About Graphic Design

Stephen Johnson Trees, Fitzgerald Reserve, 1994 BetterLight Digital Camera,

Introduction to digital imaging

DIGITAL CAMERAS

IDENTIFYING THE ORIGINAL  The source for your image will determine the digital capture method*  Originals can come from different sources which may need to be converted to digital format – Conventional photograph – Flat art – Video capture – Screen capture – Digital photo of scene/subject* – Existing digital image file* *already digital

CAPTURE DEVICES  Digital Cameras* – Types of Cameras – Features – General Camera Controls – Basic Digital Camera Techniques

CAPTURE DEVICES  Types of Digital Cameras* – A camera that captures images digitally through an electronic image sensor • Consumer level – Available in most digital electronic stores – Compact, Subcompact (point and shoot)

• Pro-sumer level – Available in some digital electronic stores – Compact, Bridge cameras

• Professional level – Available at photography stores, some digital electronic stores – SLR

CAPTURE DEVICES  Consumer level – Compact, small, portable cameras – For the general market – Fixed lens – Fully automatic settings – Built-in low-power flash – Shoot in JPEG only – Subcompacts tend to be really small! – Sensor resolution range: 3MP – 8MP – Low dynamic range – Medium bit depth

CAPTURE DEVICES  Prosumer level – Compact, SLR-like cameras (Bridge cameras) – For the serious amateur, hobbyist – Fixed lens, super zoom – Automatic, with some manual options – Built-in flash, limited – Shoot in JPEG, TIFF, or RAW – Sensor resolution range: 3MP – 10MP – Medium dynamic range – Medium bit depth

CAPTURE DEVICES  Professional level* – Digital SLR (single lens reflex) – For professionals – Interchangeable lens system – Fully manual & automatic options – Hot-shoe for flash – Shoot in JPEG, TIFF, or RAW – Sensor resolution range: 3MP – 24MP – Medium dynamic range – High bit depth

CAPTURE DEVICES  Digital Camera Back* – A digital sensor attached to the back of a camera in place of a film holder – Allows cameras designed for film to take digital shots – For professionals only! – Mostly medium to large format – Can be area or linear arrays – Slow exposure • • • •

Shoot JPEG, TIFF, RAW Sensor resolution range: 20MP – 65MP High dynamic range Very high bit depth

CAPTURE DEVICES  Digital Camera Features* – Viewing System – Resolution – File Formats – Bit Depth – Noise – ISO Ratings – Memory Cards – Connectivity

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Viewing System* – SLR • single-lens reflex with interchangeable lenses (similar to a 35mm & 120mm camera) • Found in pro-sumer and professional level cameras

– Viewfinder • Fixed lens camera that provides a through-the-lens viewing of live signal from camera • Found in consumer and pro-sumer level cameras

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Resolution* – The amount of information captured by the sensor, defined by the number of sensing sites and sensor – Directly affects the size of the print possible from the capture – Measured in megapixels • Typical resolutions: 4 MP, 6MP, 8MP, 10MP, 12MP, 14MP, 20MP, 24MP

DIGITAL CAMERAS  File Formats* – JPEG • Lossy compression format. Not recommended for professional use.

– TIFF • Lossless compression format. OK for fine reproduction.

– RAW • Unprocessed image data from sensor. Recommended for professional use.

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Bit Depth* – The amount of tonal and color information the camera can capture – Typical bit depths: 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 bits per channel

 Noise – Random, unwanted pixels captured by the sensor (the film grain of digital photography). The lower the noise, the better the camera.

DIGITAL CAMERAS  ISO Rating – ISO measures the sensors sensitivity to light. – Typical ISO settings: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 3200, 6400 – Use a low ISO setting (50, 100) for overly bright scenes, i.e. the beach, snow, etc… – Use a high ISO setting (400, 800) for low-light settings (cloudy days, indoors, etc…) – BEWARE: High ISO settings increase image noise.

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Memory Cards – Compact Flash, MicroDrives, Smart Media, Memory Sticks – Storage sizes vary from 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 32 GB, etc…  Connectivity – Connection protocol for allowing the camera to communicate directly with the computer – USB: 1.5 MB/s transfer speed – USB2: 60MB/s – USB3: 625MB/s – FireWire (IEEE 1394): 50 – 400 MB/s, 1.6-3.2 Gb/s

DIGITAL CAMERAS  GENERAL CAMERA CONTROLS* – Shutter – Aperture – Lens – White Balance

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Shutter* – Controls light by varying the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light. – Affects motion sharpness. Use fast shutter speeds to freeze motion. – Typical shutter speeds: • 1 second, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/120, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000 » Shutter photo by Unibiltz, Flickr

DIGITAL

Long exposure Exposure: 15 sec. CAMERAS Aperture: f/22.0 Focal Length: 18 mm ISO Speed: 200 Exposure Bias: +14/3 EV Flash: No Flash Photo: [Ananabanana] [is totally behind on his comments]

DIGITAL CAMERAS Fast exposure Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500) Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 70 mm ISO Speed: 1250 Exposure Bias: 0 EV Flash: Off Photo by: cynthiacorzo, Flickr

Fast exposure

DIGITAL CAMERAS Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000) Aperture: f/8.0 Focal Length: 90 mm ISO Speed: 400 Exposure Bias: 0 EV Flash: On Photo by: Maheash Elanka, Flickr

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Aperture* – Controls the amount of light by varying the size of the lens opening – Affects depth of field • A measure of the distances from the camera that appear sharply focused in the image.

– The smaller the aperture number the greater the amount of light and the shallower the depth of field. – Typical aperture range: • f3.5, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22

– Maximum and minimum apertures are based on the lens

Depth of Field

DIGITAL CAMERAS Exposure: 1/3000 Aperture: f/0.95 Photo by: moaan, Flickr

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Depth of Field Aperture: f/64 Ansel Adams The Tetons and the Snake River (1942)

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Lens* – Focuses light from the scene onto the camera sensor – Two main parameters are aperture and focal length • Focal Length: determines the angle of view and the size of the image relative to that of the object

– Lens types: • Normal: for a natural look • Macro: for close-ups • Wide-angle: short focal lens, but a wide angle of view • Telephoto: long-focus lens.

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Lens types* – Normal • for a natural look, 50mm

– Zoom • Standard in many cameras, 18mm-55mm

– Macro • for close-ups, 50m-200mm

– Wide-angle • short focal lens, but a wide angle of view, 28mm

– Telephoto • long-focus lens, 135mm – 800mm

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Depth of Field Aperture: f/64 Ansel Adams The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) Macro lens

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Wide-angle lens

DIGITAL CAMERAS  White Balance* – Also know as color balance, a setting in the camera that attempts to neutralize color casts by correctly rendering neutral colors. – Based on the color temperature of the light source – Digital Cameras have the following WB settings: • Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash, Custom

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Digital Camera Techniques* – Shoot in RAW – Set your white balance – Determine the digital exposure • Automatic • Manually- adjust the ISO, apperture, and shutter speed • Compensate using the Exposure Values (EV) for overexposing or underexposing highlights and shadows

DIGITAL CAMERAS  Digital Camera Techniques* – Set Contrast to Low – Set Sharpen to Low or Off – Set Digital Zoom to Off – Use the lowest ISO setting possible – Review the camera’s histogram to check your exposure – ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR FILES!

IMAGE CAPTURE/INPUT  Companies & websites – www.canon.com – http://www.leica.com/ – www.nikon.com – www.betterlight.com – www.phaseone.com – www.hasselblad.com – www.dpreview.com – http://www.dpbestflow.org/