Understanding Film Types and ISO Ratings - Beginning Photography Basics

Beginning photographers are usually so wrapped up in learning about exposure, depth of field, and creative composition - they tend to overlook the importance of what they are recording the image onto. Whether it be film or a digital sensor - what takes place when the image hits it has a huge determining factor of what it will look like, and most especially will determine how much work you have to do in the darkroom or on the PC.

It should be noted that while I will be mentioning popular film brands, I am not promoting them. I'm not sponsored, nor am I a film sales affiliate. These are the brands I am accustomed to working with. You will need to decide for yourself and hopefully these guidelines will help you.

In my beginning years as a film photographer if you were to dig through my backpack you would find a dozen different film types and way too many rolls per type. "Afterall," I would mutter under the extra weight, "never know what I will encounter!" To a certain extent that is true, but having 10 rolls of 100 ISO color print film of varying brands is a bit extreme!

A simple guideline to follow that you can test for yourself starts with choosing the right ISO rating for the film you work with. As a matter of fact, these ISO principals are the same for digital cameras as well!

Quite simply, the ISO rating is that number on the film box. If you purchased it at the local grocery store it's usually a 200, 400, or 800. That number is the film's rating of how sensitive it is to light. The higher the number the more sensitive - the lower, the less. The mistake many beginning photographers make is the assumption that the higher the number the better because they can shoot in lower light and not use flash, and still use faster shutter speeds. This is fine if you are CSI photographer at a crime scene at night...not so fine if you are shooting a gorgeous landscape with the last of the day's light on the horizon.

Basically - the higher the ISO number the worse the quality of the image - especially if you will enlarge prints. The lower the ISO (particularly where landscapes and nature are concerned) the better the image quality. With print film - color or black & white, when you get up into the 800 and higher range you will see an increase of grain in the printed image. This becomes even more visible as you enlarge the photo. While some artsy photos are quite appealing with this grain, it is extremely unappealing in fine art landscapes or nature. Of course the higher ISO rated films have their place in photography: sports and, well, CSI night photography!

In the 125 ISO or lower range these films are extremely fine grain and generally reproduce fantastic colors! They are excellent for enlargements. Black and white film in this ISO range will have superb contrast and an incredibly smooth tonal range (the transition from white to black).

As a starting point I recommend the following ISO ratings:

50 - 125: Landscapes and scenics
125 - 160: Portraits, people photography where flattering skin reproduction is important
200 or higher: Sports

In case you are wondering, you will not find these high quality films at your local convenience store! You will need to find a camera shop or buy from a professional supplier.

Now, with a general understanding of ISO, this leads to the next part: which film types? For the sake of simplifying education I am focusing on Daylight film, which is usually what you are handed over the counter. But should you shoot with print film or slide film? (also referred to as transparency or chrome film) This will depend on what you are shooting and what will be the end result.

Color Landscapes

Most serious film photographers will agree that slide film in the 100 ISO or lower range is what they work with exclusively. Along with many other photographers, if I am working in color film for landscapes you will only find Fuji Velvia (50 ISO) or Fuji Provia (100 ISO) slide film in my bag. They enlarge prints extremely well, have unsurpassed sharp resolution, and reproduce fantastic shadows and realistic colors. If you have any aspirations of submitting your work to publishers, you will need to learn to work with slide film. Most only accept transparencies or digital files.

The disadvantages with these slide films is they are just that - transparencies. You will have to spend a few more bucks to have prints made from them, and unless you are working with a highly skilled printer the results can be sometimes be disappointing compared to the original transparency. If you want to make a digital file out of it you will need to buy a high end film and transparency scanner. Slide film is also very easy to over expose during the shoot. So until you are accomplished at right-on exposures, you may think I'm an idiot recommending these slide films.

If you are a serious landscape photographer my personal recommendation is to avoid color print films. I switched to the high-end slide films because I never found a color print film that satisfied me. However, I have no doubt there are photographers who have something to say about that.

Black and white landscapes are entirely different. There are many excellent black and white print films available, but after much testing you will only find Ilford PanF (50 ISO) and FP4 (125 ISO) in my film bag. In my bold opinion - black and white print film for landscapes and scenics does not get any better than these.

Portrait and People Photography

Until you become highly skilled with exposure, and you are working with models that have flawless skin - stick to print films. The most important factor with color portrait photography is skin tones. Using films with ISO ratings lower than 160 will bring out the red pigments in a person's skin more than if you stick to the 160 range. Go below 100 and your model will look like they have a nasty rash! I speak from experience.

Kodak makes a wonderful color portrait film called Portra 160. In my opinion it reproduces the most pleasant skin tones and the contrast is perfect. Just as important, it enlarges very well. If you want to try black and white portraits I also recommend giving Ilford FP4 a try. You will see some of the smoothest facial tones imaginable with this film!

One of the advantages with color and black & white print film is the exposure tolerance (or film lattitude) is excellent. This means that if your exposure is just slightly off, the image will still most likely come out looking very nice.

I recommend these as starting points to find what works best for your photography. It is important for you to learn for yourself what works well, and what does not. However, applying these principals will give you a significant step up towards perfecting your photographic work.

Chip Clark is a San Diego based professional photographer, with over 20 years experience in landscape photography, wildlife photography, sports photography, and portraiture.

Chip Clark's photography tutorials are available at http://www.chipclarkphotography.com/advanced-techniques-for-beginning-photographers.htm

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Quality Standards with ISO 9001

Standardizing Quality Systems

The ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was established in 1947 to develop international standards for everything from electronics to management systems. Having over 13,000 standards currently in place, ISO has created the auditing and certification process known as ISO 9001. This began the drive toward quality standards.

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Companies choose to implement ISO 9001 and get certified because many customers and industries require it. By keeping customers happy, they can increase sales and profitability for their business. And if an area of the company’s program appears to be too bureaucratic and non-value-adding, then it might also be an area for continuous improvement efforts.

Enhancing Company Performance

Both customers and industries alike use ISO certification as a way to evaluate and audit their suppliers and products. Through an independent verification process, customers can gain assurance of their suppliers’ products. And as a supplier becomes certified, the testing requirement is waved, which saves the company both time and money.

Developing Best Practices

Employed as a “Best Practices” model, ISO 9001 utilizes the philosophy of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” continuous improvement cycle to achieve requirements. This process approach centers around eight quality management principles used by management as a guide toward improving performance and identifying the main elements needed in a good quality system:

1. Customer Focus

2. Leadership

3. Involvement of People

4. Process Approach

5. Systems Approach to Management

6. Continuous improvement

7. Factual Approach to Decision-Making

8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship

Building Stable Processes

ISO 9001 policies, procedures and forms can provide employers, managers and employees with a systematic and consistent approach to implementing policies, plans, procedures and work routines. Instead of building their own policies and procedures from scratch, some companies prefer to hire professional writers that have already prepared a set of written policies and procedures to help on the way to certification.

Auditing a Company System

In the certification process, an independent registrar will perform an on-site audit of a company’s operations to verify that it complies with the ISO standard. If the business complies, then that company will be registered as ISO 9001 compliant.

Meeting Company and Customer Needs

On the way to certification, a business can meet its ISO needs by:

• Using well-defined processes and procedures to build stable processes

• Training in the audit and certification process

• Continuously improving with ISO 9001 standards

Noticing the Difference

With complete procedures manuals for ISO 9001 Quality Management System, required HR procedures, and an ISO training class, a template like an ISO 9001 Quality Manager Procedures Manual Series can help a business on its way to ISO 9001 certification. Sometimes the effort can be very great, but companies typically notice a remarkable difference in efficiency and effectiveness after the first year.

Chris Anderson has over 18 years of management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering, consulting with companies large and small. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation of the information to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc.

Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com