Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Thursday, September 23, 1971


Pacie Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY


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IN FOCUS
Reaping the benefits of flash

- _____ _ ---- - _--- by Richard Lee

EDITOR'S NOTE: This question-
and-answer column, to be published
regularly by The Daily each Thurs-,
day, is written by Richard Lee, a
local free-lance professional photog-
rapher. Lee is a member of the Na-
tional Press Photographers Association
and his pictures have appeared in
national magazines.
Questions may be mailed to Richard
Lee, c/o The Michigan Daily, 420
Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104.
Generally the aspiring young
photographer seeking to improve
his craft buries his head in
books and. magazines, enrolls
in photography school or picks
the brain of his more experienc-
ed friends.
Wading through the technical.
jargon of periodicals, however,
can be just plain frustrating,
and enrolling in the University's
photography classes, as m a n y
non-art majors have discovered,
is virtually impossible.
Often a friend's knowledge is
soon exhausted by the enthus-
iastic novice's unquenchable
thirst for more information and
techniques.
While this column is dedicat-
ed more especially to those who
have become discouraged with
these traditional sources of in-
formation about photography, it
is for anyone who wishes to fur-
ther his knowledge of the ar-
tistic and technical aspects of
photography.
This writer doesn't claim to be,
a know-it-all about photography
or a substitute for a competent
photography professor, but in
the course of gaining his pre-
sent skill in photography he has
had to face the same problems
many of you probably have now.
To deal with those questions
with which he has had insuffic-
ient experience, he will turn to
his fellow pros for answers.
Although fabricated, today's
question will deal with an oft-
repeated query:.
Q. In some of my color photos
my girlfriend's blue eyes came
out red like a rabbit's. What
did I do wrong?
A. People don't have r e d
eyes, but sure enough, in many
Instamatic-type photos where
the person is looking right into
the camera, their e-es are red
in-= the color slide or print.
Phis problem isn't unique tQ
Instamatic photos but to photos
taken with a flash cube or elec-
tronic strobe where the light is
placed too near the axis of the
camera lens. y
Light from this artificial
source strikes the eyes and re-
flects from the red blood retina
right back into the lens.
One way to eliminate this
problem is to use your light
source far enough from the lens

axis so that the light from the
eye's retina is not directly re-
flected. The formula for you
scientific types is to divide the
distance in inches between sub-
ject and camera by 30. The'quo-
tient is the minimum distance
by which the light and the lens
axis can be separated without
reflecting the red retina.
If you are using a detachable
strobe light, try -and hold it
above the camera, instead of
leaving the light attached to it
by the accessory shoe. For lights
that don't. have a long sync
cord of more than 12 inches but
have to be attached to the cam-
era via the hot-shoe, you can
always buy a cheap hot-shoe to
pc sync converter, and that will
allow you to use an expandable
coiled sync cord.
Instamatic users stuck with
flash cubes need not despair.
An accesory that will elevate
the height of the cube above the
camera can be purchased from
your local camera store for a
few dollars. Thi.s will in no way
interfere with the normal oper-
ation of the flash cubes on most
Instamatics.
However, if yours is one of the
new Instamatic-X cameras
which uses the bigger and more
powerful flash cube, you may
be faced with a problem f o r
awhile. These second generation
flash cubes are set off by me-
chanical linkage between t h e
camera and the cube, unlike the
older cubes that require batter-
ies.
Because these cubes have only
recently been introduced, a
cheap and simple device to ele-
vate the flash cube away from
the camera has not yet reached
the m;arket.
The other alternative, if you
wish to avoid the red-eye men-
ace, is to have your subject look-
ing slightly away from the cam-
ema. That way there won't be a
retina to reflect light from.
Q. My pictures taken with a
flash have harsh shadows in the
background. What can I do to
eliminate the problem?
A. Because the flash is a point
source it will always cast a
harsh shadow if used directly
on the subject. Much like the
sun, it casts a strong shadow.
Mick Jagger. And Mick Jagger.
PERFORMANCE
Tonight-Sept. 23-ONLY!
auditorium a---ongell hal
7:00 & 9:30 p.m.-75c
an arbor film cooperative

But notice on a cloudy day the
lack of distinct shadows. The
clouds work as a diffuser and
the sun is no longer a point
source.
In much the same way, the
ceiling of a room can function
as a diffuser. If you aim your
light source toward the ceiling
at an angle so that the light
will bounce toward the subject,
the diffused light will produce a
soft shadow.
However, with this method,
steps must be taken to c o m-
pensate for the loss of effective
light reaching the subject. You
must now compute the distance
from your light source to the
ceiling and back to the subject.
Then you look at your f-stop
calculator on your strobe for
that distance and you open uP
one f-stop. This isn't an exact
formula, so I suggest you check
by trial and error for your
particular flash, ceiling and film
combination.
If you are using color film
and the ceiling is yellow or any
shade other than white, don't
attempt bounce lighting. Your
subject will take on the color
cast of the ceiling, walls a n d
carpet.
To go one step further, if
you bounce your light verti-
cally above the camera, the
lighting will be quite flat and
non-directional. However, if
you bounce the light off a wall,
or off to one side of the sub-
ject, it will give you directional
' lighting with very pleasing soft
shadows, much like window
lighting.
Don't regard ,this as the last
word in bounce lighting, or you
will miss a lot of fun in photo-
graphy. Experience is the best
The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
aged by students at the University of'
Michigan. News phone: 764-0552: Second
Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan, 420 Maynard Street. Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues-
day through Sunday morning Univer-
sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by
carrier. $11 by mail.
Summer Session published Tuesday
through Saturday morning. Subscrip-
tion rates: $5 by carrier, $6 by mail.
All

teacher, so don't be afraid to
experiment. After all, it's only
film, and film is cheap!
AND NOW FOR you NIKON
fans. Nikon has finally come out
with a new camera. However, it
does not have the fully auto-
matic exposure control t h a t
many have been expecting.
This new camera will be
known as the Nikon F2. Ac-
cording to my sources (and this
information isn't as yet avail-
able in the photo mags or at,
the stores), the new F2 will ac-
cept all the present Nikkor lens-
es. It will have a swing b a c k,
much like on the Pentax motor
drive body. It will be removable
so that you can fit it with a 250
or 800 exposures back.
Apparently two new m o t o r
drives have been announced for
this new F2. (The old motor
drive for present Nikon F's will
not be interchangeable.) One
of the motors will be capable
of exposing 5 frames a second,
and the other at 7 f.p.s. Also it
will be capable of rewinding the
film into the cassette after ex-
posure of the whole roll,
This new body will feature an
electronic shutter up to 2000th
second, meaning you can set in-
between speeds. It will feature a
flash-sync speed of 80th se-
cond.
It has a newly designed
Photomic FTn head that reads
much the same way as the pre-
sent FTn. However, in addition,
there will be a servo-head avail-
able that will permit fully auto-
matic exposure setting, free of
human involvement! The pre-
sent FTn head will not be usable
on this new body, however all
the screens are still interchang-
able.
Nikon F2 is scheduled to reach

the market in late October, but
in very limited quantities. How
much? Nobody seems to want to
commit themselves, but the ru-
.mor is it might cost about $150
to $200 more than the present
comparable Nikon combination.
Further details on the n e w
Nikon F2 will be discussed in
next week's column. Meantime,
write in with your questions or
tips on how you solved y o u r
particular photo problem.
-

NEWSPAPERS
Friend of the
CONSUMERS
-
603 E. Liberty
DIAL 5-6290
I NIL L
j4k

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IGk

Sept.22

_ _
.gin- '
,IIf

Sorority Rush

--Oct. 5

I
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f
ail
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Visit any house
and register there

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7AQ.A~A7

III

- F RIDAY
Sept. 24
Jefferson- Airplane
Eldridge Cleaver
Tom Hayden
in a "fiction - documentary of
the New American Revolution."
1 p.M.
Godard-Pennebaker
MIDWEST PREMIERE
ARM/Michigan Film Society
1 st Presbyterian Church
1432 Washtenow (off S. Univ.)
7:30 & 9:15-$1.25

for inforrr

nai

Lion

'VJ U I


DELORES TAYLOR
Next: "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"

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OPEN 12:45 P.M.
Shows at
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Y4ewI rc de nvel 4/TRUMAN CAPOTE
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FILM AND SLIDES
FROM MAINLAND CHINA
Ann and Uldis Kruze, just back from a month's stay
in the People's Republic of China, are showing a
film and slides of their trip and want to talk about
their experiences.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 24-8 P.M.
Natural Science Auditorium
DONATION: $1.00
Sponsored by Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars

TONIGHT

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8:30

$1.00

~uaily CLAIBE RICHARDSON

olt § &4 Citca $'y KENWARD ELMSLIE

FOLKLORE
CENTER
BENEFIT
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6tumesa r y NANCY POTTS
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PRIOR1 TO BROADWAY

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NOW SHOWING!

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"A MASTERPIECE OF
POWER AND BEAUTY!"
-Cue
"EXTRAORDINARILY
BEAUTIFUL!"
-Rex Reec

14Z7Hill 51MEj
"

"STUNNING!"
--Playboy
"REMARKABLE!"
.New York

Vice. And Versa. Mick Jagger. And Mick Jagger.

I


J

THE CELEBRATED STORY OF A MAN
BY IDE

OBSESSED
A RFAITY.


FRIDAY-SEPT. 24

TWO WOMEN
Sophia Loren & Jean-Paul Belmondo Dir.-de Sica
7:00-11:30 p.m.
Alice's Restaurant-Alice Lloyd Hall-75c
ALSO:
Oct. 1-TRIUMPH OF THE WILL
1934-36-Germany-Riefenstahl
Oct. 28-THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR
1966-Czechoslovakia-Brynch
Oct. 15-THE EAST IS RED
1965-China
Oct. 22-THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
1919-Germany-Weine
Oct. 29-STREET OF SHAME
1956-Japan-Mizoguchi
Nov. 12-ANTONIO DAS MORTES
1969-Brazil-Rocho
& St. Louis Blues
1928-U .S.-Murphy
w h \ &sA 1 1 *V r en

James Fox, as runaway gangster, meets recluse rock-star and ritual.
-BRILLIANTLY PHOTOGRAPHED, EFFECTIVE USE OF MUSIC & ELECTRONIC SOUNDS-
includes "Memo for Turner" written by Mick Jagger for this thought-provoking film.
"With its hallucinogenic mushrooms, its direct equation of the underworld with respectable society, its obtrusively restless visual style,
PERFORMANCE runs the gamut from Henry Livings' EH? to Costa-Gavras' Z by way of Fritz Lang's M. There is the noticeable influence
of such contemporary sages as R. D. Laing (THE POLITICS OF EXPERIENCE and the B I R D OF PARADISE), Norman 0. Brown (LIFE
AGAINST DEATH) and Erving Goffman (most especially the chapter on "Performances" in his THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN
EVERYDAY LIFE), an elaborate score that combines rock numbers by Mick Jagger andi Indian-style music by Jack Nitzsche, rib-
nudging references to painters like Magritte, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and Francis Bacon, the looming presence throughout of Jorge
Luis Borges, and lurking beneath it all the ethos of the so-called underground and its cinema.
Coupled with the much publicized troubles that the makers have had with their distributors, and to a lesser extent with the censors,
it's not surprising therefore that the film has been acclaimed as an urgent mind-blowing revelation or dismissed as a trendily mindless
confection. There is certainly ample evidence to support both views. Yet for all its faults I found it a most engaging movie, and I have yet
to meet anyone (though some there surely must be) prepared to deny its manifest technical merits-and for this credit must go individu-
ally to Nicholas Roeg for his virtuoso camera work and to Donald Cammell for an inventive, often very funny script; and to Roeg and
Cammell jointly as co-directors for the remarkable acting (or should one say performance?) they've elcited from their oddly assorted cast.

04

WINNER GRAND PRIX CANNES 25th ANNIVERSARY AWARD

-Phillip French, "Performance," Sight and Sound magazine, Spring 1971

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