A Short Guide To Photography; Light Sources And Color; What Is An Ev - Konica Minolta DYNAX DYNAX7D Instruction Manual

A SHORT GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography can be a rewarding pursuit. It is a broad and disciplined field that can take years to
master. But the pleasure in making photographs and the joy of capturing a magical moment cannot
be compared. The guide is an introduction to some basic photographic principles.
The lens aperture controls not only exposure, but also depth of
field; the area between the closest object in focus and the furthest
object in focus. The larger the aperture value, the greater the
depth of field and the longer the shutter speed needed to make
the exposure. The smaller the aperture value, the shallower the
depth of field and the faster the shutter speed needed to make
the exposure. Usually landscape photographs use a large depth
of field (large aperture value) to keep the foreground and
background in focus, and portraits use a shallow depth of field
(small aperture value) to separate the subject from the
background.
Depth of field also changes with focal length. The smaller the
focal length, the greater the depth of field; the longer the focal
length, the shallower the depth of field.
The shutter controls not only exposure, but also the ability to stop
motion. Fast shutter speeds are used in sport photography to
stop action. Slow shutter speeds can be used to show the flow of
motion such as water cascading over a waterfall. The use of a
tripod is recommended with slow shutter speeds.
For critical work, take a test photograph and view the result in
playback (p. 34). The image can be deleted if not acceptable
A short guide to photography
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LIGHT SOURCES AND COLOR

The human eye adapts itself extremely well under different conditions. The paper of this manual you
are reading looks white regardless of the type of lighting. Photographic systems are much less
flexible. As the light source changes, so does the overall color of a scene - fluorescent office ceiling
lights create a green cast to pictures, regular household tungsten light bulbs make everything red.
Like your eyes, the camera's white-balance controls adjust for different lighting to make natural
looking pictures.
The most common source of light, our sun, changes color depending on the time of day and the
atmospheric conditions. The sun is of course very warm near the horizon and very blue at noon.
The daylight preset white-balance setting is for beautiful sunny days. When the weather is overcast,
the color is cooler and the cloudy setting is appropriate. When the main light source is skylight, light
from the blue sky rather than the direct light of the sun, the resulting color is very blue. The shade
preset white-balance is designed for this condition.
Artificial lighting is more consistent but shows variations. Tungsten lamps become warmer as their
wattage decreases. And fluorescent lamps come in classifications that define their color. The preset
white balance settings can be adjusted with the rear control dial (p. 60) to match the change in
these light sources.
Some artificial lighting have a discontinuous spectrum that create very unnatural color in a
photograph. White balance cannot correct high-energy vapor lighting: sodium-vapor (yellow
highway lights), or mercury vapor. For portraits under these lighting conditions, the flash can be
used to overpower the ambient light. With landscapes containing these types of lights, set the white
balance to the preset daylight setting.

WHAT IS AN EV?

Ev stands for exposure value. A change
of one Ev adjusts the exposure
calculated by the camera by a factor of
two. An Ev and a "stop" are the same.
+2.0 Ev 4X as much light
+1.0 Ev 2X as much light
±0.0 Ev Calculated exposure
–1.0 Ev 1/2 as much light
–2.0 Ev 1/4 as much light
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