From the course: The Practicing Photographer

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Essential skill: How to look at photograph

Essential skill: How to look at photograph

From the course: The Practicing Photographer

Essential skill: How to look at photograph

- In the early days of photography, the 1840s through the end of the 19th century, exposure times for most photographs were very long, usually because the film chemistry being used was not very light sensitive. Sometimes, slow lenses made things even worse, but consequently, a single image might have an exposure time measured in minutes, not seconds, but minutes, and that was to get a single shot. If you've ever spent any time trying to shoot portraits, you know that expressions can change in very subtle, yet meaningful ways in just a fraction of a second. And if you've ever stood waiting for a slow photographer to take your picture, then you know that while you might be able to muster a genuine smile when the photographer says ready, if they take too long to get the shot, then you can feel your smile becoming less genuine and more forced and that shows in the final image. If it's hard to hold a genuine smile for a few seconds, then it's definitely impossible to hold it for minutes…

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