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| The Camera | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 6 2007, 11:11 AM (376 Views) | |
| kman627 | Dec 6 2007, 11:11 AM Post #1 |
Film Junkie
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For this lesson I thought I'd go with the most basic topic, but definitley the most important one and that is the camera itself, how it works, and its history. This really isn't important in terms of being a better photographer, but for me I like to know how things work and I'm sure some of you do too. So enjoy! The camera just like any other modern invention went through several evolutionary stages, ranging from simple optical devices to the most modern electronic systems. The earliest ancestor or the camera goes back to early man, where the brain developed the ability to see something and translate it into a physical image via hand, eye, and mental coordination. Early cave drawings may not seem like anything related to photography, but the evolution of the brain and abstract thought of early man was the initial foundation that paved the way to more advanced techniques. This was followed of course by advancements in drawing and painting, which themselves were quite abstract, but never an exact representation of reality. As the techniques of painting and art improved, so were advances in technilogy and physics, which led to the first device which can be called a camera. It might be a surprise to you that the first 'camera' dates back to roughly 2400 years ago in China. The first true ancestor to the modern camera is called the Camera Obscura. The camera obscura is nothing more than a box with a hole in one end (very similar to a pinhole camera). The image from the scene enters through the hole and projects the image onto the other side of the box. The artist would then copy the image and make a much more realistic drawing than previously possible. Photography laid rather dormant in terms of advancement for some time after these early inventions and it wasn't until the early 1800's that modern photography came into being. In the 1820's Joseph Nicéphore Niépce made the first permanant photograph using a box camera and a silver chalk mixture that formed the image. While this is the earliest known photograph, it wasn't until the 1830's when Louis Jacques Daguerre invented the Daguerreotype. Daguerre had succesfully made images for some time before this, but had yet to find a way to make the images permanant. By accident and chance he discovered the mercury was the missing ingredient needed to make his Daguerreotypes permanant. This is the world's first Daguerreotype:  The daguerreotype process became unbelievably popular and made photography possible by many and Daguerreotype artists started popping up all over the world where it could be affordred. After the daguerreotype, many other processes became popular, but none of them were practical for use by the average citizen. It wasn't until George Eastman (Kodak) brought roll film to the world, which made it practical for everyone to make photographs. After that, the medium was able to grown and advance with different types of cameras throughout the 20th century. Rangefinders, TLRs, Veiw Cameras, field cameras, and slrs all came into being in this period. And as we all know in the late 20th century the world of photography and electronics technilogy colided, giving birth to the modern digital camera. Now with history out of the way, let's talk about how the camera actually works. First of all we need to look at the single most important element of the camera. - Light. Light is a part of the Electromagnetic spectrum and the light we see is a VERY small part of it called "Visible light". This diagram shows the entire electromagnetic spectrum in a simple way.  While all of theses other kinds of 'light' are around us, the visible wavelengths are the only ones we see. However, cameras and films are able to see what we don't see in the infrared and UV wavelengths. Your eye is actually nothing more than a camera, taking in and processing these waves to create a visual image in our brain. A camera does the exact same thing. Your eye has a lens just like the camera that forms the image in the same way. So think of the camera the same way you think about your eye and compare the elements. The front of the eye is the cornea, which focuses the image you see, just like the front element of the camera moves in order to focus the image. Next is the pupil, which controls the amount of light entering the eye, this can be thought of as the aperture and works exactly the same way, opening and closing to allow more or less light in. The next part is the lens, which forms the image from light rays the same way a camera's lens does. The last element of the eye it the retina, which is a membrane filled with photorecepter cells. This can be thought of in the same way as an image sensor or piece of film. It's what sees the image that was formed by the lens and can see it in proper intensity because the iris let in the correct amount of light. The retina sends signals to the brain via the optical nerve to create the visual image. This is the same as the image sensor sending the received signals to the camera's processor. So you can see that the eye is truly the original camera, and the camera you use to take pictures is nothing more than a different kind of eyeball.  Let's talk a little more about the lens and how it works. This image is probably the most simple and easily understandable representation of how a lens works. While it's much more complex than this, it hows how the lens takes the light particles and turns them into a uniform image. As you focus your lens, you even these rays out so that they're all falling on a verticle plane where it is read by the image sensor or film.  I know this information has been very dry and will in no way help you take better photos, but it will help you understand how it all works. |
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| gretchensteele | Dec 6 2007, 01:32 PM Post #2 |
Admin
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now now KYle..if you understand how it works..it will help...
 I'm tellin you..I have connections in the publishing industry..so say the word when you have a manuscript done... 
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| kman627 | Dec 6 2007, 01:50 PM Post #3 |
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Film Junkie
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Thanks Gretch. I think you're right that it does help if you know how it all works. Thanks for the offer on the hook-ups. As of now it's only a pile of thoughts in my head, but I think witin the next year I'll have something on paper. The concept in my head is sort of a photographic reference that is not applicable to any particular time. In other words timeless so that it never becomes obsolete. The basic principles of cameras, their operation, composition, and artistic aspects will never change, so if I stay focused on that, my work will never become obsolete. |
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| genarae | Dec 6 2007, 02:31 PM Post #4 |
GenaRae
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I liked it!
It really does help when you know what your camera is doing and why you are getting the pictures you are!
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| bambam203 | Dec 6 2007, 04:32 PM Post #5 |
BAM
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Yes......exactly what I been wanting to know....... Ill have to read over this again later tonight.... |
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| bambam203 | Dec 8 2007, 04:01 AM Post #6 |
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BAM
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Cool, I think I understand...  I was just thinking the other day, boy are eyes are just like the camera itself after someone was talking about the ap and the opening and all being like a eye.......And really, we need light to see.....even if our eye is open, if it's pitch black we are not going to see nothing.....same way with the camera......If you get something in your eye it's gonna be blurry, same way with the camera..... Both of them have to be charged as well....the camera and the eye....I know some nights my eyes start closing when Im running low.......same way with the camera.....loll Now , I need to get me a set of zoom contacts.....lol....."Hubble contacts" :ggigglin: |
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| chrisbnp | Dec 8 2007, 10:35 AM Post #7 |
Master baiting Bee Aggravator
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Excellent! OK so it may be dry to others but not to me. I disagree about how it may not make you a better photographer though because it really sets the stage for understanding chromatic aberration, sensitivity (along with exposure which includes aperture, ISO, shutter and speed), focus, inverse light transport, and well just about every aspect of photographic recording with the exception of aesthetic interpretation. If you want to pick a sub-subject to write a rough draft for you on let me know. |
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| bambam203 | Dec 8 2007, 01:28 PM Post #8 |
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BAM
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Ok chris how about you start with the first one,because Im lost on what you just typed......lol |
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| chrisbnp | Dec 8 2007, 02:26 PM Post #9 |
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Master baiting Bee Aggravator
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Bam, That definitely wouldn't be a good starting subject. I will however tell you what it is. It is the purple/red fringing you get from some lenses under high contrast situations. To understand it's causes you would need to understand how a lens bends light and how each wavelength is bent a different amount. It's really a discussion that is more on lens design rather than photography it's self. That being said, the photographer needs to understand what it is especially when reading reviews on lenses for that one lens you have your eye on. I have a lens that has it so bad that I resist using it in all but the lowest contrast situations. |
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| bambam203 | Dec 8 2007, 02:39 PM Post #10 |
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BAM
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Ok, yea, I seen that on my editing program but never used it.... Do you have a picture of something that would need it removed? |
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| patmed | Dec 8 2007, 02:53 PM Post #11 |
Moderator
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hey bam...look at the bottom of the branch that the bird is sitting on for an example. this is the first time that this lens produced this but the subject was really backlit and i had to let it blow out the background to get the bird visible.
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| chrisbnp | Dec 8 2007, 03:28 PM Post #12 |
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Master baiting Bee Aggravator
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Good example Pat.. It happens because the different wavelengths of light were bent at different angles. On the old cameras there was a mark on the lens for IR for just that reason. In order to get a sharp picture in IR you had to defocus a bit. |
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| bambam203 | Dec 8 2007, 03:43 PM Post #13 |
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BAM
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Oh ok....I thought that would just be considered blown out....Thanks....... Next, 
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| patmed | Dec 8 2007, 03:57 PM Post #14 |
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Moderator
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i was referring to the purple line following the tree branch bam. i know the background is blown out but the purple tint to the bottom of the branch is what chris was trying to demonstrate. |
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| bambam203 | Dec 8 2007, 04:00 PM Post #15 |
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BAM
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Right that's what I was talking about........Thanks.... |
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