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Feb. 7, 2001 - Bill Cooper
57:34
Brown Water – Black Berets
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Time Text
...
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen you're listening to the hour of the time I'm William Cooper
and tonight's photography night but before we get into our subject I want all of you
to well if you've been to the website you've seen what's posted there.
If you've been down toward the bottom of the page, you've seen that we're going to begin live broadcasting on the Internet again next week.
Won't be any video to it yet.
It's going to be just strictly sound.
Until we can tell what the demand on the bandwidth is going to be.
And I'm not going to try to explain that.
I tried to do that last night, I think.
And so that's coming.
Another thing, well it's the constant thing, we need your contributions for the month of February.
And if you didn't contribute for January, we need you to send that too.
And we need your contributions right now.
Right now.
Send it to Hot H-O-T-T, in care of 101.1 FM, PO Box 940, Eager, spelled E-A-G-A-R, Arizona, 85925.
PO Box 940 EAGER spelled E-A-G-A-R Arizona 85925.
That's HOT, H-O-T-T, and care of 101.1 FM.
PO Box 940 EAGER spelled E-A-G-A-R Arizona 85925.
Well, we've covered quite a bit of ground in our photography series, and tonight we're
going to get into something that's very important.
We're going to talk about film, the different kinds of film, and how you determine what the exposure is going to be.
So, some pretty important stuff.
I want you to run around and grab pen and paper.
Make sure you've got your camera with you so you can look at your camera and see what the world... What's he talking about?
Okay, it's going to get a little complicated I think tonight so make sure that you write down any questions that you might have so that when I open the phones you can call and ask your question and we can get it cleared up.
Don't go away.
I'll be right back.
I'm going to give you time to get your pen and paper and get comfortable you know, get a glass of tea or a cup of coffee or hot
chocolate or whatever it is you like to have with you when you listen to the Hour of the Time.
So, I'm going to play you a little bit of the Hour of the Time.
So, here we go.
You've raced around and you've got all the stuff that you need and you're ready to get into some heavy stuff here.
Because it's going to be a little heavy, I hope not too confusing, but this will help you quite a bit.
I do believe.
See, film is an important factor, of course, because that's what you're putting your image on in creating your photographs.
Most people put film in their camera without paying any attention to anything because you buy these plastic pieces of junk that, you know, automatically read the film speed and so you never learn anything about what's called film speed.
You don't ever learn the advantages of different types of film.
For instance, why would you use slides instead of film that makes prints?
Or why would you use black and white instead of color in some instances?
And what color film should you use?
And when should you use it?
And not knowing those things gets you in a lot of trouble because you, you know, you take these photographs that are really important to you.
And that's why you took your camera in the first place.
Little Johnny is graduating or whatever is going on and you wanted to get these good pictures and when you got them back, oh man, they're horrible!
What happened?
Well, I can tell you right off the bat, when Johnny was graduating you were probably sitting somewhere in the middle of the auditorium and you got this little camera with this little bitty flashbulb on it.
And Johnny's way up there on the stage And you think that your flash is going to flash all the way up there and take little Johnny's picture.
That's all you put, uh, ASA 100 film speed film in that camera.
And, uh, lo and behold, what you got back is you can barely see Johnny, if you can see him at all.
And, but everybody, you know, in the, in the four, four rows in front of you are perfectly exposed.
You can see the backs of their heads just really well.
But little Johnny left there on the stage, there wasn't enough light for you to take his picture with that 100 ASA film speed, and with that little cheap old plastic camera with the plastic lens and the... just can't do it, man.
And flashes are only effective within their guide number length.
And since you don't know anything about that, you didn't know that that flash was not going to illuminate little Johnny when he got his diploma.
So you got back Pictures of the backs of the heads of the people sitting in the five rows in front of you.
Those are the pictures that you got.
It would have been worse if you had used slide film, because slide film requires exact exposure, and you probably wouldn't have seen anything beyond the fifth row in front of you.
At least with the negative film, you would have had some indication that there was a stage up there and something going on, even though you didn't know what it was.
These things are really important.
So you have to know what kind of film to use.
When do you buy 100 film speed?
And when do you buy 800 film speed?
Or 1600 film speed?
Or when do you want 3200 film speed?
Wow.
You didn't even know there was such a thing, did you?
But there is.
Since the numerous, sundry, and assorted Subjects and scenes that all of us photograph vary all the time.
A film that's perfect for one situation, folks, may be totally inappropriate for another.
So, we're going to consider the right choice of film to maximize your image quality and to get the most from your equipment and to be able to achieve your photographic intentions most effectively, whatever those intentions are.
And you've got to know what film is.
Film is a polyester or acetate base covered with light-sensitive crystals that we call an emulsion.
And color film has different layers, at least three, sometimes four layers, and each layer has a different dye that is sensitive to a particular color of the basic three or four colors that are used to make up all the other colors in the rainbow.
And it's called, whatever it is, black and white film, or whether it's color film that has several different color and light sensitive layers, it's still called an emulsion.
And it's a chemical, basically, that is sensitive to light.
To measure each film's sensitivity, A system of numbers called ISO, which is International Standards Organization, was developed.
We used to call it ASA.
ASA was American Standards Association, I believe, or administration or something.
I forget what it was.
But we used to call it ASA, and you can still see ASA on some film packages.
But today what you're going to see is ISO slash DIN.
The DIN is what they use in places like Europe and some third world countries.
But the whole world is going to go eventually, as everything is going to go to a standard, as we move into world government, everything is going to go to one standard and it will be ISO, International Standards Organization.
It used to be called ASA, and it used to be just particular to our country.
We used ASA, the rest of the world used whatever they used.
These numbers denote the film speed.
Most commonly, from the very slow, low ISA films to the ultra-fast, high ISO films.
Now, don't get confused and don't let this film speed trip you up.
All it is is a measurement of the film or the emulsion's sensitivity to light.
An emulsion that's very sensitive to light will have a high film speed.
or a high ISO number.
A film that is not so sensitive to light will have a very low ISO or film speed number and requires much more exposure.
A high ISO number, a high film speed, requires less light to make the image on the film.
A low ISO number or low film speed number requires Much more light on the film in order to make the exposure.
And then you have all these things in between.
Okay, that's the easiest way I know to tell you what it is.
Although the ISO series runs from 6 to 6400, the most common film speeds that any of you are ever going to run across are 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400.
25, 50, 100, 200, and 400.
Those are the most common.
25, 50, 100, 200, and 400.
That's what's usually available on your grocery store film rack or in the stop-and-rob, the 7-Eleven, or whatever.
Now, there are higher film speeds than that.
You can purchase film that has a speed of 800, 1600, 3200, and even 6400.
And you can push most of these to make them a higher film speed if you know what you're doing.
We'll talk about that on some of the broadcast.
There are also some films of intermediate ISO.
You've all seen the Kodak Kodachrome, which is ISO 64.
There are some films that have film speeds of 160, 1000.
But these are not normal things that you're going to be working with.
Unless you're going to use the slide films that are more commonly rated at 64.
There's an Ektachrome that's 64 speed and I already told you about Kodachrome.
Most of you are familiar with those, if you shoot slides.
But it's important to remember that as the ISO number doubles, The film is twice as sensitive to light.
Remember, it's the same as the stops on the aperture and the shutter speed.
Every time that you open up the aperture, you're increasing the light that comes through by double.
Anytime you stop it down or make it smaller, one stop, you're cutting the amount of light that comes through the aperture in half.
Same with film speed.
Anytime the ISO number doubles, the film is twice as sensitive to light.
So an ISO 200 film would require only half as much light as an ISO 100 film for the same exposure.
Remember I told you the lower the number, the more light you need to make an exposure.
The higher the number, the less light you need to make an exposure.
A film that has a speed or an ISO number of 200 would require only half as much light as a film that had an ISO or film speed number of 100 for the same exposure.
Conversely, an ISO 100 film would require twice as much light as an ISO 200 film.
And this is what you have to remember, folks.
This is why if you've got a beautiful, brilliant, sunshiny day and you're going to the beach where there's lots of sand reflecting light all over the place and blue sky and ocean, man, you've just got so much light you don't know what to do with it.
That's when you take a real slow film.
That's when you work 25 or 50 or 100 film speed.
And I gotta tell you, the slower the film speed, the better the quality of the ability to blow those pictures up and make big beautiful photographs that you can put on your wall.
Okay?
A film that is not very sensitive to light will call for long or slow shutter speeds to produce a nicely exposed photograph.
That's why they do real well when there's lots of light!
Lots of light!
When you've got lots of light you can use a slow film And still have a shutter speed that's fast enough so that you don't get blurry pictures.
And, you know, if the clouds start coming over and that's all you've got is a slow film, then you need a tripod because your shutter speeds are going to get real slow.
So a film that's not very sensitive to light, it's going to call for long or slow shutter speeds to produce a nicely exposed photograph.
On a gray overcast day, that may mean a shutter speed of 1 30th of a second Using an aperture of f5.6 with an ISO 25 film.
And so you would need a tripod.
Okay.
Now, as long as the sun is out and it's shining bright, you don't need that tripod because you can get your shutter speed up to one 125th of a second, or even one 250th of a second.
With still keeping your aperture around 5.6 or f4, somewhere around there.
Which is where you get your best quality anyway.
Right in the middle of the aperture scale.
Remember we talked about that.
So slow films in the ISO 25-50 range are the least sensitive to light.
It takes a lot of light to expose them.
Medium speed ISO 200 films are more sensitive.
While fast films of ISO 400, 800, you know, stuff like that, you're getting even more sensitive.
If you're going to be in a place where they don't allow you to use flashes, where you can't take a flash unit, you can't use a flash bulb, you can't use an electronic flash, or a TTL flash, or any kind of artificial light emanating from your camera, or any attachment to your camera, and there's lots of places like that, folks, then you need to take a fast film speed.
For instance, if you're going to be in a place where the light is really low, and You want to take some pictures of you and your friends having a good time.
Maybe in a nightclub.
Maybe in your church service.
And the lights are down low so that people can, you know, do their religious obligations without all this brightness and stuff.
And I know churches like that.
You'd want to take a camera and roll a film that's at least 800 film speed for that real low light.
You might want to think about 1600.
But 800 generally should do the trick.
Fast shutter speeds are ideal for sharp pictures because they enable the photographer to freeze subject motion and reduce the risk of blur from camera shake.
So, why not load an ISO 800 film for all of your photography?
Well folks, in addition to some of the things that I've already told you.
If you were to do that, number one, you have the inability to blow that type of film up to make, you know, really good size photographs.
Nowadays, you can blow them up to at least 8x10 and they still look pretty good.
But you couldn't make an 11x14 or 16x20 photograph from an 800 ISO film, because then you're
going to start seeing the image break apart into grain.
And unless you need that grain effect, for instance you're taking pictures in fog or something like that and you want to make it look like a cold foggy day, then the grain would be quite alright.
You'd want it because it would help make that impact of that foggy cold day in your photograph.
But if not, you don't want it.
You just wouldn't want it.
Here's the things that you should think about when you're selecting film.
Okay?
The faster the film, the lower the overall image quality in terms of resolution, of intricate detail, things like sharpness, graininess.
You're going to get a lot more grain.
There's going to be less vivid color rendition.
While an ISO 100 film in 35 millimeter format May make a nice 16x20 print, but if you use an ISO 1000 film, the print will be grainy and less sharp, and colors will not be as bold or as pretty, and you wouldn't want to do that.
In some cases, you might want to render the subject as blurred, to record a waterfall in fluid motion, or if you want to blur a marathon runner for an impression of speed rather than freeze him in mid-step, to show that he's really running.
To achieve this, a shorter film may be more appropriate in very bright sun.
If you use a tripod to eliminate vibration and stopping action is not something that has to be done, then you can use a slow shutter speed and it won't be a problem.
In this case, use a slower film of really good quality instead of a grainy fast film.
For handheld photography, An ISO 200 film will usually provide shutter speeds fast enough to produce a sharp image, except in really low light situations.
And you can still get, with modern films, a real nice blow up if you wanted to make an 11x14 or 16x20.
Most 200 ASA or ISO film speed film will produce a sharp enough and a nice enough image that you can that you can do that.
Remember, if you want the very best quality, use a tripod and a real slow film.
That's for the very best quality that you can get, no matter what your equipment is.
Okay?
When you want to use a small aperture for greater depth of field, F16 or F22 for example, shutter speeds might become very slow.
In fact, I guarantee you they will if you're using a slow film.
Unless you're using a tripod, a faster film is essential to avoid the effects of hand and body tremors that aren't natural to just about everybody that there is.
I don't know anybody that can take handheld photographs with real slow shutter speeds and get real sharp pictures.
Now, if you have a professional camera, and it's a real heavy camera, sometimes just the weight of the camera will negate any Normal hand or body trimmers that you may have.
And believe me, everybody has them folks.
And so that weight of that camera, that's one reason why professionals like professional equipment because it has that weight.
And not only does it help you use a slower shutter speed to handhold the camera and shoot when you can't set up a tripod and things are moving fast and you've got to get the pictures because that's what you're paid to do.
A heavy camera We'll allow you to do that, because just the sheer weight of the camera negates any hand or body tremors that you may have, and so you can use a slower shutter speed.
Most cameras that most ordinary people use don't have that weight.
In fact, some people pick cameras because they're really light, and that's not good.
If you've got to be shooting at low shutter speeds, you want some weight in your camera.
And by the way, that Canon F, that has some weight.
That's the weight to it.
While blur from subject motion can be used for a creative effect, and you've all seen pictures like that in magazines and newspapers, we usually want a real sharp rendering of whatever it is that we're taking pictures of.
Whether it's a field of flowers on a windy day, or our children during a soccer game, Most people want to stop everything.
They don't want any blur there.
They're not that creative or artistic.
They just want pictures of whatever it is that they see that they really like.
And they want it to be sharp.
And they want to stop everything from moving.
They don't want any blur.
And to do that you need a faster film.
And you need fast shutter speeds.
So, remember that.
Faster films will allow for faster shutter speeds.
And that makes ISO 400 more appropriate than ISO 50 for example or ISO 100 or ISO 200 even.
If you really want to stop that action, 400 is where you start.
A faster film increases the effective range of a flash.
Remember I told you about taking that flash picture of little Johnny with your little camera and you've got ASA 100 film and Johnny's way up there on the stage and This little flash won't throw it that far for ASA 100.
It may not throw it that far for ASA 400, but you'll have a better chance of getting a better picture if you use a faster film with your little flash.
And it's because the film is more sensitive to light.
You might be able to get a nicely exposed subject some 25 feet away at ISO 400, Instead of a dark picture at ISO 50 or 100 at the same f-stop at the same distance.
And don't believe all this this magic whammo stuff that they tell you about you know these cameras.
Don't worry with this flash and this camera you can take perfect pictures whenever you want no matter how dark it is or anything like that.
It's not true.
It's not true at all.
And your camera and your meter can be fooled by The distance between the camera to the subject and the amount of light the flash puts out, if it's beyond the guide number capability of your flash to produce that much light, then you need a faster film to make up for that handicap.
And that's the only thing that'll do it.
And the way you find out is trial and error, folks.
Use a faster film, and if that didn't work, didn't give you the pictures you want, then you know the next time you need to use an even faster film.
Experience is what teaches you what film you need to use.
Okay?
Now... There's a... There's a... A thing you need to know about film and cameras.
You don't just take a roll of film and slap it in a camera and close the door and start shooting.
You have to know what kind of film you need before you purchase the film so that you've got the proper film for whatever it is you're going to be doing.
Like I said, if you're going to the beach and you've got all this sand and the sun is shining and the water's there and the light is reflecting off of everything, you know, if you take an ASA 400 film, or 200 film, you're going to have too much light.
You're going to have too much light.
And you're going to find yourself stopping everything down until You've maybe exceeded the limit of your camera to be able to handle the light with that film.
So, in that kind of a situation, here's what I recommend.
That you use ASA 100 until you learn enough about film to know whether or not you want to use a slower film like something like ASA 50.
An ASA 100 film at the beach, in the sand, on the water, in the bright sun, it will We'll work just fine for you.
And so you don't have to worry about that.
Anytime you're taking pictures where there's a lot of expansive sky and water and sand or snow, use a slow, slow film.
Okay?
And remember that all of that light is going to try to fool your meter.
We'll talk about that when we get to the meters.
If you're going to be taking pictures in shade or indoors where there's Not a whole bunch of light.
You want to use a faster film.
If you're going to be using a flash attachment, you want to use a faster film so that your flash attachment will work for a farther distance and you'll get the pictures that you really want to take.
Now if you're going to be working real close with a flash, then you don't want fast film.
You want a slow film.
Remember, that flash puts out a lot of light.
And if you've got a real fast film in there, you may exceed the ability of the film to handle that much light coming into the camera at a short distance if you're using a fast film.
So use a slower film.
And all of these things, your exposure is going to be determined by your meter in your camera or by your knowledge in your head.
You don't always need a meter.
And I'm going to give you the rule right now Because you might be out taking photographs with your camera and your battery might go dead.
If you've got one of these cameras, folks, where you absolutely have to have the battery for everything to work, then you're finished taking photographs.
But if you have the camera that we sell, if the battery goes dead, the only thing that stops working is the meter.
Everything else works.
So write these rules down, especially those of you who purchased our camera.
You're going to find that that little camera is worth its weight in gold.
Write this down.
If your battery goes dead and you can still operate your camera, a lot of cameras you can do that.
And it depends upon what camera you have, whether or not you can do it.
But if you can do it, here's the rule.
Set your shutter speed on the closest shutter speed you have to the ISO number of the film speed and set your aperture on f16 in bright sunlight.
If you're outside in bright sunlight, it's not overcast, you're not in the shade, you're out in the sun, whether it's early morning or late afternoon or in the middle of the day, it doesn't make any difference.
If it's bright sunlight, here's the rule.
Set your shutter speed To the closest shutter speed to the number of the ISO film speed of your film.
Set your aperture at F 16.
Real easy.
So if you have ASA 100 film and you're in bright sunlight, your meter doesn't work because your battery went dead.
Set your shutter speed to 1 1 25th of a second.
And set your aperture on f16 and you will get perfectly exposed photographs.
If you need a faster shutter speed, increase the shutter speed to 1.250 and open up the aperture one stop to f11.
Remember I taught you about reciprocity?
There are many ways to get the same exposure using different shutter speeds and different apertures.
So, if you understand reciprocity and how the shutter speed and the aperture work to control the amount of light coming into the camera for a determined period of time, you can manipulate those to get exactly the same exposure, only with a different aperture and a different shutter speed.
I'm not going to go back over that.
It will be on the website sometime in the future and you can go back and listen to these over and over again if you want to, all of these broadcasts in our photography series.
So, that's the rule for bright sunlight.
If you go into open shade, now here's what open shade is, folks.
That's where there's no roof over your head.
You have sky over your head, but you're in the shade.
You may be standing in the shade of a tree, but you're not under the tree.
Now listen to me very carefully.
Open shade is with blue sky over your head.
Okay?
No overcast.
No clouds over you.
There's sunlight all around except where you're standing, and you're standing in the shade, but not underneath something.
That's what we call open shade.
You may be standing in the shadow of a building, or the shadow of a tree.
But there's blue sky directly over your head, it's not overcast, and everything else is sunlit.
That's what we call open shade.
For open shade, increase the exposure one and a half stops.
Okay?
One and a half stops.
So that means, now you can actually do it open at one stop and you'll still get a good exposure.
But one and a half stops is perfect.
Now if you have Something over you.
Now you're under the tree.
Now you're under the tree.
This is what we call... well... I don't know what we call it.
Call it shade.
Let's just call it shade.
I'll have to look that one up.
Open shade is when you have blue sky over your head.
Shade is when you're under something.
You have to open the camera up two stops.
Which means you can either open the aperture two stops, or you can decrease the shutter speed by two stops, or you can open the aperture one stop and decrease the shutter speed.
See how confusing this can be?
You decrease the shutter speed by one stop.
Okay?
And that will give you exactly the same exposure.
And that's according to the reciprocity law.
Remember we talked about that.
So you don't need a meter to take good photographs if you know what you're doing.
You don't need an automatic camera if you know a little bit about photography and a little bit about films.
You must know your film speed to be able to make it work though because you have to start off with this rule.
In bright sunlight Set your shutter speed to the closest shutter speed to your film speed.
If your film speed is ISO 400, then you would set your shutter speed to 1 500th of a second.
Okay?
Then you would set your aperture ring on F 16.
If you're going to open shade, you can open it up one stop, either on the shutter speed or on the aperture.
or one and a half stops if your camera has the capability of doing that.
If you go underneath the tree in the darker shade, then you would open it up two stops.
Now, if you're in bright sunlight, folks, and the person you're taking a picture of has the sun behind them, in other words, your camera is pointing in the same direction toward the sun.
The sun may be high up in the sky, so it's not shining in your camera lens.
You may not have to worry about that, but the sun is behind your subject.
If the sun is behind your subject, you absolutely must, you absolutely must, even if you're in open sun, you have to open up one and a half stops in order to overcome the tendency of too much light coming in to hit the film from the sun, which is going to make your subject dark.
You've all taken pictures where it comes back and everything else in the picture is all perfectly exposed, but the face of the person you took the picture of is black, or real dark.
That's what we call backlit.
That's when the light source, in this case the sun, is behind the person you're taking the picture of.
And so, your camera's going to be fooled, especially a meter will be fooled.
And it will try to underexpose the photograph thinking there's too much light on the subject.
So you have to actually overcome that and open up one and a half stops.
Okay.
Now some cameras will have a little button on it if it's an automatic camera that if you have a backlit subject you push that button and it will automatically do that for you.
But I hate this automatic stuff.
I just don't like it at all.
Gotta tell you that.
Because if you get used to an automatic camera or an automatic anything, you don't learn what you need to learn in order to be able to be creative yourself.
And that's terrible.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hello.
Chicken Plucker.
Goodbye.
Folks, unless I open the phones, please don't call.
You know, I was going to take it right into meters tonight, but I think what I've given you is confusing enough, so.
Remember this.
If you use a film where you get prints back when you send it in, you get prints back.
That's called a negative film.
When you use a negative film.
When you use a negative film, you have room When you're using a positive film, which is slide film, there is absolutely no room for error.
That's why so many people don't like to use slide film, because they get so many of their slides back that look absolutely terrible.
And the reason is, positive, what we call positive, or slide film, which will always be some kind of chrome, Fuji chrome, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Those kinds of films where you get slides back, there is absolutely no latitude, there is no room for error, and you must have absolutely perfect exposures.
So, if you know how to do that, then you can use slide film.
If you don't, it's best to stay away from slide film until you learn how to be technically excellent in your photography.
Then use negative film, which produces prints.
Because if you make a mistake in the exposure on the negative, The guy that makes the prints in the darkroom can usually, not always, but usually, he can give you a satisfactory print and unless you're a professional photographer, you're not even going to know that you did something wrong with the negative.
I could look at it and tell that something was wrong.
I wouldn't tell you because I wouldn't want to insult you and make you feel like your pictures weren't what they should be.
Unless you came to me and asked me.
Okay because I see people all the time who show me their photographs of their children and you know their graduation and all this kind of stuff and I just shake my head and smile and say oh yeah this is beautiful!
Boy you're really good photographer!
And I do that because it's not important.
What's important is that they're happy with their photographs.
That's the most important thing in the world to them and so you know that's that's not When you want to pop people's bubbles, you want to leave them alone.
Make them feel good.
Okay?
So remember, if you're using slide film, you must expose the film perfectly.
If you're using negative film, you can make mistakes, sometimes up as much as two stops.
Depends upon the film.
Some of this modern film is just absolutely amazing as to what it will do.
We didn't used to have film that would do that.
Film, you know, color film especially, never had much latitude until Just you know within the last 10 years or so all of a sudden they started making these fantastic films that But I got to tell you folks.
There's nothing better in the world than a perfectly exposed Positive or slide film they also have the least grain you can make the biggest best blow-ups All professional work is done on chrome or slides, and I mean all of it up until now now They're getting in this digital stuff And I really don't understand that because digital doesn't even come close to even approaching anything that film is capable of producing quality wise.
I think I better stop here because I'm really in danger of overloading you and confusing everybody so we'll open the phones now 520-333-4578 and if there's anything that I talked about that you're not clear on or maybe you got confused on give me a call right now and I'll try to Try to clear it up for you.
520-333-4578.
Next Thursday we're going to talk about meters and how to get that perfect exposure.
You know, all this stuff that I'm telling you now are things that you need to know and things that will help you and things that you can use if you don't have a meter and how to choose your film and all that kind of stuff.
But next Thursday night I'm going to teach you how to use a meter and make a perfect exposure every single time so that you never ever get bad photographs back from from your photo processor whoever that may be and I'm also gonna well we'll do that on another night I'll tell you how to choose a photo processor so that you get the best quality 520-333-4578 is the number I know there's some of you out there have to be confused I know there's some of you out there that absolutely probably
Got lost in some of the things that I discussed.
So please call right now and ask your questions or tell me what confused you and I'll try
to help you out of that confusion so that you'll get the most benefit out of tonight's
photo lesson.
Hello?
Yeah, right.
You all got it the first time.
You all know exactly what I was talking about.
There's no problem, right?
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Good evening, Bill.
Hi.
Yeah, this is Ed out in Connecticut.
Hi, Ed.
I'm wondering if you remember about the early 60s when they came out with this Dean numbering system, when they had the Dean's Speed was Like 18 or 21 or something like that.
Yeah, but you don't have to pay any attention to that.
It's the ISO that you're concerned with.
Well, yeah, but the Dean would let you do all of your calculations simply by adding or subtracting numbers.
Metrics.
It's a metric system.
Yeah, well, it is related to the metric system, but it's essentially a logarithmic system where every time you advance one number, You either open up or you close down your shutter one number.
Yeah.
And that worked.
But I understand that there were some cameras that came out that were all calculated in that fashion and that you didn't have any provision for using ASA or ISO numbers.
Well, the problem with that is it's like the metric system.
Americans are used to inches and feet and they're used to ASA, not DIN.
So it confused people.
They don't understand it and they can't use it.
It's like the old lenses.
They used to be like 3.5 centimeters.
Well, if you understand the metric system, that's the same as 35 millimeters.
But it confused the hell out of Americans.
And so they went to the millimeter system.
So that Americans wouldn't get confused with this 3.5 centimeter stuff.
They understood cameras in millimeters.
And once you teach somebody a way to measure something, it is extremely hard, especially with the general public, to change that.
I got you there, yeah.
And so we went from ASA to ISO, which is exactly the same thing, with a different name.
Yeah, I grew up in the days with the Well, black and white has all the latitude that you can handle if you know how to compensate for what you did in the field in the developing and the printing.
There is no such thing as latitude with black and white film.
And if you understand Ansel Adams zone system you can make anything in your photograph any
shade of gray you want.
You know the zone system and the western meter is what I really started with in serious photography.
And by that time the Kodachrome had, my father started using Kodachrome, the original Kodachrome
with the 8 speed and then when I went into the army Kodachrome 2 at 25 came out and that's
where I made most of my stuff.
I really love the black and white.
To me that's art.
Well I like it too because you can make it art.
I mean you can be creative with black and white where you can't be with color.
Color leaves nothing for the imagination don't you know?
No what you take is what you're going to get unless you want to get creative and messing with the chemicals and the color and making color shifts and And weird things like that and you know you see that in modern art and you see that in some fine art photography but I don't really appreciate it.
Well one thing nice about black and white there are more constraints that you have to work within and if you can be creative within those constraints you usually come up with something that is a little bit more noteworthy than the guy that has All the effects at his disposal.
Yeah, that's for sure.
Okay, Bill.
I've said my piece.
I'm going to let you go.
Get on with the next guy.
Thanks for calling.
Cheers.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Got to be somebody out there that got confused tonight.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hi, Bill.
It's Greg from Texas.
Hi, Greg.
Hi.
I'm very interested in the creative aspect.
I wanted to ask you a question.
I missed your show last Thursday.
How did they do those photographs?
I guess I'm thinking maybe in the 30s where the focus, I guess it's focal length, where maybe the close-up of a person's face is in focus, but immediately behind them it's out of focus.
It's the aperture.
It's all done with the aperture.
All done with the aperture.
Yep.
Remember, the wider open the lens is, the less is going to be in focus in your scene.
Okay.
I guess you went over that last week then.
I think it was actually two weeks before, something like that.
But yeah, remember the higher the number, the smaller the aperture.
The smaller the number, the larger the aperture.
If you want everything in your photograph to be in focus from right in front of you all the way to infinity, you want to use the smallest aperture.
Okay?
Right.
If you just want, like somebody's Face to be in focus and you're taking a portrait, you want to use a small aperture.
But you have to experiment with your camera and your lens because different lenses have different depths of field at different apertures.
So you have to run tests with your camera to find out exactly.
Now, if you've got a good lens, there'll be a depth of field scale on the lens.
And you can also write to the manufacturer of the lens and they'll send you a depth of field scale.
Yeah, mine's got a depth of field on it.
Yeah.
Okay, well then that's all you need to know.
My camera is a little bit older and has ASA on it also.
Don't worry about that.
The older cameras, a lot of the older cameras are better than any of these modern cameras.
And that goes for even some of the big professional big buck stuff too.
Okay, one more question.
I've looked in black and white photography books at some of these older photographs and they have sort of a, I guess they call it a soft focus.
Yeah.
It almost appears as if they put a valve between the subject and the camera lens.
You can do that.
There's another way to do it though.
What's the other way?
Take a skylight filter or a UV filter.
Uh-huh.
And put a real thin layer of Vaseline on it.
Uh-huh.
Just a real thin layer.
Very thin.
All over.
Make sure that you don't miss any spots.
Screw that on the front of your lens and you'll get that soft focus look.
Or you can spend a lot of money and buy a soft focus lens.
I think I'd be more interested in just experimenting with that.
I have a lens that has three settings on it.
One is the normal setting.
It'll take just as sharp a picture as any lens that you can buy.
And then on the first setting, number one, it It makes it just a little bit soft focus and then there's a second setting that makes it a lot more soft focus.
Wow.
So it depends upon who I'm taking pictures of as to which one of those settings I'll use.
And what you want to do is if you're taking pictures of people you want to make them look as nice as possible and so if people have skin blemishes or what you commonly call zits or Thank you.
you know some problem with complexion maybe it's a girl who has a ruddy complexion more
like a boy's complexion.
You don't want to show her a photograph that shows that.
So that's when you would use a soft focus lens for her because it will take all that
out and it will make her look really beautiful and she will appreciate that.
Alright.
Okay, thanks Bill.
You're welcome.
Interesting show.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff you can do folks.
With black and white photography, you can use colored filters to take those kinds of defects out of people's portraits.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hi, this is Dennis from Louisville.
Hi, Dennis.
I have an Olympus camera.
This is an old-fashioned type of an OM-1.
And it's totally manual.
That's one of the best cameras ever made.
Yeah, and it's really nice.
It's a good camera.
Yeah, I have a license for it and everything.
And those Zuiko lenses are really good too.
Yeah.
But I was following it pretty much because I studied that in college.
In the photography college school.
Uh huh.
Mostly how to do the back lighting and the front lighting.
But I had forgotten it.
Well, you know, if you don't practice what you learn, we all forget it.
And that's what makes us good at what we do is by doing it.
Yeah.
I love your show.
Thank you.
And I'll be praying for you.
Okay.
I appreciate that.
A lot.
Right.
Believe me.
Anything else?
No.
Okay.
Thanks for calling.
Bye.
520-333-4578.
Yeah, that's a great camera.
The OM-1, the OM-2, those are great cameras.
The OM-2N, great cameras.
Now when you get up farther than that, up in the OM-10 and stuff, then you're getting into less quality.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yeah, hi, Bill.
I've been enjoying your shows all week.
Thank you.
I thought I'd share with you some of the creative things I've done with color work.
Let's take a hundredth speed film, and it doesn't matter whether it's slide or negative film.
I used to, let's say you take a hundredth at f16, and you have a seascape with the waves rolling in, you step it back to f5.6 at a hundred.
And you expose it three times through a red, blue, and green filter.
And all the things that are stationary render perfectly normal color, but the things that are moving, like the waves and the clouds, you get a mere bit of rainbows of colors.
You can do it with waterfalls.
It's beautiful.
Another fun thing to do with color film, again, it works with slides and negative film.
It doesn't matter what ASA you do, a 30 second night exposure on the street where there's
a few cars moving around and the taillights, warm streets while everything else is perfectly
normal.
And if it's snowing out or it's a good snowstorm, you can actually see the flakes against the
light and it tends to amplify the light too.
It doesn't look totally dark.
You can actually see the gray sky and some of the flakes falling down if you do it in
combination.
Oh, you can do the same thing with just the slow shutter speed, but you have to have a tripod when you do that kind of stuff.
Yeah, oh, you use a tripod and you step it down to that 16.
Any questions I got for you in all the years I've been shooting pictures?
I use really good lenses like Canon.
My favorite camera I still have is the Canon FTB, which is an older model.
That's a great camera, yeah.
You can't replace it.
Well, they're still around.
You can get them in almost brand new condition.
And one good thing about these old cameras, they're metal.
Unless you beat it with a hammer, you can always take it in and have the thing refurbished just like new.
You know what?
I've never had to touch it.
It isn't broken.
It works.
So I'm leaving it alone.
Well, that's great.
The only thing you said that I'm not quite sure I totally understand.
Let's say... Well, we're going to have to call it quits for tonight because we're out of time.
Well, that's the way it goes.
Thanks for calling.
Have a good night.
You too.
That's it, folks.
Good night.
God bless each and every single one of you.
Good night, Annie Poon Allison.
I love you.
Don't forget, next week sometime we're going live on the internet, so make sure you get your credits now.
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