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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1982)
when to use DIFFERENT FILMS Film is sensitive to light That's why and how it records images Control over how much light lands on your film is the heart of photography, and certain films give you more control in certain situations Two key ideas — latitude and film speed (ASA/ISO) rating — will help you make the best choice of film types for the best pictures a situation will allow When light hits film, there's a chemical reaction A film with a high speed rating (the numbers are always printed on the cardboard box and the film magazine) is very sensitive a reaction will happen with very little light Oppositely, a film with a low speed rating number needs lots of light to record an image Latitude is a range in which a film will be properly exposed — even when the camera's exposure settings are a little bit "off" In a sense, latitude is the freedom to make mistakes, a width on either side of the correct exposure wherein a picture will still be okay Some films have generous latitude others have very little Let s start with color Transparency film is processed directly to the final slide with no intei mediate printing step to show corrections, so color print film gives you more latitude and therefore a slightly better chance of getting your pictures right Kodachrome and Fktachrome films are popular transparency films, while Kodacolor and Vericolor films yield prints Does speed affect latitude? Yes, but not a great deal All films of medium spteed have slightly better latitude Black-and-white pho tography begins, on the low-speed side, with Panatomic-X film, which rates at ISO 32 A carefully made picture can be enlarged to mural size and still be surprisingly sharp In more average light, and even in slightly dim lighting, Kodachrome 64 film is a good bet Sharpness — essential if you later want to get a blowup — is quite good When light is meager, there's Ektachrome 400 film Also, when you want to stop action cold in your photo graphs under normal lighting, the higher speed will let you run speed For color prints. Kodacolor II film car ries an ASA of 100, so it's ideal for normal situations, or when you're using a flash In fact, this Is one of the highest in latitude of all popular films a very fast shutter On the high-speed end, there's Kodacolor 400 film Like its slide film cousin. Ektachrome 400, this is best when light is scarce or when you're trying to photo graph a fast-moving subject Kodachrome 2‘> is the slide film of choice whenever light is plen tiful — at the beach, on sunny ski slopes, etc Although the speed is slow, the fineness of detail is tops In the medium range Plus X pan film is a 12V ISO film with consider able latitude I ike Kodachrome M and Kodacolor II films, it's a film that almost doesn't allow you to make .1 mistake use it for all around situations Naturally, there's also a black and white that works best for low light and fast action sltua tions It's Til X pan film, which is the film you're most likely to see a newspaper photogtaph''i using FOR DIFFERENT situations SKI SHOTS (continued from page 5) The Shoot CAMERA SETTINGS. These will change according to light condi tions and what effects you wish to achieve, such as stopping the ac tion. getting greater depth of field, etc However, keep this in mind most automatic light meters in PAUL RYAN I i l I I' A thick snowfall coven the skier (ami the photographer I with an other worhlly lot/ cameras give .1 reading to produce ■m avoiage tone ot giay It the light metei sees .1 piedomi nance ol black it will tell you to in ctease the exposure. hut it It sees white (which Is going to be the case around snow ot course), it will tell you to cut down the exposure So, after you yet your reading open up .1 stop otherwise the snow will t*e gray when the him is developed and not the bright dean white that you want It to be For example If your meter tells you to shoot at til you should open up a stop and shoot at 1 H Ryan has found that he, average camera setting is t tt at StXHh of a second To capture the motion ot a skier shoot with the camera at a oOth ot a second ot even a 10th As the skier g*x's by (kin as you press the shut let This will blur the background yel keep the skier in focus an effect
