This section of the tutorial describes a method of achieving high quality photographic results from a TV or monitor screen. It is taken from a slightly longer program devoted to the subject. Obviously, the higher the quality of the display, the better will be the photographic result. I have read, many times, that the production of high quality hard copy can be a problem. There are numbers of firms advertising prints from files on disk, or even colour slides. If you have the right equipment, it is very easy to do it for yourself. I have been involved in a number of presentations which used colour slides to illustrates the points that the presenter was making. Titles, short text passages as headings, and graphs and charts were produced on computer, then photographed onto slide film. The end product had to be, and was, professional ! If you are producing for publication, then a high quality colour slide is easier for the printer to handle than a disk of files. Obviously, some colour slides of graphs, titles etc. from your computer, could enhance private of business presentations considerably. THE CAMERA The camera has to be a Single Lens Reflex - SLR. The SLR allows viewing of the subject through the taking lens, and is available in a number of formats. By far the most popular is the 35 mm. SLR, of which there are literally hundreds of types about, ancient and modern ! Many people will already own such a camera, or have access to one in their circle of family and friends. Most models will do the job, but a more modern version with auto functions can be a great help in some circumstances. It is also better, as you will see, to have a cable release, or delayed action available, and a range of slow shutter speed at 1/30 th. second and slower. The delayed action device, normally used to include the photographer in the picture, also helps to obtain sharp results at slow shutter speeds. As the intention here is to produce prints, or colour slides of computer graphics, which are likely to remain still, the delayed action can be set, and triggered when all is ready. There will be a resulting pause of about 10 seconds before the shutter fires. In this time, as long as the camera/tripod combination is not touched, all vibrations will die down, and a very sharp picture can result. THE LENS The lens fitted to the camera should be of the best possible quality and be capable of filling the camera viewfinder with an image of the TV/Monitor screen. It is often better if the image is designed with a space round it to avoid showing the curved edges of the screen. A zoom lens is very useful here in that it`s ability to change image size will allow framing of the screen without moving the camera. Zoom lenses can introduce their own degrees of distortion though, causing vertical edges to look slightly curved. Although not necessary, I use a 90 mm. Macro lens, which is particularly designed to work at close distances, and exhibit high image quality and technically correct straight lines at those distances. A clear glass filter fitted to the lens - Ultra Violet type - will prevent finger marks on expensive coated glass surfaces, and a lens hood helps reduce or eliminate flare. THE FILM The film you choose will depent entirely on the results required. There are 3 main choices....... Black and White - Will give black and white prints. Colour Negative - Will give colour prints Colour Transparency - will give slides for projection. In general terms, the slower the speed of the film, the better will be the image quality. Film speed is a measure of it`s sensitivity to light, and is measured by an arbitary system - ISO. Thus, a 400 ISO film is considered `fast`, being very sensitive to light. The grain size is large, and the image thus tends to be less sharp. A 50 ISO film is `slow`, and has a fine grain size giving sharp results. A good general choice for all purposes, not just monitor photography, would be 100 ISO. Processing is the other point to consider. Usually, black and white is processed and printed by the user, but commercial services are available. Colour print processing is widely available, but there is a tendancy to `get what you pay for`. Some people may also home process this material. Colour slides can be home processed, but there is little advantage other than speed. Many slide films come with pre-paid processing. Results are returned ready for projection. Pro film is bought without processing, which is available from many labs. Here the advantage can be speed, specialist processing, or return of work unmounted as a film strip. One medium not mentioned yet, but probably of interest to those requiring quick work for presentations, is that by Polaroid. Black and white and colour slides are available in 35 mm. format in minutes. The penalty is some quality loss. THE TRIPOD The tripod is often not considered by photographers in general, but is an extremely important bit of photographic kit, and absolutely necessary here if sharp results are required. There are many types available, and cost can vary dramatically depending on features, and durability. For the purposes here, a relatively light unit will do, as long as it is capable of holding the camera and lens combination without movement. If a tripod is being acquired for general use, the best unit which provides both portability AND stability is the aim. The camera should be capable of being easily attached and removed, whilst not being in danger of falling off, or overbalancing the unit. THE MONITOR The monitor used by the computer can be either TV or Monitor. The method of operation is essentially the same. Obviously a monitor gives the best resolution, and choosing your computer system`s highest resolution will give the best image quality. The infernal flicker of `high Res` will not bother your final photographic picture. After some teats, you may find that the best pictures are a result of monitor settings slightly different from those used for normal viewing. Only experimentation will confirm this, but, for example, an increase in colour saturation and slightly reduced brightness will result in stronger colours in a title slide - assuming correct photographic exposure of course. EXPOSURE The correct exposure to give the film is the key to first class results. One of the best possible systems is to find a number of settings which give the required result - possibly by a series of tests - then noting these down and ALWAYS using them with the camera metering system set to manual. This approach has the advantage of allowing for images with light backgrounds, or dark backgrounds, both of which can adversely influence an exposure system. Once the monitor/TV is set up, the correct exposure is that that will use the light supplied by the screen ONLY to achieve a good result. A FLASH GUN IS NOT USED ! Drawing the curtains, or working in a dark environment will also improve the results at time of exposure by preventing outside light from falling on the screen and affecting contrast. The problem is that a TV scans to produce an image, and builds up half an image in 1/50 th. second, and the other half in the next 1/50 th. second. Thus, an exposure of 1/25 th. second is the FASTEST that can be used in order to record a full image. Faster exposures record part images, and probably lines diagonally across the screen. A shutter speed of 1/15 th. second or slower is a better bet - hence the tripod and cable release/delayed action requirement. As the image is still, slow shutter speeds are not a problem. If working on automatic, the best bet is to set the shutter speed at, say 1/15 th. second in `shutter priority` mode, and let the automatics choose the correct aperture. As some zoom lenses have poor maximum apertures - f4 or f5.6 - even slower shutter speeds may be needed. At least, the image is reasonably flat, and thus little depth of field is needed. In general photography, a large depth of field may be needed, and this is achieved by using small apertures. Here the requirement for small apertures is not great. I repeat.... The best way to achieve high quality results is to set up and shoot a series of pictures of the SAME screen at different settings. Carefully record all details of each shot. When the pictures are processed, at least one will, hopefully, be spot on. That gives a standard setting for all future efforts as long as no factors change. SETTING UP This is the key to success - correct setting up of the system each time. First of all, a note of caution. The 35 mm. format is in the ratio of 1:1.5. The short side of the slide being about 1 inch and the long side 1.5 inch. The proportions of the picture of the monitor are not the same. The long side is shorter in respect to the short side. Any artwork or titling that is being specifically designed to be photographed should be done so with the final picture dimensions in mind. The easy way is to draw the biggest box possible on the screen with the dimensions 1:1.5, then work inside that. Keep the sides of the image away from the edges of the screen unless you want curved edges to your final picture ! Set up the camera on a tripod and point it at the screen. Make sure that the camera back and the face of the screen are as near parallel to each other as possible - note the illustration. Any bad alignment will cause image distortion. Obviously it is best to have all the images already created and saved to disk. Load the display program and the first image. Remove the display program control panels - F10 with D-Paint - and focus the camera on the image. I find manual focusing best here, so if the camera is autofocus, switch it to manual. Set up the monitor to give the desired image quality and set the camera to the desired mode - discussed elsewhere and briefly revised later - darken the room as much as possible and take the picture. Stand still while the shot is taken - movement of the floor can cause blurred images ! Continue for each image. You will obviously develop your own system of work. EXPOSURE - A series of tests are a good idea, then stick to the same settings on manual regardless of what the automatics say. The problem is that, for example, a title on a black background is likely to make an automatic system over expose. Simularly, a light background will probably cause under expose. Standardisation is the most dependant method. Always use shutter speeds less than 1/25 th. second. This text, if carefully followed, will allow the production of some high quality photographic results.