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Photography is the art of capturing light on light-sensitive materials. As in any art form, a basic knowledge of technique is mandatory to allow the artist to express himself in his medium. The manual 35mm camera is an ideal tool for learning the principles of photography, the variables afforded to the artist in this "light-capturing."
To control the image produced on the film of any camera, the photographer must have some means of controlling the light which strikes the film. Light may be limited either by increasing or decreasing its brightness, or by increasing or decreasing the amount of time an amount of light is allowed to strike the film. These two factors work hand in hand. It may help by thinking of light as similar to a liquid. Imagine that you were getting yourself a drink of water, and you turned the faucet on full blast. Let's say that you discovered that it took 3 seconds to fill your glass at full blast. The next time you filled the glass however, you turned the faucet to half of its full intensity. Wouldn't it make sense that it would take twice as long, 6 seconds, to fill the same glass? The AMOUNT of water stays the same in both cases.
Two devices control the amount of light striking the film in any camera: 1.) the SHUTTER, and 2.) the APERTURE. The SHUTTER is the device that controls the amount of time that light will strike the film. It does this by opening to allow light in at the moment that the photographer presses the shutter release button, and then closing after a pre-selected amount of time. In an automatic camera a computer or electronic device decides how long the shutter should stay open, considering the amount of light in a scene. In a manual camera it is the photographer who must make the decision of the proper time interval, or SHUTTER SPEED. Typical shutter speeds on a manual camera would be expressed in fractions of a second: 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2. These will often be notated on the camera controls simply by the denominator: 1000, 500, 250, etc. There are probably some settings for full second intervals as well, often marked by a different color number or by a lower case "s" (1s, 2s) to distinguish these settings from the fractional intervals. Many cameras also have a setting marked "B" which allows the photographer to hold the shutter open as long as he wishes by pressing the shutter release to open and releasing it to close the shutter.
The APERTURE is the device, usually part of the lens, which controls the brightness of the light that will strike the film. It accomplishes it's job by varying the size of the opening through which light can pass; a large opening lets more light through to the film than a small opening would. In an automatic camera it would again be the computer that would decide the size of the opening, but in a manual camera again this is decision made by the photographer. This opening is commonly referred to as an "F STOP," possibly because the number system used is, like the shutter speed, a representation of a fraction of available light. Once again, only the denominator is used. Typical f stops on a manual camera would be 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. These numbers refer to the amount of light as compared to the focal length of the lens. While it is not necessary to understand focal lengths to operate a manual camera, and it is beyond the scope of this article to explain them, it may help to know that the opening designated f2 on a 50mm lens would be 25mm across, 1/2 of the focal length. Thus f4 would equal 1/4 or 12.5mm, etc. It is really only necessary to understand that the SMALLER the f stop number, the LARGER the aperature opening, and thus the MORE light allowed through to the film. Each f stop allows half as much light through as the next larger opening (that is the next smaller number), meaning that f11 lets half as much light through as f8, f5.6 lets half as much light through as f4, and so on.
These two controls, the SHUTTER SPEED and the F STOP, work together to control the light striking the film. Remember our water analogy: two different sets of water flow/time combinations gave us a full glass. If our goal is to "fill" the film with the proper amount of light, we also have many options. This is because we can change each control factor independently allowing us to decrease the TIME that light strikes the film (with fast shutter speed), while at the same time increasing the BRIGHTNESS of the light (by using a large f stop). Likewise we can increase the TIME that light strikes the film (with slow shutter speed), while at the same time decreasing the BRIGHTNESS of the light (by using a small f stop).
Let's say that it has been determined that the proper exposure for a photograph will be an F STOP of f8 and a SHUTTER SPEED of 1/125 of a second. Given the information that we learned above we know that other settings will also produce the right exposure. For example, the F STOP can be decreased to f11 (one stop smaller. equaling half the light) if the SHUTTER SPEED is increased to 1/60 of a second (one step slower, hence twice the light). Other combinations would be: f16 and 1/30, f22 and 1/15, f5.6 and 1/250, f4 and 1/500, etc.
But how does the photographer determine the correct settings for a manual camera? In the early days of photography they were determined by intuition and by experience. He or she would look at a scene and decide that the proper exposure would be a certain f stop/shutter speed combination. The better the photographer, the more likely his or her settings would be to produce an image on the film that would not be too light or too dark, but this skill could only be learned by trial and error. Today technology comes to our rescue in the form of a LIGHT METER. Light meters are available as seperate units, but most modern cameras have meters built in for the convenience of the photographer. The light meter incorporated into the typical manual 35mm camera will evaluate the scene framed in the viewfinder and indicate whether the current settings are appropriate for the amount of light present. The photographer simply adjusts the aperature and shutter controls until the camera's meter gives the go ahead to make an image.
It should start to become obvious by now that it is a SHUTTER SPEED/F STOP combination which produces the proper exposure for the amount of light on a given scene. This means that the photographer can vary the settings and still get a proper exposure, as long as the SHUTTER SPEED and F STOP are modified equally and in opposite directions. This becomes an important part of the photographers creative control, since various settings can produce different effects.
This should give the user the basic principles of the use of a manual exposure camera. There are great rewards to learning the principles of photography, and there is no better way to learn than with a manual 35mm single lens reflex camera. Even after one obtains the skills and resources to move up to a camera with more features, the principles learned with this type of camera will always be a help in understanding why an image looks the way it does.
For more information check your local library or bookstore. There are many great books available for photographers on every level. HAVE FUN!
© 1996, Andre L. Pauquette. All rights reserved
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