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Digital Photography: Beyond the Jargon

How well do you know your camera?We all have used digital cameras.But regardless of the type of camera used the principles of photography still apply.The imperative parts of a photograph still need the attention fixated on them making for impactful photographs.So let us look at the very basics of digital photography.

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But first A short history lesson.• In 1490, Leonardo da Vinci composed the first text on cameras in his

Atlantic codex, a 1,286 page text.• Photographic history has as of late been revamped after the

disclosure of what is presently thought to be the world's oldest photo.

• The picture, a reproduction of a seventeenth century Dutch print, originates before by one year Frenchman Niepce's heliogravure in 1822.

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Why should I choose Digital photography?• Size & weight- digital cameras are generally more compact & much

lighter & also give you instant outcomes without the cost, inconvenience or time needed to use a 'film'.

• Storage & accessibility- you can fit a huge amount of photos on memory cards & even transfer them to other electronic devices like computers, cell phones, etc.

• Cons- digital cameras generally cost much more & the printing costs might be higher on inkjet printers (unless you only print photos you need unlike 'film rolls')

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Which camera is best for me?• Most professional photographers use A SLR or single lens reflex

camera which usually reduces parallax.• Contrary to a popular myth, normally they have fixed lenses. Some

even think that they ought to have moving mirrors but the design does not demand such an arrangement.

• As they yield higher quality photographs they are preferred, but the photograph still remains the product of the photographer’s skill & not just the equipment used.

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Understanding Colors!• Colors are what our eyes 'see' when light strikes the 3 different types

of 'cone cells' & stimulates them.• This means that all colors are a component of how they stimulate

these cells. But these 3 types of cone cells do not correspond to primary colors.

• For example, one can see yellow light when there is pure yellow light but also when there isn’t any actual pure yellow light but it results from any mix of a combination of colors.

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Digital SLRs- Basic components.The lens focuses the light which is reflected from the object to be photographed on to the charge-coupled device. The image sensor is usually underneath the lens. The camera has a microchip which is really the brains of the operation. A flash capacitor stores all the energy that is used by the flash function which is normally used in indoor photography. And this energy is used by the flash lamp to provide the flash required when natural light is scarce. Needless to say there needs to be a battery compartment to provide a power source for all these functions.

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Digital SLRs- Basic components.Another important part of any digital camera is a secure digital (SD) card slot which allows you to connect flash memory to the camera for the photographs to be stored. And all of this would be pretty problematic if there wasn’t a USB connector which allows you to connect your digital camera to a computer which can read all the data on it just like it would any other memory device. And there is also the LCD display which lets you look at not only what the lens it looking at right now, but also what it has snapped. This is what gives digital cameras that instant feel to them. It is usually placed at the back of the circuit board which enables it all to function.

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Digital SLRs- Basic componentsDigital SLR cameras use very large sensors which are only smaller than 35mm film cameras used for films. They are easily among the very largest chips produced on a mass scale. And a little-known fact is that the cost of production for chips rises exponentially with chip size. No wonder that these cameras with exceptionally large sensors are expensive. It requires intense gadgets to move, digitally process and pack large amount of information captured by these cameras at a sensible rate. Vast Ram buffers are likewise required to give the camera sensible burst shot ability. All this adds up to a lot of cash. And this is also why they have to resort to a technique called compression.

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Digital SLRs- Basic components.The need is for large digital photographs to be stored using as less memory as possible. If you have ever used pictures on a computer then you have come across such a compression file. It is called jpg or jpeg. It stands for joint photographic experts group. Digital cameras make use of such methods to store a vast amount of information using minimal memory which co-relates to clearer images. So the trade-off is like any other. Less quality means more number of images, but less number of images could mean higher quality pictures.

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Digital photography lingoLet us start with the most basic term aperture. It is akin to your eyelids. It determines the amount of light which is allowed into the lens of the camera. It has an effect on the depth of field of the photograph. The depth of field of an image is the section of the image which remains in focus. A deeper depth of field is more suited for situations like snaps of large crowds which require every part of the image to be in sharp focus or even landscapes.

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Digital photography lingoSmaller apertures are useful in such situations. In contrast, larger apertures can be better suited for portraits which require a limited depth of field. This leads us into aperture priority. It is an advanced feature which determines the speed of the shutter in order to adjust the amount of exposure. Normally it is abbreviated to AV & it measures aperture exposure in f-stops. It is nothing but the ratio of the diameter of the aperture to the focal length of the lens. And because of the method used to calculate it, a higher number corresponds to a narrower opening.

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Digital Photography LingoThe amount of light entering the lens increases or decreases by 100% for every drop or hike in f-stop values. This is achieved by either an electronic curtain or even a mechanical one called the shutter. It exposes the image sensor depending on the circumstances for the photograph. If it has to allow more light to reach the sensor to compensate for the dimmer conditions at night it will have a slower shutter speed.

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Digital photography lingo

On the other hand, if it has to capture something in a fast paced action sequence, then the shutter speed would have to be much higher. Sometimes a fish eye lens is called for when one needs to capture almost all of the 180-degree surroundings for the image. Although this does require some editing to be done to the final product as it also leads to distortion of the image.

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What to focus on?Camera sensors come in varying sizes like the 1-inch sensor & the 4/3 aspect ratio sensor (analogous to 4/3 format). Another type of sensor is the backside illuminated sensor. Often abbreviated as bi, it has the ability to collect more light in even dull light. However in most Dslr’s one is more likely to find the advanced photo system-classic, a sensor which is almost 30% smaller than a 35mm film frame. It seems to have the right dimensions for most applications. Bit depth-most high-end cameras like expensive Dslr’s capture images in 12 bit or 14 bit, while most cameras will only capture 10bit to 12bit images.

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What are these technical terms?The focal length of the camera is a measurement of how much of what lies in front of you will be captured by the camera. The longer the focal length the more magnified the captured section of what you see in front is going to be. Au contraire, a shorter focal length will allow you to capture wide-angle pictures instead of a ‘telephoto’.

All of this is going to be relative to the film camera which tries to approximate as close as possible to the natural inclinations of the naked eye. You can even vary the flash modes on your digital camera to achieve the desired result. The normal setting is designed to reduced chances of over-exposure of the sensor or even under exposure to light by illuminating the picture through the lens.

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Some more jargon busters!Another important term is related to the actual sensitivity the image sensor on your camera called ISO. A higher ISO is obviously better suited to shooting in low light conditions akin to the slower shutter speeds discussed before. But it also creates a problem in which picture yield a grainy look. This grainy appearance is often called noise in digital photography jargon. This is usually taken care of by advanced camera processors. And a lower ISO is better suited for crisp & clear images during optimal lighting conditions when the reverse problem of not letting in too much light presents itself.

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These brief explanations on what it all means in layman terms should give you some degree of respite from any anxiety you might have when it comes to handling the technical jargon in digital photography. For a more in-depth look at how the profession works check out our Blog here- http://blog.Showflipper.Com/52-post/being-professional-with-digital-photography

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