1. PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
Taught by Michael Bennett

2. WEEK 1
THE HISTORY OF
PHOTOGRAPHY

3. Our
Pinhole
Camera
WEEK 1
In the first week of our photography club,
we were looking at the history of photography. We
started looking at early models of cameras, such as
the pinhole camera. In the lesson, we made our
own; it is effectively a light proof box with a small
hole on the side. Light from the area will pass
through this small hole, providing an inverted image
on the other side of the box. The pinhole camera is
very simple to make, however has one major
disadvantage, the lengthy exposure
time, generally taking several hours.
We then looked at other previous
models of cameras including one
of Mr Bennett’s older cameras.

4. WEEK 1
After the invention of new camera
models, photography began to grow
rapidly in popularity. A very popular usage of
photography was the Carte de Visite, it was a small
family portrait mounted on stiff card. Studios
opened all over the UK offering to produce Carte de
Visites for individual families. The new technology
also allowed war to be photographed. In fact
photography became so powerful, that it was used
to change the publics opinion on events. A famous
example of this is Nick Ut’s picture (shown above)
of children burned by the Napalm bomb dropped by
America. The photo had a huge impact on public
opinion in the US.

5. WEEK 1
We then looked at some of the best photographers
and their works from the last century.
Central Park Zoo
Gary Winograd
1975

6. WEEK 1
Le baiser de
l’Hotel de Ville
Robert Doisneau
1950

7. WEEK 1
Unnamed
(Featured
in a
collection)
Robert
Frank
1952

8. WEEK 1
At the end of the lesson, we were set a short homework, to
photograph as many eyes as we could, to get a feel for our
camera. I collaged mine, and they are displayed below.

9. 2
APERTURE AND
DEPTH OF FIELD

10. WEEK 2
In the second week of photography club, we were
taught some basic photography terms such as
adjustable camera and automatic exposure.
However the two main terms that we focussed on
were aperture and depth of field.
Aperture: The size of the Depth of Field: is the
opening on a camera lens is distance between the
measured using aperture, nearest and farthest
the larger the opening, the objects in a particular
smaller the aperture. Most scene that appear sharp in
lenses have a range of the image. I.e., the amount
around f2.8 to f16. of a subject that is in focus.
We then researched the terms and looked at some of
the examples provided.

11. WEEK 2 – EXAMPLES

12. WEEK 2
We learnt that a large aperture lets in lots of light but
gives a shallow depth of field, but a small aperture
lets in much less light but gives an extended depth
of field. So the larger the aperture, the shallower
the depth of field. In the examples on the next
slides, you can see that the first photograph has a
smaller aperture meaning less of the image is in
focus. This is a useful technique when wanting to
focus on the subject of the image. However in most
cases the larger aperture is preferred, such as in
the second picture, where both the subject and
background are wanted in the image.

13. A smaller aperture means less of
WEEK 2 the image is in focus

14. Whereas a higher aperture means
WEEK 2 more of the image is in focus