Meadows A. - Photography: A Comprehensive Guide to Capturing Stunning Digital Photos

Photography

A Comprehensive Guide To Capturing Stunning Digital Photos

Introduction

Photography is one of the most fulfilling, creative, lucrative and challenging art forms. While recording images for posterity has been practiced since ancient times and only by a select few, the modern age and its technology have allowed photography to be the hobby for everybody. No other technology has made photography more accessible than the digital camera.

While cameras come in all shapes, sizes, cost and capacity, digital cameras have the potential to turn any novice photographer seem like an expert with a couple of adjustments. Any advanced photographer will admit that digital cameras are still one of the best tools for them and their less experienced hobbyists. Whether you are a beginner or an expert photographer, digital cameras can be one of your best and even indispensable choices.

While photography is art, there are still scientific rules that apply to its expression. While the artistic side of photography can be achieved by the photographers creativity, passion and personal expression, the technical side has to be learned. Only when the nuts and bolts of a camera are fully learned can a photographer maximize their tools to its fullest potential. When creativity merges together with technology, the results can truly be one of the most inspiring, provoking and most importantly memorable art pieces in life.

This comprehensive guide will provide you with the whole gamut of photography. It presents you with a range of basic topics for the beginners and advanced or special topics for the expert. From the basic parts of your camera to often overlooked features, from a brief overview of photography to the modern tips and trends of photography today and from one sample after another to show you the applications of major photography lessons, this book definitely has something for every photography aficionado.

Topics in this guide are:

Basics: How Your Camera Works

Camera Equipment & Accessories

Camera Lenses

Photography Techniques

Composition

Special Topics

While there may be hundreds of digital camera models, most of them have basically the same parts and functions. For the instructional purposes of this guide, a Nikon camera has been used to describe the location of every major component in the camera. Most of the time, the parts and the features will also be approximately the same as with other models and manufacturers. As you may know, the better or more state of the art the camera is, the better its clarity and functionality become. The features and functions discussed in this guide represent the general capabilities found in the average digital camera. The camera you have may share the same features but it may have different levels of capacities.

For the best learning experience, it is recommended that you hold your camera as you read this guide. For every chapter about a specific part, feature or photography tip, apply it immediately. You can learn faster and retain the lesson longer when you pair reading with application.

Copyright 2015 by Anthony Meadows All rights reserved.

This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regards to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

- From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Basics: How Your Camera Works

Basics: How Your Camera Works
Understanding Digital Camera Sensors
Understanding Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed
Understanding Camera Metering
Understanding Depth of Field
Understanding Camera Lenses: Focal Length & Aperture
Understanding White Balance
Understanding Camera Autofocus
Understanding How to Hold Your Camera
Qualities of Digital Photos
Understanding Bit Depth
Understanding Sharpness
Understanding Image Noise
Understanding Dynamic Range

Chapter Two: Camera Equipment & Accessories

Camera Types & Accessories
Compact vs. Digital SLR Cameras
Selecting & Using a Camera Tripod
Camera Flash, Part 1: Light Quality & Appearance
Camera Flash, Part 2: Flash Ratios & Exposure
Camera Suggestions for Beginners, Intermediates & Advanced photographers

Chapter Three: Camera Lenses
Understanding Camera Lenses: Focal Length & Aperture
Using Wide Angle Lenses
Using Telephoto Lenses
Tilt/Shift Lenses: Using Shift Movements to Control Perspective
Tilt/Shift Lenses: Using Tilt Movements to Control Depth of Field
Macro Lenses: Magnification, Depth of Field & Effective F-Stop
Macro Extension Tubes & Close-up Lenses
Lens Characteristics
Camera Lens Flare: What It Is and How to Reduce It
Camera Lens Quality: MTF, Resolution and Contrast
Camera Lens Filters
Choosing a Camera Lens Filter: Polarizers, UV, ND & GND
Understanding & Using Polarizing Filters
Using Graduated Neutral Density (GND) Filters
Using Neutral Density (ND) Filters
Caring for Your Camera & Photos
Digital Camera Sensor Cleaning: Tools & Techniques
How to Make Archival Digital Photo Backups
How to Protect Online Photos: Copying, Watermarks & Copyrights

Chapter Four: Photography Techniques

Using Your Camera
Using Camera Shutter Speed Creatively
Reducing Camera Shake with Hand-Held Photos
Digital Exposure Techniques: Expose to the Right, Clipping & Noise Subjects
Photography in Fog, Mist or Haze
Introduction to Macro Photography
Intro & Common Obstacles in Night Photography
Photo Lighting
Making the Most of Natural Light in Photography (NEW)
Portrait Lighting with One Light: Introduction
Portrait Lighting with Two Lights: Fill Light
Specialty Portrait Lights: Background, kickers, hair, rim, etc.
Studio Portrait Lighting Styles & Diagrams

Chapter Five: Composition

The Rule of Thirds
Using Diagonals for Dynamic Photos
Negative Space - Sometimes Less is More
Image Stacking & Multiple Exposures
Using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) Feature in Photoshop
Extending Depth of Field Using Focus Stacking
F-Stop Stacking: Depth of Field & Corner Sharpness