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DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

COMPLETE
COURSE
 Contents
Getting started 6
DK LONDON

01 MAKING YOUR

WEEK
Senior art editor Phil Gamble
Senior editor Chauney Dunford
Managing art editor Lee Griffiths FIRST PHOTOS 25
Managing editor Gareth Jones
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf
What makes a good photo? 26 Settings and subjects 28
Art director Phil Ormerod Importing images 30 Shooting different subjects 32
Publisher Liz Wheeler Reviewing your shots 36 Using post-production fixes 38
Jacket editor Claire Gell What have you learned? 40
Jacket designer Mark Cavanagh

02
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT

WEEK
Pre-production producer Nikoleta Parasaki, Gillian Reid
Producer Mandy Inness FOCUSING 41
Illustrations Phil Gamble, Peter Bull
Where should you focus? 42 Manual and autofocus 44
Produced for DK by Tall Tree Ltd
Selecting autofocus points 46 Focusing for effect 48
Editors Joe Fullman, Camilla Hallinan, Jon Richards
Designers Malcolm Parchment, Ed Simkins, Jonathan Vipond Reviewing your shots 52 Sharpening a photo 54
What have you learned? 56
DK Delhi

03
Project editor Antara Moitra
USING SHOOTING

WEEK
Assistant editor Ira Pundeer
Managing editor Pakshalika Jayaprakash MODES 57
Senior DTP designers Vishal Bhatia, Harish Aggarwal
Pre-production manager Balwant Singh Which mode is right? 58 Basic camera modes 60
Picture researcher Deepak Negi Scene modes 62 Exposure compensation 64
Jacket designer Dhirendra Singh
Exploring camera modes 66 Reviewing your shots 68
Managing jackets editor Saloni Singh
Adjusting brightness 70 What have you learned? 72
Revision Consultant David Taylor

04 GETTING THE
WEEK

Written by David Taylor, Tracy Hallett, Paul Lowe, Paul Sanders

First published in Great Britain in 2015. This edition published
in 2021 by Dorling Kindersley Limited, One Embassy Gardens,
8 Viaduct Gardens, London, SW11 7BW
Copyright © 2015, 2021
Dorling Kindersley
A Penguin Random House Company
RIGHT EXPOSURE 73
Assessing exposure 74 Controlling exposure 76
The exposure meter 78 Fine-tuning exposure 80
Exploring exposure 82 Reviewing your shots 84
Reducing noise 86 What have you learned? 88

05 ACHIEVING THE RIGHT

WEEK

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
001–319148–Jan/2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the copyright owner.
CONTRAST 89
What is the right contrast? 90 The effects of contrast 92
Dynamic range 94 Shooting an HDR photo 96
Playing with contrast 98 Reviewing your shots 100
Adjusting contrast 102 What have you learned? 104

06 USING DEPTH
WEEK

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library.
OF FIELD 105
ISBN 978-0-2414-4661-4
What is depth of field? 106 Depth of field 108 Using
Printed in China
shallow depth of field 110 Using deep depth of field 112
Exploring depth of field 114 Reviewing your shots 116
Adjusting depth of field 118 What have you learned? 120
For the curious

07
www.dk.com
WEEK

This book was made with Forest Stewardship
Council ™ certified paper – one small step in
DK’s commitment to a sustainable future.
For more information go to
www.dk.com/our-green-pledge
LENSES 121
Which lens should you use? 122 Primes versus zooms 124
Lens distortions 126 Changing perspective 128
Testing out lenses 130 Reviewing your shots 132
Correcting lens problems 134 What have you learned? 136
 08 WIDE-ANGLE
15 THE COLOUR

WEEK
WEEK

LENSES 137 OF LIGHT 249

Assessing wide-angle shots 138 Wide-angle The quality of light 250 Colour and white balance 252
perspectives 140 Shooting landscapes 142 Setting white balance 254 Using white balance 256
Using a wide-angle lens 144 Reviewing your shots 148 Reviewing your shots 260 The Colour Balance tool 262
Fixing perspective 150 What have you learned? 152 What have you learned? 264

09 TELEPHOTO
16 USING NATURAL
WEEK

WEEK
LENSES 153 LIGHT 265
Assessing telephoto shots 154 Telephoto perspectives 156 Can you read light? 266 Light and shadow 268
Photographing wild animals 158 Using a telephoto lens 160 Using light and shade 270 Playing with light 272
Reviewing your shots 164 Creating a panoramic photo 166 Reviewing your shots 276 The Levels tool 278
What have you learned? 168 What have you learned? 280

10 TAKING CLOSE-UP
17 WORKING WITH
WEEK

WEEK
PHOTOS 169 FLASH 281
How close is close-up? 170 Close-ups versus macros 172 What does flash do? 282 Using a flashgun 284
Shooting a close-up 174 Exploring close-ups 176 Using flash off-camera 286 Using fill-flash 288
Reviewing your shots 180 The Adjustment Reviewing your shots 292 Reducing red eye 294
Brush tool 182 What have you learned? 184 What have you learned? 296

11 CONVEYING
18 WORKING IN
WEEK
WEEK

MOVEMENT 185 LOW LIGHT 297

Looking at movement 186 Freeze and blur 188 When does low light work? 298 Ambient light 300
Mastering panning shots 190 Freezing movement 192 Using a wider aperture 302 Using constant light 304
Freezing and panning 194 Reviewing your shots 196 Shooting in low light 306 Reviewing your shots 308
Adding blur 198 What have you learned? 200 Lightening key areas 310 What have you learned? 312

12 HOW TO
19 BLACK AND
WEEK

WEEK

COMPOSE 201 WHITE 313

Looking at composition 202 The “rules” of composition 204 Will black and white work? 314 Colour to black and
Lines, curves, and diagonals 206 Using the rule of thirds 208 white 316 Shooting in black and white 318 Removing
Using composition 210 Reviewing your shots 212 colour 320 Reviewing your shots 324 Black-and-
Cropping photos 214 What have you learned? 216 white conversion 326 What have you learned? 328

13 COMPOSE LIKE
20 WORKING ON
WEEK

WEEK

AN EXPERT 217 A PROJECT 329

Assessing composition 218 Contrast and composition 220 Which project suits you? 330 The perfect photo story 332
Capturing reflections 222 Mastering composition 224 Editing a photoshoot 334 Taking on a project 336
Reviewing your shots 228 Targeted adjustment 230 Reviewing your project 340 Adding keywords 342
What have you learned? 232 What have you learned? 344

14 LESSONS IN
WEEK

COLOUR 233 What next? 345

The importance of colour 234 Colour relationships 236
Glossary 350
Optimizing colour 238 Playing with colour 240 Index 354
Reviewing your shots 244 Adjusting colour 246
What have you learned? 248 Acknowledgements 359
 GETTING STARTED

How to use this book

Photography is more popular than ever before, Answers are located
with billions of photos shot and shared each year. in the top right-
If photography has never been so popular it hand corner
is largely because it has never been so simple. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

ANSWERS
H/ 4: Close-up of sugared almonds D/ 5: Climber on a mountain ridge 14
G/ 3: Sound-asleep baby C/ 7: Colourful Indian powders

The importance of colour

WEEK
F/ 1: Stone arches B/ 2: Bright orange chrysanthemum

Sophisticated modern cameras make it easy to

E/ 6: Jug of milk on a piece of cloth A/8: Yellow and blue hot-air balloon

1 3 4 6 8

shoot and upload photos, while editing software

can give dramatic results. The downside is that 5

this exciting technology makes it all too tempting 2

to ignore the fundamentals of photography.

This book is a comprehensive guide to Vivid colours, such as red,
tend to dominate the frame
A Maximum contrast: Blue and
yellow create a powerful contrast.
E Neutral shades: Interior
designers like neutral colours
because they highlight texture.
NEED TO KNOW
B Vivid colours: Complementary ◾ Black is not strictly a colour (more ◾ Colour can have a powerful

photographic principles. It is divided into 20

even when used in small
quantities, while neutral
colours, such as beige, are
restful and recessive. Read
these descriptions and match
colours, such as orange and blue,
are vibrant and grab attention.
C Pure hues: Colours that are not
mixed with white, grey, or black
can be more exciting to the eye.
F Low contrast: Low-contrast
colours are perfect for revealing
architectural details.
G Gentle tones Soft, neutral
colours can be restful.
the absence of colour), while white is
composed of all colours.
◾ Neutral colours, such as magnolia
and stone, are recessive and make ideal
blank canvases for interior designers.
◾ Complementary colours sit opposite
psychological affect on the viewer.
For example, blue is restful, while
red is considered energizing.
◾ Some colours are perceived as
being heavier than others – black,
for instance, is often thought of as Review these

modules, each of which follows the same step-

each one to an image.
D Small amounts: Strong colours,
such as red, attract attention,
even in small quantities.
H Pastels: When soft colours each other on a colour wheel, whereas “weightier” than white. points and see
are combined, the result can how they relate
analogous colours sit next to each other
be soothing. on the colour wheel (see pp.236–237). to the photos
shown here

by-step pattern and can be tackled in one week.

234 / LESSONS IN COLOUR LESSONS IN COLOUR / 235

By the end you will understand what it takes to 1 Test your knowledge

Introductory quizzes test what you

make a good photo, and you will be a confident,
already know about each subject.
well-rounded photographer with a broad range
of skills and knowledge.

Inspirational yet achievable

Briefs tell you the where, what, photos showcase the range
how, and why of each assignment of effects you can create
PRACTISE AND EXPERIMENT Pro tip: You can take inspiration from painters as
well as photographers. Vincent van Gogh was highly 14 ASSESS YOUR RESULTS The chief function of colour should 14
adept at using complementary colours. If you study

Exploring colour Evaluating colour be to serve expression.

WEEK

WEEK
his painting The Starry Night, you will see a yellow/
orange moon and stars set against a blue/purple sky. HENRI MATISSE

These assignments involve experimenting with
colour in a number of ways, including creating
contrast using complementary colours, placing
a vivid colour against a subdued backdrop,
reducing saturation, and using analogous colours.
USE ANALOGOUS COLOURS
EASY INDOORS OR OUTDOORS
45 MINUTES A SUBJECT DISPLAYING
BASIC + tripod ANALOGOUS COLOURS
By limiting your colour palette to small groups
of adjacent colours, you can create restful images.
◾ Use the colour wheel to select some analogous
colours, such as blue, blue-green, and green.
◾ Look for examples of analogous colours
occurring naturally. For example, if you head
outside on an autumn day you are likely to find
orange, yellow, and green in woodlands.
Analogous colours
◾ Use image-editing software to desaturate the
colours and reduce the contrast between them.
Apply any adjustments sensitively though, or
your picture could end up looking faded.
STANDING OUT Having learned how colour can be used to Have you achieved contrast between two colours? Have you achieved
Colours that sit opposite (or nearly opposite) one colour harmony?
MEDIUM INDOORS OR OUTDOORS
influence emotion, produce contrast, or create
another on the colour wheel produce striking contrast. Colours that sit next to
These bright red poppies stand out harmony, it’s time to choose some of your In this image, the blue of the butterfly looks vibrant each other on the colour
1 HOUR A SUBJECT WITH ONE KEY COLOUR
against the pale strands of wheat
BASIC + tripod AMONG MORE SUBDUED TINTS best images and run through this checklist. set against the orange of the leaves. What other wheel are extremely
complementary colours work well with each other? harmonious. The purple
Look at each shot and ask yourself how colour
and blue in this scene
Setting one bold colour against the tints, tones, or affects your feelings towards the subject. work well together.
shades of another will allow it to take centre stage.
◾ Search for a subject with pale or neutral tones
and introduce one bold colour, such as red.
◾ Make sure the colour you introduce is relevant
and in keeping with the scene. These bright flowers,
for example, suggest new life against the ripened
wheat stalks.
◾ Select an AF point or switch to manual focus to
ensure the viewer’s attention is drawn to the right
place if the bold colour is not centrally positioned.
◾ Use image-editing software to enhance the
key colour once you have secured your shot, or
desaturate the supporting colours even more.

KIT: COLOUR CALIBRATING

MAKING A COMPLEMENT Sometimes the colour, brightness, and contrast Can you combine vivid Can you limit the
EASY INDOORS OR OUTDOORS of the pictures you print bear little relation to the colours and neutrals? colour palette?
45 MINUTES A SUBJECT WITH
way they look on your computer screen. To solve Neutral colours create the ideal This image uses different
COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS
this problem, you need to calibrate your monitor. backdrop for vibrant colours. shades and tones of
BASIC + tripod
A colour calibration device (see p.347) tunes Here, the grey jumper in brown, giving it a simple,
your display to a reference standard, ensuring the background makes the streamlined look.
Graphic designers and painters are all aware that consistency across multiple devices. lollipop look even more
when a colour is used with its complement, both hues bright and colourful.
appear brighter. Use a colour wheel to select a pair of WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
complementary colours, such as red and green or
yellow and blue, and find subjects with those colours. ◾ The use of complementary colours result in Is the image
vibrant, eye-catching photographs. warm or cool?
◾ Give the colours a boost by playing with Picture Does one colour
A calibration ◾ When a key colour is a pure hue, the effect We often think of colours
Styles on your camera, or in post-production. dominate?
device fixes to can be dramatic, but it still needs to be relevant Colours of pure hue dominate as being either warm or
◾ Keep your composition simple, and exclude
the front of to the subject. the frame, and should be Are you aware of any colour psychology? Do you find any colours distracting? cool. Morning light often
anything that doesn’t reinforce the contrast ◾ Analogous colours lead to calm compositions,
your monitor used with caution. The car Green is a colour we associate with nature In this picture, the red takes our eye appears much cooler than
between the two colours. but they need to be adjusted sensitively. here occupies a small part and tranquillity, so when it features heavily in first, before shifting to the blue. If you had evening light when glorious
of the picture, but our eye the frame, such as here, the result can be used two recessive colours, it would be hard sunsets, such as this one,
Red and green are complementary colours is naturally drawn to it. wonderfully serene. to know where to look first. can be captured.

240 / LESSONS IN COLOUR LESSONS IN COLOUR / 241 244 / LESSONS IN COLOUR LESSONS IN COLOUR / 245

4 Practise and experiment 5 Assess your results

Themed creative assignments Interactive image galleries identify and

help you to apply your new troubleshoot common problems and show
photographic skills. you how to avoid mistakes in the future.

6 / GET TING STARTED


UNDERSTAND THE THEORY
Colour relationships
White light can be split into a rainbow
of colours using a prism. The resulting
spectrum can be expressed as a wheel
divided into primary colours (red,
yellow, and blue), secondary colours
(orange, green, and violet), and tertiary
colours (red-orange, yellow-orange,
yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet,
and red-violet). Many of the choices we
make about colour are intuitive, but
you can improve your images by better
understanding colour relationships and
their impact.
COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS
These colours sit opposite
one another on the colour
wheel. If complementary
colours in a scheme are
pure hues (with no grey,
white, or black added),
they create maximum
contrast. When they are
put together, each makes
the other more intense.
ANALOGOUS COLOURS
These colours sit next to
each other on the colour
wheel. Using small groups
of analogous colours can
create lovely compositions, composition, add
but they harmonize so well use one colour to
that you might need to
introduce tension.
236 / LESSONS IN COLOUR
2 Understand the theory
Graphic theory spreads
demystify the principles
that underpin each topic.
Before...
ENHANCE YOUR IMAGES
Adjusting colour
5 6
Adjust the Lightness
Click on the Lightness slider
and enter a value, or drag it to
the left to make colours darker
or to the right to make the
colours lighter.
you can see the effects
Lightness +10
246 / LESSONS IN COLOUR
6 Enhance your images
Step-by-step tutorials explain
how to use post-production
techniques to give your
photos extra polish.
Photography is still a very new medium
and everything must be tried and dared.
BILL BRANDT
COLOUR BASICS
1 PRIMARY
Red, yellow, and blue are the primary
colours in the traditional colour wheel.
SECONDARY
2 amounts, the result
Made by mixing two or more primary
colours, the secondary colours are
orange, green,
and violet.
1 BL
3 TERTIARY
Created by mixing
a primary and a
secondary colour,
or two secondary
colours, together.
GE
AN
-OR
3 1
YELLOW
When used in large
doses, complementary
colours can tire the
NGE
eyes, so consider
using with caution.
OR A
2 together is challenging but
To strengthen a
a primary colour, or
dominate, one colour
The colour wheel
to support, and one
to add an accent. illustrates the relationship
between the colours.
1 2
Hue is another word for
colour, saturation refers to
the intensity of a hue, and
lightness describes the
amount of black or white
mixed with a hue. Many
pictures benefit from a quick
tweak to one or all of these
settings, but it’s important
not to be too heavy-handed
– push the saturation too far
in a portrait and skin will
look unnatural and blotchy.
7
Specify the range of
colours to be adjusted
Create a New Adjustment Layer to
adjust a specific colour range and
select your chosen colour from the
drop-down menu. Between the
two colour bars at the bottom are
two sliders with four adjustment
points. The centre points define
the range to be adjusted. The
outer points define the extent to
which similar colours are affected.
Click on Preview so
of your changes
Preview
Artworks show
you where to find
settings and tools
Colours speak all 14 LEARN THE SKILLS Where to start: Find a scene, such as a landscape, You will learn: How to choose a Picture Style, how
14
that could do with an improvement in sharpness, to adjust sharpness, contrast, saturation, and colour
languages.
WEEK
contrast, saturation, or colour tone. tone in-camera, and how to customize and register
Optimizing colour
WEEK
JOSEPH ADDISON a Picture Style for fast and easy access.
Shade (+ black)
TRIADIC COLOURS
Tone (+ grey)
1 2 3 4
Schemes using three
Sometimes, the colours Attach a suitable lens Select a picture mode Check the metering Choose a Picture Style
Tint (+ white) colours that are equidistant
from each other on the recorded by your camera don’t Choose a lens to suit the result Attach your camera to a mode and the ISO With your composition and exposure perfected, select a
Pure colour colour wheel are known If all three colours produce the effect you desire. you’re after as Picture Styles can tripod and choose a picture mode. Choose a metering mode to Picture Style from the Shooting menu. The Landscape option,
3 2 are used in similar be applied to any subject. For Select Aperture Priority and set a for instance, offers punchy greens and blues.
as triadic. The triadic
To keep post-production to suit your subject and the light
example, if you are taking a photo small aperture to obtain a deep
scheme produces good can be overpowering, conditions. With this landscape,
contrast while retaining a minimum, you can apply of a landscape, you should use depth of field. which has plenty of midtones and
REEN GREE so choose one colour
W-G N a sense of harmony. to dominate. parameters to your pictures a wide-angle lens to maintain low contrast between the sky and
LLO
YE front-to-back sharpness. foreground, it would be best to set
in-camera. For example, if
3 the metering mode to default.
UE SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS your landscape lacks bright Aperture
O
W - Priority
This model echoes the colours, you can boost the
LL
GR
YE
complementary scheme saturation before taking
EE
Picture Style
Each Picture
N
by using one base colour
(such as green) and the This mix displays
your shot. Style has a
Standard 3 0 0 0
Portrait 2 0 0 0
two colours on either strong contrast but different level Landscape 4 0 0 0
less visual tension of sharpness,
side of its complement than images using
Neutral 0 0 0 0
Set the ISO contrast,
(for red, this means two colours that
Faithful 0 0 0 0
to the lowest saturation, and
orange and violet). are complementary. Keep rocks and trees in Monochrome 3 0 N N
BLU
shot to frame the image sensitivity colour tone
E
TETRADIC COLOURS
Four colours arranged WHAT HAVE
in complementary pairs
on the colour wheel are 5 Change the
parameters 6 Save the Picture Style
If you’ve found a combination 7 Activate Live View
By switching the camera to
YOU LEARNED?
BLUE-
known as tetradic colours. Allow one colour to of settings that you think you Live View, you can see how your ◾ Common Picture Styles
Adjust each of the parameters.
Balancing four strongly dominate, or subdue
the other colours by Sharpness, saturation, and might use regularly, you can save Picture Style will affect the image. include Standard, Portrait,
contrasting colours
VIO
3 using them as tints, contrast can all be increased or the Picture Style in the camera to If the result is not what you want, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful,
tones, or shades. use later. Some cameras even let you can make further adjustments
LET
decreased. Colour tone can be and Monochrome.
offers scope for variation. you set how a certain Picture Style before taking more shots.
changed from reddish to yellowish. ◾ Each of these has a
handles individual colours. different level of sharpness,
contrast, saturation, and
MONOCHROMATIC COLOURS
Alter the colour tone preset.
settings
E
NG
◾ All of these parameters
VI
A
Variations of the same hue
O
can be adjusted before you
R
LE
O
(colour) are referred to as
T
D-
RE take a photo.
3 2 monochromatic colours.
Monochromatic
HDR Sport
The words tint, shade, and Detail set Landscape
schemes (containing
tone mean subtly different
RED
Sharpness
RED
-VIO tints, shades, and - +
Save your
things: tint is a hue with
LET - +
Contrast
tones of the same best images and
white added; shade is a hue) can be very Saturation - +
soothing due to the Colour tone - + review them later
hue with black added; tone Portrait Landscape
1 3 lack of contrast. (see pp. 240–241)
is a hue with grey added.
Save your settings
LESSONS IN COLOUR / 237
238 / LESSONS IN COLOUR LESSONS IN COLOUR / 239
Illustrations 3 Learn the skills
help explain Step-by-step guided shoots show you
key concepts how to master the essential techniques.
Pro tip: You can save any Hue/Saturation settings
you have made, reload them later, and apply them 14 REVIEW YOUR PROGRESS
to other images that feature the same subjects.
What have you learned?
WEEK
Understanding how colour affects emotions will help you to use 11 Schemes containing tints, tones,
3 4
Create a New Choose all colours Change the Hue Alter the Saturation it to your advantage. Certain colours may encourage feelings and shades of the same colour are
of peace and serenity, while others could bring energy and described as what?
Adjustment Layer or a Preset range Click on the Hue slider and Click on the Saturation slider
A Monochromatic
Click on the New Adjustment Open the drop-down menu at the enter a value, or drag it to the left and drag it to the left to decrease dynamism. See how much you have learned by taking this quiz. B Split-complementary
Layer button in the Layers panel top of the Hue/Saturation dialog or right. Major adjustments can intensity or to the right to increase C Secondary
change colours completely. it. Excessive boosting can raise
to create a new layer. This will box. This allows you to adjust all 6 Neutral colours tend to do
protect your original file while the colours at once or target a noise levels in the photo. what in a composition?
you alter the Hue and Saturation. particular range, such as reds. A Reflect B Recede C Refract
The Hue/Saturation dialog box
Multiple-
has sliders for Hue, Saturation,
and Lightness, and you will see
Master 7 Picture Styles can be used
two coloured bars at the bottom. to adjust sharpness, contrast,
Reds
colour tone, and what else?
The top bar shows the colour Yellows A Depth of field
choice
before adjustment, and the B Composition
Greens C Saturation
bottom bar shows how any
12 How do you make sure the
change will alter the colour Cyans colours you print match those
Pictures
+6 +10 1 Colours opposite one another 8 Which colour, even when
Hue Saturation on your computer?
questions
Blues on the colour wheel are described used in small qualities, will
as what? A Hold the print up to the screen
dominate the frame?
B Calibrate your monitor
A Triadic B Complementary C Tetradic A Yellow B Red C Green C Refresh the ink in your printer
from the
COLOUR SPLASH
2 Which of the following
Confirm your The colours in the image Keeping one colour intact
13 Reducing saturation can create
describes a hue with added white? pictures with what kind of look?
adjustments have been enhanced, while the others are converted A Tint B Tone C Shade
while the lightness has A Nostalgic B Modern C Harmonious
When you’re happy with your to black and white can be fun.
module help
been slightly decreased.
Hue/Saturation adjustments, In post-production, the red
flatten the adjustment layer. If you umbrella was isolated from 3 Which of the following colours 14 The period just before sunset
feel you may want to come back the others, all of which were carries more visual weight? and after sunrise is described
and make further alteration, keep then turned to black. A Blue B Black C White as what?
refresh your
the adjustment layer; you will A The Late Hour
need to save your file as a 9 Where do analogous colours B The Witching Hour
4 Orange and yellow are what
Photoshop PSD or Tiff file. sit on the colour wheel? C The Golden Hour
sort of colours?
A Complementary colours A Behind each other
Click OK to save
memory
B Analogous colours B Opposite each other 15 What colour is produced when
any changes C Next to each other
C Tetradic colours red and yellow are mixed?
A Orange
OK 5 Which of the following 10 Tetradic colours form which B Blue
C Magenta
describes a hue with added black? shape on the colour wheel?
A Shade B Tone C Tint A Rectangle B Triangle C Hexagon
Answers 1/ B, 2/ A, 3/ B, 4/ B, 5/ A, 6/ B, 7/ C, 8/ B, 9/ C, 10/ A, 11/ A, 12/ B, 13/ A, 14/ C, 15/ A.
LESSONS IN COLOUR / 247 248 / LESSONS IN COLOUR
... and 7 Review your progress
after shots End-of-module tests assess
what you’ve learned, and see
whether you’re ready to move
on to the next module.
GET TING STARTED / 7
 GETTING STARTED

Camera types
Improving your photography means taking full
control of your camera. Many smartphones and
compact cameras lock you out or restrict control
of certain aspects of photography, such as the
ability to set exposure. To get the best out of
this book, it’s highly recommended that you use
either a bridge camera (also known as a hybrid
or prosumer) or an interchangeable lens system
camera (or system camera for short). The latter
type is preferable because, as the name suggests,
you can swap lenses to suit a particular task.
System cameras also let you expand their
capabilities by adding other accessories, such
as flashguns. System cameras can be neatly split
into two groups: digital single lens reflex (dSLR)
and mirrorless.

COMPARING CAMERAS
TYPE PROS CONS

Cameraphone ◾ Easy to carry around ◾ Fixed focal length lens

◾ Apps allow you to alter images ◾ Resolution and image quality
can be restrictive

Compact ◾ Easy to carry around ◾ Limited number of physical

◾ Inexpensive
◾ Good zoom lens range
controls on camera body
◾ Restricted range of
shooting modes
◾ Low-light capability is lacking
◾ Often can’t shoot RAW

Bridge / ◾ More control over exposure ◾ Lower image quality than

Prosumer than compact or cameraphones system cameras
◾ Relatively inexpensive ◾ Zoom lens is fixed, so less
versatile than system cameras

System ◾ Image quality ◾ Bulky

◾ Expandable capability ◾ More expensive
◾ Versatile

8 / GET TING STARTED

 WHICH SYSTEM CAMERA?
DSLR
Light is reflected by
mirror to pentaprism
and Viewfinder
Optical Viewfinder: Image from lens is projected
via mirror and pentaprism to the Viewfinder.
Advantages
◾ Based on older film-based systems, so wide
range of lenses and accessories available
◾ Focusing is often quicker than in
mirrorless cameras
◾ Excellent battery life
Disadvantages
◾ Camera bodies and lenses tend to be larger
than mirrorless systems
◾ Need to switch to Live View mode to preview
images on-screen
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
It’s fun to buy accessories for your camera, though
some are more useful than others. Below are the
accessories you’ll need for this book.
◾ Kit lens (see pp.121–125)
◾ Wide-angle zoom (see pp.124–125, 137–141)
◾ Telephoto zoom (see pp.124–125, 153–157)
MIRRORLESS
Lack of mirror
system makes the
camera more compact
LCD or electronic Viewfinder: Image from sensor
is fed directly to the LCD or Viewfinder.
Advantages
◾ Purely digital system, so lenses are optimized
for shooting digital images
◾ Relatively small size and weight
◾ Frame rate (the number of shots a camera can
shoot per second) is generally higher than dSLRs
Disadvantages
◾ Battery life less than dSLR
◾ Not every mirrorless camera has a viewfinder
◾ Tripod (see p.16)
◾ Remote release (see p.17)
◾ Filters (see p.17)
◾ Adobe Photoshop or similar (see pp.22–23)
◾ Memory card and card reader (see p.24)
◾ Flashgun (see pp.282–285)
GET TING STARTED / 9
 GETTING STARTED

How a camera sees

Inside every digital camera Exposing an image
is a light-sensitive surface A digital sensor is covered in
called a digital sensor. When millions of microscopic cavities
known as photosites. When
you press the shutter button to exposed to light, particles of
take a photo, the sensor collects light (photons) fall into the
and records the exact amount photosites. When the exposure
ends, the camera meticulously
of light that falls onto it. This counts the number of photons
information is then converted in each photosite and uses this
in-camera into the data that’s information to create a photo.
Sensor is exposed The darkest areas of the image are
needed to make a digital image.
to light when the those where the fewest photons
shutter is open were recorded by the photosites.
Brighter areas are where more
photons were recorded.
Seeing the light
1 Light either reaches the camera
direct from the light source (1) –
this is known as incident light – Shutter button
or it bounces off objects in a scene
2
before it reaches the camera (2).
This is known as reflected light.

Converting light
In order to create a sharp photo, light must be focused
precisely onto the sensor. This is achieved through the Lens
use of a glass (or plastic) optical system known as a focuses
lens. The amount of light reaching the sensor is the light
Aperture controls
controlled by two physical mechanisms. the amount of light
allowed through
The first is an iris inside the lens
Object reflects
known as the aperture. The second When you press the shutter
light
is a mechanical curtain called the button, the shutter opens to
shutter that sits directly in front reveal the sensor, stays open for
of the sensor. These two controls a period known as the shutter
effectively work like a tap that speed, and closes. The camera
Light passes analyses the light and produces
enables you to turn on and
through an image which is written to the
off the flow of photons
camera lens memory card.
reaching the sensor.

10 / GET TING STARTED

 Pro tip: If no photons are recorded by a photosite, Pro tip: If photosites are filled to capacity, then those
then those areas will be recorded as black in the final areas will be recorded as white in the photo and are
photo and are said to be underexposed. said to be overexposed.

Shutter
closed Colour
Memory card
A photosite on its own only
records levels of brightness.
To record colour, a colour filter –
Shutter red, green, or blue – is placed
open over each photosite. This filtration
blocks colours of light that are
dissimilar to the filter. A cluster
of one red, two green, and one
blue photosite is combined by
Shutter
closed the camera to make up one pixel
in the final photo.
Four photosites
equals one pixel
Red filter blocks
green and blue light
Green filter blocks
red and blue light
Blue filter blocks
green and red light

Sensor, covered There are two green-filtered

in photosites photosites per four-pixel
array, replicating how the
human eye sees colour

RGB COLOUR PROFILE

Red, green, and blue are primary colours. 1 Red and green combined
By combining red, green, and blue in different 5 at maximum intensity
proportions it is possible to create all the colours produce yellow.
the human eye can see. 2 Green and blue
◾ In a digital photo, the relative proportions of 1 3 produce cyan.
red, green, and blue are represented by three 4 3 Red and blue
numbers, one each for red, green, and blue in produce magenta.
2 4 All colours combined
that order (commonly shortened to RGB).
produce white.
◾ This range starts at 0, which represents an
5 No colour produces black.
absence of colour, and ends at 255, which
represents a colour at maximum intensity.

GET TING STARTED / 11

 GETTING STARTED
Anatomy of a dSLR
Modern digital cameras are
far more complex devices than
their film-based cousins. A
digital camera is essentially a
computer designed solely for
creating pictures. This involves
a large number of external
dials and menu options to
control the camera’s functions,
which will vary from model
to model. Fortunately, once
you’ve mastered one camera,
it’s generally simple to get to
grips with another, particularly
if you stick to the same brand.
BASE
2 a photo before you take it.
1
1 Tripod socket: Lets you mount
your camera on a tripod to increase
stability and avoid camera shake.
2 Battery compartment: The
camera’s rechargeable batteries
are fitted here.
12 / GET TING STARTED
FRONT
2 7
3
1
6
8
5
4
1 Infrared shutter release sensor: 5 Lens electronic contacts: Lets the
Lets you fire the shutter remotely. camera communicate with the lens to
set aperture and focus.
2 Shutter button: Opens the camera
shutter to expose the digital sensor to 6 Reflex mirror: Light from the lens
light and make a photo. is reflected up from the mirror to the
optical viewfinder.
3 Self-timer light: Flashes to indicate
the self-timer duration before the
shutter fires.
7 Lens mount index: Helps you align
your lens correctly when fitting it to
the camera.
4 Depth-of-field preview button:
Closes the lens’s aperture to let you 8 Lens release button: Disengages
preview the extent of sharpness in the lens mount, letting you
remove the lens from the camera.
TOP
3
5
6
4
1 7
Pro tip: Many cameras let you choose and save a Pro tip: Practice makes perfect. Regular use of your
range of custom shooting settings. This facility is a camera will help you find controls intuitively rather
useful way to configure a camera to your personal than needing to search for them.
style of shooting.

BACK
1 Menu and info buttons: Let you
change camera options and view
camera status.
2 Optical viewfinder: Shows the
image passed through the lens and
reflected off the reflex mirror.
3 LCD monitor: Shows camera
menus, Live View, and Playback.
4 Live View Stop/Start: Switches
between the optical viewfinder and
Live View mode.
SIDES
5 Playback button: Lets you review
and edit your photos or movies.
6 Control dial: Used to set camera 1
options when shooting images or
viewing menus. 2
7 Delete button: Erases photos
stored on the memory card. 4
3
8 AF button: Activates the camera’s
autofocus feature. 5
9 Zoom button: Magnifies photos in
Live View and Playback.
1 Flash button: Raises the
built-in flash.

2 Microphone socket: Allows the

2 8 fitting of an external microphone

when shooting movies.
1 4 9
3 Remote release socket: Used
to attach an optional cable-type
remote release.
5 4 HDMI socket: Lets you connect

3 your camera to an HDTV to

review your photos or movies.

5 Digital interface: Used to connect

6 your camera to a computer so you
can download photos and movies.
7
6 Memory card cover: A slot that
fits a memory card to store photos
and movies.

1 Mode dial: Lets you set the
required shooting mode.
2 On/Off switch: Turns the camera
on and off.
3 Built-in flash: A small built-in
flashgun, useful as a fill-in light.
4 Hot shoe: Mount for an
external flashgun.
5 Secondary control dial: Used
for setting the camera’s shooting
and menu functions.
6 Shooting option buttons: External
controls for setting a limited range of
shooting functions. 6
7 Top-plate LCD: Small LCD showing
the shooting options currently set
on the camera.

GET TING STARTED / 13

 GETTING STARTED

Using a camera
It’s easy to pick up a camera, press the shutter button, and make a photo.
What isn’t so easy is making a good photo, one that you’d be happy to show
others. Many factors influence how good or bad a photo is – starting with
how you handle your camera when shooting. A sloppy technique will lead
to disappointing photos no matter how exciting your subject. A good
technique will improve your chances of shooting a pleasing photo. 9 10
11

HOLDING A CAMERA
Camera shake is unsharpness in a photo
caused by camera movement during
3 shooting. Holding a camera incorrectly 8
is the most common cause. The heavier
2 the camera and lens combination, the
1 more important it is to support your 7
12
camera correctly.

Do Don’t

4 1 Use your left hand to 7 Let your camera bag

support the lens from unbalance you.
below.
8 Hold your elbows out
6
2 Grip the camera firmly. to the side of your body.

3 Look through the 9 Hold the camera away

camera’s Viewfinder if from your face.
it has one.
10 Jab sharply at the
4 Hold your elbows lightly camera shutter button.
against your body.
11 Leave the lens
5 Stand upright with your unsupported.
feet shoulder-width apart.
12 Lean at an awkward
6 Breathe in and then and unstable angle.
slowly out – gently press
the shutter button fully
down before breathing
back in.

Wear comfortable
A stable, relaxed stance footwear and keep both
makes camera shake and feet flat on the ground
5 fatigue less likely

14 / GET TING STARTED

Pro tip: Not all optical Viewfinders show you 100 per Pro tip: Leaning against a wall or supporting your
cent of the scene you’re shooting. Be aware of this camera on a fence post are easy ways to keep
limitation when composing your shots. the camera more stable when shooting handheld.

VIEWFINDERS AND LCD SCREENS

Using a Viewfinder (1) has several advantages
compared to using the rear LCD (2). When looking
through a Viewfinder, you rest the camera against
your face. This makes the camera more stable
when shooting handheld and lets
you concentrate more on a
shot without distraction.
However, there are
advantages to using a rear LCD as well. You can
zoom into the Live View display to check your
focus before shooting. It’s also easier to see the
effects of functions such as white balance on your
image before shooting. Fit your camera to a
tripod to avoid moving your camera and
altering your composition.

3
2 6

8 7

4 9
A 1.3” F5.6 ISO
100

Do Don’t

When composing, look around the edge of the
Viewfinder or LCD screen (3), not just at the centre.
Temporarily switch off icons and information (4) on the
LCD when composing as they may obscure key detail.
Set eyesight correction on a Viewfinder if necessary (5).
Use the image on the LCD as a guide to exposure (7).
Forget to check that the camera is focusing in the
right place (8).
Leave the LCD on for any longer than necessary –
switching it off will conserve battery power (9).

Set the correct brightness (6) for the LCD.

GET TING STARTED / 15

 GETTING STARTED

Helpful accessories
The appeal of using a system camera is that its capabilities
can be expanded by the addition of optional accessories.
Which accessories are right for you will depend on your
style of shooting. With so many options available, the
key to choosing a camera accessory is to be honest
with yourself. Only buy an accessory that you know
will either make your photographic life easier or will
lead to an improvement in your photography. 1
6

TRIPODS
2
A tripod supports a camera so that it doesn’t move during
an exposure. Height is adjusted by raising or lowering the length
of the tripod legs. Often a centre column allows you raise the 3
height of the camera still further. Tripods come either as legs only
or with a head permanently attached. Buying a tripod and head
separately is more costly, but means you can mix and match to
suit your needs. The two basic types of head are three-way (also
known as pan-and-tilt) and ball (or ball-and-socket).
4
5

1 Tripod head
THREE-WAY HEAD BALL HEAD
Camera orientation is Camera orientation is 2 Centre column lock
adjusted by moving the adjusted by loosening 3 Leg angle lock
head one of three ways a ball-and-socket joint.
using locking levers. 4 Centre column
Advantages
Advantages • Small size and weight 5 Tripod leg
• One axis can be • Good weight-to-
adjusted at a time strength ratio 6 Hand grip
• Inexpensive
Disadvantages 7 7 Leg extension lock
Disadvantages • Can be difficult to
• Relatively bulky make fine adjustments

16 / GET TING STARTED

 Pro tip: A tripod centre column lets you raise Pro tip: Photographers often fit a UV or skylight filter
the camera higher than would be possible with the to their lenses. These don’t affect exposure but can
tripod legs alone. However, raising the centre column help to protect the lens glass from damage.
can make the tripod less stable.

REMOTE RELEASE
A remote release lets you fire the shutter without
pressing the camera’s shutter button, so when
Keep the wire the camera is on a tripod you can’t accidentally
of the remote knock it when making a photo. Infrared remote
release loose to releases are wireless but have limited range.
avoid pulling the Cable remote releases attach to a dedicated
camera over socket on the camera and often have a switch
to lock the shutter open.

FILTERS
Filters are sheets of plastic, optical resin, or glass that,
when fitted to the front of a camera lens, adjust the
light passing through the lens. How the light is adjusted
depends on the filter.
◾ Some types of filters add colour to the light and
so add colour to the final photo. Warm-up filters,
for example, add yellow-orange to a shot.
◾ Other types of filter can be used to reduce the
amount of light entering the camera. These filters
are known as Neutral Density (ND) filters.
◾ Filters are bought in one of two forms:
screw-in or filter holder.

Adapter ring

Filter
holder
SCREW-IN Advantages
Circular filters that attach directly • Can be used on multiple
to the filter thread of a lens.
Filter lenses by fitting adapters
to the lenses
Advantages Disadvantages FILTER HOLDER
• Good range of • Often need to Disadvantages
Square filters slot into a • Initially expensive
types readily buy multiple filters
available if you have more filter holder that is attached • You get locked into one
• Inexpensive than one lens via an adapter to a lens. manufacturer’s filter system

GET TING STARTED / 17

 GETTING STARTED
Out and about
Buying a camera can involve a considerable
outlay of money. This can make for a slightly
nerve-wracking experience the first time you
take the camera out of the house. Ultimately
however, a camera should be used as often
as possible. It’s difficult to get to grips with a
camera unless you spend time making use of
it. As long you take certain precautions, there’s
no reason a camera should come to any harm
when you’re out shooting.
ANIMALS
Pets and domestic animals are easier to
photograph than wild animals, which are more
suspicious of people. Studying an animal’s
behaviour helps you to predict what it will
do. Spend time observing and waiting for
the right moment and you will be rewarded.
◾ Keep a low profile when shooting wild
animals. Wear drab clothing and shelter
behind cover whenever possible.
◾ The animal’s welfare is far more important
than any photo.
◾ Don’t cause any
unnecessary distress
to the animal. Don’t
disturb nests or dens.
◾ Be aware of your
own safety – a
frightened animal
may hurt you if
you’re blocking its
escape route or
getting too close
to its young.
18 / GET TING STARTED
WEATHER CONDITIONS
Cameras are generally reasonably rugged devices,
but they do have their limitations. Certain weather
conditions require extra care.
Heat ◾ Extreme heat can warp camera
components. Keep your camera in
the shade when it’s not in use.
◾ In dry conditions, keep lens
changes to a minimum to avoid
dust coating the camera’s sensor.
◾ Temperatures close to and
Cold
below 0°C drain battery power.
Keep a spare battery or two
warm inside your jacket to swap
when necessary.
◾ Cold fingers make a camera
harder to operate. Use gloves or
fingerless mittens.
Humidity ◾ If moving from a hot, humid
location to a cooler one, check for
condensation forming on the lens.
◾ Use a dry cloth to wipe
away condensation as soon as
it occurs. Keep the camera in a
warm, well-ventilated place to
dry it out still further.
Rain ◾ Cameras are often advertised
as weatherproof, but in the rain
the lens mount may let water in.
◾ Shelter your camera using a
waterproof cover or umbrella.
Check the front of the lens, too;
you may not notice rain spots
in your shots until you’re home.
 Pro tip: When you’re out taking photographs, don’t Pro tip: If you’re shooting in cold conditions and
be afraid to shoot more than you instinctively would; your camera has a touchscreen, use touchscreen
you can always edit out the unsuccessful shots later gloves so you can use the screen without exposing
when you get home. your fingers.

LANDSCAPES
Shooting landscapes invariably means being
outdoors in the countryside. This brings its own
challenges. Before you set off on a photography
expedition, let someone know where you’re going
and what time you plan to return.

◾ Check the weather before you leave and

dress appropriately.
◾ Take food and water with you, particularly if
you plan to be out for a full day.
◾ Don’t take unnecessary risks when shooting;
it’s all too easy to lose your footing.
◾ If you plan to shoot on private land, be sure to
ask permission first.
◾ Finally, be conservation-minded and cause
as little disruption or damage as possible to
the environment.

PEOPLE
It’s always easier to shoot photos of people who ◾ The use of a few
know and trust you. Many people dislike having local words – such
their photo taken: don’t cajole, gently persuade. as please and thank
Ultimately you need to respect your intended you – will go a
subject’s feelings; don’t press the matter if they long way when
really don’t want to have their photo taken. seeking permission
to shoot portraits
of strangers in a
◾ Always ask permission before you photograph foreign country.
children. This is a sensitive issue. Don’t shoot However, be aware
candid shots of children you don’t know, as this of boundaries.
may look suspicious.
◾ Be friendly and engage with your subject,
making the session a more personal affair.
Good humour goes a long way to achieving
some of the best results. ◾ Review each shot to check your subject’s facial
◾ Do not shoot in areas where taking photographs expression. Show them your shots, too, to get their
would be culturally insensitive. opinion; portraiture is not a one-way process.

GET TING STARTED / 19

 GETTING STARTED

The digital workspace

An appealing aspect of digital photography
is the low cost of shooting: once you’ve
bought your camera, each shot you
subsequently make is essentially free.
It’s all too easy to amass thousands of
shots. This can lead to tears of frustration
when you attempt to find one particular
shot out of a multitude, so it’s well worth
taking a disciplined approach to storing
your digital photos.

Distinctive as a photo may be,

without care it may soon
be lost in the crowd.

FILE TYPES JPEG OR RAW?

◾ JPEGs take up far less space
Image quality on a memory card compared
Saving in both with RAW.
RAW+ L 18M 5184x3456 [ 22 ]
RAW and JPEG ◾ JPEGs, once they’re on your
will give you computer, can be opened and
the best of L L M M S1 S1
used by many types of
both worlds software (such as word
S2 S3 RAW+ L RAW processors); a RAW file can
only be opened using special
RAW conversion software.
SET OK ◾ However, in order to make
the JPEG’s file size smaller,
For still images, system cameras let you choose very fine detail is thrown away
between two file types: JPEG or RAW. JPEG images
Memory card when the camera saves the file.
can be identified by the use of a .JPG suffix after the
space is used ◾ JPEGs also allow for far less
more quickly adjustment after shooting due
image file name. There is no standard RAW file
when shooting
suffix; each camera manufacturer produces its own to the loss of image quality.
RAW and JPEG
variation on the format, with a suffix unique to the RAW, though ultimately more
manufacturer: Nikon, for example, uses .NEF for its time-consuming to use, offers
RAW files, whereas Canon uses .CR2. more scope for fine-tuning.

20 / GET TING STARTED

 Pro tip: Cameras allow you to create new folders. Pro tip: New folders can be created when a memory
This is a good way to keep certain types of images card is attached to your computer. The folder must
(such as those from different shooting sessions) be created inside the DCIM folder on the memory
separate on a memory card. card and follow the folder naming convention.

FILE NAMES FOLDERS

Images are stored on a memory card in folders.
File naming You don’t Folders are named using a three-digit prefix
have to followed by three standard characters (depending on
use the the camera brand). The prefix is a consecutive count
camera’s of the folders created on the memory card.
File naming naming ◾ A folder can hold up to 9,999 images. When that
convention limit is reached, a new folder will be automatically
sRGB: IMGP_1234 once the created and images stored in the new folder from
photos are that point on.
on your
computer
Storage folder Create a folder
Digital cameras use a logical naming convention for for different
images: typically, a standard four-character prefix Select folder by number shooting
followed by a four-digit number. The prefix varies sessions to
between camera brands, but is generally standard keep photos
across a brand’s range of cameras.
1 0 2 separate
◾ The four-digit number is a consecutive count
of each image you shoot starting from 0001 and
ending in 9999. Some cameras let you reset the
count depending on certain conditions. 100 - 999 OK OK

CREATING A LOGICAL FILING SYSTEM

When camera file names reach
9999, the count is reset back
Rename only
to 0001 – after 10,000 shots,
the photos you
want to keep
there will be photos with the
same file name. Unique file
names help you locate a particular
1310_0318 1310_0317 1310_0316 1310_0315
shot, so renaming your photos
once they’re imported to your
computer is vital (see pp.30–31).
◾ Use a consistent file naming
system that’s easy to follow but
will never repeat.
1310_0310 1310_0309 1310_0308 1310_0307
◾ Group photos in logical folders,
such as animals › birds › eagles.
◾ Adding keywords to your
images will also help you find a
specific photo (see pp.342–343).

GET TING STARTED / 21

 GETTING STARTED

Post-production
It takes time and skill to get the exposure right
as well as the colour and contrast while taking
a photo. However, sometimes the final image
needs an extra polish after shooting. This can be
done using image-adjustment software installed
on your computer. Working on a photo after
shooting is known as post-production.
SOFTWARE
The most popular choice of image-adjustment
software is Adobe Photoshop and its variants,
Elements and Lightroom. Photoshop will be used
throughout this book. Don’t worry if you use
other software: many of the tools described are
common to most image-adjustment software.

Before

A Flat colour:
Photos that look
pale or washed out
D
often benefit from B
an increase in the
vividness of the
colours. This is E
known as increasing A
the colour saturation
(see pp.246–247). F

B Noise: This is seen as C Chromatic aberration:

a random gritty pattern Visible light is made of
that obscures fine detail different wavelengths on
in a photo. It is caused the spectrum of colours. A
by a camera’s electronics lens that can’t focus all the
corrupting the information wavelengths of light to the
in an image during exposure. same point will create red/
Noise reduction in post- green or magenta/blue
production can improve fringes around the edges of
things (see pp.86–87). objects (see pp.134–135).

22 / GET TING STARTED

 Pro tip: Tools to apply effects to photos are found in Pro tip: Always duplicate an image and carry out
the Filters menu. A particularly useful tool is the Lens any post-production work on the copy. That way
Correction tool that can be used to correct common you can return to the original if you don’t like any
lens problems such as distortion. of the digital adjustments you’ve made.

D Colour balance: Light isn’t E Deep shadows:

always neutral in colour. When light Uneven lighting causes
has a colour bias, such as red or high contrast between
blue, this will be seen in the final the brightness of a
photo unless corrected. Colour bias scene’s shadows and
can either be adjusted in-camera, highlights. The relative
using a function known as white brightness can be
balance, or later in post-production adjusted in the final
(see pp.253–263). photo (see pp.310–311).

After

F Cloning: Photos
are often marred by
overlooked details or
by dust on a camera’s
sensor. In post-
production, the
clone brush tool lets
you paint out areas
of a photo, using
details from another
part of the photo
(see pp.166–167).

OTHER POST-PRODUCTION ADJUSTMENTS

◾ Basic fixes (see pp.38–39) ◾ Fix perspective ◾ Add blur (see pp.198–199)
◾ Sharpen photos (see pp.54–55) (see pp.150–151) ◾ Crop a photo (see pp.214–215)
◾ Add or remove contrast ◾ Create a panorama ◾ Make targeted adjustments
(see pp.102–103) (see pp.166–167) (see pp.230–231)
◾ Adjust depth of field ◾ Make local adjustments ◾ Use the Levels tool
(see pp.118–119) (see pp.182–183) (see pp.278–279)

GET TING STARTED / 23

 GETTING STARTED

Computers
Once you’ve shot your photos you will need to
copy them from a memory card to a computer or
tablet. Although cameras often feature functions
such as RAW conversion, these functions are
usually rudimentary. Copying your photos to
another device will give you greater scope for
viewing and adjusting your photos, and for
sharing them, too (see pp.346–347).

COMPUTER TYPES MONITORS

◾ PCs can be divided into two basic types: desktops and laptops. The quality of your PC’s monitor
◾ Storing and processing digital photos requires far more from a PC and the ambient light in the
than other tasks such as sending emails or using a word processor. room in which you work are
While desktop PCs offer greater performance for less money than both important factors, as they
laptops, the portability of laptops is ideal if you need to be mobile. determine how accurately you
◾ Tablets are now used by many photographers. They are generally will be able to judge colour and
small, light, and fit easily into a camera bag pocket. A wide range contrast in your photos.
of photography apps are available ◾ A monitor used for photo
that help to plan a shoot, and to editing should have a wide
edit the photos afterwards. viewing angle. Colour and
contrast can shift unacceptably
when not looking directly at
a monitor that has a narrow
viewing angle.
◾ The room you work in should
have low ambient lighting. Avoid
direct light shining on your
monitor screen; this makes it
more difficult to judge colour
and contrast in your photos.

MEMORY AND STORAGE

Your PC should have should have sufficient memory to allow you to
run post-production software effectively – 8 GB minimum – though
more is always better than less. The hard drive should ideally be
1 TB or higher. You should also budget for an external hard drive
of a similar size to create a regular back-up. Solid state drives (SSD)
are more expensive than standard hard drives, but they are faster,
meaning apps will take less time to load. You should consider using
cloud storage as a place to back-up your photos.

24 / GET TING STARTED

 01 MAKING
YOUR FIRST
week PHOTOS
This module will introduce you to some
fundamental photographic principles and
techniques, starting you on your journey
towards capturing the perfect image.

In this module, you will:

▸ assess what decisions need to be made before you make
a photo, and why a photo is “made” rather than “taken”;
▸ study different types of subject and their possibilities;
▸ try it yourself by importing images after a session;
▸ experiment and explore different photos through
guided assignments;
▸ review your photographs and learn how to avoid some
common mistakes;
▸ enhance your images with simple exposure fixes in
post-production;
▸ review what you’ve learned about making a photograph
and see if you’re ready to move on.

Let’s begin…
 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

What makes a good photo?

1 2 4

A Landscape: A broad image E Close-up or macro: Making

The way you compose, frame,
and time your photograph is
critical in determining how
successfully you will get your
message across. See if you
can spot which type, or genre,
of photo is represented by
each of these shots.
of a landscape can capture the
beauty of nature.
B Moment or street shot: Crowd
scenes can capture the dynamism
of life on the street.
C Sport/action: Stopping the
action at a key moment can
emphasize the drama of sport.
D Portrait: A strong portrait can
give real insights to the character
of the subject.
something larger than life can
have great visual impact.
F Nature: The natural world is a
rich source of dramatic subjects.
G Fashion: Shooting the
glamorous world of fashion is
exciting, but you need to develop
a feeling for how to show clothes
and accessories at their best.
H Architecture: The built
environment can produce
very dramatic images.

26 / MAKING YOUR FIRST PHOTOS

 D/ 1: Black-and-white portrait of a man

ANSWERS
H/ 3: Deserted modern office building C/ 8: Rugby match, UK 01
G/ 7: Late afternoon fashion shoot Bac Ha, Vietnam

WEEK
F/ 6: A flock of geese flying in formation B/ 5: A busy street market in
E/ 4: Detail of an echinacea flower A/ 2: Grand Teton National Park, US

5 7

NEED TO KNOW
◾ Try varying the angles and height
from which you shoot, working around
the subject to cover it in full. Sometimes
changing your camera angle and position
by just a small amount can make all the
difference between an OK photograph
and a perfect one.
◾ Shooting from a high position lets you
get above the action, while shooting from
behind the subject allows you to show
what they see.
◾ Shoot at different times of the day to
exploit the varying positions of the sun.
◾ With a digital camera there are no
limitations to the number of shots you
can take, so make sure you shoot enough
images to thoroughly explore every Review these
aspect of your subject. points and see
how they relate
to the photos
shown here

MAKING YOUR FIRST PHOTOS / 27

 UNDERSTAND THE THEORY

Settings and subjects

Although cameras can give excellent
results in fully automatic mode, it is
important to understand how the
various settings affect the final image.
For real creative control you will
sometimes need to override the
camera’s automatic settings. Depending
on the type of shot you are making, you
will need to concentrate on a different
aspect of the camera’s controls, using
manual functions to set exposure and
focus exactly how you want them.
APERTURE
A small aperture lets in less light
and gives your images greater
sharpness; a large one lets in more
light, blurring the background (see
pp.76–77).
For landscapes, use a small aperture
to achieve a deep depth of field,
keeping the foreground, mid-ground,
and background all in focus (see
pp.108–109).

SHUTTER SPEED
A high shutter speed (opening the
shutter for as little as 1/5000 sec)
allows the sensor to capture only
a tiny fraction of your subject’s
movement, allowing you to freeze
the action (see pp.188–189).

A slower shutter speed, such as

1/15 sec, can be used to create blur
for effect, or to allow you to use a
small aperture to achieve a greater
depth of field.

VIEWFINDER
When we look at a scene, we tend to
see only the important elements and
Focus ring is used
ignore the rest. A camera, on the
to focus the lens
on the subject
other hand, sees all the details.

Elements we may not notice can

become dominant when seen in print or
on-screen. Look through the Viewfinder
in both horizontal and vertical formats
to frame your images.

28 / MAKING YOUR FIRST PHOTOS

 Pro tip: Try to get to the location early to give you Pro tip: To use a slow shutter speed in bright
time to find the best position to shoot from and then conditions you will need to fit a neutral density (ND) 01
wait for the action and the light to come to you. filter, which will reduce the amount of light reaching

WEEK
the sensor. ND filters are available in a range of
different strengths.

Pentaprism bounces Flash creates a brief FLASH

the reflected image burst of additional light Your flash allows you to light the
the right way up and
subject (see pp.284–285). It can be
into the Viewfinder
built-in, attached, or fired remotely.

You can use your

flash to “fill in”
Viewfinder the shadows when
shows you the shooting in sunny
view through conditions with
the lens high contrast, or as
a main source of
light for a portrait.
Mirror
reflects an
upside-down
image from
the lens
CAMERA MODE
Sensor’s ISO DSLRs usually have
adjusts several shooting
sensitivity modes from
to light which to choose
(see week 3).
Program mode is
good for general use
The shutter or when you are shooting fast in
works in changing light conditions. Aperture
conjunction Priority is best for landscapes and
with the static subjects, and Shutter Priority
aperture to is perfect for action and sports. For
control the ultimate control, switch to Manual
Aperture controls amount exposure to set the exact settings you want.
of light reaching the sensor

FOCUSING SENSOR SENSITIVITY (ISO)

Depending on the situation, you can
use the camera’s built-in autofocus
(AF) mode, or switch to Manual
focus and choose the focus point
yourself (see pp.44–45).
Setting your sensor’s sensitivity (or
ISO) to a high number will let you
shoot in low light (see pp.300–301),
a common situation with
documentary photography.

In a portrait shot, you generally want Using a lower ISO will give maximum
to focus the lens on the subject’s eyes image quality, which is great for
– usually the eye closest to the lens. landscapes, but you may need to use
a tripod to hold the camera steady.

MAKING YOUR FIRST PHOTOS / 29

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 any. At Cards, Dice, or any unlawful Game she shall not play
whereby her said Master may have Damage: with her own
goods or the goods of others during the said Term, without
License from her said Master she shall neither buy or sell: she
shall not absent herself day or night from her Master’s service
without his Leave, nor haunt Ale-houses, Taverns, or Play-
houses, but in all things as a faithful servant, she shall behave
herself towards her said Master and all his during the said
Term. And the said Master during the said Term, shall find and
provide sufficient Wholesome and compleat meat and drink,
washing, lodging, and apparell and all other Necessarys fit for
such a servant: and it is further agreed between the said
Master and Servant in case the said Aulkey Hubertse should
contract Matrimony before she shall come to Age then the
said Servant is to be free from her said Master’s service by
virtue thereof: and at the expiration of her said servitude, her
said Master John Delemont shall find provide for and deliver
unto his said servant double apparell, that is to say, apparell
fit for to have and to wear as well on the Lords Day as
working days, both linning and woolen stockings and shoes
and other Necessarys meet for such a servant to have and to
wear, and for the true performance of all and every of said
Covenant and Agreements the said parties bind themselves
unto each other by these presents.”
This indenture was signed and sealed in the year 1710, and varied
little from those of previous years. Sometimes the apparel was fully
described, and was always good and substantial—and Sunday attire
was usually furnished. Sarah Davis, bound out in Albany in 1684,
was to be taught to read and knit stockings; was to have silk hoods
and a silk scarf for church wear, and substantial petticoats and
waistcoats, some of homespun, some of “jersey-spun,” others of
“carsoway,” which was kersey.
“Redemptioners,” bound for a term of service as domestic and
farm servants, also came from the various European States; and
good servants often did they prove, and good citizens, too, when
their terms of service expired. There also opened in this emigration
of redemptioners a vast opportunity for adventure. In the “New York
Gazette” of March 15, 1736, we read of one servant-girl adventurer:
—
“We hear that about two years ago a certain Irish
gentlewoman was brought into this province a servant, but
she pretended to be a great fortune worth some thousands
(was called the Irish Beauty). Her master confirming the same
a certain young man (Mr. S***ds), courted her; and she
seemingly shy, her master for a certain sum of money makes
up the match, and they were married and go to their country-
seat; but she not pleased with that pursuades her husband to
remove to the city of New York and set up a great tavern.
They did so. Next she pursuades her husband to embark for
Ireland to get her great portion. When he comes there he
finds her mother a weeder of gardens to get bread. In his
absence Madam becomes acquainted with one Davis, and
they sell and pack up her husband’s effects, which were
considerable, and embark for North Carolina. When they
come there they pass for man and wife, and he first sells the
negroes and other effects, then sells her clothes and at last
he sells her for a servant, and with the produce returns to his
wife in Rhode Island, he having made a very good voyage.”
They were constantly eloping with their masters’ or mistresses’
wardrobes, sometimes with portions of both, and setting up as
gentlefolk on their own account. We find one Jersey girl running a
fine rig: dressed in a velvet coat and scarlet knee-breeches, with a
sword, cocked hat, periwig, and silken hose, she had a gay carouse
in New York tap-houses and tea-gardens, as long as her stolen
twenty pounds lasted; but with an empty stomach, she ceased to
play the lad, and went sadly to the stone ketch. I turn regretfully from
the redemptioners; they were the most picturesque and romance-
bearing element of the community.
But little is known of the early practice of medicine in New
Netherland, less than of the other American colonies, and that little is
not of much importance. It must be remembered that the times were
what Lowell has felicitously termed the twilight through which
alchemy was passing into chemistry, and the science of medicine
partook of mysticism. Astrology and alchemy were not yet things of
the past. From the beginning of the settlement the West India
Company paid a surgeon (Jacob Varravanger was the name of one)
to live in New Amsterdam and care for the health of the Company’s
“servants.” But soon so many “freemen” came—that is, not in the
pay of the Company—that some doubts arose in the minds of the
Council whether it would not be better to save the salary, by trusting
to independent practitioners. There were three such in New
Amsterdam in 1652. They made pills and a terrible dose of rhubarb,
senna, and port-wine, called “Vienna Drink.” But folk were
discouragingly healthy in the little town in spite of poor water, and
lack of drainage, and filth in the streets, and the Graft. Van der
Donck said, “Galens have meagre soup in that country;” and soon
the poor doctors, to add to their income, petitioned the Director that
none but surgeons should be allowed to shave people. This was a
weighty matter, and after profound consideration, the Council gave
the following answer:—
“That shaving doth not appertain exclusively to chirugery,
but is only an appanage thereof. That no man can be
prevented from operating herein upon himself, or doing
another this friendly act, provided that it be through courtesy,
and that he do not receive any money for it, and do not keep
an open-shop of that sort, which is hereby forbidden,
declaring in regard to the last request, this act to belong to
chirugery and the health of man.”
And the surgeons on shore were protected against the ship
barbers, who landed and who made some pretty grave mistakes
when attempting to doctor in the town. In 1658 Dr. Varravanger,
somewhat disgusted at the treatment of the sick, who, if they had no
families, had to trust to the care of strangers, established the first
New York Hospital, which was, after all, only a clean and suitable
house with fire and wood and one good woman to act as matron.
There was no lack of physicians,—half a dozen by 1650. A century
later, the historian of the province pronounced the towns to be
swarming with quacks.
 One tribute to old-time medicine and New York medical men we
owe still. The well-known Kiersted Ointment manufactured and sold
in New York to-day is made from a receipt of old Dr. Hans Kiersted’s,
the best colonial physician of his day, who came to New York in
1638. The manufacture of this ointment is a closely guarded family
secret. He married the daughter of the famous Anneke Jans; and, in
the centuries that have passed, the descendants have had more
profit from the ointment than from the real estate. There were plenty
of “wise women” to care for the increase of the populace; the New
Amsterdam midwife had a house built for her by the government. It
was a much respected calling. The mother of Anneke Jans was a
midwife. They were licensed to practise. Here is an appointment by
the Governor in 1670:—
“Whereas I am given to understand that Tryntje Meljers ye
wife of Wynant Vander pool a sworn and approved midwife at
Albany in which Imployment she hath Continued for ye span
of fourteen years past in good reputation not refusing her
assistance but on ye contrary affording her best help to ye
poorer sorte of people out of Christian Charity, as well as to
ye richer sorte for reward, and there being severall other less
skilfull women who upon occasion will pretend to be midwives
where they can gain by it but refuse their helpe to ye poore.
These presents Certifye That I doe allow of ye said Tryntje
Meljers to be one of ye profest sworne midwives at Albany,
and that she and one more skilfull woman be only admitted to
Undertake ye same there except upon Extraordinary
occasions. They continuing their Charitable assistance to ye
poore & a diligent attendance on their calling.”
The small number of settlers, the exigencies and hardships of a
planter’s life, the absence of luxuries, as well as the simplicity of
social manners among the Dutch, prohibited anything during the rule
of the Dutch in New Netherland which might, by a long and liberal
stretch of phraseology or idealization of a revered ancestry, be
termed fashionable life.
 They occasionally had a merry dinner. Captain Beaulieu, a gay
Frenchman who brought a prize into port, gave a costly one for
fourteen persons; and as he did not pay for it, it has passed into
history. Governor Stuyvesant had a fine dinner given to him on the
eve of one of his “gallant departures.” De Vries has left us an
amusing account of a quarrelsome feast given by the gunner of the
Fort. Eating and drinking were ever the Dutchman’s pleasures.
With the establishment of English rule there came to the town of
the Governor’s residence, in the Province of New York as in the
other provinces, a little stilted attempt at the semblance of a court.
Formal endeavors to have something of the nature of a club were
made under the English governors, to promote a social feeling in the
town. A letter of the day says, “Good correspondence is kept
between the English and Dutch; to keep it closer sixteen families (ten
Dutch and six English) have had a constant meetting at each other’s
houses in Turnes twice every week in winter and now in summer
once. They meet at six at night, and part at about eight or nine.” The
exceedingly early hours of these social functions seem to accent the
simplicity of the life of the times even more than the absence of any
such meetings would have done. The arrival of a new Governor was
naturally an important and fashionable event. When the Earl and
Countess of Bellomont landed in New York in 1698 they were, of
course, greeted first with military salutes; four barrels of gunpowder
made sufficient noise of welcome. Then a great dinner to a hundred
and fifty people was given. It was presided over by the handsomest
man in town. Mayor de Peyster, and the fare consisted of “venison,
turkey, chicken, goose, pigeon, duck and other game; mutton, beef,
lamb, veal, pork, sausages; with puddings, pastry, cakes and
choicest of wines.” It was a fine welcome, but such dinners did not
come every day to the Governor; he had other and sorrier gatherings
in store. Soon we hear of him shut up eight days in succession in
Albany (as he said in his exceedingly plain English) “in a close
chamber with fifty sachems, who besides the stink of bear’s grease
with which they were plentifully bedaubed, were continually smoking
and drinking of rum,” and coming back to town in a “nasty slow little
sloop.” No wonder he fell dangerously sick with the gout.
 Mrs. Grant, writing of New York society in the middle of the
eighteenth century, said:—
“At New York there was always a governor, a few troops,
and a kind of little court kept; there was a mixed, and in some
degree polished society. To this the accession of many
families of French Huguenots rather above the middling rank,
contributed not a little.”
This little important circle had some fine balls. On January 22,
1734, one was given at the Fort on the birthday of the Prince of
Wales, which lasted till four in the morning. Another was given in
honor of the King’s birthday. “The ladies made a splendant
appearance. Sometimes as many as a hundred persons were
present and took part.”
Occasionally a little flash of gossiping brightness shows us a
picture of the every-day life of the times in the capital town. Such a
bit of eighteenth-century scandal is the amusing account, from Mrs.
Janet Montgomery’s unpublished Memoirs, of Lady Cornbury, wife of
the Governor, Lord Cornbury. She died in New York in 1706, much
eulogized, and most ostentatiously mourned for by her husband.
Mrs. Montgomery’s account of her is this:—
“The lady of this very just nobleman was equally a
character. He had fallen in love with her ear, which was very
beautiful. The ear ceased to please and he treated her with
neglect. Her pin-money was withheld and she had no
resource but begging and stealing. She borrowed gowns and
coats and never returned them. As hers was the only carriage
in the city, the rolling of the wheels was easily distinguished,
and then the cry in the house was ‘There comes my lady; hide
this, hide that, take that away.’ Whatever she admired in her
visit she was sure to send for next day. She had a fancy to
have with her eight or ten young ladies, and make them do
her sewing work, for who could refuse their daughters to my
lady.”
What a picture of the times! the fashionable though impecunious
Englishwoman and the score of industrious young Dutch-American
seamstresses sitting daily and most unwillingly in the Governor’s
parlor.
One of the most grotesque episodes in New York political history,
or indeed in the life of any public official, was the extraordinary
notion of this same Governor, Lord Cornbury, to dress in women’s
clothes. Lord Stanhope and Agnes Strickland both assert that when
Cornbury was appointed Governor and told he was to represent her
Majesty Queen Anne, he fancied he must dress as a woman. Other
authorities attribute his absurd masquerade to his fond belief that in
that garb he resembled the Queen, who was his cousin. Mrs.
Montgomery said it was in consequence of a vow, and that in a hoop
and head-dress and with fan in hand he was frequently seen in the
evening on the ramparts. A portrait of him owned by Lord Hampton
shows him in the woman’s dress of the period, fan in hand. Truly it
was, as Lewis Morris wrote of him to the Secretary of State, “a
peculiar and detestable magot,” and one which must have been
most odious and trying to honest, manly New Yorkers, and especially
demoralizing to the soldiers before whom he paraded in petticoats.
When summarily deposed by his cousin from his governorship, he
was promptly thrust into a New York debtor’s prison, where he
languished till the death of his father made him third Earl of
Clarendon.
 CHAPTER V
DUTCH TOWN HOMES

The first log houses of the settlers, with their “reeden roofs,” were
soon supplanted by a more substantial form of edifice, Dutch,
naturally, in outline. They were set with the gable-end to the street
and were often built of Dutch brick, or, at any rate, the gable-ends
were of brick.
Madam Knights’ description of the city of New York and the
houses is wonderfully clear, as is every account from her graphic
pen, but very short:—
“The Buildings are Brick Generaly, very stately and high
though not altogether like ours in Boston. The Bricks in some
of the Houses are of divers Coullers and laid in Checkers,
being glazed, look very agreable. The inside of them is neat
to admiration; the wooden work, for only the walls are
plaster’d, and the Sumers and Gist are planed and kept very
white scour’d as so is all the partitions if made of Bords.”
Albany long preserved its Dutch appearance and Dutch houses.
Peter Kalm’s description of the city of Albany is a good one, and
would well answer for other New York towns:—
“The houses in this town are very neat, and partly built with
stones covered with shingles of the White Pine. Some are
slated with tiles from Holland, because the clay of this
neighborhood is not reckoned fit for tiles. Most of the houses
are built in the old way, with the gable-end towards the street;
the gable-end of brick and all the other walls of planks. The
gutters on the roofs reach almost to the middle of the street.
This preserves the walls from being damaged by the rain, but
it is extremely disagreeable in rainy weather for the people in
 the streets, there being hardly any means of avoiding the
water from the gutters.
“The street doors are generally in the middle of the houses
and on both sides are seats, on which, during fair weather the
people spend almost the whole day, especially on those
which are in the shadow of the houses. In the evening these
seats are covered with people of both sexes, but this is rather
troublesome, as those who pass by are obliged to greet
everybody unless they will shock the politeness of the
inhabitants of this town. The streets are broad and some of
them are paved; in some parts they are lined with trees. The
long streets are almost parallel to the river, and the others
intersect them at right angles.”
Rev. Samuel Chandler, chaplain of one of the Massachusetts
regiments, stopped several days in Albany in the year 1755. He tells
of the streets with rows of small button-trees, of the brick houses
curiously flowered with black brick and dated with the same, the
Governor’s house having “two black brick-hearts.” The houses one
story high with their gable-ends “notched like steps” (he might have
said with corbel-steps), were surmounted with vanes, the figures of
horses, lions, geese, and sloops. There were window shutters with
loop-holes outside the cellars. Smith, the historian of New York,
writing at the same time, calls the houses of all the towns, “built of
brick in Dutch taste.” Daniel Denton, writing as early as 1670, tells of
the “red and black tile (of New York) giving at a distance a pleasing
aspect to the Spectators.” All the old sketches of the town which
exist, crude as they are, certainly do present a pleasing aspect.
The chief peculiarity of these houses were the high roofs; some
were extraordinarily steep and thus afforded a garret, a loft, and a
cock-loft. There was reason and economy in this form of roof. The
shingle covering was less costly than the walls, and the contraction
in size of second-story rooms was not great.
Very few of the steep roofs in the earliest days had eave-troughs,
hence the occasional use in early deeds and conveyances of the
descriptive term “free-drip.” At a later date troughs were made of
sections of the bark of some tree (said to be birch) which the Indians
brought into town and sold to house builders. Then came metal
spouts projecting several feet, as noted by Kalm. In 1789, when
Morse’s Geography was issued, he speaks of the still projecting
water-spouts or gutters of Albany, “rendering it almost dangerous to
walk the streets on a rainy day;” but in New York more modified
fashions obtained long before that time.
The windows were small; some had two panes. When we learn
that the ordinary panes of glass imported at that time were in size
only six inches by eight inches, we can see that the windows were
only loop-holes.
The front doors were usually divided as in Holland, into an upper
and lower half. They were in early days hung on strap-hinges,
afterwards on heavy iron hinges. In the upper half of the door, or in a
sort of transom over the door, were set two round bull’s-eyes of
heavy greenish glass, just as are seen in Holland. Often the door
held a knocker of brass or of iron. The door usually opened with a
latch.
The inventories of the household effects of many of the early
citizens of New York might be given, to show the furnishings of these
homes. I choose the belongings of Captain Kidd to show that “as he
sailed, as he sailed” he left a very comfortable home behind him. He
was, when he set up housekeeping with his wife Sarah in 1692, not
at all a bad fellow, and certainly lived well. He possessed these
handsome and abundant house furnishings:—

One dozen Turkey work chairs.

One dozen double-nailed leather chairs.
Two dozen single-nailed leather chairs.
One Turkey worked carpet.
One oval table.
Three chests of drawers.
Four looking-glasses.
Four feather beds, bolsters, and pillows.
Three suits of curtains and valances.
Four bedsteads.
Ten blankets.
One glass case.
One dozen drinking-glasses.
Four tables.
Five carpets or rugs.
One screen frame.
Two stands.
One desk.
Two dressing boxes.
One close stool.
One warming pan.
Two bed pans.
Three pewter tankards.
Four kettles.
Two iron pots.
One skillet.
Three pairs of fire irons.
One pair of andirons.
Three chafing dishes.
One gridiron.
One flesh fork.
One brass skimmer.
Four brass candlesticks.
Two pewter candlesticks.
Four tin candlesticks.
One brass pestle.
One iron mortar.
2¹⁄₂ dozen pewter plates.
Five pewter basins.
Thirteen pewter dishes.
Five leather buckets.
One pipe Madeira wine.
One half-pipe ” ”
Three barrels pricked cider.
Two pewter salt-cellars.
Three boxes smoothing irons.
Six heaters.
One pair small andirons.
Three pairs tongs.
Two fire shovels.
Two fenders.
One spit.
One jack.
One clock.
One coat of arms.
Three quilts.
Parcel linen sheets, table cloths, napkins, value thirty dollars.
One hundred and four ounces silver plate, value three hundred
dollars.
 The early New Englanders sat in their homes on stools and forms,
and very rarely on chairs. It is not so easy to know of Dutch
furnishings, for the words stoel and setel and banck, which are found
in early inventories, all mean a chair, but also may not have meant in
colonial days what we now designate as a chair. A stoel was really a
seat of any kind; and stoels there were in plenty among the first
settlers. As Cowper says:

“Necessity invented stools,

Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs,
And Luxury the accomplished Sofa last.”

In this natural succession came the seats of the colonists. The

leather chairs with double rows of nails—in Captain Kidd’s list—were
a very substantial and handsome piece of furniture.
Tables there were in all houses, and looking-glasses in all well-to-
do homes. The stands of Captain Kidd were small tables. The
carpets named after the tables were doubtless table-covers. The
early use of the word was always a cover for a table.
A truly elegant piece of furniture—one in use by well-to-do folk in
all the colonies—was a cupboard. Originally simply a table for the
display of cups and other vessels, it came to have shelves and
approach in form our sideboard. An inventory of a New York citizen
of the year 1690 names a “Holland cupboard furnished with
earthenware and purslin” worth fifteen pounds. Another owned a
French nut-wood cupboard of about the same value. Cupboard-
cloths usually accompanied them. A few of these cupboards still
exist, usually their exact history forgotten, but still known as “Holland
cupboards.” As long as the inventories of estates of deceased
persons were made out and registered with much minuteness of
detail, a single piece of furniture could be traced readily from heir to
heir, but unfortunately only the older inventories display this
minuteness.
 One unusual word may be noted, which is found in New York
inventories, boilsted, bilsted, or billsted—as “a boilsted bed,” “a
boilsted bureau.” The “Century Dictionary” gives bilsted as the native
name of the American sweet-gum tree, the liquidambar, but Mr.
Watson says boilsted or bilsted meant maple,—hence these articles
meant a bureau of maplewood, etc.
A very common form of bedstead in early days, both in town and
farm houses, was the one built into the house, scarcely more than a
bench to hold the bedding, usually set into an alcove or recess. In a
contract for the “Ferry House,” built in Brooklyn in 1665 (the house in
which the ferry-master lived), we read one clause thus: “to wainscot
the east side the whole length of the house, and in the recess two
bedsteads (betste) one in the front room and one in the inside room,
with a pantry at the end of the bedstead.”
This alcove betste was much like a cupboard; it had doors which
closed over it when unoccupied and shut it from view. This does not
seem very tidy from our modern point of view, but the heavily
curtained and upholstered beds of other countries gave but little
more opportunity of airing. Adam Roelandsen, the first New York
schoolmaster, had these betste built in his house; and Jan Peeck,
the founder of Peekskill, had four betste in his country home, as
certainly were needed by a man who had—so he said—“a house full
of children and more besides.”
The sloep-banck, or slaw-bunk, was another form, a folding-bed.
This was also set within closet doors or hanging curtains. It was an
oblong frame filled in with a network of rope or strips of wood, set
apart like the slats of a bed. This frame was fastened to the wall at
one end, the bed’s head, with heavy hinges; and at night it was
placed in a horizontal position, and the unhinged end, or foot of the
bed, was supported on heavy turned legs which fitted into sockets in
the frame. When not in use, the frame was hooked up against the
wall and covered with the curtains or doors.
Other sloep-bancks were stationary. One sold in Albany in 1667 to
William Brouwer was worth ten guilders. Parson Chandler as late as
1755 said the beds in Albany were simply wooden boxes, each with
feather-bed, undersheet, and blanket cover. The kermis bed, on
which the Labadist fathers slept in Brooklyn, was a pallet bed.
Another bedstead often named was the trecke-bedde, or the sloep-
banck ap rollen, which, as its name implies, was on rollers. It was a
trundle-bed, and in the daytime was rolled under a high-post
bedstead, if there were one in the room, and concealed by the
valance of calico or chiney.
The beds were deep and soft, of prime geese feathers. For many
years the custom obtained of sleeping on one feather-bed and under
another of somewhat lighter weight. The pillow-cases, called “pillow-
bears,” or pillow-clothes, were often of checked linen. The hangings
of the bed when it was curtained were also, in families of moderate
means, of checked and striped linen, in wealthier houses of
kidderminster, camlet, and harrateen. With English modes of living
came English furniture; among other innovations the great carved
four-poster, which, richly hung with valances and tester, was, as Mrs.
Grant said, “the state-bed, the family Teraphim, secretly worshipped
and only exhibited on rare occasions.” The bedsteads of Captain
Kidd with valances and curtains were doubtless four-posters.
A notable feature in the house-furnishing of early colonial days
was the abundance and good quality of household linen. The
infrequency of regular washing seasons and times (often domestic
washing took place but once in three or four months) made a large
amount of bed, table, and personal linen a matter of necessity in all
thrifty, tidy households. One family, in 1704 (not a very wealthy one),
had linen to the amount of five hundred dollars. Francis Rombout,
one of the early mayors of New York, had, at the time of his death, in
the year 1690, fifty-six diaper napkins, forty-two coarse napkins and
towels, thirteen table-cloths of linen and diaper, fifty-one “pillow-
bears,” thirty sheets, four bolster-covers, ten checked “pillow-bears,”
two calico cupboard-cloths, six table-cloths, four check chimney-
cloths, two of linen; worth in all, twenty-one pounds eleven shillings.
Mynheer Marius, who was worth about fifteen thousand dollars,—
a rich man,—had eight muslin sheets, twenty-three linen sheets,
thirty-two pillow-cases, two linen table-cloths, seven diaper table-
cloths, sixty-one diaper napkins, three “ozenbergs” napkins, sixteen
small linen cupboard-cloths. Colonel William Smith of Long Island
was not so rich as the last-named Dutch merchant, but he had six
hundred dollars’ worth of linen. John Bowne, the old Quaker of
Flushing, Long Island, recorded in his diary, in 1691, an account of
his household linen. He had four table-cloths, a dozen napkins, a
dozen towels, six fine sheets, two cotton sheets, four coarse linen
sheets, two fine tow sheets, two bolster cases, nine fine pillow-biers,
four coarse pillow-biers.
In 1776, the house furnishings of a house in Westchester County
in the “Neutral Ground,” were removed on account of the war. The
linen consisted of fifty-one linen sheets, eleven damask table-cloths,
one linen table-cloth, twenty-one homespun cloths, four breakfast
cloths, twelve damask napkins, fifty-six homespun napkins, fifteen
towels, twenty-nine pillow-cases.
This linen was usually kept in a great linen chest often brought
from Holland. Made of panelled oak or of cedar, these chests were
not only useful, but ornamental. They were substantial enough to
have lasted till our own day, unless wantonly destroyed as clumsy
and cumbersome, and a few have survived.
There was one display of wealth which was not wholly for the
purpose of exhibiting the luxury and refinement of the housekeeper,
but also served as a safe investment of surplus funds,—household
silver. From early days silver tankards, spoons, dram-cups, and
porringers appear in inventories. Salt-cellars and beakers are
somewhat rare; but as years crept on, candlesticks, salvers, coffee-
pots, teakettles, snuffers, bread-baskets, and punch-bowls are on
the list. When Captain Kidd, the pirate, was a happy bridegroom in
1692, as a citizen of respectability and social standing, he started
housekeeping with three hundred dollars’ worth of silver. Magistrate
Marius had at the same time a silver tankard, three salt-cellars, two
beakers, a mustard pot and spoon, twenty-seven sweet-meat
spoons, four tumblers, nine cups each with two ears, a salver, a mug
and cover, a baby’s chafing-dish, a fork and cup. Governor Rip van
Dam had in silver three tankards, a chafing-dish, three castors, two
candlesticks, snuffers and tray, two salvers, a mug, salt-cellar and
pepper-pot, and a large number of spoons. Abraham de Peyster had
a splendid array: four tankards, two decanters, two dishes, three
plates, eleven salvers, two cups and covers, two chafing-dishes, six
porringers, four sauce-boats, two punch-bowls, three mugs, four
sugar-dishes, a coffee-pot and tea-pot, seven salts and shovels, a
saucepan, four pairs snuffers and stand, a mustard-pot, a bread-
basket, a dram-bottle, tobacco-dish, nine castors, six candlesticks,
one waiter, twenty-three forks, three soup-spoons, two punch ladles,
ten table-spoons, ten teaspoons, two sugar-tongs; truly a display fit
for a fine English hall. We may note in this, as in many other
inventories, that the number of small pieces seems very small and
inadequate; ten teaspoons and twenty-three forks appear vastly
disproportioned to the great pieces of plate.
These outfits of silver were, of course, unusual, but nearly all
families had some pieces; and even on farms there would be seen
fine pieces of silver.
Curious forms of Dutch silver were the “bite and stir” sugar boxes,
often shell-shaped, with a partition in the middle. On one side was
placed the loaf sugar, which could be nibbled with the tea; on the
other, the powdered or granulated sugar, which could be stirred into
the teacup with a tea-spoon. Another graceful piece was the ooma,
or sifter, for the mixed cinnamon and sugar with which many
sprinkled their hot waffles. An ooma resembled a muffineer. The
name was derived from the Dutch oom, an uncle, and the article was
a favorite gift of an uncle on the wedding day of niece or nephew.
We find Dutch dames leaving by will “milk-pots shaped like a cow,” a
familiar form of Dutch silver, and can readily believe that much silver
owned in New York was made in Holland.
Coming from a country where the manufacture of porcelain and
stone-ware was already of much importance, and the importation of
Oriental china was considerable, it is not strange that we find more
frequent mention of articles of china than in the English colonies. For
instance, Mayor Francis Rombouts came to this country as clerk for
a Dutch commercial house and died in 1690. He had a cupboard
furnished with earthenware and “purslin:” twenty-six earthen dishes,
earthen pots, twelve earthen “cupps,” six “purslin cupps,” six earthen
“juggs,” six pitchers, which was really a very pretty showing.
Doubtless the “purslin” was Delft. In the list of early sales at Fort
Orange, earthen-ware appears. In New England, in similar sales, its
name would never be seen.
Trim and orderly pieces of furniture, as well as pretty ones, were
the various hanging wall-racks for plates, knives, and spoons. I
presume they were shaped like the ones still in use in Holland. We
find in inventories lepel-borties (which were spoon-racks) as early as
1664. When an oaken plate-rack was filled with shining pewter
plates, Delft dishes, or even red earthen “Portugese ware,” it made a
thoroughly artistic decoration for the walls of the old Dutch kitchen.
There were also stands or boxes with divisions for holding knives
and forks.
 CHAPTER VI
DUTCH FARMHOUSES

The old Dutch homestead of colonial times fitted the place and the
race for which it was built. There was plenty of solid level earth for it
to stand on,—so it spread out, sunny and long. The men who built it
had never climbed hills or lived on mountain-tops, nor did they mean
to climb many stairs in their houses. The ceilings were low, the stairs
short and steep, and the stories few; a story and a half were enough
for nearly every one. The heavy roof, curving slightly inward, often
stretched out in front at the eaves to form a shelter for the front
stoop. Sometimes in the rear it ran out and down over a lean-to to
within six or eight feet from the ground. Sometimes dormer windows
broke the long roof-slope and gave light to the bedrooms or garret
within. This long roof contracted the walls of the second-story
bedrooms, but it afforded a generous, useful garret, which to the
Dutch housekeeper was one of the best rooms in the house.
The long side of the house was usually set to receive the southern
sunshine; if convenient, the gable-end was turned to the street or
lane; for, being built when there were poor roads and comparatively
little travel, and when the settlers were few in number, each house
was not isolated in lonesome woods or in the middle of each farm,
but was set cosily and neighborly just as close to those of the other
settlers as the extent of each farm would allow, and thus formed a
little village street.
The windows of these houses were small and had solid wooden
shutters, heavily hinged with black-painted iron hinges. Sometimes a
small crescent-shaped opening cut in the upper portion of the shutter
let in a little dancing ray of light at early dawn into the darkened
room. In the village as in the city the stoop was an important feature
of the house and of home life. Through the summer months the
family gathered on this out-door sitting-room at the close of day. The
neighbors talked politics as they smoked their evening pipes, and the
young folk did some mild visiting and courting. As the evening and
pipes waned, little negro slaves brought comfortiers, or open metal
dishes of living coals, to start the smouldering tobacco afresh in the
long Dutch pipes.
The cellar of these old farmhouses was a carefully built apartment,
for it played a most important part in the orderly round, in the
machinery of household affairs. It was built with thought, for it had to
be cool in summer and warm in winter. To accomplish the latter
result, its few small windows and gratings were carefully closed and
packed with salt hay in the autumn, and a single trap-door opening
outside the house furnished winter entrance. Within this darkened
cellar were vast food-stores which put to shame our modern petty
purchases of weekly supplies. There were always found great bins of
apples, potatoes, turnips, and parsnips. These vegetables always
rotted a little toward spring and sprouted, and though carefully sorted
out and picked over sent up to the kamer above a semi-musty,
damp-earthy, rotten-appley, mouldy-potatoey smell which, all who
have encountered will agree, is unique and indescribable. Strongly
bound barrels of vinegar and cider and often of rum lay in firm racks
in this cellar; and sometimes they leaked a little at the spigot, and
added their sharply alcoholic fumes to the other cellar-smells. Great
hogsheads of corned beef, barrels of salt pork, hams seething in
brine ere being smoked, tonnekens of salted shad and mackerel,
firkins of butter, kilderkins of home-made lard, jars of pickles, kegs of
pigs’ feet, or souse, tumblers of spiced fruits, graced this noble
cellar. On a swing-shelf were rolliches and head-cheese and
festoons of sausages. On such a solid foundation, over such a
storage-room of plenty, thrift, and prudence, stood that sturdy edifice,
—the home-comfort of the New York farmer.
On the ground-floor above were low-studded rooms, one called
the kamer, which was the parlor and spare bedroom as well; for on
its clean sanded floor often stood the best bedstead, of handsome
carved mahogany posts, with splendid high-piled feather-beds,
heavy hangings, and homespun linen sheets and pillow-cases. Back
of this kamer, in the linter, was the milk-room. The spinning-room