How to use a 35mm film SLR camera =)

How to use a 35mm film SLR camera

In order to take some of these wonderful pictures we see by various photographers, we need to understand how a Film SLR camera actually works and how to manipulate certain conditions to your advantage. Before beginning anything we need to be able to load the film. To open the back of the camera, pull up the rewind lever until the back pops ajar, on the left is the film compartment where the film goes (obviously). 

To load the film make sure the film is placed in the film compartment properly and pull the film out slightly until it reaches the take-up spool (film sprockets). When attached, close the back of the camera, push down the rewind lever and push the film advance until it clicks. Now you're ready to take your first photo... if it was as simple as that. Now we need  to put into consideration lighting, aperture and shutter speed.

 In order to take the photo, the photo needs to be in focus and the lighting needs to  be just right. on the right hand side in the view finder, a light meter is located, it is only visible when the shutter is pressed down lightly (not fully or else the photo has been taken) the plus and minus signs that light up indicate if there is too much or not enough light. The aperture ring or F-stops ring is used to fix that problem. It is located at the end furthest away from the lens. The higher the number the less light there will be exposed to the film. And vice versa.

Shutter speed also plays an important part in making the picture have the perfect settings. The higher the shutter speed, the less light will be exposed to the film, the shutter speed indicator is located right next to the shutter button.

The focus ring depends on you. How much in focus or out of focus you want it to be. it is the ring closest to the lens.

Once you see the green light in the view finder you're ready to take the picture ! Have fun !

Roni Horn and Shutter Speed =)

Roni Horn and Shutter Speed 

What is shutter speed ?

The shutters within a camera prevent any outside light seeping through and exposing the film inside the camera to light. The shutters in the camera act like a dark room, or like a pinhole camera with much more detail and focus. Adjusting the shutter speed determines on whether the image being taken is crisp and clear or is blurred as if say the object itself in the photograph is moving. The fact is that the higher the shutter speed the crisper the outcome will be, the lower the shutter speed, the more the blurred the photography will be, due to 'shutter lag'.

Roni Horn uses shutter speed to her advantage and manipulates it in a way to create extraordinary and unusual photographs. It seems she used a high shutter speed with the image at the top of the page to create a crisp, clear and precise image of the water moving. Whereas the portrait above is distorted and blurry. Suggesting that the shutter speed was quite low, and possibly below 1/60 in order to make the picture blurry due to movement of the camera without the use of a steady surface or a tripod. Roni Horns main focus of work seems to be the manipulation of shutter speed, using different shutter speeds to create a range of photographs.
With Roni horns work I feel she juxtaposes and contradicts certain elements, for example the photograph above of the clown. When the word clown comes to mind, people immediately assume that clowns are happy, with big red smiles and funny make up, however from the photo above it looks like the clown above is in pain and is very unhappy, which isn't the usual stereotype thats associated with clowns. Unlike the very first photo that evokes a sense of serenity and tranquility, this photo evokes a sense of unease and makes me feel quite uncomfortable. I think that red is the only real colour Roni horn used to associate it with pain and anger and anguish, and with the use of a low shutter speed, it enhances this dreary feeling I get from her photograph.
I personally dislike her work, the uneasy feeling I get when looking at her work, doesn't sit with me too well, although I find what she done to be quite eye catching and clever, I don't particularly like her work.

Jason Lee Analysis

Jason Lee 

In researching various photographers I came across a photographer called Jason Lee who had been taking gorgeous photos of his daughters and wedding photos aswell. He inspired me because his photos are about capturing something, emotions, within the moment. Nothing staged, although the few added digital effects here and there, he has been able to capture genuine emotion in all of his photos which make them in a way come to life. Although in his photographs he does have complete control over the atmosphere, he controls the lighitng, the back drop, the positioning of his children, the emotions he has no control over which make his work genuine. In many of his photographs we can see there has been quite a bit of digital animation as we can see from the photo below, what inspired me was the emotion he managed to capture, that was exactly what I looked for. It was obvious in most of his pictures he had used a very high shutter speed to capture his images in an instant, but used a variety of different aperture settings that would it the amount of lighting that was in the background, seeing as he used a number of different back drops and props for his background.

 

Photoshop and digital effects play a key part in his work as well which again adds to his theme of fun, imagination and creativity.

Edgar Martins Analysis

Edgar Martins

http://www.edgarmartins.com/

Edgar Martins, a contemporary photographer who manipulates natural lighting to his advantage, although like many of his photos, like the one above for example, he prefers to photograph night time scenes he also photographs day time scenes capturing photos in 'the moment'.

Born in 1977 and despite being of portuguese origin, he grew up in Macau, China. Originally Edgar had started off as an author, publishing his first book at aged 18, and from then moved to the united kingdom to study and complete a BA in photography and social science, which then followed an MA in fine art and photography at the Royal college of art. Edgar won various awards for his work and aperture monographs, touring in various different countries for exhibitions such as France, Spain, UK, Portugal, Brazil  and Germany in 2003, 2006, 2008 and in 2009.

Using lighting and positioning to his advantage, Edgar Martins has managed to create creative and mystical photos without the use and need of digital manipulation. His photos vary in the amount of control he has over lights and other factors, For example, like the one above he had total control over the lighting and positioning, we can tell by the criss costing of the shadows thats being cast over the plants, this shows that he had planted lights on both sides of the road to create that effect. He also has to use a low shutter speed and a tripod, to not only keep the camera steady but also because there's little lighting the film needs to be exposed for long periods of time.
But the two photographs below, he has no control over the lighting and/ or positioning on the light and where it hits. depending on where they were taken depends on the shutter speed and the aperture.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The one on the left, he used only natural light and probably used a big shutter speed and an aperture of F8, whereas the photo on the right, Edgar would need a VERY low shutter speed of probably about 1 and a VERY high aperture to be able to capture as much light as possible.

I think that Edgar Martins has a set theme for each one of his photographs, when observing them theres a sense of mystery in his photos and solitude. 'Whats beyond that light', 'Where was this', his photos raise a load of unanswered questions which related to 'mysterious theme'

Analysis of Photographers Man Ray and Nagy's Photograms

Analysis of Man Ray and Lazslo Moholy Nagy's Photograms

Nagy





Man Ray




Although obviously both photograms, both photographers have taken a different approach to this camera-less art of photograms, as we can see from Man Ray's work on the left and Moholy Nagy's work on the right.

The aesthetics of each photograph from each artist are similar yet different. It's evident that both pictures were made using photographic paper and placing objects on top of the paper, then subjecting it to light. However even though the same technique was used, both photos are extremely different.

On the left (Man Ray's Rayogram) there's a bunch of jumbled letters possibly placed without any second thoughts, a cocked gun that seems to be missing a trigger and a barrel, and three other identifiable objects. There is shadowing between the lettering and the gun which could possibly indicate a few things: The objects on the photographic paper were moved throughout the whole process,The distance and aperture settings on the developer were changed throughout the process, diffusion of light or possibly two light sources instead of one, which created the shadowing effect. Although depending on the audience and how the individual interprets the photographers work, Man Ray's work was deliberately ambiguous and very random, having very little or no meaning to his photograms. Simply capturing a moment. 

Lazslo Moholy Nagy's work, on the other hand, had more meaning to it. Whereas Man Ray's work like the one above contained a high level of spontaneity, Nagy's work seemed more planned out which in turn created more depth and texture with the overlaying of the hand and paintbrush, the distance between the objects and brush in his photograms. In the photogram above he used a paint brush, a hand and what appears to be a grill top or a drying rack. Nagy created his work as a play on "art/ photography" making the theme of this work in particular about creativity. This made his work a bit more restricted as there was a set theme. There wasn't as much freedom in his work compared to Man Ray's rayogram. However Nagy's work is more abstract and childlike.

My Contact and Test Sheets

From making my test sheet I made the assumption that 2.5 seconds was the right timing for all of my negatives. However when producing my contact sheet and , later on, my photos I realised that this wasn't the case. Whereas on some of my photos on the contact sheet 2.5 seconds was the right exposure time, other photos required a lot more time on a  higher aperture setting, and others required a lot less time on a lower aperture setting. For example, One of my photos required 2.5 seconds with an F8 aperture, (no filter), whereas another photo from my negatives required F11 at 4.0 seconds.
Because of this I needed to make test strips of each individual photo I was going to use. I made sure that I documented which photos needed what time by using 1.0 second intervals to determine what images needed what settings. 

I believe that the reason each photo needed different setting was because, on each photo to create a different effect the shutter speed was changed, because of this each photo was exposed to a different amount of light, thats why the aperture had to change.

How to make a contact sheet ! =)

1. In order to make a contact sheet you will need to cut your roll of film (negatives) and cut them into strips of six.
2. The check your strips on a the light-box.
3. Insert your strips of your negatives into the negative bag.
4. Tricky Bit ! Making a test stip before making the actual contact sheet.

• Set the aperture to F8 on the developer machine
• Make sure there's no filter !
• Place photographic paper onto the bed of the developer machine glossy side up
• Place negatives onto the photographic paper also glossy side up
• Place a pice of glass onto the the negatives so that way they're sandwiched together
• Exposed negatives to one second intervals in using a sheet of back paper, so that the first picture on each set would have been exposed to six seconds and the last photo on each strip would have been exposed to only one seconds.
• Once developed you shall be able to tell how much exposure would be suitable for the whole contact sheet.
• in my case it is between 2 and 3 seconds

Once you have decided which time was best referring to your test sheet, repeat the process again without using black paper.

And now you have a contact sheet =)!!!!