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Stoppees' Guide to Photography and Light: What Digital Photographers, Illustrators, and Creative Professionals Must Know PDF

503 Pages·2008·51.44 MB·English
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Preview Stoppees' Guide to Photography and Light: What Digital Photographers, Illustrators, and Creative Professionals Must Know

2 Chapter # | Name Placeholder Chapter # | Name Placeholder 3 Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK © 2009 Brian and Janet Stoppee. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 Interior Design: Janet Stoppee for M Media Studios, Inc. 2 Cover Design: Brian and Janet Stoppee for M Media Studios, Inc. 2 Illustrations: Janet Stoppee for M Media Studios, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, E-mail: Dedication This volume is dedicated, in loving memory, to Brian’s parents, Harry & Avalon, who have been personal and professional inspirations to Brian & Janet. Harry, a self-made businessman, and Avalon, a graphic artist, wanted Brian to write books, since he was a child. T ey got Brian interested in photography, when he was eight years old. T ey whole-heartedly welcomed Janet into their lives, as a second daughter. Avalon died a few weeks before this book’s production completed. Dedication 5t Contents Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Digital Exposure and Optics. . . 61 1 T e Color of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 T e Exposure Trinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 A Colorful Day of Sunlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Time, Sensitivity, and Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 T e Temperature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 T e Time Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 T e Year in Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Hue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Camera Movement, Shake, and Stabilization . 68 Light’s Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Be a Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 What Your Eye Sees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Vibrant, Saturated, and Muted Colors . . . . . . 48 Freezing Action and Beautiful Blurs . . . . . . . . 70 How Your Brain Compensates . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 High-Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Extended Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Color’s Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Low-Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Instead of Film Personality… . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Neutral Density Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Weather’s Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 …It’s All About the Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Minimum Density: Super White . . . . . . . . . . 26 T e North Light of a Painter’s Studio . . . . . . . 58 Sensitivity: T e ISO Equivalent . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Maximum Density: Blackest Black . . . . . . . . . 27 ISO in Action: Choose the Proper Speed . . . . 77 Angles of Incidence and Refl ection . . . . . . . . . 28 Avoid Noise; Enjoy Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 What’s Seen… What’s Hidden . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Volume of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Refl ections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 T e Numbers on the Lens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Surfaces and Textures Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . 32 What Lenses Do to Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Plenty of Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 T e Letters on the Lens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Plenty of Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 EV: Exposure Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Create a Highlight; Control a Shadow . . . . . . 38 Autoexposure Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 6 Table of Contents Camera Metering Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Exposure Locks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Exposure Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Bracketing Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Manual T rough-the-Lens Metering. . . . . . . . 90 Depth of Field Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Hyperfocal Distance = Maximizing Depth . . . 94 Visual Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Equivalent Focal Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Fisheye to Ultra-Wide Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 3 Measuring Light and Color . . . 131 4 Light, Color, and Use . . . . . . . . . 149 T e Wide-Angle Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Light Meter Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 T e End Use Determines Everything. . . . . . . 150 What’s Optically Normal?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Incident Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Color Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 T e “Fast” Lens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Light Source Size and Distance . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Color Gamuts and Working Spaces . . . . . . . 154 T e “Portrait” Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 T e Inverse Square Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Color Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Telephoto Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 T e Gray Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 File Format and the End Result . . . . . . . . . . 156 T e Ultra-Telephoto Eye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 T e Flash Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Understand Image Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Macro Vantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Spot/Refl ective Readings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Upsampling and Downsampling. . . . . . . . . . 160 Bending Light, Bending Objects. . . . . . . . . . 114 Volume/Time Priority Metering and EV. . . . 143 Balancing Light to White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Light Ratios for Multiple Light Sources . . . . 144 T e Color Moods of White Balancing . . . . . 118 Color Metering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Bracketing Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Mired Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Visualize Angles of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Light and Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wide and Narrow Luminance Ranges. . . . . . 125 Diff raction and Image Crispness . . . . . . . . . . 126 Viewfi nder Screens and Your Eye . . . . . . . . . 127 Area Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Focus Modes and the Power of Manual. . . . . 129 Table of Contents 7 Contents 5 Preproduction Smarts . . . . . . . . 163 6 Raw Files and Scanned Films. . 195 7 Ambient Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Paper Planning and Tear Sheets. . . . . . . . . . . 164 Bridge: T e Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Early Morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Scouting and Electronic Planning . . . . . . . . . 166 T e Raw File Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Midday = Diff usion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Manage Memory on Location. . . . . . . . . . . . 168 T e Adobe Camera Raw Environment . . . . . 200 Gender-Specifi c Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Data Storage and Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Histograms in Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Late Afternoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Synchronize Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Histograms in Camera Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Silhouettes and Sunsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 See All the Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 White Balancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Candles and Firelight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Calibrate a Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Temperature and Tint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 After Dark: Mixing Color Temperatures . . . . 248 Control Print Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Tonality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 On Location with Cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Recovery, Fill Light, and Blacks . . . . . . . . . . 212 On Location with Computers. . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 On Location with Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Vibrance and Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Location Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 T e Tone Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Sharpening and Noise Reduction . . . . . . . . . 218 Converting Color to Grayscale . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Hue, Saturation, and Luminance . . . . . . . . . 220 Split Toning: Highlights and Shadows . . . . . 222 Lens Correction and Camera Calibration . . . 223 Film to Digital: Pro Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Scanning Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 8 Table of Contents Weights and Bags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Headers and Drop Downs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Magic Fingers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Grip Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Mafers and Mathellinis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 Flexible Arms and Knuckle Heads . . . . . . . . 314 MiniGrips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Clamps, Pigeons, Ties, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Lanterns, Pancakes, and Skirts? . . . . . . . . . . . 288 T e Right Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 8 Man-Made Modif ers . . . . . . . . . 251 Filter Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Weight and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Nature Modifi es Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Lighting Designer Color Tricks. . . . . . . . . . . 292 Tilting Column Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Refl ect Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Diff usion Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 T e Quick Release Ball Head . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Diff users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Refl ection Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Off -Center Ball Head Control . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Refl ection and Diff usion Tools . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Polarizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Flagging Light and Subtractive Refl ectors . . . 260 Color Correctors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 T e Framework of Scrims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Blue and Green Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Fabrics, Road Rags, and Lighting Control Kit. . 264 Tents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Dots and Fingers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Barn Doors and Snoots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Grids and Spots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 What Umbrellas Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Multiple Umbrellas for Soft Light. . . . . . . . . 272 T e New Umbrellas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 10 Daylight Fluorescent. . . . . . . 325 Light Bank Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Bright Lights, Low Wattage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Speed Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 9 Creative Support and Safety . . 299 T e Funny Shaped Lamps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Light Bank Primer - Triolet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Stand Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 T e Total System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 T e Big Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 C Stands vs. Inclines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Soft Box Simplicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 When Smaller’s Better. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Crate and Riser Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Create Refl ections: A Quick Starter. . . . . . . . 334 OctaPlus Banks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Arm and Boom Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Create Moonlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Table of Contents 9

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