Understanding Exposure p. 138 - end

It's late.  Very late.  I'm tired.  But I really want to improve.  So I'm up. And writing.  I've been reading ahead, and am dying to read more, but I really want to record my thoughts.  So I'm here.  And blogging.  (UPDATE:  I started this post almost two months ago.  How is it possible to take this long to write a blog post?!?)

I'll admit that I wasn't very interested in reading the last two sections of Peterson's book:  Special Techniques & Filters and Film vs. Digital.  But I did learn a thing or two.  Like don't read the chapters and then wait a month and a half to blog about them.  No, more than that.

*A deliberate overexposure is accomplished best with subjects who are front or evenly lighted.

*A lot can be done with double exposures, but it's never been something I've particularly gotten into.  Of course, photoshop opens up worlds of options.  For those who enjoy double exposures or sandwiching:  in-camera double exposures should be done at one stop under, and out-of-camera sandwiched photos should be done at one stop over.  Thus, when the pictures are combined, the correct exposure is achieved.

*Multiple exposures, like overexposures are best done with front or even light.  Multiple exposures are just the same shot taken many times while moving the camera a bit between each shot.  One thing to avoid:  lots of sky.  Makes for boring multiple exposures.

*Polarazing filters reduce reflective glare.  They allow detail to come through in landscapes and they deepen the blue of the sky.  They do this when the light is at a 90 degree angle, so take the shot with the light coming at you from the side.  When the light is in front or behind, the polarizing filter does nothing.  And when the light is not at a 90 degree angle, the polarizing filter only works on a portion of the picture.

*Polarizing filters also cause a decrease of 2 stops, so up your camera stops by 2 in order to accommodate.

*Graduate Neutral-Density Filters are like sunglasses that have a variable amount of shading spread over the lens.  "Graduate ND filter(s) reduce light only in certain areas of the scene." (p. 150)

And now....the LAST SECTION of the book.  

*ISO:  Fast speed is 400 +, Medium speed is 100-200, and slow speed is 25-64.

*One roll of film is one ISO speed.  Digital allows the photographer to change ISO speeds with each shot.

*Peterson says he shoots at ISO 100 about 99% of the time.  As a portrait photographer of toddlers, I just don't see how this could be possible.  They would always be blurry!  But perhaps I will aim for ISO 100 when I'm not dealing with fast moving toddlers.

*Color: Film comes in several different kinds.  There is also color print and color slide film (ending in chrome) to choose from.  And, yeah, given that I never shoot in film, that's all I'm going to cover here. Peterson covers more about different brands of film and slide vs print if you are interested.

*Pushing and Pulling.  I had never heard of this before.  Probably because it's not a concern for digital shooters and I never learned photography in the film age.  The concept is pretty cool though.

Film can be pushed (set to a faster ISO) or pulled (set to a slower ISO).  If you have film in your camera but it is not the right ISO, you can manually set the ISO and treat the film as if it is that speed.  Then you ask that it be developed at the manually set speed.  According to Peterson, film is rarely pulled.  Also, it's better to just have the right film speed in the camera to begin with.  Makes sense.

So there it is.  I finally finished a whole book.  And it took me way to long, but it's done.  I really enjoyed this book and found it easy to understand, easy to read, and very helpful as a beginner with some general knowledge.  I'd highly recommend it as the first book for a photographer.

Stay tuned for the next book about lighting.  Hopefully I'll get that started before another two months goes by!