Holga Blog

From 1912 to 1995, Kodak published many versions of a book called How to Make Good Pictures: A guide for the amateur photographer (the title was changed to How to Take Good Pictures in 1974).

I found a copy of this book (29th ed. from 1952) in an antique store in Des Moines, IA.  I’d only been dabbling in film photography for about a month, so this was a great find!  This book has 224 pages chock full of  tips and info newbie photographers.  Those more experienced might find some good reminders.  Of course, all this is illustrated with great 1950s graphics.

How to Make Good Pictures is a great grab if you happen to find it cheap.  It is conversational and manages to give very basic advice without making you feel like an idiot.  The photos and illustrations help clarify the points being made.  Give yourself a few sittings to read this – the book itself cautions you against overload.

Mine came with a sweet dedication:

To Don, Lorna and Marcia
From Uncle John and
Aunt Bessie
as a help to better
pictures of a fine
little girl.

PART I – THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW

What this book is all about:

This new edition of How to Make Good Pictures has but one purpose – to help you get the most enjoyment, and the most satisfying results, from your camera.

The book starts off with a brief intro… rest assured, it tells you “Amateur… does not mean “dub”; it is a proud word, signifying one who takes pictures for the love of it, rather than as a means of livelihood.”

What this article is all about:

I’m not going to go through the entire book, nor will I try to summarize it… it’s over 200 pages!  I’ll share some of my favorite sections to give you a taste of the book.  This first post will start with some of the basics.  Part two will feature more tips.

Inside a camera:

“slow” and “fast” lenses

An f/2, f/3.5, or f/4.5 lens is usually called a “fast” lens.  An f/16 or f/11 lens is called a “slow” lens; and if you remember that a lens collects light with its entire surface, you’ll see why.  … an f/2 lens is sixty-four times as fast as an f/16 lens.

the iris diaphragm – your camera’s front gate

In bright light, you do not always need all the speed of a fine lens, and so, an iris diaphragm is provided in such lenses.  This can be opened up or closed down, to admit just the right amount of light to the film.

Your eye also has an iris, which closes down automatically in bright light, and opens wide in dim light.  The difference in the camera iris is that you make the adjustment by hand.

the focusing movement

At any setting of the focusing movement, a lens covers sharply a certain zone.  For example, a lens set at “15 feet” may picture sharply everything beyond 10 feet up to 25 feet from the camera.  Close it down to a smaller opening, and the zone widens both toward and away from you.  Open the lens wide, and the zone of sharp focus or “depth of field” is reduced.

The nearer your camera is to your subject, the smaller the depth of field.  Also, the larger the lens opening you use, the smaller the depth of field.

fast motion that doesn’t move

Any camera can capture action scenes – even the humblest box camera.  All you need to do is time your release accurately to catch the “poised moment.”  The fast shutter of a fine camera simply gives you a safety margin – it insures a sharp picture even if your timing judgment is a fraction off.

easy angles aid the simple camera

Watch an automobile as it comes down the street toward you.  WHen a block away, it is approaching you “head on,’ and hardly seems to move.  Twenty-five feet away, as you watch from the curb, it appears to move much faster.  And as it comes abreast of you, it zips by with a sudden whoosh – and is gone!  A block away, as you view it tail-on, the motion again seems almost zero.

So, we can set up a rule: The more distant the subject… the more direct its approach or departure… the slower it moves in relation to your camera.

panoraming – the big exception

Normally, you hold your camera still during exposure – or you get a sadly blurred picture.  But suppose, as that automobile went by, you had swung the camera in unison with it, keeping the car centered in the finder?  In that event, both car and camera would have been standing still in relation to each other – and if you’d released smoothly “in stride,” you’d have a sharp picture.

This technique is known as “panoraming.”  It works beautifully with speeding automobiles, speedboats, and motorcycles; the vehicle stays sharp, but the background streaks out into a mile-a-minute blur, with a terrific effect of speed.

That’s it for part one!

Keep an eye out for part two!  It’ll be coming soon.