A photograph of my dad and his friends in the late 70s (above) and a photo of my sisters and I.
Above is a photo of my dad with his best friends from school around 1977. This photo was taken using an analogue camera, SLR that was developed before print in black and white which though colour photography was present at the time, makes the photo seem very old and vintage looking. another factor that adds to the aged look of the photo is the quality. the grainy look is something instantly recognisable as a trait of "vintage". photography and is completely the opposite of the photo of me and my sisters that follows the HD look that modern photography favours. The large megapixels and powerful sensors of popular cameras such as DSLRs and also the small but mighty cameras found on phones means that high quality clear photos are extremely accessible technology today, unlike the limited quality in the 70s. SLRs that were used had very limited metering and settings so it was harder to adapt to suit the scene, also there was no digital preview of the shot and underexposed parts of the photo arent corrected. The positions of the subjects of the old photo are all face on with the two outer boys' bodies angled outwards slightly. Its a medium shot, framed from the knees up however this emphases the height difference between the 3 boys in the photo as the tallest one's head reaches the very top of the frame and you can see how much space is above my dad's head compared to this, which gives it a comical element. The poses of the 3 boys give the impression that they are trying to appear cool and trendy, as they each have their hands in their pockets which make them look nonchalant and very casual, in addition to the half smiling and straight face expression. This is different to the modern picture which is quite close up and shows all 3 of us smiling broadly which illustrates happiness and shows us having fun in a more candid way, as opposed to the purposeful posing and positioning of the boys which could be because there was a limited amount of exposures or film to be spend on a picture instead of an endless burst of digital photos. The style of picture is a "selfie" which explains the positioning of the subjects- very close together and looking upwards instead of face on, since the camera is facing towards instead of away and held up and pointing down at the subjects from the arm of my sister on the far right which is also why the position isn't completely centered in the frame. The patterned clothing in the modern photo adds to the bright vibrant colouring of the digital, and the background is light and sunny in contrast to the shadowy forest appearance in the old photo. Despite there being dark underexposed areas in the background, it makes the light 70s outfits which feature high waisted jeans and lots of denim and t-shirts stand out because of the contrasting darkness behind.
Investigating Exposure
This is a labelled diagram of a DSLR, there are minor differences between the placement of these functions between Canon and Nikon cameras however the functions themselves remain the same.
The genius way that cameras were developed imitate the human eye, using these features:
a diaphragm to control the amount of light that passes through the lens. This is the shutter in a camera, and the pupil, the hole in the middle of the human eye.
a lens to focus the light and create an image. The image is real and inverted or upside down.
a method of sensing the image. In a camera, film is used to record the image; in the eye, the image is focused on the retina, and a system of rods and cones is the front of the image-processing system that changes the image to electrical impulses and passes the information along the optic nerve to the brain.
Aperture The word itself means an opening, hole or gap It refers to the opening in the lens of a camera. This opening in front of the shutter and sensor regulates the amount of light that passes through when the shutter is opened. The aperture on a lens can be fixed or adjustable. When the aperture is adjusted it changes the depth of field of the photo. Apertures are measured by f-stop numbers that represent how much light allowed in. The larger the number, the smaller the aperture is meaning that less light can enter, like f29 whereas a small number f4 represents a wide opening and consequently more light. The differing amount of light affects the photo in the following way:
The size of the aperture has a direct impact on the depth of field, which is the area of the image that appears sharp. A large f-number such as f/32, (which means a smaller aperture) will bring all foreground and background objects in focus, while a small f-number such as f/1.4 will isolate the foreground from the background by making the foreground objects sharp and the background blurry.
To demonstrate this we stood in the same position and took multiple photos, the only factor that was varied was the aperture. The values used were f3.5, f8 and f29 The resulting photos showed how greatly the photo of the same setting and position was affecting by changing the aperture. To do this we put the camera mode on aperture priority (or Av on Nikon). This allowed us to change the aperture value however the camera controlled and adjusted the shutter speed to accompany it.
These photos were successful in showing the difference in focus in a very simple way, as the grassy background is brought into focus gradually as the aperture becomes narrower.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is a measurement of time that a camera's shutter is open—allowing light, usually after it has passed through a lens and through the aperture diaphragm, to strike a photosensitive surface, like film or a digital sensor.
a camera shutter is a curtain in front of the camera sensor that stays closed until the camera fires. When the camera fires, the shutter opens and fully exposes the camera sensor to the light that passes through the lens aperture. After the sensor is done collecting the light, the shutter closes immediately, stopping the light from hitting the sensor. The button that fires the camera is also called “shutter” or “shutter button”, because it triggers the shutter to open and close.
Shutter speed, also known as “exposure time”, stands for the length of time a camera shutter is open to expose light into the camera sensor. If the shutter speed is fast, it can help to freeze action completely, as seen in the above photo of the dolphin. If the shutter speed is slow, it can create an effect called “motion blur”, where moving objects appear blurred along the direction of the motion.
Shutter speed depends on the light situation of the scene and is always adjusted either manually or automatically. The shutter speed is always automatically changed to compliment the aperture and vice versa when the camera is in any mode apart from manual to ensure the photograph is correctly exposed.
Shutter speeds are typically measured in fractions of a second, when they are under a second. For example 1/4 means a quarter of a second, while 1/250 means one two-hundred-and-fiftieth of a second or four milliseconds
To demonstrate this aspect of photography we used the camera on shutter priority or TV mode. To experiment with freezing motion I photographed Ellie dropping a pine cone and other pieces of wood chip. This was very difficult to capture without adjusting the speed to extremely fast.
an example of using a very fast shutter speed to freeze motion
On the other hand, shutter speed can be used to show a blur of motion when set to very slow, resulting in a very long exposure as the shutter is open for a longer time and lets more light pass through to the lens. When I photographed Ellie jumping at 1/4 the photo produced shows a very blurry image of her legs. in some of the pictures her legs appear faded and partly disappeared which creates an eerie effect or ghostly image.
an example of using long exposure to create motion blur within a portrait
differences shutter speed makes to brightness/light in a photo