Photography Course - Lesson 2
Andrew McCall
Well, after asking in this newsgroup if people were interested in
hearing what happens on my photography course I have decided to make a
post. If people are offended by this, and think its too off topic, then
let me know politely and I will arrange to post somewhere else. I
ignore insulting flames, so that won't get my attention.
The lesson started off by quickly going over what we had done last week
- creating photograms in the dark room, We were told to use objects
that we had brought in and objects from around the lab to create a few
photograms of our own on the Ilford 5x7 multigrade paper we were asked
to get for this week.
This was pretty fun, and despite constantly forgetting to look at the
clock when I put my pictures in the developing trays, they all developed
OK! I have uploaded them to my web site in case people are interested.
http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram1.jpg
This was just a couple of items lying around the lab, it actually turned
out pretty funky!
http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram2.jpg
Not too impressed with this one :( Whilst looking for some new items to
use I saw a light bulb. I was hoping this would come out showing the
element inside the bulb, but the bulb was frosted and the frosted glass
didn't let enough light through. The light bulb also rolled around a
little too much, so I moved the paper to where the bulb settled rather
than trying to balance the bulb on the paper. It turns out some of the
paper was outside the enlarger light so it didn't get exposed.
http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram3.jpg
When I told the lecturer how I wanted the light bulb to look and he went
and found me a clear bulb. This turned out alright. I was lucky to get
the bulb in that exact position - it was dark and we didn't have use of
the red safe filters on the enlarger, so it was pure luck the element
was in the right place.
I need to scan these images in properly and fix any dust or scratches.
I am not too sure whats the best way of doing this yet.
He then gave us a quick intro into the camera covering ISO speeds,
shutter speeds and loading and unloading film. This was really quick
and if I hadn't been reading up on this already I don't think I would
have fully understood. He also explained the benefits of older cameras
in that they are normally easier to manually operate - some of the
students have newer cameras such as a Cannon 300EOS and the student had
to keep looking at a LCD display to check some of the settings, where as
the older ones such as the Pentax K-1000 and my FM2n had the settings in
the view finder. In addition to this, the Cannon's wound the film all
the way back into the cartridge, making it harder to remove in the dark
room.
He asked us to buy some Ilford HP5 400 24 exposure film for next week.
After this we went into the studio and did some light work. He
introduced us to a big soft box, a hard studio light (like a spot light)
and a softer light.
he demonstrated how to use the different lights to bring out the texture
on a brick, and then showed us on a glass bottle - which then led us
over to a "white-area" that was used for some objects, like the bottle,
to indirectly light them, and to create silhouettes.
During this he also introduced us to metering for a mid-tone gray card,
(Anyone know where I can get a mid-tone card?) and the importance of
ignoring the meter after we had metered for the mid-tone.
He then demonstrated lighting on a dummy-head showing how to avoid
getting two shadows. After this we each took two pictures of other
students using a Pentax K-1000 to get used to moving and setting up the
lighting, and getting the right settings on the camera.
He developed this film so we could see it, and told us we would be
printing this next week. He also gave us our first "assignment" which
is to take 24 exposures for the next lesson where we will be developing
the film ourselves!
A good lesson! It flew by and we all had produced something to take
away with us!
I want to read up about lighting for next week, can anyone recommend
some books on lighting that I can get from the college library?
Anyway - discuss!
Thanks,
Andrew McCall
Charlie Dilks
--
Charlie Dilks
Newark, DE USA
fake name
Andrew McCall <mcc...@h2o.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> Well, after asking in this newsgroup if people were interested in
> hearing what happens on my photography course I have decided to make a
> post. If people are offended by this, and think its too off topic, then
> let me know politely and I will arrange to post somewhere else. I
> ignore insulting flames, so that won't get my attention.
[snip]
>
> Anyway - discuss!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andrew McCall
>
hi Andrew,
I can only hope you will keep us up to date with your Photography
Course. I will make sure I set a filter to highlight your posts. Or you
could also keep the subject line the same (Photography Course - Lesson
#) to make sure we don't miss it. Great course, great way to put it into
words, good job and good luck!
Thanks!
Peter Irwin
>
> This was pretty fun, and despite constantly forgetting to look at the
> clock when I put my pictures in the developing trays, they all developed
> OK!
Paper development is pretty non-critical as long as you
leave it in the tray long enough to get good blacks.
If you leave it in for a very long time, your whites
may get degraded.
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram3.jpg
>
> When I told the lecturer how I wanted the light bulb to look and he went
> and found me a clear bulb. This turned out alright. I was lucky to get
> the bulb in that exact position - it was dark and we didn't have use of
> the red safe filters on the enlarger, so it was pure luck the element
> was in the right place.
Pretty nice. I still have a photogram silhouette of my head
at age 9. It brings back memories.
> During this he also introduced us to metering for a mid-tone gray card,
> (Anyone know where I can get a mid-tone card?)
Any good camera store should have one.
> and the importance of
> ignoring the meter after we had metered for the mid-tone.
That's one reason why meterless cameras and handheld meters
aren't really that inconvenient.
> He then demonstrated lighting on a dummy-head showing how to avoid
> getting two shadows. After this we each took two pictures of other
> students using a Pentax K-1000 to get used to moving and setting up the
> lighting, and getting the right settings on the camera.
>
> He developed this film so we could see it, and told us we would be
> printing this next week. He also gave us our first "assignment" which
> is to take 24 exposures for the next lesson where we will be developing
> the film ourselves!
>
> A good lesson! It flew by and we all had produced something to take
> away with us!
It sounds like a pretty good course.
Peter.
--
pir...@ktb.net
>
Alan Browne
> Hi Folks,
>
> This was pretty fun, and despite constantly forgetting to look at the
> clock when I put my pictures in the developing trays, they all developed
> OK! I have uploaded them to my web site in case people are interested.
>
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram1.jpg
>
Reminds me of 5th grade ... did the same kinda thing.
> This was just a couple of items lying around the lab, it actually turned
> out pretty funky!
>
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram3.jpg
>
> When I told the lecturer how I wanted the light bulb to look and he went
> and found me a clear bulb. This turned out alright. I was lucky to get
> the bulb in that exact position - it was dark and we didn't have use of
> the red safe filters on the enlarger, so it was pure luck the element
> was in the right place.
I like this one...
...still, without the runway models...
William D. Tallman
> Hi Folks,
>
> Well, after asking in this newsgroup if people were interested in
> hearing what happens on my photography course I have decided to make a
> post. If people are offended by this, and think its too off topic, then
> let me know politely and I will arrange to post somewhere else. I
> ignore insulting flames, so that won't get my attention.
>
> The lesson started off by quickly going over what we had done last week
> - creating photograms in the dark room, We were told to use objects
> that we had brought in and objects from around the lab to create a few
> photograms of our own on the Ilford 5x7 multigrade paper we were asked
> to get for this week.
>
> This was pretty fun, and despite constantly forgetting to look at the
> clock when I put my pictures in the developing trays, they all developed
> OK! I have uploaded them to my web site in case people are interested.
>
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram1.jpg
>
> This was just a couple of items lying around the lab, it actually turned
> out pretty funky!
Good stuff? What did you learn from this? Can you tell us in a few words?
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram2.jpg
>
> Not too impressed with this one :( Whilst looking for some new items to
> use I saw a light bulb. I was hoping this would come out showing the
> element inside the bulb, but the bulb was frosted and the frosted glass
> didn't let enough light through. The light bulb also rolled around a
> little too much, so I moved the paper to where the bulb settled rather
> than trying to balance the bulb on the paper. It turns out some of the
> paper was outside the enlarger light so it didn't get exposed.
Heheh...
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram3.jpg
>
> When I told the lecturer how I wanted the light bulb to look and he went
> and found me a clear bulb. This turned out alright. I was lucky to get
> the bulb in that exact position - it was dark and we didn't have use of
> the red safe filters on the enlarger, so it was pure luck the element
> was in the right place.
Pure luck, yes! Good job, though... <grin>
> I need to scan these images in properly and fix any dust or scratches.
> I am not too sure whats the best way of doing this yet.
These are prints, yes? What scanner are you using? More important, what
image manipulation program are you using? There should be tools to do that
sort of thing to the scanned image. Interesting exploration of the digital
darkroom awaits you.....
> He then gave us a quick intro into the camera covering ISO speeds,
> shutter speeds and loading and unloading film. This was really quick
> and if I hadn't been reading up on this already I don't think I would
> have fully understood. He also explained the benefits of older cameras
> in that they are normally easier to manually operate - some of the
> students have newer cameras such as a Cannon 300EOS and the student had
> to keep looking at a LCD display to check some of the settings, where as
> the older ones such as the Pentax K-1000 and my FM2n had the settings in
> the view finder. In addition to this, the Cannon's wound the film all
> the way back into the cartridge, making it harder to remove in the dark
> room.
No problem with 'quick' here, as you'll get exposed to this over and over
again until you'll know it without thinking about it. AFAIK, most Canons
(one 'n') do provide all the information you wish in the viewfinder itself.
And many (most?) Canons have functions that you can set. One of them tells
the camera whether or not you want to leave a leader out on rewind. Set it
thus, and until you change the setting, every rewind will leave the leader
out. It's handy for midroll rewinds, where you simply reload the cassette
and shoot on manual (lens cap on!!) one past the last frame you exposed,
leaving a blank frame for safety's sake.
> He asked us to buy some Ilford HP5 400 24 exposure film for next week.
Good choice, I think.
> After this we went into the studio and did some light work. He
> introduced us to a big soft box, a hard studio light (like a spot light)
> and a softer light.
>
> he demonstrated how to use the different lights to bring out the texture
> on a brick, and then showed us on a glass bottle - which then led us
> over to a "white-area" that was used for some objects, like the bottle,
> to indirectly light them, and to create silhouettes.
And this is exactly the core of photography, learning to use light
creatively. You'll do this over and over again until it's second nature,
if you stay with photography.
I think it's an excellent idea for student's to spend some serious time
doing still life shots. You get to control everything about the setup, and
if you do a lab log correctly (full description with all relevant data,
including distances etc), when you see the neg you'll know exactly where to
start making any changes you might wish. You don't do that, you are flying
blind.
Dunno how big your still life setup in the lab is, but it doesn't have to be
huge in order to be very usable. Check out how it's made and see if you
can figure out how to make a small one for yourself. It's the time you
spend doing this sort of thing that will hone your sensitivity to what you
see elsewhere. Working with tonal shading with reflectors and gobos and
spots and stuff will allow you to automatically assess the situations you
find elsewhere. Knowing, for example, that an outdoor scene might be
really enhanced by the addition of some light here, or subtraction of light
there, will result from this.
And wait until you get to color!!! The possibilities are endless!!!
The point here is that studio work allows you to learn how to be creative.
You can envision all sorts of stuff, but if you can't create what you
envision, your visions die in memory and you'll never know how well they
might have turned out. You need to be able to make the moves, to handle
the gear, to actually make a setup that will allow you to create what you
"see", and that takes practice every bit as much as musical performances
that enchant us.
And if you have your own home setup, there's no one to tell you what and
what not to do. You can learn much, much more by evaluating results that
weren't what you wanted, because they'll never be mistakes! This is very
important, because otherwise it'll be tough to be able to develop a
personal style, your own expression of how you see things. Yep, labs
(studios to photographers) are where you really learn stuff!!
> During this he also introduced us to metering for a mid-tone gray card,
> (Anyone know where I can get a mid-tone card?) and the importance of
> ignoring the meter after we had metered for the mid-tone.
That's an 18% grey card, and should be available from any decent camera
store (although decent is here described as having real photo gear and not
just the latest glitz for sale). You should be able to get them from
BHPhotoVideo... yep, you can. An 8x10 Delta grey card sells for $3.00US.
Get a half dozen of them and stash them in various places you'll be using
them!
That's what the camera meter believes is the average of any scene. So if
you simply stick the grey card where it's perpendicular to the lens, move
up until your viewfinder only sees the card, and read the meter. That'll
be what the meter says is the optimum exposure.
What you'll find is that light doesn't really change as much as your meter
might make you think. Want a neat metering trick for out doors? Hold the
palm of your hand in front of the lens in the place where the scene/object
is (where the light is). IIRC, palm color is probably the most universally
common skin color for everyone. Take a reading, and open up one stop, and
you'll be within a third of a stop of optimum, usually.
> He then demonstrated lighting on a dummy-head showing how to avoid
> getting two shadows. After this we each took two pictures of other
> students using a Pentax K-1000 to get used to moving and setting up the
> lighting, and getting the right settings on the camera.
Excellent!! Pushing gear around is a lot of what studio pros do, so I
understand. The actual exposure takes only an instant, but setup takes..
well, it takes as long as it takes!! What you'll be learning is what moves
to make, so that you'll be able to cut back on the 'false moves' that are
the source of so much frustration!
Pay attention to what you're doing when you shove gear around making a
setup. The more efficient you are, the quicker it goes and the easier it
is to get into a creative 'flow'. Even more important: the moves you can
make easily will be the ones you'll be willing to actually make because
they won't detract from what you're trying to do. Start fumbling, and
you'll have a hard time keeping your enthusiasm and vision.
Further, if you can do smooth and efficient setups in the studio, when
you're out shooting, you'll be much more able, and therefore more likely,
to improvise in order to get the lighting you want. And that will make a
major difference in the quality of your work. And your satisfaction, as
well!!
> He developed this film so we could see it, and told us we would be
> printing this next week. He also gave us our first "assignment" which
> is to take 24 exposures for the next lesson where we will be developing
> the film ourselves!
You might do yourself a favor and note the relevant data for each frame.
Dunno whether it'll be useful, but it sure won't if you don't have it!
> A good lesson! It flew by and we all had produced something to take
> away with us!
Yep, keeps the enthusiasm going.
> I want to read up about lighting for next week, can anyone recommend
> some books on lighting that I can get from the college library?
Others can make recommendations here, but for black and white it really
isn't all that complex to understand. Color is an entirely different
matter. Look closely at B&W prints that you like and try to guess how may
light sources were used/available. Where were they placed? Which source
was stronger/weaker? Any indication of what sort of light source was used?
What about reflections? What about glare (light overpowers the texture)?
You spend some effort to make these kinds of analyses, and you spend time
learning how to shove gear around to make effective setups, and between the
two, you'll learn much of the most important parts of photography.
Yeah, I can blather on with the best of them... <grin>, but perhaps you'll
find something I've written useful, and that's worth my effort.
And most of important of all: Have fun!!
Bill Tallman
Andrew McCall
> hi Andrew,
>
> I can only hope you will keep us up to date with your Photography
> Course. I will make sure I set a filter to highlight your posts. Or you
> could also keep the subject line the same (Photography Course - Lesson
> #) to make sure we don't miss it. Great course, great way to put it into
> words, good job and good luck!
Yeah, thats a good idea. I will keep the subject line "Photography
Course - Lesson X" so its clear - this might also help anyone who
isn't interested in filtering it out.
Thanks,
Andrew McCall
Edwin Petree
@news.demon.co.uk:
> http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram2.jpg
Have you tried using software to "invert" (the colours) of this image?
Andrew McCall
> Andrew McCall wrote:
[SNIP]
>>http://www.h2o.demon.co.uk/images/photogram1.jpg
>>
>>This was just a couple of items lying around the lab, it actually turned
>>out pretty funky!
>
> Good stuff? What did you learn from this? Can you tell us in a few words?
Basically I learned how the paper reacts to different amounts of light,
which in turn I translates to how the paper will react when printing
from a negative. As a negative allows different amount of light through
each area of grey in the picture, the paper will react differently,
making up the image.
This also made me realise why a negative is a negative image, and not a
positive image - if it was a positive image, it would print a negative!
[SNIP]
>>I need to scan these images in properly and fix any dust or scratches.
>>I am not too sure whats the best way of doing this yet.
>
> These are prints, yes? What scanner are you using? More important, what
Yes, these are 5x7 prints. I am using an Epson Perfection 1200S scanner .
> image manipulation program are you using? There should be tools to do that
I am using PhotoShop 7 on a Mac. I tried the "Remove Dust and Scratches
Filter" but the filter seemed to remove a lot of the print from the
shape of the light bulb. I think the best way to clear this up would be:
1) Scan it in at around 1200dpi
2) Fix the skew
3) Select the bulb
4) Invert the selection
5) Apply the filter to the selection
6) Remove the other scratches and dust by hand
7) Downsample the image to the required size
Is it just a case of taking it to a printers to get it printed correctly
then, or is there a way I can print it myself?
> sort of thing to the scanned image. Interesting exploration of the digital
> darkroom awaits you.....
This is originally what got me interested in photography, but now I am
more interested in taking the correct image in the first place on film :)
>>He then gave us a quick intro into the camera covering ISO speeds,
>>shutter speeds and loading and unloading film. This was really quick
[SNIP]
>>students have newer cameras such as a Cannon 300EOS and the student had
>>to keep looking at a LCD display to check some of the settings, where as
>>the older ones such as the Pentax K-1000 and my FM2n had the settings in
>>the view finder. In addition to this, the Cannon's wound the film all
>>the way back into the cartridge, making it harder to remove in the dark
>>room.
>
> No problem with 'quick' here, as you'll get exposed to this over and over
> again until you'll know it without thinking about it. AFAIK, most Canons
> (one 'n') do provide all the information you wish in the viewfinder itself.
Thats what I am hoping. It does seem so hard at first. When I was
adjusting the lighting I could see the shadows changing, but I couldn't
tell exactly if I was doing it right - did I have crossing shadows? Was
one side of the face going to be too dark? I suppose its just getting
used to it!
> And many (most?) Canons have functions that you can set. One of them tells
> the camera whether or not you want to leave a leader out on rewind. Set it
> thus, and until you change the setting, every rewind will leave the leader
> out. It's handy for midroll rewinds, where you simply reload the cassette
> and shoot on manual (lens cap on!!) one past the last frame you exposed,
> leaving a blank frame for safety's sake.
I might make a seperate post asking about this, the students who use
these cameras will be pleased if they are able to leave the leader out.
>>He asked us to buy some Ilford HP5 400 24 exposure film for next week.
>
> Good choice, I think.
Unfortunatly I had already bought a 36 exposure, so I will find it
harder to get it all on the spool at developing time :(
>>After this we went into the studio and did some light work. He
>>introduced us to a big soft box, a hard studio light (like a spot light)
>>and a softer light.
>>
>>he demonstrated how to use the different lights to bring out the texture
>>on a brick, and then showed us on a glass bottle - which then led us
>>over to a "white-area" that was used for some objects, like the bottle,
>>to indirectly light them, and to create silhouettes.
>
> And this is exactly the core of photography, learning to use light
> creatively. You'll do this over and over again until it's second nature,
> if you stay with photography.
I have always been interested in "art" - when I was 16 I actually was
interviewed for the same college I am doing the course at (indeed the
same building!) to enroll on a fine art course, but for some reason at
the last minute I ended up going to a different one and my career
followed the IT/Computing path.
[SNIP]
> Dunno how big your still life setup in the lab is, but it doesn't have to be
Its huge! Its a large hall about the size of a tennis court! It has
little "bays" all around side for smaller shoots, and each end it has
big setups for larger shoots.
> huge in order to be very usable. Check out how it's made and see if you
> can figure out how to make a small one for yourself. It's the time you
I was thinking this. I bet with some wood, white/black cloth and some
lamps I could make a small setup for still life. This months issue for
"Professional Photography" magazine has an article all about still life,
so it might have some tips.
[SNIP]
>>During this he also introduced us to metering for a mid-tone gray card,
>>(Anyone know where I can get a mid-tone card?) and the importance of
>>ignoring the meter after we had metered for the mid-tone.
>
> That's an 18% grey card, and should be available from any decent camera
[SNIP]
Well, its pay-day on Friday, so I think I will order a few from Jessops!
[SNIP]
>>He then demonstrated lighting on a dummy-head showing how to avoid
>>getting two shadows. After this we each took two pictures of other
>>students using a Pentax K-1000 to get used to moving and setting up the
>>lighting, and getting the right settings on the camera.
>
> Excellent!! Pushing gear around is a lot of what studio pros do, so I
> understand. The actual exposure takes only an instant, but setup takes..
> well, it takes as long as it takes!! What you'll be learning is what moves
> to make, so that you'll be able to cut back on the 'false moves' that are
> the source of so much frustration!
Yeah, this was pretty fun, but it was also a bit edgy - the class hasn't
really got to know each other so taking pictures of each other was a
little weird. I suppose this is exactly the sort of thing professional
phtoographers have to do every day!
[SNIP]
> Yeah, I can blather on with the best of them... <grin>, but perhaps you'll
> find something I've written useful, and that's worth my effort.
Indeed! Your post was most welcome! Thanks.
> And most of important of all: Have fun!!
Thats what lifes for isn't it? ;-)
Thanks,
Andrew McCall