How could historical war photos freeze fast action without obvious blur or grain?
Asked 2/26/2022
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Many historical war photographs seem to show very fast-moving subjects sharply, sometimes with what looks like shallow depth of field and very little visible grain. For example, some aircraft/gunnery photos appear to show tracer or bullet paths while the plane remains sharp. Given the usual exposure tradeoffs, how was this possible with the cameras and film of the time? Was it special technique, large-format equipment, staging, or something else?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
2 Answers
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First about depth-of-field: The two examples you posted, and many war pictures, are of objects at or near infinity (Latin: as far as the eye can see). The light waves from objects at infinity arrive as parallel rays. This occurs if the object is about 1000 focal lengths distance. Suppose you mount a 50mm lens, infinity is likely 50 X 1000 = 50,000mm = 164 feet. In other words, mount a 50mm, set focus to infinity, all objects 164 feet distant and further will be in critical focus.
Further, manually setting your camera’s focus at a distance called “hyperfocal” works best. This distance is about 1000 times the diameter of the iris (aperture). Suppose a 50mm camera set to f/8 is used. The diameter of the iris is 6.25mm. This is derived by dividing the focal length by the f-number. Multiply this diameter by 1000 = hyperfocal distance. In this case, 6,259mm = 20½ feet. Manually focus this camera, set to f/8 to 20 feet, the span of depth-of-field is one-half the hyperfocal to infinity. This hyperfocal distance is the magic distance used to pre-set the lens. Such a setting yields the maximum depth-of-field span that reached infinity.
As to shutter speed and moving objects: The direction of travel of a subject is the key factor. If the object is moving directly away or towards the camera, the shutter speed that does the trick is surprisingly slow. If the object is moving across the line of sight, a super-fast shutter will be needed. Oblique angles of travel require something in between. Practice is required to make shutter speed assessments.
Originally by user44949. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user44949
4y ago
0
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It’s mostly a combination of scene geometry, equipment, and sometimes staging—not magic.
First, many war photos show subjects that are very far away. At those distances, depth of field is naturally large, especially if the lens is focused near infinity or at the hyperfocal distance. So the image can look sharply focused even without an extremely small aperture.
Second, many press photographers of that era used large-format cameras such as 4x5 press cameras. Larger film needed less enlargement for printing, so grain was less visible than with 35mm film. That let photographers use faster film and faster shutter speeds while still getting clean-looking prints.
Third, your first example appears to have been staged rather than captured in actual combat. With staged lighting, controlled conditions, and repeated attempts, photographers could make images that would be much harder to get in real battle conditions.
Also, visible tracer or streaks do not necessarily mean the whole exposure was too long to keep the aircraft sharp; the apparent effect can be misleading in a single still image.
So the short answer is: long subject distance, large depth of field, larger film formats, and in some cases staged/controlled shooting conditions.
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