The Smooth Guide to Photography
              How to get started ...
  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W
Picture Elements
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  • Black and white photographs have a powerful graphic potential and have the ability to evoke mood and atmosphere.
  • Black and white is ideal for showing the form of the human body - although subjects such as gardens or natural history, may not be ideal.
  • Coloured lens filters can be used to change the relative strengths of tones within an image.
  • The image can be manipulated in the dark room - e.g: by giving the weak part of the negative extra exposure.

SOME HANDY HINTS FOR TAKING A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH ...
  • Have a main focal point
  • Simple detail
  • Work with shapes
  • Frame the image
  • Define image planes
  • Capture character
  • Emphasis the subject
  • Add humour
  • Emphasise form with lighting
  • Reveal textures
  • Select an interesting viewpoint
  • Balance and proportion
  • Fill the frame
  • Introduce a sense of scale
  • Colour harmony
  • Use colour contrast
  • Discover patterns
  • Depth and perspective
  • Select for effect
  • Use the foreground
  • Use linear perspective

                                                                     RULE OF THIRDS ...
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  • The composition of a photograph is usually improved by placing the main subject off-centre.
  • Imagine the picture is divided horizontally and vertically into thirds, using two equidistant lines.
  • Each line forms a good location for important structural elements in the composition.
  • Any of the points where two of the lines intersect (four positions in total) would be a suitable position for the picture's main centre of interest.
  • This takes the subject off dead centre and, therefore, makes for a more interesting picture.
  • For a composition including people, line them up on line A or B.
  • For a composition including mountains, line them up on lines 1 and 2.

ACCESSIBILITY AND FONT ADJUSTMENT
SITE MAP
Acknowledgement:  
Tutor:  Peter Perry

These notes are an accumulation of those written by myself - or obtained from the College during the course.
  • Putney Public Library
  • Wandsworth Reference Library
  • Earlsfield Library

​This is not a commercial site.
Polly Healy  - Course Work :  2000
SOUTH THAMES COLLEGE,  LONDON, SW18 2PP
______________________________________________________
Copyright:  THE SMOOTH GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY - How to get started ...
pollyhealy@live.co.uk
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                        See other Smooth Guide sites:
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www.englishlanguagetips.com
www.smoothguide-mahjong.com
www.smoothguide-internetfundamentals.com
www.smoothguide-kenyacoast.com
www.healyshandyhouseholdhints.com
www.smoothguide-sunbury.com
  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W