PHOTOGRAPHY 14-9

A photographer usually has a particular size or sizes of photographic flash

lamp and reflector, a particular type of film, and an established practice
as to the shutter speed he prefers to use. Thus, items
1, 2, and 3 are fixed
and it is possible to combine them empirically to provide a guide number
that is the product of the aperture (/-number) and the distance (feet) from
subject to lamp. Since these are both second power functions and in
inverse relationship, it remains merely to divide the guide number by the
distance from lamp to subject to obtain the aperture setting. It becomes
a simple matter to remember the guide number applicable to a particular
lamp, film, and shutter speed. The guide-number system has been found
useful also in conjunction with other illuminants, when an exposure meter
is not available.
Photographic Lighting Equipment
Reflectors. It is common practice, with cameras not having inter-
changeable lenses, to choose a lens with a focal length approximately equal
to the diagonal of the film used. This results in the picture area subtending
an angle of about 45 degrees. Likewise, it is customary to place the
lighting equipment near the camera or, at least, at about the same distance
from the subject.
Reflector beam 'patterns. Reflector beam patterns for complete light
utilization should fill an angle of about 45 degrees. However, it is well to
minimize difficulties caused by inaccurate aiming of the reflector by filling
a60-degree cone. An ideal reflector distribution would be one that provides
uniform illumination throughout the 60-degree field, then "cuts off" comple-
tely, but such a design is not readily attained. A reflector whose candle-
power value at 30 degrees from the axis of the beam is 50 per cent that at
the center is considered to have a 60-degree spread. Such a beam pattern
provides lower illumination toward the edges of the picture, but this is
seldom objectionable since the point of interest in a picture is in the middle
and a lower exposure at the edges is not serious.
A bare lamp emits about 6 per cent of its light output within a 60-degree
solid angle. Even the poorest of reflector designs will utilize 12 to 15 per
cent of the light emitted by a lamp and a well-designed reflector should
project 30 to 35 per cent in a 60-degree cone as compared with only 6 per
cent for a lamp alone. A good reflector and one lamp thus can provide as
much light on a subject as do six bare lamps.
The shadows and contrasts that help to light a person as we normally see
him are usually "soft," such as are produced by a light source of appreciable
size. Large reflectors (16 to 24 inches in diameter) produce more natural
modeling and should be used in portrait studios as well as commercial
establishments where their size is not a handicap. Cameras carried by
newspaper photographers, and many cameras used by amateurs have lamps
and reflectors attached and thus there is a premium on compactness. The
reflectors for these usually are 5 to 7 inches in diameter. Miniature-
camera flash equipment often employs even smaller reflectors (4 to 5
inches) more in keeping with the size of the camera. These smaller reflec-