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Subject FORENSIC SCIENCE

Paper No and Title PAPER: 7, Photography

Module No and Title MODULE: M1, Basic principles of photography

Module Tag FSC_P7_M31

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction: Photography
3. History of Camera & Photography
4. Light
4.1. Sources of Light
4.2. Colour Temperature
5. Terminology used in Photography
5.1. Film
5.2. Film Speed
5.3. Exposure
5.4. Aperture
5.5. Depth of Field
5.6. Shutter & Shutter Speed
6. Types of Camera
6.1. Analog Camera
6.2. Digital Camera
7. Types of Analog Cameras (Film Camera)

7.1 View Camera

7.2 Point and Shoot Camera

7.3 Twin Reflex Camera

7.4 Single Reflex Camera

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1. Learning Outcomes

After studying this module, you shall be able to

• Learn History of Camera & Photography

• Understand Basic Principles of Photography
• Understand Terminology used in Photography
• Learn about different Types of Camera

2. Introduction : Photography

The word “Photography” comes from the Greek word (Photos = Light, Graphos =
Writing) meaning “Writing with Light”. The word camera also derives from another
Greek word “Kamara” – meaning anything within an arched cover or enclosure. A room
is called ‘kamra’ in Hindi. Photographic camera is a light tight box with light sensitive
material (film) at one end and a lens or pin-hole (to admit light) on the other end.

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3. History of Camera & Photography

Mo-Tsu (China, in approximately 500 B.C.) and Aristotle (Greece, 384 – 322 B.C.)
observed the formation of inverted image when light passed through a pin-hole and both
of them investigated independently.

A typical Camera Obscura at the beginning of the 19th century, somewhat larger than the replica
shown above, incorporating a mirror which reflects the image from the lens onto a glass plate which
holds a sheet of paper on which the image is being traced. The double interlocking box enables
precise focusing of the image.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the first utilization of chemistry for
Photography was done by Thomas Wedgwood who made negative by placing a drawing
(on glass) on a paper previously treated with silver nitrate solution and finally exposing to
sunlight. He also tried to record image with camera Obscura, but in vain due to silver
nitrate was not sensitive enough. His negative was not permanent.

William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835, independently produced a light sensitive paper by
bathing it first in common salt and when dried, in one of silver nitrate, together the
chemicals formed silver chloride. On this treated paper, he made contact prints of things
like lace and leaves – what we called photogram today and the prints were fixed in
common salt solution or with the solution of potassium iodide.

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Talbot’s photogram was, of course, negative but he soon evolved a method of reversing
them to form positive by printing them on to a second sheet of sensitized paper. Sir John
Herchel, (Talbot’s friend) termed the first picture as negative and the reversed one as
positive, which is the fundamental principal of modern photography. By the advice of Sir
Herchel, he adopted a more permanent way of fixing by using hypo-sulphite of soda to
wash out unexposed silver halide. By using potassium bromide instead of common salt he
made more sensitive emulsion. In 1840 he modified the process, which was first called
Calotype and later Talbotype.

1826 – The first recorded heliography,

looking out of the window into the
yard, was modified camera Obscura (J
N Niepce)

In 1847 collodian (a protection for wounds) was discovered. This was used as a base by
Archer in 1851 who exposed it in wet condition, so it was called Wet Collodian Process.
Charles Bannet, in 1878, used gelatin to form dry plate and it was the true ancestor of
film materials. In 1888 George Eastman first introduced Kodak Camera which was
loaded in factory and developed in the factory after exposure. In 1889 Eastman
introduced to public the transparent celluloid film which could be processed by the
amateurs.

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So with the time various development work continued till recent times on paper, films,
photographic chemicals, lenses, cameras and other specialization in modern photography
– till recent time when digital photography has evolved surpassing the film and chemical
processes.

The first Kodak Camera with a celluloid film

Photograph has been described as ‘Printing with Light ’. While a painter uses his brush to
create a picture, the photographer uses his camera plus the fact that Silver Nitrate turn
black on exposure to light.

The word ‘Camera’ is derived from the Greek word ‘KAMARA’ which means room. At
the beginning it was a light proof room or tent with a hole fitted with a lens and was used
by the painters to trace image by pencil on a canvas or a paper.

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Later this principle is utilized to attain the principle of recording image in a photographic
camera. But to attain to its past form, some of the different discoveries were utilized viz.
in 1614 Angelo Sola’s recording of the Silver Nitrate darkening property when exposed
to sunlight; Joseph Prieslay’s (1772) comprehensive description of chemical of light and
so on.

The camera works in much the same way as our eyes. The lens in the eye focuses the
image on the nerve cells in the retina at the back of the eye and this image is sent to the
brain by the optic nerves. Take a simple example – Hold a pencil in front of our eyes at
about 2 ft. distance. Objects further away will appear out of focus. When you look
beyond the pencil to the far end of the room, it immediately comes into focus, the pencil
being blurred. The muscles of the eyes are acting on the lens, adjusting it so that the
image we are looking at is sharply focused on the back of the eyes.

After that the ancestor of our Camera came and it is a light tight box with the following
parts:-
i. A lens to produce an image.
ii. A fitting to hold a light sensitive film or plate.
iii. A focusing mechanism for subjects of different distance.
iv. Diaphragm: A sheet of metal with hole kept in between the lens and
photo-sensitive plate to control the intensity of light.

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v. Shutter: A mechanical device by which the light entering through the lens
is normally prevented from falling on the film but it can be displaced for a
certain span of time by some button so as to pass the light for certain
duration on the film for exposure.
vi. Viewfinder: It is a device to see the area being photographed. That is we
can know the area being covered by the lens.

Let us understand light before understanding the parts of a camera because photography
is not possible without light:-

4. Light

Light is a form of energy which helps to see the objects of the material world around us,
that is, it is the link between the eyes and the viewed objects.

Visible light waves is the only electromagnetic waves which we can see. We see these
light waves as the colors of the rainbow. Each color of the rainbow has a particular
wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest wavelength
among the seven colors of rainbow (VIBGYOR). When all the waves are seen together or
mixed, they make a white light.

When white light shines through a prism, the white light splits into its constituent colours
of a visible spectrum, this is called dispersion. In the atmosphere, water vapor also breaks
apart wavelengths which creates a rainbow. The colours are as mentioned below like
Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. Before violet there is an invisible
ray called Ultra-Violet and after red the invisible ray is called Infra-Red rays. These
invisible rays can be detected by photographic plates/films.

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A typical human eye can see light from 400 nm to 700 nm on the electromagnetic
spectrum. This range is called visible light. Not all colours that humans can distinguish
are in the visible spectrum such as brown which is mix of multiple visible spectrum
colours.

Although photography is possible in non-visible range of electromagnetic spectrum such

as in ultraviolet and infrared region, here we will only concentrate upon photography in
visible spectrum region.

The wavelength of various colours of the visible spectrum is given in the table below, but
we will discuss wavelength of each color, in detail, one by one.

Colour Wavelength(nm)
Red 622-780
Orange 597-622
Yellow 577-597
Green 492-577
Blue 455-492
Violet 390-455

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4.1 Sources of Light

In photography, two types of light sources are used namely

Natural light Artificial light

Sun Tungsten Bulb

Starlight Fluorescent Lamp

Volcano
Electronic Flash
Diya(Lamp)

LED Lamps
Bioluminescence

Studio Probe

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Laser
Candle

From the chart, it becomes obvious that a natural light source comes from different
sources of nature on which we do not have any control. Their availability and location is
completely governed by nature. As a photographer one should only understand the
characteristic of the natural light and how to use it in the best way.

On the other hand artificial light are manmade light which are sometimes completely
under our control and we have the freedom of choice how to use them either as a single
source or in a mixed way. Most form of commercial/advertising, forensic, scientific
photography uses artificial light.

4.2 COLOUR TEMPERATURE

Colour Temperature can be explained as in simple terms as the colour an object produces
under different light sources. That means various natural and artificial light sources
produces different Colour temperature. This varies from red to blue. Candles, tungsten
bulbs and sunsets gives light which is close to red color (hence they give ‘warm’ look to
the pictures), on the other hand clear blue skies gives a ‘cool’ blue light.
Color temperature is generally recorded in Kelvin, which is the S.I unit of absolute
temperature.

Cool colors like blue and white usually have color temperatures above 7000K, on the
other hand warmer colors like orange and red have color temperatures around the 2000K
mark.

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Photographic films are sensitive to Colour temperature. There are daylight type
and tungsten light type films available which gives natural Colour when exposed in
respective light sources. In digital cameras however we can control the Colour
temperature through White Balance setting and this will be discussed as we come to
digital photography.

So, at different time of the day at different conditions we have different colours. Human
eyes are so highly developed that they cannot see the change, on the other hand brain
quickly adapts to the difference, but Colour films and recently the digital sensors cannot
adapt. As mentioned before, Colour films can only be set to one Colour temperature,
usually 5500°K which is the average Colour of a sunny day noon or 3200°K which is the
temperature of a sunny daylight.

5. Terminology used in Photography

5.1 Films
The heart of the film is a transparent plastic material (celluloid) called the base. The back
side of the film is generally shiny and has numerous coatings that are important for
physical handling of the film and processing.

The other side of the film is the sensitive side where the photochemistry happens. There
is 20 or more than 20 separate layers coated in the film that are mutually less than one
thousandth of an inch thick. Most of this thickness is consumed by a very special binder
that grips the imaging components together called gelatin.

Part of the layers which are coated on the transparent film don’t form images. These
layers which don’t form images are present to filter light, and to control the chemical
reactions which occurs in the corresponding steps. Sub-micron sized grains of silver-
halide crystals are there in the imaging layers that act as the photon detectors.

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These crystals are said as the heart of the photographic film, which undergoes a
photochemical reaction when they are exposed to various modes of electromagnetic
radiation -- light.

Silver-halide grains are prepared by mixing silver-nitrate and halide salts of (chloride,
bromide and iodide) in complex ways which results in a range of crystal sizes, shapes and
compositions. Then these undeveloped grains are chemically modified on their surface to
increase their light sensitivity.

To make these grains more sensitive towards blue, green and red light, organic molecules
known as Spectral Sensitizers are being added on the surface of the grains. These
molecules adsorbs (attach) to the surface of the grain and transfers the energy from a red,
green, or blue photon to the silver-halide crystal as a photo-electron. Some other
chemicals are then added within the grains during its growth process, or added on the
surface of the grain. These chemicals affects the light sensitivity of the grain, known as
its photographic speed (ISO or ASA rating).

Generally there are three types of films:-

Black & White negative film Colour negative film Colour positive film
(transparency)

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5.2 Film SPEED

Film speed is a unit to express the sensitivity of the films towards light. That means how
much amount of light is required by a particular film to give a standard exposure. More
sensitive film takes fewer amounts of light and time to create an image in a particular
lighting condition. The main units to express film speed are

ASA – American Standard Association

ISO – International Standard Organization

DIN - Deutsche Industrie Norm.

Manufacturers all over the world usually make films as per Film Speed mentioned next
which are double sensitive than the previous one and half sensitive to the later. Any brand
of film purchased from anywhere in the world of a particular film speed will require the
same amount of light to expose a particular subject in a particular light condition.

More sensitive the film, less the amount of exposure is required for taking a photograph
and vice versa. More sensitive the film or higher the film speed, the picture becomes
more grainy and lower the film speed, sharper the picture.

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Generally films are categorized as per their film speed as follows:-

Film 12 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200

Speed Slow Speed Film Medium Speed High Speed Ultra High Speed
Film Film Film

The difference between slow and fast film is quality. Slow speed films usually produce
sharper and more detailed image while faster films have higher contrast and grains.

Film Speed is very important while calculating exposure of a photograph or the power of
an electronic flashgun. Earlier the camera exposure meter worked according to the film
speed setting of the camera. Once a film of a particular speed is loaded in a camera, all
the photographs are to be exposed calculating exposure according to that particular film
speed. Today in digital photography we can change the film speed or the sensitivity of the
sensor even for every frame just by pressing a button or a dial.

5.3 EXPOSURE

Exposure is the amount of light required to create a standard image on a

photosensitive medium of a given sensitivity. This optimum amount of light is known as
Exposure is the combined effect of Light falling on the photosensitive material ie. The
film and the sensitivity of the film (film speed).

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The effect of the light falling on the film can be controlled by Aperture and
Shutter Speed. The sensitivity of the film is another controlling factor for the exposure
which is called Film Speed which has been explained in the last unit. So technically it is
the joint calculation of intensity of light and its duration.

5.4 APERTURE

Aperture is an opening in between or at the back of a lens. It may be a fixed or variable

opening which controls the amount of light coming through the lens. Bigger the opening
more the light and smaller the opening less the light falling on the sensitive material. This
is one of the devise to control the exposure of the film or digital medium. It is expressed
as “f” number and every next bigger aperture gives double the amount of light.

Valuation of the opening of the lens will vary the amount of light passing through the
lens. If we increase the aperture or reduce the f-stop number, more light will pass through
the lens. Every step towards higher F No: halves the light and every step towards smaller
F No: i.e. bigger hole doubles the amount of light. So if we take a photo with a bigger
aperture than required, more light will reach the photosensitive material and the
photograph will become brighter than a standard exposure image and if it is smaller, it
will become darker than normal.
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Standard apertures are:-

f/64, f/32, f/22, f/16, f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8/f1.4

5.5 Depth of Field

One more thing that is intricately related to aperture is Depth of Field. Depth of Field
refers to how much of the picture is in focus. When we focus the camera lens to give a
sharp image of a particular subject, other objects closer or far away in the photo are going
to be out of focus if they are at a different distance from the focused subject. The decline
of the sharpness (for a particular ‘f’ no.) of other objects is gradual. A shallow Depth of
Field means that only the subject is in focus while everything else is out of focus. A Deep
depth of Field means that everything is in focus. But for our practical purposes we select
a zone in front of and behind the focused subject so that the blur in this zone is too small
to be noticeable and can be accepted as sharp. This zone is called Depth of Field. So
the aperture also controls how much of the photo is in focus. If the aperture is small then
everything will be in focus, while a large aperture will make objects, even slightly far
from the subject i.e. Blurred.

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Here we can see an example of a large aperture e.g. f/5.6, bringing little into
focus, and a smaller aperture e.g. f/20, obtaining more Depth of Field.

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5.6 Shutter and Shutter Speed

This is a part of a Camera which blocks or restricts the light from entering the film plane
and expose the film. Otherwise the mechanical or electromechanical system for
controlling the time during which light is allowed to reach the light sensitive material in a
camera i.e. film or digital sensor is known as Shutter. It consists of some means of
covering the image created by the lens, opening or uncovering for a pre-determined
duration of time and covering it again. It can be activated by releasing the shutter release
button. There are mainly two types of shutter, a) Diaphragm or Leaf Shutter & b) Focal
Plane Shutter.

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Diaphragm or Leaf Shutter was devised by Mr. Friedrich Deckel of Germany in 1912.
This type consists of 3 to 5 metal blades which can open outwards leaving a clear hole for
exposure and covers again after a preset time. The speed is controlled by penions and
leavers. This type is generally mounted in between the lens components.

William England in 1861 invented the Focal Plane Shutter. It consists of one or more
roller blinds of fabric or metal, having a generally variable slit which moves across the
inside back of the camera just before the film or the sensitive material when the release is
pressed. It may move up & down or across from left to right or vice versa. When
exposure time begins, the first curtain is released to start its travel.

As it moves, the first curtain passes across the film frame, allowing light to fall on the
film. When the first curtain has completed its travel, the frame is fully opened. When
exposure time ends, the second curtain is released to begin its travel and close off light to
the film.

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Shutter Speed is the duration of time generally expressed in seconds for during which any
type of shutter remains fully open for exposure. This excludes the opening and closing
time which is considered to be negligible. Along with aperture, shutter speed indirectly
controls the light falling on the sensitive material. The standard shutter speed are 1/2000,
1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 sec.

So, here also every shutter speed mentioned provides half the amount or duration of light
in relation to the speed to its right and double the amount or duration of light in relation
to the speed to its left. That means a shutter speed of 1/60 gives half-light as compared to
1/30 and double as compared to 1/125.

Fast Shutter Speed Slow Shutter Speed

Object is freezed Object is blurred

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Therefore the correlation between shutter speed and aperture size is a direct
one. Since, aperture and shutter speed both of them controls the amount of light reaching
onto the film (let slip from mind about the elements of Depth of Field, action freezing or
movement) And since both doubles and reduce in a scale of one time (1X or 100%): It
means you can FREELY interchange the settings on shutter timing and lens opening for
respective effects and YET retaining your preferred exposure setting. This factor is
constant when we consider the film speed to be constant. Now let us see what will be the
standard exposures in some standard light conditions with different film speed settings;

Here we can see that as the light intensity is reducing (from morning daylight to
overcast) we are opening the aperture to the next bigger one thus allowing double the
amount of light. It is worth mentioning that we can increase or decrease the exposure as
per the light condition by either adjusting the aperture or the shutter speed or both.

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Here we have changed the aperture for ISO 100, and for ISO 200 and 400 we have
adjusted the shutter speed. It has to be remembered that the camera exposure always help
us to fine the correct exposure for the particular ISO setting in the camera.

Now let us find what complementary exposure is and how can it affect a particular
photograph.
Aperture f/1.4 f/2 f.2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22 f/32 f/64

Shutter 1/2 ¼ 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000 1/2000
Speed

In the above chart suppose for a particular film speed and in a particular light condition,
an exposure of f/11 and 1/125 sec is found to be perfect. Now if we change the aperture
to f/8 which means we are allowing one stop more or double the amount of light, to
maintain perfect exposure we have to reduce the light half by adjusting the shutter speed
to 1/250 sec. So f/8 & 1/250 is a complementary exposure to f/11 & 1/125 as both gives
same amount of light to the film. Similarly the other pairs of same colour are also
complementary exposure to the original exposure in red and since all the pairs are giving
the same amount of light, photographs exposed with all the pairs should be same. But it is
not so in actual condition. This is because photographs taken with wider aperture such as
f/2.8 will have shallow or less depth of field thus causing unsharp image while images
taken with faster shutter speed will freeze object movement in the frame.

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So understanding and setting exposure, according to requirement is very important for

taking photographs. Sometime exposure compensation is also used to take intentional
under or overexposed photographs for achieving a desired effect.

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-2 -1 0 +1 +2

If the camera functions automatically, the Exposure Compensation lets you to lighten or
darken the photograph. To lighten a photograph, you increase the exposure; to darken a
photograph, you decrease the exposure. The amount you increase or decrease the
exposure is specified in "stops." For instance, increasing the exposure 1 stop, you indicate
+1 to open the aperture or slow down the shutter speed. It’s easy to use exposure
compensation because you can preview your changes on the LCD monitor

6. Types of Camera

According to technology there are –

6.1 Film (Analog) Cameras, and

6.2 Digital Cameras.

Both kinds of cameras functions on same principles except the imaging capturing
principles and some few minor differences. Presently we will discuss about various kinds
of film cameras.

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A film camera is made of three basic elements:

1. Optical (the lens)

2. Chemical (the film)
3. Mechanical (the camera body)

7. Film Camera

Film cameras can be broadly classified into three types as per their size, mechanism,
utility:-

· View cameras
· Point & Shoot Cameras
· Twin Reflex Cameras (TLR)
· Single Reflex Cameras (SLR)
· Specialty Cameras

Let us study each of them in Details:-

7.1 View Cameras
View Cameras or Large Format Cameras --
View cameras are built like an accordion, with a lens in the front, a viewing screen in
the back and flexible bellows in between. The film used in these cameras are quite
large with sizes ranging from 4x5”, 5x7” or even 8x10”. These cameras give sharp
details and what we see in the viewfinder is exactly what we get on the negative. In
these cameras we can change the position of the lens and the film relative to each
other to correct distortion.

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View cameras are bulky and must be used on tripods. We have to use black focusing
cloth at the back as the image on the viewfinder is not so bright and appears reversed
and upside down. Rapid set up and shooting with these cameras are difficult. These
are normally used for commercial studio photography, landscapes and architectural
photography.

7.2 Point and Shoot Cameras (P&S)

The viewfinder provides a rough idea of what is in view, but not the real image.
These cameras are easy to handle with simple features.

P&S Cameras can be categorized into two types: Compact and Rangefinder cameras.
Compact Cameras

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It is difficult to give a description or designation but ‘a camera, as small/compact as

possible, with built-in features (automatic exposure, flash, auto or fix focus, easy film
loading & film advance) for easy picture taking’ comes close to describe a Compact or
Point & Shoot Camera.

Some types of compact cameras have a fix-focus lens, but most of the compact cameras
have auto focus feature, though some of them have zone-auto focus, which means that the
focusing distance from infinity to close-focus will be step by step in a few stages only.
More advanced 35mm cameras have some control over focus and exposure. Focusing
mechanisms ranges from guessing at the distance and setting the lens to sophisticated
autofocus units.

Most of these 35mm cameras have a viewfinder that does not keep an eye out through the
lens. This leads to two problems. Firstly, we may not able to see exactly what the film
sees due to parallax, this is a particular problem for close ups. The second problem only
happens with the cameras whose lenses have a zoom feature; unless the viewfinder is
fairly sophisticated, you will not see the effect of zooming. Many of these cameras are
small, light, and weather or waterproof. They make good backup cameras or cameras to
carry into places you just don't want to lug a bigger camera. Without the zoom feature,
they are more suitable for scenic picture capturing.

Rangefinder Cameras

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These cameras are called "rangefinder" cameras because they focus using a dual-image
range finding device. Turning the focusing ring superimposes two images in a line to give
perfect focus. While using a rangefinder camera, the user never look through the lens but
focus and compose through a window, which is present on the top right, just like on a
disposable camera.

A. Beam splitter
(semitransparent
mirror)
B. Light-gathering window
C. Frame lines
projection/parallax
compensation unit
D. Frame lines projection
semitransparent mirror
E. Rotating
mirror/pentaprism
F. Viewfinder
G. Viewfinder frame
H. Static Image

Rangefinder cameras differs from the SLR’s remarkably as they do not make use
Through-the-Lens (TTL) viewing and focusing, although most modern Rangefinder
cameras have TTL metering. Instead, focusing in Rangefinder cameras are executed via a
rangefinder mechanism that can be either coincident (“classic” rangefinders) or
electronic.

The accuracy of focusing depends on the effective base length, which in case of RF
cameras is derived from physical distance between beam splitter and rangefinder
mirror/pentaprism (see diagram above) multiplied by the magnification of the viewfinder.
The larger and effective base length, the more accurate the rangefinder is.

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The middle rectangular window just above and to the right of the lens on most of the
rangefinder cameras collects light to make the frame lines brighter. Beam splitter (A) and
rotating mirror/pentaprism (E) form two images in the viewfinder – static (H) (through
the beam-splitting mirror) and secondary (I) (through the rotating mirror). The lens is
linked with the (E) via moving camera at the lens’s base, therefore while rotating the
focusing barrel one sees the secondary image moving across the viewfinder. When static
and secondary images match the focus is achieved.
Focus control for optical coincident-type rangefinders
Out-of-focus In focus
(no match of overlay image) (overlay image matches)

Advantages of Rangefinder Cameras

The image quality of Rangefinder cameras are good because there is no flipping mirror.
As flipping mirror is not present in it, so there is much less vibration to blur hand-held
images. At speeds of 1/30 to 1/8, the flipping mirrors of SLRs often gives blurred images
made from tripods unless a mirror lock-up is used. Rangefinder cameras have accurate
focusing for wide and normal lenses. Rangefinders works good without the extra weight
of prisms, focus screens and flipping reflex mirrors. As SLR mirrors flip up to take a
picture, its viewfinders goes black at the most important point: the point at which an
image is recorded forever.

Rangefinder cameras viewfinders never black out, so you always know the subject's
expression as it is recorded, especially with flash. While using a rangefinder, you press
the button, and it goes. You have captured the peak of the moment, forever. But while
using an SLR, the mirror has to get out of the way before the shutter can open up. But by
the time the SLR’s mirror gets out of the way, your conclusive capturing moment is gone.

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Disadvantages of Rangefinder Cameras

The major disadvantage of Rangefinder camera is that we never come to know what we
are getting with rangefinder cameras as the viewfinder is separate, and it sees from a
different point of view. For regular shots at regular distances, this is not important, but for
the long lenses and major use, rangefinders give us no clue to what we are capturing.
Even with a LEICA rangefinder, we never really know what has been exposed until the
final image is printed. We never come to know or any hint of Depth of Field with a
rangefinder camera, in whose viewfinders everything is always in perfect focus. With a
rangefinder camera and a long lens, we're usually looking at only a small cut-out frame in
the finder.

7.3 Twin Lens Reflex Cameras (TLR)

A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective lenses of the
same focal length. One of the objective lens is the photographic (lens which takes the
photograph), while the other lens is used for the waist-level viewfinder system. In
addition to the objective, the viewfinder comprises of a 45-degree mirror (the reason for
the word reflex in the name), a matte focusing screen at the top of the camera, and a pop-
up hood surrounding it. The two objective lens are connected, so that the focus shown on
the focusing screen will be exactly the same as on the film. However, many low-priced
TLRs have fixed-focus models. Most of the TLRs uses leaf shutters with shutter speeds
up to 1/500th sec with a B setting. For practical purposes, all TLRs are film cameras,
most often using 120 films, although there are many cameras with other formats.
Expensive TLRs have a pop-up magnifying glass to assist the user in focusing the
camera. In addition to that, many have a "sports finder" consisting of a square hole
punched in the back of the pop-up hood, and a knock-out in the front.

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7.4 Single Lens Reflex Cameras (SLR)

Single-lens reflex cameras or SLR’s are more complex form of cameras, than any other
types of camera. The viewfinders of other camera types are quite simple and usually have
nothing to do with the main lens of the camera.

In basic types the viewfinder is just a rectangular-shaped hole and in more complex types
the viewfinder is somehow connected to the main lens for focusing purposes (twin-lens
reflex (TLR) cameras for example), but still these systems are simpler than SLR cameras.
So, how does a SLR camera work or what makes it so complex? The key parts for the
light to move through the camera are: lens, mirror, focusing screen, prism and eye piece.

The lens is made up of several optical elements to form the image on the film. The mirror
is small, light and capable of moving up and down. Focusing screen is made up of ground
glass and when image projected on it, the image becomes visible and doesn’t just go
through as with regular glass. Sometimes the focusing screen also has some features that
will help us focus the picture. The prism (its shape may vary, but the idea remains the
same) is made up of glass and it reflects the image from the focusing screen to the eye
piece, which itself is just a piece of glass or simple lens, that we are looking through.

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The red arrows are showing the light path during the composing of the photo and the
green arrow showing the path after actually pressing the shutter release button for taking
the photograph. Mirror moves up, Shutter opens up, Shutter closes down and mirror
moves back down are the actions that takes place on that photo taking process

Have you noticed that when you are taking a photograph with a SLR camera, the
viewfinder goes black for a moment? That is the mirror in upper position closing the
focusing screen and preventing an extra light from getting through the eye piece while the
shutter is open.

As you can see, the image is mirrored. If there is another mirror instead of a prism, the
image in the viewfinder would be upside down. So, the prism mirrors and turns the image
back straight. But still, if one mirror flips the image upside down and the second one
would turn it around again, the image would still be on its head? And actually, all images
on the film are also upside down as the last photo shows.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PAPER No.7: Photography

MODULE No.31: Basic Principles of Photography
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FORENSIC SCIENCE PAPER No.7: Photography

MODULE No.31: Basic Principles of Photography
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FORENSIC SCIENCE PAPER No.7: Photography

MODULE No.31: Basic Principles of Photography
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To control exposure in a SLR camera, one must know how to control the Shutter Speed,
Aperture and set the Exposure meter to find out the correct exposure. To start with
controlling Shutter Speed, there are both analog dials and digital display to set the
shutter speed as follows:

Similarly for controlling aperture, older cameras had aperture control on the lens ring
and the electronic cameras had aperture control from display window as follows:

The purpose and effect of controlling the aperture and shutter speed has already been
explained earlier and needless to say that these two are the major factors for controlling
the required exposure both in a film and a digital camera.

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The light meter or exposure meter inside a camera both in an old SLR camera and the
latest camera helps us to achieve correct exposure and sometimes gives us automatic
exposure in the program or automatic modes. To make the exposure meter work correctly
we must set the film speed accordingly. Let us see how to set the film speed in a SLR
camera:

The film speed of a SLR camera can be set manually in the range of ISO 12 to 6400. This
calibrates the built in exposure/light meter to calculate the amount of light required for a
particular scene and help the photographer to determine exposure. Film speed of the
loaded film can also be known through the DX film cod reader in the chamber where the
35mm film is loaded in the camera.

When the exposure setting is proper or the

light is correct, the red bar is at the middle
showing correct exposure.

When the exposure setting is under or the light

is less, the red bar is at the (-) side showing
under exposure. Here we have to open
aperture or reduce/slow down the shutter
speed.

When the exposure setting is over or the light is

more, the red bar is at the (+) side showing
over exposure. Here we have to close aperture
or increase/ use fast shutter speed.

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Metering system optics

There are three Auto Exposure (AE)
metering sensors in different locations
are used for the six metering modes. The
16-zone metering sensor above the
eyepiece is used for 16-zone Evaluative,
Partial, and Spot & Center-weighted
Average Metering. At the bottom of the
mirror box, a metering sensor is used for
Fine Spot Metering. At the bottom of the
mirror box, the three-zone TTL flash
exposure metering sensor is used for off-
the-film ("OTC") metering. Some
cameras have multi metering modes
including off-the-film flash metering. The
metering mode can be selected (Five
metering modes easily switchable) to suit
the user's objectives.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PAPER No.7: Photography

MODULE No.31: Basic Principles of Photography