Digital

Photography
Max Hobson
Network & Computer Repair, AVCTC
Learner Objectives

 Learn Digital Photography Terms

 Learn the Pros and Cons of Digital
Photography
 Learn the uses of digital cameras
 Learn how digital cameras work
 Learn the differences in types of image
storage
 Pixel
•PICture Element
•The smallest element of a
digitized image
 Megapixel
A unit equal to 1 million pixels

Resolution
The number of Pixels in an image

DPI
Dots Per Inch - The number of dots a printer or device, such as a
monitor can display per linear inch. Most monitors are at 72 dpi. Most
Laser Printers are from 300 to 1200 dpi.
 JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group - A format used by
many digital cameras for storing images. This format is
also used for images on the web and as email
attachments. Caution, this is a lossy compression that
can damage image quality.
The Pros & Cons
of Going Digital
 Advantage of Film
Availability - you can always stop in a store and
buy film, memory cards aren’t always available.
Greater picture detail in film - to get the same
detail you would need to buy a high end digital
camera
Film is easy to store - Negatives hold a lot of
information in a small place.
 Longevity - Film is a consistent format that
does not change or deteriorate. Digital
formats and media can change making
your photos inaccessible in a few years.
Media can degrade and loose data.

Film cameras are cheaper - Disposable

cameras cost little more than film

A mechanical camera does not need

batteries

Film can be scanned if you want to

manipulate images on a computer.
 Advantages of Digital
Photos can quickly and easily be emailed

Once you invest in a digital camera, memory, etc.

pictures are essentially free

Instant Feedback -You get better pictures faster

Making exact duplicates of pictures is quick and

easy

Print only the best pictures or only the pictures you

want
 Cons of Digital
Traditional film cameras are very reliable
Shutter Lag - All but very expensive digital
cameras are slow.
Batteries, Batteries, BATTERIES! - Digital
cameras love em!
 Editing Digital Photos
Free Software Available
Shareware Software
Commercial Software
 Free
Software
 GIMP
•GIMP
•Free Download
from www.gimp.org
•Similar to Adobe
PhotoShop
•Steep Learning
Curve
 Kodak
Easy
Share
•Free Download From
www.kodak.com
•Easy to use
•Organize Photos
•Fix Red Eye
•Enhance Colors
•Easily Save Photos to CD
Commercial
Software
 Adobe
PhotoShop
• Available from
www.adobe.com
• Expensive
• Very Powerful
• Industry Standard
•Great for Special
Effects
 Adobe
PhotoShop
Elements
• Available from
www.adobe.com
• Low Cost – about $99
• Powerful
• Often FREE with
scanner purchase!
 What Can You
Do With Digital?
Family
Photos
More family…

Vacation
Pictures. . .
Student
Projects
Paint a House
or a
car
 Alter
Reality!
Putting Pictures in Word

Click on the
Insert Menu
Go to Picture
Then to
From File
Putting Pictures in Word

Your picture is
now in Word
but the text is
not wrapped
around it.
To fix that…
Putting Pictures in Word

Right click on
the picture.
Go to Format
Picture
Putting Pictures in Word

Click on the
Layout Tab
Then Click on
any button
except the “In
Line With Text
Button” then
click OK
Putting Pictures in Word

You can now

move your
picture freely
around the
document and
the text will
wrap around it.
How do
Digital
Cameras
Work?
Digital photographs
are made up of
hundreds of thousands
or millions of tiny
squares called pixels.
Each of these pixels is
captured by a single
photosite on the image
sensor when you take
the photo. Jelly Bean Spirit of ’76 courtesy of Herman Goelitz
Candy Company Inc. Makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans.
The quality of a digital image,
whether printed or displayed on a
screen, depends in part on the
number of pixels used to create the
image (sometimes referred to as
resolution).
Some cameras add additional pixels to
artificially inflate the size of the image.
You can do the same thing in an image-
editing program. In most cases this
upsizing only makes the image larger
without making it better
More pixels add detail and sharpen
edges. If you enlarge any digital
image enough, the pixels will begin to
show-an effect called pixelization.
When images are enlarged too
much pixelization occurs
The size of a photograph is specified in
one of two ways
 Dimensions in pixels
 Total number of pixels it contains
For example, the same image can be
said to have 1800 x 1600 pixels or to
contain 2.88-million pixels (1800
multiplied by 1600).
Low-end cameras currently have
resolutions around 640 x 480 pixels,
although this number constantly
improves. Better cameras, those with
one million or more pixels, are called
megapixel cameras and those with over
two million pixels are called multi-
megapixel cameras.
To make large image files smaller
and more manageable, digital
cameras store images in a format
called JPEG after its developer,
the Joint Photographic Experts
Group
The JPEG file format not only
compresses images, it also allows
you to specify how much they
are compressed. This is a useful
feature because there is a trade-
off between compression and
image quality.
Lossy Format
IMPORTANT!
Do not save JPEG images as
JPEG images if you will be
modifying it. Use TIFF.
The Raw image file format
An uncompressed format that
preserves as much detail as possible.
•BIG files
•Some cameras use proprietary
format
TIFF
Tag Image File Format was
developed by Aldus Corp. to save
images created by scanners.
• Lossless format
• BIG files
MPEG format
Motion Picture Export Group
A compressed audio/video format for
computers.
DVDs and digital satellite TV use
MPEG 2
Compression
Lossless Compression
Lossless compression uncompresses
an image so its quality matches the
original source
• LZW - Lempel-Ziv-Welch
• Used for GIF & TIFF files
• Compresses from 50% to 90%
Lossy Compression
Images loose some data because
they are compressed so much.
• JPEG
• Compression ratios of 10:1 and
40:1 are common
• Do not work with images in JPEG
format
 Image
Storage
With traditional cameras, the film
is used both to record and store
the image. With digital cameras,
separate devices perform these
two functions. The image is
captured by the image sensor,
then stored in the camera on a
storage device of some kind.
Both memory cards and
magnetic disks are widely
used in digital cameras. Both
types of storage devices share
some outstanding features.
They are erasable and reusable.

 They are usually removable, so you

can remove one and plug in another
so storage is limited only by the
number of devices you have

 They can be removed from the

camera and plugged into the
computer or printer to transfer the
images.
Despite their similarities, they also
have some significant differences:

 Magnetic disks have moving parts

while flash memory cards don't.

 Magnetic disks are usually cheaper

(per picture) and faster.

 Flash memory cards are smaller,

lighter, and less prone to damage.
Types of Memory Cards

 PC Cards
 Compact Flash
 Smart Media
 Memory Sticks
 Multimedia Cards
Types of Memory Cards

• Compact Flash
Types of Memory Cards

• Smart Media Flash

Types of Memory Cards

• Floppy Disk
Types of Memory Cards

• Memory Stick
Types of Memory Cards

• Micro Drive
 Ready to
Buy a Digital
Camera?
Decide Your Needs
 Print, on screen viewing or
for the Web
 Price
 Features
 Indoors or Outdoors