Saturday, September 11, 2010

How To Take Good Pictures From Nikon Wide Angle Lens?


The Nikon Wide Angle Lenses produce wide images. This inference is not being drawn because of the name of the lens, but because of the way in which the lenses have been made. The lenses are wide and let the photographer view the object in a very wide sense. Thought the original size of the object remains the way it is, it is the image that can be seen through the lens which changes and becomes big and wider. This quality of the Nikon Wide Angle Lens has caught the attention of many making it hot property. The lens is expensive, and is better if hired by paying a nominal Camera Lens Rental or Nikon Camera Lens Rental.


The usage is simple. The Nikon Wide Angle Lens has to be fitted inside the camera. It does not take much effort to do this. Once done, then the lenses are all set to be used. One has to simply focus his camera on the object and the images will come out pretty clear. In fact, they will come out wider and clearer. The camera position can be kept normal. The distance from object should be kept normal. One need not go out of his way to make adjustments.

The lens works in all conditions. The lighting need not be high. The surroundings too are taken into the loop. The miniscule size of the object is overridden and made to look quite large. The clarity becomes more visible through the lens. All the colors in the spectrum are visible through the lens depending on the ones out there.

The Nikon Wide Angle Lens has this innate ability to bring out the best of an object. The object might be anything, anywhere in any lighting condition. But still, the lens is so good that it makes the human naked eye see the object in a better and wider manner. Good photography comes naturally to this lens and the effort to make it look good does not have to be exceptional. The lens has a natural instinct of large projections. These projections are evident in the photographs that come out. The object seems to be naturally wider, though it is not in reality. The clarity too is astonishing. One might think this takes a beating because of the picture enlargement. But to the surprise of many, that is not the case. The clarity in fact is enhanced through these lenses and the pictures seem to be clearer.

Along with Nikon, canon too has replicated the wide angle model and come out with its own set of lenses. The lenses can be hired at affordable canon camera lens rental. The Canon Camera Lens Rental paid for the lenses is very nominal. This is to give photographers the liberty to hire them and use them anytime.

Photographers can take it easy while using these lenses. The lenses do their job and they do it well. It is visible in the pictures that eventually come out. The lenses have an innate ability in them to make adjustments in accordance to the needs of the photographer. The lenses are made in that way; one does not have to think hard as to why it happens. The qualities are inherent and on display as well when the photographer is busy clicking photographs. The texture, width, clarity, pixel orientation and other such factors automatically fall into place completing the jigsaw puzzle and ensuring that the end result is admirable and enviable. This is the advantage the lenses lend to the photographer, which the artist ought to cash on.

Top Things To Know In Hiring A Wedding Photographer

Having a dream wedding is both tedious and stressful to prepare. There are a lot of things to do and suppliers to book. Though it is just a one day event, for women it is a realization of their life-long dreams and for men, it is a life altering moment hence; most have really saved up for this to assure that they will get the best and most professional suppliers. Most importantly, they wanted to preserve this very special moment in quality and beautiful wedding pictures that could relive those days as the years go by thus, a wedding photographer is something most couple are very picky and don’t scrimp at all. And so before you jump and sign a contract with any wedding photographer there are important things to ponder.

I have listed below useful tips anyone should look for in a wedding photographer.

1. Years of Expertise- Most of the photographers have state-of-the-art equipments and you may be blinded with these but then again ask how many years are they in the profession particularly in wedding shoots. Experience is a better gauge than their equipments. Know their styles and specialization in wedding shoots. Those in the profession for so long has the ability to give the your story in beautiful photos.

2. Portfolio- Many photographers will boast their best work to you and you maybe swayed by one photo album only. Ask for 4 or 5 or even more to check their consistency in their work. Compare the lightning, posing and style in the different albums to see if they are consistent in quality.

3. Wedding Photographer’s Fee- They say that you will get what you pay for and this holds true for talented and expert wedding photographers. Usually full time photographers have state-of-the art equipments, a team of crew and the skill hence; they ask for more. But then again, check your budget and their portfolio so you will strike the balance.

4. Photographer’s Method, Style and Flexibility- Check which wedding photographers suit your needs and wants in your wedding. Usually they have already mastered some style and method. You should also get someone who is flexible enough to mix these styles and method more so, incorporate your own ideas and styles.

5. Attitude and Professionalism- You would certainly want to work with a vendor you could get along with on your prenup shoots especially on the wedding day itself. It will be a success if you could have someone who will respect your time and wants. You could gauge this even on first meeting with prospective photographers whether or not you could have a rapport with them while shooting. Remember that you will not only deal with your wedding photographer till your wedding but until you are able to get the final output so choose someone who is committed and professional.

Remember that wedding photos are the only things left to you to remember your special day hence; choose world class wedding photographers who could freeze those blissful moments for a lifetime.

Photography At Coto De Caza

Orange County has a number of terrific photography locations. One of the best is Coto de Caza City Park. While Coto de Caza Park is the common name, it is officially called the Thomas F. Riley Wilderness Park

The park is reasonably easy to get to - the address is:

30952 Oso Pkwy
Coto de Caza 92679

Oso Pkwy is a fairly large paved road so clients do not need to travel a dusty road to get to the park where portraits can be taken at a location that looks like they had to travel a dusty road!

The park is favorable as a portrait photography location because it has a variety of settings, does not have much evidence of human habitation and it is an enjoyable place for families or couples to spend an evening.

During any photography portrait session variety provides clients with a creater number of artistic choices. Coto de Caza is a large park with woods, rolling hills and open fields. This variety of settings allows a photographer great flexibility in putting together an artistic gallery of images because it gives him a great number of choices on how he can mix and match.

The park is designed in such a way that for the most part evidence of human habitation is out of sight. It is either over a hill or hidden behind trees or other vegetation. This allows for a session with a truly rustic country appeal.
Many engaged couples and families alike often will linger at the park after their session to enjoy the surroundings. Children like to see the deer, squirrels and other wildlife that can be found in abundance. Couples enjoy taking walks along the many diverse trails. Thus, many families and engaged couples double their portrait session with an enjoyable family outing.

While there are a number of terrific photography locations in Orange County that can be used to get an outdoors, country feel, one of the best is The Thomas F. Riley Wilderness Park city park in Coto de Caza because of the variety of the available settings, the lack of human habitation evidence and the enjoyable ambience of the surroundings.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Photography: From Fun To Profession


Clicking a shot from camera will take less than a minute but the moment captured in this friction of time would be cherished for years to come. This is why photographs are shot at special occasions of life and professional photographers are chosen to capture some memorable time. Some people rely on the service of professional photographer while some choose amateur photographer be it their friend, cousin or by themselves. But there is a big difference between a shot captured by professional and an amateur. However an amateur photographer could become an expert professional photographer with little effort.


Camera play very crucial role in capturing the perfect shot. It is the difference of camera that differentiates between an amateur photographer and a professional photographer who use high-tech lenses and cameras. Amateur photographer mostly relies on “auto” exposure mode, though it makes photography easy but the quality of picture deters. Using high resolution cameras is advisable for better quality picture.

The profession of photography is growing with fast speed. It offers creativity, novelty and freedom to the photographer. If you are interested in turning your amateur photography in a serious full-fledged career considers few points seriously and then move ahead.

The world of photography is very wide, before setting-up your studio, equipments and space decide what kind of photography business you will run? Is it wedding photography, portrait photography or combination of these? It is better to have some professional degree to support your profession it will really help you in promoting your career. The best way to sharpen your photography skill is to capture as many shots as possible. Either you are a host of the party at your home or attending one at some friend’s place, take the charge of camera and take photographs.

To be in the profession you must have right equipments, from cameras to lenses all things should be purchased carefully. You must have one digital camera with few interchangeable lenses, digital memory. Lightings, backdrops and camera bag to support you.

Set-up your office or studio, either you are working as an outside photographer or work inside studio, a proper meeting space or reception will convey a positive impact to a client.

Once your business is set, start finding customers for your business. Launching website, giving press release and pamphlets are an easy and effective way to market your service in an effective way.

Enjoy Photography With Different Lenses

Photography is done best with different lenses. The same lens makes the process monotonous. Different lenses make it more creative, diverse and interesting. Since the art is all about visual delight and enjoyment, photographers need to do that extra and make it look interesting. This can be done through different lenses. This would imply variations in photographs, textures, colors, dimensions and contrast.

There are many different lenses through which photography can be made to look better. Each of them has something unique to offer to photography and the effects can subsequently be seen when the photographs finally come out in the end. The Fixed Focal Length lens is the first type. The lenses do not have any changes. The photographer moves closer to the object if he wants a close shot. These lenses help in still photography when the object has to be captured as it is.

Then there are the zoom lenses. This can be further segregated into the optical zoom lens and the digital zoom lens. The optical zoom lens is true zoom. The focal length can be changed and the zoom mechanism can be retracted. This helps in magnifying the image. The optical zoom lens produces the best quality image, something that the Nikon Telephoto Lens is also known for, which can be rented through Nikon Lens Rental Florida. The other type of zoom is the digital zoom lens. It enlarges the central portion of the image in the camera. The visual quality in the pictures can be enhanced and is often subject to a lot of praise.

There are also the interchangeable and converter lenses. They come in a wide variety. Some of them are the 35mm SLR where as some are similar to the Nikon Telephoto Lenses. They are good lenses for every type of photography. They can convert a lot of features and have the tendency to do the camera and its comfort a lot of good.

The Nikon Telephoto Lens is a very effective lens n the sense that it can produce some very close and very distant snaps as well at the same time. The adjustable qualities that can be seen in this lens are amazing. The qualities show the versatility they have been programmed for. The Nikon Lens rental Florida has made it easy to hire these lenses.

All of these bring a different value to photography. They create resounding and visually appealing pictures and ensure that photography gets a new definition and meaning every time it is done. The quality in the photographs is amazing. The same object can be made to look different through all these lenses, which champions the cause of their usage. Photography becomes one pleasurable experience when you tend to go on clicking such photographs through all these diverse and appealing lenses. You feel like getting hold of them, using them and taking good shots that creatively satisfy you as a photographer and appeals to others also. This is perhaps the biggest asset of using these lenses.

The Essence Of Professional Photography

Heard of one of the latest venture photography trends? With the world going gaga for venture photography, how can photography in Norfolk be left behind? Needless to say, every picture has a story to tell and venture photography is no exception. But to capture the heart and spirit of each moment on camera, to find the essence in each person and let that stand out in the photograph is no child's play. Though we turn to Photoshop or other editing software to produce that midas touch rarely do we get the desired result. Even the best of photographers fail to capture the emotional aspects of good photography if forced to become a technician and software specialist overnight often leading to losing sight of the emotional aspects of good portraiture. To capture the essence for many years, options like hiring a professional portrait photographer or opting for venture photography are worth trying, an investment that you will enjoy over the years.

Be it boudoir photography, model photography or traditional wedding photography - good photography capturing the true essence of the human being is always in vogue. Nowadays, digital photography has given rise to a new trend based on "speed" which has led to far too many "turn style" studios. Only a professional photographer can put the master strokes on an image. Though many consider it to be a luxury or unnecessary expense, the fact remains it is the best way to preserve cherished memories for generations. A professional photographer connects with the subject instantly. Moreover, the photographer's persona and personality are also important and critical factors here. It is the combined impact of both that can bring forth the emotions from the subject and that too in a very natural way.

Therefore, for special occasions such as wedding, Photojournalism has become an increasingly popular trend over the last few years worldwide. Due to the presence of leading portrait photographer, professional photography in Norwich, capture those elegant and traditional images of the wedding to last a lifetime. After all, weeding photographs are a cherished keepsake that lasts a lifetime and couples love watching it over the years. Therefore ensuring that your wedding photography is perfect one is a big concern for many couples. Special formatting or effects, or customization on your photos can make it truly special.

With numerous wedding photographers in Norwich, offering so many prices, and styles - choosing the right one is a tough job indeed. A good photo lab like Silvestri Studios can share the burden to free up your valuable time. Based in Norwich, Silvestri Studios is a professional wedding, boudoir and lifestyle photography studio. Silvestri Studios understands your sentiments and need and put their best effort to satisfy you.

Some Important Tips To Edit Your Digital Photos

Dealing with digital technology will require people to understand some important thing to make sure that they will be able to operate it properly. The recent trend shows that people refer to choose the digital camera instead of the conventional one which requires the roll film and do not provide the facility to edit, delete, crop, or doing some other things. What about you? You will finally see that the best editing guideline is your only best solution. The following tips will tell you more about the digital photo editing technique.

The first thing you need to work with is the photo editing software. This step should be followed by selecting the certain photos you will edit. Make sure to use the copy version instead of the original one, since it is good to avoid the mistakes you can possibly do. The next important step is to crop your photo. You will use the crop tool if there is extra space in the photo. You should determine the purpose of the cropping. Perhaps, you wish to cut out the background of your photo or even focus in the only one person. The cropping result should be saved in different folder from the original pictures.

The next possible step is to fix the photo flaws. You will deal with the rips, creases, tears, spots and also smudges. Those things will be accompanied by the variety of handy fix-it tools. The creases, spots, tears and smudges are the common things people will adjust in the image editing programs. The copying or cloning tool will be helpful to fix photo flaws. What about the dust, speckles and scratches? It is important to set the radius until you get the lowest setting. This is the good step to avoid dust or scratches. Surely, there are still some other steps and facts you need to know. Editing the photos will let you to play with your creativity in adjusting the photos as you like and want.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Digital photography

Digital photography

A handheld digital camera, Canon Ixus class.
Olympus E-420 Four Thirds entry-level DSLR.
The Nikon D1, the first DSLR to truly compete with, and begin to replace, film cameras in the professional photojournalism and sports photography fields.
Nikon DSLR and scanner, which converts film images to digital
Manual shutter control and exposure settings can achieve unusual results.
Traditional photography burdened photographers working at remote locations without easy access to processing facilities, and competition from television pressured photographers to deliver images to newspapers with greater speed. Photo journalists at remote locations often carried miniature photo labs and a means of transmitting images through telephone lines. In 1981, Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a charge-coupled device for imaging, eliminating the need for film: the Sony Mavica. While the Mavica saved images to disk, the images were displayed on television, and the camera was not fully digital. In 1990, Kodak unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital camera. Although its high cost precluded uses other than photojournalism and professional photography, commercial digital photography was born.
Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image as a set of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. The primary difference between digital and chemical photography is that chemical photography resists manipulation because it involves film and photographic paper, while digital imaging is a highly manipulative medium. This difference allows for a degree of image post-processing that is comparatively difficult in film-based photography and permits different communicative potentials and applications.
Digital point-and-shoot cameras have become widespread consumer products, outselling film cameras, and including new features such as video and audio recording. Kodak announced in January 2004 that it would no longer sell reloadable 35 mm cameras in western Europe, Canada and the United States after the end of that year. Kodak was at that time a minor player in the reloadable film cameras market. In January 2006, Nikon followed suit and announced that they will stop the production of all but two models of their film cameras: the low-end Nikon FM10, and the high-end Nikon F6. On May 25, 2006, Canon announced they will stop developing new film SLR cameras. Though most new camera designs are now digital, a new 6x6cm/6x7cm medium format film camera was introduced in 2008 in a cooperation between Fuji and Voigtländer.[18][19]
According to a survey made by Kodak in 2007, 75 percent of professional photographers say they will continue to use film, even though some embrace digital.
According to the U.S. survey results, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of professional photographers prefer the results of film to those of digital for certain applications including:
  • film’s superiority in capturing more information on medium and large format films (48 percent);
  • creating a traditional photographic look (48 percent);
  • capturing shadow and highlighting details (45 percent);
  • the wide exposure latitude of film (42 percent); and
  • archival storage (38 percent)
Digital imaging has raised many ethical concerns because of the ease of manipulating digital photographs in post processing. Many photojournalists have declared they will not crop their pictures, or are forbidden from combining elements of multiple photos to make "illustrations," passing them as real photographs. Today's technology has made picture editing relatively simple for even the novice photographer. However, recent changes of in-camera processing allows digital fingerprinting of RAW photos to verify against tampering of digital photos for forensics use.
Camera phones, combined with sites like Flickr, have led to a new kind of social photography.

Colour and Black &White Photography

Black-and-white

A black-and-white image showing a (monochrome) photograph being developed.
All photography was originally monochrome, or black-and-white. Even after color film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost and its "classic" photographic look. It is important to note that some monochromatic pictures are not always pure blacks and whites, but also contain other hues depending on the process. The cyanotype process produces an image of blue and white for example. The albumen process, first used more than 150 years ago, produces brown tones.
Many photographers continue to produce some monochrome images, often because of the established archival permanence of well processed silver halide based materials.
Some full color digital images are processed using a variety of techniques to create black and whites, and some manufacturers produce digital cameras that exclusively shoot monochrome.

Color

Color photography was explored beginning in the mid 1800s. Early experiments in color could not fix the photograph and prevent the color from fading. The first permanent color photo was taken in 1861 by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
Early color photograph taken by Prokudin-Gorskii (1915).
One of the early methods of taking color photos was to use three cameras. Each camera would have a color filter in front of the lens. This technique provides the photographer with the three basic channels required to recreate a color image in a darkroom or processing plant. Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii developed another technique, with three color plates taken in quick succession.
Practical application of the technique was held back by the very limited color response of early film; however, in the early 1900s, following the work of photo-chemists such as H. W. Vogel, emulsions with adequate sensitivity to green and red light at last became available.
The first commercially successful color process, the Autochrome, invented by the French Lumière brothers, reached the market in 1907. It was based on a 'screen-plate' filter made of dyed grains of potato starch, and was one of many additive color screen products available between the 1890s and the 1950s. The presumably final use of the additive screen process for color photography on film was Polachrome, an "instant" 35 mm slide film introduced in the mid-1980s and discontinued in the mid-2000s. In 1935, American Kodak introduced the first modern ('integrated tri-pack') color film which was developed by two musicians Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky ("Man" and "God") working with the Kodak Research Labs. It was Kodachrome, based on multiple layered silver gelatin emulsions that were each sensitized to one of the three additive colors—red, green, and blue. The cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes were created in those layers by adding color couplers during processing. This was followed in 1936 by Agfa's Agfacolor Neu. Unlike the Kodachrome tri-pack process, the color couplers in Agfacolor Neu were incorporated into the emulsion layers during manufacture, which greatly simplified the film processing. Most modern color films, except Kodachrome, use such incorporated-coupler techniques, though since the 1970s nearly all have used a technique developed by Kodak to accomplish this, rather than the original Agfa method. Instant color film was introduced by Polaroid in 1963.
Color photography may form images as a positive transparency, intended for use in a slide projector, or as color negatives intended for use in creating positive color enlargements on specially coated paper. The latter is now the most common form of film (non-digital) color photography owing to the introduction of automated photoprinting equipment.

Beginning Photography Tips

As a beginning photographer, it is easy to get discouraged when your pictures come out too dark or constantly blurry. It's easy for the beginning photographer to quickly become overwhelmed; especially when professionals are spouting off terms like shutter speed and aperture. However, with a little more understanding, and a little practice applying those terms, the beginning photographer can quickly and easily be on their way to capturing that perfect picture. Here are the most common photography terms and some helpful hints for applying them in your photography.

Shutter Speed refers to the amount of time that the shutter is open and light strikes the CCD (Charge Coupled Devices). This device converts the light entering through the lens into electric signals and creates the digital image. Shutter speed can be adjusted along with the aperture to more effectively capture the subject image. Slower shutter speeds means that the shutter is open longer and more light is getting in. Try shooting a few pictures of water like waterfalls, rivers, and fountains using a slow shutter speed. This effect can enhance water images. Faster shutter speeds means less light is getting in. This can create a freezing effect on fast moving objects. Try shooting some action shots at your favorite sporting event with a faster shutter speed.

The Aperture works in correlation with the shutter speed. Often referred to as the aperture value (AV) it increases or reduces the thickness of the light beam passing through the lens to the CCD. Opening the aperture reduces the AV and closing the aperture increases the AV. The best place to experiment with AV is in the garden. Open the aperture and focus on a flower. The objects around the flower (closer and farther than the focused subject) will be more out of focus, emphasizing only the flower. Now close the aperture while focusing on the same flower. The range of your focus expands forward and backward allowing for the objects around the flower to remain in focus.

A common enemy to the beginning photographer is Camera Shake (Blur). This is pretty self explanatory. It is when the camera moves while the shutter is open creating a blurred image. Often times adjusting to a higher shutter speed from a low one will solve this problem.. If that doesn't work, try raising the aperture as well and be sure to use a flash. If your images are still blurry you may need a tripod to capture a clear image. Most of the newer digital and DSLR cameras on the market come equipped with anti-shake features to help combat this problem, but it's good to know what causes it and how to fix things if you have an older model camera.

As one beginning photographer to another, don't let the terminology scare you. By just doing a little bit of reading and some experimenting with different settings on your camera, most obstacles can soon be overcome. It is a bit of a trial and error process, but when you capture a picture of your daughter mid-air, hair standing up, grinning from ear to ear, as she jumps rope, it all becomes worth it.

Brief history of photography

The word photography derives from the Greek words, light and graphein (to draw). The method of recording images using the action of light onto a sensitive material.

Around 330 BC, Aristotle pondered on the question... why the sun could make a circular image when it shined through a square hole?

It was around 1000AD, when Alhazen invented the first pinhole camera, also known as a camera obscura.

In 1872, Joseph Niepce made the first photograph using a pinhole camera. Before this, people simply just used the pinhole camera for viewing or drawing. Joseph’s photographs were the starting point for the modern photographer by letting light draw the picture. Neicpe’s photographs however, were not yet advanced enough as they required 8 hours of light exposure to create. Soon after the image appeared, it would disappear almost straight away.

Daguerre inventor of the first practical process of photography went on to join with Neicpe in 1829 to develop his work.

In 1839, after several years of experimentation, and the death of Joseph Neicpe; Daguerre developed a better and more effective method of photography, and named it after himself ‘The Daguerreotype’. This involved fixing the image onto a sheet of silver plated copper, coating it in iodine, placing the plate in the camera and exposing it for a few minutes. After the image was exposed to the light, the plate was then bathed in a solution of silver chloride, creating an image that lasted.

Shortly after this Daguerre sold the rights for the ‘Daguerreotype’ to the French government. By 1850 over 70 ‘Daguerreotype’ studios were opened up in New York City alone.

Henry Fox Talbot, an English botanist and mathematician; invented the first negative, meaning multiple positive prints could be made.
In 1841, he perfected the art of his invention and called it ‘The Calotype’, the Greek meaning for ‘beautiful picture.’

In 1879, since the discovery of tintypes and wet plate negatives, dry plate negatives were developed. This was a glass negative plate with a dried gelatine emulsion, allowing the ability of being stored for a longer period of time. There wasn’t any need for portable dark rooms, and because the dry process absorbed light so quickly, the hand held camera was now possible.

It was George Eastman in 1889, who invented the flexible roll film, this was a film with a base that was flexible, unbreakable and could be rolled.

By the early 1940’s, colour film was developed, using modern technology of dye coupled colours in which a chemical process connects the 3 dye layers together to create an apparent colour image.

Exposure and rendering

Camera controls are inter-related. The total amount of light reaching the film plane (the "exposure") changes with the duration of exposure, aperture of the lens, and on the effective focal length of the lens (which in variable focal length lenses, can force a change in aperture as the lens is zoomed). Changing any of these controls can alter the exposure. Many cameras may be set to adjust most or all of these controls automatically. This automatic functionality is useful for occasional photographers in many situations.
The duration of an exposure is referred to as shutter speed, often even in cameras that don't have a physical shutter, and is typically measured in fractions of a second. Aperture is expressed by an f-number or f-stop (derived from focal ratio), which is proportional to the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the aperture. If the f-number is decreased by a factor of , the aperture diameter is increased by the same factor, and its area is increased by a factor of 2. The f-stops that might be found on a typical lens include 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, where going up "one stop" (using lower f-stop numbers) doubles the amount of light reaching the film, and stopping down one stop halves the amount of light.
Image capture can be achieved through various combinations of shutter speed, aperture, and film or sensor speed. Different (but related) settings of aperture and shutter speed enable photographs to be taken under various conditions of film or sensor speed, lighting and motion of subjects and/or camera, and desired depth of field. A slower speed film will exhibit less "grain", and a slower speed setting on an electronic sensor will exhibit less "noise", while higher film and sensor speeds allow for a faster shutter speed, which reduces motion blur or allows the use of a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field. For example, a wider aperture is used for lower light and a lower aperture for more light. If a subject is in motion, then a high shutter speed may be needed. A tripod can also be helpful in that it enables a slower shutter speed to be used.
For example, f/8 at 8 ms (1/125th of a second) and f/5.6 at 4 ms (1/250th of a second) yield the same amount of light. The chosen combination has an impact on the final result. The aperture and focal length of the lens determine the depth of field, which refers to the range of distances from the lens that will be in focus. A longer lens or a wider aperture will result in "shallow" depth of field (i.e. only a small plane of the image will be in sharp focus). This is often useful for isolating subjects from backgrounds as in individual portraits or macro photography. Conversely, a shorter lens, or a smaller aperture, will result in more of the image being in focus. This is generally more desirable when photographing landscapes or groups of people. With very small apertures, such as pinholes, a wide range of distance can be brought into focus, but sharpness is severely degraded by diffraction with such small apertures. Generally, the highest degree of "sharpness" is achieved at an aperture near the middle of a lens's range (for example, f/8 for a lens with available apertures of f/2.8 to f/16). However, as lens technology improves, lenses are becoming capable of making increasingly sharp images at wider apertures.
Image capture is only part of the image forming process. Regardless of material, some process must be employed to render the latent image captured by the camera into a viewable image. With slide film, the developed film is just mounted for projection. Print film requires the developed film negative to be printed onto photographic paper or transparency. Digital images may be uploaded to an image server (e.g., a photo-sharing web site), viewed on a television, or transferred to a computer or digital photo frame.
A photographer using a tripod for greater stability during long exposure
Prior to the rendering of a viewable image, modifications can be made using several controls. Many of these controls are similar to controls during image capture, while some are exclusive to the rendering process. Most printing controls have equivalent digital concepts, but some create different effects. For example, dodging and burning controls are different between digital and film processes. Other printing modifications include:
  • Chemicals and process used during film development
  • Duration of print exposure – equivalent to shutter speed
  • Printing aperture – equivalent to aperture, but has no effect on depth of field
  • Contrast – changing the visual properties of objects in an image to make them distinguishable from other objects and the background
  • Dodging – reduces exposure of certain print areas, resulting in lighter areas
  • Burning in – increases exposure of certain areas, resulting in darker areas
  • Paper textureglossy, matte, etc.
  • Paper type – resin-coated (RC) or fiber-based (FB)
  • Paper size
  • Toners – used to add warm or cold tones to black and white prints


Photography

Photography is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a radiation-sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an electronic sensor. Photography uses foremost radiation in the UV, visible and near-IR spectrum. For common purposes the term light is used in stead of radiation. Light reflected or emitted from objects form a real image on a light sensitive area (film or plate) or a FPA pixel array sensor by means of a pin hole or lens in a device known as a camera during a timed exposure. The result on film or plate is a latent image, subsequently developed into a visual image (negative or diapositive). An image on paper base is known as a print. The result on the FPA pixel array sensor is an electrical charge at each pixel which is electronically processed and stored in a computer (raster)-image file for subsequent display or processing. Photography has many uses for business, science, manufacturing (f.i. Photolithography), art, and recreational purposes.

Lens and mounting of a large-format camera.

A historic camera: the Contax S of 1949 — the first pentaprism SLR.

Nikon F of 1959 — the first 35mm film system camera.

Late Production Minox B camera with later style "honeycomb"selenium light meter

A portable folding reflector positioned to "bounce" sunlight onto a model
As far as can be ascertained, it was Sir John Herschel in a lecture before the Royal Society of London, on March 14, 1839 who made the word "photography" known to the whole world. But in an article published on February 25 of the same year in an unknown and quite anonymous newspaper called the Vossische Zeitung, Johann von Maedler, a Berlin astronomer, used the word photography already. The word photography is based on the Greek φῶς (photos) "light" and γραφή (graphé) "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light"

Function

The camera or camera obscura is the image-forming device, and photographic film or a silicon electronic image sensor is the sensing medium. The respective recording medium can be the film itself, or a digital electronic or magnetic memory.
Photographers control the camera and lens to "expose" the light recording material (such as film) to the required amount of light to form a "latent image" (on film) or "raw file" (in digital cameras) which, after appropriate processing, is converted to a usable image. Digital cameras use an electronic image sensor based on light-sensitive electronics such as charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The resulting digital image is stored electronically, but can be reproduced on paper or film.
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the movie camera takes a series of images, each called a "frame". This is accomplished through an intermittent mechanism. The frames are later played back in a movie projector at a specific speed, called the "frame rate" (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's eyes and brain merge the separate pictures together to create the illusion of motion.
In all but certain specialized cameras, the process of obtaining a usable exposure must involve the use, manually or automatically, of a few controls to ensure the photograph is clear, sharp and well illuminated. The controls usually include but are not limited to the following:
Control Description
Focus The adjustment to place the sharpest focus where it is desired on the subject.
Aperture Adjustment of the lens opening, measured as f-number, which controls the amount of light passing through the lens. Aperture also has an effect on depth of field and diffraction – the higher the f-number, the smaller the opening, the less light, the greater the depth of field, and the more the diffraction blur. The focal length divided by the f-number gives the effective aperture diameter.
Shutter speed Adjustment of the speed (often expressed either as fractions of seconds or as an angle, with mechanical shutters) of the shutter to control the amount of time during which the imaging medium is exposed to light for each exposure. Shutter speed may be used to control the amount of light striking the image plane; 'faster' shutter speeds (that is, those of shorter duration) decrease both the amount of light and the amount of image blurring from motion of the subject and/or camera.
White balance On digital cameras, electronic compensation for the color temperature associated with a given set of lighting conditions, ensuring that white light is registered as such on the imaging chip and therefore that the colors in the frame will appear natural. On mechanical, film-based cameras, this function is served by the operator's choice of film stock or with color correction filters. In addition to using white balance to register natural coloration of the image, photographers may employ white balance to aesthetic end, for example white balancing to a blue object in order to obtain a warm color temperature.
Metering Measurement of exposure so that highlights and shadows are exposed according to the photographer's wishes. Many modern cameras meter and set exposure automatically. Before automatic exposure, correct exposure was accomplished with the use of a separate light metering device or by the photographer's knowledge and experience of gauging correct settings. To translate the amount of light into a usable aperture and shutter speed, the meter needs to adjust for the sensitivity of the film or sensor to light. This is done by setting the "film speed" or ISO sensitivity into the meter.
ISO speed Traditionally used to "tell the camera" the film speed of the selected film on film cameras, ISO speeds are employed on modern digital cameras as an indication of the system's gain from light to numerical output and to control the automatic exposure system. The higher the ISO number the greater the film sensitivity to light, whereas with a lower ISO number, the film is less sensitive to light. A correct combination of ISO speed, aperture, and shutter speed leads to an image that is neither too dark nor too light, hence it is 'correctly exposed,' indicated by a centered meter.
Autofocus point On some cameras, the selection of a point in the imaging frame upon which the auto-focus system will attempt to focus. Many Single-lens reflex cameras (SLR) feature multiple auto-focus points in the viewfinder.
Many other elements of the imaging device itself may have a pronounced effect on the quality and/or aesthetic effect of a given photograph; among them are:
  • Focal length and type of lens (telephoto or "long" lens, macro, wide angle, fisheye, or zoom)
  • Filters placed between the subject and the light recording material, either in front of or behind the lens
  • Inherent sensitivity of the medium to light intensity and color/wavelengths.
  • The nature of the light recording material, for example its resolution as measured in pixels or grains of silver halide.