Sunny 16 Rule

For much of photography's history, there were no light meters, so basic rules were created to get the right exposure for a picture. If you know the sensitivity of the film you are using, you can get close to the exact settings you need to get a proper exposure.

So the rule is: on a sunny day (bright sunlight), your shutter speed equals the inverse of the ISO of your film at f16.

For example, we use 400 ISO film, so the ideal exposure at f16 would be 1/400. Since cameras don't generally have a 1/400 shutter speed setting, you would use the closest one. In our case, the closest would be 1/500, but slightly overexposing film is better than slightly underexposing, so I would pick 1/250 of a second for the shutter speed in most cases.

If it is not a sunny day, then you would let in more light by decreasing the shutter speed (go to 1/125, 1/60, etc.) or open up the aperture (go to f11, f8, f5.6, etc.).

Here are some links for more information about this rule. If you meter is broken or not functioning well, use this rule.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

http://www.guidetofilmphotography.com/sunny-16-exposure.html

https://www.slrlounge.com/photography-essentials-the-sunny-16-rule/

Remember:
Opening the f stop by one stop (going from f16 to f11) and cutting amount of time the shutter is open by half (going from 1/250 to 1/500), brings in the same amount of light.

Closing the f stop down by one stop (going from f16 to f22) and doubling the amount of time the shutter is open (going from 1/250 to 1/125), brings in the same amount of light.

1/250 of a second at f16 = 1/500 of a second at f11 = 1/125 of a second at f22

History of Photography - the 1870's

The 1870's saw the arrival of the "Dry Plate Process", which revolutionized photography and made it what it is today.

For an explanation of the dry plate process, click here.

And here is a video about that era and the progress it led to.

The Dry Plate Process allowed photographers to do more things, such as landscape photography in faraway places and capture high-speed motion. Below are links to some of the photographers of that era.

William Henry Jackson
Carleton Watkins
Timothy O'Sullivan
Eadweard Muybridge

ISO and Color Spaces

ISO is one of the easier concepts to understand when talking about exposure. Just like shutter speed, when you double the ISO, you double the sensor sensitivity, and vice versa. In the old days of film, you only had one ISO for the roll of film. With digital cameras, you can change the ISO with each picture.

Here is an article to explain ISO in more detail:
https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography

Here are two videos about ISO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyJETpvHwIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBxsCNF5ims

Color spaces are models that define precise colors, some color spaces are larger than others. Color spaces are important for determining how your image will look, whether they are displayed on a screen, or printed out.

Here are some articles to explain color spaces in more detail:
https://fstoppers.com/pictures/adobergb-vs-srgb-3167
https://www.slrlounge.com/breakdown-color-spaces-really-grasp/

Here is a video to explain color spaces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKX08oOTMkk

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is one of the easier concepts to understand in photography, but there are a few details to be understood to avoid "camera shake", such as the Inverse Focal Length Rule, proper handholding technique, etc.

Here is the presentation I made in class.

Here are some links for reading up about shutter speed.
http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed/

https://photographylife.com/what-is-reciprocal-rule-in-photography

https://photographylife.com/equivalent-focal-length-and-field-of-view

Here are some link to videos about shutter speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVEae_HXoVY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdhBvI52Z28

For those of you looking for more ideas, check this out, https://www.viewbug.com/contests/motion-blur-photo-contest/gallery

Photography in the 1850's and 1860's

Photography wasn't considered an art medium for the most part in this era. It was considered a mechanical device for recording people's portraits and events. Two big events of this era was the proliferation of portrait studios, and the invention of Photojournalism.

One of the most famous portrait studios was opened by Nadar. A Frenchman who photographed the famous people of his day. You can read more about him here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadar_(photographer)

To get his view of photography, you can go here: http://rae.com.pt/Nadar_photographer.pdf

Photojournalism began with war photography. Starting with Roger Fenton and others in Crimea, and popularized by Mathew Brady during the American Civil War.

You can learn more about this at these links.
https://clas-pages.uncc.edu/visualrhetoric/projects/individual-projects/the-crimean-war-by-roger-fenton/

http://time.com/3881577/crimea-where-war-photography-was-born/

https://kittyinthecity2010.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/war-photography-fenton-brady-gardner-and-capa/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLnFvPaya0&list=PLgzoe3GT4Th2KclXeMPbTQ4FEdVWLGorS&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSILLYhYdTY&index=3&list=PLgzoe3GT4Th2KclXeMPbTQ4FEdVWLGorS

For a much longer documentary about Alexander Gardner, check the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hr_EoeDFv0