Photography

Preface viii

1 Getting Started 2

Camera and Film 4

Getting Your Camera Ready 5

Focusing and Setting the Exposure 6

Taking Your Picture 8

What Will You Photograph? 9

Some Basic Guidelines to Get You Started 9

Photographing People 10

Photographing Places 12

2 Camera 14

Basic Camera Controls 16

The Shutter 18

The Shutter and Light 18

The Shutter and Motion 20

Conveying Motion in a Still Photograph 22

The Aperture 24

The Aperture and Light 24

The Aperture and Depth of Field 26

Using Shutter and Aperture Together 28

Choosing a Camera 30

Keeping the Camera Steady 33

photographer at work: Photojournalist James Nachtwey 34

3 Lens 36

From Pinhole to Lens 38

Lens Focal Length 40

Normal Focal Length 42

Long Focal Length 44

Short Focal Length 46

Zoom Lenses 48

Special-Purpose Lenses 49

Focusing Your Lens 50

Manual Focus 50

Automatic Focus 52

Focus and Depth of Field 54

Controlling Depth of Field 56

Zone Focusing 58

Focusing on the Hyperfocal Distance 59

Perspective 60

Guidelines for Buying a Lens 62

Getting the Most from Your Camera and Lens 63

photographer at work: Mary Ellen Mark 64

4 Exposure, Sensors, and Film 66

Exposure Basics 68

Equivalent Exposures 68

How Exposure Meters Work 69

In-Camera Exposure Meters 70

Automatic Exposure 71

How to Meter 72

An Overall Reading of a Scene with Average Tones 72

Using Different Types of Meters 73

Metering High-Contrast Scenes 74

Exposing for Specific Tones and Bracketing 76

Hard-to-Meter Scenes 77

Responding to Light 78

Silver and Pixels 78

Selecting and Using Film 79

Exposure Latitude and Dynamic Range 80

How Much Can Exposures Vary? 80

Film and Sensor Speed 82

Speed and ISO 82

Grain and Noise 83

Extending Beyond Visible Light 84

Infrared Photographs 84

Special Purpose Films 86

Instant and Chromogenic Films 86

Polarizing Filters 87

Using Filters 88

Using Exposure 90

photographer at work: Advertising Photographer Clint Clemens 92

5 Developing the Negative 94

How to Process Black-and-White Roll Film 96

Equipment and Supplies You'll Need 96

Processing Chemicals and How to Handle Them 97

Chemical Safety 98

Processing Black-and-White Roll Film Step by Step 100

How Film Processing Affects Your Picture 106

Exposure and Development: Under, Normal, Over 108

6 Printing in a Darkroom 110

Black-and-White Printing 112

Equipment and Supplies for Printing 112

The Enlarger 114

Printing Papers 116

Making a Black-and-White Print Step by Step 118

A Contact Sheet: A Whole Roll at Once 118

Setting Up an Enlargement 120

A Test Strip for Your Print 122

A Trial Print-and Then a Final Print 123

Processing a Black-and-White Print 124

Evaluating Density and Contrast in a Print 128

Controlling Contrast 130

Graded- and Variable-Contrast Papers 130

Dodging and Burning 132

Cropping 134

Archival Processing for Maximum Permanence 135

Toning for Color and Other Effects 136

7 Color 138

Color: Additive or Subtractive 140

Color Photographs: Three Image Layers 141

Color Characteristics 142

Color Balance 144

Color Changes through the Day 144

Color Casts 146

Color Temperature 147

Filters to Balance Color 148

Developing Color Film 150

Making a Color Print From a Negative 151

Equipment and Materials You'll Need 151

Exposing a Test Print 152

Judging Density in a Print Made from a Negative 154

Judging Color Balance in a Print Made from a Negative 155

More About Color Balance and Print Finishing 157

Making a Color Print from a Transparency 158

Judging a Print Made from a Transparency 159

photographer at work: Another Angle on Sports-Walter Iooss, Jr. 160

8 Setting up a Digital Darkroom 162

Hardware and Software 164

An Overview 164

Capturing Detail: Resolution and Bit Depth 165

Photographs Are Files 166

File Formats 166

Importing Your Images 168

Downloading and Scanning 168

Making a Scan 169

Color Management 170

Histograms 172

Anatomy of a Digital Image 172

Three Histograms for Color 173

Setting Up a Workflow 174

photographer at work: Digital Storyteller-Pedro Meyer 176

9 Image Editing 178

Digital Post-Processing and Editing: Getting Started 180

Choosing Software 180

Your Work Area and Tools 181

Setting Up an Image to Edit 182

Channels 183

Color or Black and White? 183

Adjusting Color and Value 184

Different Approaches 184

Using Levels 185

Curves 186

Adjusting All or Part of an Image 188

Selection Tools 188

Using Layers 189

Other Editing Commands 190

High Dynamic Range 190

Filters for Special Effects 191

Retouching and Sharpening 192

Compositing 194

An Image-Editing Workflow 196

10 Digital Printing 198

Printers and Printing 200

Printer Choices 200

Drivers and RIPs 201

Profiles and Soft Proofing 202

Papers and Inks 203

Printing Options 204

Panoramic Photographs 204

Printing in Black and White 206

Displaying Your Work 208

The Internet-Gallery and Resource 208

Ethics: How Far Can You Go? 209

11 Organizing and Storing Your Work 210

Image Storage 212

Size Matters 212

Metadata: Data About Your Files 213

Software to Keep You Organized 214

Archiving Digital Images 215

Archiving Film and Prints 216

12 Print Finishing and Display 218

Spotting to Remove Minor Flaws 220

Mounting a Print 221

Equipment and Supplies You'll Need 221

Dry Mounting 222

Cutting an Overmat 224

Framing and Glazing 225

13 Lighting 226

Direction of Light 228

Degree of Diffusion: From Hard to Soft Light 230

Available Light-Outdoors 232

Available Light-Indoors 233

Artificial Light 234

Lights and Other Lighting Equipment 234

Qualities of Artificial Light 235

The Main Light: The Dominant Source 236

The Fill Light: To Lighten Shadows 238

Lighting with Flash 240

Flash Equipment 241

Basic Flash Techniques 242

Manual Flash Exposures 244

Automatic Flash Exposures 245

Fill Flash: To Lighten Shadows 246

Controlling Background Brightness 248

Simple Portrait Lighting 250

Multiple-Light Portrait Setups 252

Lighting Textured Objects 254

Lighting Reflective Objects 255

Lighting Translucent Objects 256

Using Lighting 257

photographer at work: Dance Photographer Lois Greenfield 258

14 Extending the Image 260

Using Scale 262

Pictures Very Large and Very Small 262

Multiple Images 264

More is Better 264

Fabricated to be Photographed 266

The Photograph as Object 268

Using Projections 270

Making a Book 271

Alternative Processes 272

Cyanotype Printing 272

Platinum and Palladium Printing 273

Gum Bichromate Printing 274

Image Transfer 275

A Photogram: A Cameraless Picture 276

Cross Processing 278

A Sabattier Image: Part Positive, Part Negative 279

Pinhole Photography 280

How to Make a Close-Up Photograph 282

Close-Up Exposures 283

Copying Techniques 284

15 View Camera 286

Inside a View Camera 288

View Camera Movements 290

Rise and Fall 290

Shift 292

Tilt 294

Swing 296

Using a View Camera to Control the Image 298

Controlling the Plane of Focus 299

Controlling Perspective 300

Equipment You'll Need 302

What to Do First-and Next 303

Loading and Processing Sheet Film 304

16 The Zone System 306

The Zone System Scales 308

Using the Zone Scale While Metering 310

Placing a Tone, Seeing Where Other Tones Fall 310

How Development Controls Contrast 312

Putting It All Together 314

Roll Film and Color Film 315

photographer at work: Using the Zone System-John Sexton 316

17 Seeing Photographs 318

Basic Choices 320

Content 320

Framing the Subject 322

Backgrounds 324

Basic Design 326

Spot/Line 326

Shape/Pattern 328

Emphasis/Balance 330

More Choices 332

Using Contrasts of Sharpness 332

Using Contrasts of Light and Dark 334

Placing the Subject within the Frame 336

Perspective and Point of View 338

Looking at-and Talking About- Photographs 340

Showing Your Work to Editors and Others 342

18 History of Photography 344

The Invention of Photography 346

Daguerreotype: "Designs on Silver Bright" 347

Calotype: Pictures on Paper 348

Collodion Wet-Plate: Sharp and Reproducible 349

Gelatin Emulsion/Roll-Film Base: Photography for Everyone 350

Color Photography 351

Early Portraits 352

Early Travel Photography 354

Early Images of War 355

Time and Motion in Early Photographs 356

The Photograph as Document 357

Photography and Social Change 358

Photojournalism 360

Photography as Art in the 19th Century 364

Pictorial Photography and the Photo-Secession 365

The Direct Image in Art 366

The Quest for a New Vision 367

Photography as Art in the 1950s and 1960s 368

Photography as Art in the 1970s and 1980s 370

A Gallery of Contemporary Photography 372

Troubleshooting 388

Glossary 399

Bibliography 404

Credits 408

Index 410