Camera Obscura

The camera obscura is around 200 years old and its name comes from the Latin words ‘Dark Room’.

What is it and how does it work?

It is a darkened box with a convex lens for projecting the image of an external object on to a screen inside.

A large curtain surrounds the darkened chamber and there is a large lens mounted in a wooden panel. the lens then focuses the light from outside down onto a mirror which is held at a 45 degree angle behind it on the inside. The mirror then reflects the rays of light onto a piece of paper that is laid out flat on the base inside a wooden box. to be able to see the image you would have to cover yourself with a black cloth to stop any light from getting in.

Why does this make it hard to dictate the origins of photography?

The camera Obscura existed before 1839, in 1839 the commercial process came out as Louis Daguerre developed the daguerreotype. This makes it problematic as people will wonder which one came first.

Nicephore Niepce

Niepce was born on March 7th, 1765 and died on July 5th, 1833. He was a french inventor who was the first person to make a permanent photographic image. Niepce began to experiment with the then-novel printing technique. Unskilled in drawing, and unable to obtain proper lithographic stone locally, he sought a way to provide images automatically. He coated pewter with various light-sensitive substances in an effort to copy superimposed engravings in sunlight. From this he progressed in April 1816 to attempts at photography which he called heliography, with a camera.

Henry Fox Talbot

Henry Fox Talbot was credited as the British inventor of photography. In 1834 he discovered how to make and fix images through the action of light and chemistry on paper. These ‘negatives’ could be used to make multiple prints and this process revolutionised image making. Photogenic drawings were basically contact prints on light-sensitive paper, which unfortunately produced dark and spotty images. In 1840 he modified and improved this process and called it the calotype. The mousetraps are sturdy little wooden boxes with a brass tube housing a lens at one end, and a sliding wooden panel at the other. Into the wooden panel at the back Talbot would stick a piece of normal writing paper that he had made chemically sensitive to light.

Daguerreotype

The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate. The daguerreotype wasn’t as successful as Talbot’s system because the daguerreotype had serious limitations. The mirror-like surface of the image could only be viewed from a narrow angle. Further, the process produced a one-of-a-kind image that did not permit printing duplicates.

Richard Maddox

Richard Leach Maddox, a British physician and photographer, invented the gelatin silver dry glass plate negative in 1871. The dry plate process quickly replaced the wet plate collodion process that required the mixing of dangerous chemicals and immediate exposure of the wet plate.

Muybridge’s famous Motion Studies

Muybridge worked closely with Senator Leland Stanford on experiments to record horses in motion, trying first to answer the question of whether or not all four feet are off the ground during the trot. In 1873 he successfully captured that event in Sacramento, using Leland Stanford’s horse Occident as his subject. Muybridge is known for his pioneering chronophotography of animal locomotion between 1878 and 1886, which used multiple cameras to capture the different positions in a stride; and for his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting painted motion pictures from glass discs that predated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography. From 1883 to 1886, he entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, occasionally capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate moments in time.

George Eastman

In the 1880s, Eastman developed a convenient method of preparing ready-to-use plates. Improvements led to flexible, roll film as well as photo processing and printing done by mail order. Millions of people worldwide captured memories using cameras and film, leaving all the chemistry to Kodak. In 1881, with the financial backing of Rochester businessman Henry Strong, Eastman formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company (reincorporated as the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in 1884 and as Eastman Kodak Company in 1892).

What Is ISO?

ISO is a number that represents how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. ​Also controls the amount of light your camera lets in, and therefore how dark or light your photos will be. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization.

How Does It Affect Your Camera?

Controls the amount of light your camera will let in, and therefore your photos will be light or dark.

What does a low/high ISO mean?

A lower ISO value means less sensitivity to light, and the more light you will need to take the photo. While a higher ISO means more sensitivity, and the less light you need to take a picture.​It’s one of the element in the photography’s exposure triangle — along with aperture and shutter speed — and plays an important role in the quality of your photos.

If you use a High ISO  it can  degraded image quality and cause your photos to be grainy or “noisy.”​

High VS Low ISO

It’s good to be on a low ISO to avoid noise and a degrading quality in the image.

ISO chart

Low Light Situations

In low light situations, it is often crucial to raise the ISO in order to get a clear picture. The huge problem with raising the ISO, though, is that it introduces ‘noise’ into the image , which can make it appear grainy.​

If you are taking a picture in excellent light conditions, you will want to keep the ISO low in order to dodge introducing noise into the image.

How to Adjust ISO On A Camera

To adjust ISO on the camera you will need to press the ISO button and will you need to use the swivel at the top to rotate it so it will go into a lower ISO or a higher ISO.

Edward Weston

Edward Henry Weston was an American photographer. He has been called “one of the most inventive and dominant American photographers” and “one of the masters of 20th century photography.” Weston was inventive due to the types of photos he would take. Weston was born in March 24th 1886 and died  January 1, 1958. He was 71 years old.

Cabbage Leaf 1931 which is pictured below.

My work of High ISO VS low ISO

High ISO Photos

Above is the information of the photo that has been taken at a high ISO. The ISO was set to 6400, it was set to this so I could achieve a grainy and degrading effect to show the difference between a High ISO an A Low ISO.

Another High ISO Photo

Above is the information of the photo that was taken at a High ISO. The ISO was set too 6400 it was set to this so I could achieve a noisy and grainy effect, like it is above.

Low ISO Photos

Above is the information of a photo taken at a Low ISO. The ISO was set to 200 it was set like this to achieve a clear picture that you can see properly without lots of noise produced.

Another Low ISO Photo

Above is the information about the photo that was taken at a Low ISO. The ISO was set too 200 to achieve a crystal clear image that is easy to see rather than being made with a degrading quality.

The aperture helps the photographer decide what they want to be in focus. It also links with the depth of field. For example the wider the aperture the smaller the depth of field. This means that the foreground is in focus and the background is blurry.

The F stop is what is used to measure the aperture

The image below has an aperture of 22. This means that the lens gets smaller and everything becomes in focus.

 

This image has an Aperture of 5 so the plane is in focus and the pencils in front and the toys behind. The lens expands in comparison to 22. This means there is a Medium level of: depth of view.

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin was a French artist and fashion photographer known for his highly stylised and provocative images. His work focusing on unique and detailed texture is interesting due to the visual noise and desaturated effects it presents.

My Texture Photoshoot

Best and Edited Photos

For my photographs, I tried to include some aspects of Bourdin’s composition including zooming into interesting textures to where an object becomes unrecognisable. With a few of my images, I focused on creating the broken effects that are shown in his work as I believe this visual is effective. I mostly focused on photographing natural forms and street found objects in order to show a variety of colour in my contact sheet. I also cropped my images into squares to really bring attention to the formal elements within my photographs. These elements were also highlighted in my edits of my best photos. This was mainly due to the contrast and clarity adjustments that helped to show shape within the photographs.

Photo Manipulation

In this phase of experimentation, I used the polygonal lasso tool on photoshop to manipulate my images into various triangular shapes where I then contrasted them against a dark background to show negative space. Furthermore, I stuck with a specific and light toned colour palette to make the image fragments harmonious with each other. The repetition of shape compliments the three photos I have worked with and further emphasises the formal elements of the composition. The sharp lines also help to create a contrasting abstract visual to the original subjects.

Final Presentation

I decided to display 6 photographs together in a grid as I discovered that these few worked nicely together as a collection. While editing the pictures individually, I chose to edit them in a black and white filter which I pulled from the desaturated effects of Bourdin’s work. I focused on creating harsh shadows and definition in my photos in order to make the contrast and texture of the images really dramatic. For the display, I stuck with the monotone visuals and went for a plain black background. This allows for a simple and non-distractive presentation where the photos can be focused on and attention is not drawn away from them. I chose to display pictures that created a sense of decay and wreckage due to the visual elements that are shown; this is also in reference to Bourdin.

What is ISO?

ISO determines how much light your camera allows in, which affects whether your pictures turn out dark or bright, furthermore ISO determines how sensitive your camera is to light.

When might you want a high ISO?

High ISO settings are really useful in low-light conditions, especially when you need a quick shutter speed or a small lens opening to get the shot you want. For instance, if you’re doing street photography at night without a tripod, cranking up the ISO lets you take clear and bright pictures even while moving quickly.

My own ISO example

Cropping in to the image with ISO: 6400, you can see just how grainy the image is.

Texture

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin (December 2, 1928 – March 29, 1991) was a French artist and fashion photographer famous for his striking and bold images. Starting in 1955, he primarily collaborated with Vogue, along with other magazines like Harper’s Bazaar. He also created advertising campaigns for brands such as Chanel, Charles Jourdan, Pentax, and Bloomingdale’s.

Examples of his work

Guy Bourdin effectively uses his ISO so that there is no grain or noise in his photos and because of that there is no focus taken away from the texture of his style of photos.

My texture photos

Selection process

My best photos

Editing

Final photos

Overall thoughts and evaluation

In my opinion I think that my final images are really effective and I also think they wok well together. I like the deep colours of the landscape photo but, on the other end of the scale, I think the plain black and white wood grain photo is super striking.

ISO is a number that represents how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. The higher the ISO number, the higher your camera’s sensitivity, and the less light you need to take a picture. The trade-off is that higher ISOs can lead to degraded image quality and cause your photos to be grainy or “noisy.”

A lower ISO value indicates reduced sensitivity to light, meaning you’ll need more light to capture a photo. Conversely, a higher ISO increases sensitivity, allowing you to take pictures with less light. ISO is a crucial component of photography’s exposure triangle, which also includes aperture and shutter speed, and significantly impacts the quality of your images.

Using a high ISO comes with a trade-off: while it allows for better performance in low-light conditions, it can also result in degraded image quality, making your photos appear grainy or “noisy.” On the other hand, a lower ISO means reduced sensitivity to light, requiring more light to capture a clear image.

In low-light situations, increasing the ISO is often necessary to achieve a clear picture. However, the downside of raising the ISO is that it can introduce ‘noise’ into the image, resulting in a grainy appearance. We’ll explore this issue further below.

If you are taking a picture in ideal light conditions, you will want to keep the ISO low in order to avoid introducing noise into the image.

Francis Bruguière

Francis Bruguière was an influential American photographer known for his pioneering work in the field of abstract photography. Active primarily in the early to mid-20th century, he was associated with the modernist movement and sought to explore the relationship between light, form, and space.

Bruguière’s work often emphasized texture and abstraction, utilizing techniques such as multiple exposures and experimentation with light to create dynamic compositions. His photographs often resemble paintings, blurring the lines between traditional photography and fine art. He was particularly interested in how light interacts with surfaces, which allowed him to create images that evoke a sense of depth and movement.

One of his significant contributions was his role in promoting photography as a serious art form. Bruguière was involved with various art organizations and exhibitions, advocating for the recognition of photography within the broader art community.

His later work included explorations of the natural world, where he captured the essence of landscapes and organic forms through an abstract lens. Bruguier’s innovative techniques and artistic vision continue to inspire photographers and artists interested in the interplay of texture, light, and abstraction in their work.

My Attempt At ISO based photography

---

When I first started shooting, I set my ISO pretty low, around 100 or 200. The images were coming out dark, which was frustrating at first. But I knew that a low ISO meant less sensitivity to light and that the shots would be clean and crisp, free from that annoying graininess. In bright conditions, that’s perfect. But since I was working with less light, I realized that I’d have to make some adjustments.

As the shoot went on and the lighting conditions changed, I started bumping up the ISO. I went to 400, then 800, and the images started looking brighter. It was great at first because I was getting the exposure I wanted without having to slow down my shutter speed or widen the aperture too much. But after a while, when I cranked the ISO even higher—like 1600 or beyond—I started noticing the grain creeping in.

The images were getting overexposed, and there was this noticeable noise in the darker areas, especially in the shadows. The trade-off for more light sensitivity was that grainy texture, which started affecting the overall quality of the shots. By the end of the shoot, I could see how pushing the ISO too high was making things overexposed and grainy, especially in areas where the light was already strong.

In this shot, I was working with really low light—just that red “ON AIR” and “MIC LIVE” sign lighting up the room. To get a properly exposed image, I bumped my ISO up to 3200. It helped me bring out the details in the dark, but I could definitely see the trade-off. The high ISO made the shot grainy, especially in the shadows and the areas around the sign.

The red neon lights came out sharp and bright, but as I looked at the darker parts of the image, I could see that typical grainy texture creeping in, which is a direct result of the high ISO. I knew that lowering the ISO would reduce the noise, but then the whole image would be way too dark without compensating with slower shutter speeds or more lighting.

So, while ISO 3200 did what I needed in terms of getting the exposure right in this low light, it brought along that grainy look that’s hard to avoid at such high settings.

---

How to go around solving grain?

To fix the graininess in this shot, I could start by lowering the ISO—maybe around 800 or so. That would instantly reduce the noise, but then I’d have to adjust some other settings to keep the exposure right. One way is to slow down the shutter speed, but I’d need to make sure the camera stays completely still, maybe using a tripod, to avoid motion blur.

The shutter speed is the rate at which the camera’s shutter opens and closes. A quick shutter speed results in less light being taken in by the camera, while a slow shutter speed allows for more light to be captured by the photographer.

Fast shutter speed such as 1/500th of a second or higher will stop and seize rapid motion – allowing for a clear picture of a subject that could appear blurry otherwise.

Indoor photography benefits from using a moderate shutter speed such as 1/60 or 1/125, as it can help capture sharp moments and motion blur without changing the lighting too much.

A slow shutter speed allows more light to reach the sensor by keeping the camera’s shutter open for a longer period of time. This is handy for capturing dimly lit scenes or achieving motion blur in subjects in motion. Nevertheless, using a slower shutter speed may lead to blurry photos in case the camera or subject is in motion while capturing, hence requiring stabilisation such as a tripod. 

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman’s family would often visit her parents’ country farmhouse near Florence, Italy during the summers, where she captured many of her photographs. European culture and art greatly influenced her growth as an artist. Her work shows the impact of surrealist art, especially the photographs of Man Ray and Claude Cahun, through its themes and style. She honed her ideas and skills while studying at Rhode Island School of Design. Her significance as a trailblazer is substantial, especially during the 1970s when photography was considered less important than painting and sculpture. She paved the path for future American artists like Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin, who also utilised photography to delve into topics surrounding identity. 

My Interpretation

ISO is a sensitivity set by International Organization for Standardization, it is a number measurement of the cameras sensitivity to light.

A low ISO shows a lower sensitivity and a worse ability to take in light and a high ISO shows a higher sensitivity and a higher ability to take in light.

This photo which took from the internet shows a good example between a low and a high ISO and the in-between range.

Here are some photos me and my group took when trying out multiple ISO’s to see the difference between the range.

The first photo is a super low ISO of 100, photo two and three are a in-between range of moderately low and moderately high and the forth photo is the highest ISO of the four and is around ISO 800.

We took our photos in a already dark place, this being underneath a set of stairs with the only light in the area being the light going through the cracks in-between the stairs.

This photo was taken in the schools assembly hall and was taken with a super high ISO which caused the light to ruin the photos balance and over expose it, “ruining” the image.

Shutter speed is the length of time your camera shutter stays open while you capture the image the more light that is allowed in to hit the sensor and the longer the camera shutter stays open the brighter the image is.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second. 1/2000 would be a fast SS whereas 1/30 would be slow. The slower the shutter speed the more light can be accessed as well as the colours making the image more detailed and brighter.

I took some similar images while experimented with different shutter speeds.

I edited this image by cropping it and using sharpness tool on photoshop.

We also experimented with boxing and looked at the motion that was created with that. I then edited these photos on lightroom classic and photoshop.

When on library mode it allows you to look at your pictures closely and choose if you wat to discard them pressing “X” or flag them pressing “P”. It also allows you to give star ratings from 1 to 5 and colour them in. This Is a really good tool do you can go from hundreds of images to your favourites.

Navigator tool: