R.D.

National College
SYBMM

Photography Notes

Lecturer: Tanvi Madkaiker

 The Four Properties of Light
1. Direction
2. Intensity
3. Softness or Hardness
4. Color Temperature

Direction of Light
Most photographers, whether they know it or not, tend to emulate what they
see in nature. The dominate and most important factor in light, for most
scenes, is the direction from which the light comes.

The sun, at high noon, comes from the top, and is not very flattering for
portraits. The sun, at sunrise or sunset, offers side lighting that can be
dramatic and flattering.

When it comes to the design aspects of your photograph you also have to
consider how that direction of light plays to our natural tendencies to
associate that direction with emotion. Sunny days often make us feel happy
while dark gloomy overcast days make us feel…well…dark and gloomy.
Light from above is natural. The sun is above us. Light from below isn’t natural
and can be used to produce images with a “scary” feeling.

Intensity of Light
Is the quantity of light sufficient to set the aperture and shutter speed that is
required for this particular photograph?

You can control these factors by increasing or decreasing the strength or

intensity of your main light source.
When using studio lights or strobes this can be done by manually changing
the light (power) output or simply by moving the lights closer or further from
your subject.
You need enough light intensity to give you the opportunity to use the speed
and f-stop that is required relative to the ISO you’re using.

Hard and Soft Light

This is often referred to as the quality of light. Learning to control this quality
of light can mean the difference between a well-crafted photograph and a
snapshot.
The softness or hardness of the light can be summed
up by to two basic rules:
1. The smaller the light source, the harder the light.
2. The larger the light source, the softer the light.

Color Temperature
Often times you’ll hear photographers mention photographs being too cool or
too warm. This is in reference to color temperature and how it affects the
overall image.

Here are a few common light sources and the colors they produce.
Fluorescent lighting casts a greenish color, tungsten bulbs make things
appear more orange and candle light turns colors redder still. The setting sun
produces reddish hues while overcast days tend to be blue in color.

You can often correct a color cast using your image editing program’s
channels or color balance control. Some of them have “presets” built in to fix
images in one click!
Types of Portrait Lighting

Butterfly
This probably is one of the most used light pattern and I would say
the easiest ones. The light is placed above the camera but closer to the
subject, so there is a small shadow under the nose of the person. The
shape of the shadow could remind you a butterfly, which gave the name to
the light pattern. This light pattern could be combined with short lighting
(see below). When using the pattern don't forget to let the in the eye
sockets of the subject, it will make nice eye catchlights.

Loop
With this light pattern you create a small loop-like shadow on either
side of the nose. It is achieved by placing the main light source above
the camera (almost like with Butterfly pattern) and moving it slightly to a
side. Just watch for the changes in the nose shadow and don't forget cast
some light into the eye sockets. The light pattern will create the results as
shown below in the image:
Rembrandt
This light pattern was named because of the great master, who often
used the light pattern in his portraits. The general idea of the pattern is
to create a small upside-down triangle on the opposite to the light
cheek on the subject's face. This is a very flattering pattern (especially for
people with prominent cheekbone structure) and was often used in old
Hollywood portraits. And as usual watch for the catchlights in both eyes.
To create this pattern you have move the main light source closer to the
subjects face and to the side and a bit above the eye level. You have to
play with the light a bit to ensure that there is a definite triangle on the
subject's cheek as well the light reaches the both eyes.

Split Lighting
This is very simple pattern and often used for dramatic results, so
don't over use it in your studio. The concept is reflected by the name - you
split the subject's face with the light. So only half of the face is lit by the
light, the other half lays in the shadow. As you understand, the main
light source is placed way to the side of the subject and almost on the
same plane as the subject's head.
Camera Obscura
"camera" is a "vaulted chamber/room" &
"obscura" means "darkened chamber/room"
The camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its
surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and
was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a
box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes
through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-
down, but with color and perspective preserved. The image can be projected
onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate
representation.

The first camera ever made was based on this principle and every
subsequent camera from then on uses this simple technology.

It emulates the function of the eye.

Like the eye, it produces an upside down image (which our brain then inverts)
to produce a replica of our surroundings- scale and proportion intact.

In a camera, the function of inverting the upside down image is carried out by
the use of a mirror.

Since light travels in straight lines and when some rays reflected from the
subject pass through a small hole, they do not scatter, but converge and
reform as an upside down image on a flat surface held parallel to the hole.
Pin Hole Camera.
A pinhole camera is the simplest, most basic camera made.

It consists of a light proof box, some form of film and a pinhole used in place
of a lens.

Pinhole cameras are essentially very slow because light is being forced into
the dark box through a very small opening. (So this means that the hole must
be kept open for a relatively longer period of time so that the film is given
enough time to be exposed by the limited amount of light entering it.)

In SLRs, we use lenses because they make it “faster” to take photographs.

Low light, small point of light entry means a longer time for the image to be
burnt onto the film.

Think about your eye, when it suddenly becomes dark, it takes a few seconds
for the pupil to dilate to allow more light in.

In a pinhole camera, the size of the “pupil” does not change. Thus we have to
compensate by keeping it open for a longer period of time.
Concave and Convex Lenses

Convex Lens

Concave Lens

Convex Lenses:

-It makes parallel light rays passing through it bend inward and converge at a
point just beyond the lens. This point is known as the focal point.

- Convex lenses are used in telescopes, binoculars to bring distant light rays
to a focus point in your eyes.

Concave Lenses:

- It makes parallel light rays passing through it diverge.

- Used in TV projectors etc.

 Types of Lenses
The three basic lens types, determined by the focal length of the lenses, are
the following:

Normal. A normal lens shows most accurately what a normal human eye
will see. 50mm is a typical normal focal length. The 50mm is the most
popular and versatile lens. The quality is excellent while also being
inexpensive. It is smaller and lighter, and the aperture allows
photographs to be taken in low-light situations.

Telephoto/Zoom. A telephone lens brings the background closer. Longer-

than-normal focal lengths such as 70mm and 300mm are typical for a
telephoto lens. Since a telephoto lens will bring the subject up close, it
is popular for sports photography.
 Wide. A wide lens captures a wider expanse of the background than what
the human eye will see. Shorter-than-normal focal lengths such as
24mm and 35 mm are typical for a wide lens. Wide lenses are popular
for landscape photography and large group shots.

Other special lenses to consider include the following:

Macro. A macro lens's focus is closer to the subject and is used for close-
up photography.

Fisheye. A fisheye lens uses an angle of view up to 180 degrees. The

angle distorts the photograph so the four sides appear to be farther
away.
 Diagram and functioning of an SLR
Camera

An SLR camera is a Single Lens Reflex Camera.

Light enters through a single lens at the front of the camera, and is reflected
on a mirror or sensor in the camera, recording the light. An aperture ring
inside the SLR camera adjusts how much light may enter the camera. The
shutter speed function on an SLR camera adjusts how long the light may
enter the camera. Photography is simply a recording of light on film emulsion,
or a digital sensor.

Aperture

Every SLR and DSLR will allow you to manually and semi-automatically
control the aperture or f-stop. Those are the numbers (5.6, 8, 11…) preceded
by an f and a /.

Looks like f/5.6, f/8, f/11…you get the idea.

You’ve seen these numbers before, but what exactly do they mean?

These numbers correspond to a specific opening in your lens.

This function allows the lens to control the amount of light that reaches the
film or camera sensor.
It can get a little tricky because the smaller the f-stop, the larger the opening.
The larger the f-stop the smaller the opening.

Shutter Speed

As the name suggests, this is about speed.

The shutter speed controls the amount of time that the volume of light
coming through the lens hits your sensor or film. Shutter speeds are
typically represented by 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 or sometimes just represented
by the number 250, 500, 1000.

It’s better to think of it as 1/250 because we’re talking about fractions of a

second. A shutter speed of 1/250 or 250 is literally 1/250 of a second.

ISO

ISO is a process of determining the light sensitivity of the film or camera

sensor. Because of the variances in both film and processors it’s important to
become very familiar with the way that your digital camera or film of choice
handles the light.

In film higher ISOs produce grain and in digital photography higher ISOs
produce digital noise or just noise for short.

A high ISO can be used in low light conditions so as to allow the camera to
capture as much light as it can in the shutter speed that you set.

ISO is typically represented by 100, 200,400,800,1600,3200,High1, High2.

ISO 100 would ideally be used when there is plenty of light available, for eg,
while shooting outdoors at noon.

Whereas ISO 1600 would be used in an enclosed space where there is

limited light available, for eg, a museum.