cartoon
in Punch, a British journal, depicted
two soldiers in rags. The caption
underneath the cartoon reads:
"Well Jack! Here's good news from
Home. We're to have a Medal."
That's very kind. Maybe one of these
days we'll have a coat to stick it on?"
Whilst touching upon "true"
photographs, there were many "war"
photographs whose takers never went
near any scene of conflict. These
include Nadar in France, Cundall and
Howlett, whose "Crimean Braves"
photographs were finished before the
troops set sail!
There was also a certain amount of
embellishment that seems to have
been readily accepted in those days.
See Gardner
Relatively unknown is John Maccosh,
an army surgeon who may have the
distinction of being Britain's first war
photographer. He began to take
photographs in 1844, whilst stationed
in the Himalayas, and took
photographs during a Sikh War (1848)
and the second Burma war (1852)
In the American Civil War a balloon
was used to find the enemy's
positions, notably for reconnaissance
during the siege of Richmond, Virginia:
on 1st June 1862 the balloonists
climbed to 1,300 feet, and with the aid
of telegraphy were able to report the
exact position and movement of the
enemy.
An unusual application of photography
in war was the use of carrier pigeons
during the siege of Paris, when minute
photographed messages were
158
attached to their tails. (See Micro
photography.)
Even at the turn of the century the
forces were ambivalent about war
photography. IN an article in Amateur
Photographer (Jan 4 1901) H. C.
Shelley suggests "You have to find out
your general before beginning
operations." And referring to his
attempts to photograph Sir Redvers
Buller:
"...the general went up to the captain's
bridge to watch the oncoming boat. I
crept after him, camera in hand, and in
a flash the exposure was made. But
he heard the click of the shutter and,
turning round, and grasping the
situation at a glance, he grimly
threatened to have me placed in irons
if I repeated the operation."
WATKINS, Carleton E
b 1829; d. 1916
A prolific and outstanding American
photographer, Watkins was famous for
his panoramic views. In the early
1860s he explored the Yosemite Valley
to take photographs. At that time, of
course, sensitising, exposing and
processing had to be done on the
spot, so he had taken with him twelve
mules for his equipment, together with
a converted wagon, which became his
dark room. He used huge glass plates
measuring 40 by 50 centimetres.
WAXED PAPER Process
One of the problems of the calotype
process was that as one had to print
through the paper negative, the
imperfections of the paper would also
show. Care was taken to ensure that
the right kind of paper was used.
However, the more transparent the
paper, the greater the definition.
It was quite a common practice to
wax the calotype negative after it had
been developed and fixed. However,
Gustave Le Gray introduced, in 1851,
a process whereby waxing was part of
the process prior to exposure and
development.
Le Gray's process also enabled the
paper to be kept a week or so before
use. However, though it showed a
definite improvement in definition, it
was also slower than the calotype
process; sometimes exposures of up
to fifteen minutes in sunshine were
sometimes required. It was for this
reason that most of the subjects using
this process were inanimate.
WEDGWOOD, Thomas
b. 14 May 1771; d. 11 July 1805
In 1802 Thomas Wedgwood (son of
the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood)
together with Sir Humphrey Davy
presented a paper entitled "An
account of a method of copying
paintings upon glass and of making
profiles by the agency of light upon
nitrate of silver." He had worked
closely with Davey, and their work was
very nearly a breakthrough, for they
had made what one can best describe
as photograms. However, they were
unable to fix the images, and the story
is told that Wedgwood was reduced to
examining his pictures furtively by the
light of a candle. They also tried using
a camera obscura, but the chemicals
being used at the time were not
sufficiently sensitive.
In the report to the Royal Society,
June 1802, Davy wrote:
"The copy of a painting, or the profile,
immediately after being taken, must
be kept in an obscure place. It way
indeed be examined in the shade, but,
in this case, the exposure should be
only for a few minutes; by the light of
candles or lamps, as commonly
employed, it is not sensibly affected."
Wedgwood died three years later,
aged 34. What neither he nor Davey
could find was discovered in 1819 by
Sir John Herschel.
WET PLATE PROCESS
The more popular name for the wet
plate process is Collodion, invented by
Scott Archer. It is called such because
the entire process of coating the plate,
exposing it, and processing had to be
completed before the collodion dried.
Women Pioneers of Photography
Few women photographers are cited
in the most popular books on the
history of photography, for which there
could be several reasons. One is that
history has a habit of becoming
repeated and in turn quoted, with the
result that it becomes the established
lore even when the story may have
been incorrect. In fact, women were
very active in this field and deserve far
greater prominence than has been
accorded to them. This brief article
can only scratch at the surface; those
wishing to pursue this further are well
advised to read "A History of Women
Photographers" by Naomi Rosenblum,
published by the Abbeville Press
(ISBN 1-55859-761-1). This book
makes illuminating and compelling
reading, and the author of this article
has drawn heavily upon it.
Those familiar with the ordeal of taking
photographs in the earliest days would
sympathise if women were to regard
this new activity as not being their cup
of tea. In the earliest days,
development would be needed
immediately after exposure;
consequently the equipment needed
for photographs outside a studio
would be cumbersome. In addition,
the chemicals could be smelly, and the
whole process initially was a bit of a
hit-and-miss affair. However, this
clearly did not deter women from
being actively involved in picturemaking.
There is also evidence that women did
not receive the acknowledgement due
to them inasmuch as many accepted
a more supportive role for their
husbands. Of those who participated,
a number would be relatives of a male
photographer. Fox Talbot had a
number of female relatives who were
active in this field, and indeed his own
wife, Constance, both took pictures
and developed and printed them.
Emma Llwelyn printed for her
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husband, John Llwelyn. Robert Tytler
photographed the ruins following the
Indian Mutiny of 1858; his wife Harriet
accompanied him, and though the
work received much acclaim, the
records only mention the husband's
name. Elizabeth, wife of Disderi,
famous for his carte-de-visites, was in
partnership with her husband, and
continued to operate in Paris after his
death, until her own death in 1878. It
says much of the times that her death
certificate cites "without profession,
61 years old."
There follows the names of a few
women who practised photography in
the earliest years:
Laure Albin-Guillot (b. 1880; d. 1962)
together with her husband, spent
many years photographing
specimens, plant cells and animal
organisms. She also produced nudes
and soft-focus portraits, and wrote
articles on photomicrography.
Berenice Abbott studied with Man Ray
in the early 1920s, and was almost
solely responsible for preserving the
work by Eugene Atget.
Anna Atkins(b.1799; d. 1871) became
the first person to print and publish a
book, photographically illustrated. On
her tombtone in Halstead, Essex, her
husband is referred to as a JP, but she
is simply referred to as "Daughter
of..." - again a sign of those times.
Alice Austen (b. 1866; d.1952) was an
American photographer. She received
a camera at the age of ten, and never
looked back! In addition to many
family and local interest photography,
she became involved in documentary
work. Having lost her money and
home in the 1920s stock crash, she
was for a while in the equivalent of a
poor house, though her work
ultimately became recognised and she
was able to live comfortably for the
last years of her life.
Emma Barton (b. 1872; d. 1938) lived
and worked in Birmingham and in the
Isle of Wight. One of her pictures, "The
awakening", gained her a medal from
the Royal Photographic Society in
1903.
Alice Boughton (b. 1866; d. 1943) was
an American photographer whose
work included pictures of children,
portraits and theatre. For a while she
worked in the studio of Gertrude
Kasebier. She became a member of
the Photo Secessionist movement.
Some of her pictures are in Camera
Work.
Anne W. Brigman (b. 1869, d. 1950)
was an American who produced a
number of nude and draped figures in
landscape. She was a close friend of
Edward Steichen, and exhibited in the
Photo-Secession exhibitions. She too
had some pictures published in
Camera Work.
Christina Broom (b. 1863, d. 1939) has
sometimes been referred to as the first
British woman press photographer.
The number of events she covered
included Derby Day, at Epsom, Surrey,
investitures of monarchs, women
suffrage demonstrations, the Oxford
and Cambridge Boat race, and the
Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.
Bessie Buehrmann was an associate
of the Photo-Secession group. Her
consisted mainly of portraiture.
Julia Margaret Cameron b.1815; d.
1879, is without question the most
well-known woman pioneer in
photography.
Mary Cassatt (b.1844, d. 1926) was an
American-born impressionist, famous
for her paintings of mothers and
children. One of her pictures was
published in Camera Work.
Nancy Ford Cones (b. 1869, d. 1962)
worked in photography in the latter
stages of the period covered by this
work. She operated in Ohio. Kodak
used some of her work for publicity
purposes. In a Kodak competition of
1905, she received second prize for a
photograph entitled "Threading the
needle", Edward Steichen winning the
competition, and Alfred Stieglitz
coming third.
Clementina Hawarden (born 1822,
died 1865) operated in South
Kensington, London, and produced
hundreds of images of her family and
nearby surroundings. She was
awarded a medal by the (then)
Photographic Society, though she
died aged forty-two, before receiving
the award. Many of her prints are
owned by the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
Frances Benjamin Johnston (born
1864, died 1952) was an American
photographer who opened a studio in
Washington in 1890. She was much in
demand photographing celebrities of
her day, and had several assignments
photographing in the White House. In
1897 she published an article entitled
"What a woman can do with her
camera."
Gertrude Kasebier (b. 1852; d.1934)
was the first woman to be elected to
the prestigious Linked Ring.
Theresa Llwelyn, a distant relative of
Fox Talbot used "photogenic
drawing" (photograms) of seaweed
specimens.
Agnes Warburg (b.1872; d.1953) was
inspired by her elder brother to take
up photography. She exhibited at the
Photographic Salon of the Linked Ring
and at the Royal Photographic
Society, where she was highly active.
She was a founder-member of the
Society's Pictorial and Colour Groups.
She specialised in landscapes and
portraits, and also experimented with
the autochrome colour process.
Catharine Barnes Ward (b.1851; d.
1913) was an American photographer
who later lived in England. She
became associate Editor of the
American Amateur Photographer in
1890, was a popular lecturer, and a
strong supporter of women
photographers. She joined the
Photographic Society in 1893. In 1893
she married Henry Ward, the founder
and editor of the magazine "Practical
Photographer." Her works included a
well-illustrated "Shakespeare's Town
and Times" , books on Dickens and
the land of Lorna Doone.
Jane Wigley, an English photographer,
purchased the franchise to operate
from Beard, and worked in Newcastle
and London. It is stated that she was
one of the first to use a prism in the
camera so as to reverse the
daguerreotype image.
160
These are just a few of the many
women early pioneers of photography,
doubtless many more being
unheralded and, at present, unknown.
Again, those wishing to pursue this
area further should read Dr.
Rosenblum's remarkable book, which
covers the entire period of
photography from the earliest days up
to the present.
WOODBURYTYPE process
This is a form of photographic printing,
mentioned here because it appears
almost identical as a photograph. The
process was patented by Walter
Woodbury in 1866, and is similar to
the carbon process. The great feature
of the Woodbury process is that a
photograph in gelatine is caused by
enormous pressure to indent a sheet
of lead.
The quality of the pictures was
remarkable, with no grain, and the
process was widely used until the turn
of the century.
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