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June 12

After introductions and a brief class overview, our major topic for the evening was EXPOSURE.

We discussed FILM very briefly and will look at this topic in greater depth later on.

We looked at the three primary factors involved in Depth of Field.  1) When using the same lens, small lens apertures increase depth of field and wide apertures decrease depth of field.  2) When using the same aperture, wide angle lenses have more depth of field than longer focal length lenses. 3) With the same lens and aperture, focusing farther away increases depth of field. We will come back to this topic again.

We discussed shutter speeds relative to water motion (fountains and waterfalls).  In general, shutter speeds around 1/60 to 1/125 second make water look much like it does to the human eye. Shutter speeds around 1/500 of a second and faster freezes water in way the eye can not see.  Shutter speeds around 1/2 second and longer can blur water into a creamy or angel hair look.

We also looked at lenses and perspective.  Staying in one place and changing focal lengths changes the framing or magnification of the entire scene, but not the perspective. Changing the camera location changes the relative sizes of the foreground and background, and therefore changes the perspective.

We talked very briefly about TRIPODS.

We will have a field trip Wednesday at 8:45 PM at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery.  If it is overcast or raining, we will meet Thursday instead.

From the intersection of US 131 and M-43 (Main Street) go 6 miles west on M-43. The Hatchery will be on your left (south). Park in the main parking lot by the visitor's center.

We will not have class at the Art Institute next week.  Our next regular class session will be June 26.

Assignments.  Buy some Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color 100 slide film. The best buy is in two-packs at Norman Camera located on Westnedge. Buy a Kodak 18% gray card package. If you camera takes a remote release or cable release for long exposures, see if you can buy one it it isn't too expensive.

Take two pictures each of a light toned subject, a medium toned subject, and a dark toned subject.  Base one exposure on a meter reading of the subject. Base the other exposure on a meter reading of the gray card in the same light as the subject.

Find a waterfall or fountain and photograph it backlit by the sun at a shutter speed of 1/500 second.  Then photograph it again in low light at around 1 to 1/2 second. Be sure and add 1 to 2 stops of light to your exposure to keep the waterfall light toned.

June 12, 2001

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