Introduction to Photography

Communication became one of the basic needs of our lives. Without communication, what ever may be the process, we can not survive in a society. To express the idea, emotion we use different types of communication channels, like air for any type of interpersonal or group communication, technology based mass media to disseminate information to the heterogeneous public, which includes newspaper, television, radio, photographs like visual communication. Visual communication has a different appeal to influence all categories of people, whether it may be a photograph published in the newspaper or moving images. Photography is a universal means of communication and a valuable tool in many fields. From the moments of a family event to the Big Bang picture or a satellite picture of the moon or the earth, photograph can record not only that human being see, but also so many subjects, which are beyond our range of vision. Though we usually discuss that photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of the lights, means it is a scientific invention, but the most important point is that, it is not only a science but also a major art form.

“If photography is used merely as a technical process to record some visual fact, it is an appendage to science. However, if it is used as an expression of emotions that’s personal to each individual…it becomes art.” - Peter Rose Pulham. Pulham, one of the great photographers in the world, wanted to say that photography is not only a technology to record a situation, but it is an art that can record the emotion and expression of the nature with the help of this scientific technology. We can define photography as a method of recording the image of an object by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive material. Literally photography means writing with light. The word photography has been derived from the Greek words photos means “light” and graphos or graphein means “to draw”. The term is generally accepted as referring to any method of producing a visible image by the action of light.

The use of the term photography was suggested and also first used by the scientist Sir John Fredrrick William Herschel (1792-1871) in a letter dated 28th February, 1839 to Willium Henry Fox Talbot (1800- 1877).

The term photography usually refers to the formation of optical images projected by a lens in a camera onto a film or other material carrying a layer of light-sensitive silver salts and the duplication and reproduction of such images by light action (printing); in an extended sense it also includes the formation of images by certain invisible radiations (ultraviolet and infrared rays) and images recorded in other sensitive materials not containing silver by means of chemical or physical processes or both.

The forerunner of the camera was the camera obscura, a dark chamber or room with a hole (later a lens) in one wall through which images of objects outside the room were projected on the opposite wall.

In 1839, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre announced the first commercially successful photographic process, the daguerreotype. Two years later William Henry Fox Talbot patented his negative-positive calotype process, which became the forerunner of modern photographic processes. After that the wet collodion process was developed in 1851 and by dry plates in 1871. George Eastman, the young dynamic entrepreneur introduced flexible films in 1889. Since then, the light sensitivity (speed) of films has been greatly improved, and the quality of film emulsions has become so fine that prints many times larger than the size of the film can be made. Colour photography, expensive and complicated in the 19th century, has been so refined that it is nearly as easy as black-and-white photography. Technical improvements in the camera have transformed it from a bulky, cumbersome apparatus to a compact, sophisticated device that is often small enough to fit in a pocket.

And finally the photography became popuar among the general people and handy camera used by them with the entrepreneurial activities of George Eastman. The Eastman Kodak Company was born in April 1880, when Eastman began the manufacture of dry photographic plates for sale at Rochester. The young company faced a total collapse once when dry plates with dealers went bad. Eastman recalled them and replaced with a good product. Making good on those plates took our last dollar- he said. But what we had left was more important- reputation.

In his words, in an attempt to make the camera as convenient as a pencil, Eastman invented the flexible film to replace the bulky plates. In 1988, the Kodak camera was introduced and the slogun was very much important as well as interesting. It was- you push the button, we do the rest. The Kodak brand name was registered in 1888 and was recently been rated as the fourth most well known brand globally.

The word Camera has been derived from Latin, which stands for a room, a light proof dark room. Basically a camera is just a light tight box with a small hole in it. In fact is relatively simple to build a camera using a cardboard box, some black tape and some tinfoil or a small piece of aluminiun from a drinks can. Unfortunately, pinhole cameras-that is what they are called- are not particularly sophisticated and your mates won't be to happy when you ask them to keep perfectly still for 20 minutes while you capture that party atmosphere with the box your shoes came in. Cameras can be classified a number of ways; for example,

a) Types of Camera based on function:

1.	Still 2.	Movie

b) Types of Camera based on technology:

1.	Analog

2.	Digital

c) Types of Camera based on format:


 * i) Still


 * 1) Range finder (RF)
 * 2) Single lens reflex (SLR) (Now Digital SLR cameras are very much popular among the photographers)


 * ii) Movie


 * 1) Celluloid
 * 2) Video

Finding the nodal point in a RF and SLR camera is slightly different. In brief, the difference between the RF and SLR camera is in the preview mode. In the RF camera the image previewed and the image captured are not the same. The amount of image information is different around the edges. In the SLR camera both the image previewed and the image captured are identical; in computer jargon the SLR camera is a "WYSIWYG" camera. RF camera differences occur because the preview and captured image optical paths are different. The RF camera shows two optical paths - one into the lens for image capture and one into a preview window.

Paul Wotel, says that as a technology, analog is the process of taking an audio or video signal (in most cases, the human voice) and translating it into electronic pulses. Digital on the other hand is breaking the signal into a binary format where the audio or video data is represented by a series of "1"s and "0"s. Simple enough when it's the device—analog or digital phone, fax, modem, or likewise—that does all the converting for a person. Analog technology has been around for decades. It's not that complicated a concept and it's fairly inexpensive to use. But the disadvantage is analog signals have size limitations as to how much data they can carry. On the contrary, the beauty of digital is that it knows what it should be when it reaches the end of the transmission. That way, it can correct any errors that may have occurred in the data transfer. So, clarity is the main advantage in the digital process. In most cases, we can get distortion-free sound and clearer TV pictures in this technology. Celluloid is a colourless flammable material made from nitrocellulose and camphor and used to make photographic film. It is developed in 1869 as the first synthetic plastic material, which is made of a colloid of cellulose nitrate (nitrocellulose) plasticized with camphor, it is tough, cheap to produce, and resistant to water, oils, and dilute acids. Most of the feature films are made with the use of this celluloid film. The main advantage of the celluloid film is that the sharpness and the quality of the picture is not comparable. On the other hand, video is a new format for recording a moving image. It is a series of framed images put together, one after another, to simulate motion and interactivity. A video can be transmitted by number of frames per second and/or the amount of time between switching frames. The main advantage of this format is that we can immediately watch what we have taken. But in the celluloid format we can not watch the recorded image immediately.

As we have discussed in the earlier sub sections, photography is the process and art of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or an electronic sensor. Still photography is a method of recording permanent images in a photographic material or in a light-sensitive paper or in a memory by the action of light projected by a lens in a camera. It was developed in the 19th century through the artistic aspirations of two Frenchmen, Nicéphore Niepce and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, whose combined discoveries led to the invention of the first commercially successful process, the daguerreotype (1837). In addition, two Englishmen, Thomas Wedgwood and William Henry Fox Talbot, patented the negative-positive calotype process (1839) that became the forerunner of modern photographic technique. Photography was initially used for portraiture and landscapes. In the 1850s and '60s, Mathew B. Brady and Roger Fenton pioneered war photography and photojournalism. From its inception, two views of photography predominated: one approach held that the camera and its resulting images truthfully document the real world, while the other considered the camera simply to be a tool, much like a paintbrush, with which to create artistic statements.

Parts of a still camera



To take a still photograph we need a still camera, what ever it may be range finder or SLR. According to Liz Masoner, a renowned freelance photographer, we can devide the parts of the camera into mainly two parts – one is camera body and the other is the lens. First of all let us discuss the camera body.

The camera body is the most basic part of a camera. It is the box that holds the film and the camera controls. The lens is either built-into the body or attaches to the body. The body also houses a battery that powers the shutter, flash, light meter, and other controls. There are generally rings to connect a strap to the camera for easy carrying as well. A camera body consists of the following parts-

Lens: The lens is a part of the camera (or an attachment for the camera) that focuses light into the body and onto the film. The aperture is also contained within the lens.

Film Compartment: In film cameras, there is a compartment in the back of the camera to hold the film. This compartment has a space for the film canister, sprockets to guide the film across the exposure area, a pressure plate to tighten the film, and a take up reel to wind the film.

Viewfinder: The viewfinder is the hole in the back of the camera that a photographer looks through to aim the camera.

Shutter: A solid piece of plastic or metal inside the camera that prevents light from reaching the film or digital sensor.

Shutter Release: The shutter release is a button that raises a shutter inside the camera for a specified amount of time to allow light to expose the film.

Shutter Speed Control: It is the point on the camera where anybody can set the amount of time the shutter will remain open.

Film Speed Control: The film speed control allows to calibrate the camera's meter to the film speed for an accurate exposure reading.

F-Stop Control: The F-Stop controls allow to set the size of the aperture within the lens.

Flash: A flash is a device used in photography that produces an instantaneous flash of artificial light. Most cameras now include a built-in flash.

Hot Shoe Mount: The hot shoe mount is a point on the top of most SLR cameras where an external flash can be connected.

Lens Ring Mount: On cameras that allow interchangeable lenses, there is a metal ring on the front of the camera where the lens will attach.

A movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the movie camera takes a series of images, each called a "frame". This is accomplished through an intermittent mechanism. The frames are later played back in a movie projector at a specific speed, called the "frame rate" (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's eyes and brain merge the separate pictures together to create the illusion of motion. A video camera is a portable, hand-held camera resembling a movie camera but recording on videocassettes for playback on a television set. In a video camera, there is a provision of sound recording simultaneously with the visual. So, in a video camera microphone, speaker, LCD screen are added with the camera body.

Composition and exposure are two important parts of photography. A person has to do two things when taking a photograph. Composition and exposure. In a simple word, the exposure stands for the technical part of photography and the composition expresses the artistic viewpoint of a photographer. Photography is full of rules and to get us started I have invented one of my own.

We can call this the Compose and Expose Rule. To make life simple compose and expose rhyme so it is easy to remember. A photographer should compose first and expose second that is the rule. Let us discuss these two concepts-

Composition is the creative or artistic tad where a photographer arranges all of the elements of his picture within the frame or viewfinder to produce what should hopefully be a pleasing composition.

There are three basic ways to arrange the elements within the composition:

•	A person has to physically move objects relative to each other. Only really works with still life photography.

•	A person has to tell people to move relative to each other or other objects.

•	A person has to move the most effective way to control your composition is to alter your viewpoint.

In the book Photography for the Beginners, Alok Chandra Roy wrote that a beginner, with little or no artistic idea, may often face problem how to arrange or "compose" the various elements of subject of interest within the camera view - finder to obtain the most pleasing picture.

Roy, in his book suggested some points, which are advisable for the beginner -

1)	Keep your subject of interest away from the four edges of the picture, or it will look very odd.

2)	Keep the subject just away from the geometrical centre of the picture. otherwise it gives a dull and very formal effect in the picture.

3)	Allow more space in front of the subject than behind it. In a portrait, there should be more space in the direction of person looking. A moving subject should be shown moving in to the picture and not moving out of it. As far as possible these methods are to be applied when taking photograph. It is always easier to avoid an unwanted subject by changing of view point or camera angle.

Always try to keep in your mind, while taking photograph, nothing should get more importance than your subject of interest in the picture.

We have taken a look at the creative or artistic tad of taking photographs – composition. Now we will have a look at the science tad, i.e. - exposure. Exposure is the scientific and mechanical tad where a photographer exposes his film to light through the lens of the camera. Exposure simply means allowing light to strike the film. The tricky part is to know how much light you need and how to control the amount of light reaching the film. A photographer has to control the exposure by allowing light to pass through the aperture for a given amount of time. Apertures and shutters are used to control the exposure. If a photographer allows to pass more than enough light then the picture may be burned, which is known as over exposed and the reverse is the under exposed. So, the adjustment of the appropriate aperture and shutter speed is very much sensitive matter. Now question is that, on what factors, aperture and shutter speed depend upon? Ashok Dilwali, in his book All About Photography, says that, the choice of the combination of aperture and shutter speed depends upon three factors. These are –

1.	Hand held or tripod mounted: when a tripod is used, a small aperture and low shutter speed give image sharpness with better depth of field.

2.	Subject in motion: if the subject is moving, a large aperture with fast shutter speed is necessary.

3.	Sharpness of details: if this is important, a combination of small aperture with slow shutter speed is essential.

Already we have discussed about the basic concept on exposure and threre we have used so many terms like aperture, f-numbers, shutter speeds etc. Let us briefly discuss what these are –

Aperture and f-numbers The aperture is just a hole whose size can be varied to allow more or less light to pass through it. The size of apertures are expressed in f-numbers. Aperture range may look like this: f 1.4; f 2;  f 22;  f 32

Shutter and Shutter Speeds The shutter prevents light from reaching the film until the moment of exposure, when it opens for a predetermined time allowing light passing through the lens aperture to reach the film.

Film speed A film's sensitivity is known as its ' speed' and is expressed as an ASA/ISO number.

Depth of Field Depth of field is a phrase that defines a measure of distance that spans a distance ahead of and behind a subject focused on; and, within that distance the image is fairly sharp.

It is true that a picture or a photograph can express a thousand of words. But some time a text is needed to make a photograph more meaningful. So, we need a caption to explain the meaning of a photograph. In a simple manner we can define the term Caption as a textual representation that refer to information identifying a picture or illustration. Let us discuss briefly how to write and edit a good caption for a photograph.

John D. Simmons, Staff Photographer, The Charlotte Observer, offers some advice to write and edit good captions. According to him, “good captions are more than just the subject's name and what's going on in the photo. In fact, if all you do in your caption is explain the activity in the photo it has little or no value to the reader. Good captions incorporate the five W's: Who, What, Where, When and Why. You can occasionally throw in "How" if the photo is so technically complicated and interesting that the reader might wonder how it was made. Good captions are spelled correctly. Good captions are factually accurate. Good captions leave the copy editors with few questions. Good captions not only enhance your standing in the newsroom but also the photo department's standing. Good captions are essential to the credibility of the newspaper and its standing in the community.”

The following are some important points which should follow to write and edit a photo caption.

The five W's and How: Five Ws- Who, What, Where, When, Why and one H- How. These are use for a basic information about the story. It is a fundamental concept in journalism, which is used to prepare a news story. Even for a photo caption, a person should construct the sentence incorporating these questions.

Accuracy: It is another important point that must be keep in mind while writing a caption. The person has to make sure the facts he has given in the caption are accurate or that he can quote a source or the subject. If he gets a call from the copy desk about a conflict with the reporter's information it always feels good to be able to say that the quoted the subject or that the name has been checked.

Spelling: A caption is basically a sentence or may be two. A spelling mistake can create problem to express the meaning of the caption. There is no shame in asking someone else how to spell a word. Overall, spelling is essential but maybe the most important to make the credibility.

Edit the Captions: A caption writer should always reread the captions. He should identify the subjects from left to right and by a physical description whenever possible. A physical description can be of their clothing or expression.

A great caption has added value and are well written. To write a good caption one has to know the journalistic concepts and he should develop the skill like a journalist. Secondly he should be a writer. He has to use the language with an utmost care and the language should be flourishing. The ultimate goal for all of us is to write great captions, it must be accurate, have useful information for added value and be a good read.

In contrast of the still photography, where single snap shots are captured by a still camera at a time, in the movie photography, a camera person has to take a series of images. Here, in the movie photography a snap shot is known as a frame. Generally, we know that to establish a shot we have to record at least 3-5 seconds, which includes more than 72 frames. A movie photographer should know about the most important concepts of the subject like shots, camera movements etc. Let us discuss the basic concepts of shots and the movements of the movie camera.

All pictorial material recorded by a camera is shot. According to Oxford Dictionary, shot is a scene in a film or movie that is filmed continuously by one camera. In film making, the shot is the equivalent, in writing terms, of a word a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph. The director of a movie shots film; each shot is the length at which a camera works continuously from a stationary and a moving position.

There are mainly eight shots, which are known as basic shots. These are -

1. Extreme Long Shot (ELS):

An extreme long shot is the widest, most comprehensive and view possible of a location or event. It is a very wide field of view in which the camera takes in the entire playing area. The principal subject or subjects are small in relation to the background and tend to compete with the surroundings for the viewer’s attention.  2. Long Shot (LS):

It is slightly closer field of view than the extreme long shot. But the subject remains dominated by the much larger background area. Usually it is a wide and distant perspective orients viewer to overall setting and surroundings.

3. Mid Long Shot or (MLS) Long Mid Shot:

The image size in MLS is shorter than long shot. If our subject is a person, and if he is standing with a background then the mid long shot is up to the knee or in between the knee and the feet from above.

4. Mid Shot (M/S):

This is the most frequent shot used in T.V. news and any kind of television interactive programme, the one that best captures the action. It defines any camera perspective between long shot and close up, whereby subjects are viewed from medium distance.

5. Mid Close-up (MCU):

In MCU the image size is up to the chest of a person from above. It is also commonly used in TV news especially in case at statements, interviews and speeches. Generally the name and the title captions are super imposed (Below-super B/S) against this shot.

6. Close-up (CU):

Close-up is very much popular among the general mass also. It is mainly used for interviews. Here the subject becomes the primary focus of interest within the shot. Only a small portion of the background is visible. In this shot we see just the head and shoulder of the interviewee or the interviewer.

7. Big Close-up (BCU):

The image size in BCU is the face, i.e. the force-head and the chin of a person. During interviews it may be used. While the person is in a state of deep emotion or thinking.

8. Extreme Close-up (ECU):

In this shot the camera goes even closer, i.e. the shot is even tighter, sometimes to show only a particular part of the body organ, such as, the eyes or the lips or the fingers.

As the basic criterion of video is 'Moving pictures', the camera has to move. There are generally two types of cameras movements. One is to change the place of the camera itself. Means the entire camera and pedestal can be moved about. The second type of camera movement is to move the camera without displacing the camera itself. The camera head alone moves atop its stationary pedestal.

1.	PAN:

Pan is the horizontal camera pivot right to left or left to right, from a stationary position. It follows a subject, re-directs viewer's attention from one subject to another, shows relationship between subjects, and scam subjects too large to fit into one shot. The pan operations are used to show two horizontal frame of reference and continuity. It’s not advisable to use pan operation frequently in TV news for editing problems, but sometimes it is used to show several VIP's on the dies.

A pan should have a definite starting point and a definite ending point. Sometimes you can have a subject look in the direction of the pan and then execute the camera move to reveal to the viewer what the subject sees. If it is neither possible nor desirable, be sure to have definite starting and stopping points fixed in your own mind so the pan movement will be decisive and direct.

2.	TILT:

Tilt is the movement of the camera on its vertical axis, down or up, from a stationary position. When the camera is moved upwards, it is tilt-up and the reverse is tilt-down. It follows movement, contrasts differences in size between two subjects or gives viewer point of view sense of a subject's height.

3.	PEDESTAL:

The vertical movement of the camera up or down as the centre-telescoping column of the pedestal is raised or lowered. The pedestal control on a camera changes its point of view just as what any one can see from his sitting position and then stand up to look around.

4.	ZOOM:

In zoom operations, only the lenses of the camera moves. Actually Zoom is variance of focal length, bringing subject into and out of close-up. Lens capability permits change from wide-angle to telephoto or vice-versa in one continuous move. The use of the zoom control to continuously vary the camera lens’s field of view.

A zoom lens gets its name from its ability to move closer to or farther from the subject being photographed. 'Zoom out' means the opposite move further away or to 'wider' from the subject. Zooms are rarely used in TV news, because they are difficult, isn't impossible to edit. Most zooms can be eliminated by stopping the camera, reframing the shot and then restarting the camera.

5. TROLLEY or TRUCK:

Trolley or truck is the movement of the camera itself; it is the movement of the place. Means it is the lateral movement of the camera on its pedestal. What is trolley? Actually it is a small vehicle with wheels that can be pushed or pulled on a track along and is used for carrying things like the whole recording system and also the cameraman.

6. DOLLY:

Dolly is a low platform on wheels for moving heavy objects like a camera. Dolly movement is the movement of the camera on its pedestal either toward or away from the subject or scene. When it is goes to close of the subject by the camera it’s called Dolly in and the reverse is Dolly out.

7. ARC:

Actually arc is the part of a circle or a curved line. This movement is the combination of a dolly and a trolley, the arc is a semicircular movement of a camera and its pedestal.

8. CRANE:

A crane is the movement of the camera atop the long arm of a crane. Crane is a tall machine with a long arm, used to lift and move materials and other heavy objects. The camera crane is a huge mounting device with four pairs of wheels on a base and a large arm extending outward.