I just completed my Unit 2 photo project, uploaded and submitted.  The unit was a bit heavy with things I felt I didn't need to know, but as I made my way through the lesson on Developing Black and White Film, followed up with a lesson on Scanners (really?), I learned quite a bit.  If anything it gave me another approach to really understanding proper exposure and what that looks like, microscopically, on a negative.  That's why I'm doing this right?  In order to become a professional in this industry, I need to know the ins and outs of these incredible machines.  How proper exposure was achieved before the reflective light meter, how Ansel Adams developed such impressive masterpieces in the darkroom, how to read a negative and be able to determine if it was overexposed, underexposed or properly exposed.  Even if I may not use them daily it is still important for me to understand what reciprocity failure, neutral range density, developers, fixers, ppi, bpi, RGB, CMYK, TWAIN all mean.  Just to name a few :-).

One piece of information though really struck me.  I have always felt that my landscapes left something to be desired.  I'd make an image and when I would check it out, I always felt like I didn't do it justice.  The camera didn't pick up exactly what my eye caught.  It didn't pick up the details in the shadows as well as the details in the highlights.  Now I know that the human eye is more sophisticated than film or the latest digital sensor, but I never really knew how much more sophisticated it was...until I read about Exposure Latitude-the range of light intensities from brightest bright to darkest dark that the sensor can capture.  There are a lot of numbers, terminology and details that go into this explanation, so I won't go into that...I'll just cut to the chase.  Black and white film has a latitude of about 500 (equivalent to 9 stops f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, etc).  Pretty good, that means the lightest light is 500 times brighter than the darkest dark.  Take a guess as to the exposure latitude of the human eye...go on guess...think about that for a bit...

50,000 (equivalent to 15 stops)!!!!  

The eye can see the brightest light that is 50,000 times brighter than the darkest dark.  WHAT?!?!?  Incredible!  I've always known the human eye to be an incredible and beautiful organ, but that just is mind boggling!  God truly is an amazing Creator!  

So, as I move on to Unit 3 I am looking forward to more nuggets of information and new tricks of the trade.  As I increase my technical knowledge of photography, my creative side can take over and soar...at least I hope!  

Here are my photo project pictures all emphasizing the subject through various compositional techniques:  size and off center placement, framing, and leading lines. Gargoyles in the mistI love the Eiffel Tour so faint in the back. Guests at the LouvreA good example of the limitations of the exposure latitude of the sensors, my eye picked up so many more details in the shadows, but my goal was to retain detail in the pyramid...I had to make a choice. Champs Elysees Ferris WheelUsing leading lines to draw the eye in to the subject. What I really love are the very faint details in the shadows, the outlines of the windows...I can feel it. I am there all over again. Grazie mille!!!  

Ciao amici!

Mackenzie