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1. Cullmann makes a suction cup with an integrated ball head The Really Right Stuff geared focusing rail FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 109 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT The Monsterpod is claimed to stick to any surface for 10 minutes www monster pod com SUBJECT STABILIZERS It doesn t help to have a rock steady camera when the subject is blowing in the wind When photographing wildflowers even a very light breeze will sway flowers at the end of long stalks You can carry thin stakes and twist ties to secure a plant out of the image area to reduce the movement The Wimberly Plamp also holds plants steady in the breeze One end clamps onto the tripod leg and the other to the plant stem 110 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM FLASH AND FLASH ACCESSORIES FLASH AND FLASH ACCESSORIES Flash has been discussed earlier in this book but there are also a number of flash accessories that you may want to consider FLASH BRACKETS Flash brackets often used by event photographers elevate the flash to move it farther from the lens axis This reduces red eye in photos of people but also changes the angle of light so it s not as flat These units mount onto the camera using its tripod socket You then slip the flash into the bracket s cold shoe To connect the camera and flash you use a sync cord You can also use an exte
2. FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 15 Chapter 1 Introduction chapter we introduce you first to digital images and then to how they are captured with these new devices We also discuss the question Why go digital If you are still using a film camera this section is meant to convince you of the error of your ways Film photographers are standing on the deck of the photographic equivalent of the Titanic and it s already taken on a great deal of water etting started in digital photography is exciting In this opening CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION WHAT 1S A DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPH Animation Click to see how pixels are printed using dots of colored ink This reproduction of the famous painting The Spirit of 76 is done in Jelly beans Think of each jelly bean as a pixel and it s easy to see how dots or pixels can form images Jelly Bean Spirit of 76 courtesy of Herman Goelitz Candy Company Inc Makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans 18 This book is about digital cameras and the photographs they capture Under standing the end product the digital photograph is a good place to begin understanding the whole digital photography process Digital photographs are actually mosaics of millions of tiny squares called picture elements or just pixels Like the impressionist painters who painted wonderful scenes with small dabs of paint your computer and printer use
3. FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 55 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Almost all cameras come with a USB or Firewire IEEE 1394 cable you use to connect it to a computer or printer Courtesy of Canon at www powershot com Cable connections on the back of Apple s Mac Mini with USB and Firewire IEEE 1394 logos and connectors to the left of the headphone plug Courtesy of Apple at www apple com A dock lets you easily connect a camera to a printer or computer and even charge the camera s batteries Unfortunately docks are camera model specific so if you buy another camera you ll need another way to make your connections Courtesy of Kodak at www kodak com 56 TRANSFERRING PHOTOS CABLE CONNECTIONS Another popular way to transfer photos is by way of cables The most popular connections at the moment are USB 2 0 and Firewire 800 IEE 1394b FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TRANSFERRING IMAGES USB cables have a standard plug at the computer end but those on the camera end arent standardized a source of endless frustration for those with more than one camera Photo courtesy of Shokai Far East Ltd at www shokaifareast com Sandisk makes an SD card that folds to reveal a USB connector so it can be plugged in without using a slot or card or card reader The Kodak EasyShare One s WiFi compatibility
4. a a m lt iz e es Paa he at ee il E pan m a ee a on lt gt 7 A FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM ExPosuRE MopbeEs ExPOSURE MODES Animation Click to explore the various exposure modes on many cameras Modes and how they are designated on the camera vary from model to model Modes that give you the most control available only on more advanced cameras are usually indicated with letters Those that are fully automatic often called scene modes are indicated with icons like those shown here on this Canon mode dial Animation Click to explore how apertures and shutter speeds relate landscape portrait night scene close up On some cameras you select exposure modes using buttons or a menu Digital cameras have various ways of controlling the aperture and shutter speed All modes give equally good results in the vast majority of photographic situations However when you photograph in specific kinds of situations each of these exposure modes may have certain advantages Here are modes you may want to look for although it can be complicated by the way camera companies use different names for the same things E Automatic mode sets the shutter speed and aperture without your interven tion This mode allows you to shoot without paying attention to settings so you can concentrate on composition and focus E Sc
5. tion it also returns us to that era of endlessly reusable film and we don t need a mule to carry it Hand the camera to the kids take weird and unusual angles shoot without looking through the viewfinder and ignore all previ ously held conceptions about how to take photographs You may be surprised at the photos you get if you exploit this new era of uninhibited shooting William Henry Jackson and his mule THE THREE STEPS OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Digital cameras are just one link in a long chain leading from the original scene through to the final image that you display or distribute a sequence photographers refer to as workflow In fact a digital camera isn t even an absolutely necessary link in the chain The key element in digital photography is an image in a digital format made up of pixels Although a digital camera captures photos in this format you can also convert slides negatives or prints by scanning them To understand how the camera fits in with other parts of the digital workflow it helps to understand the three basic steps involved in creating and using digital photographs capturing editing and sharing The three steps of digital photography Capturing Editing F Sharing Photos Photos Photos Step 1 Capturing Photographs The first step in digital photography is to get a digital image and there is more than one way to do this E Digital still cameras capture photographs in a digital f
6. This is a useful feature because there is a trade off between compression and image quality Less compression gives you better images so you can make larger prints but you can t store as many images Because you can t add pixels as well or remove the effects of compression after the fact it s usually best to use the largest size and least compression If you have to reduce either you can do so later in a photo editing program E RAW format is available on many cameras One of Ansel Adam s better know expressions drawn from his early experiences as a concert pianist was The negative is the score the print is the performance In digital photogra phy the image file is your score and your photo editing program is where you perform The printer then just does what you ve told it to do as you edited the image To get the highest possible quality you want to start with the best possible score a RAW image file These files contain all of the image data captured by the camera s image sensor without it being processed or adjusted You can interpret this data any way you want instead of having the camera do it for you If you want total control over exposure white balance and other settings this is a format you will learn to love Only four camera settings permanently affect a RAW image the aperture shutter speed ISO and focus Other settings may affect the appearance of the thumbnail or preview but not the image itself Since e
7. choose from a wide array of lenses Here are those offered by Canon Animation Click for a PDF of Canon lenses 1 Wig V2 6 ti FRG 1f 11 LG iaz iu Lenses with larger maximum apertures let you use faster shutter speeds and are often called faster lenses LAng kia Fa keri Animation Click to explore apertures and their role in exposure 58 Most digital cameras have a fixed zoom lens that can t be removed or replaced One big advantage is that the camera is sealed so no dust can get on the image sensor Digital SLR cameras have removable lenses so you can change them when circumstances dictate LENS INFORMATION Many lenses display information that is useful in your photography Be sure to consider this information when choosing a lens and take the time to read any printed information that comes with a lens Focal length range as a multiplier 12x Maximum aperture range as you zoom from wide angle to tele Focal length range in mm Information around the lens may include E The focal length of the lens or the zoom range in mm Here the range of a zoom lens is 6 0 72 0mm On fixed lens cameras the zoom range is often given as a multiplier For example 6 0 72 0mm is 12x 72 divided by 6 E The maximum aperture determines how wide the lens will open It s listed on the lens as a ratio such as 1 2 4 or 1 2 8 3 7 On most zoom lenses two maximum apertures are given beca
8. fades between images Can you set a power off and on time so the frame doesn t run 24 hours a day Is there a sleep function so you can turn it off temporarily Is there a pan or zoom function Can you control brightness and contrast Can you view all of the stored images as thumbnails E Style The look of these frames vary widely Be sure you see a photo of what it looks like to confirm that you can live with it Some have interchange able frames bezels so you can change the look when you want to E Services Some of the Internet connected devices let you check such things as the weather forecast sports scores news headlines or lottery numbers Pacific Digital makes a frame you can send photos to wirelessly using a Wi Fi network FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 115 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT CAMERA STRAPS AND BAGS Op Tech makes straps for both light and heavy camera loads 116 The problem with most cameras is that they don t fit in a shirt pocket That means they have to be carried protected and stored in some manner There are all kinds of cases for digital cameras All are basically bags with padded compartments and straps What determines your choice is what you will be carrying and how far you plan to carry it For example a camera bag that hangs from a shoulder strap is ideal for short distances but for hiking a fanny pack or even a backpack would be more
9. or one side of the ring can be fired with more intensity than the other so the flash casts shadows that show surface modeling in the subject Canon makes the Macro Twin Lite designed for serious close up photography and other companies make similar units Two separate flash heads can be swiveled around the lens can be aimed separately and even removed from their holder and mounted off camera Canon s Ring Lite left and Macro Twin Lite right are both designed for close up photography FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 83 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS BATTERIES TIPS E In the cold batteries run down faster than usual To prevent this keep the camera under your coat so it stays warmer or remove the batteries and carry them in an inside pocket E When flying be sure your batteries are charged You may be asked to turn the camera on at a security check point A low battery icon on many cameras indicates the battery is getting low Some SLRs have optional battery packs that attach to the bottom of the camera for additional shooting time Photo courtesy of Canon There are cases for batteries and other accessories 84 Battery life is a real challenge in digital photography mainly because LCD displays consume so much battery power and the camera s flash also makes heavy draws on it Progress has been made however and today s batteries are both longe
10. these tiny pixels to display or print photographs To do so the computer divides the screen or printed page into a grid of pixels It then uses the values stored in the digital photograph to specify the brightness and color of each pixel in this grid a form of painting by number FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Why Go DIGITAL Wry Go DIGITAL Most of this book assumes you are already a digital photographer or have decided to become one If you are still on the fence this section is just for you To begin put aside any concerns about image quality Digital images are equal to and often better than film images The real reason to switch lies elsewhere in the fact that once captured digital photographs are already in a format that makes them incredibly easy to share and use For example you can insert digital photographs into word processing documents print them at a kiosk send them by e mail to friends or post them on a Web site where anyone in the world can see them With most cameras you can immediately see your images on a small LCD monitor on the back of the camera or you can connect the camera to a TV and show them as a slide show Some cameras can even be connected to a telescope or microscope to display dramatically enlarged images on a large screen TV It s this ability to instantly share photos with anyone anywhere that makes digital photography so attractive If you r
11. 1 Using Continuous Lights 00000 94 RI a AEAEE NILE ESTE E AEI ETTE 78 Stands 94 Flash Power and Range 18 Reflectors 94 Flash Sync and Shutter Speeds 79 Bulbs 94 Flash Modes 79 Using Strobes 96 Flash Exposure Compensation 81 Flash Exposure Bracketing FEB 81 Connecting the Camera and Lights 97 Flash Exposure FE Lock 81 Hot shoes 97 High speed sync FP Flash 82 PC Terminal 97 Stroboscopic Flash 82 Wireless Remote Flash 97 External Flash Units 82 Slave Flash Units O3 EEEE Ring Flash 83 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT 98 ee deren ieee aera aaeaseaes 84 Tri MonopodS awcesivasecsesaeuenssneuss 99 Other Features catsstccrvepcisstenvaneseseensness 85 k a o5 Look and Feel 85 es Size and Weight 85 M op ve Control Panel Illumination So ue ae Mirror Lockup 95 TPO FIBRO sicictraepcavoneknicsreasriaaetes 103 Custom Functions 85 3 Way Pan Tilt Heads 103 Time Lapse Intervalometer Mode Photogra Ball Heads 103 phy 85 Other Heads 105 Multiple Exposures 86 Quick Release Systems n 106 P o i The Bogen Manfrotto System 106 The Arca Swi t 106 Water and Shock Proofing 86 A oWies ler Saiftimer demote Control as Other Camera SUBDOFES cassiserrcmenrwates 108 Date time Indicators 86 Gimbaled Mounts 108 FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 13 CONTENTS T Beanbags 108 Window Mounts 108 Suction Mounts 109 Clamps 109 Focusing Rails 109 Other 109 Subject Stabilizers 110
12. 105 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT Quick RELEASE SYSTEMS The Bogen quick release system Courtesy of Bogen Photo a ie alll A variety of custom designed plates made for specific cameras and lenses Courtesy of Acratech ih Markis A ball head with a quick release clamp and panning base with index marks Courtesy of Markins 106 If you have ever tried to mount your camera directly to a tripod or tripod head using the screw you know how tiresome it can get after just a few times To make mounting and unmounting the camera fast and easy you need a two part quick release QR system Some tripod heads have clamps built into the head and for others you can add one You then attach plates to your camera and heavier lenses that have lens collars on them To mount the camera on the tripod you just slip the plate into the clamp and lock it in place To remove the camera you just unlock the clamp and pull the camera out It s fast and secure There are two kinds of tripod heads on which you can mount a OR clamp the traditional 3 way pan tilt head or a ball head THE BOGEN MANFROTTO SYSTEM The Bogen Manfrotto quick release system uses a lever operated clamp on the tripod and hexagonal plates on cameras and lenses To mount the camera you press the lever to open a cam like lock You then slide the plate into the clamp s front flanges and press it down in back to push down a pin that closes the cam to lock t
13. Courtesy of Really Right Stuff FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 107 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT OTHER CAMERA SUPPORTS The Wimberly gimbaled mount left suspends the camera lens combination so it feels weightless The Wimberly Sidekick right converts a ball head into a gimbaled mount Courtesy of Wimberly bean bag shown in saddlebag mode left and flat mode right Courtesy of Kinesis Photo Gear The Pod is filled with plastic beads and screws into a camera s tripod socket Courtesy of Pop Multimedia www thepod ca 108 There are lots of ways to support a camera ranging from trees and porch railing to gimbaled mounts In this section we look at some of the ones that have found favor especially with nature photographers GIMBALED MOUNTS A gimbaled head lets you mount a large and heavy camera lens combination so it s perfectly balanced on its center of gravity With the camera suspended in this position it feels weightless as you quickly elevate or pan the camera to compose an image or smoothly follow a moving subject such as a bird The Wimberly Sidekick slides into your ball head s clamp to convert it into a gimbaled head The Sidekick s elevated tilt mechanism and side mounted quick release allow the lens to rotate around its center of gravity This provides the same action and ease of use found in the Wimberley Head but is smaller lighter and le
14. FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM CARING FOR YOUR CAMERA CARING FOR YOUR CAMERA TIP E When cleaning your camera only use products specifically de signed for cameras Animation Click to see the effects of dust on your images Perce Cher pce beg orn geet oe a i k DERF is i fhe pen aa 1 DA MLA REMONT MLSE BAND a OF AR MANR A TT DS Ae CeCe goa Chp in Gt Coriri mOi l i DOA 00d Chem in ora By corarucus FTO m Cece E i Here are the five steps recommended by Photographic Solutions for cleaning your image sensor with their sensor swabs and Eclipse cleaning fluid http www photosol com FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM Once you have gone digital you ll find that some of the best opportunities for interesting photographs occur during bad weather or in hostile environments You can take advantage of these opportunities as long as you take a few precautions to protect your camera CLEANING THE IMAGE SENSOR When you change lenses on an SLR it s surprisingly easy to get dust on the image sensor that then shows up as dark spots in your images One way to check if this has happened is to take a few photos of a clear sky or white card Open the images in your photo editing program and flip through them Ona PC running Photoshop zoom the pictures to the same size then Ctrl Tab through them quickly and the
15. Flash and Flash Accessories 5 111 Flash Brackets 111 Battery Packs 111 Reflectors and Diffusers 111 Flash Extenders 112 Slave Units 112 Image Storage and Viewing 5 113 Digital Picture Frames eeeeeeeeeees 114 Camera Straps and Bags 005 116 Neck Straps 116 Chest straps or Harnesses 116 Vests 117 Lens Pouches 117 Shoulder and Hip Bags 117 Camera Backpacks 117 Rigid Cases 118 Camera Pouches and Cases 118 Camera Bags 118 Tripod Cases 119 Waterproofing while Shooting 119 CHAPTER 5 APPENDIX sessscccnussennesennussens Se a ee ee eT eer 121 Caring for Your Camera cccceeeeees 125 Cleaning the Image Sensor 125 Cleaning the Camera and Lens 125 Protecting your Camera from the Elements 126 Protecting when Traveling 126 Storing a Camera 126 Caring for Yourself 126 14 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM List oF ANIMATIONS AND OTHER RESOURCES List OF ANIMATIONS AND OTHER RESOURCES Copyright Office Booklet PDF 2 Various Exposure Modes 0ccceeeeeees 67 Adobe Acrobat Quick Reference PDF 4 Exposure Equivalents ceeeeeeeees 67 Dots Form IMAagesS epscaransciceesscnsesesernrns 18 Various Shutters sssssssssrererersreren 69 Cameras as Dark BOXES sssssssnnsnnnnnn 24 Shutter Speed s Effect on Exposure 69 The Meaning of Charge Coupled 24 Shutter Speed s Effect on Moti
16. HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 33 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Fixed lens cameras like Canon s S3 IS often have great zoom lenses and capture large images Pentax makes underwater cameras including the Optio WPi High end fixed lens cameras usually have a zoom lens and many of the exposure and focus controls found on SLR cameras Single lens reflex cameras SLRs like this Canon 30D are the most flexible and often the most expensive cameras SLR cameras from major companies have more lenses than you ll ever need DIRTY SECRET E Removing the lens from an SLR One of the most popular camera types among professionals and serious lets dust enter the amateurs is the single lens reflex better known as a digital SLR These cameras camera and settle are expensive but have certain advantages over other camera types on the sensor This E You can change lenses dust creates dark spots in your E You see the scene through the lens so what you see is what you get Fixed images You can lens cameras with electronic viewfinders differ from SLRs in that they don t remove the dust use a movable mirror to bounce light into the viewfinder yourself but it s risky page 125 E You can select from a large variety of accessories including powerful flash units 34 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TYPES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS Minox makes a Leica M3 miniature
17. IN BuyinG A New CAMERA AND OTHER EQUIPMENT you can t understand the manual go to www shortcourses com to see if they have a guide to the camera They are much clearer CHeck New MobeEL PLANS Digital cameras generally go through model changes or upgrades every 18 months or so being renamed something like 10D 20D 30D and so on It helps in two ways to know when the next upgrade is expected First prices on the current model usually drop just before a new models comes out as stores clear out inventory This is an opportunity to save some money especially since the industry is maturing and changes from model to model are not as great as they once were Second some dealers sell old models at full price right up to and past the date new models are introduced It s helpful if you know the true facts when negotiating a purchase You can find information about new models on camera company Web sites in their News and Press sections and on Web sites devoted to digital camera news and reviews CHECK CAMERA SITES Because digital cameras draw on two worlds photography and computing the old distinguished names in photography have been joined by a host of new competitors such as Sony and Hewlett Packard The result is a very crowded market The field of digital photography is now maturing and a shake out has started Some of the existing companies will leave the field unable to compete in such a fast paced market Until then we will all benefit
18. The power of a flash is indicated by its guide number Click here for an Excel work sheet you FLasH Power AND RANGE can use to explore these numbers One thing to check is a flash s maximum range The intensity of the flash when it reaches a subject depends on the flash s power and on how far the light has to travel The further the subject is from the flash the less light will reach it and so the less light will be reflected from the subject back toward the camera When the flash fires the beam of light expands as it moves father from the camera So its intensity falls off with distance As a result subjects nearer the flash will be illuminated with a more intense light than subjects farther away The rate at which the light falls off is described by the inverse square law The law states that if the distance between the flash and subject is doubled only one quarter the amount of light will reach the subject because the same amount of light is spread over a larger area Conversely when the distance is halved four times as much light falls on a given area The light from a flash falls off with distance When you double the distance you get one quarter as much light This relationship is called the inverse square law Since flash falls off with When subjects in an image are located at different distances from the camera distance objects near the exposure will only be correct for those at one distance normally those the fl
19. a part of the image falling on the sensor and enlarging it to fill the sensor It does this by adding new pixels to the image using interpolation The interpolated image doesn t have as many unique pixels as one taken with an optical zoom so is inferior In fact you don t even need this zoom feature because you can get exactly the same effect just by cropping a normal image in a photo editing program and then enlarging it Ignore advertising claims for digital zoom and total zoom and focus on optical zoom If they don t use that term in their ads or specifications beware E Cropping zoom called Smart Zoom by Sony is just like digital zoom but it doesn t inflate the cropped image by adding pixels It just uses some of the image sensors pixels to record an image and has exactly the same effect as cropping a picture in a photo editing program NoRMAL LENSES A normal lens for a 35mm camera usually refers to a fixed focal length lens of 50mm or a zoom lens zoomed in a little from its widest angle When using a lens of this focal length the scene looks about the same as it does to the unaided eye With a longer focal length everything appears closer than it actually is With a shorter focal length everything looks farther away A normal focal length 50mm lens isn t necessarily the one photographers normally use Many photographers prefer the wider angle of view and greater depth of field provided by a slightly shorter focal l
20. a single unit More advanced flash units accomplish the same goal using optical or radio signals You mount a master flash or a transmitter on the camera s hot shoe and it transmits wireless signals to the slave units telling them what settings to use and when to fire The master flash on the camera can be enabled or disabled When disabled it still transmits signals to the remote units With expensive units the output ratio of different slave units can be set to finely tune exposures This is ideal for background or accent lighting when shooting in a studio setting When using wireless remote flash you can use a modeling light that illuminates the subject for a full second so you can preview flash effects such as shadows and highlights before taking a picture FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 97 Chapter 4 Other Camera Equipment n this chapter we discuss the equipment you need to get the most out of your digital camera We start with the second most important element after your camera and lens the tripod or other device you use to support your camera for the sharpest possible pictures We then explore many of the other ways you can spend money If you like gadgets this is an area where you ll have a ball In this part we focus on the most common approaches to each category we cover However ingenuity is at work all over the place and you can find all kinds of well designed and well made products in e
21. all of the pixels around a newly inserted pixel are red the new pixel will be red What s important to keep in mind is that interpolated resolution doesn t add any new information to the image it just adds pixels and makes the file larger This Click for an Excel work Same thing can be done ina photo editing program such as Photoshop by sheet iharconverts resizing the image Beware of companies that promote or emphasize their pixels into print sizes device s interpolated or enhanced resolution You re getting less than you think you are Always check for the device s optical resolution If this isn t provided flee the product you re dealing with marketing people who don t have your best interests at heart Animation Click to see how some TIP cameras inflate their pixel counts E A few camera companies even some that are otherwise respectable try to deceive you into thinking their cameras have higher resolution than they really do They use software to inflate the size of a captured image and then use this inflated size in advertising claims about the camera This way each captured pixel can suddenly become four and voila a 2 Megapixel image suddenly and magically becomes 8 Megapixels FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 47 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS MAGE SENSORS SENSITIVITY AND NOISE In dim light you or the camera can only get a good exposure by leaving the shutter
22. are especially useful if the camera lets you manually select the one to use These are from a Nikon SLR Here three areas are indicated with the active one used to set focus shown in green The camera normally chooses the focus point that covers the closest part of the scene but you can also select the point manually Animation Click to explore the way focus zones work Some cameras let you move the focus area around the screen You may also be able to link spot metering to the focus area When focusing you should also be checking composition One thing we often forget is to check how the main subject relates to the background 74 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Focus Animation Click to explore the effects of servo focus HAVEN T I SEEN YOU SOME WHERE E Nikon has introduced cameras with a focus mode called Face priority AF In this mode the camera automati cally detects people s faces in the scene and focuses on them Only time will tell if this intelligent focus works well enough to catch on Pressing the shutter button halfway down locks focus and pressing it all the way down takes the picture Animation Click to explore focus P G E 9 The landscape mode 5 QO 5 Animation Click to explore depth of field Servo Focus Normally focus locks when you press the shutter button
23. as one expects The software provided with a camera often includes the following E Image management software used to transfer images from your camera to your computer or other device view the images and keep them organized E Photo editing software used to edit your images Ina few cases this software is a limited version of the full featured program available through normal computer outlets E Panoramic stitching software used to assemble a series of images into a seamless panorama FIRMWARE UPDATE A digital camera is controlled by software called firmware because it is embedded in a piece of hardware Some cameras let you update the firmware if the manufacturer fixes bugs or comes up with new features IMAGE VERIFICATION People in the criminal justice field are concerned about the integrity of digital photos used as evidence because of the ease with which they can be manipu lated One company at least Canon has responded to this problem with their Data Verification Kit DVK E2 When turned on the camera appends data to the image file that lets you verify if an image is original or not When played back a padlock icon will be displayed EXIF INFORMATION When you take a photo the digital camera records the date and time and many of the camera settings used to capture it This information called EXIF infor mation is stored in the image file and goes wherever it goes Many cameras let you display this information on the m
24. be too much There are lots of small even miniature ball heads available to choose from FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TRIPOD HEADS ClamperPod makes a miniature ball head for small pocket cameras Ball heads are manufactured by a number of companies You ll find experi enced people testifying to the superiority of each brand and model so it s more like religion than science OTHER HEADS In some circumstances you may want to look into non traditional head designs Some of them are quite unique E Bogen makes a grip action ball head that makes it possible to compose the image and lock the ball with one hand It operates something like a deadman s brake on a train When you release the lever the ball locks There is no way that it can get away from you inadvertently E Novoflex s MagicBall ball heads have a fixed ball and a moveable housing exactly the reverse of traditional ball heads This design lets you move the camera to a vertical position at any point on the head since there is no need for a vertical drop slot An accessory 360 rotating panorama base with spirit level The Bogen grip action can be mounted on the top or the bottom or both for rotation without using ball head with quick the locking control release plate Cat No 3265 The Novoflex MagicBall has a unique design FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM
25. called barrel distortion Long lenses make the sun and moon look much larger 62 LONG Focal LENGTHS A long focal length lens acts somewhat like a telescope in that it magnifies the image of your subject This is especially useful when you can t get close to your subject or don t want to Long lenses are ideal for wildlife portrait and candid photography whenever getting close to a subject might disturb it The long focal length lets you keep your distance and still fill the viewfinder frame with the subject Keeping at a distance eliminates the exaggerated perspective caused by working very close to a subject with a shorter focal length lens It also helps relax your subjects if they get uneasy as many people do when a camera comes close As the focal length of a lens increases the depth of field gets shallower so you must focus more carefully Also a long lens visually compresses space making objects in the scene appear closer together than they actually are The primary drawback of a long lens is that most but not all such lenses have a smaller maximum aperture This may force you to use a slower shutter speed Also since a long lens magnifies movement just as it magnifies the subject you may also have to use a tripod instead of hand holding the camera One thing birders are doing is called digiscoping They use an adapter to mount a digital camera often a point and shoot model to their spotting scope Many
26. camera Some plates have been designed especially long for this very Apal head wine A purpose The ability to slide a long plate back and forth is also beneficial when quick release clamp or _ it s mounted on a long lens You can move the camera lens combo back and panning base You can forth to position it over the center of gravity This makes it less prone to tip mount any quick from a too heavy off center load release system on the a platform Courtesy of Most ball heads have a 90 degree slot that you use when positioning the Markina camera in a vertical position The problem is that this doesn t keep the weight of the camera centered over the tripod For this reason an L shaped plate has been developed With one of these mounted on the camera you actually have two plates one for horizontal shots and one for verticals To change orienta tions just remove the current plate from the clamp turn the camera 90 degrees and insert the other plate Not only does this keep the camera weight centered it also makes it much easier to switch between landscape and portrait orienta tions Kimberly makes a generic plate the P 5 that fits any camera Gitzo makes a unique clamp with a lever operated release Courtesy of Gitzo Using an L plate a camera mounted using the horizontal plate left or the vertical plate right Really Right Stuff makes a lever release type clamp that can be used to adapt ball heads
27. camera with a 3 2 Megapixel image sensor Courtesy of Minox at www minox com Rangefinder cameras such as the Leica dominated photojournalism and fine arts photography for decades They were quiet small and their large bright viewfinders made it easy to focus and compose images At the time this is being written the only digital rangefinder is Epson s 6 1 Megapixel R D1 However Leica is developing one that is tentatively called the Leica Digital M8 You ll rarely be without a camera if it s on your key ring CAMERA SIZE E When it comes to digital cameras size doesn t matter as much as you think Small pocket cameras can take Video cameras often have the ability to capture still images The images are smaller than those captured by many digital still cameras but it s nice to have this option when you are videoing an event As you ll see most digital cam eras also have a movie mode that lets you capture short video clips The more I use these movie modes the more I like them The secret to interesting movies for most of us is to keep them short A video camera may be able to capture hours of footage but who wants to watch it Short one minute or so videos can capture highlights and be shared by e mail or by posting them on popular sites such as YouTube com images that are as good as those taken by larger cameras The only difference is they usually have fewer features and lower resolution F
28. camera that has a black amp white mode is that when taking pictures they are displayed on the monitor in that format This makes it much easier to visualize the end result A film photographer has to do this visualization in his or her head One of the masters of black amp white photography was Ansel Adams shown here discussing his books with Tim Hill of New York Graphic Society On some digital cameras you can add an infrared filter and shoot black and white infrared images FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 43 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS MAGE SENSORS I YPES This photo shows the pixels on an image sensor greatly enlarged Courtesy of IBM A silicon wafer used to make image sensors Courtesy of IBM Animation _ Click to see where the name charge coupled device comes from 44 When using a film camera you can insert any kind of film you want It s the film you choose that gives photographs distinctive colors tones and grain If you think one film gives images that are too blue or red you can change to another film With digital cameras the film is permanently part of the camera so buying a digital camera is in part like selecting a film to use Like film different image sensors render colors differently have different amounts of grain different sensitivities to light and so on The only ways to evaluate these aspects are to examine some
29. cameras as when checking them into baggage on a flight You might as well label them Steal this Case in big neon i Kaa havaa letters Rigid waterproof cases are perfect for canoe or kayak trips but be sure separate compartment tO strap them to a thwart so they don t sink or float away if you capsize Some for a notebook not only have waterproof seals but also a pressure system You pump up the computer inside pressure so water can t get in even if it can find a way around the seals Some camera bags and cases like this one CAMERA POUCHES AND CASES Camera pouches and cases come in all shapes and size just as cameras do Some have neck straps and others belt loops I ve never tried a belt mounted camera case but it should work quite well with a small camera CAMERA BAGS Camera bags usually contain a number of adjustable self adhering padded dividers so you can customize the interior layout for your digital camera table top tripod notebook computer lenses batteries filters and power pack There may also be pockets designed for memory cards pens pencils business cards manuals and CDs The Pod from Roadwired has room for your camera and all of its cable and other accessories A Kata backpack with optional cart above and camera bag right 118 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM CAMERA STRAPS AND BAGS TRIPOD CASES A tripod case comes in handy when you are che
30. consider stands reflectors and bulbs STANDS Stands come in a variety of styles and prices Their purpose is to hold lights and other lighting devices in a fixed position They are usually collapsible for easy storage and have sections so their height can be adjusted You can add a boom to hold lights reflectors diffusers gobos or other objects out at a distance In tabletop photography stands need not be too tall 6 to 8 feet should suffice REFLECTORS Reflectors vary from those found in hardware stores to expensive profes sional units When using them be sure they are neutral in color so they don t add a color cast However there are gold reflectors and make colors look warmer BULBS The bulb is the most critical part of the continuous lighting system E Tungsten lamps especially photofloods throw off a lot of heat Some also have an unusually short life span as low as 3 hours Because these were the only bulbs available when continuous lights were last popular they account for the alternate name for continuous lighting hot lights E HMI Halide Metal Oxide lamps are small very expensive arc lamps that generate four or more times the light of tungsten bulbs with less heat The light is also perfectly daylight balanced E Fluorescent bulbs are inexpensive cooler require 90 less power and last 100 times longer than tungsten lights up to 10 000 hours They can also be dimmed to 3 of their full power
31. conversion filters let you fine tune the way you capture colors These have been made irrelevant on cameras what give you fine control over white balance page 76 E Close up lenses magnify the subject without affecting aperture settings FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 65 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS MAGE STABILIZATION Animation Click to explore how image stabilization reduces but doesn t eliminate blur caused by camera movement A tripod is a necessity for some kinds of photography Using a beanbag like the Pod along with the camera s self timer is a good form of image Stabilization Courtesy of Pop Multimedia www thepod ca Nikon s image stabilization called VR for Vibration Reduction and Canon s IS move a lens group to counteract camera motion 66 When you move the camera during an exposure especially at slow shutter speeds when shooting close ups or using a long focal length lens it causes blur in the image To reduce this blur some cameras have image stabilization systems These systems use a sensor to recognize camera movement and then try to compensate using a variety of techniques The process goes under a confusing variety of names including image stabilization vibration reduction and anti shake Manufacturers claim 2 to 3 stop increases before camera shake blurs an image This means that if you can shoot safely at 1 60 without IS you can s
32. deserve your support Their prices aren t always higher because they are more profitable More likely they are higher because their costs are higher As often as possible it makes sense to support your local mer chants They are part of the commu nity you live in and your dollars circulate locally not in a distant place you care nothing about THE STEPS IN BuyiInGc A NEw CAMERA dealers remove items from the package and sell them separately To find out what should be included in the package visit the camera manufacturer s Web site and check their specifications page The included items are almost always listed The user s guide that comes with the camera will also list the items that should be included as part of the camera s price Avoip Gray MarRKET PRODUCTS When camera companies introduce new cameras they frequently use different product numbers names and prices in different markets around the world Some dealers buy cameras in countries with the lowest prices and then sell them in another country Since these cameras are bought and sold outside of the manufacturer s normal distribution channels prices may be lower but you almost always lose warranty coverage and technical support CHECK POSTAGE RATES AND SALES TAXES When purchasing a camera you have three components of the price to con sider the camera price postage and handling and taxes When you purchase over the Web or by mail order from an ou
33. dust spots jump out at you If all of the images have dark spots in the same place that s dust on the sensor To clean the sensor yourself you need more than courage You also need sensor swabs and cleaning fluid NEVER used compressed air or other cleaning products on the sensor Cleaning supplies are available from B amp H and Calumet The most popular products seem to be those from Photographic Solutions http www photosol com For more information Google cleaning image sensor but proceed at your own risk One of the best Web sites I ve found on this topic is Cleaning Digital Cameras at http www cleaningdigitalcameras com howto html To clean a sensor you use the camera s command that locks the mirror up and out of the way and holds open the shutter so you can get to the surface of the image sensor This is a high risk procedure and we recommend extreme caution It s more prudent to have it done by you camera company s service center CLEANING THE CAMERA AND LENS Clean the outside of the camera with a slightly damp soft lint free cloth Open the flaps to the memory and battery compartments occasionally and use a soft brush or blower to remove dust Clean the LCD monitor by brushing or blowing off dirt and wiping with a soft cloth but don t press hard and be sure there is no grit on the cloth that can scratch the surface Cleaning kits are available at most office supply stores The first rule is to clean the l
34. end is up When you then replay the image it is rotated on the screen so you don t have to rotate the camera to view it or turn your head sideways to see it ona TV set Auto rotation doesn t work well when shooting straight up or down so you may want to turn it off The images may or may not be rotated when transferred to your computer because it depends on the software you are using You can also use a separate Rotate command on many playback menus to rotate just specific images that you ve already taken E The Format command formats a memory card for use with the camera It might also help you fix a card that s not working as it should BE CAREFUL with this command because it will erase your image files including any you have protected E Image review displays the image you just took for a few seconds so you can check it Some cameras let you keep it displayed longer and most let you delete it A few cameras seamlessly integrate image review and playback mode so after reviewing the current photo you can scroll through others and use all of the playback commands E Information about the image can be displayed on many cameras This information called EXIF information is stored in the image file It may include the date and time the picture was taken shutter speed and aperture used and a small thumbnail image Many cameras will also display a histogram and highlight overexposure warning Some cameras let you select how much inform
35. flash so the subject is lit from an angle for a better lighting effect Light tents bathe a subject in soft even lighting and are particularly useful for complex subjects such as wildflowers and bouquets highly reflective subjects such as jewelry and translucent subjects such as glassware A subject placed in the light tent is surrounded by a pure white translucent material which is lit from the outside by two or more lights The white fabric of the tent diffuses the light so it s the equivalent of surround sound in the theater realistic light strikes the object from all directions The result is a very even soft lighting of the subject E Studio lights are reflectors with bulbs mounted on adjustable stands Keep in mind that the color of the light you use to illuminate an object affects the colors in the final image For best results you need bulbs that are daylight balanced The best of these are fluorescent because they don t give off any heat and last a very long time The quality of the stands and reflectors is also important because they should be easy to work with and lock in position FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM STUDIO LIGHTING A light tent can make an amazing difference in table top photos http www ezcube com E Reflectors When the light illuminating a small subject casts hard dark This very complex shadows you can lighten the shadows by arranging reflectors around th
36. focal length There are two popular accessories for cameras with interchangeable lenses Both fit between the lens and the camera body E Extenders extend the range of the lens For example a 2x lens converter will make a 100mm lens into a 200mm lens E Extension tubes are used to increase magnification in macro close up photography FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 63 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Macro Mope AND Macro LENSES In close up or tabletop photography digital cameras have a huge advantage over traditional film cameras because you can review your results and make adjustments as you shoot If a photo doesn t turn out as you d hoped just delete it and try something new Film photographers have to wait to get the film back from the lab before they can make adjustments By then the moment has passed they have probably left the scene taken apart the setup or they have forgotten what it was they did Take advantage of your instant feedback to experiment and learn Click to explore macro lens enlargement factors When photographing small objects your lens focal length and minimum focusing distance affect how small objects are captured in photos For example if you re photographing a small coin you probably don t want it to appear as The universally a tiny coin surrounded by a large background More likely you d like a photo accepted icon for macro showing a large coin surroun
37. following reasons E Battery drain Large monitors drain batteries quickly so it s best to keep them turned off as much as possible and use the optical viewfinder for taking pictures E Glare makes the image on the monitor hard to see in bright sunlight E Steadiness is diminished when you hold the camera at arm s length This tends to introduce blur into your images through camera shake Although you may want to keep the monitor turned off to conserve battery power there are a few situations in which it becomes indispensable E Close ups When using a camera that isn t an SLR for close ups the monitor is a great way to compose and focus the image since it shows the scene exactly the way it will be in the image you ll capture The optical viewfinder doesn t show the same view because it is offset from the lens E Odd angles When photographing over a crowd at ground level or around a corner a camera with a tilting and swiveling monitor lets you compose the image without holding the camera up to your eye When considering a monitor here are some things to keep in mind E The monitor gets its image directly from the image sensor so it shows the view seen through the lens TTL Most show the entire image E The monitor often shows how light or dark the captured will be This lets you use the flash or adjust the exposure to make it the way you want it E Tilt and swivel monitors let you shoot from different an
38. for it Photoshop www adobe com Photoshop Elements www adobe com E Digital Imaging 2006 Suite from Microsoft is rich in features and one of the most popular programs on the market www microsoft com products imaging starteredition mspx Step 2 GET AN IMAGE If you don t yet have a digital camera you can have your slides negatives or prints scanned into a digital format Just ask your local photofinisher if they can scan images onto a CD or even post them on the Web for you They can usually do this when the film is developed or later after you have had time to select out just the best images It s always more interesting to work with your own images but if you don t have any you can use one of the images on the ShortCourses Web site for your personal use only To use one of these images you have to first transfer it from the Web page to your own computer s disk drive Here s how E To locate an image you like use your browser to go to the link below and look through the images www shortcourses com photos E To download one of the images to your own computer click the thumbnail to enlarge it then right click it with your mouse Control click on a Mac and select the Save Image or similar command to download the displayed version If the image is linked to a larger image select the Save Target As command Step 3 E MAIL AN IMAGE One of the most popular things to do with digital photos is to e ma
39. for the preview image but the actual white balance can be selected during editing This lets you try different white balance settings until you find the one you like best Many digital cameras offer a number of white balance settings some for specific lighting situations E Auto the default works in a wide variety of lighting conditions E Daylight is best when photographing outdoors in bright sunlight When photographing indoors if you like the warm glow of incandescent lights you can capture them with this setting E Cloudy is best when photographing outdoors in cloudy or overcast condi tions E Incandescent or tungsten is best when photographing indoors under incandescent lights E Fluorescent is best when photographing indoors under fluorescent lights E Flash is best when photographing with flash In fact flash is daylight balanced so it s an ideal way to remove color casts in some lighting situations E Color temperature lets you select a specific setting from the Kelvin scale Ina studio where you know the color temperature of the lights you can set the camera to an exact match In other settings you can use a color meter to determine the setting you should make E Manual or custom lets you set white balance manually by aiming the camera at a piece of white paper or gray card WHITE BALANCE BRACKETING Some cameras let you bracket white balance by processing a single image into three pictures with differe
40. from the battle between these companies because it will quickly lead to better and cheaper cameras It s also an enjoyable spectator sport once you have an understand ing of what s going on However you may not want to buy a brand new camera from a company that is then bought by another company or just quits the business Check camera company Web site news sections That s where you will find press releases for new cameras that are not yet listed on their Web site E Agfa www agfahome com E Canon www powershot com E Casio www casio usa com E Epson www epson com E Fuji home fujifilm com E Hewlett Packard www hp com E Kodak www kodak com E Leica www leica camera com E Minox www minox com E Nikon www nikon com E Olympus www olympus com E Panasonic www panasonic com E Pentax www pentax com E Ricoh www ricoh co jp r_dc E Rollei www rollei de E Samsung www simplyamazing com E Sharp www sharp usa com E Sony www mavica com E Vivitar www vivitar com E Kyocera Imaging Contax www kyoceraimaging com FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 29 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 30 CHECK DISCUSSION FORUMS Discussion forums are where people like you and I post messages and re sponses to other people s messages E Photo net www photo net has been around for years and has gracefully made the transition from film to digital E Digital Photography Review
41. get from the built in flash but you might also want to try an external flash of some kind Many of these have heads that can be rotated and pivoted to bounce lights off walls ceilings or reflectors Also try firing the flash inside a light tent so the light reflects off the interior sides and bounces around illuminating the subject from all sides You can use a cable to move the flash off camera and point it at the background to burn it out in the photo FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 91 CHAPTER 3 STUDIO EQUIPMENT Here a crystal glass was shot in a light cube against a black background to set it off A hole was cut in a piece of black paper and placed on a light panel The glass was then placed over the hole and looks like it s illuminated from within The Diamond Dazzler light brings out the brilliance of diamonds Courtesy of tabletop studios http www ezcube com A riser creates attractive reflections and softens the background Courtesy of tabletop studios http www ezcube com 92 BACKGROUNDS Some thought should be given to the background you use It should be one that makes your subject jump out and not overwhelm it The safest back ground is a white or neutral curved sweep like the one that comes with an EZcube light tent It can be lit so it disappears in the photo or so it provides a smooth gradation of light behind the subject It s safe because
42. gray card in a scene you can use it later to remove color casts and apply the settings to other photos taken under the same light White light actually contains light of different colors The overall color cast of the light changes as the proportions of the colors change 76 Although light from the sun or from a light bulb looks white to us it actually contains a mixture of all colors all of which affect the color of a scene it illuminates and the photos we take of the scene We normally don t see the subtle differences because our brains compensate automatically However we do notice extremes as when the rising or setting sun casts a warm red glow over everything it illuminates The color of the light you shoot in is specified by its color temperature in degrees Kelvin somewhat like the room temperature is specified in degrees Centigrade As color temperature increases it moves through the colors red orange yellow white and blue white in that order Daylight contains proportionately more light toward the blue end of the spectrum Incandescent light contains more toward the red end Color Temperature 12 000 K and higher 10 000 K 17000 K 6600 K 5900 6000 K 5500 K 4100 K 3750 K 3600 K 3500 K 3400 K 3200 K 3100 K 3000 K 2900K 2800 K 1900K Type of Light Clear skylight ir open shade snow Hazy skylight in open shade Overcast sky Electronic flash Midday Photolamp
43. i tal Image 2095 Microsoft s Digital Image software is a very popular photo editing program you can try for free Here a program was used to cut the moon out of one digital photo and paste it into another Photoshop is the overwhelming choice of professionals Ele wer Photoshop Elements hasn t fallen far from the Photoshop tree and is a lot less expensive 22 Learning a new field such as digital photography can be a little intimidating But for most of us the learning process becomes easy fun and even exciting once we gain a toehold a place to begin The purpose of this short Jump Start section is to get you going almost immediately Just follow the steps below to begin exploring digital photography right now even before you buy a camera STEP 1 GET A PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM At the heart of a digital photography system is a photo editing program The leading such program is Photoshop but there are many other very good ones available most of which are easier to learn Below are some links to trial versions of leading programs Just be aware that all are limited in some respect usually by limiting features or allowing use for a short time and the file sizes that you have to download can be quite large E Photoshop the leading photo editing program is available in a free trial version as is its sibling Photoshop Elements These programs are complicated but if you want to try the real thing go
44. if it will later in the day If the camera has to be exposed to the sun such as when you are at the beach cover it with a light colored and sand free towel or piece of tinfoil to shade it from the sun Dark materials will only absorb the heat and possibly make things worse Indoors avoid storage near radiators or in other places likely to get hot or humid When it s cold out keep the camera as warm as possible by keeping it under your coat Always carry extra batteries Those in your camera may weaken at low temperatures just as your car battery weakens in winter Prevent conden sation when taking the camera from a cold area to a warm one by wrapping the camera in a plastic bag or newspaper until its temperature climbs to match that of its environment If some condensation does occur do not use the camera or take it back out in the cold with condensation still on it or it can freeze up camera operation Remove any batteries or flash cards and leave the compartment covers open until everything dries out Never place the camera near electric motors or other devices that have strong magnetic fields These fields can corrupt the image data stored in the camera Always protect equipment from water especially salt water and from dust dirt and sand A camera case helps but at the beach a plastic bag is even better When shooting in the mist fog or rain cover the camera with a plastic bag into which you ve cut a hole for the lens to stick out
45. information Because these displays are electronic menus can be displayed so you can change settings without lowering the camera from your eye This is especially useful on bright days when a monitor is hard to read because of glare It s also advantageous for people who need reading glasses because the menu can be read without glasses if the viewfinder has a diopter adjustment control The two biggest shortcomings of these viewfinders is their refresh rate and resolution A slow refresh rate means that as you move the camera the image on the screen lags behind the scene you are pointing at When panning the screen seems to jump between frames On some cameras the refresh stops when you press the shutter button halfway down to lock focus so the image you capture may be different from the one you see The low resolution of these viewfinders makes it hard to tell exactly what you are photographing You don t see fine details colors or tones the way they actually are When considering a viewfinder here are a few things to think about E Most viewfinders don t show the entire area that will be captured Usually they show about 95 E Diopter adjustment dials or sliders let you adjust the viewfinder so you can see the image without reading glasses E Eyepiece covers are needed on SLRs to keep light from leaking through the viewfinder when using a self timer or remote control and you are not blocking the light with your head E Whe
46. instead of oc OUNCES the shutter button and it remains locked until you take the picture Focus is then determined when you take the picture even if you have changed your position This is an ideal setting when taking a series of photos to be stitched together into a panorama because all of the photos have the same exposure Animation Click to explore autoexposure bracketing When you want to be absolutely certain you have the best exposure autoexposure bracketing AEB mode takes a series of photos each at a slightly different exposure It s basically an automated form of exposure compensation but can also be used in conjunction with exposure compensa tion to shift the sequence up or down the exposure scale Some cameras let you specify both the number of exposures usually 3 or 5 of them and the change in exposure between each shot Some cameras take all of the pictures with a single press of the shutter button With others you have to press it once for each picture AUTOEXPOSURE BRACKETING AEB The standard icon for auto exposure bracketing Gray Carbs Since the exposure system is designed to set the exposure to capture a middle gray scene you can get perfect exposures by using a gray card When you fill the viewfinder with a gray card and press the shutter button halfway down your camera will indicate the best exposure regardless of how light or dark the scene is EXPOSURE INCREMENTS Many digital cameras let
47. is shaped something like a stick of gum These cards are used only in Sony products E Hard drives like Hitachi s Microdrive and Sony s Compactvault are high speed high capacity hard disk drives These drives are so small they can be plugged into a Type II CompactFlash slot on a digital camera or flash card reader Type I CompactFlash slots are thinner E One time use flash cards were introduced with the idea that flash memory was So inexpensive and users so clueless that they d rather leave their photos ona card then copy them to a computer If you are as careless as I am ina few years you ll have a very large investment in a pile of unlabeled cards and images you can t find and can t share One thing to consider is the speed of a card Many companies sell regular and high speed versions The high speed versions with their high profit margins usually benefit the manufacturer more than the user Unless you are a Sports Illustrated photographer shooting large images in continuous mode at the Super Bowl you may be better off investing elsewhere in your system When you first buy a memory card or use it in a different camera you should format it Every camera that accepts these cards has a Format command listed somewhere in it s menus Formatting prepares the card for use in a camera and reformatting it when you change cameras just ensures the card will be accu rately written to and read in that specific camera You may al
48. it highlights edges and separates the subject from the background For most purposes you can get by with just the main light and a fill light In fact you can often get along with just the main light by replacing the fill light with reflectors to bounce light into the shadows The way you position a light relative to the subject is very important E As you move a light farther away from the subject you reduce the light falling on it Because there is less light you may have to use a larger aperture which gives less depth of field E Moving a light back hardens its light while moving it closer softens it This is because the size of the light relative to the subject determines if the light is hard or soft Think of using the camera s built in flash to photograph a flower The image will have well exposed areas but also dark detailess shadows This is hard light because the flash is so small Now imagine photographing the flower in a light tent The light source is now the entire tent huge compared to the subject The light is much more even and the shadows dramatically diminished You can have one light illuminate the subject with more intensity than another light The difference between the two lights is called the lighting ratio FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 93 CHAPTER 3 STUDIO EQUIPMENT UsinG Continuous LIGHTS Most photographers without studios use continuous lights that usually hav
49. know also try to match features with the kind of photography you do Although all of us do general photography many of FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM PREFACE us tend to concentrate in areas such as landscape close up studio street or sports photography It s in these specific areas where some camera features become much more important than others For example Ispend much of my free time hiking and taking nature photographs especially landscapes wildlife and wildflowers My needs are much different than someone who is photographing products for sale on eBay taking wedding photographs photographing sporting events or doing travel photography This book discusses features not specific cameras You won t find a single camera that includes all of the features discussed here and different cameras combine the features they do have in different ways Cameras come and go very quickly but entirely new features are introduced only rarely This book lays a foundation for you but to take what you learn here and zero in ona specific camera you have more work to do Internet research You need to visit on line discussion forums and camera review sites to see what others are thinking Some of these sites and Amazon list their best sellers if you want to base your decisions on what others are doing and run with the crowd To get you started we list some of the Internet sites we like on page 3
50. lighting E Small three dimensional objects need to be illuminated properly to bring out details and colors You can light a subject in several ways depending on your objectives For example an object with low relief such as a coin needs to be cross lit to bring out details A translucent or transparent object needs to be backlit to bring out colors As you ll see many of these subjects photo graph better with the diffuse lighting provided by a light tent E Flat copy such as posters stamps prints or pages from books require soft even light over their surface and the camera s image sensor must be exactly parallel to it to prevent keystoning Even then most lenses will curve otherwise straight lines at the periphery of the image because they are not designed for copying and are not perfectly rectilinear This is called curvilin ear distortion There are other lens aberrations that make it difficult to keep the entire image in focus at the same time One suggestion is to use a small aperture that increases depth of field and uses the center portion of the lens where aberrations are least likely to affect the image LIGHTING For good portraits or product shots you need to improve on the camera s built in flash Direct on camera flash creates hard shadows and doesn t give a picture the feeling of texture and depth that you can get from side lighting If you use an external flash an extension cable lets you position the
51. of the photographs you create When an image has a different aspect ratio that the device it s displayed or printed on it has to be cropped or resized to fit Your choice is to loose part of the image or waste part of the paper To imagine this better try fitting a square image ona rectangular piece of paper To calculate the aspect ratio of any camera divide the largest number in its resolution by the smallest number For example if a sensor has a resolution of 2816 x 2112 divide 2816 by 2112 In this case the aspect ratio is 1 33 slightly squarer than 35mm film but the same as computer displays FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 45 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS MAGE SENSORS RESOLUTION The quality of a digital image depends in part on the number of pixels it contains sometimes referred to as resolution At a given size more pixels add detail and sharpen edges However there are always size limits When you enlarge any digital image enough the pixels begin to show an effect called pixelization This is not unlike traditional silver based prints where grain begins to show when prints are enlarged past a certain point Click to see the effects of pixelization as an image is enlarged When a digital image is displayed or printed at the correct size for the number of pixels it contains it looks like a normal photograph When enlarged too much as Is the eye here its square pixe
52. of them already have spotting scopes from which they can get great magnifica tions For example by combining a 4x optical zoom camera with a 60x birding scope you get a combined 240x A 35mm lens with that kind of magnification would be expensive and extra weight to carry To get an idea of the effect an extreme lens can have on your images turn on your digital camera and handhold it up to a binocular or spotting scope eyepiece You should be able to see the image on the monitor although you may also experience some vignett ing Take a few pictures to see what you get DEPTH OF FIELD PREVIEW To check depth of field some cameras have a depth of field preview button Pressing this button closes the lens aperture down to the f stop you ve selected so the viewfinder gives you an idea of what s sharp and what isn t However when using small apertures the viewfinder image is very dark When the maximum aperture is selected as it often is in dim light you ll see no change at all DEPTH OF FIELD SCALES Some wide angle lenses have a depth of field scale that lets you use an old technique of focusing on the hyperfocal distance When you do so the depth of field extends from halfway to the hyperfocal distance all the way out to infinity For landscapes this provides you with the deepest possible depth of field that you can obtain with the current aperture and lens focal length you are using For action photography you can use a variation o
53. of view of a scene as the human eye and that does not seem to magnify or diminish the size of objects in the image unduly NTSC A US video out standard to display images on a TV screen OEM Original equipment manufacturer basically the company the made and marketed the product See third party Open up To increase the size of the lens aperture The opposite of stop down Operating system The program that controls the camera s or computer s hardware Optical viewfinder See Viewfinder Orientation sensor A sensor that knows when you turn the camera to take a vertical shot and rotates the picture so it won t be displayed on it s side when you view it Overexposure Exposing the image sensor to more light than is needed to render the scene as the eye sees it Results in a too light photograph PAL A European video out standard to display images on a TV screen Panorama A photograph with much wider horizontal coverage that a normal photograph up to 360 degrees and more Panoramic mode A digital camera mode that uses just the center band on the image sensor to capture an image that is much wider than it is tall Parallax An effect seen in close up photography when the viewfinder is offset by some distance from the lens The scene through the viewfinder is offset from the scene through the lens Parallel port A port on the computer that is faster than a serial port but slower than SCSI USB or IEEE 1394 ports Often used by printers a
54. on all but the very cheapest cameras In fact on many low end cameras it s the only kind of focus When you press the shutter button halfway down the camera automatically focuses on the center of the scene or some other designated focus area It s important that the camera do this quickly and accurately Autofocus often has trouble focusing on off center subjects or on scenes with little contrast when the object in the focus zone is brighter than the rest of the scene when the subject is poorly illuminated when both near and distant objects fall within the focus zone or when the subject is moving quickly If the camera can t focus some cameras beep or FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 73 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS blink a lamp If this happens it s best if your camera lets you use focus lock to focus on a subject at the same distance or switch to manual focus Focus ZONES Some cameras have more than one focus zone or area usually indicated on the It seems the more screen or monitor with rectangles or brackets Others offer a single focus area expensive the camera you can move over any point in the scene Both approaches make it easy to the more focusing areas focus on off center subjects If the camera displays multiple focus zones it will you get to choose from usually focus on the center one or on the part of the scene closest to the camera covered by one of the zones Multiple zones
55. only 384 x 234 resolution E Screen technology Check out how bright the screen is The best screen tech nology is currently Active Matrix thin film transistor TFT What is the viewing angle of the screen Is it backlit Will your images be clear and bright in a bright room FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM DIGITAL PICTURE FRAMES E Remote control Does it have a remote you use to make settings or scroll through images E Orientation Can the frame be hung or set in either portrait or landscape orientation E mage and other formats All frames support JPEG images but some also support other still image format movie and even MP3 and other audio formats Make sure the frame supports the image video or audio formats your want to use Frames with USB ports Software Some frames come with software that lets you add captions sound can be loaded with new Special effects and transitions set display times and rotate images pictures from a key chain USB drive like this W Software upgrades Can you download revised software from the Cruzer Micro Courtesy manufacturer s Web site to upgrade your frame when improvements are of SanDisk made E User Options Can you specify the time each image is on the screen Can you rotate pictures to display them in portrait or landscape mode Will the frame do this for you automatically Can you specify different transitions such as
56. or for print Your feedback on how we can further improve the site Any comments you have can be sent to us at comments tabletopstudio com More Info If you find the information helpful you re sure to feel the same way about our products Everything we sell is covered by a 30 day Money Back Guarantee and a one year Replacement Warranty Custom made professional VINYL background fits perfectly inside our EZcubes Simply lay this on top of the EZcubes white sweep and you re ready to go A riser creates very soft subtle silver reflections for a sophisticated look More Info 6 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Visit OUR TABLETOP STUDIO PARTNER Coin Photography information on our site includes W Focus and diffuse lighting M Eliminating shadows Mf Daylight color bulbs Exposure for a white background Example gallery of images W Coin photography tools Our professional quality lights are designed for digital tabletop photography They are easily adjustable and Stay locked in position making them very easy to work with Light sets include a sturdy adjustable stand a reflector with socket and our 30 Watt Trumpet Top daylight balanced compact Gem Photography fluorescent bulb information on our site includes W Focus and lighting Position the gem correctly to reflect light I Ideal gem lighting circle of LED s Gallery of gem images WE Gem Phot
57. right Its smaller image sensor captures a smaller part of the image circle the white outline increasing magnification Sp fia 2 ie k 5 at 60 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM LENSES If your camera has a zoom ring on the lens you can turn it during a Slow exposure to streak lights These two photos were taken with the same camera One was taken using optical zoom top and the other with digital zoom from farther away bottom The one taken with optical zoom is much sharper Animation Click to explore optical and digital zoom Your choice of lens depends in part on what you plan to do with the camera Wide angle lenses are best for photographing buildings landscapes interiors and street photography Telephoto lenses are best for portraits and many nature scenes Normal lenses are a compromise ZOOM LENSES Most fixed lens cameras have a built in zoom lens and zooms are also very popular with SLR users These lenses are popular because they let you choose any focal length within the range the lens is designed for Zoom comes in three varieties optical digital and cropping An optical zoom actually changes the amount of the scene falling on the image sensor Every pixel in the image contains unique data so the final photo is sharp and clear E A digital zoom found on many fixed lens cameras uses sleight of hand by taking
58. shoe A heavy duty padded carrying strap for a tripod from Manfrotto Bottlecap tripods for small cameras screw into a camera s tripod socket then onto a bottle 102 ACCESSORIES Tripods and monopods almost always have a threaded screw sticking through the top platform that you use to attach a camera head or quick release system Cameras heads and quick release systems almost always have a threaded mounts into which the tripod screw threads The problem is cameras and tripods occasionally have different connectors a 1 4 20 or 3 8 16 the fraction is the diameter and the whole number is the number of threads per inch If the threaded screw or socket is slightly smaller than a normal wooden pencil it s 1 4 thread and if it s slightly larger it s 3 8 E A bushing can be used to reduce a 3 8 16 socket so it accepts a 1 420 screw E Carrying a tripod can be a real pain literally After awhile it begins to wear on the shoulder especially when crossing rough terrain To make the job easier you might consider a strap tripod case or padded sleeves for the legs Some camera backpacks also come with straps you can use to tie the camera to the bag There are also heavy duty bags available if you want to check your tripod on airline flights E There are many situations where you d like the camera to be perfectly level This is true in landscape architectural and panoramic photography One way to achieve this is to use
59. size and compression you select FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 25 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Because each pixel on the sensor has a color filter that only lets in one color a captured image records the brightness of the red green and blue pixels separately There are usually twice as many photosites with green filters because the human eye is more sensitive to that color Illustration courtesy of Foveon at www foveon com To create a full color image the camera s image processor calculates or interpolates the actual color of each pixel by looking at the brightness of the colors recorded by it and others around it Here the full color of some green pixels are about to be interpolated from the colors of the eight pixels surrounding them 26 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM THE ESSENTIALS E When consider ing features keep in mind that most of the great images in the history of photography were taken using cameras that only let you control focus the aperture and the shutter speed How a DiaitaL CAMERA WorkKS THERE S A COMPUTER IN YOUR CAMERA Each time you take a picture millions of calculations have to be made in just a few seconds It s these calculations that make it possible for the camera to interpolate preview capture compress filter store transfer and displa
60. the camera s flash sync speed you can do so if the camera or your external flash supports what s known as high speed sync flash also called FP or focal plane sync High speed sync can capture a fully exposed image because the flash fires repeatedly as the focal plane shutter s slit moves across the image sensor during the exposure The only drawback is that the flash power is reduced so you can t be positioned as far from a subject The higher the shutter speed you use the closer you have to be There are at least three situations where you might find it useful E When you want to freeze a moving subject as when photographing a wildflower in the wind E When using fill flash to lighten shadows you can use a fast shutter speed to freeze action or a wide aperture to throw the foreground or background out of focus E When doing a portrait and want catchlights in the subject s eyes STROBOSCOPIC FLASH Stroboscopic flash fires the flash a number of times at high speed to capture multiple images of the same subject in the same photograph You ve probably seen examples of this mode in sports photography where it can be used to demonstrate or analyze a swing of a bat or club This feature is usually set on the flash not on the camera EXTERNAL FLASH UNITS Built in flash is convenient to use because every place you and your camera go it goes However these built in flash units don t have much range and you can t positi
61. the color and brightness of matching pixels on the screen or printed page 24 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM How A DiaitaL CAMERA WorkKS The gray scale seen best in black and white photos contains a range of tones from pure black to pure white BLUE RGB uses additive colors When all three are mixed in equal amounts they form white When red and green overlap they form yellow and so on Animation Click to explore how red green and blue can create full color images Click to explore how cyan magenta and yellow can also create full color images It s ALL BLACK AND WHITE AFTER ALL It may be surprising but pixels on an image sensor only capture brightness not color They record the gray scale a series of tones ranging from pure white to pure black How the camera creates a color image from the brightness recorded by each pixel is an interesting story with its roots in the distant past Caution When photography was first invented in the 1840s it could only record black and white images The search for color was a long and arduous process and a lot of hand coloring went on in the interim causing one photographer to 17 comment so you have to know how to paint after all One major break through was James Clerk Maxwell s 1860 discovery that color photographs could be created using black and white film and red blue and green filter
62. to increase rather than decrease and the usefulness of features begins to decline We are probably already at that tipping point and perhaps beyond it When you read about features ask yourself how often you would really use them and how much control you want to turn over to your camera FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 27 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION THE Steps IN Buyinc A New CAMERA AND OTHER EQUIPMENT CHANGING TIMES E My first SLR camera was one my brother brought back from Vietnam You set exposure by manually setting the shutter speed and aperture so needles aligned in the viewfinder When the needles stopped respond ing to my changes I took it in for repairs The technician matter of factly said it s no big problem just a broken rubber band I was crestfallen to find that my quality camera worked by using a rubber band to move the viewfinder needles 28 Buying a digital camera or other photographic equipment can be confusing at best As you read through this book here are some things to keep in mind both about cameras and the process of buying one Before you begin here are some of the rules of the game places where you can do more homework right from your desktop Why drive from store to store or fight the crowds at photo shows when you can just click your way around the digital imaging world THINK ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS If you re buying a digital camera f
63. to yourself so you can see what your image looks like when it arrives back on your system This will also give you a better idea of how long it takes to receive an e mail message with a photo attached Step 4 SHARE IMAGES ON THE INTERNET There s nothing quite like having your images up ona Web site where anyone in the world can see them Surprisingly you can do this without spending a dime because there are anumber of Web sites that offer you free hosting for your photos All you have to do is register at the site and then upload images to your personal album usually by dragging and dropping them in your browser Once your images are up on the site send friends or family members your photo s URL Web address and they can view your images order prints or transfer the images to their own computer Here are some sites that offer free Web space E Smugmug www smugmug com E Flickr www flickr com E MySpace www myspace com 23 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION How A DIGITAL CAMERA WorKS Animation Digital cameras are very much like all earlier cameras Beginning with the very first camera all have been basically black boxes with a lens to focus the image cameras are just dark aperture that determines how bright the light is and a shutter that deter Banas mines how long the light enters The big difference between traditional film cameras and digital cameras is how they capture the image Instead of film digital came
64. uncompressed file The one on the right is a compressed JPEG file compressed RAW format these images are compressed using lossless com pression When you open these images they contain all of the original image data E RAW images aren t processed in the camera as JPEG images are When you take JPEG photos a processing chip with the power of asmall computer manipulates them based on the camera settings you have used and then compresses them to reduce their size The changes made to your images cannot be undone later because it s the final altered image that is saved in the image file Some of the original image data is lost for good With RAW images all of the original data captured by the camera is saved in the RAW image files so you can process them later on your computer The settings used to take RAW images are saved but they are not permanently applied to your images until you save a version of them in another format such as JPEG or TIFF E RAW images have greater color depth and that gives you smoother grada tions of tones and more colors For example JPEG images use only 8 bits per color RGB or 24 bits total This means that JPEG images can have only 256 tones 2 and 16 777 216 colors 2 Meanwhile many RAW images are initially captured by the sensor in 48 or 36 bit RGB 16 or 12 bits per channel and only reduced to 24 bit RGB 8 bits per channel when converted into JPEG files The full 48 or 36 bits are ret
65. without a quick release clamp or panning base right Courtesy of Markins Some long lenses have with a lens collar with a tripod mounting foot To switch one of these lenses from horizontal to vertical you loosen a screen on the collar and rotate the camera This keeps the center of gravity of these heavy lenses over the tripod Courtesy of Canon 104 ture photos where leveling and locking one axis separately from the others is a real advantage One situation in which ball heads really shine is when paired with a tripod that lets you position the center column at any angle Here the 3 way head can be not only frustrating to use but its more limited range of movements prevents some camera angles A ball head has a spherical or slightly elliptical ball that moves freely in a housing until you lock it to keep it from moving Protruding from the top part of the ball is a shaft that holds the quick release clamp or platform The housing has a slot into which you can drop the shaft when switching the camera to the vertical position The Arca Swiss ball head uses a ball that s slightly elliptical reducing the need to continually adjust tension to keep the camera in position as you move it off center For example if you ve adjusted the tension with the camera horizontal and then point it down the tension holding it in place automati cally increases so the lens doesn t crash down on the tripod This prevents the crushed finger
66. www dpreview com is a popular site with forums on a wide variety of topics CHECK CAMERA News amp Review SITES There are a number of very good news and reviews sites on the Internet Two that have been around as long as I have include the following E Steve s DigiCams www steves digicams com run by Steve Sanders is an outstanding news and reviews site E Digital Review www digitalreview ca isa Web site we have worked with for a long time EXPLORE ON LINE AUCTIONS There are people who swear by Web auctions specifically eBay as a way to get the lowest possible price The problem is that sellers put together packages that benefit themselves more than you They toss in cheap bags lenses filters tripods and what all to drive up the price If you can isolate out a private party you might get a good deal on a used camera but for new cameras stick with established dealers If you do buy always check the seller s rating Visit TRUSTWORTHY STORES When buying camera equipment it s usually a big mistake to go for the lowest price This is where the scam artists operate They achieve exceptionally low prices only through deceptive or consumer unfriendly practices some of which are described in this section All reputable dealers are grouped in a very narrow price range perhaps within 10 of each others on a 400 camera This is because the margins are so low most are selling at just above cost to be competitive The two store
67. you a good exposure You select this mode whenever depth of field is most important To be sure everything is sharp as in a landscape select a small aperture The same holds true for close up photography where depth of field is a major concern To throw the background out of focus so it s less distracting in a portrait select a large aperture E Manual mode lets you select both the shutter speed and the aperture You normally use this mode only when the other modes can t give you the results you want Some cameras have a bulb setting in this mode that lets you capture time exposures such as light trails at night In this mode the shutter remains open as long as you hold down the shutter button If it s open for more than 1 second noise in the form of randomly spaced brightly colored pixels may appear in the photograph To reduce noise at slow shutter speeds turn on noise reduction if the camera has it E Custom settings mode on high end cameras lets you store personal settings If you use the same settings over and over again it may be worthwhile saving them for future use Some cameras let you save one or more sets and then instantly access them at any time just by turning a mode dial Storing your own settings is as simple as setting the camera the way you want it and then selecting the menu s command that assigns them to the custom setting FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 67 CHAPTER 2 DIGITA
68. 0 Close up photography like this photo of a horned toad in Santa Barbara works better with some cameras than others You need a macro lens or macro mode and the ability to focus precisely Action and sports photography require a long lens good focusing ability and fast shutter speeds Photographing items for eBay requires a camera that you can accurately focus and that lets you adjust the exposure to lighten or darken the image FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 11 CONTENTS CONTENTS Ka l ETEO NE PEES E PAIA AIEEE TEET T SS 8s oe CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS wscsececucucncuss 32 Short Courses Publishing Program 2 AboutthisBookand ite ors Editions 3 Types of Digital Cameras 55 33 Visit Our Publishing Program cccsee e A Camera CONG Ole sxiiieescsravinencinievianaxenss 36 Visit our Tabletop Studio Partner 6 Composing IMAGES ccc eee eee cece eens 37 Preface ooo ccc cccccccccccucececacucututuensnsnnnns 10 Continuous Photography 111e 40 CONES ame darut une nds taacennenasdeee 12 Shooting MOVIES eeeeeee eee 41 Contents CON t oocccccccccccccccccececccceceeee 13 Panorama MOde cccccccccceecacucavaas 42 Getar oie eer Weems 15 Photographing in Black amp White 43 Image Sensors Types cccceeeeeee 44 A age Sensors Sizes and Aspect Ratios 45 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTIO
69. A SHORT COURSE BOOK CURTIN S GUIDE TO DIGITAL CAMERAS AND OTHER PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT 2006 EDITION DENNIS P CURTIN SHORTCOURSES COM HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM SHORT COURSES PUBLISHING COMPANY SHORT Courses PUBLISHING PROGRAM textbooks and guides to specific cameras from Canon Sony Nikon Olympus and others All of these books are available on line from the Short Courses bookstore at hort Courses is the leading publisher of digital photography books http www shortcourses com bookstore book htm All recent books are available in both black amp white printed and full color eBook PDF editions and the latest books also contain links to animations and other resources in digital photography The list of books we ve published is rapidly expanding so be sure to visit the store to see if there is a book on your camera or other topics that interest you If you find any errors in this book would like to make suggestions for improve ments or just want to let me know what you think I welcome your feedback ShortCourses com 16 Preston Beach Road Marblehead Massachusetts 01945 E mail denny shortcourses com Web site http www shortcourses com To learn more about digital photography visit our two Web sites E http www shortcourses com is our consumer site E http www photocourse com is our instructor student site Copyright 2006 by Dennis P Curtin All rights reserved Print
70. GES Monitors show you what the view looks like through the lens The best monitors are those that swivel and tilt to any angle With a swiveling monitor you can shoot up at things close to the ground such as this newt Landscape mode shows the image horizontally Portrait mode shows the image vertically When choosing a digital camera one of the first things to decide is whether you want one with both a monitor and viewfinder Many of the latest small cameras have dropped viewfinders partly to make more room for a larger monitor This isn t an unmixed blessing because the primary roles of these two features are quite different although there is some overlap If your camera has no viewfinder you are forced to compose all of your images using the monitor This means you have to deal with glare on sunny days and find a way to get sharp images while holding the camera out at arm s length Monitors Monitors are small LCD color screens built into most cameras Their size is specified using the diagonal measurement in inches Most have brightness adjustments that you can change manually or which the camera will adjust automatically These screens range between 1 5 and 4 inches and serve a number of useful functions E Menus are displayed so you can change camera settings E Image composition On many but not all cameras you can compose the image on the monitor before you take it Most digital SLR cameras d
71. I gave the film to a friend who was still laboring with the old technology What attracted me so strongly was the immediacy of digital photography Not just the immediacy of seeing a cap tured photo but also sharing it with others Since using that first digital camera I have written books on 30 or so digital cameras and three textbooks widely used in schools around the world My hope is that this experience will help me guide you as you consider what it is you are looking for in your next camera purchase or help you figure out why and when you use the many features in your current camera I apologize for the book s length but there is a lot to consider I hope I can make wading through all of these features as interesting as possible Here are just some of the questions we ll try to answer for you E Why go digital E What is a digital photograph E How does a digital camera work E What is digital photography E What do all of the camera features do E What resolution do I need E What s the best way to buy new equipment E What are the most important accessories E What do all of the buzz words mean Hopefully the best thing about this book is that it doesn t just describe most camera features it shows you why they are important to you as a photogra pher and how they affect your photographs This makes the book a valuable reference after you have purchased a camera because it explains things camera company manuals assume you
72. L CAMERAS METERING Metering patterns include matrix top center weighted middle and spot bottom 68 One of the most important aspects of photography is getting the exposure right because it determines how light or dark an image is and what mood it conveys The two most important exposure controls are the shutter speed and aperture because both affect the total amount of light reaching the image sensor However they do more than just control the exposure They are also the most creative controls you have E The shutter opens to begin an exposure and closes to end it The shutter speed setting determines how long the shutter opens to expose the image sensor E The aperture is the hole through which light enters the camera The size of the hole can be changed to control the brightness of the light that reaches the image sensor How does the camera know what shutter speed or aperture to use It uses its exposure system to measure the average light reflecting from the scene and selects settings that will capture that average as middle gray page 70 All parts of a scene are usually not equally important when determining the best exposure to use Ina landscape for instance the exposure of the fore ground is usually more important than the exposure of the sky For this reason some cameras offer more than one metering method The most common choices include the following E Matrix sometimes called evaluative me
73. L HEADS Because of the size weight and complexity of 3 way heads many photogra phers prefer a ball head Not only are ball heads lighter and smaller they are faster to use You can compose an image with one motion and lock the camera with a single control This makes them ideal for nature photography It s also easier to carry and backpack a tripod with a lighter ball head because it doesn t weigh as much or have the protruding handles that a pan tilt head has One thing is sure ball heads are things of beauty Beautifully machined and finished they have the quality of Swiss clocks They are also expensive 250 400 and then you still have to buy quick release plates which aren t inexpen sive I hesitated for years because of the price but finally bought three ball heads to compare I have been converted It s hard to go wrong since any ball head is better than a 3 way head for most photography They are so much faster and easier to use that they should be considered the head of choice unless you are doing specialty photography such as panoramas or architec The parts of a Markins ball head Courtesy of Markins Kaidan s Bubble Level attaches to a camera s hot shoe so you can tell when the camera Is perfectly level FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 103 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT A ball head with a quick release clamp and panning base with index marks left and A ball head
74. N wessenncnnnnnnnnnnnnes 17 Image Sensors ResoOlIution 05 46 What IS a Digital Photograph reer r ey eT ee 18 Image Sensors Sensitivity and Noise oe 48 Why Go Digital a a TCR TTT Ce TT E ere 19 Camera Responsiveness ETEEN 49 Free Photography Photographic Freedom 19 The Three Steps of Digital Photography 20 Mage FOrMOLS eer ieccnacaticesteneetieceeencs 50 AJ ump Start in Digital Photography PERN 22 In Camera Image Storage TE Te ee T 52 Step 1 Get a Photo editing Program 22 Playback Mode ascssiacanteasssakaesinieereds 54 Step 2 Get an Image 22 Step 3 E mail an Image 99 Transferring IMAGES i2cs2scccsstrssscxcreeatecs 55 Step 4 Share Images on the Internet Zo EIN Gee arina 58 How a Digital Camera Works 65 24 Lens Information 58 Its All Black and White After All 25 Choosing Focal Lengths 59 There s a Computer in Your Camera 27 Zoom Lenses 61 Where We Seem to be Headed 27 Normal Lenses 61 The Steps in Buying a New Camera and pial o pa 7 Other Equipment 28 nee ne i AEAEE EET Depth of Field Preview 62 Decide About Size 28 Minimum Focus Distance 62 Decide About Lens 28 OEM and 3rd Party Lenses 63 Check New Model Plans 29 Newer Lenses Looking Down the Road 63 EERON EOS Macro Mode and Macro Lenses 64 Check Camera News amp Review Sites Oe ee eeeeeeeee Explore On line Auctions 30 Lens Accessories cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeenees 65 Visit Trustworthy Stores 30 Sie ade Watch out for Unbundling 30 I
75. OR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 35 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS CAMERA CONTROLS There are two ways to change settings on a camera using menu commands or a combination of buttons and dials Menu commands are usually slower and harder especially in bright light when you can t read the monitor on which they are displayed Buttons and dials are easier because you can get familiar enough with them to use them without looking but at first their functions are harder to remember Most camera use both approaches putting the most frequently used functions on buttons and dials and less frequently used ones on menus One recent addition to the button dial family is a compass point like button Pressing any of the four points moves the menu highlight up down or sideways or lets you scroll through images in playback mode A button or joystick like lever in the middle of this button acts like the Enter key on a computer by completing commands Animation To operate the camera you perform the most common procedures with con Click to see a PDE trols on the top back and side of the camera Icons indicating the current poster of typical digital settings are often displayed on the monitor or a separate LCD panel camera icons As you change settings it is sometimes easy to forget what you ve done or it s time consuming to reset them to their original values one at a time In these situations some camer
76. PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM CAMERA STRAPS AND BAGS Tenba makes a well designed photovest Tenba makes cases for lenses in many sizes and shapes A Bags are available for slinging over a shoulder or wearing as a fanny pack fighting your way through brush When you see a picture it just takes a moment to release the camera One of these also takes the weight of the camera off the back of your neck something that s always welcome VESTS I wouldn t be caught dead in a photographer s vest but often pay dearly for my vanity The point of a vest is to give you lots of pockets to store the things you need On a long hike I m always taking my back pack off to get at the things that could be much more conveniently carried and accessed in a vest s pockets LENS POUCHES If your camera has interchangeable lenses they probably cost you hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars It pays to spend a few more bucks to make sure they are protected especially in storage and while traveling One way to do this is in a padded camera case Another is separate pouches for each lens SHOULDER AND Hip Bacs Many popular camera bags have shoulder straps that shift the weight of the load from a handgrip to your shoulder These bags are most useful when storing your equipment or traveling short distances Carry one all day can be tiresome but they do have one advantage over a backpack type bag you can get to your things
77. S COM 5 Visit OurR TABLETOP STUDIO PARTNER VISIT OUR TABLETOP STUDIO PARTNER I lableTop Studio www tabletopstudio com is devoted to supplying you i D with the information and tools you need to capture the best possible images of products and other small objects using a small tabletop studio Our Web site not only has a store but also features a comprehensive library of useful information designed to help you improve the quality of your 4a product images This information is valuable whether you are just beginning or are an experienced professional looking for information and ideas about Aner cna makes high quality product photography product photography We assume that most folks are operating on a budget and have a limited space super easy Simply to work in Of course the information will also benefit those with big budgets bare Sarena E 2 and lots of space to devote to their product photography EZcube light tent and Visitors and customers are always telling us that our site offers the best light the tent trom two collection of product photography information on the Internet and it s all es lied hens free Check out the next few pages for an idea of what our on line content ee oe covers and click and of the More Info buttons to visit our site for more Perfect for anyone that T information The information is always expanding and we are interested in needs to shoot images i for the web
78. Sunset sunrise 100 watt tungsten bulb Candlelight firelight FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM WHITE BALANCE One way to eliminate white balance problems is to use flash since it has the same color temperature as daylight Typical white balance icons clockwise from top are auto AWB manual flash fluorescent tungsten cloudy shade and daylight Animation Click to explore how SRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces compare when it comes to the number of colors they can capture You can check white balance by looking at a captured image on the camera s monitor to see if white areas in particular have some color cast to them You may want to zoom the image so you can see enlarged details more clearly To remove color casts and capture images with colors that look like they were shot at midday you use the camera s white balance system This system automati cally or manually adjusts the image so colors are captured the way we see them regardless of the light illuminating them For example the fluorescent setting compensates for the greenish light from fluorescent lamps and the tungsten setting compensates for the warmer more reddish color of tungsten lights If your camera lets you use the RAW format page 50 you don t have to worry about white balance settings until later when you are editing the picture The camera will use the current setting
79. The recipient also has to have the necessary playback software installed to view the video E Web sites such as YouTube com that let you share movies with friends are popping up all over You just upload your clip and send friends its address When they visit the site that hosts your video they can download or play it E iPods and other portable devices play video clips in the formats they support E Printing individual frames from a video clip is possible on some cameras when printing directly from the camera to an attached printer Just playing back a video isn t all you can do with it There are programs you can use to edit it or you can incorporate it into other larger projects For example you can insert movies into slide shows or even play them as wallpa per on your desktop It s amazing how stringing together a series of very short clips can tell an interesting story One camera has a special button that when pressed will begin recording movies no matter what else you are doing This ensures you never miss a movie opportunity while fumbling with menus or buttons The same camera lets you take still photos while recording a movie This is a perfect integration of features that are quite separate on most cameras Some camera let you do basic editing in the camera For example you can remove beginning and ending sections to isolate the most important section Although digital zoom is a useless feature in most cases it d
80. Use a rubber band to seal the bag around the lens You can reach through the normal opening in the bag to operate the controls Screwing a protective filter over the lens allows you to wipe off spray and condensation without damaging the delicate lens surface PROTECTING WHEN TRAVELING Use lens caps or covers to protect lenses Store all small items and other accessories in cases and pack everything carefully so bangs and bumps won t cause them to hit each other Be careful packing photographic equipment in soft luggage where it can be easily damaged When flying carry on metal detectors are less damaging than the ones used to examine checked baggage If in doubt ask for hand inspection to reduce the possibility of X ray induced damage STORING A CAMERA Store cameras in a cool dry well ventilated area and remove the batteries if they are to be stored for some time A camera bag or case makes an excellent storage container to protect them from dust Digital cameras have lots of components including batteries chargers cables lens cleaners and what not It helps if you have some kind of storage container in which to keep them all together CARING FOR YOURSELF When hiking outdoors don t wear the camera strap around your neck it could strangle you Don t aim the camera directly at the sun it can burn the eye FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM
81. VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 111 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT A camera mounted umbrella made by BKA The Kirk Flash Extender fits over the flash head A Metz slave flash trigger from Bogen Photo that s powered by a solar cell It works with both hot shoe and PC Cord connections 112 Umbrellas basically large reflectors are used to bounce the flash As the flash from the small flash unit hits the large umbrella and reflects back onto the subject it is softened FLASH EXTENDERS Kirk Photo s Flash X Tender is used with focal length lenses of 300mm or longer and by focusing the light can increase your flash output by a minimum of 2 full stops This unit weighs less than 3 ounces and folds flat for storage Save Units If you have one or more external flash units you can make them into mini strobes using remote flash triggers One of these inexpensive devices some flash units have them built in make any flash into a slave unit so it fires when it senses another flash firing This allows you to get lighting effects you couldn t possibly get with a single unit More advanced flash units accom plish the same goal using optical or radio signals You mount a master flash or a transmitter on the camera s hot shoe and it transmits wireless signals to the slave units telling them what settings to use and when to fire The master flash on the camera can be enabled or disabled When disabled it still transm
82. a bubble level Some are built into tripod center column platforms but others can be attached to a monopod leg or slipped into the camera s hot she E Even monopods have accessories including ball heads and supports Bogen makes a shoulder brace for use with their monopods and a support that turns a monopod into a low tripod FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TRIPOD HEADS TRIPOD HEADS What we normally think of as a tripod is actually a combination of parts You ve met the first two already the three legs called the leg set and a center column that you use to raise or lower the camera This column ends at a flat platform through which projects a threaded screw It s on this platform that you mount the next part a tripod head There are two basic kinds of heads the traditional 3 way pan tilt head and the ball head 3 Way Pan TILT HEADS The classic tripod head is called a 3 way pan tilt head You can rotate pan it tip it forward and back and tilt it side to side Movement on each axis is separately controlled so it s ideal for architecture and other work where placement of horizontal and vertical elements is critical To move and lock it in each of these three axis you use a separate twist handle These protruding A Gitzo 3 way tripod handles cause problems when hiking and packing and take time to set when head Courtesy of hotographing Bogen Photo se BAL
83. a in the device isn t lost when the power is turned off Flash fill Flash used to fill shadows even when there is enough light to otherwise take the photograph Flash ring A special circular flash that fits over a lens to take close up pictures Flash slave A flash that fires when it senses the light from another flash unit Focal length The distance from the optical center of the lens to the image sensor when the lens is focused on infinity The focal length is usually expressed in millime ters mm and determines the angle of view how much of the scene can be included in the picture and the size of objects in the image The longer the focal length the narrower the angle of view and the more that objects are magnified Focus lock See Exposure focus lock Focus The process of bringing one plane of the scene into sharp focus on the image sensor Frame Rate The number of pictures that can be taken in a given period of time f stop A numerical designation f 2 f 2 8 etc indicating the size of the aperture lens opening GIF An image file format designed for display of line art on the Web Gray market Importing camera equipment outside of the normal manufacturer s distribution channels to take advantage of lower prices elsewhere in the world Gray scale A series of 256 tones raging from pure white to pure black Guide number A rating of a flash s power Hot shoe A clip on the top of the camera that attaches a flash unit
84. a procedure called focus lock Most digital cameras have a two stage shutter button When you press it halfway down it sets and locks focus and exposure Some cam eras beep and illuminate a lamp or frame in the viewfinder when these readings are locked in If you don t release the shutter button you can then recompose the image and the settings remain unchanged This procedure normally locks exposure too but if you first use AE Lock to lock exposure page 71 youcan then lock focus independently FOCUS BRACKETING Although rare some cameras will bracket focus to help you get sharper images They take one picture at the calculated focus setting then two others with focus set behind and in front of the calculated distance LANDSCAPE MODE Many cameras have a scene mode designed for photographing landscapes It sets the focus and aperture so the scene is sharp from foreground to back ground DEPTH OF FIELD MODE Canon SLRs have an A DEP mode that checks the distance to the nearest and farthest parts of the scene covered by focus points and selects an aperture so both are sharp FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 15 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS WHITE BALANCE Animation _ Click to explore how the white balance setting affects the way images are captured Fluorescent light has a variety of color temperatures depending on its type Some bulbs are daylight balanced If you place a
85. ach camera company has defined its own proprietary RAW format many operating systems and even photo editing programs are unable to recognize some or all of these files If the camera supports the RAW format the camera manufacturer always supplies a program along with the camera With many cameras you can capture RAW images by themselves or witha companion JPEG image that gives you an identical high quality RAW file and a smaller more easily distributable image file Both the RAW and JPEG files have the same names but different extensions ADVANTAGES OF USING THE RAW Format There are a number of advantages to using the RAW format E RAW lets you decide on most settings after you ve taken the picture not before For example when you shoot a JPEG image under fluorescent lights the camera adjusts the image to remove the yellow green tint Any changes you make later are on top of this initial change If you shoot the image in RAW format the camera just captures the images as is and you decide what white balance setting to use later You can even create different versions of an image each with its own white balance E RAW images aren t compressed using a lossy compression scheme that throws out data to make image files smaller Although some cameras have a FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM IMAGE FORMATS Here two versions of the same image have been enlarged The image on the left is an
86. ach category I wish we had space to discuss them all However you can spend hours every night using google to track down related products TRIPODS amp MonoPops Tripops amp Monopops Tripods come in a variety of sizes and weights Courtesy of Gitzo Legs on some tripods can be set at a variety of angles Courtesy of Gitzo When you take a photo there is almost always some camera or subject move ment that blurs the image Even under the best of circumstances this happens ever so slightly and will show up in large prints if not in small ones To reduce blur caused by camera movement especially when photographing in dim light using a long lens photographing close up or when planning to make large prints you have to support the camera so it moves as little as possible In some cases a porch railing or tree branch helps In other cases you need a tripod or monopod One thing to be aware of is that the familiar aluminum or magnesium tripod is now accompanied by carbon fiber models that are both lighter and more expensive These tripods are up to 30 lighter than equivalent metal versions yet have the same strength stability and durability The tubes are made of long carbon fibers impregnated with epoxy resin under high pressure and tempera ture The additional cost of carbon fiber is justifiable if you carry the tripod long distances or photograph in extremely cold temperatures where carbon fiber won t feel a
87. act fluorescent bulbs are ideally suited for digital photography The daylight color eliminates the need for color correction They also Stay cool and will last for years Our popular 30 Watt Trumpet Top Bulbs are included with all of our Tabletop Studio Light Sets More Info Watch Photography information on our site includes W Macro focus and lighting W Proper exposure E Daylight color LEDs for use with diamonds E Keeping the watch bands shape W Creating a soft reflection W Photoshop tricks for special web placement E Watch photography tools More Info Silver Photography information on our site includes M Controlling reflections and glare E Making silver appear shiny E Avoid adding your own reflection W Group items to reflect each other Mf Gallery of images W Silver photography More Info Glass Photography information on our site includes W Diffuse lighting E Clear glass made easy E Shooting on light amp dark colored fields HM Special under lighting technique E Glowing effect W Gallery of glass images M Glass photography tools More Info FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Visit OUR TABLETOP STUDIO PARTNER Flower photography information on our site includes E Focus and soft lighting M Exposure for a white background E Camera position amp floral arrangement W Using the sun for lighting E Gallery of floral images Flower photogra
88. ained in the RAW file after the images are processed on your computer because the original file isn t overwritten with your changes You can even retain all 16 or 12 bits per color by saving images in a format such as TIFF or Photoshop s PSD format E KAW images can be processed again at a later date when new and improved applications become available Your final image isn t permanently altered by today s generation of photo editing applications E You can use a RAW image to generate alternate versions of the same image For example many photographers will adjust highlight and shadow areas and save these versions separately Using a photo editing program they then combine the two images and by selectively erasing parts of the top image let areas of the lower image show through so all areas have a perfect exposure DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE RAW FORMAT Admittedly there are drawbacks to using RAW images E RAW files in the camera are quite large If you use this format a great deal you will need more storage space in the camera and computer and processing times will be longer E Since RAW images aren t processed in the camera you have to process them on the computer When you are done shooting for the day there is still work to do You need to convert them to another format when you want to e mail them post them on a Web site print them or import them into another program to create a slide show or publication Many cameras hel
89. ample TabletopStudio introduced their Diamond Dazzler bulb with 18 daylight color LEDs to bring out the brilliance in faceted gemstones FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM PORTRAIT AND PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY PORTRAIT AND PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY Animation Click to explore the main light Animation Click to explore the fill light Animation Click to explore the background light Animation Click to explore the rim light Animation Click to explore hard and soft light In the studio you usually use more than one light to illuminate a portrait or product The goal is often to create light that looks like that found outdoors The lights can be hot lights strobes or slave flash units or even fill cards Sometimes you can get away with only one or two lights but the use of main fill background and rim lights is a classic studio lighting setup for portraits and other subjects E The main light is positioned somewhat to one side of the subject and somewhat above it E A fill light is placed opposite the main light but more nearly at the subject s level It s usually farther from the subject than the main light so it doesn t illuminate the subject with the same intensity E A background light is used to control the lighting on the background behind the main subject E A rim light is placed quite high and behind the subject and pointing toward the camera so
90. and Cullman More expensive models use a pump to increase the vacuum so the connection is more secure Kirk s Multi Purpose Window Mount can be clamped inside your car Cy ayps window or used as a sturdy lowpod on a If you don t have a tripod with you a clamp might be all you need to hold your table car roof or flat camera steady These come in various sizes and shapes and are made by rock ClamperPod Bogen Hi Sierra and Sunpack FOCUSING RAILS A focusing rail lets you move the camera back and forth in macro photography to make fine adjustments to the camera subject distance This is a lot easier and faster than trying to make the adjustments by moving the tripod Many of these devices are geared so turning a knob makes very small movements for preci sion focusing Focusing rails are made by a number of companies including Kirk Cullman Bogen and Really Right Stuff The Bogen car window pod 3293 OTHER There are some camera supports that are so unique they are hard to classify Here are just some of those that we ve run across E The Cullman Touring Set includes a mini tripod with a removable ball head a woodscrew that screws into beams fence posts and tree stumps never into live trees aclamp for mounting to round square or irregularly shaped objects such as tree limbs or fence posts a ground spike to push into the ground and a suction mount for use with any smooth surface such as a car hood or window
91. and provide a more consistent color temperature A new type of fluorescent bulb called a compact fluorescent CFL comes in a variety of color temperatures The 6500 K bulb emits white light commonly called Cool Daylight and 5000 K bulbs match midday FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM To see if your fuses or circuit breakers will handle the lights you want to use add up all of the wattages and divided by 110 to calculate the number of amps the lights will draw If the number is higher than the rating of your fuses or circuit breakers use less power or plug the lights into different circuits UsinG CONTINUOUS LIGHTS light Because these bulbs have so many good features they are the authors number one choice for digital desktop photography Although a digital camera s white balance control can capture normal colors under a wide variety of lighting conditions you should be aware that different types of lights cast different colors on a setup This is why when shooting in homes photos often have a warm reddish cast while those taken under some florescent lights look greenish When choosing studio lights especially continuous lights you should investigate two color related terms used to describe them color temperature and color rendering index E Color temperature describes how cool or warm the light source appears For example incandescent lamps have a warmer more reddish appearance
92. and provides an electrical link to synchronize the flash with the camera shutter IEEE 1394 A new port on the computer capable of transferring large amounts of data Currently the fastest available port i Link Sony s name for IEEE 1394 Image sensor A solid state device containing a photosite for each pixel in the image Each photosite records the brightness of the light that strikes it during an exposure Infrared See IrDA International Organization for Standardization See ISO Interpolation In an image interpolation adds extra pixels It s done with some zoom lenses Inverse square law The physical law that causes light from a flash to fall off in such a way that as flash to subject distance doubles the light falls off by a factor of four IrDA An agreed upon standard that allows data to be transferred between devices using infrared light instead of cables ISO A number rating indicating the relative sensitivity to light of an image sensor or photographic film Faster film higher ISO is more sensitive to light and requires less exposure than does slower film JPEG A very popular digital camera file format that uses lossy compression to reduce file sizes Developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group Landscape mode Holding the camera in its normal orientation to hake a horizontally oriented photograph Lempel Ziv Welch See LZW LiOn Lithium ion battery Long focal length lens telephoto lens A lens that provide
93. as have a button or menu command that lets you quickly reset the camera to its original factory default settings The Kodak EasyShare has a touch sensitive screen where you can make menu selections using a stylus The buttons and dials vary from camera to camera but here are some that are fairly common on all but the simplest point and shoot models In some cases the same button will perform different functions in shooting and playback modes E Zoom lever or buttons zoom the lens E Shutter button locks exposure and focus when pressed halfway down and takes the picture when pressed all the way E Continuous self timer button sets the camera to shoot sequences of photos one after another or turns on the self timer E Mode dial selects various shooting modes such as auto The same or a different lever or button switches between shooting and playback modes E ON OFF button or lever turns the camera on and off E Flash button selects flash modes E Macro button turns macro mode on and off E MENU button displays or hides the menu Press down the shutter button very smoothly W Print Share button lets you print or download images when connected to a never jab at it Pause printer or computer halfway down until focus locks E Erase or delete button deletes the selected image in review or playback mode 36 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM COMPOSING IMAGES COMPOSING MA
94. as have built in fixed storage that can t be removed or increased This greatly reduces the number of photos you can take before having to erase them to make room for new ones Almost all newer digital cameras use some form of removable storage media usually flash memory cards but occasionally small hard disks Whatever its form removable media let s you remove one storage device when it s full and insert another The number of images that you can store in a camera depends on a variety of factors including E The number of storage devices you have and the capacity of each expressed in Megabytes or Gigabytes E The resolution or image format used to capture images E The amount of compression used The number you can store is important because once you reach the limit you have no choice but to quit taking pictures or erase some existing ones to make room for new ones How much storage capacity you need depends partly on what you use the camera for If you re used to shooting 5 or 6 rolls of standard film on vacation your camera should be able to store the same number of images or you ll be out of luck There is an old set up line for a joke that begins I have good news and bad news The good news is that we have these memory cards at all The bad news is that they come in a variety of formats that are not interchangeable Once you have a sizable investment in memory cards you are locked into using only those cameras that suppo
95. ash will be lighter closest to the camera or in the area metered by the autoexposure system in a picture than objects Subjects located farther from the flash will be increasingly darker the farther farther away You can they are from the flash use this to advantage for example at night To calculate the maximum range of a flash you can use its guide number a you can isolate a measure of its light output The higher the guide number the greater the subject against a dark intensity and range of the flash Guide numbers are determined experimen background tally usually by the manufacturer and listed in their specifications A flash 78 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM FLASH Animation Click to explore the flash sync speed Leaf shutters common on point and shoot cameras allow faster flash sync speeds because they don t use curtains A flash hot shoe cord lets you hold the flash farther from the lens axis to reduce red eye Animation Click to explore red eye unit and subject are set up and exposures are made at a variety of f stops When the best exposure is determined the guide number is calculated from the distance and the f stop used as follows guide number f stop x flash to subject distance More powerful flash units with higher guide numbers have a greater range have faster recycle times and make bounce flash more effective For example on
96. ation is displayed so you can display it all when reviewing images and turn it all off when giving a slide show FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TRANSFERRING IMAGES TRANSFERRING MAGES Card readers are often connected to a computer s USB port or may even be built in Cards inserted into a slot are treated just as if they were a removable hard drive Cards vary in size and have different connections so many readers now have a variety of slots Photo courtesy of PQI at www pqi1st com If a card is smaller than a slot you can usually find an adapter that mates the two Some adapters accept a variety of cards Courtesy of SanDisk at www sandisk com Some home printers kiosks at photo stores and even TV sets have slots that accept cards directly from your camera so you can view or print images without a computer Courtesy of Hewlett Packard at www hp com Storage in the camera is only meant to be temporary When you want to edit the images or make room for new ones you transfer them to the computer TRANSFERRING PHOTOS CARD READERS SLOTS AND Docks One of the most common ways to transfer images to a computer is using a card reader or card slot that accepts your card with or without an adapter Card slots are increasingly being built into computers printers and even TV sets If your system doesn t have one there are readers that will plug into the USB port
97. ave had any fears about trying to do your own studio photography you can now lay those fears aside Another piece of good news is that you don t need a special camera Many popular models give great results and the digital camera you already own will probably be fine CHAPTER 3 STUDIO EQUIPMENT STUDIO LIGHTING When lighting flat objects you want the light even over the entire surface To do this you need two lights set at 45 degree angles so there are no hot spots or reflections Lights courtesy of tabletop studios http www ezcu Light tent with red goblet http www ezcube com 5000k compact fluorescent bulb highly recommended for product photography http www ezcube com 90 There are two important reasons to use artificial lighting in studio photogra phy First increasing the level of light lets you use smaller apertures for greater depth of field and faster shutter speeds to reduce blur from camera or subject movement Second you can better control the illumination of the subject placing highlights and shadows to reduce or emphasize modeling CANDIDATES FOR STUDIO LIGHTING There are a number of subjects that lend themselves to being photographed under controlled lighting Here are just some of them E Portraits can be either candid or more formal Candid portraits are usually captured during the flow of action It s the more formal ones that give you the time needed to arrange
98. book and have it printed and bound in portrait or landscape mode E Reduce the size of the photograph to make it smaller for posting on the Web or e mailing E Use filters to sharpen it or even make it look like a watercolor or oil painting E Stitch together multiple frames to create panoramas E Merge two images to create a 3D stereo effect or an animated image for display on the Web E Change brightness and contrast or expand the tonal range to improve the image E Cut and paste parts of one image into another to create a photo montage E Convert the photograph to another format Step 3 Sharing Photographs Once an image is the way you want it you ll find that there are lots of ways to display and share it E Print the image on a color printer E Insert the photograph into a word processing or desktop publishing document E Post the photograph on a photo sharing Web site or a blog E E mail the photograph to friends or family members E Send the photo to a service on the Web for prints or to have the images printed as a bound book or onto T shirts posters key rings mouse pads even cakes and cookies E Store the photograph on your system for later use E Create slide shows that play ona DVD player connected to the TV or a DVD drive in a computer FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 21 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A Jump Start IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Ce Ta Ce
99. capture images just the way you want them FLASH EXPOSURE BRACKETING FEB Flash exposure bracketing FEB takes a series of three consecutive pictures exposed at slightly different settings above or below the exposure recom mended by the autoexposure system The flash output changes with each image while the background exposure level remains the same FLASH Exposure FE Lock Flash exposure lock FE Lock works much like AE Lock When you use this feature a preflash is fired and the exposure system reads the flash exposure so you have time to recompose the scene or make exposure or focus adjustments without losing your flash exposure information FE lock is extremely useful when the main subject is off center It can also eliminate potential exposure errors caused by unwanted reflections from highly reflective surfaces such as windows or mirrors FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 81 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS A hot shoe or a flash sync connection allows you to attach an external flash unit Courtesy of Olympus Animation Click to explore stroboscopic flash Stroboscopic flash repeatedly froze the head of a dipping bird toy Animation Click to explore high speed sync Animation Click to explore how a flash head can pivot up and down and rotate for bounce flash 82 HIGH SPEED SYNC FP FLASH In situations where you want to use a shutter speed that s faster than
100. cking it into baggage It may also be easier to carry a tripod if you use a bag that either has a shoulder strap or hooks to a backpack type case ia a e oa ho Just because it starts to rain is no excuse for packing up and going home What aie fe sali we you need is an umbrella or other way to keep rain off the camera and lens If makes rn coiere tor AE wind you might reconsider butin light rain and still air great pic various sized camera tYTes are waiting and lens combinations WATERPROOFING WHILE SHOOTING Lowepro makes waterproof Dry Zone backpacks Aquapac makes waterproof enclosures that let you shoot under water or in the rain They also protect your camera on canoe and other boating trips Seahorse makes an entire family of watertight cases FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 119 Chapter 5 Appendix camera companies put into really describing their products or defin ing their terms You d think every one of their sites would have a glossary not only for widely accepted terms but also for those proprietary coinages they love to label their products with The following glossary goes at least part way toward filling this gap Following the glossary is our closing section on caring for your camera Q of the things that continues to amaze me is in how little effort GLOSSARY GLOSSARY Angle of view The amount of a scene that can be recorded by a particular le
101. comfortable The number of camera straps and bags available is mind boggling In this section we ll discuss some of the many types but you should visit a camera store to see them first hand Unfortunately as with tripods most camera stores carry avery limited selection Neck STRAPS I once read one of the typical lawyer s warnings in the front of a digital camera manual What surprised me was that they warned against using the camera s neck strap to hang the camera around your neck I thought it was funny at the time but have often thought of how easy it would be to get hung up in the back country if you slid I still use one but I m more conscious of it now and don t use it when in a precarious position If you use one you know that the one that comes with your camera seems to have been designed to cut into your neck after a while on the trail especially if carrying a heavy lens One answer is a wider more padded strap Many come with quick release connectors so it s easy to remove the strap when you want Some backpacks also have straps to hang the camera from so its weight shifts from your neck to your shoulders CHEST STRAPS OR HARNESSES They may look funny but if you ve ever jumped off a ledge only to have your camera swing and smash into a boulder you ll know the value of a quick release chest harness It keeps the camera firmly in place while climbing or oo ri BER i a r E F FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL
102. ction A timer or remote control is also great in low light situations You can rest the camera on a table or use a tripod and then trigger the shutter without touching the camera This eliminates the camera shake that causes soft or blurred images DATE TIME INDICATORS Date and time indicators give you a permanent record of when a shot was taken Some display this information in the image area so they detract some what from the image Others hide it in the image file so you can only see it when displaying information about images in the camera or when using software on the computer FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM OTHER FEATURES Many digital cameras have a built in microphone that records sounds in movies or let s you attach sounds to images perhaps to annotate them WRITTEN ANNOTATION LCD monitors are usually used to preview images and display menus In this respect they act as output devices One feature that has been introduced and may spread is having them also act as touch sensitive input devices so you can point to menu choices or even use a stylus to write on the images SOUND RECORDING Some cameras have built in microphones so you can record your voice or other sounds in stand alone files like a dictating machine or attach the sounds to a specific photo as an annotation This is a nice feature when you want to preserve comments about an image or sounds associat
103. d TVs got bigger and fatter every year It s just within the past few years that the first few hints of the future began to appear One of these hints is the tabletop flat panel frame that displays slide shows movies music and other information Thin they may be but cheap they aren t However if you want to have an ever changing picture show of your images you might want to check into these devices Some even let you change the images from anywhere in the world Here are some of the things to think about when considering a digital photo frame E mage source Some frames are designed to stand alone with images fed to the screen from a memory card USB connection to the camera or computer or even a CD inserted into the frame To put a show together you copy images from your computer to the card CD or frame Some frames have internal storage for the images including some with hard drives that store a large number of images Newer frames also have the ability to connect to a home network so you send it photos from a computer on your home network Other frames are designed to be connected to a phone line so you or others you invite can send images to it from other computers on the Internet If the device does connect to the Internet there are monthly charges and an ongoing subscription service to use the network However you might also be able to use the frame to view news weather traffic sports and entertainment as well as photos or e
104. d ever changing Bogen Manfrotto tripods use flip locks and Gitzo uses threaded collars The problem with the Gitzo approach is that you have to lock and unlock sections in the right order You can t unlock or lock lower sections unless those above them are locked first With Bogen Manfrotto locks you can lock and unlock sections in any order but the locks can require quite a bit of finger strength to open On some tripods the legs can only be set at a limited number or range of angles On others they can be positioned and locked at almost any angle This is especially useful when shooting on uneven surfaces as you might be in the woods Instead of chang ing leg lengths to level the camera you can change the angle of one or more legs Some even have a way to lock the legs in any position The number of sections in each leg is another consideration More sections FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 99 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT i The spiked feet on a tripod Courtesy of Adorama A short center column lets you spread the legs to get the camera very close to the ground Courtesy of Gitzo Center columns come in all lengths Some even have multiple telescoping sections so they are extendable Courtesy of Gitzo If you want to shoot down on items without having to shoot between the tripod s legs you need a center column that swings out so you can cantilever the camera out to
105. ded by a small background For many pictures mode just zooming your lens in on the subject will suffice However macro lenses or lenses with a macro mode allow you to get a lot closer to the subject making it much larger in the final image If you can t get close enough to an object to fill the image area you can always crop out the unwanted areas later However the more you crop the smaller the image becomes E Point and shoot or other fixed lens cameras usually have a macro mode that Click to see the effects lets you get close to a subject When using one of these cameras you should of parallax when compose the image on the monitor especially when closer than about 3 feet shooting close to a 90cm If you don t a subject centered in the scene won t be centered in the subject photo unless the camera has an electronic viewfinder so you view the scene through the lens E SLRs show the scene through the lens and have macro lenses and other lenses with a macro mode that let you get closer than normal The ring flash fires a circle of light although the two sides can be fired independently or with different intensities Macro lenses let you get very close to subjects but have very shallow depth of field Here focused on the eye of the newt so it was the sharpest part of the photo 64 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM LENS ACCESSORIES LENS ACCESSORIES Ma
106. dtone and highlight areas independently without affecting the other areas of the image This lets you lighten or darken selected areas of your images without loosing detail The only pixels that can t be fixed in this way are those that have been clipped to pure white or black HIGHLIGHT WARNING One thing you want to avoid is overexposing highlights so they become so bright or clipped they loose details To help you avoid this many cameras a highlight warning when you review your images Overexposed areas of the image that have no detail blink or are outlined in color FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Focus PLANE OF CRITI CAL FOCUS E The plane of critical focus in your image will be the area that falls on the active focus area As you point the camera at various subjects and press the shutter button halfway down you ll see the subjects pop into focus in the viewfinder Animation Click to explore how focusing shifts the plane of critical focus Shutter buttons have two stages When pressed halfway down the camera sets and locks focus and often exposure Focus One of the most important things to look for in anew camera is how well it focuses This is important because a lens can only bring one part of the scene into the sharpest possible focus This part of the scene falls on what is called the plane of critical focus Subjects fallin
107. e subject was shot in a lite Subject to bounce part of the light back onto the shadowed area You can use fhe hil ne a an almost any relatively large flat reflective object including cardboard cloth allowing it to be or aluminum foil crumpling the foil to wrinkle it then opening it out again captured without dark works best Position the reflector so that it points toward the shadowed side shadows and burned of the subject As you adjust the angle of the reflector you will be able to out highlights observe its effects on the shadows Be sure to use a neutral toned reflector so http www ezcube com its color doesn t add a color cast to the image E Light panels are an ideal source of light because they have so many uses When you place an object on the illuminated panel and shoot from above the area surrounding the object is captured as pure white If you cut a hole in a sheet of background paper and arrange it as a sweep above the panel a glass placed on the hole appears to glow from within as light streams through the hole and through the glass Finally by tipping a panel on its side it can be used as a background or used like any other light source A medallion placed on a light box and shot from above has a pure white background A small lamp is used to side light the coin to bring out its relief http www ezcube com E Flash definitely has a role in studio photography It doesn t hurt to see what results you
108. e camera s built in flash has a guide number of 43 in feet with ISO set to 100 Its optional accessory flash has a guide number of 180 When using an aperture setting of 3 5 the range of the built in flash is about 12 feet and that of the external flash is over 50 feet FLASH SYNC AND SHUTTER SPEEDS When you take a picture the shutter opens and closes to let light strike the image sensor When it does so the shutter is fully open for a very short time If the shutter speed is too fast the burst of light from the flash won t fully expose all parts of the image sensor and part of the scene won t be captured in the image The fastest shutter speed that can be used is called the flash synchroniza tion speed and is usually between 1 125 1 500 second One advantage of a higher flash sync speed is that you can use fill flash out of doors with a larger aperture to better freeze action or get shallower depth of field perhaps to throw the background out of focus in a portrait On an SLR the flash sync speed is determined by the timing of the shutter s two curtains a front and rear curtain sometimes called first and second curtains 2 el A focal plane shutter opens a curtain to begin an exposure and closes a second curtain to end it At fast shutter speeds top the second curtain starts to end the exposure before the first curtain has fully opened so the two curtains form a slit traveling across the image sensor Flash would only expos
109. e considering going digital here are a few more reasons to get even more serious E Going digital saves you money in the long run since you don t have to buy Signs for developing rolls of film and pay for their development and printing film may be disappearing but you E It saves you time because you don t have to make two trips to the store to can now drop off a drop off and then pick up your pictures although you can do this with the memory card and pick memory card up your prints and the o card in an hour or so E Digital cameras instantly show you how your pictures look so you ll no longer have those disappointments a day or two later when your film is developed E You can view images before they are printed and if you don t like what you see edit them to perfection or save money by deleting or not printing them E Digital photography doesn t use the toxic chemicals that often end up flowing down the drain and into our streams rivers and lakes E No more waiting to finish a roll before having it processed Or wasting unexposed film when you can t wait E Many digital cameras are able to capture not only still photographs but also sound and even video they are as much multimedia recorders as they are cameras E You can use a photo editing program to improve or alter digital images For example you can crop them remove red eye change colors or contrast and even add and delete eleme
110. e memory card You can continue shooting until the buffer fills and resume when some images have been transferred from it to the memory card All of these delays affect how quickly you can get off the first shot or capture a series of photos one after another often referred to as shot to shot time If the delays are too long you may miss a picture Responsiveness is most important when photographing moving subjects FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 49 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS MAGE FORMATS Animation Click to see the effects of compression Animation Click to explore the differences between JPEG and RAW formats STORAGE CAPACITY E The number of new images you can store at the current settings is usually displayed on the camera s monitor or control panel 50 On many cameras one of the many important choices you ll make is what format and image quality to use when shooting photos E JPEG is the default format used by almost every digital camera ever made Named after its developer the Joint Photographic Experts Group and pro nounced jay peg this format lets you specify both image size and compres sion The smallest size is best for the Web and e mail although it will usually have to be reduced and the largest for prints The JPEG format compresses images to make their files smaller but many cameras let you specify how much they are compressed
111. e near those on high quality computers E In camera editing is a relatively new feature and will only grow in impor tance as cameras are enabled to send photos directly to photo sharing sites printers and e mail addresses With some cameras you are able to remove red eye adjust tones and colors add borders and use special effects E Slide shows display your images one after another on the camera s monitor ora connected TV Many digital cameras have an analog video output termi nal NTSC or PAL so they can be connected to a TV using standard input or video in terminals Some cameras use special effects such as dissolve to transition from one image to the next and some even let you accompany the show with music However unless the camera software also allows you to download images back into the camera this is only a transient benefit Once you have erased the images to make room for new ones you can no longer display them from the camera However you can use software on your com puter to create slide shows and save them on DVDs E Image management lets you delete rotate protect and add audio annota tion to images or zoom them to carefully examine details sharpness colors and tones E Direct printing without using a computer is possible when both the camera and the printer support the PictBridge standard E An orientation sensor in many cameras detects when you turn the camera vertically to take a picture and even knows which
112. e the area uncovered by the slit between the two rapidly moving curtains At the flash sync speed and slower bottom the second curtain doesn t start to close until the first one is fully open FLASH MobDEs On fully automatic cameras the flash fires automatically whenever the light is too dim to take a photo by natural light On more sophisticated cameras there are various flash modes you can choose from for more creative effects E Auto mode fires the flash whenever there is too little light for a good expo sure or when the main subject is backlit E Red eye reduction mode You ll often see photos of people with what s called red eye The light from a flash has entered through the subject s pupil and reflected off the back of the eye the retina and back out to the camera Since the retina is lined with blood vessels the reflected light takes on a red color To reduce red eye the camera has a red eye reduction mode that fires a short preflash lamp to close the subject s iris a moment before the actual flash fires to take the picture It doesn t always work To eliminate red eye you need an external flash that s positioned farther away from the axis of the camera FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 79 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Animation Click to explore fill flash Slow sync flash outdoors at sunset captured gulls in mid flight with interesting effects Animation Click
113. e three parts stands reflectors and bulbs Courtesy of tabletop studios htto www ezcube com A compact fluorescent CFLs bulb Courtesy of tabletop studios htto www ezcube com 94 One thing digital cameras have made popular again is the continuous studio light that stays on all of the time much like the table or desk lamp you read by These lights fell out of favor in film photography when strobes came along because they required filters on the camera or flash to match the light to the film Choosing the right filters took more knowledge and experience than most of us have especially since you couldn t see the results until the film was developed However with digital cameras white balance elimi nated this concern so continuous lights are again popular especially in home and small business studios One big advantage of continuous lights is that you can see their effects on the setup as you view the scene directly or on the camera s monitor As you move the lights you can see the highlights and shadows change on the subject This allows you to interact with the lighting setup much more than you can when using strobes It s almost as if you are painting with light The only real problem with continuous lights is the heat that some kinds of bulbs throw off specifically tungsten and quartz halogen bulbs Newer daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs have eliminated this problem There are three parts of these lights to
114. e to end the exposure FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM FLASH Front curtain sync fires the flash at the beginning of the exposure then records ambient light As a result light streaks from the moving subject appear in front of it Rear curtain sync fires the flash at the end of the exposure after the ambient light has been recorded so the streaks trail behind the subject Animation jj Click to explore flash exposure compensation FLASH ExPOSURE COMPENSATION Flash can under or overexpose a subject so you might want to look for a camera that has flash exposure compensation so you can manually adjust the flash output the brightness of the flash illuminating the subject without changing the aperture or shutter speed This is an ideal way to balance flash and natural light when using fill flash and to correctly expose scenes or subjects that are darker or lighter than normal The exposure compensation function often lets you vary flash exposures plus or minus 2 stops in one third stop increments You can use flash exposure compensation in conjunction with regular expo sure compensation Doing so lets you use regular exposure compensation to lighten or darken the background that s illuminated by natural light and use flash exposure compensation to lighten or darken the subject illuminated by the flash This is a powerful combination of exposure controls that let s you
115. e transparency of the two or more layers ANIMATIONS A few cameras will combine a series of photos into an animation so pictures are displayed one after another like frames in a movie The animation can be played in the camera or on a computer or even posted on a Web site for others to see You can also create animations like this using continuous mode and software on your computer that creates and saves animated gifs TRIPOD MOUNT In low light situations when using long lenses or when you want to enlarge an image as much as possible you need to mount the camera on a tripod This eliminates all camera movement that would otherwise appear in the enlarged image as softness or blur If you want to use a tripod check that the camera has the necessary threaded tripod mount WATER AND SHOCK PROOFING Some pocket cameras are waterproof so you can use them underwater The most expensive digital SLRs are not waterproof but have rubber seals that make the camera water resistant so you can use it in inclement weather SELF TIMER REMOTE CONTROL Self timers allow you to get in the picture You just start the timer and run like hell Wireless remote controls allow you to retain your dignity You just get in the picture area and then click a button on the remote to take your picture The problem is keeping the remote from being obvious in the image Remote control cables can also be used with some cameras if they have made provisions for the conne
116. ed in the Click to view a PDF United States of America Except as permitted under the United States Copy document on how right Act of 1976 no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed copyright law protects in any form or by any means or stored ina database or retrieval system ee ang without the prior written permission of the publisher COPYRIGHT Although a low resolution edition of this book is distributed free it and all other editions are still copyrighted and the Author retains all rights You are welcome to share copies of the free edition with friends but you ARE NOT permitted to post it or any other edition on a Web site charge for copies of it or include it in any package to enhance its value without the expressed written permission of the Publisher Please respect these minor limitations so we can extend this experiment to other books ISBN 1 928873 71 5 2 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Asout THIS Book AND ITs VARIOUS EDITIONS ABOUT THIS BOOK AND ITs VARIOUS EDITIONS The print and CD package edition More Info The download edition More Info ne edition of this book is being distributed free so it gets the widest possible circulation However as if proving the adage that there is no such thing as a free lunch the free edition has some limitations E You can t print the free edition because we have dramat
117. ed on manual mode and not worth the savings FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM FLASH SLAVE FLASH UNITS If your camera doesn t have a hot shoe or other flash connector and many pocket cameras don t you can use a slave flash unit These flashes have a sensor that fires the flash when it senses the burst of flash from the camera s built in flash unit Since many digital cameras fire the flash twice for each picture the first is to set white balance and perhaps focus these units are designed so they fire when the camera s second flash goes off A small slave flash can be attached to a pocket camera to give you an increased flash range _ hte ETELEELE i Jia 1 a 4 iii i f J RING FLASH There are two important reasons to use flash in close up photography With flash you can use smaller apertures for greater depth of field and extremely short bursts of light at close distances prevent camera or subject movement from causing blur You can even bounce the flash off a reflector to illuminate the subject from an angle for a better lighting effect A special kind of flash is the ring flash These units fit around the lens and fire a circle of light on the subject They are ideal for close up photography such as that used in medical dental and nature photography Because ring flash is so flat shadowless the unit can be set to fire just one side of the ring
118. ed with it perhaps the roar of the falling water attached to a photo of Niagara Falls These recordings are saved in sound files that can later be played back and edited on the computer When played back on the camera it will usually have a volume control PowerR MANAGEMENT Many cameras will reduce power consumption by entering sleep mode if you don t use any controls for a specified period of time Many cameras also turn off completely if the delay is longer Many cameras let you specify how much time must elapse before these things happen To wake up a sleeping camera you just press the shutter button halfway down If the camera has powered down you have to turn it back on SPECIAL EFFECTS In addition to color some cameras let you also shoot images in black and white or in an antique sepia tone Some even have modes that mimic the colors captured by color film The possibilities are almost endless and camera companies include those they think their users will like GPS Camera companies have been slow to integrate GPS into their cameras but it s available for a few high end cameras and this feature is sure to spread as it already is in camera phones GPS is a great way to record the location of photos or be able to link them to on line maps in what s called a mashup JPEG images already have room for latitude and longitude to be embedded in their EXIF information and there are a number of mapping sites ready for the linking To f
119. eflector efficiency ensures that the available light will be focused on the subject to be photographed and not on areas outside the camera s field of view Generally the brighter the light the smaller the aperture you can use or the farther the lights can be positioned from the subject However for tabletop photography almost any bright light will work You can control the light illuminating the subject by moving lights closer to and farther away The only thing to be aware of is that adjusting brightness also affects the light s color temperature Be sure to adjust your camera s white balance after adjusting the light s brightness FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 95 CHAPTER 3 STUDIO EQUIPMENT USING STROBES Strobes are the real workhorses in a professional studio and are basically larger and more powerful versions of your camera s built in flash They are cooler than continuous lights mainly because they fire very short bursts of light These bursts are of such short duration they also freeze motion Since they are not on all the time strobes often have low intensity modeling lights so you can see how the light will fall on the subject Strobes are great but cost hundreds and usually thousands of dollars They generally have one or more lightweight heads containing the flash tubes that connect by high voltage cables to a separate power pack that powers and controls the light However a
120. ene modes which go by a variety of names Nikon calls them Multi auto programmed modes have preselected settings for specific situations such as landscapes portraits night portraits sports and close up photography On some cameras the number of these settings has gotten a bit out of hand since there are so many you have to select them from a menu E Programmed mode is just like full auto in that it sets the aperture and shutter speed for you so you can concentrate on composition and action When in this mode many cameras have a mode that lets you select from a series of paired aperture and shutter speed combinations that yield the same exposure as that recommended by the camera but which give you control over depth of field and motion E Shutter priority mode lets you choose the shutter speed you need to freeze or deliberately blur camera or subject movement and the camera automatically sets the aperture to give you a good exposure You select this mode when the portrayal of motion is most important For example when photographing action scenes such as those encountered by wildlife photographers sports photographers and photojournalists shutter priority mode might be best It lets you be sure your shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the action or slow enough to blur it E Aperture priority mode lets you select the aperture needed to obtain the depth of field you want and the exposure system automatically sets the shutter speed to give
121. ength SHORT FOCAL LENGTHS Using a short focal length lens or zooming out gives you a wide angle of view that lets you capture a wide expanse of a scene This view is ideal for use in tight spaces such as when photographing landscapes and in small rooms where you can t position the camera a great distance from the subject A short lens also has great depth of field so it s good for street or action photographs When responding to quickly unfolding scenes this depth of field lets you respond quickly without worrying about focus Short lenses also let you focus very close to your subject and the effect this can have on the perspective in your images can be dramatic Objects very close to the camera loom much larger than those farther in the background This distortion in the apparent size of objects can deliberately give emphasis and when carried to an extreme give an unrealistic appearance to a scene FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 61 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Animation Click to explore how a wide angle lens can distort a subject Animation Click to see how extreme wide angle lenses can be used to create 360 degree interactive panoramas It s hard to design a lens that works great at both wide angle and normal telephoto focal lengths To remedy this Kodak designed a camera with two lenses Wide angle lenses can distort objects near the edge of the frame This is
122. ens only when absolutely necessary A little dust on the lens won t affect the image so don t be compulsive Keep the lens covered when not in use to reduce the amount of cleaning required When cleaning is necessary use a soft brush such as a sable artist s brush and a blower an ear syringe makes a good one to remove dust Fingerprints can be very harmful to the lens coating and should be removed as soon as possible Use a lens cleaning cloth or roll up a piece of photographic lens cleaning tissue and tear the end off to leave a brush like surface Put a small drop of lens cleaning fluid on the end of the tissue Your condensed breath on the lens also works well Never put cleaning fluid directly on the lens it might run between the lens elements Using a circular motion clean the lens surface with the cloth or tissue then use the cloth or a tissue rolled and torn the same way to dry Never reuse tissues and don t press hard when cleaning because the front element of the lens is covered with a relatively delicate lens coating 125 CHAPTER 5 APPENDIX Blowing sand is one of the worst possible environments Use an umbrella or plastic bag to protect your camera from mist and light rain 126 PROTECTING YOUR CAMERA FROM THE ELEMENTS Your camera should never be exposed to excessively high temperatures If at all possible don t leave the camera in a car on a hot day especially if the sun is shining on the car or
123. ere are a few cameras that fall somewhere between the extremes and will fit in a coat pocket or purse so you may want to consider one of those if you remain undecided DECIDE ABOUT LENS Most digital cameras come with a zoom lens that is built into the camera and can t be changed The optical zoom ranges on these lenses are between 3x and 12x but ranges will increase over time Remember to ignore digital zoom except for movies If these zoom ranges are great enough for what you plan to do a fixed lens camera might be perfect for you If you think you may have special needs or want the best possible optics an SLR with interchangeable lenses might be more appropriate DOWNLOAD THE MANUAL Nothing explains the features of a camera better than the user manual that comes with it Many camera companies also post these on their Web sites in the PDF format Look for the manual in the site s Support section or google it If FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM FEATURE CREEP E Features are being added to new cameras at an amazing rate In fact anything that can be done is being done Only time will tell what features really work and which migrate from afew models to many of them In the meantime don t put too much emphasis on many of these features Your buying decision should be based on the features you are sure to use and on the image quality the camera delivers THE STEPS
124. eries are fully charged and when they are almost depleted but don t tell you much in between The exception is Sony whose infoLithium batteries communicate their status to the camera so it can be displayed for you You ll always know approximate how much time remains so you can plan ahead There are ways to prolong your battery s charge Here are some of them 1 When you first get new batteries charge and discharge them a few times so they get fully charged 2 When photographing turn off the LCD monitor and use the optical view finder if your camera has one It s better for taking pictures anyway When you have to use the LCD monitor turn down its brightness 3 Occasionally clean the battery contacts in the camera and charger witha cotton swab and rubbing alcohol isopropyl alcohol Most charging problems are caused by dirty contacts on the battery or charger 4 When not using the camera for an extended period remove the battery and store it in a cool dry place Also remove flash memory cards from the camera when not in use Some cameras draw a small current even when off Batteries don t last forever Depending on their type they ll last between 400 700 recharge cycles For heavy users that s about 1 to 2 years Generally you can tell they are failing when they no longer hold as long a charge Most cameras have a second battery sometimes called a clock battery that lets the camera retain its memory when the
125. ey fit in a coat pocket and can be set on a railing counter or table to get a shake free shot almost anywhere The Benbo Mini Trekker is a lightweight compact tripod ideal for photographing flowers and other low level nature subjects or indoors as a tabletop tripod The Leica tabletop tripod has been around for decades and is a classic It even has a separate ball head attachment Surveyors always use wooden tripods because of their stability and ability to dampen vibrations Many large format photographers prefer them for the same reason If nothing else these tripods are heavy You wouldn t want to carry one far from the car They are made by companies such as Brom Reis and Billingham MoNoPoDs Carrying a tripod long distances can be a hassle and setting one up can be time consuming For these reasons the monopod is a popular camera support Like a walking stick it has only one leg but that s enough to make a big differ ence in camera stability Once the camera is mounted you can compose and shoot almost as fast as you can when just hand holding the camera In the 19th century a version of the monopod called the chainpod was popular It s simply a length of chain attached to the camera s tripod mount You stand on the end of the chain that lays on the ground and pull the camera to add tension on the Cullman makes some tripods where you can unscrew one of the legs and join it to the center column to make a chain
126. f this technique called zone focusing to prefocus and set depth of field so a specific range is always in focus If anything happens within that range you can quickly capture it without focusing Minimum Focus DISTANCE The minimum focus distance of a lens determines how close you can get toa subject If too close the image will be blurry Generally shorter focal length lenses let you get closer For example Canon s 14mm lens will get closer than a FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM LENSES Digital SLR cameras use electrical connections to set the lens aperture and adjust focus foot and their 600mm can t get closer than 18 feet This information is usually found in the manual or lens specifications OEM anp 3RD Party LENSES Canon and Nikon with their vast arrays of lenses have a real advantage over other camera companies that make digital SLRs Since developing a lens lineup is hugely expensive there are only two ways companies can overcome this disadvantage E The easiest way is for the company to license the lens mount from one of the leaders so their lenses work with your camera Fuji has done this with Nikon so you can buy a Fuji camera and use it with Nikon lenses Sony has also acquired Minolta and is using their lens mount in a range of new cameras and lenses E A more expensive way is to join with other companies to share the costs of development Olympus along wi
127. g on this plane will be the sharpest part of the picture You move this plane toward and way from the camera as you focus A Imagine the part of the scene on which you focus A as a flat plane much like a pane of glass parallel to the back of the camera or the image sensor Objects falling exactly on this imaginary plane will be in critical focus and be the sharpest part of your picture This plane of critical focus is a very shallow band and includes only those parts of the scene located at identical distances from the camera As you point an autofocus camera at objects nearer or farther away in the scene the camera refocuses and the plane of critical focus moves closer to or farther from the camera As the plane moves objects at different distances from the camera come into or go out of critical focus Focus SETTINGS There are three ways cameras focus fixed focus autofocus and manual focus E Fixed focus is found on the least expensive cameras almost all camera phones and one time use cameras It is sometimes called focus free for market ing purposes a euphemism one reviewer suggests they change to unfocusable E Manual focus found on SLRs and some expensive fixed lens cameras lets you focus by turning a ring on the lens in many situations this is the best way by far On point and shoot cameras you often have to use buttons or dials to manually focus a slow and unsatisfying process at best E Autofocus is available
128. gles E Screen size and resolution is important not only to evaluate images but to share them with others A wide viewing angle lets a small group see the photos together E Transparent monitor covers keep monitors from being scratched They are cheap and easy to replace E Many cameras have connectors and cables for displaying your photos on a TV set or a computer with a TV tuner You can also connect the camera when taking photos so it displays everything on a much larger screen E A glare proof surface and brightness adjustment help you see the menu and images in bright sunlight where many monitors just become mirrors VIEWFINDERS Viewfinders are ideal for following fast action as it unfolds waiting for the decisive moment One of the advantages of some but not all of them is that they don t draw battery power so your batteries last longer Also most view finders are coupled to the zoom lens and show the same area that will be captured in the photo There are three kinds of viewfinders and most photogra phers would consider the SLR viewfinder the best FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM COMPOSING IMAGES SLR viewfinders display focus areas and camera settings Animation _ Click to explore how parallax affects your view of a subject In this cutaway view of a Canon SLR you can see the mirror that bounces light up into a prism for the viewfinder The m
129. graphy With kiosks everywhere it s easy to shoot and then just print the images you want Camera phone quality is improving rapidly with 8 Megapixel models already available in some parts of the world In time these cameras may present real competition to point and shoot cameras One time use cameras take surprisingly good pictures and some even have a monitor on which you can review your results When it comes time to choose a new digital camera there is quite a range of types to choose from You are often trading off size versus features Pocket sized cameras usually don t have as many features as larger cameras but they are much more convenient The best news is that despite their great differences most cameras will capture very high quality images especially when used to create snapshot sized prints Point and shoot cameras usually have fewer controls than other digital cameras but many are also small bordering on tiny With a camera that fits into your pocket you re more likely to have it when you need it The fastest selling point and shoot digital cameras are those built into camera phones The problem with these cameras is that their image quality is improv ing very slowly and doesn t yet match that of dedicated cameras Gee _ h Digital photography has already matured to the point where there are one time use point and shoot versions FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT
130. h to close the iris of the eye before firing the main flash to take the picture Red eye An effect that causes peoples eyes to look red in flash exposures Refresh rate The time it takes the camera to capture the image after you press the shutter release Removable media Storage media that can be removed from the camera Resolution interpolated A process that enlarges an image by adding extra pixels without actually capturing light from those pixels in the initial exposure Resolution optical The true resolution of an image based on the number of photosites on the surface of the image sensor Resolution An indication of the sharpness of images on a printout or the display screen It is based on the number and density of the pixels used The more pixels used in an image the more detail can be seen and the higher the image s resolu tion RGB The color system used in most digital cameras where red green and blue light is captured separately and then combined to create a full color image Scanner An input device that uses light to read printed information including text graphics and bar codes and transfers it into the computer in a digital format SCSI port A port that s faster than the serial and parallel ports but slower and harder to configure than the newer USB port Also know as the Small Computer System Interface FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 123 CHAPTER 5 APPENDIX Serial port A
131. halfway down If the subject moves toward or away from the camera it goes out of critical focus However if your camera has servo focus focus is adjusted as long as you hold the shutter button halfway down This mode is designed to keep a moving subject in focus and is great for sports and nature photography or any other situations where you are photographing moving subjects If the subject moves after you have focused on it it remains in focus as long as it s covered by one of the AF points PREDICTIVE Focus If a subject is moving toward or away from the camera at a constant rate the camera can predict where it will be when the shutter opens This predictive focus feature is available on some high end digital SLR cameras It s a great addition when photographing sports events and in other situations where subjects are moving rapidly as when a child is running toward you Focus ASSIST Cameras can have a hard time focusing in dim light For this reason some cameras will strobe the flash or fire a separate focus assist light These lights briefly illuminate the scene but work only at a short range In some settings these lights are a dead giveaway that you are taking photos because they project a beam of light unto the subject that everyone in the room can see If you want to be less intrusive or distracting many cameras let you turn off the assist beam Focus Lock To change the position of the plane of critical focus you can use
132. he animation that is played is related to the digital photography concept discussed on that page If you like this book and want to learn more about digital photography you may want to check out the companion volume to this book Using Your Digital Camera or one of our guides to specific camera models Da Ae rte tet eel i ee am lreegee ore aera caf OG Rew omi joh ghoi ror feb Tom A ee Sr G ea fi semen TS Cremer fp mew Comment Secure gn sy aae Dima fie i Goes lt O O iwr pm A biaren a min A Ah iha Mira bioi aa ro a ore Ca whey ised by Be qround glass koong arem Dai a repens bry Mn prona Bim te a Cd Dec aye g be sil m i z a Be ee a Be A a r L Daam of RP ariary ai f E a LE ak En CETERI VENG 3 eg or even a emoe prigis Ha oeum PHOS d HHL More Info Almost all ShortCourses books and textbooks are available in print as well as PDF eBooks on CD discs All eBooks display tabs on the left side of the page Clicking the Bookmarks tab displays a table of contents and clicking the Pages tab displays thumbnails of each page 4 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM VisitT OUR PUBLISHING PROGRAM We re best know for our camera guides and digital photography textbooks To see if we have a book for your camera please visit our A Suwon Cou REE IN Canon EOS 5D PHOTOGRAPHY a gt b
133. he plate into position The system is great with only one drawback It is a one size fits all solution and some people feel you should be able to use a big plate for a big item and a small plate for a small item Lots of people use this system and like it I ve used it for years The only thing to be careful of is correctly inserting the plate into the front flanges that hold it in It is possible to not seat the plate correctly and you risk losing your camera lens combination Once locked in things are very secure THE ARCA SWISS SYSTEM The Arca Swiss quick release system uses a tripod channel with jaws that can be closed and tightened with the turn of a screw The channel accepts camera or lens mounted plates that slide into the jaws to be locked in place No 3 way head that I m aware of has an integral quick release system How ever most ball heads do You can easily add one to any head that doesn t have one built in although it adds a connection that can rotate on you The advan tage of mounting your own OR system is that you are not locked in You can always use another quick release system without changing the ball head Head mounted clamps and camera or lens mounted plates are almost always Arca Swiss compatible There are some generic plates which work well with point and shoot cameras but most of those designed for digital SLRs are designed for specific cameras The reason is that camera manufacturers have never responded to a majo
134. here to explore first and second curtain sync 80 lens If you have to use only the built in flash zoom the lens out to a wider angle tell the subject to look directly at the camera get close increase the overall room lighting or have the subject face a bright window You can remove red eye using software but it s a lot easier to avoid it to begin with On most cameras you can turn red eye mode off In many situations it s not needed and it does introduce a very brief delay between pressing the shutter button and capturing the picture because the red eye reduction light needs time to flash E Fill flash forced mode often called Flash On or Forced Flash fires the flash fires even if there is enough available light to take the picture without flash It is used when you want to fill in shadows when the subject is back or side lit In these situations shadow areas can be so dark in the image that they show little or no detail When the subject is backlit or against a bright background it can be underexposed Fill flash is also a good way to get accurate color balance under unusual lighting Another reason to use fill flash outdoors is to add catch lights to eyes hot spots that make the eyes sparkle E Flash off mode is used when the light is low enough to trigger the flash but you d rather use a long exposure to capture it in natural light On some cameras you can also turn the built in flash on or off when an external flash
135. herefore green color accuracy is more impor tant Bit mapped Images formed from pixels with each pixel a shade of gray or color Using 24 bit color each pixel can be set to any one of 16 million colors Burst mode The ability of a camera to take one picture after another as long as you hold down the shutter release button Card The sealed package containing storage chips or other devices with electrical connectors that make contact when inserted into a card slot on a camera printer computer or other device CCD raw format The uninterpolated data collected directly from the image sensor before processing CCD See Charge coupled device Charge coupled device CCD An image sensor that reads the charges built up on the sensor s photosites a row at a time CMOS image sensor An image sensor created using CMOS technology CMOS See CMOS image sensor Color balance The overall accuracy with which the colors in a photograph match or are capable of matching those in the original scene Color depth The number of bits assigned to each pixel in the image and the number of colors that can be created from those bits True Color uses 24 bits per pixel to render 16 million colors CompactFlash A popular form of flash storage for digital cameras Compression lossless A file compression scheme that makes a file smaller without degrading the image Compression lossy A file compression scheme that reduces the size of a file but degrades i
136. hoot at 1 15 or even slower with it E Optical image stabilization works by moving a prism in the camera or an element in the lens to redirect the light path to compensate for the unintended movement The camera moves one way and the prism or lens element moves the other This is the most effective method but also the most expensive Digital image stabilization shifts the image on the sensor to compensate for motion It s like watching a baseball infielder moving around to stay under a windblown pop up When this technique is used not all of the sensor s pixels can be used for the image Some of those on the border have to be reserved for the shifting image projected by the lens Another digital technique is to process the captured image to try to remove the blur E Pseudo image stabilization just increases the ISO so the camera can select a faster shutter speed When the camera has a fixed lens it doesn t matter which approach is used However on cameras with interchangeable lenses it does matter If the system resides within the camera body it will work with any lens if it resides within the lens it only works with special lenses When thinking about image stabilization keep in mind that it s always been available in the form of a tripod monopod beanbag or a flat surface on which to rest the camera You can increase stability by using the self timer or remote and mirror lockup page 85 to reduce vibrations
137. ically compressed the file so it s small enough for you to quickly download from our site and e mail to friends A printout of this highly compressed version would fall far below the standards of our other eBooks and we don t want it to reflect badly on those other works E Only some of the animations are active so you can get a feeling for what the animations are like in other Short Courses eBooks We ve limited the number of active animations in the free edition to reduce the load on our servers All of the animations are listed on page 16 with those that are active in the free edition of this book boldfaced Many people including myself prefer to read printed material because we can read it anywhere underline important concepts and make notes If you would like a printable version of the eBook with all of the animations active or want a spiral bound printed edition you can order either or both These editions are ideal for self study or classroom use and as gifts for friends and customers You can order the following editions just by clicking the illustrations or More Info buttons Special pricing is available for five or more copies Click here to e mail us for a quotation E The high resolution version of the book for downloading gives you quality printouts although it is 16 Megabytes so it may take some time to transfer it to your system E The high resolution copy ona CD gives you a permanent copy you can run on an
138. ick to explore the shutter speed s effect on exposure Animation Click to explore the shutter speed s effect on motion FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 69 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS EXPOSURE CONTROLS 1 Here are three cards that you photograph with each filling the viewfinder at the time you take the picture 2 The camera s exposure system makes all three cards appear gray in the photographs Only the middle gray card in the center is exposed correctly 3 Increasing the exposure for the white card and decreasing it for the black card captures them as they really appear Only the middle gray card in the center doesn t need the exposure adjusted manually Animation Click to explore exposure compensation The universally recognized icon for exposure compensation 70 When a scene is lighter or darker than middle gray you need to change the exposure to capture it the way it looks or it will be too light or dark The reason for this is because your camera s metering system tries to make every scene have an average of middle gray in the photo Y A Y 2 0 Most digital cameras provide ways to override the automatic exposure system to get the exposure you want The choices to look for are exposure compensa tion exposure lock and autoexposure bracketing a 2 EXPOSURE COMPENSATION Exposure c
139. il them to friends or family To do this just create an e mail message the way you nor mally do and then use your e mail program s Attach or Insert command to browse for the image file you want to send FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM A Jump START IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Insert Format Tools File Attachment Text From File Picture Horizontal Line My Business Gard Signature Hyperlink The Insert menu in Outlook Express The small images you can download from ShortCourses com are about 800 x 600 in size This is about the largest file size you should send by e mail or post on a Web page FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM When an e mail with a photo attached arrives at the recipient s end it s attached or inserted into the body of the message E If inserted you can view it directly when the message is selected or open On a PC right click the image and click the Save Picture As command to save it to your own system E If attached you can highlight the message or open it then on a PC use the File gt Save Attachments command to save the image to your system You can then use your photo editing program to open the image to view it Once you ve saved the photograph you can then use it just like any other digital image on your system When practicing e mailing photos you might want to address the first e mail
140. ind sites just google mashup MP3 PLAYER Although hardly a camera feature many companies are creating combination devices The ultimate such device also includes a phone a music player and perhaps a GPS unit FOLDERS Some cameras let you create your own folders on the flash card This lets you store related photos together or give slide shows of just the images in a speci fied folder FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 87 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS SOFTWARE Almost all cameras come with software included Many of the tasks performed by this software are done as well or better by third party software such as Adobe s Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Although free many photogra phers prefer not to get locked into camera company software because it usually isn t as good nor updated as frequently as the third party software that dominates the market However the major reason is that many photographers have more than one camera often from different manufacturers or like the freedom to change cameras If you do this while depending on camera com pany software you may find that you have to learn an entirely different program and some of them are quite complex when you change cameras or even find that your camera is not supported either because it is too old or too new Finally this software is often written without following the accepted conventions of the Mac or PC platforms so things rarely work
141. irror swings up out of the way when you take a picture Courtesy of Canon E Optical viewfinders on digital SLR cameras show the scene through the lens TTL just as 35mm SLRs do A mirror bounces light coming through the lens into a prism that directs it out of the viewfinder When you take a picture the mirror swings up and the shutter opens to let light hit the image sensor and create the image These are true what you see is what you get viewfind ers because you see exactly what the lens sees Some cameras have inter changeable focus screens so you can adapt the camera for your preferences For example if you do architectural or product photography you may want grid lines in the viewfinder so it s easier to keep things aligned Some cameras let you add the grid lines digitally by changing a camera setting E Optical viewfinders on point and shoot cameras show the scene through a separate window that is slightly offset from the view seen by the lens The offset view isn t a problem except in close up photography where parallax causes you to see a view that is slightly offset from the one the lens sees so a subject centered in the viewfinder won t be centered in the image E Electronic viewfinders use a small LCD monitor built into the viewfinder to display the same through the lens image seen by the image sensor Many of these cameras let you switch between the monitor and viewfinder and both show exactly the same scene and same
142. is attached E Night scene mode uses flash to correctly exposes the foreground subject while using a slow shutter speed to lighten the background E Slow sync fires a short burst of flash during a longer exposure to freeze objects while still allowing them to blur In very dim light flash pictures show a well exposed foreground subject against a black background The slow synchro mode is designed to minimize this problem by leaving the shutter open longer than usual to lighten the background This way the shutter speed determines the exposure of the background while the flash determines the exposure of the foreground subject In many cases the slow shutter speed used in this mode allows blur from rapidly moving objects or camera shake to appear as blur in the images To avoid blur use a tripod and photograph static subjects Or use this effect creatively A short flash burst combined with a long shutter speed gives interesting effects The flash freezes nearby objects sharply and the dim ambient light blurs moving objects and moving lights appear as streaks Some digital SLRs let you choose if the flash fires either when the shutter first fully opens or just before it s about to close E Front first curtain sync the usual mode means the flash fires when the shutter s front curtain first fully opens to expose the image sensor E Rear second curtain sync means the flash fires just before the shutter s rear curtain starts to clos
143. its signals to the remote units With expensive units the output ratio of different slave units can be set to finely tune exposures This is ideal for background or accent lighting when shooting in a studio setting When using wireless remote flash you can use a modeling light that illuminates the subject for a full second so you can preview flash effects such as shadows and highlights before taking a picture FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM IMAGE STORAGE AND VIEWING MAGE STORAGE AND VIEWING When a card gets full on trips there are devices like Apple s Camera Connector iPod that lets you save images until you get back home This frees up storage on the card so you can keep on shooting Sanik E treme N B Ora sandisk 3 One way to eliminate or reduce the need for intermediate storage is to use a higher capacity storage device in the camera For example some devices now store many gigabytes of data enough to store hundreds of large photos and thousands of smaller ones Portable digital image storage and viewing devices are advancing rapidly although their beginnings were quite humble When out photographing if your storage device becomes filled with images you need a place to tempo rarily store the images until you can transfer them to your main system One device used for this task is the notebook computer Not only do many people already have one
144. lets you post images on a Web site or e mail them using a home network or public hot spot Photo courtesy of Kodak at www kodak com A Nikon camera with WiFi connectability FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM TRANSFERRING PHOTOS WIRELESS CONNECTIONS One of the latest trends is to eliminate cable clutter using wireless connections between devices such as cameras and printers and between the camera and networks where you can immediately share your photos using e mail photosharing sites or photo blogs There are three basic approaches E Infrared connects line of sight devices where the infrared beam isn t blocked E WiFi connects to wireless printers kiosks and WiFi networks like those in home networks and public hot spots It is built into some cameras and can be purchased separately for others Camera phones send photos over the operator s network but you are at their mercy when it comes to pricing Some phones also let you connect to WiFi networks so you can cut your transfer costs E Bluetooth connects to nearby devices such as printers and kiosks Many camera phones come equipped with Bluetooth so it s easy to print images at kiosks 57 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS LENSES Point and shoot cameras often have 3x zoom lenses but they can range much higher This S3 1S from Canon is equipped with a 12x Zoom F Ca SLR cameras from major camera companies let you
145. ls begin to show Animation Click to explore pixels and aspect ratios Animation Good prints can be made using 200 pixels per inch Using this as a guide you can calculate that a 2000 x 1600 pixel image just over 3 Megapixels will make a The term resolution has two meanings in photography Originally it referred good 10 x 8 inch print to the ability of a camera system to resolve pairs of fine lines such as those on a test chart In this usage it s an indicator of sharpness not image size With the introduction of digital cameras the term began being used to indicate the number of pixels a camera could capture The pixel size of a digital photograph is specified in one of two ways by its dimensions in pixels or by the total number of pixels it contains For example the same image can be said to have 4368 x 2912 pixels where x is pro nounced by as in 4368 by 2912 or to contain 12 7 million pixels or Megapixels 4368 multiplied by 2912 As you might expect all other things being equal costs rise with a camera s resolution Greater resolution also creates other problems For example more pixels means larger image files Not only do larger files take more storage ee space they put greater demands on systems and networks when you edit e mail and post them on a Web site Click here to explore the Lower resolutions such as 640 x 480 are perfect for Web publishing e mail original meani
146. ls of menu choices to change a setting you won t be changing it often SIZE AND WEIGHT The size and weight of a camera can have a pronounced effect on how much you like it You re much less likely to take a bulky camera with you or walk far with a heavy camera hanging from your neck If it fits in your shirt pocket it might become your constant companion The dilemma is that adding features adds bulk and weight while making the camera too small and light makes it hard to take pictures free of camera shake There s no such thing as a perfect choice CONTROL PANEL ILLUMINATION On cameras with a control panel it can be hard to check your settings in dim light Check to see that the camera has a button you press to illuminate this panel MIRROR LOCKUP Mirror lockup on an SLR lets you raise and lock the mirror before taking a picture so it s swinging up when you take a photo doesn t add any image softening vibrations This is especially useful when taking macro close ups or using very long lenses After enabling mirror lockup pressing the shutter button all the way down raises the mirror and pressing it again fires the shutter and lowers the mirror When using the self timer pressing the shutter button all the way down raises the mirror and then fires the shutter after a short delay CusTOmM FUNCTIONS Some high end cameras have custom functions or settings you change to control camera operations such as turning noise reducti
147. lthough popular with filmmakers I m not aware of anyone who uses them in still photography The standard tripod has some limitations when trying to photograph wild flowers and other subjects close to the ground or when you want to shoot from a low perspective However solutions have been devised generally by reposi tioning the center column On some tripods you can remove the center column and invert it to place the camera closer to the ground Other center columns pivot or can be removed and inserted into another hole so they are cantilevered out parallel to the ground or even pointed down The later positions are great when shooting down as you might be when photographing wildflowers or using a tabletop setup A shorter center column lets you get the tripod lower to the ground A longer one will hit the ground before you can get the camera low enough for some shots Many center columns are now equipped with a weight hook on which you can hang your camera bag or other weight to give additional stability to the tripod You can even buy bags designed for this purpose that you fill with rocks or sand on the spot Some also come with a bubble level built into the platform so you can level the head when taking panoramas or architectural shots FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM TRIPODS amp MOonNoPopDs Tripods come in all sizes A handy size to have as a second tripod is a tabletop model Th
148. mage Stabilization veda cn snnctuncxtusvinescinns 66 Avoid Gray Market Products 31 Exposure Modes jsvicicacccrrttisiconsaiveiieses 67 Check Postage Rates and Sales Taxes 31 l Avoid Extended Warranties 34 Metering ssssssssesrssrerrrrrrrrerersrrrrerene 68 Check Return Policies Restocking Fees 31 Shutters ccc ccc cece cece eee e ence eens 69 Buy No Extras 31 12 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM CONTENTS CONTENTS CON T EXOOGUIS CONTOS scxscsrcesbpresnptesntvsseesny 70 Written Annotation 87 Exposure Compensation 70 Sound Recording 87 Autoexposure Lock AE Lock 71 Power Management 87 Autoexposure Bracketing AEB 71 Special Effects 87 Gray Cards 71 GPS 87 Exposure Increments 71 sits Player oa olders Histograms amp Highlight Warnings 72 Sotware 88 Evaluating Histograms 72 Firmware Update 88 Highlight Warning 12 Image Verification 88 POC er TEETE E E E T E 73 EXIF Information 88 Focus Settings 73 Focus Zones 4 Servo Focus 75 CHAPTER 3 STUDIO EQUIPMENT sssassnsnnnnnnn 89 Predictive Focus 15 Oo Focus Assist Fo aU LAI os rind ate beceiadanvbeteiaes iden 90 Focus Lock 15 Candidates for Studio Lighting 90 Focus bracketing 75 Lighting 90 Landscape Mode 19 Backgrounds 92 Depth of field Mode 15 Risers 92 White Balance cccceseseceeeeeeeevenenees 76 Special Bulbs 92 White Balance Bracketing 77 Portrait and Product Photography 93 Color Spaces
149. main batteries are removed This battery is recharged when you replace the main battery but if there is too long a period between removing the battery and replacing it the clock battery may run out FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM OTHER FEATURES OTHER FEATURES ANTI DUST E One of the newest trends in digital SLR s is the introduction of anti dust technol ogy When you change lenses dust can enter the camera and be attracted to the surface of the image sensor where it then creates dark spots on your images Most technologies so far seem to involve add a nonstick coating to the sensor and shaking it like mad to dislodge dust when you turn the camera on or off The almost universal illuminator icon Here a melting ice cube was photographed every 4 minutes In addition to the digital camera features we ve discussed there are a number of other features that might be nice to have or at least be aware of LOOK AND FEEL One of the most important things about a camera and the most subjective is its look and feel The only way you can evaluate this aspect is to pick it up work the controls and see how you like it The camera should feel conformable and natural in your hands and the controls should be easy and quick to operate Commands you expect to change frequently should be readily available on buttons or dials If you have to go through three leve
150. most things photograph well against it Other options include black colored or gradu ated backgrounds and these should be selected to support and not clash with the colors in the subject The texture of the background is also a consid eration For example black velvet has no reflections at all while black poster board might show them me i ions a i ie in n There are times when you don t want a background in a photo This silhou ettes the subject against a pure white background You ll often see this technique used in catalog photos but it s also a great way to make it easy to select an object in a photo editing program so you can cut it out and paste it into another image To get this effect you need to overexpose the back ground In some cases this is as easy as pointing lights at it In the case of small objects a light panel makes it very easy RISERS A white black colored or clear high gloss acrylic platform called a riser provides a soft reflection of the subject placed on top The elevation of the platform on a clear riser also eliminates any shadow beneath the subject because raising it throws the background out of focus This helps the back ground disappear If you position the subject in the middle of the riser you can then crop out the edges with a photo editing program so the subject seems to float in space SPECIAL BULBS You can experiment with different kinds of lights For ex
151. n taking close ups on a point and shoot camera without an electronic viewfinder the viewfinder is offset from the lens so the area seen in the view finder will differ from the area included in the image E Optical viewfinders on point and shoot cameras don t display important shooting information such as focus and exposure settings FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 39 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS CONTINUOUS PHOTOGRAPHY With digital cameras you normally take one photo at a time but you re not limited to that way of shooting You can also capture sequences of photos In this continuous mode you just hold down the shutter button and images are captured one after another until you release it You can then choose the best image from the sequence or use all of them to create animations on your computer Some people are even piecing together long movies from these short sequences The number of images you can capture in a single burst is usually limited by the size of the camera s buffer a form of memory capable of rapidly storing images as they are captured one after another In some cases the The speed at which you can capture images in continuous mode is specified in frames per Camera uses a smaller image size to capture sequences This reduces the second fps This is processing and storage time so you can take images ata faster rate usually between 3 5 fe Photo editing programs often le
152. nd flash card readers PC card A card in the case of cameras usually a storage device that plugs into a slot in a notebook or hand held computer Originally called PCMCIA cards PCMCIA card See PC Card Photosite A small area on the surface of an image sensor that captures the brightness for a single pixel in the image There is one photosite for every pixel in the image Picture elements See Pixels Pixelization An effect seen when you enlarge a digital image too much and the pixels become obvious Pixels The small picture elements that make up a digital photograph Port An electrical connection on the computer into which a cable can be plugged so the computer can communicate with another device such as a printer or modem Portrait mode Turning the camera to take a vertically oriented photograph Preview screen A small LCD display screen on the back of the camera used to compose or look at photographs Prosumer A very serious photographer who can be either an amateur or professional Rangefinder A camera design that has a viewfinder separate from the lens RAW An image file containing all of the data captured by the image sensor but not processed in the camera The highest quality image format Read out register The part of a CCD image sensor that reads the charges built up during an exposure Recycle time The time it takes to process and store a captured image Red eye reduction mode A mode that fires a preliminary flas
153. ng of attachments small prints or images in documents and presentations For resolution these uses higher resolutions just increase file sizes without significantly 46 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM IMAGE SENSORS RESOLUTION Many cameras give you a choice of image sizes from small to large Animation Click to explore how more pixels give sharper images Animation improving the images Click to see how it s the W Higher resolutions 6 million pixels or so are best for printing photo realistic output device not the enlargements larger than 5 x 7 Good prints can be made using 200 pixels per camera that determines inch Using this as a guide you can calculate that a 2000 x 1600 pixel image NAJE NEE just over 3 Megapixels will make a good 10 x 8 inch print Beware of claims about resolution for cameras because there are two kinds of resolution optical and interpolated The optical resolution of a camera or scanner is an absolute number because an image sensor s pixels or photosites are physical devices that can be counted To improve resolution in certain limited respects the optical resolution can be increased using software This process called interpolated resolution adds pixels to the image to increase the total number of pixels To do so software evaluates those pixels surrounding each new pixel to determine what its color should be For example if
154. ns determined by the focal length of the lens Adapter Used to insert a smaller storage device into a larger slot in a computer or other device Additive color system See RGB Aperture maximum The largest size of the hole though which light enters the camera Aperture The lens opening formed by the iris diaphragm inside the lens The size of the hole can be made larger or smaller by the autofocus system or a manual control Aspect ratio The ratio between the width and height of an image or image sensor ATA A standard for storage devices that lets them be treated as if they were hard drives on the system Any ATA compatible media can be read by any ATA device Attachment A file such as a photography sent along with an e mail message so it can be viewed or saved at the recipient s end Automatic exposure A mode of camera operation in which the camera automatically adjusts the aperture shutter speed or both for proper exposure Automatic flash An electronic flash unit with a light sensitive cell that determines the length of the flash for proper exposure by measuring the light reflected back from the subject Back lit The subject is illuminated from behind and will be underexposed unless you use fill flash or exposure compensation Bayer pattern A pattern of red green and blue filters on the image sensor s photosites There are twice as many green filters as the other colors because the human eye is more sensitive to green and t
155. nses that focus by changing shape are now being used in some camera phones Courtesy of Varioptics CHOOSING FocAL LENGTHS The focal length of a lens has a huge impact on your images and is one of the most important tools in your creative tool box On fixed lens cameras you change the focal length by zooming the lens On SLRs you can do the same or change lenses The various focal lengths you can use are referred to by syn onyms that can be confusing at first E Wide angle short focal length short lens and zoom out refer to the same thing lenses that capture a wide expanse of a scene E Telephoto long focal length long lens and zoom in refer to the same thing lenses that bring distant subjects closer The focal length you choose is a creative choice because it has two effects on your images E Angle of view refers to how much of a scene the lens covers Fisheye lenses the widest available can capture up to 180 degrees As you zoom in or change lenses to increase the focal length the field of view narrows and you can isolate small portions of the scene without moving closer to the subject E Magnification is related to the lens angle of view Since using a short focal length lens or zooming out includes a wide sweep of the scene all of the objects in the scene are reduced to fit into the image Zooming in or using a longer focal length lens gives a much narrower angle of view so objects in a scene appear la
156. nsion cable to connect the flash to the camera without Flash brackets raise the mounting it in the hot shoe This lets you hand hold the camera some distance flash Courtesy of Really from the camera or even mount it on a tripod Right Stuff BATTERY PACKS Battery packs containing large rechargeable batteries let you extend your shooting time These units small enough to attach to your belt connect to the flash by cable They not only extend your shooting time they also shorten recycle times the time it takes the flash to fully recharge for the next picture With one of these units you won t be caught missing a shot because your battery isn t charged or the flash recycled If you have ever taken a series of flash pictures and one is much darker than the others it s because the darker one was taken before the flash completely recycled Quantum is well known for their large battery packs REFLECTORS AND DIFFUSERS Flash mounted reflectors bounce the light emitted by the flash and soften it because their reflective surface is larger than the flash s One version has cutouts in it so some light bounces off the ceiling and the rest is reflected forward on the subject A Metz battery pack and powerful handle mounted flash Flash mounted diffusers like these from Lumiquest are like translucent soft boxes that spread out the flash so it bounces off more surfaces softening it FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
157. nt color tones One image is processed at the set white balance the second with a blue or magenta bias and the third an amber or green bias You may also be able to specify the amount of bias in each direction CoLor SPACES In addition to controlling white balance some cameras also let you change the color space used to capture images from the default sRGB to the wider gamut Adobe RGB color space sRGB which supports fewer colors is the default color space in almost all digital cameras Although suitable for images that will be displayed on a monitor when editing images and making high quality prints Adobe RGB is a better choice if your camera offers this option FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 77 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS FLASH Many digital cameras have a built in flash that is so convenient and easy to Animation use that you are usually unaware it even fires With your camera on automatic Click to explore the it s always ready when your autoexposure system decides it s needed But this VEISE SAURE AAN on camera flash lighting has certain characteristics that can make a difference in the way your pictures look For example the pictures will have a flat lighting typical of flash on camera shooting Alternative approaches such as using an external flash to bounce light off walls or ceilings or even just turning the flash off may produce more interesting results Animation
158. nts It s like having a darkroom with the lights on and without the chemicals Kiosks in many stores FREE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHIC FREEDOM let you print photos on Although it s both the immediacy and flexibility of digital photography that the spot has made it so popular there is one aspect that is rarely mentioned This is the new freedom it gives you to explore creative photography In the 1870 s when William Henry Jackson was carrying 20 x 24 glass plate negatives around the West on a mule you can bet he hesitated before he took a photograph We may not be carrying window sized glass plates but you and I also hesitate before taking a picture We re always doing a mental calculation is it worth it Subconsciously we re running down a checklist of costs times effort and so FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 19 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION on During that decisive moment the image is often lost or we fail to try new things We lose the opportunity for creative growth and choose to stay with the familiar that has delivered for us in the past Jackson did have one big advan tage we ve lost over the last century If an image didn t turn out or if he was out of glass plates he could just scrape the emulsion off a previously exposed negative recoat the plate with a photosensitive emulsion and try again Digital photography not only eliminates that nagging is it worth it ques
159. ny lenses have threads into which you can screw filters and other accesso ries The problem with some accessories is that they permanently change the image you capture If you use a photo editing program to get the same effect you can have a straight unedited version and any number of edited ver sions Here are just some of the accessories you can attach E Interchangeable lenses are available on all digital SLRs and digital rangefinder cameras E Lens converters extend the zoom range of cameras with a fixed zoom lens that cannot be removed These converters screw in or slide onto the zoom lens A wide angle lens One problem with these lenses is that they are camera specific They can be converter atached to quite expensive and if you buy a new camera even a new model of the same the camera using a lens Camera the lens converters may not work with it adapter E Lens collars surround a lens and have a tripod foot This allows you to mount the lens to the tripod rather than the camera body and this gives much better balance with longer lenses Once attached to the tripod you can loosen the collar to rotate the camera into a horizontal or vertical position while keeping it centered on the tripod This eliminates the need to flop the camera over to get vertically oriented shots E Lens hoods protect the front element from bumps and keep stray light from striking the front of the lens and causing flare or ghost images On point and
160. ny of 256 levels of brightness from pure black 0 to pure white 255 and a histogram graphs which of those levels of brightness are in the image and how they are distrib uted The horizontal axis of a histogram represents the range of brightness from 0 shadows on the left to 255 highlights on the right Think of it as a line with 256 spaces on which to stack pixels of the same brightness Since these are the only values that can be captured by the camera the horizontal line also represents the image s maximum potential tonal range or contrast The vertical axis represents the number of pixels that have each of the 256 brightness values The higher the line coming up from the horizontal axis the more pixels there are at that level of brightness Pixels Increase EE Brightness Increases h To read the histogram you look at the distribution of pixels Here are some things to look for E Many photos look best when there are some pixels at every position because these images are using the entire tonal range E In many images pixels are grouped together and occupy only a part of the available tonal range These images lack contrast because the difference between the brightest and darkest areas isn t as great as it could be However this can be fixed in your photo editing program by using commands that spread the pixels so they cover the entire available tonal range These controls allow you to adjust the shadow mi
161. oes add some thing to movies which can t be zoomed past the limits of optical zoom after they have been shot The same can be said for special effects such as sepia tones and black and white modes FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 41 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS PANORAMA MODE Panoramic photos are much longer in one direction than in the other and can Animation convey a sweeping image of a scene up to 360 degrees around Using a digital Click to see how camera there are three ways to achieve this dramatic 360 degree panoramas can be E Some inexpensive cameras just capture a band across the middle of the image sensor leaving unexposed bands at the top and bottom of the image area You can achieve the same effect with any image you ve taken by using a photo editing program to crop it E You can use any camera to take a series of overlapping images as you pan the camera and then use panoramic stitching software to assemble the frames into a seamless panoramic image Since alignment is so important some cameras have a panoramic mode that displays guide lines or part of the Stitch Assist icon previous image in the series so you can accurately align and overlap the next photo E A few cameras make it possible to stitch the images together in the camera and automatically ensure that exposure is the same from frame to frame so the images blend perfectly These cameras may reduce image sizes to keep
162. of these but their large screens and ability to run any software lets you create a mobile version of your permanent setup However a notebook computer isn t always the ideal temporary device because of its weight short battery life and long start up time Hence the introduction of the portable hard drive To use one of these devices you insert your memory card into a slot often using an adapter and quickly transfer your images You can then erase your camera s storage device to make room for new images and resume shooting When you get back to your permanent setup you copy or move the images from the intermediate storage device to the system you use for editing printing and distributing them The speed with which you can make this transfer depends on the connections supported by the device Most support USB 2 and some support FireWire IEEE 1394 The latest trend is to make devices that are multi purpose multimedia devices Many of these devices let you view your stored images on the device itself or on a connected TV and even rotate and zoom the images Some also let you print directly to a printer without using a computer The trend is to go even farther and combine digital photos digital videos and MP3 music in the same device With a device such as this you ll be able to create slide shows with special transitions pans and accompanying music and play them back anywhere The key questions to ask when considering one of these in
163. ography tools More Info An illuminated flat panel lets you capture images without backgrounds and when used with highly translucent objects the underlighting gives dramatic results revealing inner glass details that would otherwise go unnoticed More Info Bead Photography information on our site includes W Focus and diffuse lighting W Under lighting transparent beads E Exposure for a white background W Creating a dramatic black reflection W Propping up tall focal beads with wax W Trick to capture the shine of your beads E Bead photography tools Advanced glass bead photo techniques Diamond Dazzler bulb especially to bring out the fire dispersion of well cut diamonds The bulb fits in a standard light bulb socket like the one found in our Sparkler Light More Info FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 7 Visit OuR TABLETOP STUDIO PARTNER TIP E When using multiple light sources it is important that all have the same color temperature It is possible to correct for some color distortions with a camera s white balance or with a photo editing program However it is nearly impos sible to correct for color problems caused by mixed lighting from light sources with different color temperatures All of our lighting products are daylight balanced and work beauti fully together Our high output daylight balanced comp
164. oint and shoot cameras and the largest in professional SLRs Consumer SLRs often use sensors having the same size as a frame of APS film Professional cameras occasionally use sensors the same size as a frame of 35mm film called full range from the tiny up to frame sensors ones as large as a frame of 35mm film called a full frame sensor Animation Click to explore the sizes of image sensors The aspect ratio of an image sensor determines the shape of your prints HDTV ASPECT RATIO E A 16 9 wide screen mode captures images and film clips that are perfect for your widescreen TV or computer monitor Larger image sensors have larger photosites that capture more light with less noise The result is pictures that are clearer brighter and sharper Because the size of photosites is so important a large 6 Megapixel sensor will often take better pictures than a smaller 8 Megapixel sensor Not only is noise a problem but smaller sensors also require better more expensive lenses especially for wide angle coverage Here are some typical sensor sizes Aspect RATIOS Image sensors come ina variety of aspect ratios the ratio of image height to width The ratio of a square is 1 1 equal width and height and that of 35mm film is 1 5 1 1 times wider than it is high Most image sensors fall in be tween these extremes The aspect ratio of a sensor is important because it determines the shape and proportions
165. ome dealers try to discourage this by requiring a restocking fee for returned merchandise This is always explained as a way to recover their costs of checking the merchandise and restoring the packaging you may have opened If a dealer requires a restocking fee my advice is to find another dealer Buy No Extras Buy no extras without doing research A few dealers low ball camera prices and make their profit on the other higher margin things they include in the package I can assure you that the lens cleaner cheap camera bag and poorly made tripod won t be worth what you are asked to pay for them FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 31 Chapter 2 Digital Cameras start listing the features available in a state of the art digital camera By the time you are done youv ll find a list of hundreds of features big and small Some affect the way you interact with the camera some determine what kinds of things you can do with it and a few determine the quality of the images you capture In this chapter we go through the possibilities item by item so you better understand the features of the camera you have or select those you for the next camera you intend to buy I There is an adage that the devil is in the details and if you want proof TYPES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS TYPES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS This old Kodak ad slogan now applies to the entire field of digital photo
166. ompensation lets you lighten or darken the photograph that the camera would produce if operated automatically To lighten a picture you increase the exposure to darken one you decrease the exposure The amount you increase or decrease the exposure is specified in stops For example to increase the exposure 1 stop you specify 1 to open the aperture or slow down the shutter speed It s easy to use exposure compensation because you can preview your changes on the monitor and reshoot if necessary Use exposure compensation when the subject is bright and when it s dark FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM EXPOSURE CONTROLS iWalisateiaisiale AUTOEXPOSURE Lock AE Lock Click to explore You can adjust exposures with a procedure called autoexposure lock AE Lock exposure lock that works much like focus lock page 75 You point the camera so the part of the scene you want to base the exposure on is metered spot metering works best and press the shutter button halfway down to set and lock both exposure and focus While continuing to hold down the shutter button to keep them locked you recompose and shoot the picture using the locked in settings This is generally called exposure lock Some cameras also have a separate AE Lock function that lets you lock exposure independently of focus The only real A common icon for AE difference is that you lock exposure by pressing an AE Lock button
167. on 69 Understanding Exposure ssssssss000 24 Exposure Compensation 0000ee 70 ROB COO sinsinitestniiinds 23 POOO UE LOCK Greener ry er rer Tren tre 71 CMYK COMOTS i ecopaseiassvivereiadevianabiadewess 26 Autoexposure Bracketing 000s 71 Camera Icons PDF sssssssssseeeenenenes 36 Understanding Histograms 65 72 The Light Path Through an SLR 38 Highlight WarningS ssessesererersrsren 72 Parallax in an Optical Viewfinder 39 The Plane of Critical Focus 73 CONTINUOUS Mode sssssss222 A FOCUS ZONOS cnc iicecdeiacinineuti news mussiwedaxs 714 MOVIS IQUE janteaiseuretsseiseteeisseyiekiesies di Ser AF FOCUS uc ie testcase tdincns paces incieease 75 360 Degree VR Panorama s s d2 FOCUS LOCK crane venrneutiasuteieicgeieceniade 75 The Meaning of Charge Coupled 44 Depth of Field snosesesasenseerrrererererrrern 75 Image Sensor SIZES ossssnrnrerrrrrrrn 45 Adjusting White Balance sssssss00 76 PINMGLIZAUION crisis 46 Changing Color Spaces cceeee eee 77 Pixels and Aspect Ratios cceceeeee AG Tne inverse Square LAW sanssristersienieira 78 Pixels and Print Sizes enen 46 Calculating Guide Numbers Excel 78 Resolution The True Meaning Be Fach VC a dadecarenencdstewecavtscreasiaess 79 Pixels and CUIVES oL AF BCG CVS cssstinccipewree rors 79 Output De
168. on t let you do this because they use a mirror to bounce the image formed by the lens into the viewfinder The image sensor only creates the image when the shutter is open One company Olympus has introduced cameras that use a second sensor in the viewfinder to feed an image to a tilting LCD monitor like those on many high end fixed lens cameras This lets you use different viewing angles for low waist level and high shots The image from this second sensor can also be used to capture movies something other SLRs can t do Only time will tell if this feature catches on and spreads E Image review keeps an image on the screen for a few seconds after you ve taken it so you can check it Some cameras let you keep the image on the screen longer so you can perform some or all of the image management functions described below E Playback mode lets you scroll through your images manually as a self running slide show or in index view that shows 9 or so small thumbnails at a time E Image management in playback mode let s you scroll through the images you ve taken and delete rotate rename print protect copy or otherwise manage them Many cameras also display thumbnails of a group of images in index view so you can quickly locate and select the images you re looking for Most also let you enlarge the image on the monitor to zoom in on details in your photo a great way to check sharpness A few cameras now have touch sensitive monitors
169. on on and off chang ing the function of buttons or changing exposure increments TIME LAPSE INTERVALOMETER MODE PHOTOGRAPHY If you have ever seen a video of a flower blossom suddenly opening ora building going up over the course of a few seconds you ve seen time lapse photography in action Time lapse photography using intervalometer mode takes a series of pictures at specified intervals an extreme example of the slow motion effect seen in movies If you set up the camera facing a bird feeder or other active spot and set it to take a photo every few minutes you can leave FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 85 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS A two image multiple exposure combining flowers and a wooden fence Slipping the eyepiece cover over a viewfinder blocks light from entering and affecting the exposure when using a self timer or remote control 86 it there and capture a number of photos automatically Then you can go through the photos to see if you caught anything interesting Other scenes to try include night scenes with traffic and clouds passing overhead MULTIPLE EXPOSURES Most cameras automatically advance to the next picture when you take a photo However a multiple exposure mode allows you to superimpose two or more images before you advance You can also do this with any two images using a photo editing program You just put one image on top of the other and adjust th
170. on the flash away from the camera to eliminate red eye Pictures taken with these units also have a characteristic flat shadowless lighting that minimizes surface textures and volumes They can t be rotated to bounce flash off a wall or ceiling to soften the lighting One thing you may want to look for in a new camera is how you can attach a more powerful flash E A hot shoe secures a flash on top of the camera and provides electrical connections between the flash and camera and also holds the flash in place You just slip the flash into the shoe and tighten a wheel to lock it in place There are also hot shoe cords that let you mount or hold the flash away from the lens for more dramatic side lighting and to eliminate red eye E The PC Prontor Compur terminal is used to connect studio lights and the connector is threaded for a secure connection This connector also lets you connect a separate flash using a sync cord basically a small cable This synch cord makes the same electrical connection that the hot shoe does but lets you take the flash off camera External flash units are available from the camera company and third parties What you want is a dedicated flash This means it is designed to work with your specific camera model Only a dedicated flash will be integrated into your camera s autoexposure system and offer additional features to extend your cameras capabilities Flash units that are not dedicated usually have to be operat
171. onitor during playback The information can also be displayed by photo editing programs 88 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Chapter 3 Studio Equipment portraits It s for small business people artists naturalists collectors writers and anyone else who wants to take high quality studio pictures under controlled conditions It presents a totally new approach to studio photography made possible by the two most important ways that digital cameras are revolutionizing studio photography for the better I lhis chapter is about lighting and photographing small objects and WE Many digital cameras allow you to preview your picture on the LCD monitor built into your camera and all allow you to review your results immediately This makes studio photography very interactive You can explore and experiment to your heart s content and there are no film costs With the right equipment some imagination and practice you ll get the image you want E The camera s white balance setting lets you shoot under almost any light You no longer need expensive and complex strobes to get good results You can now use simple and inexpensive fluorescent bulbs with reflectors Not only are the results as good but with the lights on all of the time you can see the effect they are having as you arrange your setup These two things all by themselves remove the guesswork from studio photography If you h
172. ookstore 5 A Suoet OURSE IN wore Ll i l i More Info a Nikon D200 P wes dine aes Goopcompany ee i PHOTOGRAPHY E It s interesting ie vmi p that three of the F Si Pa A major camera da S i companies use De Siete Ie r ShortCourses book SD ais ad Panard mi R to train their sales Sh rete a ds and support s Dexnis P Curtis people a If we don t have a guide A Short Course in to your camera you Using Your Digital Camera m might want to check out A Guide to Great Photographs da the generic edition Using Your Digital Camera Fourth Edition A Seaerlouane ass THE TEXTBOOK OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY More Info k i e b k ebb b bkk b bkk bi kbb b kbe tkk b k k i 7 z m Enik Gat Se pee O Ce ee Pl ce epee perp LST Dey CN Peder pede paced ik ay Get paras Ca oi oe ee Thee ee eee DEDE TT A ee a er ke pe Tg E a Te Greg Gee oo deer deere Veer CCeCCccerCckre se Er Er Ge fe ie oe ee Er Er Er oe eo ee Er Er ee ee ee eB Oe oe oe e ee ee Oe oe 3 E E EJ L ik m e a m a e hh e a a hee eee eee eee ll m We are now the leader in digital photography education with our innovative textbooks and animations If you want to learn from the same textbooks used in hundreds of schools check them out by clicking the link below Interactive Multimedia eText More Info FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSE
173. open longer or increasing the camera s sensitivity to light called its ISO SAMSUNG T a SENSITIVITY One way to improve sharpness in dim light is to increase the camera s sensi tivity This works in places such as theaters and gyms where subjects are too aL far away for flash to work and where you need a faster shutter speed to ee eliminate blur It also is a good way to get pictures without using flash in places such as concerts and museums where flash is prohibited E arei j Dim light requires a fast Digital camera sensitivity is usually specified as an ISO setting just as the lens and a high ISO or speed of film is Increasing the camera s sensitivity or ISO means less light is you have to resort to i h needed for a picture so you can use a faster shutter speed to freeze action or reduce blur caused by camera movement Sensitivity on some cameras can be adjusted between 50 and 6400 a range of 8 stops but most offer a smaller range of settings The price you pay for using the higher settings is noise randomly spaced bright pixels concentrated in dark areas of the image Noise REDUCTION Using slow shutter speeds especially those over one second or higher ISO settings creates noise in an image The slower the shutter speed or higher the 1 ISO the more noise you get This is partly because long shutter speeds let noise Noise appears in build up and partly because digital cameras increase sensitivity by amplif
174. or the first time you can quickly get lost in the details there are lots of them However before looking at specifics you should think through how you want to use the camera and its photos E Will you be shooting indoors This will determine the quality of the flash you need E Will you be photographing static scenes such as home interiors or action shots such as sports This will determine the best viewfinder and lens E Will you be photographing wide angle scenes such as landscapes and home interiors telephoto scenes such as portraits or close ups such as flowers stamps and coins This will determine the focal length of the lens you need and whether you need a zoom lens auxiliary lenses or macro mode E Are you a casual user or a serious amateur or professional photographer This will help you determine how many manual controls you ll want E Will you print the photos as snapshots enlargements or embed them in word processed or desktop published documents Or will you publish the images on a Web page e mail them to others or include them in a presenta tion This will determine the best resolution for your situation DecipE ABouT SIZE One way to think about cameras is to divide them into those that fit in your pocket and those that don t This is really a key decision because those that don t fit in your pocket hang around your neck The larger cameras may offer more features but will you want to carry them with you Th
175. ormat A digital camera is by E Film cameras capture photographs on slides negatives or prints which you far the best and most can then scan to convert them to digital photographs common way of getting pea E Video cameras capture images in a video format You can then use a frame a digital image grabber to isolate out individual frames and save them as still images E Digital video cameras sometimes are able to capture still images just like a digital still camera You can also use a video editing program to extract individual frames from the digital video Step 2 Editing Photographs Once a photograph is in digital form you can store it on your system and then edit or manipulate it with a photo editing program such as Photoshop The things you can do to a digital image are almost endless In some cases you improve an image by eliminating or reducing its flaws In other cases you adjust an image for other purposes perhaps to make it smaller for e mailing or posting ona Web site Finally you might take an image to anew place making it something it never was Here are some ways you can process images E Crop the photograph to emphasize the key part 20 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Why Go DIGITAL A Photoshop filter was used to highlight edges making a photograph look like a line drawing Sony s ImageStation Web site lets you design your own AlbumPrint photo
176. osure FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM SHUTTERS E S HUTTERS There are three different kinds of shutters used in digital cameras leaf electronic and focal plane Leaf and focal plane shutters are both mechanical and have moving parts leaves or curtains E Leaf shutters alone or combined with an electronic shutter are used on some point and shoot cameras On some inexpensive cameras the shutter also acts as the aperture by varying how far it opens E Electronic shutters simply turn the sensor on and off to capture the expo sure It s like turning a vacuum cleaner on to start accumulating dust and off to stop These shutters are found in the cheapest cameras but ironically also in the most expensive When precision designed they can be exceptionally accurate E Focal plane shutters found in all digital SLRs open one curtain to begin an exposure and close another curtain to end it above top At high shutter different types of speeds there is a slit between the two curtains moving across the image sensor shutters used in digital above bottom On newer cameras the curtains run vertically This makes cameras them faster than older shutters that ran horizontally because they have less distance to cross This faster speed makes it possible to have a faster flash sync shutter speed page 79 Click to explore the A leaf shutter Animation Cl
177. p you get around this by simultaneously capturing JPEG versions at the same time they capture RAW images You can use these more universally supported images for many of your applications and reserve the high quality RAW versions for when you need the highest possible quality E RAW images are not always noticeably better Where they shine is when you have exposure or white balance problems Because RAW images have 16 or 12 bits per color instead of the 8 bits used by JPEG s you have dramatically more information to work with when making adjustments FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 51 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS N CAMERA MAGE STORAGE The Kodak EasyShare has 256 Megabytes of internal storage that can hold up to 1500 of your favorite pictures so they are easy to share This keeps them separated from those you have taken and not yet transferred You can organize the pictures into albums with a stylus and touch screen menus A variety of flash cards Courtesy of Kodak 52 With traditional cameras the film both records and stores the image With digital cameras separate devices perform these two functions The image is captured by the image sensor then transferred to a storage device of some kind These devices are only designed for temporary storage At some point you transfer the images from them to a computer erase the device and reuse it Older and less expensive camer
178. phy tools More Info Jewelry Photography information on our site includes E Focus and diffuse lighting WE Creating the sparkle W Daylight color LEDs for use with diamonds W Propping up small charms or pendants W Creating a dramatic black reflection Photographing Pearls Jewelry photography tools More Info FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 9 PREFACE PREFACE When not writing I m usually out in the woods or at the shore taking photographs This is Emily and me on the bird watching tower at the Ipswich Audubon Sanctuary Over the past decade I ve used as many as 100 digital cameras and have found a number of them that I really like You will find some of those cameras in this book and have indicated them with a gold star This star indicates that personally recommend the camera for your consideration PHOTOGRAPHY ON LINE E The topics discussed in this book are constantly updated enhanced and expanded on line To learn more about digital photography visit our ShortCourses Web site at www shortcourses com 10 than a decade causing the greatest shift in photographic technology in 150 years In a few short years film will be a specialty item carried only by a few Internet companies that cater to photographers exploring historic processes such as platinum and albumen prints The only downside to this d
179. r lasting and more expensive than those of a few years ago Many cameras will accept AA alkaline batteries but they don t last long especially on cold days when they may die almost immediately No matter what battery type your camera uses it s prudent to have more than one set so you can have a spare with you or can be charging one while using another You may also want to consider an AC adapter so you can plug the camera into the wall It limits your range but lets you keep shooting or sharing Many cameras today require that you use special rechargeable Lithium Ion Li ion batteries Sometimes called battery packs but if your camera accepts AA batteries you need rechargeable batteries and a battery charger In pinch you can use alkaline batteries should you find your rechargeables dead By far the most popular AA rechargeable batteries are Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH These batteries are environmentally friendly because they are made from nontoxic metals If they have any weakness it s their overall life lasting only about 400 charge and discharge cycles Their power is rated in mAh milliamp hours and the higher it is the longer life it will have between charges The longest lasting are now about 2700mAh Digital cameras become nothing more than paper weights when their batteries run out Most cameras don t give you a real time status report on your remain ing battery charge At best they display icons that tell you when the batt
180. r need of many photographers No matter how much you tighten a generic OR plate to a camera body the weight will cause a camera with a heavy lens attached to rotate especially when the camera is in a vertical position To prevent rotation camera specific QR plates have an anti twist flange that prevents the camera from rotating on the plate The spacing and length of this flange is unique to each camera Since these plates are also longer openings have to be machined into them so you can change batteries without removing the clamp The result is a profusion of designs the need for multiple plates for different lenses and cameras and sky high prices Arca Swiss style clamps usually have an open channel design You can slide a plate in either end of the clamp and out the other bidirectional On some FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM Quick RELEASE SYSTEMS clamps a plate stopper screw or other stop device keeps the camera or lens plate from sliding through unidirectional Some plates also have a safety stop that does the same thing These unidirectional clamps and plates make the attachment somewhat more certain but there are benefits to the bidirectional clamps and plates Not only can you mount the camera from either end you can also slide a long plate back and forth in the channel to adjust the camera subject distance in close up photography This reduces the need to move the a _ tripod
181. ramatic change is that since digital cameras are less expensive to make and use software instead of moving parts models tend to proliferate at a much faster rate than traditional 35 mm cameras did To differentiate their offerings camera companies initially added new features at an almost unbelievable rate but as the field has matured they now mainly just combine existing features in an endless series of variations As a result it has gotten harder to rationally choose the camera you want to buy One reason for this is that it s hard to understand the descriptions and specifications these companies supply for their cameras or the reviews written about them because few terms are ever defined and camera companies invent their own names for common features to make them sound unique One of the primary goals of this book is to help you understand the terminology used in digital photography so you can get more out of what you read Although camera models differ from one another they all draw on the same common features discussed in this book Diz cameras have triumphed over traditional film cameras in less What I hope to bring to this book is my experience accumulated over years of observing practicing and writing about digital photography In 1999 I started using a Nikon Coolpix 950 and my transition to digital was so abrupt that I left 20 rolls of unused slide film in the refrigerator even though I had prepaid for processing Only recently did
182. ras use a solid state device called an image sensor In some digital cameras the image sensor is a charge coupled device CCD while in others it s a CMOS sensor page 44 Both types can give very good results On the surface of these fingernail sized silicon chips are millions of photosensitive diodes each of which captures a single pixel in the photograph to be Click to see how all An image sensor sits against a background enlargement of its Square pixels each capable of capturing one pixel in the final image Courtesy of IBM a Po oF F EFF TTE ter Te ee FPR E SP Animation Click to see where the name charge coupled device comes from w PO Bee ee ee a i Vl Se Pee eee eee Aa A eS ee ee al y r se m _ u Be Re ee eae eee Milaka When you take a picture the shutter opens briefly and each pixel on the image sensor records the brightness of the light that falls on it by accumulating an electrical charge The more light that hits a pixel the higher the charge it records Pixels capturing light from highlights in the scene will have high charges Those capturing light from shadows will have low charges Click to explore how exposure determines how light or dark an image Is After the shutter closes to end the exposure the charge from each pixel is measured and converted into a digital number This series of numbers is then used to reconstruct the image by setting
183. rger Lens focal lengths are based on the physical characteristics of the lens so they are absolute values However a given focal length may be a wide angle lens on one camera and a telephoto lens on another This is because descriptions such as wide angle or telephoto depend on the size of the film or image sensor being used As these get smaller a given focal length lens magnifies more There are currently a number of differently sized image sensors used in digital cameras For that reason different focal lengths are needed to give the same image coverage on different cameras Because of the confusion this causes most digital camera companies give the actual focal length of their lenses and then an equivalent focal length were the lenses to be adapted to a 35mm camera For example a camera may list its lens as 7 5mm equivalent to 50mm on a 35mm camera Because digital equivalents vary widely we often use the more familiar 35mm focal lengths in this book The impact of sensor size on focal length isn t limited to fixed lens cameras Digital SLRs are often adapted from 35mm film cameras and use lenses designed to project an image circle large enough to cover a frame of 35mm film When these lenses are used on a digital camera the angle of view captured in the image depends on the size of the sensor placed within this image circle E When the image sensor is the same size as a frame of 35mm film called a full frame sensor
184. rmat See TIFF Telephoto lens See Long focal length lens Third party A company other than the original equipment manufacturer OEM that makes accessories for a camera or other device Thru the lens See TTL TIFF A popular lossless image format used in digital photography Time lapse photography Taking a series of pictures at preset intervals to show such things as flower blossoms opening TTL A camera design that let s you compose an image while looking at the scene through the lens that will take the picture Also called thru the lens Unbundling When a dealer removes normally included items from a camera package and then sells them to you separately Underexposure Exposing the film to less light than is needed to render the scene as the eye sees it Results in a too dark photograph Upload Sending a file from your computer to another device URL Uniform Resource Locator The address of a Web site USB port A high speed port that lets you daisy chain devices connect one device to another VGA A resolution of 640 x 480 Video card A card the fits into a computer s expansion slot so you can edit digital video Viewfinder A separate window on the camera through which you look to compose images White balance An automatic or manual control that adjusts the brightest part of the scene so it looks white Wide angle lens See Short focal length lens Zoom lens A lens that lets you change focal lengths on the fly 124
185. rt your format or buy a new set of cards Over the past few years a variety of memory cards have come and gone At the moment there are two types in widespread use Compact Flash and Secure Digital SD These flash memory cards store your image files on memory chips that are similar to the RAM chips used inside your computer but there is one important difference They require no batteries and don t loose images when the power is turned off Your photographs are retained indefinitely without any power to the memory card These chips are packaged inside a case equipped with electrical connectors and the sealed unit is called a card Flash memory cards consume little power take up little space and are very rugged They are also very convenient you can carry a number of them and change them as needed ride Hit ai ip FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM IN CAMERA IMAGE STORAGE Hitachi makes the Microdrive a tiny high capacity hard drive When you have more than one card a case protects your spares Courtesy of In Any Case at aww inanycase com E CompactFlash CF was developed by SanDisk Corp and these cards are about the size of amatchbook Secure Digital SD cards are smaller than CompactFlash cards and are used in many smaller cameras E MultiMedia MMC cards are also small cards used in a few pocket cam eras E Memory Stick a proprietary format from Sony Corporation
186. rtesy of Smith Victor Flas Jj ite g You can t use your camera s exposure meter to set exposures with strobes You can do it by trial and error or use a flash meter Courtesy of Bogen Photo Corp 96 FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM CONNECTING THE CAMERA AND LIGHTS CONNECTING THE CAMERA AND LIGHTS Some cameras have a hot shoe into which you can Slip an external flash unit A PC terminal A sync cord Courtesy of Paramount Cords A slave bulb courtesy of Smith Victor A remote flash trigger fires the flash to which it s connected when the main flash fires Courtesy of Vivitar When you use an external flash or strobes with your camera you need a way to connect them so when you press the shutter button down the flash knows to fire Continuous lights don t need to be connected to the camera There are a variety of ways to do so HoT SHOES Many cameras have a hot shoe into which you can slide and lock an external flash that s designed to work with the camera The electrical connections to the camera s shutter release and autoexposure system are made automati cally when the flash is locked in place There are also adapters for the hot shoe that let you connect strobes or off camera flash units PC TERMINAL A PC Prontor Compur terminal located on some camera bodies lets you use cables to connect a flash or strobe The cable tha
187. s He had the photographer Thomas Sutton photograph a tartan ribbon three times each time with a different color filter over the lens The three black and white images were then projected onto a screen with three different projectors each equipped with the same color filter used to take the image being projected When brought into alignment the three images formed a full color photo graph Over a century later image sensors work much the same way Colors in a photographic image are usually based on the three primary colors red green and blue RGB This is called the additive color system because when the three colors are combined in equal amounts they form white This RGB system is used whenever light is projected to form colors as it is on the display monitor or in your eye Another color system uses cyan magenta yellow and black CMYK to create colors This system is used in a few sensors and almost all printers since it s the color system used with reflected light Since daylight is made up of red green and blue light placing red green and blue filters over individual pixels on the image sensor can create color images just as they did for Maxwell in 1860 Using a process called interpolation the camera computes the actual color of each pixel by combining the color it captured directly through its own filter with the other two colors captured by the pixels around it How well it does this is affected in part by the image format
188. s a narrow angle of view of a scene including less of a scene than a lens of normal focal length and therefore magnifying objects in the image Lossless See Compression lossless Lossy See Compression lossy LZW A compression scheme used to reduce the size of image files Macro mode A lens mode that allows you to get very close to objects so they appear greatly enlarged in the picture Matrix Metering An exposure system that breaks the scene up into a grid and evaluates each section to determine the exposure Megapixel An image or image sensor with over one million pixels Memory stick A flash memory storage device developed by Sony Moore s Law Gordon Moore s law that predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double every 18 months Motion Pictures Expert Group See MPEG MPEG A digital video format developed by the Motion Pictures Expert Group Multi megapixel An image or image sensor with over two million pixels Multiple exposure mode A mode that lets you superimpose one image on top of another Multiple exposure An image made up of two or more images superimposed in the camera FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM GLOSSARY eS NiCad Nickel cadmium battery NiMH Nickel metal hydride battery Ecologically safe and very efficient Noise Pixels on the image sensor that misread the light Normal focal length lens A lens that provides about the same angle
189. s cold Most professionals use tripods from Gitzo or Bogen Manfrotto but there are also other quality manufactures most with lower prices There are hundreds of tripod models and even more accessories so even a fairly large camera store stocks only a limited selection of what s available Smaller stores tend to stock inexpensive tripods because that s what most consumers want For quality tripods you almost always have to find a large store in a metropolitan area or shop over the Internet at a site such as B amp H The dilemma is that a tripod is something you really need to play with to evaluate Buying on line based solely on a photo and description may not be wise TRIPODS When choosing a tripod there are 3 heights that you should consider the maximum and minimum working heights and the collapsed height or carry ing length Normally the maximum height does not include extending the center column because doing so is really for fine tuning or desperate times because it s thought that raising it too high can introduce vibrations All other things being equal the only reason to get a shorter tripod is because it s lighter and smaller However it s easiest to work with a tripod that s tall enough to put the camera at eye level so you don t have to bend over Tripod legs are tubes with a number of telescopic sections that can be extended or collapsed after unlocking them The mechanisms used to lock leg sections in place seem endless an
190. s where I do 90 of my buying are E Amazon www amazon com isn t the best but I love the way they give user reviews and rank sales of all camera equipment I also love one click buying because I don t have to find my wallet E B amp H Photo and Video www bhphotovideo com is the store for profession als and they take their reputation very seriously In the small circle of profes sionals bad business practices will kill a company very quickly as word gets around It is in this discriminating market where B amp H thrives The B amp H business is run by people whose religion dictates that they not do business on the Sabbath so the store won t even take orders from sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday You have to respect this way of doing business and in some cases delay your order by a day They frequently make up for it by getting things to me long before I expect them and it s not just me it s everyone WATCH OUT FOR UNBUNDLING When you buy a digital camera the basic package almost always includes extras such as a battery charger lens cap batteries and software One of the more disreputable practices a dealer can engage in is called unbundling These FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM SHOP LOCALLY E There s no question that you can save a little money by shopping by mail order or over the Internet However keep in mind that the dealers in your local community also
191. s you sometimes get with a 3 way head when one control isn t locked fully Other ball heads use a friction adjust knob Ideally you can adjust tension so you can move the camera to compose images but when you release it it won t move on its own You can also lock ball heads so they don t move at all Ball heads come in two basic forms with or without a panning bed and with or without a quick release clamp m am a i Mark dian E A panning head allows you to pan the camera in a 360 degree circle as you would for a panorama or when following a moving subject This panning bed or rotational table located at the base of the head is separate from the ball and can even turn when the ball is locked The one situation where this feature is essential is when you want to make left or right adjustments when the camera is turned in the vertical position using the ball head s drop notch Without the panning bed you have to loosen and rotate the tripod s center column to perform left right adjustments An index scale lets you rotate the camera in degrees This is especially useful when shooting overlapping images to be stitched together into a panorama E A quick release QR clamp often built in lets you quickly attach and unattach the camera from the tripod These are discussed in more detail starting on page 106 When using a pocket camera monopod table top tripod or car window mount a big expensive ball head may
192. sample photographs from the camera or read reviews written by people you trust Initially charge coupled devices CCDs were the only image sensors used in digital cameras They have been well developed through their use in astro nomical telescopes scanners and video camcorders However there is now a well established alternative the CMOS image sensor Both CCD and CMOS image sensors capture light using a grid of small photosites on their sur faces It s how they process the image and how they are manufactured where they differ from one another E CCD image sensors A charge coupled device CCD gets its name from the way the charges on its pixels are read after an exposure The charges on the first row are transferred to a place on the sensor called the read out register From there the signals are fed to an amplifier and then on to an analog to digital converter Once the row has been read its charges on the readout register row are deleted the next row enters and all of the rows above march down one row Each row is coupled to the row above so when it moves down the one above moves down to fill its old space In this way each row of pixels can be read one row at a time E CMOS image sensors Image sensors are manufactured in factories called wafer foundries or fabs where the tiny circuits and devices are etched onto silicon chips The biggest problem with CCDs is that they are created in foundries using specialized and e
193. shoot cameras this function is sometimes fulfilled by a sliding cover E Caps protect the front and rear of the lens when it s not in use A body cap protects the camera when no lens is attached E Protect filters keep the front element of your lens from getting scratched or dirty E Circular polarizing filters remove reflections from glass water and other reflective surfaces darken blue skies and improve color saturation If you use a linear polarizing filter you can t use autofocus Because these filters block part of the light exposures are increased by between 2 and 3 stops referred to eee asthe filter factor E Skylight filters reduce the blue casts you often get when photographing subjects in the shade on sunny days E UV filters absorb ultraviolet light and cut the haze when photographing landscapes or from airplanes E Neutral density filters cut the light entering the camera so you can use slower shutter speeds or wider apertures in bright light This helps you get softer backgrounds in portraits and better capture flowing water A few cameras have a command that lets you get this same effect digitally without using a filter A polarizing filter top darkens the sky and removes reflections from make hazy romantic landscapes E Soft focus filters soften the focus to make portraits more flattering and to foliage so it has more color A shot without a filter is shown below E Color
194. so find that formatting a card that has developed problems will also fix it Just be aware that the Format command will erase all of the images from the card Should you ever do this by mistake there is digital image recovery software available page 54 Some cameras come with software that lets you connect the camera to the computer called tethering it and operate it from there Captured images can be stored on the computer s hard drive instead of on the camera s memory card Although this approach is frequently used in the studio it s also occa sionally used by landscape photographers when they want to immediately evaluate images on the computer s much larger screen FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 53 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS PLAYBACK MODE The Kodak EasyShare lets you drag and drop photos into albums using a stylus TIP E If you ever delete photos or format a card by mistake the chances are you can recover the images with software Some camera companies supply this soft ware with the camera but in most cases you have to Google digital image recovery to locate it on line 54 All but the cheapest digital cameras have an LCD monitor that you use to display and scroll through the images you have taken Although very useful it s difficult to make keep or delete decisions about images because the size and resolution of these monitors is nowher
195. so you can manage your images with a stylus instead of dials and buttons E Histograms are graphs showing the distribution of brightnesses in your image page 72 so you can check that the exposure is correct Most cameras that offer this feature let you view the histogram after capturing a photo but a few let you see the histogram as you compose the image E Direct printing lets you use the monitor to select images for printing when you bypass the computer to print directly from the camera FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 37 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Because an optical viewfinder is offset from the lens what you see through the viewfinder top is different from the image you actually capture bottom Electronic viewfinders are small flat panel displays inside the viewfinder Courtesy of Zight IOI A common monitor icon Animation Click to see the light path through an SLR 38 E On screen editing can be performed on some cameras although editing on a tiny screen using buttons and menus isn t usually the most enjoyable way to do it However it s useful when printing or sharing directly from the camera On cameras that let you compose the image on the monitor the displayed image is taken directly from the image sensor so it is a true TTL through the lens view Although you can use the monitor to compose photos there are times when you may not want to for the
196. ss expensive Remove the Sidekick and your ball head is ready to use with smaller lenses BEANBAGS If you don t want the hassle of carrying and setting up a tripod you can often get away with just a beanbag When rested on a car hood or window a fence or railing a tree branch or even on the ground they give shake free support There are various models filled with an odd assortment of things Kinesis Photo Gear makes a beanbag called the SafariSack bean bag and NPC makes Steadybags Some come filled with plastic beads or even buckwheat hulls Some are designed to be carried empty and filled with sand rocks or water only when needed This really lightens the load Winpow Mounts If you are enjoy drive in style photography you might want to consider a car window mount Many birders use these because the car acts as a blind and birds approach closer than they will if you stand outside the car where they can see you Most clamp onto a partly lowered window and support a ball head or quick release system They are made by Kirk Bogen Bushnell Hakuba Swift and others FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM OTHER CAMERA SUPPORTS SucTION Mounts If you ever need to mount a camera on a smooth surface you can do so witha suction mount I d be careful when using one in a vertical position If the sucker ever let go it might be a long drop to the floor These are made by Bogen Matthews
197. t attaches to the PC terminal is called a sync cord for synchronization and pronounced sink or PC cord When you take a picture a signal is sent from the camera along the cable to fire the studio flash A few cameras have what looks like a hot shoe but lacking electrical connections These cold shoes just hold a flash in place and require a cable and a PC terminal for the electrical connection If your camera lacks a PC terminal but has a hot shoe you can use an adapter in the hot shoe to connect a sync cord One use of the PC terminal is to move the flash off camera The flash built into the camera is very close to the lens and fires along the same axis For more interesting lighting effects and shadows that show texture and relief you have to position the flash further from the lens axis using a sync cord The flash can then be handheld or mounted on a bracket or tripod When connecting an external flash or strobes to the camera you should consider using a voltage regulator These devices reduce the sync voltage protecting your camera from voltage spikes that could damage it WIRELESS REMOTE FLASH If you have one or more external flash units you can make them into mini strobes using remote flash triggers One of these inexpensive devices some flash units have them built in make any flash into a slave unit by firing it when it senses a flash firing elsewhere This allows you to get lighting effects you couldn t possibly get with
198. t in the process so it can t be restored to its original quality Compression The process of reducing the size of a file Depth of field The distance between the nearest and farthest points that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph Depth of field varies with lens aperture focal length and camera to subject distance Docking station A small base connected to the computer by a cable You insert the camera or other device into the docking station to transfer images Download Sending a file from another device to your computer Exposure 1 The act of allowing light to strike a light sensitive surface 2 The amount of light reaching the image sensor controlled by the combination of aperture and shutter speed Exposure compensation The ability to adjust exposure by one or two stops to lighten or darken the image Exposure focus lock The ability to point at one part of the scene and hold the shutter button halfway down to lock in exposure and focus settings when you point the camera elsewhere to compose the scene Firewire Apple s name for IEEE 1394 FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 121 CHAPTER 5 APPENDIX 122 Flash card reader An accessory that attaches to your computer by cable You insert a flash memory card into the reader to transfer files Flash memory card A card containing chips that store images Flash memory A form of memory using chips instead of magnetic media The dat
199. t of state company you and not the dealer are responsible for paying state and local sales taxes Most people aren t aware of this responsibility or choose to ignore it When it comes to the price and postage and handling however the dealer is in control Many dealers lower the price to make the camera more attractive then increase the postage and handling to boost their profits With the popularity of Internet sites and low margins the temptation to do this is even stronger Be sure you check and compare these additional costs and take them into account when comparing prices Most companies have deals with firms such as Federal Express so their costs are 10 15 or so for second day shipments Anything over and above that is pure profit to the dealer Avoip EXTENDED WARRANTIES Hesitate before accepting extended warranties Every knowledgeable con sumer expert I ve ever read says it s better to gamble Most of a company s profit is in the sale of these warranties so they press and press hard Your job is to resist and resist hard The only thing to keep in mind is that digital cameras can be horribly expensive to repair The cost of a repair can equal or exceed the original purchase price If you want peace of mind you may want the warranty even though it s probably overpriced CHECK RETURN PoOLicies RESTOCKING FEES When you buy a camera from a reputable dealer you expect to be able to return itif you aren t satisfied S
200. t the results he did because he was always ready There was never any fumbling with controls or lost opportunities Most digital cameras have an automatic exposure system that frees you from the worry about controls However these cameras have other problems that make decisive moments hard to capture One of the things that has driven many photographers to distraction is the delay between their pressing the shutter button and the camera actually taking the picture This and other delays built into digital cameras affect your ability to respond to fast action when taking pictures E The startup time is how long it takes for you to take a photos after turning on the camera Cameras used to take a long time to do this but now many start up almost instantly E The shutter lag time is the delay you experience between pressing the shutter button and actually capturing the image This delay occurs because of the time it takes the camera to clear the image sensor set white balance to correct for color set the exposure and focus the image before it fires the flash if it s needed and takes the picture The best cameras have almost no lag E The processing delay occurs as the image is processed and stored This delay has been dramatically reduced by the addition of internal memory called a buffer Images are temporarily stored in the buffer while awaiting processing because they can be stored there much more quickly then they can be stored on th
201. t you convert a series of images into an ani mated GIF When posted on the Web the images are quickly displayed one after the other like frames in a movie Continuous mode can capture a series of images much like movie frames You can select the best one for printing use them all to created an animation or use the series to analyze an action such as the swing of a golf club or baseball bat Animation Click to see how continuous mode can be used creatively y Single and continuous mode icons The camera can store images in the buffer faster than it can transfer them to the memory card A large buffer lets you shoot more images continuously Image Sensor Butter Memory Card Fast Slave Transfer Transfer 40 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM SHOOTING Movies SHOOTING Movies Movies can be played back on a computer equipped with the right software The almost universally recognized movie mode icon Animation Click to see a movie captured with a still camera s movie mode Professional quality video is 30 fos but many cameras capture fewer than that TIP E A wind filter will digitally reduce the noise caused by wind blowing across the micro phone Many digital cameras can capture short video clips that you can easily share with others by e mail or using one of the many Web sites devoted to hos
202. tering divides the image area into a grid and compares the measurements made of each individual area against a library of typical scenes to select the best possible exposure for the scene The system then selects the best possible exposure for the entire scene E Center weighted averaging meters the entire scene but assigns the most importance to the center of the frame where the most important objects are usually located This is a good mode to use when shooting a large main subject against a very bright or very dark background E Spot or slightly larger partial metering evaluates only a small area of the scene Some cameras fix the metered spot in the center of the viewfinder while others let you move it about or link it to the active focus area so you focus on and meter the same area Spot metering lets you meter just a specific part of the scene instead of relying on an average reading and is ideal when photograph ing a subject against a bright or dark background On some cameras you can use this mode with exposure lock Meter weighting can cause a few problems For instance a dark object located off center against a very light background may not be exposed properly because it is not located in the area the meter is emphasizing Or in some cases holding the camera vertically may give undue emphasis to one side of the scene These occasions are uncommon but when they occur you can use exposure lock or exposure compensation to get a good exp
203. termediate storage devices are E What is its storage capacity What is the cost per megabyte of storage E Does it support the storage devices you use E Does it support the image formats you use Many devices support common formats just as JPEG but not proprietary formats such as Canon s RAW and Nikon s NEF format Also does it support your camera s movie format if it has one E What is the transfer rate and how long does it take to transfer images from a card to the device E Can it display images ona TV set or be connected directly to a printer E Can you view stored images on the device s own screen E Does it support video and MP3 music playback E Are there ways to rotate zoom in out and scroll E Does it have a remote control FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 113 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT DIGITAL PICTURE FRAMES The future has arrived with the new Digi Frame 17 inch digital frame Courtesy of Digi Frame Digi frame also makes tabletop digital frames VistaFrame Digital Picture Frame lets you view digital pictures directly from your camera s memory cards Create a slide show or display one picture with VistaFrame No computer camera or Internet connection is required 114 One of the futurist forecasts back in the 1950s was that we d soon have thin TV sets hanging on the walls just like paintings For decades nothing happened an
204. th Kodak Fuji Photo Film Panasonic Sanyo and Sigma are doing this with the Four Thirds System There are also independent third party companies that make lenses for cameras To reduce costs their lenses can be used with more than one camera make just by changing the mount sometimes using an adapter Many of these lenses are quite good and usually less expensive than those from camera companies OLDER LENSES Digital SLR cameras use electrical connections to set the lens aperture and adjust focus When you upgrade to digital you can t assume that your older lenses will work with your new camera It depends on how old they are Lenses with mechanical mounts definitely won t work but even some older lenses that have electrical connections may not work or loose some of their features NEWER LENSES LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD Many camera companies that use smaller image sensors in their digital SLRs are introducing lenses designed specifically for these sensors Because they create a smaller image circle these lenses can be lighter and less expensive However if you ever upgrade to a model that has a full frame sensor you won t be able to use these lenses because the image circle will be too small to cover the sensor Camera companies make this obvious by designing the lens mount so it won t attach to a full frame camera LENS ACCESSORIES If your camera has a fixed lens you may be able to use lens converters to decrease or increase its
205. than colder bluer HMI lamps Color Temperature is expressed in degrees Kelvin K Daylight on a clear day is about 6500 Kelvin a mix of direct sun at 5500 K and skylight at 9500 K Lights with lower color temperatures look red those with higher color temperatures look blue To picture this imagine a blacksmith heating an iron bar It first gets red hot then as its temperature increases it becomes white hot and finally blue white hot To measure the color temperature of a light you can use a color meter These are fairly expensive and although crucial with film photography they are not as critical in digital photography because of white balance control E The Color Rendering Index CRI is a relative measure of how colors shift when illuminated by a particular lamp as compared to a reference source such as daylight Daylight has a CRI of 100 the highest possible CRI The closer the CRI of a light source is to 100 the truer it renders color The power of continuous lights is usually given in watts but occasionally in lumens E Watts describe the power consumed not the light emitted For example there are many different lighting fixtures that use 100 watt lamps but the output efficiency of these lamps will vary by 100 or more E Lumens indicates the lighting intensity of continuous lighting It s a measure of the total light output of the lamp A 27 watt CFL lamp has 1750 lumens the same as a 100 watt tungsten bulb E R
206. that dampens small tremors as you take a photo Not only are these light monopod or reverse it to and easy to pack you can use them where heavy foot traffic prevents you from shoot straight down using a more rigid monopod Although it doesn t seem any are commercially These tripods also fold available you can make one by drilling a hole in a 1 4 20 thumb screw and into a small flat shape attaching about 8 feet of light chain that s easy to pack With a monopod you can aim the camera just by moving the camera monopod unit However to switch from horizontal to vertical you need a lens with a collar or a ball head There are lots of small ball heads to choose from and it helps if you also have a quick release system so you can quickly attach and detach the camera Closely related to a monopod is the hiking or trekking pole used by hikers for stability and safety especially on steep slopes or slippery surfaces while reducing pressure on the knees and other joints Some of these poles are collapsible and have a tripod screw where you can mount a head for your camera They have an ergonomic grip for hiking and some have an anti shock design FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 101 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT Gitzo makes an assortment of monopods Some models have a removable ball head telescopic height adjustment a contoured rubber hand grip a steel spiked foot and an all weather
207. the side Gitzo s Explorer line of tripods has this feature 100 make a tripod of a given height shorter when collapsed making it easier to pack or store However more sections means more locks to undo and redo when raising or lowering the tripod Also it s a common belief that 3 sections is best because any more reduce stability because of the number of joints This may be true when heavy view cameras or extremely long and heavy lenses are used or when the tripod is cheaply made but doubtful when mounting a light digital camera on a well made tripod In normal conditions not high winds if the leg and center column locks are tight and the camera is tightly mounted it s unlikely there is noticeably more vibration at the top of an extended column than at the bottom Even if the tripod isn t quite as stable the fact that more sections create a shorter collapsed length may be important if you hike or pack Legs usually end in rubber feet but on some tripods you can turn the bottom of the legs to extrude a sharp spike for outdoor use or add adapters with spikes suction cups or even big foot adapters for soft ground Most tripods have a center column ending in a platform on which you mount a tripod head Typically you raise or lower a center column by loosening a lock of some kind and pushing the column up or down then relocking it A few tripods use geared center columns that you raise or lower with a crank These add weight and a
208. the file small enough to manipulate it in the camera These photos show how an HP camera guides you when aligning photos for your panorama that is then stitched together in the camera Courtesy of HP at www hpshopping com Generally there are three panoramic sequences from which to choose E Horizontal sequence left to right or right to left are used to capture pan oramic landscapes E Vertical sequence bottom to top or top to bottom are like horizontal but capture a panoramic view of a vertical subject such as a tower or waterfall E Clockwise or counterclockwise sequence is used for documents or other square shapes The three images above have been stitched together into a single panorama right 42 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM PHOTOGRAPHING IN BLACK amp WHITE PHOTOGRAPHING IN BLACK amp WHITE For years photographers in the fine arts perhaps the best known being Ansel Adams have taken black and white pictures almost exclusively If you want to work in the same medium some cameras let you shoot in black and white as well as color This mode is also useful if the photograph is going to be printed in black and white If your camera doesn t have this mode you can always make the conversion in your photo editing program This is probably a better way to do it because you ll have both a color and a B amp W version One great thing about using a
209. the lens angle of view and hence its focal length is the same as itis on a film version of the camera E When the image sensor is smaller than a frame of film as many are it captures a smaller area of the image circle effectively increasing the lens focal length by a factor of 1 5 x or so compared to the focal length indicated on the lens Therefore a lens that is 100mm on a film camera will be 150mm or 160mm on the digital version of the camera This multiple works across the entire family of lenses that work with the camera making wide angle lens less so on a digital SLR and making telephoto lenses more so FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 59 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS Click to explore how the size of an image sensor determines the focal length of a lens A lens projects the image as a circle and the size of the film or image sensor determines what area of the circle is captured Here the frames from largest to smallest show the areas captured by 35 mm film or a full size sensor an APS H sensor and a APS C sensor A smaller sensor penalizes you when used with shorter focal length lenses left Its smaller sensor captures a smaller part of the image circle the white outline than a camera using a full frame sensor or film so it has a longer effective focal length A smaller sensor gives you a bonus when used with long focal length lenses or macro lenses
210. ting short video clips Although most SLR cameras can t capture movies there are exceptions The problem is that SLR cameras don t create an image on the sensor until the shutter is open so there is no stream of images created from which to make frames in a movie To overcome this problem one company Olympus uses a second sensor in the viewfinder to feed images to the monitor or to capture movies In most cases image sizes are reduced from those used to capture still images so the camera can process the video as it s being captured and so file sizes are as small as possible Sizes normally range from a very small 160 x 120 toa current maximum TV quality 640 x 480 VGA Most digital cameras use AVI MOV or MPEG video formats so you can view or share them in a number of ways If your video isn t in the right format you can find programs that convert it by Googling for video conversion E Your computer can play back movies as long as it s equipped with the appropriate software This software comes with your camera usually ona CD but most new computer systems already have it installed E TV movies have to be in the MPEG format and on a Video CD or DVD disc However you can play back any format when you use a cable to connect your camera to the TV or VCR and use the camera as the playback device E E mail is a great way to distribute short video clips but anything longer than a few seconds may be too large to send
211. use the aperture changes as you zoom the lens in and out However some lenses don t change the aperture as you zoom them This lets you set exposure and zoom all the way through the lens s zoom range without the aperture or shutter speed varying A larger maximum aperture is better because it lets you use shallower depth of field a faster shutter speed to freeze action and increases the range of your flash A lens with a maximum aperture of f 1 4 is three stops faster than a lens with a maximum aperture of f 5 6 This means that instead of using a shutter speed of 1 15 you can use one of 1 125 The problem with lenses having large maximum apertures is that they are expensive large and heavy A lens maximum aperture is determined by dividing the actual diameter of the aperture opening into the focal length of the lens That s why the aperture on most but not all zoom lenses changes as the lens is zoomed in and out to change the focal length E The size of filters or other accessories that can be screwed into the threads The diameter is often preceded with the symbol as in 685mm FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM LENSES The focal length of a lens determines its angle of view Animation Click to explore how the focal length of a lens determines its angle of view Animation Click to explore the sizes of image sensors Sounds like science fiction but liquid le
212. ven order prints of the images Internet connected frames are great but they are not effortless You or someone else has to upload images to an on line account before they can be sent to a frame One frame gets around this by accepting photos sent directly to it by e mail If you assign it an e mail address and share that address people can e mail photos without the monthly costs of a sub scription service Here are some things to think about when considering a frame E Memory card formats If the frame accepts memory cards does it accept the ones used by your camera or are adapters available Even if it accepts the same card does it accept the specific type you use For example CompactFlash cards come in type I and II and there is a small but bewildering number of SmartMedia cards with varying compatibility E Number of Images Some frames especially those that connect to the Internet have their own internal memory that limits the number of images that can be stored and displayed Other frames use removable memory cards and the number of images is limited only by the storage capacity of the cards E Size and resolution One of the key determinants of price is the size and resolution of the screen Most are 5 x 7 inches or smaller and display images in 640 x 480 or smaller sizes Don t confuse frame size with screen size Many have large frames and smaller screens Many screens have surprisingly low resolution One 6 8 inch screen has
213. version called a monolight has all of the needed circuitry built into the head The power of these units is usually specified in watt seconds The higher the rating the more powerful the unit Another important attribute is the unit s recycle time The shorter the time the faster you can get off the next shot The power of a flash is important relative to the size of the subject If you are shooting small objects you don t need anywhere near as much power as you do when shooting large ones However the more power you do have the Strobes have heads the smaller the aperture you can use to gain increased depth of field especially light stands to hold important when doing close ups them up and power oak sg a a packs A pa he Many digital cameras with fixed lenses have a fairly large minimum aper burst of power needed ture of 11 or so The camera can t stop down far enough to prevent overex to fire them Courtesy of posing an image when used with a powerful strobe This forces you to move Bogen Photo Corp the strobe father from the subject making the light harder For this reason too many watt seconds aren t always good Some strobes have zoom heads so you can adjust the cone of light For consistency the width of this cone is usually listed in specifications as it would be when 10 feet from the light Monolights are strobes with all of the needed circuitry built in so you don t need a separate F power pack Cou
214. very slow port on the computer used mainly by modems Many digital cameras come equipped with cable to download images through this port but it s slow Both parallel and USB ports are faster connections Short focal length lens wide angle A lens that provides a wide angle of view of a scene including more of the subject area than does a lens of normal focal length Shutter Speed The length of time the shutter is open and light strikes the image sensor Shutter The device in the camera that opens and closes to let light from the scene strike the image sensor and expose the image Shutter priority mode An automatic exposure system in with you set the shutter speed and the camera selects the aperture f stop for correct exposure Single lens reflex See SLR SLR A type of camera with one lens which is used both for viewing and taking the picture SmartMedia A popular form of flash memory card Spot Metering Autoexposure is based on a meter reading of a small circle in the center of the viewfinder Stop 1 An aperture setting that indicates the size of the lens opening 2 A change in exposure by a factor of two Changing the aperture from one setting to the next doubles or halves the amount of light reaching the image sensor Changing the shutter speed from one setting to the next does the same thing Either changes the exposure one stop Stop down To decrease the size of the lens aperture The opposite of open up Tagged Image File Fo
215. vice Determines Image Sizes 47 FIN PIAS necessities eesti certescsietswnnsioenis 80 Converting Pixels to Print Sizes Ay FIST ENG SECON Curtain SYNC eseria 80 THE BIG LIE srna aA 47 Flash Exposure Compensation 81 ISO and NoiSe cceeeecececeeeeeeeeeeeeeess AS SMODOSCODIC POS ixgrssdverserivencestyexpends 82 Noise Example from Cadillac Ranch 48 Hi speed Sync Flash cece eee eee e ee ees 82 The Effects of Compression s s s S0 ECCT alla srra rnet 82 RAW vs J PEG Image Quality 00 B0 Tne MantELIONE axcorepsrcerscadesererservierisess 93 Canon DENG ES oa ncsicdervcceiciveavernsevtiereres cts The e p eee ere er re 93 Apertures and EXpOSureS c0eeeseeee Be The Background LIGNE ea rcsewes percenencemccane 93 Focal Length and Angle of View Be Py CO ernn 93 mage Sensor SIZES i 59 Hard and Soft LI ce visio crncariseapsedexisdes 93 Focal Length Factors s es 60 Dust on Your mage Sensor 125 Optical and Digital ZOOM svicnineveinnsreunnas 61 Wide angle Lens Distortion 5 62 Boldfacing indicates an animation or 360 Degree VR Panorama 0000 62 other resource such as a PDF file eee or Excel work sheet that s active Macro MagnificationS cscavavitstarereviciwers 63 in the free edition of this book Parallax in an Optical Viewfinder 64 Asterisks indicate a repeated Image Stabilization ccccceennesseeneenes 66 animation
216. without having the hassle of taking the pack off Another variant lets you use a belt to strap the bag to your hips CAMERA BACKPACKS For heavy loads or long treks there is no substitute for a backpack They shift the entire load to your shoulders and some have waist straps that shift much of it to your hips Although it can be a bother to take the pack off remove some gear and then put the pack back on it need not be that way Most photogra phers carry the camera around their neck and only remove the pack when they need to changes batteries lenses or what have you These packs are usually not 100 waterproof so you may want to look into a poncho or pack cover if there is a chance you might get caught in the rain I always carry a light poncho that doubles as a ground cloth if I need to kneel or lie down on damp or tick infested ground FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 117 CHAPTER 4 OTHER CAMERA EQUIPMENT Kata makes bags that have separate rain covers and Lowepro makes water proof backpack bags called Dry Zone The Dry Zone bags have a waterproof lining and zipper and are said to keep your gear dry even during complete immersion In less extreme conditions you can fasten the inner zipper and the top clip and leave the waterproof zipper open for faster access to gear Ricip CASES Rigid cases made from aluminum or other materials such as high impact plastic are usually used for shipping
217. xpensive processes that can only be used to make other CCDs Meanwhile larger foundries use a different process called Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor CMOS to make millions of chips for computer processors and memory CMOS is by far the most common and highest yielding chip making process in the world Using this same process and the same equipment to manufacturer CMOS image sensors cuts costs dramatically because the fixed costs of the plant are spread over a much larger number of devices As a result of these economies of scale the cost of fabricating a CMOS wafer is significantly less than the cost of fabri cating a similar wafer using a specialized CCD process Costs are lowered even farther because CMOS image sensors can have processing circuits created on the same chip When CCDs are used these processing circuits must be on separate chips Despite their differences both types of sensors are capable of giving very good results and both types are used by major camera companies Canon even uses CMOS sensors in their high end digital SLRs FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM IMAGE SENSORS SIZES AND ASPECT RATIOS IMAGE SENSORS SIZES AND ASPECT RATIOS Image sensor sizes The image sensor in a camera has two important and related physical charac teristics it s size and aspect ratio SENSOR SIZE Image sensors come in a variety of sizes with the smallest ones used in p
218. y computer E You can order a printed black amp white copy with a well liked fold back spiral binding E You can save money and have the best of both worlds by ordering the Book CD package ja Pee P bfi F J Pied FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM a Visit OUR PUBLISHING PROGRAM Visit OuR PUBLISHING PROGRAM uch of the material in this book is adapted from other ShortCourses books that I have written If you find it clearly written and helpful you may want to check out my other books on the ShortCourses publishing site www shortcourses com where you ll find the following Click to view a PDF document describing how to use this and other ShortCourses eBooks and animations E Print on demand black and white guides to your camera E eBook editions of our books are in full color and fully searchable You can print out just the pages that interest you at the moment E Animations have been developed to help you understand the basic concepts of digital photography so it s easier for you to master your camera and its controls The eBook editions of many of our latest books including this one contain clickable animation links Clicking one of them displays an animation or other resource stored on the PhotoCourse com Web site so you do need an Internet connection If you have the eBook version of this book just click any button that looks like the one to the left T
219. y the image All of these calculations are performed in the camera by an image processor that s similar to the one in your desktop computer but dedicated to this single task How well your processor performs its functions is critical to the quality of your images but it s hard to evaluate advertising claims about these devices To most of us these processors are mysterious black boxes about which advertisers can say anything they want The proof is in the pictures Cameras with the latest programmable digital media processors can perform functions that camera companies program them for Currently these functions include in camera photo editing and special effects such as red eye removal image enhancement picture borders stitching together panoramas removing blur caused by camera shake and much more WHerRE WE SEEM TO BE HEADED As camera resolutions have improved most people are satisfied with the quality and sharpness of their prints For this reason the marketing battle especially in the point and shoot or pocket camera categories is now all about features Since digital cameras are basically computers companies can program them to do all sorts of things that older mechanical cameras could never do They can identify faces in a scene to focus on detect and eliminate red eye and let you adjust colors and tones in your images There is a tipping point somewhere in this endless checklist of possible features where complexity begins
220. ying images as random color the signals captured by the photosites on the sensor similar to turning up the pixels especially when volume on the radio Dim light can be made brighter this way but unfortu you use long shutter nately amplifying the image also amplifies noise Many cameras have a noise speeds or high ISO reduction mode designed to reduce or eliminate noise caused by long expo eng sures or high ISO settings Some allow you to turn this mode on and off or set it to auto so it s used only when necessary At slow shutter speeds left noise has a chance to build up in the image At faster speeds middle and right the noise is overwhelmed by the signal Animation Click to see the effects of increasing ISO Animation Click to see the effect of noise in an image 48 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM CAMERA RESPONSIVENESS CAMERA RESPONSIVENESS VIEWFINDER BLACKOUT E When you take a picture witha digital SLR its mirror must swing up so the light can strike the shutter and image sensor While up you can t see through the viewfinder This viewfinder blackout should be as short as possible Henri Cartier Bresson is famous for his photographs that capture that deci sive moment when random actions intersect in a single instant that makes an arresting photograph His eye hand coordination was unrivaled and he was able to ge
221. you select 1 3 or 1 2 stop increments for exposure settings Setting it to 1 3rd stops gives you finer control over the exposure Underexposing by 2 stops kept the background dark while correctly exposing the spotlit subjects When you fill the screen with a gray card and press the shutter button halfway down your camera will indicate the best exposure regardless of how light or dark the scene is FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 71 CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL CAMERAS HISTOGRAMS amp HIGHLIGHT WARNINGS Animation Click to explore histograms TIP E There are two kinds of histo grams Most cameras show one of the gray scale brightness levels A few show display an RGB histogram showing the brightness of each of the three colors red green and blue Animation Click to explore how overexposed highlights blink 72 Most serious photo editing programs let you use a histogram as a guide when editing your images However since most image corrections can be diagnosed by looking at a histogram it helps to look at it while still in a position to reshoot the image It s for this reason that many cameras let you display histograms on the monitor in playback mode or while reviewing an image you have just taken A few cameras even let you see a histogram as you are com posing an image EVALUATING HISTOGRAMS As you ve seen each pixel in an image can be set to a

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