Intro To Digital Photography, Week One

Course Outline:

Instructor: Tom Ferguson
Week #1: Choosing the right camera, camera control basics, home printer choices & pay for print choices, image software choices & sizing, downloading images to computer.
Week #2: Shutter speeds and “S” mode, scene modes, art & snapshot, composition, imaging software part 2, autofocus.
Week #3: Flash, imaging software part 3, resizing images for email, white balance, computer color management.
Week #4: Lens/Zoom length & perspective, imaging software part 4, printer color management.

Homework Assignments:

Week 1, 2 and 3 will each have a homework assignment. You will need to shoot the assignment and bring from 2 to 5 finished prints to class. The prints can be any size from 4x6 inches to 8x10 inches. Please limit your subject matter to “G or PG” rated images. They will be shared with the class.

Camera and Manual

Please bring both your camera and its manual to class each week. If you do not yet own a camera, you may want to wait until after the first class to buy one.

Resources:

DPreview (Tom’s favorite camera review & info site)
DPreview Forums (great peer to peer help)
Imaging Resource (another review & info site)
Samy’s Camera (Retail store with LOTS of gear to touch and try):
431 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036 Between Wilshire and 3rd Street (323)938-2420
OR
614 Chapala St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805)963-7269

Week #1 Intro & Choices & Downloading:

Basics & choosing the right camera. A lot of intro level information:

Lens/zoom length and f/stop

Shorter lengths (30mm) are good for small rooms / large groups of people.
Larger lengths (200mm) are good for distant subjects / sports.
Smaller f/stop numbers (f/2.8) are good for shooting in dim light / sports.
Equivilent lengths, example: actual lens is 6.3 – 25.2mm, advertised as 28-112mm.

Resolution

Megapixels (dots) and resolution.
96 dpi (dots per inch) for web and email viewing.
240 dpi for typical inkjet printing.
A file from a 5 megapixel camera is: 29x19.5 inches on the web (96dpi) or 11.6x7.8 inches on an inkjet printer (240dpi).
A file from a 10 megapixel camera is: 41x28 inches on the web (96dpi) or 16.5x11 inches on an inkjet printer (240dpi).
By using the camera's menu you can set different resolutions, large are best.

72dpi

240dpi

Memory cards

Replacement for film
Reusable for 10s of thousands of times
Variety of sizes / types, must be matched to your camera body

Camera shooting modes

Program (all cameras have): The “I don’t want to think” mode.
Auto modes (almost all cameras have). Better than “Program”. Typically named after its use (sports, night, portrait). Typically: Sports/Portrait/Kid stops fast motion, landscape allows motion and gives great depth of focus.
Shutter priority (S mode). User control for when speed is most important (sports). More info during week #2.
Manual mode (M mode). Complete user control, important for studio or external flash use. More info during week #4.
Bulb Mode (B mode). Useful for shooting at night and fireworks and lightning.

Camera size

Typically larger cameras have more control, but you can’t take a picture if a camera is so heavy you choose to leave it behind! Try a camera “in hand” before buying (see Samy’s Camera listed above).

File Formats

JPEG (aka Jpg) is available from all cameras. Small files are fast to write and load. Many images fit on a memory card. Degrades if resaved repeatedly.
Tiff (aka Tif) is rare on digital cameras. It is “just slightly” better than Jpg but much larger in file size. You get far fewer images on a memory card and they take much longer to write and load. They do not degrade on resaving. Great file type for using on a computer.
RAW is typically available on better prosumer and pro cameras. It is better and smaller than Tiff (faster than Tiff, but slower than Jpg). Each camera company (and sometimes each camera from a give company) has it own proprietary format. So, you must make sure your image editing software can read your camera’s version of RAW.

ISO speed

Replaces “film speed”.
Lower numbers (100) need more light or more flash, but give sharp clear images. Best for outdoor / sunlight images or indoor images with a powerful strobe.
Higher numbers (400 and above) need far less light, but give less clear images (noisy) and muted colors. Good for night shooting, indoor shooting with low or typical powers strobes or indoor shooting with distant subjects (sports, theater).
Selectable from the menu on your camera.

iso100

iso400

Downloading (Getting the images from your camera to your computer)

It is easy and common to get multiple programs trying to do the same job.
Direct connection from camera to computer: Direct is easy to use, but slow and limited. Camera connectors may break with heavy use.
Card readers. These are faster, safer and more flexible.
Erase (or reformat) memory card after transfer is confirmed. Best if erased (or reformatted) in camera rather than in computer.

Image editing software part 1: choosing and rotating and sizing (if you need extra help with computer commands, read this)

Photoshop Elements will be use in this class. This is a great program for consumers. Reasonably priced at about $90.
Other options: full version of Photoshop (flexible, but expensive), the software often supplied free with your camera (varies from good to terrible), Picasa is free from Google (Windows or Mac), Gimp open source project (Mac and Windows), ACDSee (Windows only), IrfanView (Windows only), Graphic Converter (Mac Only).

Rotating an image. Many cameras will give you a “sideways” file if you shoot an image with “portrait” framing (an image taller than it is wide).

Launch Photoshop Elements, if needed.
Close “Welcome” screen (Mac) or select “Edit and Enhance” (PC), if needed.
Open image (File>Open). You will see image on your screen.
Make sure you are “Standard Edit” rather then “Quick Fix” mode (Elements specific command, in upper right of screen). Make sure you are in the “Cascade Windows” view mode (two overlapping squares symbol in upper right).
Go to Image>Rotate and select 90 degrees left or right.
Resave your file to your hard drive. There is no need to save a separate version.

Converting image to 4x6 inch size for printing

Launch Photoshop Elements, if needed.
Close “Welcome” screen (Mac) or select “Edit and Enhance” (PC), if needed.
Open image (File > Open). You will see image on your screen.
Make sure you are “Standard Edit” rather then “Quick Fix” mode (Elements specific command, in upper right of screen). Make sure you are in the “Cascade Windows” view mode (two overlapping squares symbol in upper right).
Resize (Image > Resize > ImageSize). Check the “Resample Image” box, then make sure both “Constrain Proportions” and “Resample Image Bicubic” are selected.
Enter 240 pixels/inch in the resolution box.
Enter 4 and 6 inches in the width and height boxes. If you can’t get exactly 4x6 inches (common), just make sure neither dimension is larger than 4x6 (3.5x6 is OK, 4.5x6 is not).
Check that the new pixel dimension is smaller than the original.
Click “OK”.
Save your new smaller file as a new file/name (File > Save As) to a location on your hard drive (not your camera’s memory card). Chose file type as TIFF (if possible). Click “OK”. Without this step you would “over-write” your existing file, which would permanently reduce your resolution to 4x6 size.
If you don’t have TIFF available, use JPEG. In the next window chose Quality “10” if you are going to burn and deliver a disk to a retail store/lab or print to your home inkjet. Chose Quality “8” if you are going to email the file to a printer/lab. Click “OK”. Without this step you would “over-write” your existing file, which would permanently reduce your resolution to 4x6 size.

Printer Choices

Home inkjet (Epson for example): Dye based ink printers are inexpensive, but non archival.
Pigment based ink printers are more expensive, but archival (prints last for generations).
Using photo paper drastically improves photographs (compared to normal or copier paper). More info on getting great color with inkjet prints in week 4.
Retail stores (Walmart for example): Acceptable print quality. Will often take direct from camera files and do the resizing for you. May arbitrarily crop and/or adjust your images.
Pro labs supply great prints and great advice. Slower and more expensive then retail stores.
Image Source 805-676-1000 4532 Telephone Rd #106, Ventura
APL 818-347-3949 21831 Sherman Way, Canoga Park
Web based printers. Nice and convenient, but a bit slow for this class. Convert your images to sized inkjet ready Jpgs (240 dpi). You receive prints via USPS in 3 to 5 working days. There are many available, I like Kodak Gallery.

HOMEWORK (in two parts, one print):

Part One (camera menu items):

Know where your "open the menu" controls are (read manual)
Know where your camera shooting modes are (read manual)
Know where your ISO and file size/type controls are (read manual)

Part Two (from camera to print):

Use your camera’s “Program Mode” (aka “P mode”)
Set your ISO to 100, 200 or Auto ISO
Shoot at least one image in outdoor sunlight
Download the file to your computer
Resize the file to 4x6 inches
Print image (if you aren't familar enough with a computer, use a local retail or pro lab printer)
Bring print to next class

SOME RECOMMENDED CAMERAS

Model	$$$	Lens	Pixels	Memory	Weight	Modes	Raw
Ultra Compact & Simple
Panasonic Lumix LX8	$120	32-160mm F/3.3-5.9	6	SD Memory Card	5	P, Auto, S	N
Sony W120	$148	32-128mm F/2.8-5.8	7	Memory Stick	4.3	P, Auto	N
Samsung L210	$299	37-111mm F/2.8-5.2	10	SD Memory Card	4.4	P, Auto, M	N
Canon PowerShotSD 880 IS	$260	28-112mm F/2.8-5.4	10	SD Memory Card	5.5	P, Auto	N
Compact & Flexible
Canon PowerShot A590 IS	$130	35 - 140mm F/2.6-5.5	8	SD Memory Card	6.2	P, Auto, M, A, S	N
Fuji F100fd	$310	28 - 140mm F/3.3-6.1	12	SD Memory Card	6	P, Auto, M	N
Sony W300	$310	35 - 105mm F/2.8-5.5	13	Memory Stick	5.5	P, Auto, M	N
Panosonic FX150	$350	28 - 100mm F/2.8-5.6	14	SD Memory Card	6	P, Auto, M	N
Full Featured & Complicated
Canon PowerShot G11	$485	28 - 140mm F/2.8-4.4	10	SD Memory Card	13.5	P, Auto, M, A, S	Y
Panasonic LX3	$430	24 - 60mm F/2.0-2.8	10	SD Memory Card	9.5	P, Auto, M, A, S	Y
Canon SX110 IS	$220	36 - 360mm F/2.2-4.3	8	SD Memory Card	9	P, Auto, M, A, S	N

Class Index | Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4