Lesson 1
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Introduction

If you are serious about taking the best possible photographs underwater, then you must realise that this is not point-and-shoot territory, at least not if you want results that approach those published in the diving magazines. Even with the most sophisticated program-everything cameras, there are a number of informed choices you must make before each and every time that you press the shutter.

This section reviews a number of photographic basics, and while it may sometimes go into depths slightly beyond that required for underwater photographers, there is no doubt that a full understanding of the principles will give you greater control over your photographs.

Aims

This lesson will introduce to you, or refresh your knowledge of, photographic basics.

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Understand light and exposure values
• Understand film charactaristics
• Understand the function of camera shutter
• Understand the function of camera aperture
• Understand focal lengths of lenses
• Understand focus, and depth of field
• Understand the concept of correct exposure

Assumed knowledge

This lesson does not require any pre-requisite knowledge

This page was last updated on 11 August 1998
Please address any comments to Mark Mumford