Ang - Digital Photography Essentials

TOMANG DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY ESSENTIALS A PRACTICAL AND INSPIRING GUIDE THAT WILL TAKE YOU FROM BEGINNER TO CONFIDENT, CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY ESSENTIALS TOMANG DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY ESSENTIALS LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI For Nicky (the Faithful Retainer)Senior Project Editor Nicky Munro Project Art Editor Sarah-Anne Arnold Project Editor Hannah Bowen Editor Hugo Wilkinson Designer Joanne Clark Jacket Design Silke Spinges US Editor Rebecca Warren Production Editor Joanna Byrne Production Controller Danielle Smith QUICK-STARTManaging Editor Stephanie Farrow IN PHOTOGRAPHY NTS Managing Art Editor Lee Griffiths Publisher Jonathan Metcalf Art Director Phil Ormerod First American Edition, 2011 Published in the United States by DK Publishing NTE 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001TD443June/2011 O Copyright 2011 Dorling Kindersley Limited Text copyright 2011 Tom Ang, except chapters C 7 and 8, copyright 2011 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved COMMANDING Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, PHOTO-TECHNIQUE no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The software used to enhance or manipulate the images in this book include Apple Aperture and Adobe Photoshop, plus various plug-ins, but the techniques described are generic. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-7566-8214-9 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 or SpecialSales@dk.com.

Printed and bound in Singapore by Star Standard Discover more at www.dk.com MASTERING PHOTO-SUBJECTSENHANCING IMAGES OPTIMIZING WORKFLOW MANIPULATING IMAGES SHARING IMAGES EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCESMAKING MOVIES Introduction Photography is the most popular and influential also enable photographers to achieve professional visual medium the world has ever known. The results with relatively little expense. The result is sheer scale of digital photography, in particular, is radically demotic: more people in more countries overwhelming: each year, more than a billion digital than ever beforeacross more cultures, classes, cameras are sold worldwide. This figure includes religions, and racesare able to enjoy the rewards more than 200 million sales of cameras such as and challenges of photography. dSLRs and point-and-shoot models, with the rest My first book on digital photography was consisting of sales of cell phones with cameras published in 1999. many noisy debates espousing the merits of film Visit the top three photo-sharing websites and often at the expense of the digital form. many noisy debates espousing the merits of film Visit the top three photo-sharing websites and often at the expense of the digital form.

Back then, youll have access to a staggering 40 billion images. the burden of sorting through thousands of images That figure is worth repeating: 40 billion images. was one faced only by the large picture agencies. Indeed, digital images are being added so rapidly Four editions of the book later, digital capture has and continuously from every corner of the world all but replaced film-based photographyeven at that website administrators are only able to host the professional level. Amateurs use cameras whose a tiny percentage of the images available to them. power far exceeds earlier professional models In short, we routinely capture more images in a which often cost as much as a car.

We also have single year than were captured in the entire history mature solutions for handling the thousands of of pre-digital photography. images routinely produced on each assignment The ubiquity of digital photography has helped or overseas vacation. In addition, video capture fuel its popularity: today there are more photography has entered the scene as a thrilling and rapidly enthusiasts than ever before. Digital technologies maturing function of all types of digital camera. What remains unchanged throughout, however, are In this book, I have drawn on 30 years experience the core photographic skills: mastery of composition of working at top levels in photography and the and camera controls, artistic drive and ethical photographic industry, and on my experiences of integrity, plus a thirst for creative solutionsall writing, photographing, and picture-directing more wrapped up in a passion for visual perfection. than 20 books on photographyincluding one on