Introduction to Photography

Ashintha Perera
University of Colombo School of Computing
What is Photography?
• The art or practice of taking and processing photographs

• Drawing with light

Types of photography
• Wedding • Real State
• Fashion • Architectural
• Wildlife • Macro
• Product • Medical
• Sports • Forensic
• Pets • Media / News
• Event • Etc….
History of photography
An artist using an 18th-century camera
obscura to trace an image.

Camera obscura (Latin for "dark room") is

the natural optical phenomenon that occurs
when an image of a scene at the other side
of a screen (or for instance a wall) is
projected through a small hole in that
screen and forms an inverted image (left to
right and upside down) on a surface
opposite to the opening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzpu0Q9RTU
History of photography
The world’s first photograph made in
a camera was taken in 1826 by
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The
photograph was taken from the
upstair’s windows of Niépce’s estate
in the Burgundy region of France.
This image was captured via a
process known as heliography, which
used Bitumen of Judea coated onto a
piece of glass or metal; the Bitumen
than hardened in proportion to the
amount of light that hit it.
History of photography
Now
Types of digital camera
• Digital Single Lens Camera (DSLR)
• Mirrorless camera
• Compact camera (point & shoot camera)
• Bridge camera
• Mobile phone camera
• Action camera
• Wearable camera
Component of a Digital Camera
• Image Sensor
• Image Processor
• Shutter
• Lens
• Aperture
• Battery
• Memory
• Flasher
• Viewfinder
• LCD Screen
Component of a DSLR
Image Sensor
• An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and
conveys information used to make an image

• The purpose of image sensor is to convert incoming light

(photons) into an electrical signal that can be viewed,
analyzed, or stored in digital media
DSLR Vs Mobile Phone Camera
Image sensor captures light, converts into data and
send data to Image processor
Shutter
• Digital Shutter
• Mechanical Shutter
Shutter
• a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a
determined period, exposing image sensor to light in order
to capture a scene.
• A shutter of variable speed is used to control exposure time
of the sensor. The shutter is constructed so that it
automatically closes after a certain required time interval.
The speed of the shutter is controlled by a ring outside the
camera
Shutter speed
• Shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time when the
image sensor inside the camera is exposed to light

• There are various shutter speeds for various purposes. Measured

in seconds (fractions of seconds), speeds are denoted in numbers
such as 1/1000 or 1/50

• The most common shutter speed settings available on cameras

are usually 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc
Picking the correct shutter speed
• The most important consideration when picking the right
shutter speed is movement. How much movement do you
expect to capture?

• If you need to freeze things then use a fast shutter speed

• If you need to show movements use slow shutter speed

• * use a shutter speed denominator which is more than lens

focal length for steady captures
Picking the correct shutter speed
• Fast shutter speeds means less exposure time. It’s will
generates a darker image if other conditions are same

• Slow shutter speeds means more exposure time. It’s will

generates a brighter image if other conditions are same
Aperture
• Aperture refers to the opening of a lens's diaphragm through
which light passes
• It is calibrated in f/stops and is generally written as numbers
such as 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and 16
• Lower f/stops give more exposure because they represent
the larger apertures, while the higher f/stops give less
exposure because they represent smaller apertures
Aperture
Aperture Affects Depth of Field
• Depth of field is the zone of acceptable sharpness in front of
and behind the subject on which the lens is focused.
• How sharp or blurry is the area behind your subject.
• The lower the f/stop—the larger the opening in the lens—
the less depth of field—the blurrier the background.
• The higher the f/stop—the smaller the opening in the lens—
the greater the depth of field—the sharper the background.
Aperture

f/1.8 f/11
How to select the aperture
• Lighting conditions
• In less lighting conditions better to select a large aperture (Ex:
f/2.8)

• Depth of field
• If you need to give more focus to the subject and needs a blur
background, select a large aperture (Ex: f/2.8)
ISO (Light sensitivity)
• ISO originally referred to the sensitivity of film; it's "light
gathering" ability. The higher the ISO rating, the greater the film's
ability to capture images taken in low light

• With film cameras, using a higher ISO film, such as ISO 400 to
1000, often resulted in noticeable grain. With digital
photography, the equivalent is noise

• Today’s Image processors can handle even extreme ISO like

204,800

• The "normal" range of ISO is about 200 to 1600 for sharp images
ISO (Light Sensitivity)
Exposure Triangle
• The exposure triangle is a common way of associating the
three variables that determine the exposure of a
photograph: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
• One must balance all three of these to achieve a desired
result, an adjustment of one requiring adjustments of at
least one of the others..
• They do not only affect exposure but are also the largest
determiners of the global appearance of an image; thus,
their mastery is crucial both for technique and composition.
Exposure
Triangle
Focal Length
• The most important information to know when looking for a
camera lens is the focal length.

• Focal length tells a photographer or videographer a lot about

how the image is going to look.

• The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and
vice-versa.
Focal Length
• Focal length is the measurement (in millimeters) from the
optical center of a camera lens to the camera’s sensor

The optical center is

also known as the
focal point
Focal Length
• Lenses are often broken down into 3 different categories
• wide
• Telephoto
• Standard

• A wide angle lens is any lens that is 35mm or smaller. Lenses

that are more wide than 24mm can be called ultra-wide
angle lenses, but most photographers just call them fisheye
lenses. Due to size exaggeration, wide angle lenses are great
for shooting landscapes, real estate, and architecture.
Focal Length
• Telephoto lenses are any lens with a focal length of 85mm or higher.
They are usually very long in length making them easy to identify.
Telephoto lenses are generally used to shoot objects that are far away
making them ideal for capturing weddings, wildlife, and events.

• Standard lenses are any lens between 35mm and 85mm. The most
commonly used standard lens is the 50mm prime. Standard lenses
usually have a much cheaper base price than their wide and
telephoto counterparts.
Lens
exif data (Photo metadata)
• Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) is metadata contained in an
image file, and although it varies among devices, it can provide
valuable information such as the make and model of the camera that
took the image of a system, as well as whether an image was altered
with a graphics program

• Online exif viwers like http://metapicz.com/ may reveal some hidden

information in photos
Raw photos
• A camera RAW image is an unprocessed photograph captured with a digital
camera. It contains the raw image data captured by the camera's sensor, saved in
proprietary file format specific to the camera manufacturer.

• By default, most digital cameras process and compress photos as JPEG files
immediately after capturing the image. The processing step automatically applies
the appropriate color correction and the JPEG compression significantly reduces
the file size. The result is an efficiently processed JPEG image.

• While JPEG images are suitable for most purposes, professional photographers
and photography enthusiasts prefer to control over how each image is processed.
Therefore, many high-end cameras have the ability to shoot in RAW mode instead
of JPEG. The raw files are unprocessed, allowing the photographer to adjust
settings like exposure, white balance, and saturation after the image has been
captured. Instead of applying lossy JPEG compression, which reduces the image
quality, RAW mode saves files in a losslessly compressed format.
Raw photos
• Since Camera RAW files are not saved in a standard image format,
most image viewing programs may not recognize them. Therefore,
camera manufacturers often include proprietary RAW photo editing
software with their high-end cameras. Additionally, popular operating
systems and software programs are regularly updated with support
for new RAW formats. (Windows 10, lightroom)

• File extensions:
• .ARW (Sony), .CR2 (Canon), .DCR (Kodak), .DNG (Adobe), .ERF (Epson), .NEF
(Nikon), .ORF (Olympus), .PEF (Pentax), .RAF (Fuji), .RW2 (Panasonic)
Lighting Sources
• Natural light (Sun, Moon)
• Artificial light (LED, CFL, Speed Lights)
Lighting Techniques
• Key Light
• Fill Light
• Back Light
Golden Hour
Protecting the camera
• Use it at least once a week
• Clean after using
• Use a dry box
• Check for funguses
Composition
• Composition is how the elements of a photo are arranged.
• A composition can me made up of many different elements, or only a
few.
• It's how the artist puts those things within a frame that help a
photograph become more or less interesting to the viewer
Composition techniques
• Rule Of Thirds
• Leading Lines
• Symmetry and Patterns
• Diagonals and Triangles
• Background
• Depth
• Framing
• Cropping
Camera simulators
• http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/
• https://camerasim.com/camerasim-free-web-app/
• https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/simulator/
• http://bethecamera.com/
• http://photography-mapped.com/interact.html
• http://www.andersenimages.com/tutorials/exposure-simulator/