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Eat your hearts out digital users, this one is strictly for those of us or still like and use film. Welcome to film types 101. Today there are three main types of film. Colour Negative, Slide (Colour Positive), and Black & White.

Film Sizes
In the photography world today there are three categories of film sizes that are still available for use as new stock, some rarer than others, but still there.

Small Format: This is the film that replaced medium format for the hobbyist, commonly called 35mm or 135, very easy to load into cameras, and available everywhere photographic equipment is sold, even convenience stores and drug stores. You can get it in Black & White, Slide, and Colour Negative forms. Very clear results, does well for enlargements but at higher speeds a very noticeable grain. It was first introduced in 1934 by Kodak, and by the 1960s surpassed Medium format film as the film of choice. Very few companies these days still produce film cameras, but Nikon and Canon both have new SLRs available, not to mention a large selection of used equipment available. 135 film is 35mm in width and produces an exposure of 24mm x 36mm.

My Nikon F3 surrounded by rolls of 35mm film

Webster’s Falls in Dundas, ON captured on Kodak Ektar 100 35mm format

Other film sizes that is classified as Small format are: APS (Advanced Photo System), 110 (Pocket Cameras), 126 (Instamatic), and 828 (Similar to 135, but lacks the sprocket holes)

Medium Format: This was the original film for the camera enthusiast, and came in many different sizes and types over the years since it was first introduced in 1890. Today the two most common medium format film in 120 and 220, the only difference between the two, which both are the same width (120mm), but the 220 film lacks the backing paper like 120 has, and as such you can fit twice as much film on a spool. Also with Medium format you can produce many different sizes of exposures, the most common are 6×4.5, 6×6, and 6×7, but in the past there have been 6×9, 6×24. Of course the larger the exposure the smaller number of exposures per roll you can get. 120 and 220 are both still available from photography specialty stores, online stores, and even Ebay. But good luck finding it at your local Walmart Lab.

A Yashica-12 with a 120 roll of Fuji Velvia (RVP). The Yashica-12 is an example of a Twin Lens Reflex Camera producing a 6×6 exposure.

An example of a 6×6 image taken on a Rolleiflex 2.8F camera

The Pentax 645 is an example of a Medium format SLR, producing an exposure 6×4.5, and can use both 120 and 220 film depending on the insert

An example of a 6×4.5 image taken with the Pentax 645

The Agfa Box (circa 1930s) produces a 6×9 exposure. And yes, this camera still works.

An example of a 6×9 image taken with the Agfa Box.

Other older Medium Format sizes are: 127 (still available actually) and 620 (discontinued but if you have 620 spools you can re spool 120 film onto them).

Large Format: Also known as sheet film, these hark back to the days of wet and dry plate photography and can still be purchased new, the two most common format are 4×5 and 8×10 (and that’s in inches). In fact Kodak just released it’s famous Ektar 100 film in 4×5 format. I can’t really speak much on large format, expect that they have incredible detail and next to no grain, and when using slide film, the colour reproduction and saturation is incredible. However the cameras are huge, and it’s awkward to load up film as you can only have one exposure in the camera at a time. And developing when you don’t do it yourself can be expensive. There are even larger sizes that have been available in the past for large format photography, even up to and beyond 11×14.

Film Types
Colour Negative film is the most common type of film and is readily available from any photographic store to your local convenience and drug store. It is usually processed using the C-41 process, which can be done at a local lab using an automatic machine and is available in all three formats, Small, Medium, and Large. When you get the negatives back they will appear as a brown translucient image with the colours looking rather strange, because they have been reversed, hence the term “negative.” These types of films process very normal colours, similar to what you’d see through your own eyes, often cheaper to buy and develop. Some good films to try of this type are: Kodak Ektar 100, Fuji Reala 100, Portra 160VC, Portra 400NC, Fuji Pro 160S, also Kodak Max 400 and Fuji Superia 200.

Colour Negative Film, in this case Fuji NPH 400, 120 Format

Slide Film, or Colour Positive film, when viewed the colours will be as you normally see them, and often come pre-cut and mounted (in the case of 35mm slides). The most common process to develop slide film in E-6. However the older Kodachrome films used the much more complex process called K-14, currently only Dwayne’s in Kansas can process K-14 and then only until the end of 2010. Even Kodak has stopped producing the film and the chemicals for this process. Slide films have a very rich contrasty colour, and often aren’t available at anything over ISO-400. Most slide films these days are only avalible in colour, however you might still be able to find some Agfa Scala, which is a black & white slide film. Some good films to try of this type are: Fuji Velvia 100F, Fuji Provia 100F, Fuji Provia 400X, Kodak Ektachrome.

Colour Slide Scan, Fuji Velvia 100F, 120 format.

The film and the most classic film is Black & White, as the name suggests this is monochromatic film, no colours at all, but rather colours are represented by different shades of gray. This is also a negative film, so when you look at the film they are reversed. There are two types of Black & White film, there is the traditional style which you can develop yourself if you have the right chemicals and equipment, and there are C-41 process b&w films. The C-41 films will often have a colour tinge to them because C-41 is by its nature a colour process. B&W is the oldest film type still available, with several classic films still available to be purchased new (the chemicals have changed over the years of course as newer safer ones become available.) Some films of this type to try are: Kodak Tri-X 400, Kodak TMax 100, Ilford Delta 100

An example of Black and White, in this case Kodak Tri-X, 120 Format.

And on a final note, Polaroid. Instant film was first introduced in early to mid 20th Century, where all the chemicals needed to expose and develop the image was contained in one simple package. However in 2008, Polaroid announced it would cease production and shut down all it’s plant, Fuji still produces instant film and cameras. But Polaroid had developed (pun intended) a cult following, and the Impossible Project was launched and has now started producing new instant film for the thousands of Polaroid cameras still around. Keep an eye here to see how my results with Impossible Project film goes.

I will be the first to admit that I used to hate using flash, I would avoid it as much as possible by boosting the ISO or using faster lenses. At least until I learned how to use the flash properly.

The problem with flash is that if used wrong it looks ugly, features are washed out, white balance is off, and of course the big ugly shadow behind the subject, or a shadow created by your lens hood (in the case of some dSLR cameras and prosumer cameras). The inherent problem with any type of flash is that you have a large amount of light and power coming from a small area.

But lets step back here for a moment and go over the four types of flashes available to most photographers. The first type of flash is the built in flash, this can be found in all point and shoot, prosumer, and almost all SLR types of cameras, they’re often small, and offer limited control. The second type of flash is a speedlight, this is a camera flash that sits on the camera’s hot shoe, often larger and powered by their own supply, gives the photographer the ability to control the amount of power it puts off, or allow the camera to control the power settings based on it’s meter. You can also in many cases move the flash head around to bounce the light (which I will discuss later). The third type of flash is a Studio Strobe, these are often big, bulky, and expensive, and not very portable. The final type is not really a flash in the traditional sense, so I will not be going into more detail later on in the post. This fourth type is a “hot light” which is basically lights that are on constantly, just like a traditional light bulb or tube style lights.

But we’re working with strobes, flashes, so I will be focusing only on the first three, built in, speedlight, and studio.

A Canon A460 with a built in flash.

A Nikon SB-800 Speedlight

A Typical Studio Strobe, in this case an Elinchrom Style RX 600.

So lets start shooting here, first off using a built in flash. Below is a photo of the built in flash on the Nikon D300, it doesn’t stand out from the body, so if I’m using a longer lens on the camera, there will be a semi-circular shadow. Some SLR’s have a taller arm on their flash to help with this problem, but it still doesn’t help with the fact that it’s such a small surface area.

The built in flash on a Nikon D300

Below is an example of a photo taken using the built in flash of the D300, as you can see, there’s a dark shadow behind Claudius (the bear), and a semi-circular shadow below as a result of using the built in flash, and at the distance, there’s no real definition to our subject.

So what you need to do is to diffuse the light, by putting something with a larger surface area in front of your built in flash, there are several options available. However it is better to get something with a little more power and control, a speed light. All SLR type cameras have what’s called a Hotshoe, also several high end P&S cameras and Prosumer cameras are equiped with Hot Shoes. The Term Hot Shoe means that the accessory shoe provides a link between the camera and the flash for firing it. Some older cameras have what’s called a Cold Shoe, it is just a place to slide on the flash unit, then you need to connect the flash to the camera using a sync cord. Below is a photo again with a speedlight with the flash head pointed right at the subject. As you can see, the results are slightly better than the built in flash, no more shadow (because the head is far above the camera body) below the subject, but there still is a harsh shadow behind them, because you’re pointing all the light directly at them again. The Built in diffuser on the flash does a little bit to help but still not enough.

Speedlight directly at the subject

Speedlight directly at the subject with the diffuser flipped down

So to help out with this problem, since you can rotate the flash head, you can bounce the flash off the ceiling or walls, if they’re white, the light will remain clean, But you might catch some colour if you bounce it off a coloured surface. So lets try bouncing the flash.

Bounced off the ceiling.

Bounced off a White Surface

Bounced off a Coloured Surface

As you can see by bouncing the flash off of a surface you cut out a lot of the back shadow, or at least soften it or change the direction it is cast. Bouncing is always a cheap option and in a pinch can work really well, I use bounce a lot when working in casual environments, it avoids blasting the person in the face with all the light energy, which also would cause them to blink, and of course the deadly red eye (yes, red-eye reduction mode, but I never use that). The problem with bouncing the flash is that it will prevent light from striking certain parts of the subject, loosing those parts in the shadow. As you can see with the shot where the light was bounced off the ceiling the lower parts of the subject are dark and in shadow. With the two bounced off the walls, the side that the light wasn’t coming from was dark, and in the shot where I bounced the light off a blue surface, there is a colour cast to the light. Of course all of these can be defeated by using a device called a reflector, but not everyone has this in their inventory, plus that’s getting into a little more advanced things.

So the next step is to combine diffusing and bouncing, Gary Fong released a cool device called a lightsphere, but you can do the same thing with a frosted plastic beer cup, or there are other options out there. I use the lightsphere simply because it was given to me and I like the way it works. How these devices work is that they first diffuse the light using a huge surface area, then blast the light all around the room bouncing it off every surface, and because the device are symmetrical, no matter how you align it, the bounce will be the same.

So as you can see with the lightsphere type device, you get a very even light and very little, if not any shadow at all. For the most part when I don’t have the space to use off camera flash, I’ll use a lightsphere because it gives you the same type of light that you’d get from a studio setup, without having an entire studio with you.

You would use a flash when the area is too better light up your shot, but if you’re outside, would you still use a flash? Well the answer is yes, as you can see with some of the shots you have fairly directional light which does cast shadows, when you’re outside your directional light is the sun, and especially on sunny days you can get a lot of shadow cast on your subject, so a flash mounted on your camera can help as “Fill Flash” filling in light where it’s needed. Most modern units are intelligent enough to use the camera meter to put out enough light energy on the subject as to not wash out their features, but to just nicely light up the darker areas.

For example in this shot, I was able to use the flash to overcome the strong backlighting, so that the girl wouldn’t just be a silhouette.

I know, I did not touch on using studio lights and other special modifiers, as that is a more advanced subject than the basics, and that will come in a later post. Keep shooting!

In my original post I reviewed the various choices of lenses available to those who use a interchangeable lens camera such as Single Lens Reflex camera, and those using Micro 4/3rds systems. (Sorry P&S and Prosumer users, this one isn’t really for you). So now that you have your amazing collection of glass in your collection, we can start picking and choosing for various situations.

Landscapes
The choice for this one is obvious, you’re going to be looking for a wide or ultra wide angle lens, this will easily help you capture the vastness of the shot. If you’re going for a more interesting look, especially with a cityscape, you may even choose a fisheye lens to get that rounded look. Occationally you can use a longer lens for landscape work, the photo that makes up the banner for this blog was taken using a 50mm lens on a crop sensor (so a 75mm focal length), but I was fairly distance from my subject and pulled off a wonderfully sharp shot.

Nikon F80 ~ Tameron 11-18mm 1:4.5-5.6 DiII @ 18mm (true 18mm as it’s a 35mm camera)

Architecture
This is the area of photography that I cut my teeth on. In this case again you’re going to be working with ultra-wide and wide angles for the most part here as you’ll want to capture the whole room in your shot, and when working with crop sensor bodies, your 24mm lens won’t really cut it anymore. I found this out when I first switched to a Digital SLR with a crop sensor. I still take time to go and capture the abandoned buildings that I travel far and wide for, and my ultra-wide lens is usually with me. But in many cases, I leave my versatile 17-55mm lens on my camera for ease of use and keeps the switching of lenses inside these buildings to a minimum.

Nikon D70s ~ Sigma 18-50mm @ 18mm (27mm with the crop factor).

Portrait
The main mistake that many people make when it comes to portrait work is that they use a wide angle lens, then zoom with their feet. Because they need to get that full body shot, so they zoom out to the widest they can go, and stand fairly close to the subject. Trust me, this is not flattering.

A rather brutal example of this, is my friend Alex here. I used a 10-20mm lens, set to 10mm, as you can see I got up rather close to focus on the head and shoulders area, it’s rather distorted, in this case it is a neat effect for a fun off the cuff shot, but this would not cut it for a professional portrait shot.

Nikon D300 ~ Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm

If this was a more professional shot, I would have picked a longer focal length, 50mm or greater, and stood up higher, to keep everything in the correct proportions. So when going for a portrait work, stick to prime lenses with a focal length (before or after a crop) of 50mm or greater. I regularly use my 35mm lens to do group shots when I don’t have a lot of room to work with. That is the one downside to all this, you do need more room the longer of a lens you are working with.

Nikon D300 ~ Nikon 85mm

As you can see, similar to Alex as before, but now Amy is wonderfully proportioned, in this case I had some room to play with being on the streets, my 70-200mm lens would work great for this as well.

Event/Photojournalism/Street
This niche of photography is really dependent on the whole situation. I’ve used both Prime and Zoom lenses to shoot events and out on the street, and I’ve found that I gravitate more towards the long zoom lens, mostly because it gives you more freedom to catch the event or action as it happens in a candid manner. So grab a telephoto for this so you can keep yourself both in the action and yet just outside so that they don’t see the lens focusing in on them almost causing them to stage the action.

Nikon D300 ~ Nikon 135mm

I used a prime lens for this particular event, a protest for and against the Israel invasion of the Gaza strip earlier this year. It worked really well for a manual focus lens.

Macro
This isn’t really my area of photography, but many manufactures produce specialized lenses for the purpose of photographing things close up and detailed.

I do keep a Macro lens in my collection, but I don’t think I’m going to be keeping it much longer as I don’t use it.

You’re probably wondering why Weddings isn’t mentioned in this list, because a wedding is a merger of two general types, event and portrait, so pick your lenses appropriately. If you really want to you can get away with only two lenses for weddings, a wide to normal (17-55mm) and a telephoto (70-200mm) and that would have you covered.

If you use a Point & Shoot or Prosumer camera, you can pretty much skip most of what is said here, this is more aimed at users of cameras that have an interchangeable lens system. Rangefinders and SLRs.

When it comes to lens, there are two types of lenses, zoom lenses which can change the focal length, and prime lenses, which have a fixed focus.

The Nikon 17-55mm is an example of a zoom lens.

The Nikon 50mm is an example of a prime lens.

Each types have their pros and cons. Zoom lenses offer you excellent versatility especially when shooting events where you often need to have a wider view angle, when photographing groups of people, to being able to focus in on the action. If you just have a prime lens on, you have to do your zooming with you feet, or fumble around with multiple lenses at any given time for the situation. However zoom lenses with today’s technology can only have a max aperture of f/2.8 without being really expensive or very large. Prime lenses, can be a little cheaper than a zoom lens, but be much faster, my 50mm f/1.8 lens is only $150.00. Prime lenses are great for portrait work, or low light situations. I once shot almost an entire concert using my 50mm f/1.8 lens.

There are four categories into which both types of lenses fall into, based on the focal length of the lens.

The first is Ultra-Wide, this is what lenses with a focal length less than, but not including 35mm, fish-eye lenses (which offer a 180° angle of view) fall into this category. Best to use these for landscape and architecture work.

The Tameron 11-18mm lens, is an example of an ultra-wide zoom lens.

An example photo using an ultra-wide lens, using the Tamron mentioned above @ 11mm

The second category is Normal, the reason it’s called “normal” is because is almost duplicates the angle of view that your eyes have (eyes are approximatly a 50mm lens so if you’re on a crop sensor camera, use the mag factor to determain what lens will give you the 50mm length, on Nikon & Canon you’ll want a 35mm lens, on 4/3 camera a 17mm lens). This covers the range of focal lengths between 35mm and 70mm.

Nikon’s 35mm lens.

Taken with a 35mm lens, with the crop factor it is at 52mm.

The third category is telephoto, this covers focal lengths between 70mm and 135mm, often used for portrait, street, and photojournalism, as you can often get a compact lens that still give you a good reach. You can even still get a fast lens for a decent price at this range, even in zoom and prime. Again have a crop sensor, gives these lenses even more reach.

An old Nikon Manual Focus 105mm telephoto lens, a classic lens favoured by photojournalists.

An example of a photo, even on a modern dSLR, the old Manual lenses perform wonderfully.

The fourth and final category is super telephoto, this occupy any focal length greater than 135mm, there are some lenses that are 500mm and higher available. If you’re doing a lot of sports, nature (wildlife), and aerial photography (or stalking) these are the lenses for you, often bulky, and for a good fast lens, you’ll be shelling out upwards of $2000.00. However if you do spend the money, it is well worth it, even for street photography, if the area is crowded enough, you can get the shot you want without being seen.

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is great telephoto lens, for moderate duty, plus if you add a telecoverter to it, you can get it to reach even further. However it is a bit noticeable, and rather bulky to carry around.

An example photo @ 200mm

Stay Tuned for Part 2, more on how to choose a lenses and why to use certain lenses for each application!

Sorry I haven’t been posting more of these, but I’ve been collecting my thoughts on what else to post in this series. One question that I often am asked is the “What type of camera should I get?” so hopefully if you’re asking this question and stumble across this post I’ll be able to answer them for you!

Today there are several different types of cameras available to users, both in the film and digital range.

First off, there’s the Point and Shoot (P&S) cameras.

The Canon A460 is an excellent example of the lower end of the P&S spectrum, often these cameras have a simple zoom lens, or a fixed focus lens very little in the way of manual overrides, designed mostly for quick snap shots on the family vacation. Of course, there are higher end point and shoots, like Contax (in the Film world) and even Canon’s G-Series. Higher end cameras often have better lenses, more manual control, and better image quality.

The Canon G7

Prosumer cameras, are exclusively digital, these cameras, often have the look and feel of a Single Lens Relflex camera, often with a powerful zoom lens, manual control, and excellent image quality.

The Panasonic Lumix FZ-7 is an example of a Prosumer camera.

Direct view cameras, or Range Finders are often associated with the brand Leica, who has legendary cameras and lenses. These cameras, especially in the film world were unique in the fact that the view finder was offset from the lens itself. In the digital world, the viewfinder has been replaced for the most part with a LCD screen. These cameras feature interchangeable lenses, and have recently been making a comeback with the Micro Four Thirds system being used in the Olympus E-P1 (pictured above) and the new Panasonic GF1. Leica also has it’s M8 and M9 digital rangefinders.

The SLR, or Single Lens Reflex camera, has been one of the most popular and well known cameras in the photography world, the design hasn’t really changed since they were first invented and released. The name itself comes from the way you operate the camera. Single Lens, easy, when you look in the viewfinder you’re looking through the lens itself, the Reflex is the mirror traveling up, blocking the viewfinder and sending the light onto the film through the shutter curtain. These cameras offer a wide range of modes of operations, making it very versatile.

So, now that we’ve covered the basic cameras that are readily available, you can work on making a choice on what sort of camera to get. The first step is to of course figure out what sort of things you’ll be needing your camera for.

If you just want a camera to carry around in your pocket to capture family stuff, events with friends, you’re going to want to go with a Point and Shoot. The type you go with all depends on how comfortable you are with photography. Have big hands, but just need a basic camera a Prosumer one would be the way to go.

When it comes to Rangefinders and SLRs, most people who go for them already are well versed in the area of photography, but even now these days most companies are building SLRs aimed at the entry level market (Canon XS and Nikon D5000/D3000). If you are considering to really ramp up your photography, or want to do most photojournalism, in addition to capturing family moments, go with an SLR.

Another type of camera that is making a come back is medium format. Again both are available in film and digital varieties, although I only have major experience with the film type, but I have used the digital ones and they are amazing to use. The film used in Medium format cameras comes in various sizes, but all share the same basic characteristics, it comes in rolls, usually with some form of backing paper, it is rolled off one spool and onto another one. The two main types of Medium format that are still readily available these days is 120 and 220, the difference between them is that 220 has twice the length of 120, and lacks backing paper.

The size of the negative on the film depends on the type of camera you shoot with, it ranges from 6cm x 4.5cm up to 6cm x 24cm. Most cameras use 6×4.5, 6×6, or 6×9 these days. Like the cameras mentioned previously, you can get range finders, SLR, and one other type, Twin Lens Reflex (or TLR). With TLRs look different from most cameras you see, for the most part you look through the top of the camera to compose the shot using the top lens. But it is the bottom lens that actually lets the light in to expose the film. TLRs are very uncommon to find new these days, but there are a few “toy” or cheap plastic ones that are still produced today.

An Agfa Box camera, produced in the 1930s, uses 120 film and produces a 6×9 negative.

A Yashica-12 Twin Lens Camera, produces a 6×6 negative.

A Mamiya 645, a SLR type medium format camera, it can use both 120 and 220 film, and produces a 6×4.5 negative. This type of camera you replace the film magazine with a digital back, another major brand of this type of camera is Hasselblad, which also has digital backs for their cameras.

Hasselblad also produces a strictly digital medium format camera, which are very expensive, yet fun to use.

Medium Format cameras were at one time used for portrait work, because with a larger negative could produce cleaner enlargements, but modern digital technology has taken over these, because of two reasons, you can get more shots on a card, and you won’t have to carry around tonnes of film. Digital Medium Format cameras are uses almost exclusivly by the fashion industry (Melissa Rodwell is known to shoot with a Hasselblad Digital Medium Format.), and commercial photography that requires huge billboard sized enlargements. TLRs and toy cameras are aimed these days at the art students, often producing strange effects on the resulting shots.

The Final type of camera is large format, these are exclusively film cameras, and use what’s called Sheet Film, one shot per sheet. Ranging in size from 4 inches by 5 inches, and upwards to 11 inches by 14 inches. Commonly you still see 4×5 and 8×10 cameras around these days.

A Crown Graphic, a common 4×5 type camera.

You would use a large format camera if you want amazing details, and no need for enlarging your shots from a smaller format, as you can easily shoot in the format you want to print. LF produces the least amount of grain in an image, with the highest definition of detail, it blows the lid off any smaller format and any digital camera commercially available. Of course You only get one shot per sheet, and 8×10 negatives are running upwards of 110.00 for a pack of 25 (4.50 per sheet), so if you mess up, you’re out almost five dollars. It is also very hard to find places that actually develop LF these days, unless you can do them yourself.

Today we’re going to discuss aperture. Not the popular Apple software product for cataloging and editing photos.

Your camera’s aperture controls how much light is let into the camera, but also and more importantly how much of your image will be in focus. But first, covering how aperture is noted.

You will encounter the aperture noted in terms of f-stops, or more commonly f/2.8. Unlike many things, the smaller the f number on a lens, the wider the aperture is. It is based on a logarithmic equation, seen below.

The f-number f/#, often notated as N, is given by the above equation. Where f is the focal length, and D is the diameter of the entrance pupil. By convention, “f/#” is treated as a single symbol, and specific values of f/# are written by replacing the number sign with the value. For example, if the focal length is 16 times the pupil diameter, the f-number is f/16, or N = 16. The greater the f-number, the less light per unit area reaches the image plane of the system; the amount of light transmitted to the film (or sensor) decreases with the f-number squared. Doubling the f-number increases the necessary exposure time by a factor of four. Equation and following text is care of Wikipedia.

But enough math…you’re probably wanting something more concrete and practical. So let’s use my handy manual focus 50mm lens for that. The lens is rated at f/1.4, it is the lens with the widest aperture that I own.

To the left is the lens wide open (f/1.4) as you can see, it will let in a lot of light, to the right is the lens at f/16.

So while having the lens wide open lets in a lot of light, which is great for dark places, there is a downside, you loose how much of the image will be in focus, this is called Depth of Field (DoF).

How does this translate into your photos.

Let’s call in my friend Jay for a bit.

(50mm ~ f/1.8 ~ 1/50″ ~ ISO-1600)

As you can see, very little of the image is in focus, pretty much the only thing in focus is the “Hold” tag on him. Opening the aperture can create some pretty dynamic effects and can really help make the subject pop out of the rest of the frame.

So now we’ve had it wide open let’s close it all the way down. Here’s one of my favourite shots, in fact it’s the one used in the banner for my website and this blog, taken using the same lens as the above image (just to be fair).

(50mm ~ f/22 ~ 1/60″ ~ ISO-200)

As you can see, the image from the CN Tower in the background to the houses in the foreground everything is sharp and in focus.

How do you apply this to your photography, well again it’s all about your subject matter. When it comes to portrait work you want your subject(s) to be the only thing in focus in the frame, so you want a shallow depth of field, for group shots, a deeper depth of field so that poor Uncle Bill isn’t out of focus. When it comes to landscapes, you want all the details to be in focus so closing the aperture is desired.

In my Previous Post, I discussed the three ways cameras capture light, Aperture, Shutter Speed, and Sensitivity. I went into some detail on what each did, and now as promised I’m going to expand on these three. First up, Shutter Speed.

Shutter Speed determines how long light is let onto the recording medium, it is measured in seconds, and more often fractions of a second. On many early SLR like cameras, the shutter speed is set through a dial on the top of the camera, and in some cases, a ring on the actual lens mount. On this selector is several numbers and letters. The two most common letters that will appear on these dials are A and B. “A” will set your camera into Aperture priority mode, where the camera will set the shutter speed for you. “B” stands for bulb mode, which will allow the photographer to hold the shutter open as long as they’d like. On modern SLR cameras the shutter speed is set by using command dials, and selecting the appropriate command, setting ect. Also many cameras now have Shutter Priority mode, which allows the photographer to set the shutter speed and the camera will set the aperture for you. So for today let’s set the camera to Shutter Priority.

By manipulating the shutter speed you can create some dynamic effects, you can capture motion and even freeze time. I mentioned earlier that shutter speed is measured in seconds, and fractions of a second, this is key. We live in a very dynamic world where things can happen in a fraction of a second and then everything has changed, when it comes to cameras they have the ability to freeze that instant moment, if you’re able to have the shutter open for the right length of time.

Most cameras these days can be set to shutter speeds between 30 seconds and 1/5000th of a second (or faster). These are often noted as 30″ and 1/5000″. If you want to freeze a moment in time, you’ll want a faster shutter speed, for the most part anything faster than 1/60″ will be able to freeze motion, anything slower there will be motion blur. In some cases like fast moving cars, sports, and other fast paced action you’ll need even faster shutter speeds, 1/200″ or faster. If you want to create some nice effects and capture the motion, 1/30″ or slower will create some nice effects. But you then have to start worrying about camera shake. Some ways to help with that is to get a lens with some form of stabilization, or use a tripod or monopod to help steady your camera.

So let’s get practical here.

Take for example, you’re down at a river and there’s a small water fall, and it’s bouncing and the droplets are spraying around, and you just want to capture that simple moment with the drops suspended in air. A fast shutter speed will be needed.

(105mm ~ 1/5000″ ~ f/2.5 ~ ISO-320)

As you can see with the above photo, I selected a very fast shutter speed so that you can see the details in the water, it looks frozen, ice-like almost.

Now, let’s flip it around, you have a bunch of people running around, but you actually want to capture this motion in your image for dramatic effect.

(35mm ~ 1/25″ ~ f/2 ~ ISO-1600)

So as you can see, you can drop the shutter speed below 1/60″ and you can see the youth moving around, but still are able to tell that these are people milling about.

For even more dramatic effect, especially at night, are the shots of highways/freeways where you can just see streaks of lights, but can’t actually see the cars, that’s by leaving the shutter open for over a second. Below is an example.

(105mm ~ 30″ ~ f/10 ~ ISO-200)

As you can see, with the shutter open for 30″ the cars have become nothing more than streaks of white and red. Hopefully this has helped you understand how the duration of having the shutter open affects the way motion is captured by your camera. The longer it’s open, the more the motion is captured, whereas a faster speed is more likely the freeze that moment in time.

Good Morning, and welcome back. I was thinking last night how to improve and expand on things I post here, and came up with the idea to do a series of posts titled “Mastering the Basics” sort of a refresher course for photographers and myself in creating these. There will probably be some sprinklings of technical and slang terms in here, but I hope I have explained them well. If you have questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll work on explaining things further or answering them.

So why not start right at the beginning on how a camera works.

Here are two examples of Nikon cameras. The one on the left is a Nikon F3, the Professional camera from the 1980s, on the right is a Nikon D300, my current main camera. Now the question is, do these two camera work in the same way?

Yes, they do.

One fact that is often lost is that all cameras, from the very first camera to the latest and greatest work on the exact same principle. Light, reflected off an object is directed through a lens or hole onto a light sensitive recording medium, and stored. The only difference is what the medium is and how it’s stored. In the case of the F3, it uses Film, which both records the image and stores it. The D300 using a sensor and then stores the image on a Compact Flash card. Yes, even your point and shoot camera works with these same principles.

Controlling Light. As I mentioned earlier, a camera directs light through a lens onto a light sensitive medium. If you just let all the light into the camera onto the medium you’ll just be seeing white. Lots of white. This is why you need to control the light being recorded. There are three things that do this, they are aperture size, shutter speed, and senstivity.

Aperture controls the amount of light going in, shutter speed determines how long the light is let in, and sensitivity determines how receptive to light the medium is.

Aperture: when you look at an eye, notice how in bright light the pupil goes smaller and in darkness opens wide, the camera’s aperture works in the same way.

When you look at the lens you’ll often see a series of numbers and letters. Of course there’s the 105mm, this is the focal length. But the one that we’re going to focus on is the 1:2.5. This indicates the maximum aperture the lens has, or how wide open it can go, these numbers are called F-Stops they are also written as f/2.5 or f/4. You might also see 1:3.5-4.5, this means that the maximum aperture is variable based on the focal length, this is often found on point and shoot lenses, or lower end zoom lenses. So while at the one end of the focal length you might have a maximum aperture of f/3.5 when you zoom all the way in, you’ll only have a maximum aperture of f/4.5. The lower the number the larger the maximum aperture, so a lens marked 1:1.8 will be able to let in a lot more light than a lens marked 1:5.6, so the f/1.8 lens is called faster. But the more open the aperature is the less of the photo will be in focus, this is called depth of field, which I will discuss in a later posting.

Shutter Speed: The shutter is often a piece of cloth or metal that protects the light sensitive material, the shutter speed determines how long this curtain is open. This speed is often listed in fractions of a second, noted by a quote mark so 1/60″ would indicate that the shutter was open for one sixtieth of a second or 30″ would indicate the shutter was open for thirty seconds. On average a person can shoot at speeds of 1/60″ or faster (1/100″ ect), this eliminates the appearance of camera shake in your images. See the photo below.

This is an example is a little extreme (6.4″ shutter speed), but shows off what camera shake is, most people will see this when shooting at speeds around 1/30″ or slower (1/15″). Of course camera manufactures have been working on new ways to assist by installing Image Stabilization (There are many names for this, Nikon uses VR or “Vibration Reduction”) on lenses or in camera.

Sensitivity to Light: As the name suggests it is how sensitivity to light the medium is. There’s really no real way to explain it. This sensitivity is measured on a scale known as ISO numbers (pronounced Eye-Ss-Oh, not eye-so). The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the medium is. However there are drawbacks to using a higher ISO, you get more grain (or noise in the digital world), this is noticeable aberrations in your images.

So combining aperture size, shutter speed, and sensitivity is how the camera determines how the light is captured. The real trick comes with choosing how to use all three in concert. But that will come with later posts, and a little more about manipulating the each setting to get the look you want.