Light leak

Last updated
Light leak causing red glare Light leak - Brandanschlag solingen 1993.jpg
Light leak causing red glare

A light leak is a hole or gap in the body of a camera, or other optical instrument, where light is able to "leak" into the normally light-tight chamber, exposing the film or sensor with extra light. This light is diffuse, although parts within the camera may cast shadows or reflect it in a particular way. For most purposes this is considered a problem. Within the lomography movement it is seen as a positive effect, giving photos character.

One frequent source of light leaks in 35 mm cameras is around the film door due to degrading foam. [1] Replacing the foam is a simple matter. Medium format system cameras or large format cameras may have leaks between their various interchangeable parts or in old leather bellows. Electrical tape is often used to repair light leaks in these cases.

A light leak, considered as a problem, is a kind of stray light. It is possible to have a "virtual" light leak in spectral regions, like portions of the IR spectrum at room temperature, where surfaces inside the system emit significant amounts of radiation.

They can be created and emulated in digital photography and videography, either during production or after. In the first instance, the photographer or videographer removes the camera lens while photographing or recording and overloads the image sensor. This is usually used to create leaks which can then be overlaid onto another image or video. [2] Or they can be created entirely digitally, with common photo-editing software packages such as Adobe Photoshop, and overlaid into the image. [3]

Related Research Articles

Adobe Photoshop Raster graphics editing software

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster graphics editing, but in digital art as a whole. The software's name is often colloquially used as a verb although Adobe discourages such use. Photoshop can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, CIELAB, spot color, and duotone. Photoshop uses its own PSD and PSB file formats to support these features. In addition to raster graphics, Photoshop has limited abilities to edit or render text and vector graphics, as well as 3D graphics and video. Its feature set can be expanded by plug-ins; programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.

Camera Optical device for recording images

A camera is an optical instrument that captures a visual image. At a basic level, cameras consist of sealed boxes, with a small hole that allows light through to capture an image on a light-sensitive surface. Cameras have various mechanisms to control how the light falls onto the light-sensitive surface. Lenses focus the light entering the camera. The aperture can be narrowed or widened. A shutter mechanism determines the amount of time the photosensitive surface is exposed to light.

Digital camera Camera that captures photographs or video in digital format

A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices like smartphones with the same or more capabilities and features of dedicated cameras. While there are still dedicated digital cameras, many more cameras are now incorporated into mobile devices like smartphones. High-end, high-definition dedicated cameras are still commonly used by professionals and those who desire to take higher-quality photographs.

The following list comprises significant milestones in the development of photography technology.

Multi-exposure HDR capture Technique to capture HDR images and videos

In photography and videography, multi-exposure HDR capture is a technique allowing to capture high dynamic range (HDR) images by taking and then combining several different exposures of the same subject matter.

Medium format Photographic cameras with an aspect ratio in the range of about four to ten centimeters edge length

Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the 24 mm × 36 mm used in 35 mm photography, but smaller than 4 in × 5 in.

Image scanner Device that optically scans images, printed text

An image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting or an object and converts it to a digital image. Commonly used in offices are variations of the desktop flatbed scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications. Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are typically used for large-format documents, where a flatbed design would be impractical.

Macro photography Photography genre and techniques of extreme close-up pictures

Macro photography is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life size . By the original definition, a macro photograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative or image sensor is life size or greater. In some senses, however, it refers to a finished photograph of a subject that is greater than life size.

Digital camera back Digital image sensor that attaches to the back of a film camera

A digital camera back is a device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of the traditional negative film holder and contains an electronic image sensor. This lets cameras that were designed to use film take digital photographs. These camera backs are generally expensive by consumer standards and are primarily built to be attached on medium- and large-format cameras used by professional photographers.

Adobe Premiere Elements Video editing software

Adobe Premiere Elements is a video editing software application published by Adobe Systems. It is a scaled-down version of Adobe Premiere Pro and is tailored to novice editors and consumers. The entry screen offers clip organization, editing and auto-movie generation options. Premiere Pro project files are not compatible with Premiere Elements projects files.

Digital cinematography Digital image capture for film

Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the mid-2010s, most movies across the world are captured as well as distributed digitally.

Shutter (photography) Component of a photographic camera

In photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period, exposing photographic film or a photosensitive digital sensor to light in order to capture a permanent image of a scene. A shutter can also be used to allow pulses of light to pass outwards, as seen in a movie projector or a signal lamp. A shutter of variable speed is used to control exposure time of the film. The shutter is constructed so that it automatically closes after a certain required time interval. The speed of the shutter is controlled by a ring outside the camera, on which various timings are marked.

A camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, a motion picture film scanner, or other image scanner. Raw files are named so because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor. Normally, the image is processed by a raw converter in a wide-gamut internal color space where precise adjustments can be made before conversion to a "positive" file format such as TIFF or JPEG for storage, printing, or further manipulation. There are dozens of raw formats in use by different manufacturers of digital image capture equipment.

Digital photography Photography with a digital camera

Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The captured images are digitized and stored as a computer file ready for further digital processing, viewing, electronic publishing, or digital printing. They are combined with other digital images obtained from scanography and other methods that are often used in digital art or media art.

Adobe Lightroom Photo editing and management software

Adobe Lightroom is a creative image organization and image manipulation software developed by Adobe Inc. as part of the Creative Cloud subscription family. It is supported on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and tvOS. Its primary uses include importing, saving, viewing, organizing, tagging, editing, and sharing large numbers of digital images. Lightroom's editing functions include white balance, presence, tone, tone curve, HSL, color grading, detail, lens corrections, and calibration manipulation, as well as transformation, spot removal, red eye correction, graduated filters, radial filters, and adjustment brushing. The name of the software is based on darkrooms used for processing light-sensitive photographic materials.

Perspective control

Perspective control is a procedure for composing or editing photographs to better conform with the commonly accepted distortions in constructed perspective. The control would:

Film grain

Film grain or granularity is the random optical texture of processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons. While film grain is a function of such particles it is not the same thing as such. It is an optical effect, the magnitude of which depends on both the film stock and the definition at which it is observed. It can be objectionably noticeable in an over-enlarged film photograph.

The merits of digital versus film photography were considered by photographers and filmmakers in the early 21st century after consumer digital cameras became widely available. Digital photography and digital cinematography have both advantages and disadvantages relative to still film and motion picture film photography. In the 21st century, photography came to be predominantly digital, but traditional photochemical methods continue to serve many users and applications.

A colour cast is a tint of a particular colour, usually unwanted, that evenly affects a photographic image in whole or in part.

Monochrome photography Photography in which every point in the image has the same hue but different intensity

Monochrome photography is photography where each position on an image can record and show a different amount of light, but not a different hue. It includes all forms of black-and-white photography, which produce images containing shades of neutral grey ranging from black to white. Other hues besides grey, such as sepia, cyan, blue, or brown can also be used in monochrome photography. In the contemporary world, monochrome photography is mostly used for artistic purposes and certain technical imaging applications, rather than for visually accurate reproduction of scenes.

References

  1. "Guide to Replacing Light Seals". High 5 Cameras. 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  2. How to make film light leaks with your digital camera (Internet video). Maroon Peak Media. April 13, 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  3. Galer, Mark; Andrews, Philip (2010). Photoshop CS5: Essential Skills : a Guide to Creative Image Editing. Taylor & Francis. p. 438. ISBN   9780240522142 . Retrieved June 15, 2017.