PHOTOGRAPHIC RAYS

Its Nature and Characteristics

I. Light
A form of energy visible to the human eye that is radiated by moving charged particles. It is a form of energy
that radiates into waves of different lengths.

Light is one of a number of known form of radiant electromagnetic energy which travel in wave motion. This form
of energy travels at a speed of 186, 000 miles per second in air, but differ in wavelength and frequency.
The properties of all electromagnetic radiation can be described by three inter-related terms. These are wavelength,
frequency and energy.

A. WAVELENGTH
It is the distance between from the crest (highest point) to the wave to the next succeeding crest.
B. FREQUENCY
It refers to number of waves passing in a given point in one second.

OPTICS

Optics is the study of light. It is concerned with the nature of light and the way it behaves in optical instruments.
Light is a form of energy and so an object may only produce light when there is energy present. A red-hot piece of metal
receives energy in the form of heat and converts some of it into red light.

II. SOURCES OF LIGHT:

1. Natural
 Coming from nature like the sun, moon, stars, other heavenly bodies, lightning, etc….
 The intensity of the sunlight falling on open space varies depending on the weather condition, time of the day,
or even time of the year.
 For more accurate exposure at daylight, only one characteristic is considered – the kind of shadow casted by an
object in open space.

Daylight maybe classified according to its intensity.

a) Bright sunlight
In bright sunlight, two sources when the sun is shinning bright :a- direct b- reflected: the subject will produced a
strong shadows, because the source of light in not covered and the objects or subjects appear glossy in open space due
to direct sunlight and reflected light coming from the sky which act as a reflector.

b) Hazy sunlight
In Hazy sunlight, the sun is covered by thin cloud and the shadow appears bluish because of the decrease of
light falling on the subject in open space. The shadow cast is transparent to the eye and more details are visible under
this lighting condition than a bright sunlight.

c) Dull sunlight.
In dull sunlight, the sun is totally covered by thick clouds. No shadow is cast to the uniform illumination of lights
all around the subjects in open space.
When direct sunlight is completely obscured by heavy clouds- no direct sunlight reaches the objects in one open
space. Objects at far distance appear bluish or completely dark.

These classifications are modified by the film manufacturers like

a) Open bright sunlight
b) Under shade bright sunlight
c) Hazy sunlight
d) Cloudy bright sunlight
e) Cloudy dull sunlight.

2. ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
-Almost all artificial light sources can be used in photographing of objects, as long as the light is capable of
exposing the sensitized materials (film). Artificial light can be divided into continuous and short duration radiation.

A. CONTINUOUS RADIATION
1. Carbon arc- consist of a pair of carbon rods connected in series with a resistance
Across direct current.
2. Incandescent- consist of a conducting filament enclosed a glass bulb heated by the
Electric current until it emits light.
Tungsten lamps- are incandescent, meaning that they work by burning filament. The
Temperature at which the filament burns determines the color of light that the lamp
Produces- the higher the temperature, the less the color orange is. Domestic
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 Tungsten bulbs burn at approximately 2,800 degrees Kelvin which is considerably
Cooler than daylight (5,500 degrees Kelvin), and therefore produce a distinct orange
Cast when used with normal day light film.
3. Photoflood Lamps- can be placed to shine from below giving mysterious and strange
effects of frights to observers of the picture. They can be placed up very high
Producing deep shadows underneath protruding surfaces, if a subject is a person
Standing, he will appear gloomy and somber.
4. Flourescent Lamp- illumination in an electric discharge lamp of the mercury-vapor
Type. The coating fluoresces and sends out light of low brilliance within visible zone.

B. SHORT DURATION RADIATION

1. Chemical flash Lamp- the light is produced by rapid burning of metal wire, foil or
Primer powders. To produce a rapid and complete burning, the bulb is charged with
02 , the lamp flashes once.
A. F-lamp- such as SM or SF, has effective flash duration of about 1/200 of a second.
B. S- lamp- slow peak and their brilliance are about 30 milliseconds after the current is
applied i.e. #50 and #3 which are intended for large group pictures.
C. M-lamp- used all shutter speeds provided the synchronizer level is on M.
D. FP Lamp- intended for focal plane shutter

2. Electronic Flash Lamp- consisting of a slender glass tube filled with a gas (xenon), a
High voltage electrical discharge is passed through coiled tube, causing the gas to
Glow.

LIGHTING (outdoor lighting)

Lighting is critical in photography. The direction from which the light comes determines where shadows fall.
Sometimes these shadows completely obscure details in the picture. On the other hand, shadows may reveal details
which would otherwise be invisible. Here are basic rules that will help you to understand lighting and judge how each
scene should be lit:

1. Back lighting: Light directed at the subject from behind the subject.
This has little value in crime scene photography. A light directly behind the subject creates a silhouette. The subject may
be entirely concealed by its own shadow. Furthermore, any light shining directly into the lens can cause "FLARE". This
may make the whole picture foggy, streaked or spotty in appearance.

2. Side Lighting: This may be very good or very bad, depending on the situation. Side lighting puts shadows on the
unlit side of the subject. These shadows are often essential to bring out the fine texture that is found in a cloth sample, a
footprint or a tool mark. Try to use side lighting in all such situations.

3. Front Lighting: the sun is in back of the photographer

This is essentially shadowless. It, therefore, gives the best representation of most crime scenes. When you do not have a
specific need for shadows in a scene, you will normally be wise to light it from the front. In daylight, be sure that the sun
is behind you or at least over your shoulder-- Right or Left, it does not matter.

BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT And BENDING OF LIGHT

Light behavior can be divided into two categories:

1. How light interacts with matter and
2. How light travels, or propagates through space or through transparent materials.
- Interaction with Material

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 Light from many sources, such as the Sun, appears white. When white light passes through a prism, however, it
separates into a spectrum of different colors. The prism separates the light by refracting, or bending, light of different
colors at different angles. Red light bends the least and violet light bends the most.

A. Refraction 
-Is the bending of light when it passes from one kind of material into another. Because light travels at a different
speed in different materials, it must change speeds at the boundary between two materials. If a beam of light hits this
boundary at an angle, then light on the side of the beam that hits first will be forced to slow down or speed up before
light on the other side hits the new material. This makes the beam bend, or refract, at the boundary. Light bouncing off
an object underwater, for instance, travels first through the water and then through the air to reach an observer’s eye.
From certain angles an object that is partially submerged appears bent where it enters the water because light from the
part underwater is being refracted.

B.Reflection 
Also occurs when light hits the boundary between two materials. Some of the light hitting the boundary will be
reflected into the first material. If light strikes the boundary at an angle, the light is reflected at the same angle, similar to
the way balls bounce when they hit the floor.

Kinds of reflection
1. Specular reflection- if the surface is so smooth and polished that the reflected rays are not scattered.
2. Diffuse reflection- when reflected light is scattered by a rough or matter surface.

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C. Scattering or Diffraction
-Occurs when the atoms of a transparent material are not smoothly distributed over distances greater than the
length of a light wave, but are bunched up into lumps of molecules or particles. The sky is bright because molecules and
particles in the air scatter sunlight. Light with higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths is scattered more than light
with lower frequencies and longer wavelengths.

MEDIUMS OF LIGHT

Objects that influence the intensity of light as they may reflect absorb or transmit.
Mediums of light maybe classified as:

1. TRANSPARENT OBJECTS – mediums that merely slow down the speed of light but allow to pass freely in other
respects, transmit 90% or more of the incident light.

2. TRANSLUCENT OBJECTS – mediums that allow light to pass through it in such a way that the outline of the source
of light is not clearly visible, transmit 50% or less of the incident light.

3. OPAQUE OBJECTS – A medium that divert or absorb light, but does not allow lights to pass though, they absorb
most of the light while reflecting some of it.

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THE RAT LAW
When incident light hits a medium, three things might happen, the light maybe:

Reflected
Absorbed
Transmitted

COLORS OF LIGHT FOUND IN VISIBLE SPECTRUM

Visible Spectrum - a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum where the visible light is found, the portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum that affect the human sense of sight. Visible light includes all those radiation having a
wavelength ranging from 400 – 700 mu.

COLOR

Primary Colors Approximate Wavelength

Red (longest wavelength) 700 mu
Blue 450 mu
Green 550 mu

Complementary Colors
A. Magenta (shortest wavelength) 400 mu
B. Cyan 500 mu
C. Yellow 590 mu

Neutral Color
Gray
White
Black

COLOR MIXING

1. Color Addition
R+B+G = W
R+B= M M+Y= W
R+G= Y M+C=W
B+G= C Y+C=W

2. Color Subtraction
W-R= C W-C=R C-G=B
W-B=Y W-Y=B Y-G=R
W-G=M W-M=G Y-R=G

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COLORS

The three primary colors in light are red, green and blue. White light can be made by mixing red, blue and green.
The process of making colors by mixing primary colors of light is called addition, because one color is added to another.

Colors made by combining two primary colors are called secondary colors. They are yellow (red and green), cyan
(blue and green) and magenta (blue and red). When the primary colors are mixed in different proportions any color at all
can be produced.

Painted objects do not produce their own light, they reflect light, when objects look red, because it is reflecting
only red light to our eyes. To do this, it absorbed the other primary colors in the white light it is reflecting. It absorbed
green and blue and reflects red.

PRIMARY COLORS FORMULA SECONDARY COLORS

1. Red Red + Blue Magenta
2. Blue Blue + Green Cyan
3. Green Green + Red Yellow

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