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woah ... dude, I did not know that Freeman Patterson was still actively teaching..
One more thing to add to my bucket list - at $2200 for a 7 day workshop including accommodation and meals, it's a rather reasonable thing (still outside my affordability price range - but reasonable)
However - it did prompt me to once again try to prod my darling talented husband into TEACHING me photography - I'm still very much a point my camera at it and hope for the best kinda gal. I'm good at that, and my auto cameras have been a great boon over the years, but I'm all too aware of what I don't know. I've asked him a few times over the years to teach me the basics (he is a teacher of technical subjects after all) ... and he would always end up explaining stuff too fast, or not giving me the key little itty bitty points of understanding the esoteric secret code buzz words of photographers. And even the Dummies books and Online Digital Photography Schools tend to presume a base level of knowledge I just didn't have.
Frustrating.
Today I pointed out that thanks to the prerequisites for the workshop I knew what I didn't know and needed him to teach me.
In two hours this afternoon .... I finally after years of "WTF you talkin' about Willis", I finally finally GET f stops. I get it I get it I get it - the mathematics of it is simple....once you quit talking in buzz words.
In review:
f stops = less is more
shutter speed = less is more
film speed = more is more
and the 'duh' moment..... it's all about the light.
(ok you photographers can quit laughing at me now - no one *ever* actually explained any of this to me...... it's been a huge frustration for years, so this whole thing has been a water shed epiphany moment for me! Once you've learned it it's basic and makes all kinds of sensible sense, but until someone actually teaches it to you - it's all so much goobledy gook!)
Notes:
f number is the length of the focal length of the lens (35mm/50mm/100mm) / diameter of the aperture
thus:
35 mm lens at f 4 = an aperture of 8.75
35 mm lens at f 8 = an aperture of 4.375
Because area is an exponential calculation f 4 is 4 times the light gathering of f 8
50 mm lens at f 4 = an aperture of 12.5
50 mm lens at f 8 = an aperture of 6.25
BUT.... because a shorter focal length (i.e. 35mm vs 50mm) has a WIDER field of view - it collects MORE light at the same f stop. Shorter focal length wider view: less = more Longer focal length narrower view: more = less.
(excellent diagram on focal length from Clara Persis)
THUS
f number is equal across ALL lens, f number is the great equalizer. f 4 on a 50 mm lens is the same as f 4 on a 35 mm lens is the same as f 4 on a 100 mm lens.
So a 100 mm lens is twice the magnification of a 50 mm lens, and 1/4 of the light gathering BUT the f number i the equalizer.
ALL F NUMBERS ON ALL LENSES = THE SAME AMOUNT OF LIGHT.
Because area is exponential f 8 gathers 1/4 of the light that f 4 does. So to get half the amount of light you need to change the f stop by √2. √2 = 1 STOP. f 4 -> f 5.6 = 1 STOP or √2
My Fuji HS30EXR has a 24mm - 720 mm (135 film equivalent - that's the film type for 35mm film) has an f stop range of 2.8-5.6 (James Olympus OM camera lenses go down to 1.4 .... but then those are his pro cameras)
(side bar the 55mm notation on the lens is the thread diameter for filter accessories)
Shutter speed
Twice as fast = half the light. More is less. So 1/60 of a second gathers half the light of 1/30 of a second.
s0ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
f 5.6 at 1/30 sec = f 4 at 1/60 sec
less = more
less = more
If (because area is exponential) f 8 is 1/4 of the light of f 4 then 1/2 the light would be + √2 = f 5.6
f 5.6 has half the light of f 4 - but 1/30 sec has twice the light of 1/60 sec
so f 4 at 1/60 sec = f 5.6 at 1/30 sec.
Film speed:
the smaller the number the slower the film
(wtf? film doesn't move how can it be fast or slow???)
speed is the speed of the chemical reaction or how FAST the chemical coating on the film reacts to
THE LIGHT
135 film (ie 35mm) usually came in ASA (or ISO) 25 50 64 80 100 125 160 200 400 and 800
new digital give you the option of 1600 3200 and 6400 and even 12,800 (but that's getting into the crazy stupid range)
Soooooooooooooo double the film speed, twice the light gathering - more = more
50 ISO at 1/60 sec at f 4 = 50 ISO at 1/30 sec at f 5.6
EQUALS
100 ISO at 1/60 sec at f 5.6 = 100 ISO at 1/30 sec at f 8
These relationships are known as reciprocity.
Reciprocity failure is when due to shooting at the extreme limits of a film the chemical reactions can not quite meet these rules and relationship and the photo fails despite all the numbers being right due to chemical failure.
Here we quit, due to my brain explodey...
.......... Next up....
Depth of field
Originally posted to: The Plan® comment there or here
One more thing to add to my bucket list - at $2200 for a 7 day workshop including accommodation and meals, it's a rather reasonable thing (still outside my affordability price range - but reasonable)
However - it did prompt me to once again try to prod my darling talented husband into TEACHING me photography - I'm still very much a point my camera at it and hope for the best kinda gal. I'm good at that, and my auto cameras have been a great boon over the years, but I'm all too aware of what I don't know. I've asked him a few times over the years to teach me the basics (he is a teacher of technical subjects after all) ... and he would always end up explaining stuff too fast, or not giving me the key little itty bitty points of understanding the esoteric secret code buzz words of photographers. And even the Dummies books and Online Digital Photography Schools tend to presume a base level of knowledge I just didn't have.
Frustrating.
Today I pointed out that thanks to the prerequisites for the workshop I knew what I didn't know and needed him to teach me.
In two hours this afternoon .... I finally after years of "WTF you talkin' about Willis", I finally finally GET f stops. I get it I get it I get it - the mathematics of it is simple....once you quit talking in buzz words.
In review:
f stops = less is more
shutter speed = less is more
film speed = more is more
and the 'duh' moment..... it's all about the light.
(ok you photographers can quit laughing at me now - no one *ever* actually explained any of this to me...... it's been a huge frustration for years, so this whole thing has been a water shed epiphany moment for me! Once you've learned it it's basic and makes all kinds of sensible sense, but until someone actually teaches it to you - it's all so much goobledy gook!)
Notes:
f number is the length of the focal length of the lens (35mm/50mm/100mm) / diameter of the aperture
thus:
35 mm lens at f 4 = an aperture of 8.75
35 mm lens at f 8 = an aperture of 4.375
Because area is an exponential calculation f 4 is 4 times the light gathering of f 8
50 mm lens at f 4 = an aperture of 12.5
50 mm lens at f 8 = an aperture of 6.25
BUT.... because a shorter focal length (i.e. 35mm vs 50mm) has a WIDER field of view - it collects MORE light at the same f stop. Shorter focal length wider view: less = more Longer focal length narrower view: more = less.
(excellent diagram on focal length from Clara Persis)
THUS
f number is equal across ALL lens, f number is the great equalizer. f 4 on a 50 mm lens is the same as f 4 on a 35 mm lens is the same as f 4 on a 100 mm lens.
So a 100 mm lens is twice the magnification of a 50 mm lens, and 1/4 of the light gathering BUT the f number i the equalizer.
ALL F NUMBERS ON ALL LENSES = THE SAME AMOUNT OF LIGHT.
Because area is exponential f 8 gathers 1/4 of the light that f 4 does. So to get half the amount of light you need to change the f stop by √2. √2 = 1 STOP. f 4 -> f 5.6 = 1 STOP or √2
My Fuji HS30EXR has a 24mm - 720 mm (135 film equivalent - that's the film type for 35mm film) has an f stop range of 2.8-5.6 (James Olympus OM camera lenses go down to 1.4 .... but then those are his pro cameras)
(side bar the 55mm notation on the lens is the thread diameter for filter accessories)
Shutter speed
Twice as fast = half the light. More is less. So 1/60 of a second gathers half the light of 1/30 of a second.
s0ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
f 5.6 at 1/30 sec = f 4 at 1/60 sec
less = more
less = more
If (because area is exponential) f 8 is 1/4 of the light of f 4 then 1/2 the light would be + √2 = f 5.6
f 5.6 has half the light of f 4 - but 1/30 sec has twice the light of 1/60 sec
so f 4 at 1/60 sec = f 5.6 at 1/30 sec.
Film speed:
the smaller the number the slower the film
(wtf? film doesn't move how can it be fast or slow???)
speed is the speed of the chemical reaction or how FAST the chemical coating on the film reacts to
135 film (ie 35mm) usually came in ASA (or ISO) 25 50 64 80 100 125 160 200 400 and 800
new digital give you the option of 1600 3200 and 6400 and even 12,800 (but that's getting into the crazy stupid range)
Soooooooooooooo double the film speed, twice the light gathering - more = more
50 ISO at 1/60 sec at f 4 = 50 ISO at 1/30 sec at f 5.6
EQUALS
100 ISO at 1/60 sec at f 5.6 = 100 ISO at 1/30 sec at f 8
These relationships are known as reciprocity.
Reciprocity failure is when due to shooting at the extreme limits of a film the chemical reactions can not quite meet these rules and relationship and the photo fails despite all the numbers being right due to chemical failure.
Here we quit, due to my brain explodey...
.......... Next up....
Depth of field
Originally posted to: The Plan® comment there or here
