What Do The Letter And Numbers Around Your Camera Lens Mean?

Well, here's a reminder of what we did in class today.

My Camera Handout

Here's a copy of today's handout.

How To Load Film Into A Developing Tank

In today's lesson, we're going to learn how to load film into a developing tank. This is done only by feel inside a special changing bag. It's challenging at first, but it becomes fun once you master it!

How To Load Film Into A Developing Tank from Michael Pagliara on Vimeo.

How To Load Film Into Your Camera

How To Load Film Into A 35mm SLR Camera from Michael Pagliara on Vimeo.

SLR Simulator WOW!!!

This SLR simulator is absolutely fantastic. Here you can learn exactly how to choose correct aperture & shutter speed while using your camera's light meter. We didn't learn about ISO yet, but if you leave it around 1600, you should be able to take most of the shots you'd like.

http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/

There's also a game on the site as well. It's located in the upper right-hand corner of the page and is labeled "Challenge". If you can beat my score of 17 seconds, you are a master of your camera!

Video Clips We Watched In Class Today

Here are the 4 video clips we watched in class today. Check em' out!

Cameras Must Be Brought In By Monday

All cameras must be brought in by Monday at the latest. If you have your camera now, bring it in as soon as possible.

Camera Settings Simulator!

The link below is a great site privided by Canon. It explains how to use the aperture and shutter speed to create different effects with your photos. Check it out!

http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/

If you can beat my score of 17 sec, you are a Photo Master!

QOD's - Questions of the Day

Today, we started using the new QOD sheets in class. These sheets are filled out every day with the question posted on the screen at the beginning of the class period. In order to receive any credit for a day's entry, you must fill out the date, write the question and answer the question completely. The preview below may have the lines messed up due to the file hosting service. The handouts we use in class look as they should.

Photograms - Deadline Wednesday 9/17

 So far, we've done some great work getting ready to create our photograms.  We will be working on these Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. All photograms will be due on Wednesday by the end of class.  This is a deadline, so make sure your work is submitted. Late work will not be accepted. Make sure to pace yourself because we will be doing other things during each of those days as well.

Bring in Objects for Photogram

Today in class, we demo'd creating a photogram in the darkroom. Tonight, pick out some objects to bring in for tomorrow so that we can start creating our own photograms in class. Check out some of the examples below!

Today's Handout

If you didn't finish this handout in class, finish it for HW and hand it in tomorrow.

Safety Certifications

Safety Certs were distributed in class today. These must be signed by a parent/guardian and brought back:

• Tuesday to receive 12/10 pts worth of credit (that's 2 points extra credit). 
• Wednesday will give students 10/10 pts. 
• Thursday will give students 5/10 pts. 
• Returning Safety Certs any time Friday or after will give students 1/10 pts, so bring them back signed tomorrow and start off the semester with an A+!

How To Buy (and what is) A 35mm SLR Film Camera

So one of the things you'll need for Tech Photography class this semester is a film SLR Camera. What is an SLR camera you may say? Well, to oversimplify it, an SLR is a camera where the user looks through a viewfinder on the back of the camera and sees exactly what will be captured on the film, since the viewfinder looks directly through the lens. One way to tell whether an camera is an SLR or not is to see if there is a viewfinder on the front of the camera as well. In fact, if there's any glass on the front of a camera, besides the lens, it's pretty safe to say that the camera is NOT an SLR.

This camera shown below is an SLR since the only place the user can see through on the front of the camera is the lens.

This camera shown below is NOT an SLR. It is known as a rangefinder camera instead because it has another opening on the front of the camera that the user can see through. We definitely do not want these rangefinder cameras for class because they are not very accurate.

Next Topic: Does your SLR have an adjustable shutter speed?

Shutter speed allows us to have a great deal of control over our photographs. Some SLR's however, have automatic shutter speed controls. This is a feature that we don't want either. Aside from making the whole experience a whole lot less fun, it also prevents you from really learning how to use a camera to it's full potential.

The camera below has full shutter speed control on the left, near the shutter button. Since the numbers here are really fractions, we can see that this camera can adjust its shutter speed from 1 second to 1/500 of a second.

This Camera below, a Canon T50, has no place where we can adjust the shutter speed. This is no good for class. The ring to the right, where we would normally see the shutter speeds, simply says "self, program, L and B.C"

So, in closing, here's some words of wisdom that will help you in buying a camera:

• Make sure the camera is actually an SLR.
• Make sure the camera has the ability to manually adjust the shutter speed.
• Ask your parents or an aunt or uncle if they have a film SLR laying around. If you ask nicely, maybe you can borrow it :)
• Look on eBay for cameras somewhere in the $50-60 range. Remember, you can always sell the camera when you're done and get your money back.
• Read the entire eBay listing, so you're sure that you're buying the right thing.
• Look for a brand name camera. Canon, Nikon, Minolta, and Pentax were all very common during the film era.
• Buy a camera with a lens, not one listed as "body only".
• Look on Craigslist, but always have someone, preferably a parent/guardian, go with you when meeting up with somebody.
• Feel free to email me at mpagliara@upperdarbysd.org if you'd like me to take a look at something online for you.
• Have fun shopping!

Cameras should be brought into class by 9/16/2013. This gives you two weeks to come up with one, which I think is pretty reasonable. If for some reason, this isn't going to work, let me know ahead of time and we'll work something out.

Welcome to Tech Photography!

Hi Everybody! This semester is looking to be a great one and I'm looking forward to it in many ways. This blog is designed to help us communicate throughout the semester. I'll post things of interest on here as well as school assignments, so write down the web address here so you can access it at home.

Here is the web address where you can download our textbook.
https://app.box.com/s/5nf7wctbsczzvcn9x5ty
Download it within the next couple of days. Then I'll remove it from the site.

Enjoy!