Digital Photo: Things to Know
By: John Oxton
The best thing about a digital photo is that you can manipulate it to the extent of your imagination. This manipulation can be achieved thanks to various software packages available on the market, varying in complexity from the feature packed Adobe Photoshop to Paint Shop Pro.
Still, there is magic when a digital photo is modified by experienced hands and eyes, allowing that unbelievable moment to be captured in such a way as to never be forgotten, but even then they can be refined further. It is the story or the impression behind that moment that keeps the viewer enamoured with the photo for a longer period of time.
It takes time to become a perfect photographer and one needs to grow though experimentation and experiences.
However a basic knowledge of the techniques of photographing is must. A digital camera is not all that is required to make a good photographer.
Primarily, know your camera well. Read the manual top to bottom, and then go out to play with the machine.
Now come back to the basics and learn about other things like exposure, shutter speed, aperture etc that helps you to customize your digital photo in real time. You can find a lot of hand books online and offline to get an initial idea of how this is achieved.
As a brief explanation of some of the primary terms; exposure is the point in the process of taking a photo when the light sensitive film or sensor is exposed to a light source. Over or under exposure may destroy the image, so be careful while setting it in your digital camera and capturing the photo.
Shutter speed is the time period for which the shutter is held open for light to reach the digital photo sensor. Depending on the variations of combinations of lens aperture and sensor’s sensibility, it regulates how much light the camera will record when taking a digital photo. Shutter speed can directly affect the quality of your digital photo dependant on the situation and whether the object is moving or still.
An aperture is a hole or the gap through which light enters into the camera sensor or the film.
One should always remember that they cannot go far when skipping the basics of the trade when taking these elements into consideration.
There are so many other important aspects that you need to know for taking visually good digital photo. We will come to them later.
Now, when you go out again to play with your digital camera, try to realise the potential for variance with all aspects mentioned here. With a digital camera you always have the option to know about the quality of the photo without taking a print.
One last thought: while taking a digital photo try to sort out by yourself the relationship between “object” and “film-depth”.
Last minute experiment: keeping camera settings the same, change the location of the object in respect to the frame. Download these digital photos in your computer and study them critically and objectively.
You have all the answers.
Author Bio
John Oxton is a professional photographer, printer and a freelance investigative writer.
