Digital photographyAUG. 27, 2010 | JMC31

Choosing a digital camera

What will you do with your images?

What size prints do you want to make?

How much money do you want to spend?

How “big” of a camera do you want?

What to look for when buying

Resolution (?MP)

Image stabilization

Zoom (optical /digital); wide angle

Video (HD, 720p, 1080i)

Storage (compact flash, SD card, etc.)

LCD screen size

Know your resolution

1MP - low quality, good for screen-based images

2MP - mid-quality for computer and small prints (4x6)

3MP - good quality for color prints (8x10)

4MP - very good quality (11x14 prints)

5+MP - excellent quality (cropping photos)

Pixels and megapixels

Pixel = Picture (pix) elements (els)

Mega = million

Megapixel (MP) = million pixels

A pixel is a very small light-sensitive area

More pixels = better quality = more money

What resolution to use

Shoot at the highest resolution you will need, and consider if you will be cropping.

More realistically: if you’ve got the memory, shoot at the highest resolution you can. You can always make images smaller, but never bigger.

Resolution and megapixels

640 x 480 = .3MP1600 x1200 = 1.9MP2400 x 1800 = 4.3MP

3072x2304 or L

2048x1536 or M2

1600x1200 or M3

640x480 or S

Pixels and printing

Web site: 450x350 pixels (.25-.50 MP)

4x6 print: 1200x1800 pixels (1.5-2.5 MP)

8x10 print: 2000x2500 pixels (4-5 MP)

12x16 print: 2400x3200 pixels (6+ MP)

FlashGenerally works from a distance of 1 to 12 feet

Default — Auto Flash

Red-eye reduction

Forced flash

Night flash mode

No flash

Forced flash

Reducing red eye

Reducing red-eyeGet the flash away from the lens

Bounce the flash off the ceiling

Turn on room lights (lets pupils contract)

Use red-eye reduction flash

Have subject look slightly away from camera

Move camera closer

Don’t use flash

Zoom

Optical = good

Digital = bad

Try to find a camera with at least 4x optical zoom (and ignore digital zoom)

Macro modeAllows you to shoot very close

Camera won’t normally focus that close

Memory/storage

Internal — very limited usage

Removable — Compact Flash, Memory Stick, Smart Media, Secure Digital (SD), MiniSD, MicroSD, MultiMedia Card

Review

Resolution - shoot at high or low?

Flash - do you ever need in daylight?

Close-up - what is this mode called?

Storage - what’s an example of external memory?

Photography

Literally means “writing with light”

Light is the most important thing when taking photos

Three ways to control light

Aperture: how much light gets in

Shutter speed: how long light is let in

ISO: sensitivity of image device

ApertureF-stop is the measurement of the opening

F1 is very wide opening letting in lots of light

F32 is a small opening letting in little light

ApertureYour camera likely has F3.5-F8

A full F-stop change either doubles or halves the amount of light coming into the camera

Involved in depth of field, which we will cover shortly

f 6.3

f 4.0

f 2.8

f 1.8

Shutter speed

Determines how long light comes in

1/15th of a second would be a long exposure letting lots of light into the camera

1/2000 would be a short exposure, letting in very little light

Slow shutter speeds allow blurring of the subject

Fast shutter speeds stop the action

ISO

The sensitivity of light of a photosensitive surface

Film is measured in ISO, and most digital cameras have this adjustment

Low ISO indicates low sensitivity to light, but generally higher resolution with less “noise” or “grain”

A 100 ISO setting is twice as sensitive to light as a 50 ISO

100 ISO

200 ISO

400 ISO

800 ISO

1600 ISO

Depth of field

How much of the photo is in focus

Controlled by...

Aperture

Subject’s distance from the camera

Focal length

DOF: Aperture

The more wide open the aperture, the less the depth of field

F11 aperture

F2.8 aperture

DOF: Distance from camera

The closer the subject, the less depth of field

The farther away, the more depth of field

Focal length

The greater the focal length (zoomed or telephoto), the less the depth of field

Therefore, for the greatest depth of field you would need a wide angle lens, with a closed aperture, and a subject at a good distance

Using this informationOr, using it on YOUR camera

Auto mode

When you want to take a snapshot without worrying about the mechanics of photography, leave the camera on Auto. This mode sets all exposure levels automatically, and it usually locks you out of making any minor adjustments manually.

Program mode

Like auto mode on steroids, this mode automatically sets aperture size and shutter speed for a perfect exposure — but it also lets you tweak settings, giving you more creative control. You can change white balance and exposure compensation, for instance, and even nudge shutter speed up or down a bit.

Aperture value

When you set the size of the aperture, and your camera automatically provides the right shutter speed to deliver the correct exposure. Rely on this mode to blur the background or to keep the entire image in sharp focus (depth of field).

Time value

Shutter mode: This setting is your best option for taking action photography. Shutter priority allows you to freeze the scene or artistically blur the photo. All the while, the camera keeps the exposure matched to the aperture.

Manual mode

This mode gives you total control. Exact opposite of Auto mode. You use buttons on the camera’s body to set both shutter speed and aperture size. But you are working with no safety net. The camera won’t protect you from under- or overexposed photos. Use the LED screen lots.

Landscape mode

Your camera picks the best aperture and shutter settings for the greatest depth of field when taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor photos.

Macro mode

To focus on extremely close subjects — within a few inches of the lens — choose the tulip. You can take life-size photos of insects, flowers and other small subjects in this mode. But the focus range (depth of field) is very narrow.

Snow and sand

Brightly colored or glaring backgrounds can trick the camera into underexposing the subject. This mode overexposes the scene to gain details that would otherwise be lost.

Action

The action (or sports) mode sets the camera to the highest possible shutter speed, increasing your odds of getting a clear shot of people in motion.

Night

This mode lets you capture nighttime scenes by combining a flash, which freezes people in the foreground, with a slow shutter speed, which allows lights from buildings, cars and other elements to show in the background.

< Flash

Night mode >

Portrait

This mode lets you capture portraits of people (or animals) with lower depth of field so that the background should have a soft focus.

File formats

JPG (JPEG)

RAW

RAW file format

Uncompressed

Not all manipulation programs support (Photoshop does)

On more expensive cameras

JPEG file format

Compressed

Almost all programs support

On all cameras

Lossy compression (so some data is lost)