PHOTOGRAPHY

Katlin McAbee

SENIOR PROJECT
FALL 2014

McAbee Page |1

Katlin McAbee
Senior Project
Mr. Copeland
Fall 2014
Photography is used to capture many memories in life. Life is like a picture, because
everything someone loves is inside one little photo. There are many techniques to follow when
trying to take a perfect picture. These may include the history, lighting, and camera settings.
However, it is also important to know how to use different color effects when taking pictures.
Photography is a form of art that is in picture form. Photography has been around for many
years now and has become very popular, to best understand photography one must learn the
history.
The history of photography is the start to basic photography skills. The instrument that
people used for processing pictures was called the camera obscura.(inventors.about.com)
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is believed to be the father of photo
journalism. (inventors.about.com) Louis Daguerre was the inventor of the first practical process
of photography. (inventors.about.com) The daguerreotype was created to reduce the exposure
time to less than thirty minutes and keep the image from disappearing. (inventors.about.com)
The daguerreotype gained popularity quickly, by 1850 there were over seventy Daguerre type
studios in New York City alone. (inventors.about.com) Frederick Scoff Archer, an English
sculptor invented the Wet Plate negative. (inventors.about.com) Using viscous solution of
collodion, he coated glass with light sensitive silver salts. (inventors.about.com) In 1879, Dry
Plate was invented, which was a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion.

McAbee Page |2

(inventors.about.com) Hand held cameras now became possible. The first flexible roll films in
1889 were made of cellulose nitrate which is chemically similar to guncotton.
(inventors.about.com) Linen rag papers were used as the base for making photographic prints.
(inventors.about.com) Photo paper was not yet invented. After developing heliography and the

First Photograph, Nipce traveled to England where he showed his invention to botanical
illustrator Francis Bauer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (inventors.about.com) During the
nineteenth century, the First Photograph passed from Bauer's estate through a variety of
hands. (inventors.about.com) Nipce began experimenting with lithographic printmaking
which led to his invention of heliographybecause of his inability to draft images by hand.
(inventors.about.com) Over the next few years, Nipce experimented with bitumen on pewter
or zinc plates that could be inked for printing. (inventors.about.com) His best results came in
1826 with the copying of an engraving of the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise in which Nipce
invented the first successful form of photomechanical reproduction. (inventors.about.com) The
longest photographic negative in the world is 129 feet and was created by Esteban Pastorino
Diaz. (inventors.about.com) The most expensive camera ever sold was a rare 1923 Leica
camera, which went for $2.8 million at an auction in Vienna. (inventors.about.com) The largest
photographs in the world are made by stitching smaller images together. (inventors.about.com)
A study by Kelsey Blackburn and James Schrillo from Wake Forest University found that the left
side of peoples faces are perceived and rates as more aesthetically pleasing than the right.
(inventors.about.com) Also, it is important to know how to deal with the lighting in a photo.
(inventors.about.com) Next, one must be able to use lighting in the proper way when taking
pictures.

McAbee Page |3

Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light. It provides a method of describing

these characteristics and light measured in Kelvin. (exposureguide.com) During the golden
hour, the sun's rays hit the earth at a lower angle. (exposureguide.com) This makes the light
softer (more diffuse), and warmer in hue, and the shadows longer. (exposureguide.com) All in
all, that makes for better photography. Light can always get in the way of a beautiful picture.
Sometimes light is a good source when taking pictures but sometimes it can get in the way. If
someone were to take a picture outside the sunlight would most likely be in their face. You
must have noticed some photos turn out with an orange/yellow cast if shot under tungsten
lighting or a bluish cast if shot under fluorescent lights. (exposureguide.com) This occurs
because each source of light possesses a different color temperature. Since different sources of
light have different color hues, a picture taken with a normal white balance under artificial
lighting conditions transmits the low heat to the camera's sensor. (exposureguide.com) Most
pictures will come out worse than others if there is way too much light. When trying to adjust a
digital camera manually by setting, use a white object as a reference point. This will help when
trying to focus the camera and also when trying to set the lighting. Some people consider it
amateurish to use pre-determined settings, when in fact there may be times when someone is
in a rush and cannot adjust everything manually. (exposureguide.com) This happens all of the
time. If you are in a hurry to take pictures one will not have time to correct the settings. If in
doubt, use auto mode, then adjust the settings manually. Auto settings are there to be used to
try them all, and become familiar with what each one does. (exposureguide.com) To manually
set the white balance in an image, first point the camera at a pure white object, set the
exposure and focus. (exposureguide.com) Camera sensors react to and record light in a

McAbee Page |4

fundamentally different manner from analog film, and this is the basis of the special control
that digital gives over the image. (Michael Freeman) Cameras focus for ones self, set the color
balance and determine the exposure. Color accuracy and knowledge of light sources will make
it easier to capture the image accurately in camera. A camera will usually focus itself when
taking a picture. It knows when to correct itself when in direct sunlight or any kind of light.
Concentrating solely on the technical factors of the images-the exposure, sharpness, and so oncan result in dull and contrived images. (exposureguide.com) One will need to be able to spot
the potential of the colors in a scene and then use them in the images. This process starts long
before even picking up the camera; it involves how to see colors and how it influences our
perception of the world. (exposureguide.com) Honing these skills, along with the ability to
capture them to recreate the impact that it has on one person at the time, is the key to
producing great color photographs. (exposureguide.com) Soon one will see how many of the
things that are taken for granted use the same color principles that can be used in the
photography. This includes how nature uses color to attract or deter other creatures, and how
designers and architects use color to create an emotional reaction when we use their products
or buildings. (exposureguide.com) Be aware that, for all our knowledge and technology, there
are still aspects of color and light that some do not fully understand. Even the way that people
actually see colors is a mystery; although the basic physical aspects are known, how the brain
interprets the information gathered by the eyes is still open to much speculation.
(exposureguide.com) Color has the power to create moods, evoke emotions, or show the world
in ways that would otherwise be invisible or lost to our everyday lives. (exposureguide.com) By
carefully selecting, adjusting, or manipulating the colors present in an image, it can be given a

McAbee Page |5

meaning that can be as blatant or as subtle as one may like. (exposureguide.com) As long ago
as the 6th-century in China, people have tried to understand how and why we react to different
colors and how the various colors work together. (exposureguide.com) Next, one must know
the different types of settings to use when taking pictures.
Most cameras adjust for shaky hands or identify and focus on the faces of people in the
picture. Technology has made many aspects of photography automatic. (howstuffworks.com)
All cameras are automatic or can be set to be automatic. It makes it easier when trying to take a
picture. The camera focuses and corrects itself easier than before. How the camera's features
are used is more important than the technology itself, and the eye is the most valuable tool to
have. (howstuffworks.com) The eye can see everything, like things that need fixed and also help
capture great things. Seventy or eighty percent of all photographic exposures are made on
color film. (howstuffworks.com) Black film is not used as much anymore. Newer things have
been invented and took its place. Most of the facts about photography apply equally to color
and black and white processes but it is a lot simpler to explain and understand them when
considering black and white. Someone can't start out learning about color even if it's your
main world's greatest photographer, still see in exactly the same way. (howstuffworks.com)
Last, you must know how to use color effects in photos.
Painters and designers learn how color can be used to their advantage at a very early
stage, but for most photographers learning about this issue, is often a question of trial and
error. (nautil.us) Someone may never find the color that they like the most. Simply capturing
the world around them meant that there seemed little point in photographers learning how to
mix colors and use color contrasts. (nautil.us) Digital photography has opened up a whole new

McAbee Page |6

world of creative possibilities by offering everyone the opportunity to create their own vision of
the world around them, including the ability to adjust or even to change colors. (nautil.us) Back
in the day there were cameras where you had to replace the film. The cameras were only in
black and white, but no color at all. Digital cameras were invented not so long ago but have
changed the way of photography. One is able to see the world in color. Knowing how to use
color effectively will expand the creativity and the awareness of why some images work while
others fall flat. (nautil.us) Many people are accustomed to a color effect that fits them the
most. One person may like black and white more than they like using color. Everyone has a
specific color that he or she may enjoy using. (nautil.us) Black and white may look crazy to
someone who has always used color photography. (nautil.us) When setting the settings on the
camera, one has to make sure that it is set correctly. (nautil.us) Lighting is one of the biggest
factors when taking pictures. (nautil.us) The aspects of color and lighting is sometimes really
hard to understand. (nautil.us) If the light is shining right in the middle of the picture, the color
of the photo will not look like it should. Early-generation DV was an extremely lossy format,
delivering images that looked simultaneously harsh and muddy. (nautil.us) Until very recently,
the digital format offered an erratic and unnatural-looking color palette, especially when it
came to human skin tones. (nautil.us) Throughout their history, digital formats have typically
had significantly less latitude, meaning the ability to overexpose or underexpose the image
and still get a usable or pleasing result. (nautil.us) There are important technical differences
between digital capture and film capture. (nautil.us) Initially, the process is identical: Light is
focused through a camera lens, one frame at a time. (nautil.us) But in digital capture, there is
no photographic emulsion and no chemical reaction. (nautil.us) Instead, the light strikes an

McAbee Page |7

image sensor, a specialized circuit (most often the type called a complimentary metal-oxidesemiconductor, or CMOS) that converts light into electrical signals. (nautil.us) Next comes the
translation of that into digital data; images comprising an array of pixels. (nautil.us) That
happens later, entirely in the dark, by way of the proprietary codec (coder-decoder software)
and formatting software found inside every digital camera. (nautil.us) With a digital camera,
youre always working within programming choices made by someone else. (nautil.us) There
was found that some digital cameras dont render subtle highlight tones well, while others add
an artificial sharpness to an image or intentionally desaturate the color, so that contrast and
color must be manipulated to look normal. (nautil.us)
Being able to learn the basics of photography has been really fun. Learning about the
history can be really confusing because there are so many different answers to one question or
statement. There are many skills to becoming a great photographer. A person must know how
to use their camera properly before taking any photos. It takes a lot of practice, however
practice does make perfect. Being able to learn quickly is always a good thing. If a person has
never taken a photo before there should always be someone there to help that person.
Learning the basics of photography can be really hard. The techniques that someone has to
follow can be really confusing. Photography has been around for years and years, however the
technology has changed since then. Photos carry such great memories inside of them. One little
picture can mean so much to a person. Being able to take a perfect picture has been
challenging. One is able to learn so much from one person. It is always good to learn about the
history of photography first that way you will have a little bit of background information about
the topic. Most photographers travel around the world to take pictures. One big photograph is

McAbee Page |8

usually made by many little photographs. Memories are being captured each time a photo is
taken. This is why many people take lots of pictures with their family and friends. They never
want the memories to fade away. Photography has been around for many years but has
changed so much. At first the hand held cameras were invented and now you have these fancy
cameras that you can put on top of a tripod. Every year Nikkon or Kodak comes out with bigger
and better cameras. The only thing that changes on these cameras would be the quality of the
pictures. Sometimes the pictures can look clearer or nicer than the last camera that had come
out. The cost of these cameras have gone up by so much in the past years. Photography can get
to be really expensive but it is worth it all. Photography has made a big impact on the world. It
has helped make millions of people really famous. This has all been a really great experience.

McAbee Page |9

Works Cited

Shipman, Carl. Understanding Photography. H.P Books, 1974

Freeman, Michael. The Complete Guide to Light and Lighting in Digital Photography.
Lark Books; 1st edition, October 28, 2006.

Rowse, Darren. 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should
Know. Introductions to Useful Modes and Settings on Your Digital Camera. (December
31, 2008). 15 August 2014 http://digital-photography-school.com/21-settingstechniques-and-rules-all-new-camera-owners-should-know/

Photography As A Research Method. Part Two. (1937). 15 August 2014

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/fsa/tool.html

Bellis, Mary. History of Photography and the Camera. Pinhole Cameras to the
Daguerreotype. (2015). 15 August 2014
http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

Waterhouse, Julie. Ultimate Photo Tips. Basic Photography Information. (2009-2013).

15 August 2014 http://www.ultimate-photo-tips.com/basic-photographyinformation.html

Stanton, Alison. 5 Must-Read Facts About Photography. Kodak, Who invented the first
digital camera, went bankrupt because they didnt convert to digital. (April 4). 15 August
2014 http://www.omgfacts.com/lists/34/5-must-read-facts-about-photography

Enhance Your Own Photography Portfolio just by adding a Wedding to it. Tumbhi.
(November 20, 2014). 15 August 2014 http://blog.tumbhi.com/photography