Photography Notes
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1 Aperture and shutter speed
These are based on Ansel Adams book [A] and John Schaefers [S].
Focal length: The focal length of a lens is dened to be the distance between
the lens and the plane (in front of the camera) of sharp focus.
Aperature: The relative lens aperature is the diameter of the lens opening
divided by the focal length of the lens. A relative lens aperature of 1/N is
written f/N. For example, a lens with 100mm focal length and a opening
diameter of 25mm has a relative aperature of f/4. The number N arising in
this way is called an f-stop (or stop number or full stop or whole stop). Usually
the stop numbers fall into the sequence
1,
2, 2, 2
2, 4, 4
2, 8, 8
2, 16, 16
2, 32, 32
2, ...,
which might be rounded up or down to
1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, ....
The larger the f-stop, the smaller the aperature.
Shutter speed: We use aperature and shutter speed settings to control the
amount of light from the subject that reaches the lm/sensor. The formula
expressing this exposure relationship is
exposure = intensity time,
or E = I t. Here the time t is measured by the shutter speed. Shutter speed
settings are measured in a geometric series (in seconds):
1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, ...,
which is often rounded to
1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, ... .
There are a number of (f-stop, shutter speed) combinations which give the same
exposure. For example,
(f/22, 1/2), (f/16, 1/4), (f/11, 1/8), (f/8, 1/15), (f/5.6, 1/30), (f/4, 1/60),
(f/2.8, 1/125), (f/2, 1/250), (f/1.4, 1/500), (f/1, 1/1000),
all have the same exposure.
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David Joyner, wdjoyner@gmail.com, CC, Attribution + share Alike,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
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2 Quotations
These were taken from [HJ] and the Internet site [PQ].
In previous ages the word art was used to cover all forms of
human skill. The Greeks believed that those skills were given by the
gods to man for the purpose of improving the condition of life. In a
real sense, photography has fullled the Greek ideal of art; it should
not only improve the photographer, but also improve the world.
David Hurn in On being a photographer
Your rst 10,000 photographs are your worst.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
In photography, visual organization can stem only from a devel-
oped instinct.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
The rst thing to do is carry a notebook and during quiet times
or as the thought occurs to you, compile a list of anything that really
interests you. In other words, write a list of things which fascinate
you without regard to photography. ... Be as specic as possible.
After you have exhausted the list, you begin to cut it down by asking
yourself these questions. Is it visual? ... Is it practical? ... Is it a
subject about which I know enough? ... Is it interesting to others?
David Hurn in On being a photographer
For a subject to be strong enough to be worth photographing,
the relationship of its forms must be rigorously established. Com-
position starts when you situate your camera in space in relation to
the object. For me, photography is the exploration in reality of the
rhythm of surfaces, lines, or values; the eye carves out its subject,
and the camera has only to do its work.
Henri Cartier-Bresson in American Photo, September/October
1997, p. 76.
A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture you
need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the
subject that determines the interest of the photograph.
Man Ray - Oct. 2, 1966 (Handwritten and signed note) [ 9 Days
of Photokina Man Ray on the Future ! An Interview by Ed Hirsch
and Ben Zar, Popular Photography, January 1967, Volume 60,
No. 1, p. 98]
Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and
trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: Does
this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a
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print - my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey
- from the subject before me?
Ansel Adams, The Best of Popular Photography by Harvey
V. Fondiller, Page: 280.
... basic principles are:
1. Photographers are not primarily interested in photography. They
have a focused energy and enthusism which is directed at an
outside, physically present, other. They bring to this subject
an exaggerated sense of curiousity, backed up by knowledge
gleaned from reading, writing, talking, and note-taking.
2. The photographer transmits this passion in the thing itself
by making pictures, therefore the subject must lend itself to a
visual medium, as opposed to, say, writing about it.
3. The photographer must assiduously practice his/her craft so
that there is no technical impediment between realizing the
idea and transmitting it through the nal print.
4. The photographer must have the ability to analyze the com-
ponents of the subject-idea so that a set of images not only
reects the basic categories but also displays visual variety. In-
tense, clear thinking is a prerequisite to ne photography.
5. The photographer is aware that, like all dicult endeavors,
to be good at photography requires an unusual capacity for
continuous hard work and good luck.
David Hurn and Bill Jay in On being a photographer
References
[A] Ansel Adams, The Camera, Bulnch, 1995.
[G] GIMP http://www.gimp.org,
[HJ] David Hurn and Bill Jay, On being a photographer, LensWork Pub-
lishing, Anacortes, WA, 2007.
[PQ] Photography quoteations page, http://www.photoquotes.com/.
[S] John Schaefer, The Ansel Adams Guide, Book 1, Basic Techniques
of Photography, Little Brown and Company, 1999.
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