CRIMINALISTICS

FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Compilation by: JOHN MICHAEL C. BANTONARE, TOP 5 (2008)

Photography

- in a modern sense,

it is an art or science which deals with the reproduction of images through the action of light, upon sensitized
materials, with the aid of a camera and its accessories and the chemical processes involved therein.

Photography

- technically and legally,

this is a means for the chemical, thermal, electrical or electronic recording of the images of scenes, or objects
formed by some type of radiant energy, including gamma rays, x-rays, ultra-violet rays, visible light and infrared rays.

Police photography

an art or science which deals with the study of the principles of photography, the preparation of photographic
evidence, and its application to police work.

Forensic Photography

an art or science of photographically documenting a crime scene and evidence for laboratory examination and
analysis for purpose of court trial.

THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

1. Light – the days of creation

“In the beginning, God, and created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let’s there be light” and there was light. God saw the light was good, and he separated
the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. And there was morning – The
first day. (Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1-3)

2. Equipment (1700)

The portable camera obscura (Latin for dark chamber) was used by artist or painters to get accurate
perspective of natural scene and scale of their subject.

3. Chemicals (1726 -1777)

Light sensitivity of silver nitrate and silver chloride solution was discovered and investigated.

In 1800 Thomas Wedgewood and Humphey Davy produced photograms.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY

About 1000 BC- Alhazen Ibn Al-Haitham, an Arab scholar recorded one of the earliest uses of a “dark room” that later
called as “Camera Obscura”.

1727- Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that light changes the nature of chemical substances.

He found out that light turned the color of a mixture of chalk, silver and nitric acid from white to yellow.

The said theory was verified after 52 years with the use of silver chloride by a Swedish chemist by the name of
Carl W. Scheele.

He also found out that light from the violet end of the spectrum darkened the silver chloride faster than light of
other spectral colors.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY

1839 - is generally as the birth year of photography.

Willam Henry Fox Talbot explained a process he had invented (calotype) at the Royal Society of London.
 - produces negative photograph of a window at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, using paper sensitized by silver chloride.

- The “Calotype” later called as “Talbotype” used paper with its surface fibers impregnated with light sensitive
compounds.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre made a public demonstration in Paris “Daguerreotype” in collaboration with
Joseph Nicephore Niepce who first patented the “Heliograph” in 1826.

The “Daguerreotype” formed an image directly on the silver surface of a metal plate.

With Talbots “ calotype,” the fixation was only partial while Daguerre’s Daguerreotype, image were made
permanent with the use of hypo.

 1848 – Abel Niece de Saint-Victor – introduced a process of negative on glass using albumen (egg white) as
binding medium.
 1850 – Louis Desirie Blanquart – introduced a printing paper coated with albumen to achieve a glossy surface.
 1851 – Frederick Scott Archer – published a “wet plate” process when collodion - a viscous liquid that dries to a
tough flexible and transparent film – replaced albumen.
 1885 – Gelatin emulsion printing paper was commercially introduced based on film in 1889.

During this time; the cameras were crude; the lenses could not form a true image; and the sensitive materials
required long exposures and could not reproduce colors in shades of gray.

It was in 1856 when John F.W. Herschel coined the word “ photography”.

- phos or photos – light

- graphia – write

- He is also responsible for the use of sodium thiosulphate as “fixer” .

 1861 – James Clark Maxwell researched on colors.

 1890 – full corrected lenses were introduced.
 1806 – a plate was placed on the market that could reproduced all color in equivalent shade of gray.
 1907 – Lummiere color process was introduced, a panchromatic film was used but with blue, green, and red
filter.
 1914 - U.S. Eastern Kodak made a color subtractive process called Kodachrome.
 1935 – color process come out together with electronic flash.
 1947 – Edwin H Land Introduced “Polaroild’ the one-step photography.
 1960 – LASER was invented making possible Holograms (three dimensional pictures).
 1988 – The arrival of true digital cameras.

DIGITAL CAMERA

Fuji DS – 1P of 1988, the first true digital camera that recorded images as a computerized file was likely the which
recorded to a 16 MB internal memory card that used a battery to keep the data in memory.

This camera was never marketed in the USA.

1992 Kodak DCS – 100, the first commercially available digital camera. It used a 1.3 megapixel sensor and was
priced at $ 13,00.

Casio QV – 10 in 1995, The first consumer camera with a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) on the back.

Kodak DC – 25 in 1996, the first camera to use compact flash.

Nikon D1 in 1999, a 2.74 megapixel camera was the first digital SLR with a price of under $ 6,000.

This camera also used Nikon – F-mount lenses which meant that film based Photographers could
introduced the

300D camera also known as digital rebel, a 6 megapixel and the first DSLR priced under $ 1,000 to consumers.

CRIMINAL APPLICATIONS

1854– An Englishman, Richard Leech Maddox, development a dry plate photography eclipsing Daguerre’s wet plate on
tin method. This made practical photography of inmates for prison records.
1859 – In the United States, one of the earliest applied Forensic Science was in photography. It was used to demonstrate
evidence in a California case. Enlarged photographs of signature was presented in a court case involving forgery.

1864 – Odelbrecht first advocate the use of photography for the identification of criminals and the documents of
evidence and crime scenes.

Early photographs of accused and arrested persons were beautifully posed as example of the Victorian
photographers at 20 to 30 years. Later, every major police force in England and the United States has “Rogues’ galleries”
– full face, profile and full body shot.

1882 – Alphonse Bertillion who initiated anthropometric measurements for personal identification was also involved in
various means of documentation by photography which developed into a fine science for criminalistics when he
photographed crime scenes and formulated a technique of contact photography to demonstrate erasure on documents.

1902 – Dr. R.A Reis, a German scientist trained in Chemistry and Physics at Lausanne University in Switzerland. He
contributed heavily to the use of photography in forensic science and established the world’s earliest crime laboratory
that serviced the academic community and the Swiss police. His interests included photography of crime scenes, corpses,
and blood stains. He made a trip to Brazil in 1913 where his experience in criminalistics was presented to the Western
Hemisphere for the first time.

1910 – Victor Baltazard developed a method of photographic comparison of bullets and cartridge cases which act as an
early foundation of the field of ballistics .

A Professor of forensic medicine at Sorborne, used photographic enlargements of bullets and cartridge cases to
determine weapon type and was among the first to attempt to individualize a bullet to a weapon.

LEGAL FOUNDATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

1. For Black and White Photographs

 1859 – Daguerreotype was used in civil case, Lueo vs. United States, 23 Howard 515 to decide on the
authenticity of photographs in comparing signatures.
 1874 - In a criminal case introducing photograph as identification evidence, Underzook vs. Commonwealth, 76
Pa. 340.
2. For Color Photographs

 1943 – Civil litigations Green vs. City and country of Denver, 3 Colo. 390 142 P.2 D .277 involving color
photography of spoiled meat in violation of a health ordinance prohibiting the sale of putrid meat to the public.

 1960 – In criminal case, state vs. Conte 157 Comm. 251 A.2d 81 showing the graphic wound of the victim.

CRIMINOLOGY EDUCATION

 1902 – Dr. R.A Reis professor at the University of Lausanne Switzerland set up one of the first academic curricular
in forensic science. His Forensic Photography Department grew into Lausanne Institute of Police Science.
 1950 – August Vollmer, Chief of Police of Berkeley, Califonia established the School of Criminology at the
University of Califonia, Berkeley.
 Paul Kirk presided over the major of Criminalistics within the school.
 1954 – In the Philippines, the school which pioneered criminology education is the Plaridel Educational
Institution now the Philippine College of Criminology at 641 Sales St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.

LIGHT

one of a number of known form of radiant energy which travel in wave motion.

the Wave theory is the only considered theory.

When an atom in a light source is changed physically, it emits a photon (electromagnetic radiation) which
behaves like waves.

it travels at a speed of about 186, 000 miles per second in air but can be slowed by dense mediums such as glass
or water.
 Cosmic rays
 Gamma rays
 x-rays …………… 01-30μ
 Ultraviolet rays …………… 30-400 μ
 Visible spectrum …………… 400-700 μ
 Infrared rays …………… 700-1000+ μ
 Hertzian waves (radio waves)

Wavelength

the distance from the crest to the wave of the next succeeding crest.

it is measured the Angstrom unit or in terms of milli-microns ( μ ) [English system of measurement or Nanometer
(nm)] [Metric system of measure].

Frequency

the number of waves passing in a given point in one second.

The three secondary colors

 Cyan
 Magenta
 Yellow

PRODUCTION OF COLORS

 Absorption -
 Scattering
 Interference
 Flouresence
 Dispersion

MOVEMENT OF LIGHT

 Reflection

 Absorption

 Transmission

 Refraction

 Diffraction

 reflection

The bouncing back of light when it hits the surface of the medium.

Two types of Reflection:

1. Specular or Regular reflection

2. Diffused or Irregular reflection

 Absorption
o The absorption of light through an opaque medium.
o Humans are able to see colors because of absorption.
 transmission
o When light hits a transparent medium, almost all of the light pass through it.
 refraction
o The bending of light when passing from one medium to another.
 diffraction

The bending of light when it hits a sharp edge of an opaque object.

SOURCES OF LIGHT
 There are two (2) sources of light, they are known as natural or artificial.

Natural lights are lights which come to existence without the intervention of man and artificial lights are lights
which are man made.

In photography natural light is used for outdoor photography and artificial lights are utilized in indoor
photography to augment the adverse lighting condition.

Natural light

The source of all daylight is the sun the combination of color and contrast ascertains the quality of daylight.

Color of the daylight will also affect the appearance of the objects being photographed specially in color
photography.

Some factors AFFECTING THE COLORS OF DAYLIGHT:

 Atmospheric dust
 Reflected light reached the objects and directly coming from the source.

DAYLIGHT MAYBE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO ITS INTENSITY THEY ARE:

 Bright sunlight – a lighting condition where objects in open space cast a deep and uniform or distinct shadows.
 Hazy sunlight - objects in open space cast a transparent shadow.
 Dull sunlight - objects in open space cast no shadow.
 Cloudy bright - objects in open space cast no shadow but objects at far distance are clearly visible.
 Cloudy dull - objects in open space cast no shadow and visiblity of distant objects is already limited.

THESE CLASSIFICATIONS ARE MODIFIED BY THE FILM MANUFACTURER AS:

 Open bright sunlight

 Under shade bright sunlight
 Hazy sunlight
 Cloudy bright sunlight
 Cloudy dull sunlight

Artificial light

Almost all artificial light sources can be used in photographing for objects, as long as the light is capable of
exposing the sensitized materials (film).

Some of the artificial lights are electronic flash, photoflood lamp, fluorescent lamp, Infra-red and Ultra-violate
lamp.

- Continuous radiation

- Short duration (Flash unit)

Forensic light sources

 Ultraviolet lamp
 LASER (Laser Amplification through Simulated Emission of Radiation)
 Alternative Light Sources (ALS)
 Forensic Light Sources (FLS)

PHOTOGRAPHIC FILMS AND PAPERS

Films

A transparent cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate composition in thin, flexible strips or sheets and coated with a
light sensitive emulsion for taking photographs.

Black and White Films

It is usually applied to black and white photography and made up of three components or layers:

 Emulsion

consist of crystals of light sensitive compounds (silver nitrate) evenly distributed throughout the plastic base material.
 Two component of the light sensitive compound:

- Silver Halide

- Gelatin

 Gray or Anti-halation Backing

This layers is placed between the emulsion and the plastic base of a film to prevent whatever light that passes through
the emulsion and reflected by the base back to the emulsion forms a “halo”.

 Base

made up of a plastic material. Serves as a support to the emulsion.

Characteristics of B & W Films

According to Emulsion Speed

 ASA (American Standards Association) Rating. This is expressed in aritmetical value.

 DIN (DeutcheIndustriNormen) Rating. Expressed in logarithmic value.
 ISO (International Standards Organization) Rating. Expressed in combined arithmetical and logarithmical values.

According to Spectral Sensitivity

 Blue Sensitive – sensitive to ultraviolet rays and blue color only.

 Orthochromatic – sensitive to ultraviolet rays, blue and green colors. It is not sensitive to red color.
 Panchromatic – sensitive to ultraviolet rays, to blue, green and red color.
 Infrared – sensitive to ultraviolet rays, to all colors and also to infrared rays.

Granularity or Graininess

The rule is:

The lower the emulsion speed rating of the film, the finer is the grain and conversely,

The higher the emulsion speed rating, the bigger are the grain.

Color Films

It is a multi-layer emulsion coated on the same support or base.

Basically, the structure of color film is almost the same as black and white film except that the emulsion layer
consists of three layers, stacked one on top of the other.

The three layers of the Color film

 Top layer – is sensitive to blue light only; green and red light passes through it without exposing the color blind
halides.
 Yellow filter – known as Carey Lea silver, suspended in gelatin is coated between the top and second layer to
absorb any penetrating blue light but freely passes green and red light.
 Middle layer – is orthochromatic, which is sensitive to blue (which cannot reach it) and green, but not to red. So
the red light passes on to the bottom emulsion layer.
 Bottom layer – is panchromatic, sensitive to blue (which cannot reach it) and red. It is also somewhat sensitive to
green light but to such a slight degree that it is not important.

Two types of Color Films:

 Negative or Non-reversal Film

- this film yields either a negative or a positive image depending on how it is used.

- the suffix “color” is used.

 Reversal Film

- a film when processed a positive image or transparency of for projection viewing.

 - the prefix “chrome” is used

PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPERS

Basically composed of a light sensitive coating on a paper base or support.

Print

a photographic image printed on paper, generally a positive image made from a negative. (Also refers to a
photograph of a model that appears in print – in a newspaper or magazine, for example.)

After the process of producing the negative has been completed, a positive image is produced from the negative
which is a true representation of the relative brightness of all parts of the object and is now called print.

A print is ordinarily made on paper that is coated with a light sensitive emulsion. This emulsion is much the same
as the one which must be used to cover the film.

Basic Layers of Printing Paper

 Base. Made of Paper which must be chemically pure to insure that it will not interfere with the chemical
processes to which the emulsion is subjected. Available either in a single or double weight paper.
 Baryta layer. A gelatin layer containing baryta crystal to increase the reflectivity of the paper.
 Emulsion layer. Contain minute silver halides suspended with gelatin which needs only to produce the total
range of negative

Types of Photographic Printing Paper

 Chloride Papers.

Have a slow speed emulsion containing silver chloride , fine grain and produce deep blacks, and used for contact
printing.

 Bromide Papers.

Have faster emulsion speed than chloride paper, achieve sensitivity through the use of bromide halides. Because
of the relatively high sensitivity to light, these emulsions are particularly suitable for projection printing.

Types of Photographic Printing Paper

 Chlorobromide Papers.

Contain both silver chloride and silver bromide halides. Emulsion speed lies between that of chloride and
bromide papers, used for both contact and projection printing.

 Variable Contrast Paper.

Combines the contrast ranges in one paper, this versatility is achieved with special chlorobromide emulsion that
produces varying contrast responses upon exposure to different colored light.

Printing Paper Grades

Because of the fact that all negatives do not print best on one kind of paper, and in order to permit printing for
special effects, photographic papers is made in several different grades of contrast and glossy surface.

 Velox No. 0 – used for printing from extremely contrast negative; the low contrast in the paper sensitizing
counteracts the high contrast in the negative, to give a new print.
 Velox No. 1 – used for high contrast negative.
 Velox No. 2 – a paper for normal contrast used with normal negatives.
 Velox No. 3 – use for negatives that are a little weak in contrast.
 Velox No. 4 – provides sufficient contrast to compensate for very thin or weak negatives. It is useful in printing
silhouettes and other such pictures in which high contrast is desired.
 Velox No. 5 – for negative so flat as to be otherwise unprintable.

Paper Weight

 Lightweight (LW) – intended for purposes which involve folding.

 Single weight (SW) – use for all ordinary photographic purposes.
 Double weight (DW) – generally used for large prints because they stand up better under rough treatment.
CAMERA

Is light tight box, with a means of forming the image (lens), with a means of holding sensitized materials (film
holder) and with a means of controlling the amount of light that will reached the film

Basic parts of the camera:

 Camera body- a light-tight container used to hold light sensitive materials (film).
 Shutter- a mechanism that opens and closes within the camera to provide the time interval necessary for
exposure. Time intervals are called shutter speed.
 Lens- a single shaped piece of optical glass or molded plastic designed to gather and focus light rays in a camera
to form an image of a subject on film.
 Diaphragm- a device made of thin overlapping metal leaves within a lens or camera which can be adjusted to
specific apertures of f-stops to control the amount of light that strikes the film.
 Aperture- the lens opening, the size of which is regulated by a diaphragm and expressed as an f-stop or f-number
(f-stop represents the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the diameter of the lens. Also the number that indicates the
size of a lens opening.
 Film holder- part of the camera that holds the light sensitive material/film.

Similarity of a camera to the human eye

 Eyeball - Camera body

 Eyelid- Shutter
 Lens – Camera lens
 Iris- Diaphragm
 Pupil- Aperture
 Retina- Film/film holder

OTHER PARTS OF THE CAMERA

Aside from the essential parts of the camera there are other parts of any cameras which necessary in
photographing an object. They are:

 The viewing system

 The film advancer
 Shutter speed
 The focusing mechanism

VIEWING SYSTEM- the viewer of any camera will show the entire scene coverage that can be recorded in the film inside
the camera. It is usually attached on the top of side of the camera or the viewer is the taking lens itself when the camera
is angle lens reflex type.

FILM ADVANCER- The film advancer of the camera is necessary so that the exposed film can be transferred to the take-up
spool and the unexposed film will be on the opposite side of the lens for another exposure.

SHUTTER SPEED- The shutter speed will control the duration between the opening and the closing of the shutter. It will
regulate the quantity of light that will reach and affect the film inside the camera.

FOCUSING MECHANISM- The sharpness or clearness or the object being photograph will depend upon the focusing
system of the camera. This mechanism will estimate the object distance from the camera and formed a sharp or clear
images in the photographs.

CAMERA CLASSIFICATION

According to:

The size of the film they use or format of the picture they produce.

 Large format cameras

 Medium format cameras
 Small format cameras

The viewing or focusing system

 Those with focusing mechanism at the back of the camera

 Those with optical viewfinder

Types of Camera
 Box camera- uses lens and spring-loading shutter and roll film. Shutter speed and aperture usually not adjustable.
Camera body is a rigid box.
 Folding camera- lens and shutter mounted to camera body by means of accordion-pleated bellows, which can be
folded into camera foe ease of carrying.
 35mm camera- any class of cameras designed to use 35-mm film, the same film used in commercial motion
picture production.
 Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera- uses same lens for picture-taking and viewing. Characterized by focal-plane
shutter (usually) and an operable mirror that directs the image to eve for viewing function.
 Digital cameras- a type of camera that is electronic and does not require light sensitive materials (film) for
recording images, it either uses a memory card, disc (hard disc, floppy or compact disc) as storage.

Digital Camera

This type of camera digitalized the image which can then be put into computer and enhanced through a software
package such as Adobe Photoshop.

Two types of Digital Camera

 Those with fixed memory

- has a limited number of images it can capture.

- the use will be forced the image or transfer it to the computer.

 Those with removable memory

- it allows the user to load or replace a variety of storage cards in much the same fashion as film is exposed and
replaced.

Other features of a Digital Camera

 Images taken can be viewed in the computer and can easily be printed for hard copies.
 A Liquid Crystal Device monitor
 Flash unit
 Zoom lens capability
 Sound Recording
 Removable lens

Methods of image formation

 Pinhole

a small or tiny hole which produces an image entirely free from distortion but its image is so dim.

 Shadow method

image formed by this method is simply the shadow of an object.

 Lens method

the best method of image formation because it is capable of forming sharp image even with a large opening.

CAMERA LENS

- a transparent medium which either converge or diverge light rays passing through it to form an image.

- is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of
objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.

The creation of lens

The word lens comes from the Latin name of the lentil, because a double-convex lens is lentil-shaped.

The genus of the lentil plant is Lens, and the most commonly eaten species is Lens culinaris.

The creation of lens

The oldest lens artifact is the Nimrud lens, dating back 2700 years to ancient Assyria.
 David Brewster proposed that it may have been used as a magnifying glass, or as a burning-glass to start fires by
concentrating sunlight

Convex

o Lens that possesses at least one surface that curves outwards.

o It causes light to deviate inward, bringing the rays of light to a focus, and is thus called a converging lens, and is
used to correct long-sightedness (hypermetropism).

Concave

o Lens that possesses at least one surface that curves inwards.

o It is a diverging lens, spreading out those light rays that have been refracted through it.
o A concave lens is thinner at its centre than at its edges, and is used to correct short-sightedness (myopia).

LENS DEFECTS

 Spherical aberrations

is an optical problem that occurs when all incoming light rays end up focusing at different points after passing
through a spherical surface.

Light rays passing through a lens near its horizontal axis are refracted less than rays closer to the edge or
“periphery” of the lens and as a result, end up in different spots across the optical axis. In other words, the parallel light
rays of incoming light do not converge at the same point after passing through the lens. Because of this,

Spherical Aberration can affect resolution and clarity, making it hard to obtain sharp images.

 Coma

a shortcoming in a camera lens where light rays, bumping into the objective far from it's optical axis do not come
to focus within the identical image plane.

this results in star images near the outer edge of the viewing field seeming to have comet-style tails scattering
radially away from it's optical axis (called negative coma) or toward it's axis (called positive coma).

 Curvature of field

Field Curvature, also known as “curvature of field” or “Petzval field curvature”.

a common optical problem that causes a flat object to appear sharp only in a certain part(s) of the frame, instead
of being uniformly sharp across the frame.

this happens due to the curved nature of optical elements, which project the image in a curved manner, rather
than flat. And since all digital camera sensors are flat, they cannot capture the entire image in perfect focus.

In a simple field curvature scenario like above, the light rays are perfectly focused in the center of the frame, at
Image Plane A (where the sensor is). Since the image is curved, sharpness starts to drop as you move away from the
center, resulting in less resolution in the mid-frame and much less resolution in the corners.

The circular “dome-like” image in three dimensional form is shown to the right of the illustration.

Lenses with wavy field curvature can show sharp center and corner performance, but soft mid-frame
performance. If you look at the above illustration, you will see that the shape of the curved image starts out touching
Image Plane A in the center, where it is perfectly in focus. Then the image curves in the mid-frame and comes back
again in the corners.

 Barrel lens distortion

an effect associated with wide-angle lenses and, in particular, zoom wide-angles. This effect causes images to be
spherized, which means the edges of images look curved and bowed to the human eye.

It almost appears as though the photo image has been wrapped around a curved surface. It is most visible in
images that have straight lines in them, as these lines appear to be bowed outward.

 Pincushion distortion

a lens effect which causes images to become pinched in the center. It is most often associated with telephoto
lenses, and in particular, zoom telephotos.
 the distortion will usually occur at the telephoto end of the lens. The pincushion distortion effect increases with
the distance the object is from the optical axis of the lens.

 Chromatic aberrations

also known as “color fringing” or “purple fringing”.

is a common optical problem that occurs when a lens is either unable to bring all wavelengths of color to the
same focal plane, and/or when wavelengths of color are focused at different positions in the focal plane.

is caused by lens dispersion, with different colors of light travelling at different speeds while passing through a
lens. As a result, the image can look blurred or noticeable colored edges (red, green, blue, yellow, purple, magenta) can
appear around objects, especially in high-contrast situations.

A perfect lens would focus all wavelengths into a single focal point, where the best focus with the “circle
of least confusion” is located.

In reality, the refractive index for each wavelength is different in lenses, which causes two types of Chromatic
Aberration – Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration and Lateral Chromatic Aberration.

Lenses with Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration problems can show fringing around objects throughout the image,
even in the center. Red, Green, Blue or a combination of these colors can appear around objects.

Unfortunately, it is often impossible to completely eliminate this type of chromatic aberration in post-processing,
so it just becomes a “feature” of a lens.

Lateral Chromatic Aberration never shows up in the center and is only visible towards the corners of the image in
high-contrast areas.

Compared to Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration, you typically get one color on one side of an object or might get
one color on one side and a different color or another. Blue and purple fringing is often common on some fisheye, wide-
angle and low-quality lenses.

 Astigmatism

Astigmatism (pointlessness) is when a point sending light through a lens cannot be projected as one point behind
the lens. It appears as a line on the focal plane.

TYPE OF LENSES ACCORDING TO DEGREE OF CORRECTION

 Achromatic lens
 used to minimize or eliminate chromatic aberration.
 the achromatic design also helps minimize spherical aberrations.
 Rapid rectilinear lens
 lens use to correct and minimize distortion.
 Anastigmat lens
 completely corrected for spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism.
 Apochromatic lens
 are telephoto and telezoom type lenses which use special optical designs and optical materials to improve their
performance.
 the result is images which have greater contrast, sharpness and color definition than a comparable non-APO type
lens .

Types of Lenses According to Focal Length

 Wide angle lens

 Normal lens
 Telephoto lens
 Zoom lens
 Fish eye lens

Focal Length

The distance measured from the optical center of the lens to the focal plane when the lens is focused at infinity
position or far distance.

The focal length number tells us how much of the scene is captured in the picture.

The lower the number, the more we can see.

 A wide angle setting (zoomed out), where you can see a lot of the scene, has a small number or shorter focal
length.

A narrow angle setting (zoomed in), where you can see only a small part of the scene, has a large number or
longer focal length.

TYPES OF LENS ACCORDING TO FOCAL LENGTH

o Wide-angle lens
 A lens having a wide area coverage but produces a small image size.
 usually used to take pictures indoor or inside a small room.
 also used outdoor to get a panoramic view.
o Normal lens
 it corresponds to nearly the coverage of the human eye.
o Telephoto lens
 it provides a bigger image of an object at far distance but its area of coverage is smaller.
o Zoom lens
 a lens with variable focal length.

EXPOSURE

Exposure subjecting the light sensitive material to light in order to form an image (initially a latent image).

This involves controlling the right amount of light and time to achieve correct exposure.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT EXPOSURE

 Lighting condition: (i.e. bright, hazy, dull)

 Lens opening or aperture
 Shutter speed
 Film

Lens opening or apertures

o indicated as f-numbers or f-stops.

o The f/ expresses the ratio of any aperture diameter to the focal length of the given lens.
o The f/ are easily remembered by doubling them alternately starting with 1 and 1.4

Example:

1 1.4 2 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22

1.4 admits 2X more light that 1.

 The amount of light at 4 is ½ less than that of 5.6.

 The bigger the f/ the smaller the aperture or lens opening is while smaller the f/ the bigger the aperture or lens
opening.
 Basically, small apertures are used in low light conditions while large apertures are used in bright lighting
conditions.

Lens speed

 is the smallest and largest f/ of any given lens.

 The smaller the f/ the faster the lens and vice versa.

 It is also indicates the capability of the lens to gather more light in low light conditions.

Depth of field

 is defined as the amount of area in focus.

 It is the distance from the nearest object in good focus to the farthest object in good focus.

Depth of field is increased by

 Shorter focal length lens

 Smaller lens aperture
 Greater subject distance

SHUTTER

a device that opens to uncover the film to make exposure for an accurately timed intervals then closes
automatically.

Types of Shutter

 Between the lens or Central Shutter

 Focal Plane Shutter

Shutter speed

o as whole numbers in the shutter speed dial but it is actually fractions of a second.
o The unit of measure used for controlling the time light is allowed to enter the camera is Seconds.
o Slow shutter speeds are basically used for low light while fast shutter speeds are used in bright lighting
conditions.
o Aside from controlling the amount of time the shutter also controls motion or action. (the ability to “freeze”
action)
o You have to control both shutter speed and lens opening to achieve correct exposure.

Reciprocity law

 states that to get a certain amount of exposure on film, no particular amount of light and no particular length of
time is required.

 The requirement is that the amount of light is multiplied by the length of time must equal the desired exposure.

Example:

E=I x T

Where E is exposure, while I is illumination (brightness of light that reaches the film) multiplied with the length of
time (T)

OTHER METHODS IN ACHIEVING CORRECT EXPOSURES:

 Exposure meters
 Bracketing/trial and error
 Instructions found at the film packaging
 Through-the-lens metering (TTL)
 Most cameras are now built with integral light metering systems.
 The system used in most 35mm SLR cameras is through-the-lens metering.
 The cells controls the shutter speeds or lens apertures

PHOTOGRAPHIC ACCESSORIES

 Flash units
 Photographic filters

Flash units

are source of additional illumination in low lighting conditions.

Three general types of artificial lighting used in photography:

 Bulb-type flash
 Electronic flash
 Continuous light sources i.e. lamps

Types of Flash units

 Manual or non-electronic flash units

 Thyristor flash units
 Dedicated Thyristor flash units

When to Use Flash Fill

o In scenes illuminated by bright sunlight there will usually be dark shadow areas.
o Detail in the deep shadow areas will be lost when the exposure is based on the overall brightness of the scene.
o With the use of flash fill, the brightness level in the shadow areas can be raised to the overall brightness of the
scene.

Photographic filters

transparent material usually colored (glass or gelatin), fitted to a lens to alter the characteristics of light passing
through it.

Photographic filters are constructed in three basic forms namely:

 Glass disk
 Gelatin Square
 Glass Square

Types of Filters used in black and white photography

 Correction filters: render colors in the scene in shades of gray that correspond to their perceived relative
brightness.
 Contrast filters: increases gray tone separation between two colors that might otherwise appear of the same
tonal value.
 Haze filters: reduce aerial haze in distance and aerial shots
 Polarizing screen: reduces glare, haze, and unwanted reflections and increase color saturation.
 Neutral density filters: reduces the amount of light passing through the lens without altering brightness
relationships within the scene.

Types of Filters used in color photography

 Neutral density: reduces the intensity of light without altering the color balance.
 Polarizing screen: reduces glare, haze, and unwanted reflections and increase color saturation.
 Skylight or ultraviolet filters: filters out UV light, reduce haze and increase the color saturation of the sky and to
reduce the effect of excessive blue light at high altitudes and on overcast days.
 Conversion Filters: alters the color balance of light reaching the film to match that of the film in use.
 Color compensating filters: precisely alters the color balance of any source light during shooting or printing to
achieve any combination of primary and secondary wavelengths desired.

CHEMICAL PROCESSING

 Development

the process by which an invisible latent image in an emulsion is made visible.

 Stop-bath

halts the developer action in appropriate moment. It also prevents the contamination of the
developer and fixer from each other.

 Fixation

makes the developed image permanent when it is followed by a thorough washing.