Professional Documents
Culture Documents
LIGHT
Eugene V. Bobukh
Disclaimer
( )
But Bugs Are Still Possible
If you spot em, report em!
~1826
Taken on bitumen
as a media
8 hours exposure
Clearly, there
was not enough
light
Since Then
PART 1/5
BASIC THEORY
Practice without a theory is like wine without a toast!
Camera Dissected
Reality is
tough!
We need a
simpler model to
get the essence
of the process
a
b
x
x = 1/(1/F 1/D)
b = a*(x/D)
Aperture ("")
Light comes from all directions.
photons cross each m2 of a surface near
the camera
How many photons get inside? K = *r2
Bear with
me!
They are
projected on the focus
F r
Introduce N = F/2r
Stay tuned!
Then B = /N2
Lenses with the same N produce images
of the same brightness regardless of the
focal length*!
D = F/5
D = F/1.4
=> => => => picture brightness => => => =>
Two Options
1.
2.
PART 2/5
EXPOSURE
Image Stabilizer
WHAT ELSE?
Lets understand camera shaking
Modes of Motion in 3D
space
||
Two translational
One translational ||
Three rotational
Translational : x =
*(F/D) 10 m 2
pixels
Notable, but may
be acceptable
r
||
F = 35 mm
xF
D = 3.5 m
Translational ||: x =
*(F/D)*(a/D) 3 m
0.5 pixels
Negligible
Rotational: x =
1 mm = 200 pixels!
=> Trash
Your body
Better: yoga pose
Better: table
Better rock full body forth and back rather than let your camera dance
alone
One Hand
Two Hands
Inhale
Aim
Exhale naturally & half-press
Relax & hold for about a second
Gently finish the push motion
Burst Shooting
WORST SHOT
OTHER EXPOSURE
PROBLEMS?
People Move!
and please dont think that finding a good sample of that badness was easy
, !
Hand? Shoulder? Face!
Dance Blur
Experiment Description
Results
Probability of a good shot:
P = 1/(1+Z), where
Z = 0.06*(T/Tnormal)2.
If normal is 1/160, and you
can do 1/30 only:
Z = 0.06*(160/30) 2 = 1.71,
and good photo chance is:
P = 1/(1+1.71) = 37%
So keep shooting!
In fact, even at 12 times slower
exposure you still get about
10% of the pictures OK(*).
===================
==
(*) Subjective bias included
Little Break
Problems E-H
E.
F.
G.
H.
[Essential] Learn how to switch you camera into Shutter Priority mode. What
is the minimum and the maximum exposure your camera permits? Tweak
the exposure while aiming the camera at a well-illuminated subject. How
does the aperture setting change in response? Can you summarize what is
that the camera is trying to do?
In Shutter Priority mode, take images of a running person at 1/20 th, 1/80th,
and 1/320th second (you may need bright light or high ISO for that). Discuss
the differences.
Shoot a static scene in automatic mode. Note the F-number and shutter
speed the camera set. Switch to Manual Mode. Shoot the same scene with
twice longer and twice shorter exposures at the same F-number. Why the
difference?
Set the camera to exposure 2x longer than the focal length reciprocal rule
recommends. Switch off the image stabilizer. Try to produce a handheld
image free from handshake blur using burst shooting and any other
techniques presented. If you succeed, try longer exposures (4x, 8x, 16x)
challenge. Hint: you might want to take several 0.25x (shorter) exposure
shots for a reference on what an ideal blur-free image might look like.
Problems 7-9
7.
8.
9.
Problem (discussion)
Lake Chelan,
2005.
Film @ISO 400,
F/5.6, 35 mm
focal length
equivalent,
approx. 1/400
sec.
Whats wrong
with this
picture?
Is there a way to
make it better?
Problem (discussion)
Night
thunderstorm
over Caribbean
from the airplane.
ISO 4000, 35 mm,
F/1.8, 1/2 sec,
handheld.
Any guesses how
shake blur was
avoided?
PART 3/5
APERTURE
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
Aperture
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
BAD NEWS?
Technical reasons
Use Primes
and your feet!
2. $Cost
The lens was designed and made specifically for the NASA Apollo lunar program to capture the far side of
the moon in 1966. <> Stanley Kubrick used these lenses when shooting his film "Barry Lyndon", which
allowed him to shoot the scene only by candlelight. <> In total there were only 10 lenses made. One was
kept by Carl Zeiss, six were sold to NASA, and three were sold to Stanley Kubrick.
In 2011 sold at WestLicht's 19th camera auction for $117K of 2013-$ equivalent
Why Cost ?
3. Anti-reflection more difficult on wider
glass
2. Economy of scale only few people
want such lenses
1. Aberrations! (Or rather the lack of
thereof)
3. Aberrations?
what happens if you do save on cost
Spherical Aberration
Chromatic Aberration
Coma
$$!
$$
,
!
Is there a theoretical
lower limit for the Fnumber?
Introducing Diffraction
F/32
F/8
Examples
24 mm, F/16
DoF == how much scene before and after the focus point remains sharp
Often, it could be so little that I have to close my 50 mm F/1.4 to F/2
D is subject distance
F is focal length
No
The image does not
change because I shoot
only on the central part of
the matrix!
It may if you also re-fit it
to the screen, or change
matrix element size, or
scale the lens
proportionally, etc.
SO I PROMISED NO
EXPENSIVE UPGRADES
Maybe F/1.8 meets that definition.
But there is still not enough light.
Whats next?
Problems A-D
A.
B.
C.
Problems 1-3
1.
2.
3.
Problem
ISO 3200, F/1.4,
50mm, 1/125 sec,
subject distance
7.1 m. Effective
sensor element
size 8 m.
What problems
can you identify
on the image?
Can those be
fixed by adjusting
aperture settings?
What is the
calculated DoF
here?
Problem
Left: 48 mm, F/32, 1/25 sec. Right: 48 mm, F/5.3, 1/800 sec. Why the difference
PART 4/5
THE BATTLE OF SENSITIVITY
A Damn Bloody One
It Is Somewhat
Complicated
And it is non-trivial
++Color
Five different techniques are officially defined by ISO
standard
Strong marketing distortions
JPG & gamma conversion
The proper level of exposure is somewhat subjective
To Summarize
At least 1600
Essentially, Photoshop does the same
NOISE!
Noise is complex
The whole Big Science there
Multiple sources
We will consider those we can practically
deal with
Expect to meet many ugly noise
examples prepared with care and on
purpose
Discretization Noise
Discretization Noise
Severely (at least 30x) underexposed scene shot in RAW and boosted digitally
Use RAW/NEF
It has 12-14 bits per color channel >> 8
for JPG
14 bits work really better for dark areas
boosting and JPG conversion math
RAW/NEF PRIMER
boosted 2x in Photoshop
8x Underexposure Example
ORIGINAL JPG
FROM NEF
But even 12 bits wont help much if you are more than ~4x underexposed
Consider JPG if
No significant post-processing is
expected
Electronic Noise
ELECTRONIC NOISE
MITIGATIONS
$
$$?
$$$ #%^&@!!!
4. Ice Pack
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
AND FINALLY,
THE MASTER EVIL
Quantum (Shot) Noise
It is *completely* random
Einstein believed that God doesn't play dice with
the world
Even if he was right, as of 2013 quantum
fluctuations remain (both theoretically and
practically) the most random and unpredictable
phenomena we know
PART 4.1
LARGE PIXELS
VS.
QUANTUM NOISE
Let me know if we need a short
break
Sensor (mm)
Type
Aspect
Ratio
1/3.6"
4:3
7.056
5.000
4.000
3.000
1/3.2"
4:3
7.938
5.680
4.536
3.416
1/3"
4:3
8.467
6.000
4.800
3.600
1/2.7"
4:3
9.407
6.592
5.270
3.960
1/2"
4:3
12.700
8.000
6.400
4.800
1/1.8"
4:3
14.111
8.933
7.176
5.319
2/3"
1"
4/3"
4:3
4:3
4:3
16.933
25.400
33.867
11.000
16.000
22.500
8.800
12.800
18.000
6.600
9.600
13.500
APS-C
3:2
n/a
30.100
25.100
16.700
3:2
n/a
43.300
36.000
24.000
4:3
n/a
69.700
56.000
41.500
35
mm
645
Dia.
Diagonal
(mm)
Width
Height
Lower Resolution
Resolution Comparison
12 Megapixels
3 Megapixels
Digital Filters
Photoshop illegitimate
I thought I knew.
But testing confirmed my
predictions wrong.
So I dont really know for
sure. I just see the effect.
In Color
BW
2.
Problems I-L
[Essential] Locate ISO sensitivity settings in your camera. What are the
maximum and minimum supported values? By shooting the same subject, find
the maximum level of ISO that produces tolerable level of noise (per your
discretion).
I.
Locate the setting to shoot RAW+JPG (at the same time) in your camera. Set
ISO to the maximum. Shoot something. Compare image quality in RAW and in
JPG.
J.
Locate all of the following settings in your camera and test their effect on JPG
image quality:
K.
I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
L.
[Challenge]: By playing with these settings, can you get a picture with tolerable
noise at ISO one step higher than derived in Problem I?
Problems 10-11
Camera
Pixel count
Sensor size
8 million
4.5 x 3.4 mm
Canon PowerShot
A200
2.1 million
4.5 x 3.4 mm
Minolta DiMAGE X
2.1 million
5.3 x 4.0 mm
5.2 million
7.2 x 5.3 mm
Samsung Galaxy S3
Olympus C-5050
Zoom
Sony DSC-F717
Canon EOS-D30
Nikon D1
Nikon D100
Nikon D90
Canon EOS-1Ds
5.2
3.2
2.7
6.3
12..2
11.4
million
million
million
million
million
million
8.8 x 6.6
22.7 x 15.1
23.7 x 15.6
23.7 x 15.6
23.7 x 15.6
36 x 24
10.
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
11.
Problem
<BR>
PART 5/5
STANDARD TOOLS & MISC.
In a rather random order
Sturdiness and
bulkiness!
Rotations,
remember?
Turn Image
Stabilizer off
Or it may try to
stabilize the
whole tripod
Built-In Flash
Built-In Flash
Step 1: No flash
Awful shadows.
I look 50 and as
if been
constantly
drinking for the
past 29 years
Built-In Flash
Step 2: flash ON
Shadows gone.
Depth, too. I
look flat.
Built-In Flash
Step 3: Switch to
manual. Adjust flash to
shoot at 60% power
(yes, you can). 50%
light should come from
flash and 50%from
ambient illumination.
Shadows filled in, the
look is more natural.
But why is it all red?
Ahh, white balance is
set for Auto.
Built-In Flash
Step 4: Set
White Balance
for
Incandescent.
Brr
Maybe set it for
flash?
Built-In Flash
Step 5: Set it for flash
Now its all yellow
again. Hmm
Rooms light is
yellow. Flash is white.
What is the correct
white balance here?
None! Compromise or
Photoshop at best
Built-In Flash
Step 6: Think.
What if flash
was yellow, too?
Built-In Flash
Built-In Flash
Step 7: Test it.
Enjoy!
Light Through A
Viewfinder
I was at Mauna Kea. The view
on the left was OK when I
was taking it, but completely
dark when I was moving to
the front of the camera. Any
hints why?
Yep. The sun was shining
through a viewfinder and
skewing the exposure some
10x times.
For night shots, a street light
in the back can be a killer
Branching Question
Reciprocity Failure
Also known as
Film exposures longer than 1 sec deviate from
proportionality to the amount of light
For a scene, the exposure is 1 sec. Now the amount of
light drops 16 times. What the new exposure should be?
Simple theory: 1*16 = 16 sec
Reality: it will take even longer by a factor of approx T
times. Thats it by (16) = 2x, or 32 seconds in the end
Film Push-Processing
ISO 1600
picture
processed as
6400 (which
was kinda cool
back in 2005!)
STANDARD EXPOSURES
Is There One?
There Is No Right
Exposure
Table of Standard
Exposures
3.
4.
5.
Utilize any light you can find that does not kill the scene. Consider flashlights, lighters, or
even built-in flash (but remember to adjust and color it)
Set the aperture to the maximum, except if you need more DoF or hit aberrations
Set the shutter speed (exposure)
1.
2.
3.
6.
7.
8.
9.
If you dont know how to use histograms to check the exposure, ask. This is important.
Fear no evil. If you need ISO 12800 so be it.
If too noisy, consider RAW, lower ISO, boost noise reduction, B&W, or be ready to Photoshop later.
If still not enough, go back to step 3 and reiterate. Sacrifice DoF, shutter speed, resolution, or color. Change
light.
Shoot
1.
2.
3.
4.
Hold the camera with both hands. Be stable. Breathe right. Try to find firm support for elbows, lean against the wall/tree
or press the camera against it
Shoot 2-7 frames per scene in burst mode
If not sure about exposure, or getting off target, switch to RAW. Or, bracket in JPG in 3 shots for <-0.7, 0, +0.7>.
Manual focusing with lenses faster than F/2.0 is nearly impossible in poor light. Use auto-focus. To aid it, briefly
illuminate the subjects with additional light (or built-in focus assist illuminator) before shooing if thats appropriate. Set
focusing to the Center mode, aim the center square at high contrast transitions, then hold, recompose and finish the
shot.
11. Never
trust yourself. Bracket. Constantly tweak settings (especially exposure). Experiment. Break a
few rules If nothing else, at least youll gain the experience
12. Check results frequently and adjust on the go
13. Diversify you results. 50% of success is uniqueness. Here are some ideas to try:
Zoom (if your lens can)
2. Move closer or further away. Shift to the left or to the right. Shoot from the knees level. Shoot from the above. Shoot
from under the chair, from the side, from the back.
3. Change foreground, add some objects to it. Change the background. Frame your main subject with some foreground
objects (doors, passages) this makes a cool effect.
4. Move your light around if you can
5. Ask your models to move, pose, or regroup
6. Play with colors, white balance, light sources
7. Go somewhere else and shoot something else
8. Talk to other people to exchange lenses, filters, or even cameras
9. Look for contrasts in ideas, impressions, colors
10. Look for unique points of view or compositions
1.
14.
Try to get at least 100 technically correct photos (without duplicates) per assigment
Starring in Episodes
Vlad Korolyov
Yvgeny Epshtein
Eugene Bobukh
Dima B.
Andrey Ulanov
Ylyana Shershunova
Alena Birukova
Natalie Kachook
Ksenia Du Van
Konstantin Roslyakov
Yulia Roslyakova
Rodion Degtyar
Michael Tverskoy
Sergey Khristoforov
Maria Konstantinova
Kirill Gil
Alina Gil
Michael M Grinshtat
Sergey Prozhogin
Svetlana Prozhogin
Ivan Sydorenko
Olesya Voronina
Michael Pedchenko
..and many more
Our Gains
Switching from F/3.5 to F/1.8: 4x
or F/5.6 to F/1.4 16x
Holding the camera right: 2-10x
Burst Shooting: 2-5x
or knowing dancers blur spectra: ~10x
JPG -> RAW/NEF: 4x
or camera JPG settings: 1.52x
Keeping the camera cool:1...1.5x
Photoshop filters & lower resolution: 2...10x
Right white balance or color drop1...1.5x
===================================
Total: 1x48x32,000x
THE END
Questions?
BBB
BACKUP, BONUS, BONEYARD
Aperture
Brightnes
s
(F/3.5 as
100%)
F/11
0.10
F/8.0
0.19
F/5.6
0.39
F/3.5
1.00
F/2.8
1.56
F/2.0
3.06
F/1.8
3.78
F/1.4
6.25
F/1.2
8.51
F/0.7
25.0
F/0.7
50 mm, F/5.6
Generally, d drops as
1/F2
85mm F/8 will have
the same Depth Of
Field as 35mm F/1.4!
but if subject
occupies the same
part of the image, d
does not depend on F!
but, d/D
(perceived DoF) still
drops as 1/F
Thats why youd
prefer 85 mm over 24
mm for portraits
3.
4.
5.
6.
DoF N/F2
If I want to keep fixed
DoF, I must maintain N
F2
Amount of light K 1/N2
For fixed visible
impression, exposition T
1/L
Therefore, T N2 F4 for
fixed DoF
Thats one of the reasons
its so hard to deal with
long lenses
ISO Quantification 1
S[ensitivity] = 0.8/H
H exposure in lux*sec where log10 optical density is 0.1 above fog level, or 10^0.1 = 1.26x
darker
1 lux*sec = 1 lm*sec/m^2
Brightness in lumens = K*P,
P is irradiance in energy units, Watts
K is conversion coefficient between energy units and lumens perceived by humans. It is
strongly wavelength dependent.
For a moment, lets figure out the story with green light
where K = 683 lm/Wt
H = 0.8/S (assuming 1 sq. meter) => P = H/K = 0.8/(SK). If
S = 1 [ISO], P = 0.8/K = 0.8/683 = 0.00117 Joules.
ISO Quantification 2
1.
2.
3.
Since we dont know which method is closer to reality (marketing anyways is almost
free to choose between any of the five methods), lets take a geometric mean of all
three values for a measure of a good exposure for a digital sensor, thats it:
(14.23*10*4.38)^(1/3) = 8.54 lux*sec.
With green light @555 nm the energy equivalent of that would be 8.54/683 =
0.0125 Joules/m2 absorbed.
What is the corresponding photon count? At 555 nm, photon energy is 2.237 eV, or
(@ 1.602*10^-19 J/eV) 3.584e-19 Joules. Per square meter, at the right exposure that
is 0.0125/3.584e-19 = 3.488e16 photons for ISO 1 sensor, 1 m2 of active area.
ISO Quantification 3
Source
K, lm/W
Tungsten
12-20
Sun
93
Fire
0.3 2
LED
50-100
Fluorescent
80-100
Green @555
nm
683
Red @700 nm
2.9
Red @650 nm
81
Orange @615
nm
334
Yellow @575
nm
644
Cyan @500nm
238
Blue @470 nm
89
Purple @425
nm
18
Light Color
Red
Yellow
Green
Cyan
Blue
UV
Noise
Noise
EV required Level
Mode
-2.67
4.6069
-2.33
4.4051
-2
4.6693
-2.333
4.1094
-2
5.752
-0.33
6.3131
in BW
Noise Reduction
3.1517
1.4552
3.135
1.2701
2.9089
1.7604
2.8801
1.2293
3.6717
2.0803
3.8183
2.4948
Filters: Original
Go Yellow-Orange
Vignetting
~(Cos)4!
May get serious at the edges
Strongly lens-dependent
Manufacturers generally try to combat it
Film Sensibilization
Hydrogen
My Room
An Egg in UV Light