What does Photography mean? Writing in the light.

Short history of Photography Photography was invented in 1827, with the first permanent photograph produced by Joseph Nicephore Nipce. It was recorded on a metal plate. This process did not use silver compounds, which are the basis of photography. The time of exposure was really long: eight hours. Then, the French Louis-Jacques-Mand Daguerre published a new photography process, which he named daguerreotype. The exposure time decreased to nearly half an hour, but it produced a single positive image on a silver plate. After that, a big contribution to the process was made by Talbot, who invented the calotype: it permitted to duplicate copies, making a negative image. This was the basis for the photography methods that came later on. In 1843, it was really practical to take portraits. In every year since that, hundred of thousands of pictures were made of this kind of subject. Then, from 1850s through the mid of the 1890s, the standard paper for making photographic prints was albumen paper, that was prepared with eggs (later on, it was replaced by gelatin-emulsion paper). For all the photographys from this time, a portable camera obscura was used to provide the optical element. It was constructed with a lens at one end of a long wooden box. A mirror placed a 45 angle reflected the image from the lens upward to a sheet of glass placed on the top of the box. A lens forms an image that is upside down and reversed left to right. During several years, photographics films were used for taking pictures. These films were sensitive to light, producing an image as a pattern of light In 1888, Koday started to produce a nitro-cellulose roll film. The process has been changing. Through years, the use of the 35mm was standard, till that in the XI century, the digital photography has become really common.

Basics about cameras How do cameras work? 1. They have a lightproof chamber that allows only the light from the lens to reach the glass plate or the film, where the image is recorded.; 2. A lens, shaped pieces of optical glass or plastic that focuses light from the subject or scene in front of the camera onto the film inside; 3. A diaphragm, that forms an adjustable-size hole called aperture. Changing the size of the aperture changes the amount of light passing through the lens. It is one of the ways to control the amount of exposure the film receives. They are marked on the lens by f-numbers, and each larger aperture setting doubles the amount of light transmitted. Each smaller cuts it in a half. 4. The shutter opens and closes to control the length of time that the lens exposes the film. The time is usually measured by fractions of seconds and it is controlled by a setting ring on the lens or a dial on the camera body, or even by internal circuitry. The combination of shutter speed and aperture size determines the amount of exposure that the film receives. If it is too little, the film will be

underexposed and the picture will be dark. If the film receives too much exposure it is overexposed, the picture will be too light. Film A pattern of light falls on a film and an image is produced. By chemical processes, this image becomes visible and produces photographs. The number labeled as ISO is the sensitive of a film: higher the number, more sensitive is the film to light (so, you can capture images with less light). Nevertheless, when that happens, the silver-halide grains presented on the film will be more visible. Camera Exposure Controls To producehigh-quality images, the film must receive the proper amount of light, called the correct exposure. : to control it, we use the aperture and the shutter speed. The Aperture is a variable-size opening in the lens, much like the iris of an eye. The number on the ring are an indication of the size of the opening and are called f-stop numbers. More exposure / Less Exposure Larger f-stop numbers indicate smaller apertures, which admit less light. The shutter speed indicates the time that the diaphragm will be open, receiving light from the place. The available times are displayed on the shutter control dial. The shutter speeds are fractions of seconds. The longer the shutter speeds give more exposure to the film. Some cameras have a B setting. It allows the shutter to remains open as long as the photographer wants. The light meter measures the light coming from a subject and gives settings for the aperture and the shutter speed to ensure proper film exposure. Most small cameras have today a light meter built into them Some cameras allow the user to choose what is he wants the automatic (P) or the manual way (M). In the automatic, the camera will choose the better pair for the moment, according to the values that it works. In the automatic way, the photographer will have to choose both the speed and the exposure, according to his expectations. There are also two programs on the cameras: A (Aperture priority mode). You choose an aperture, and the shutter speed is set automatically. The aperture controls the depth of field. Tv (Shutter priority mode). You choose a shutter speed, and the aperture is set automatically. It controls the amount of blur caused by the camera or the subject movement. Color Balance The light from various light sources does not always contain the same mix of colors as the white light from the sun. Even sunlight can vary in color depending on the time of the day. But our brain is trained to not see this difference, but the camera doesn t have the same ability. So, it is necessary to balance the color (color balance). This digital cameras have usually an automatic featured, that adjusts itself to the present light, but sometimes you can obtain more interesting results just changing the color balance. Digital Cameras Exposure Compensation

There is a trick to cheat our digital cameras: the exposure compensation scale. You can override your cameras autoexposure reading so you can capture the image exactly the way you want. The light meter of your camera is adjust to expose properly anything thats 18% gray. This represents the approximate light reflection of a deep blue sky or green foliage, which are the most common backgrounds in outdoors shots. So when you are shooting and image that is very bright, you can add more exposure , moving the button to plus 1. On the other hand, if you are shooting a very dark object, you can subtract exposure by moving the pointer on the exposure scale to -1.