Yashica Twin Lens Reflex Guide - Focal Press January 1964
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In athletics, conditions are as a rule simplified because the position of the athlete is fixed, or at least can easily be
predetermined; in athletics too, there is always a dead-point of movement which usually coincides with the moment of
greatest interest. Therefore, the distance may be set beforehand and the exposure time will not have to be too fast. Speeds
of 1/125 to1/250 second are adequate for reasonably close-up pictures.
Where movements are taken it has to be borne in mind that arms and legs move with at least twice the speed of the
athlete's body as a whole. The direction of the movement plays an important part in all sports pictures. For fast
movements, or where one's shutter only allows of comparatively slow speeds, it is essential to avoid snapping at right
angles to the moving subject but to take the movement towards (or away from) the camera.
TAKING COLOUR PICTURES
You will undoubtedly want to take colour pictures with your Yashica. When you have decided which colour film to use,
stick to it long enough to become familiar with its peculiarities and with its special requirements with regard to exposure.
In this way you will get the best out of whatever material you may use.
Colour pictures should, of course, be coloured, but they need not look like a patch-work quilt. There is no necessity to
include all the colours of the rainbow in your picture. You will get a much better effect with a few large patches of
wellassorted colours-yellow and blue, for example, or green and red. Close-ups serve almost automatically to limit the
picture to one or two large surfaces, each of one colour only.
Subjects for Colour
In choosing suitable subjects for colour photographs, an important psychological fact should be taken into consideration.
This is, that most people are apt to notice many more colours in a picture than they do when looking at their surroundings.
In everyday life nearly all of us-with the exception of painters-content ourselves with a superficial perception of local
colours, whereas when looking at a colour picture we notice secondary shades, coloured reflections, coloured shadows and
so on, and in consequence even a picture which faithfully reproduces natural colours is likely to be considered too
variegated . Although it is probable that we shall eventually become familiar with the richness of natural colours as
rendered in the photographs, it is advisable to avoid subjects which are over-full of strongly coloured shades and
reflections.
A deep blue summer sky needs careful handling. The real thing, of course, is enchanting. Even so, without clouds it is apt
to look a bit gaudy. If there are dark-coloured objects in the foreground, the danger is already less, because the exposure is
taken from these. This means that the sky will be somewhat over-exposed and will appear a little paler, which is all to the
good.
Green is an awkward colour. If it comes out too dark it looks like spinach. Slight over-exposure immediately produces a
violent hue. The eye is much more critical of distortion in green than in the other colours, such as red and orange.
In the case of reflections the photographer should remember that a green shadow on a face will give an extremely strange
effect when the tree which causes it is not shown in the picture. This is also true for red reflections, such as may be caused
by a fire or a red coat,
Snow scenes in colour sometimes show definitely blue shadows. This may at first offend one's vision. But a little
experience with snow in the same conditions, that is, beneath a blue sky, will prove that the colour film was right. The
shadows, thanks to the reflection of the sky, are blue.
Portraits in Colour
Portraits are a very interesting but rather tricky task for the colour photographer. Deep shadows under chin and nose and in
the eye-sockets should be avoided by carefully balanced lighting, which in the case of artificial light should rely for best
results on not less than three photolamps and some reflectors. Be sure the reflectors are colourless, also don't place
anything coloured over the lamps to achieve soft lighting effects.
Although front lighting, i.e., with light behind the carnera, is the rule, a lens-hood will be found useful for excluding
unwanted light from the sides, reflections from white walls, water, and so on. It likewise protects the lens from disturbing
light from a Cloudless blue sky above and from the bright reflections from the road surface below. The result is a clearer
