At 00:47 4/30/01, Tom Scales wrote:
Our next step, and it is a big one, is to learn about apertures and shutter
speeds. That's going to involve more sitting down and talking than any of
the other things have. I think they'll get it. Will they understand how to
apply it? Maybe not yet. I may actually give them OM-1 bodies for this
lesson.
Memory is fading but I believe I was about 11 when my dad took me out with
an old Kodak 620 folding camera and Plus-X . . . or maybe it was
Tri-X. It's what I cut my photo teeth on. We processed the negatives in
our garage and made contact prints.
What finally clicked about shutter speed and aperture was an analogy he
used with a water pipe (aperture), spigot (shutter), and a water glass (the
film). The object was to fill the glass exactly full with water . . . a
proper exposure. A larger glass was slower film; a smaller glass was
faster film. The bigger the pipe, the more water flowed and the faster the
glass filled (wider aperture). A smaller pipe meant the spigot had to be
on for a long time (smaller aperture). The length of time the spigot was
open was the shutter speed. Fill the glass exactly and you get a proper
exposure.
Don't think it all sank in for a while, but when I was finally ready for it
remembering such a dramamtic analogy helped greatly. Then came the "sunny
16 rule" with how to adjust it for other conditions, and finally (much
later) some "lessons" on DOF control.
-- John
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