Shebeeb - Digital Photography: Basics of Camera

DIGITAL

PHOTOGRAPHY

Basics of Camera

Contents

1. Introduction
   
2. History Of Photography
   
3. Camera Sensors
   
4. Resolution: PPI and DPI
   
5. Medium Format Cameras
   
6. Shutter Speed
   
7. Aperture
   
8. ISO
   
9. Conclusion
   

INTRODUCTION

Everyone wants to have best in their life. Some find their happiness in job, some find happiness in spirituality, some find happiness in their partner while others find happiness in mediocrity, whining and blaming others. Good thing is that becoming a photographer does not need any formal education or does not need to do lot of hard work.

According to recent standards, to become a fashion photographer, all you have to do is take a picture of a girl and put your watermark over there. Bingo!!!. You became a fashion photographer.

I do not want to insult anyone or i am not trying to be the authority in fashion photography. But, i can say one thing - Fashion photography is a profession like any other profession, it is not different from being a doctor or an engineer or a banker.

Many becomes fashion photographer only to find a career in some other field because they couldn't figure out how to make money through fashion photography. It is true. It is easy to make a living through photography but earn a fortune out of it is whole different game.

To write about fashion photography, it is going to be 500 page book. i am not going to do that. I just want to give a brief introduction about camera and techniques through this book. This book is definitely not exhaustive. It only introduces basic exposure, sensor types and other essentials of camera handling.

Soon, there will be books in this series explaining everything in more details and by the end next year, i am planning to launch a "Big book of Fashion Photography" in both Paperback and Hardcover combining everything what i had covered in these Series plus attractive pictures of live shoots and models to give you a more thorough understanding.

CHAPTER 1

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

P hotography exists since mid 18th century and in last decade it has grown so drastically that now it has changed the way we see our world. First recorded history of model photography was in mid 18th century when a french photographer named Adolphe Braun shot the pictures of Countess of Castiglione, Virginia Oldoini and published a book containing her images. Virginia Oldoini is also considered as the first fashion model in the history world to pose for a photographer.

Later years of Virginia Oldoini, she suffered from mental instability and she used to live in a house without mirrors and open windows so that no one will see her declining beauty, while the photographer Adolphe Braun went on to become a famous photographer in the history. Some even consider him as father in the history of art. His works have been displayed in many museums and galleries all over the world.

The reason why we need to understand history is that we all photographers are part of history. What is modern now is a history 50 years down the line. So, whatever you are trying to do, keep it legendary. No one would have thought about a camera in a watch or in a collar button. But, now it is a reality and everyone have access to photography. It is true that due to the immense availability of camera devices, the art of photography has lost its value. But, again photography is not about clicking especially if you are into any other photography other than landscape photography.

No offense to landscape photographers, but to become a landscape photographer you only need the passion for photography and willingness to travel. But, for any other genres, it is a difficult game. For example, if you are a wildlife photographer, you not only need to understand animals and birds but also need to go deep into their lifestyle, their ecosystem, and their habitat. Some wildlife photographers are even expected to learn the scientific names of birds so that communicate properly with ornithologists. Likewise, if you are a food photographer, loving food is a good way to understand it but taking the photograph of food is different from eating food. I am giving you one more example just make things clear: Assume you are commissioned to do a shoot of Domino's Pizza. Do you think you can order a pizza to your studio and start photographing it? Well, you can do that but that would be the stupidest way to do a shoot. For shooting a food product, you need to be as close possible to the preparation center, so that the transporting won't affect the crispness and freshness of food. Second, you need to ensure the ambient you are shooting. You simply cannot shoot a hot product in an air conditioned room and expect it to remain same for 30 minutes. Third, you need a dedicated food stylist.....Oh.... I am going off topic. Let's stick with our topic

So, the idea is that having a camera is not enough to become a photographer, learning the history will help you to understand that seeing the trends will help you to cope with future changes in the photography industry. For years there was no doubt about whether photography is an art. But, now people are started questioning about the artistic value of photography. Of course, we cannot blame them because nowadays taking a photo doesn't take any effort. The automatic and intelligent features of the camera made it so easy that even an amateur can click a good photo as good as a professional photographer in manual mode.

The most significant change in photography industry was the introduction of Digital Cameras. It has taken the industry to a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities. Hardly anyone would ever say against switching towards digital from film cameras. If you search "Benefits of Film Camera over Digital" on google, you can still find many articles favouring film but that does not hide the fact that there is no going back towards the age of film. Until 2012, many manufacturers including Kodak produced films but slowly they also stopped producing films due to lack of demand. The change has affected almost all photographers who have learned photography from a film camera. It also made many lab employees unemployed but soon they learned the possibilities of digital photography and they started learning computer skills and most importantly photoshop. This has created a whole new generation of graphic designers. I doubt whether graphic designers would have got the same amount of importance had the film camera was not discontinued.

Switching to digital photography has made many photographer's life difficult, some tried to linger on film for a little longer hoping there would be some disadvantage of digital cameras and soon everyone will reverse to film. But, it never happened, digital became the new norm and rest is history. Those who lost employment found employment in new areas. Those people whose skills became redundant started learning new skills, people who had nothing to do in their life found a new passion.

The moral of the story is that what you know now may become irrelevant in future. The only hope of yours is to learn more and even more. Gone are the days when you can rest upon you laurels, now you need to work smart, find paths, build a vision and most importantly keep your integrity. Having an expensive camera doesn't make you a good photographer or being technically perfect on photography also doesn't earn you money other than for you livelihood. Keep learning and don't forget the history. Soon, everything is going to change before you know it. Be ready and be prepared....

CHAPTER 2

CAMERA SENSORS

Camera Sensors are of different type. APS-C and 35mm full frame are two common sensor formats and CCD and CMOS are different types of sensors. Note that a CCD or CMOS sensor can be of any size. So, you cannot compare a CCD Sensor vs Full frame sensor because both are two different units of measurement. For starters, we will see each one of them in detail.