Elements of
Photography

BY JDG
  1. Light
 2. Camera and its accessories

Elements  3. Sensitized Material

 4. Chemical Process
  a form of electromagnetic radiation and we know it travels in the form of waves.
The complete range of electromagnetic spectrum and our eyes are capable of
seeing only part of the spectrum. We can see a large part of the wavelengths
emitted by the sun, that is white light but the sun also emits other waves, which we
cannot see. 

 Light

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THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

  By using a prism made of glass or plastic

  to see the spectrum of sunlight is to look at a
rainbow.
 The light is bend
 the colors are separated
 The prism experiment shows how white light is
made up of a combination of wavelengths of
different colored lights.
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 Visible Spectrum 
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COLORS  

 The three primary colors in light are

red, green and blue. White light can
be made by mixing red, blue and
green. The process of making colors
by mixing primary colors of light is
called addition, because one color is
added to another.
 Colors made by combining two
primary colors are called secondary
colors.

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SOURCES  natural and artificial light

OF LIGHT
Natural Light

lights which come to

existence without
the intervention  of man 

In photography natural light is

used for outdoor photography

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Artificial Light

 lights which are man-made.

  In photography, artificial lights
are utilized in indoor photography
to augment the adverse lighting
condition.

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 X-ray

PHOTOGRAPHI Visible light

C RAYS
Ultraviolet rays

Infrared rays
  X-ray photography A photographic technique in which
X- RAY X-rays are used that may reveal internal detail (e.g. of
a fossil) which is not visible externally. 
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Visible light

 A typical human eye can see light from 400nm to 700nm on the electromagnetic
spectrum. This range is called ‘visible light’. Not all colors that humans can
distinguish are in the visible spectrum; for example, pink is not included as it is a
mix of multiple visible spectrum colors.
 Ultraviolet photography photographic process of
Ultraviolet rays
•
recording images by using radiation from the
- light below the visible ultraviolet spectrum only. Images taken with
spectrum (wavelengths less than ultraviolet radiation serve a number of scientific,
400 nm) medical or artistic purposes. Images may
reveal deterioration of art works or structures
not apparent under light.
Uses In Law Enforcement

 Fingerprints on multicolored surfaces (dust with fluorescent powder or

ninhydrin).
 Body secretions such as urine, semen and perspiration often glow when
illuminated by ultraviolet light.
 Money and other valuables can be dusted or marked to identify thiefs.
 Infrared photography is the recording of images formed by infrared
radiation. Because infrared radiation is invisible, some special techniques
may be needed.  But, in general, most of the commonly required methods
Infrared rays  are as simple as those of ordinary
- light is in the range of photography.
700nm-1400nm on the Uses In Law Enforcement
electromagnetic spectrum      1.   Questioned documents.
and has wavelengths that      2.   Aerial photography.
are longer than those of           a.   Infrared photography can enhance the contrast of the terrain.

visible light, meaning that           b.   Coniferous (darker) and deciduous (lighter) growth is

humans can’t see it.                differentiated.

Infrared photography most      3.   Surveillance photography.

commonly uses near      4.   Detection of gunshot-powder burns, stains and irregularities in cloth.

infrared light.       5.   Detection of certain types of secret writings.

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Thank You
Properties of
Light
JCG
Properties of Light

HOW LIGHT AND

SPEED OF ATTRIBUTE
LIGHT MATERIALS
LIGHT OF COLORS
BEHAVES   

Types of
Production of MEDIUMS
bending of
colors OF LIGHT  
light.
 HOW LIGHT BEHAVES
Any phenomenon having a periodic disturbance of some sort and travels outward from a source is called a wave.
To understand how energy can travels in waves, think of a wooden log floating in the ocean. Light maybe
visualized as such as the high points are called crest while the low points are called troughs.  The distance
between two successive crest and troughs is called a wavelength.

Bending of light;

Refection when hit a sharp object

Refraction  when pass one medium to another medium
Diffraction when hit a sharp object
Transmission ( absorb the primary color and transmitted light.
 DIFFRACTION 

 light in space and not within the

gravitational field of any object
travels in a straight line. The
bending of light around an object
gives rise to the phenomenon
called diffraction.
This phenomenon is responsible
for the partial illumination of
object parts not directly in the path
of the light.
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THE LAW OF
REFLECTION
   refers to the rebounding
or deflection of light. The
angle of reflection depends
upon the angle of the light
striking the material,
which is referred to as the
angle of incidence.

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THE LAW OF
REFRACTION
   when the material in the path of the light is transparent
a change in the direction of the light occurs.
 The change in the direction of light when passing from
one medium to another is called the phenomenon of
refraction. The change in the direction of the light is
due to the change in the speed of light when passing
from one medium to another. The
displacement depends upon the angle of incidence, the
kind of material and its thickness
SPEED OF LIGHT
 The speed of light, measured in a vacuum is 299, 792.5
km/sec (approximately 186,281 miles/sec / 186,000). 
LIGHT AND MATERIALS  

 Materials, which allow light to pass through so that objects on the other side can
be distinguished, are called transparent. 
 Those that allow light to pass through but diffuse the flow of light so that objects
on the other side cannot be distinctly seen are called translucent.
 Materials, which allow no light to pass through, are called opaque.
 When light strikes an object such light is absorbed, transmitted and or reflected
practically. The amount of light transmitted or reflected depends upon the
characteristics of the material, the quantity and quality of the light the angle of the
source etc.
ATTRIBUTE OF COLORS

 Color can be defined in qualitative terms according to certain psychological attributes. These
attributes are hue, brightness and saturation. Hue is the attributes of chromatic colors, which
distinguishes them from achromatic colors.  Brightness is the attributes of colors, which allows the
relation of colors in it to be related to given tones of gray ranging in a series from white to black.
Saturation is the attribute of a chromatic color, which designates to which the color differs from a
gray of the same brightness. Brightness and saturation can be understood in a practical sense from
the following, take a very vivid red (single saturation) and either a small amount of white or black.
The color will change to lighter or darker. In both instances, the vividness of the color is lessened 
(decreased saturation). The purity of the color is then affected. By adding at the same time small
amount of white and black, the brightness can be held constant and only saturation is affected.
When sufficient amount of white and black are added the hue becomes no longer recognized from
the gray tone to which it was originally related in brightness.       
 1. Absorption 2. Scattering 

Production of 3. Dispersion  4. Fluorescence 

colors

5. Interference 
Absorption of
color
 If wavelengths of light from a
certain region of the spectrum are
absorbed by a material, then the
materials will appear to be
the complementary color Thus,
for instance, if violet light with
wavelength of 400nm is absorbed,
the material will look yellow. If the
material absorbs blue you will see
the color orange.
Scattering 

 Scattering affects the color of light

coming from the sky, but the details are
determined by the wavelength of the
light and the size of the particle. The
short-wavelength blue and violet are
scattered by molecules in the air much
more than other colors of the spectrum.
Dispersion 

 The spreading of white
light into its full spectrum
of wavelengths is called
dispersion. Rainbows are
produced by a combination
of refraction and reflection
and involve the dispersion of
sunlight into a continuous
distribution of colors.
•  Fluorescence 

 Fluorescent objects reflect
light as well as absorb the
energy of the light, turning
some of it into heat, and the
majority of the light is
emitted as the fluorescent
color. The electrons in the
fluorescent pigments absorb
light energy and are
temporarily promoted into
higher-energy orbitals.
Interference
color is produced when the retardation between
the waves of the crystal is equal to a whole
number of wavelengths corresponding to its
complementary color.

Why are soap bubbles so colorful? The colors of a
soap bubble come from white light, which
contains all the colors of the rainbow. When white
light reflects from a soap film, some of the colors
get brighter, and others disappear. ... The
frequency of a light wave determines which color
light you see.
MEDIUMS OF
LIGHT  
TRANSPARENT OBJECTS  mediums that merely slow down
the speed of light but allow to pass freely in other respects,
transmit 90% or more of the incident light. 

TRANSLUCENT OBJECTS  mediums that allow light to pass

through it in such a way that the outline of the source of light is
not clearly visible, transmit 50% or less of the incident light. 

OPAQUE OBJECTS  A medium that divert or absorb light, but

does not allow light to pass through. 
TRANSPARENT OBJECTS 

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TRANSLUCENT OBJECTS

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OPAQUE
OBJECTS
Thank YOu!