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Langford’s
Basic
Photography
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Dedicated to Michael and P. Langford
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Langford’s
Basic
Photography
The guide for serious
photographers
Eighth edition
Michael Langford FBIPP, HonFRPS
Formerly Photography Course Director
Royal College of Art, London
Anna Fox
Course Leader BA Photography
University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham
Richard Sawdon Smith
Deputy Head of College
University College for the Creative Arts, Maidstone
Contributors
Peter Renn
Lecturer
University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham
Christian Nolle
Tutor Technician
University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham
Mark Bolland
Lecturer
University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham
AMSTERDAM• BOSTON• HEIDELBERG• LONDON• NEWYORK• OXFORD
• PARIS• SANDIEGO• SANFRANCISCO• SINGAPORE• SYDNEY• TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK
30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington MA 01803, USA
First edition 1965
Second edition 1971; Third edition 1973
Fourth edition 1977; Fifth edition 1986; Sixth edition 1997
[reprinted 1998 (twice), 1999]; Seventh edition 2000
Eighth edition 2007
Copyright © 2000 Michael Langford
Copyright © 2007, Anna Fox, Richard Sawdon Smith, Peter Renn, Christian Nolle and
Mark Bolland. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The right of Michael Langford, Anna Fox, Richard Sawdon Smith, Peter Renn, Christian Nolle and
Mark Bolland to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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Contents
Picture credits xiii
Foreword xv
Introduction xvii
1 What is photography? 1
Why photography? 1
How photography works 3
Picture structuring 7
The roles photographs play 10
Changing attitudes towards photography 13
Personal styles and approaches 17
Measuring success 21
Summary 22
Projects 23
2 Light: how images are formed 24
Light itself 24
Wavelengths and colours 25
Shadows 26
When light reaches a surface 27
Light intensity and distance 31
Making light form images 32
Summary 37
Projects 38
3 Lenses: controlling the image 39
Photographic lenses 39
Aperture and f-numbers 42
Depth of field 45
How depth of field works 47
Depth of focus 50
Image stabilization 51
Lenses for digital cameras 52
Lens care 52
Summary 53
Projects 54
v
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CONTENTS
4 Cameras using film 55
The essential components 56
Camera types – which is best? 64
How view cameras work 66
How direct viewfinder cameras work 69
How reflex cameras work 74
Summary 80
Projects 81
5 Using different focal length lenses, camera kits 82
Why change focal length? 82
Lens kits 90
Close-up equipment 95
Essentials and extras 98
Horses for courses 100
Summary 101
Projects 102
6 Digital cameras 103
How are digital images captured? 103
Analogue versus digital 104
The megapixel debate 105
Screen output 106
Grain and noise 106
Optical and digital zoom 107
Image stabilizer 107
White balance 108
File types 108
The digital archive 110
Downloading 111
Digital cameras 112
Will digital cameras take over? 115
Summary 116
Projects 116
vi
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CONTENTS
7 Lighting: principles and equipment 117
Basic characteristics of lighting 117
Lighting equipment 124
Practical lighting problems 131
Special subjects 135
Summary 138
Projects 139
8 Organizing the picture 140
Noticing subject features 140
Structuring pictures through the camera 156
Where photographs go 164
Summary 171
Projects 172
9 Films, filters 173
Silver halide emulsions 173
Features common to all films 175
Choosing films for black and white 182
Films for colour photography 185
Storing film – before and after exposure 190
So which film is ‘best’? 190
Filters – how they work 193
Filter kits 202
Summary 203
Projects 204
vii
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CONTENTS
10 Exposure measurement 205
Factors that determine what exposure to give 205
Exposing different film types 207
Measuring exposure (continuous light) 211
Practical exposure tips 220
Measuring exposure for flash 222
Practical flash exposure tips 226
Summary 230
11 Film processing 231
Equipment and general preparations 231
Processing black and white (silver image) negatives 239
Processing chromogenic (colour and black and white)
negatives 245
Processing colour slides and transparencies 246
Processing other film materials 249
Processing by machine 249
Permanence of processed results 250
Summary 252
Projects 253
12 Black and white printing: facilities and equipment 254
Darkroom organization 254
Equipment: the enlarger 256
Equipment: accessories 262
Printing papers 263
Safelighting and printing paper sensitivity 268
Processing procedure 270
Summary 275
Projects 275
viii
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CONTENTS
13 Black and white printing: techniques 276
Making contact prints 276
‘Straight’ enlarging 278
Controls during enlarging 280
Variations 284
Common print faults 290
Chemical afterwork 290
Toning 292
Tinting 294
Retouching 295
Permanence and archiving 296
Summary 299
Projects 300
14 The digital image: post-production 301
Overview 302
The hardware 302
Software programs 306
Basic image editing 313
Advanced image editing 319
Working on pictures 326
Digital ethics 340
Summary 341
Projects 342
15 Finishing and presenting work 343
The permanence of prints 343
Mounting methods 344
Spotting 346
Getting your work noticed 347
Pictures on the World Wide Web 352
How to get connected 354
Summary 355
Projects 357
ix
