Design Blog Post – 5

Digital Photography

This week we were introduced to Digital Photography.

Digital cameras have two basic components: the body and interchangeable lenses.

Camera Basics:

Lenses: The two most common lenses are the wide-angle and telephoto lenses.

Three main elements that compose the "Exposure Triangle":

• 1. Aperture:Refers to the amount of opening in a camera lens through which light passes to reach the camera sensor.
• The size of the aperture is expressed in f-stops (e.g. f/2.8, f/4, f/8).
• A large aperture (a small f-stop number like f/2.8) allows more light to enter the camera, useful in low-light conditions.
• A small aperture (a large f-stop number like f/16) allows less light to enter, which can be helpful in bright conditions.
• 2. Shutter Speed:The length of time that a camera's shutter remains open to allow light to reach the camera sensor.
• Shutter speed is typically measured in seconds or fractions of a second (for example 1/1000, 1/60, 2 seconds).
• A fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/1000 of a second) can freeze fast-moving subjects, making it ideal for action shots such as sports or wildlife photography.
• A slow shutter speed (1 or 2 seconds) can blur motion, creating a sense of movement in photos. This is used for artistic effects, such as capturing flowing water.
• 3. ISO:(International Standards Organization) refers to the sensitivity of a camera's sensor to light.
• ISO is represented by numbers such as ISO 100, ISO 400, ISO 800, etc.
• A low ISO setting (e.g. ISO 100) indicates low sensitivity, which is ideal for bright conditions and helps produce images with minimal noise (grain).
• A high ISO setting (e.g. ISO 3200) increases sensitivity to light, allowing for better performance in low-light situations. However, higher ISO values can introduce noise, reducing image quality.

Image File Types:

• PNG: (Portable Network Graphics) is a widely used raster image format that supports lossless data compression. It was developed as a more efficient alternative to the GIF format. PNG files compress images without losing any data, ensuring that the quality of the image remains intact. PNG can handle a wide range of colors, including grayscale and RGB (24-bit color), which allows vibrant images.
• JPEG: (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a compressed image format widely adopted for storing and transmitting photographic images. It uses lossy compression, removing some details that the human eye is less likely to notice. JPEG supports 24-bit color (16.777 million colors), making it suitable for rich, detailed photographs.
• RAW: Images refer to unprocessed and uncompressed files captured directly from a camera's sensor containing all the data collected during the exposure. Unlike JPEG or PNG formats, which process and compress the image data, RAW files preserve the full range of color and detail, allowing photographers to make extensive adjustments to exposure, white balance, contrast, and more without degrading the image quality.

Devices:

• Digital Cameras: Allow you to save your images in RAW, JPEG, or PNG formats.
• Android: Devices typically save images in JPEG format.
• IPhone: Devices save images in the HEIF (High-Efficiency Image File Format) format.
• Some Android and IPhone devices may allow you to save images in RAW format.

Introduction to Lightroom Classic:

Adobe Lightroom operates in the cloud and requires an Internet connection, while Lightroom Classic allows you to operate locally on your computer.

We were briefly shown the catalog, library, rating pictures 1-5, develop, crop, white balance, and the fact that most photographers carry a gray card, which is 14% gray to define neutral when processing images. We also covered color space, tone curve, and the color mixer, which includes:

• Hue: Refers to the attribute of a color that allows it to be classified as red, blue, green, yellow, or any other color. Hue is often represented on a color wheel, where colors are arranged in a circular format.
• Saturation: Refers to the intensity or purity of a color. It indicates how vibrant or muted a color appears. Highly saturated colors appear bright and bold, while desaturated colors appear dull or washed out.
• Luminance: Refers to the measure of brightness or light intensity of a color as perceived by the human eye. Luminance is associated with how bright or dark a color appears, which can affect an image's overall composition and mood.

We were then shown color grading, detail, noise, lens corrections, lens blur/effects, and post-crop vignetting.

Until next time,
Phil