How Digital Photography Works, 2/e (Paperback)

A full-color, illustrated adventure into the high-tech wonders inside your digital camera by the author/illustrator team that created the bestselling How Computers Work.

 

With clear and simple explanations that say, “You, too, can understand this,” and brilliant, full-color illustrations, How Digital Photography Works, Second Edition, gives you detailed information on the hidden workings of digital cameras, professional picture-taking techniques, and even photo-editing software. Some of the topics covered in this groundbreaking book include:

 

·         How Digital Viewfinders Frame Your Pictures

·         How Twin Lens Cameras and Tilt-and-Shift Lenses Change the Rules

·         How Cameras Focus on Moving Targets

·         How Exposure Systems Balance Aperture and Shutter

·         How Electronic Flashes Create a Burst of Light

·         How Studio Lighting Creates a Perfect Lighting Environment

·         How Color Calibration Makes What You See on the Screen Match What You See on Paper

·         How Your Camera’s Microprocessor Manipulates Images

·         How Photoshop Expands a Photographer’s Artistry

 

 

Table of Contents

Introduction  xii

Part 1: Getting to Know Digital Cameras  2

Chapter 1   The Workings of a Digital Camera  6

    Gathering the Light  8

    Creating the Image  10

    Storing the Image  12

Chapter 2   Inside Digital Video Cameras  14

    How the Digital Camcorder Captures Future Memories  18

    How a Professional Digital Video Camera Works  20

 

Part 2: How Digital Cameras Capture Images  22

Chapter 3   How Lenses Work  26

    How Light Works  28

    How a Lens Bends Light  30

    How We Perceive Detail  32

    How a Lens Focuses an Image  34

    The Magnifying Glass Effect  36

    How Lenses Don’t Focus  38

    How Active Autofocus Makes Pictures Sharp  40

    How Passive Autofocus Sees Sharp and Fuzzy  42

    How a High-Tech Motor Moves the Lens  44

    How the Eye Controls Autofocus  46

Chapter 4   How Light Plays Tricks on Perception  48

    How Viewfinders Frame Your Pictures  50

    How Lenses See Far and Wide  52

    How Digital Lenses Manipulate Space  54

    How Optical Zooms Zoom  56

    How Digital Zoom Fakes It  58

    How Perception Creates Depth of Field  60

Chapter 5   How Digital Exposure Sifts, Measures, and Slices Light  62

    How a Diaphragm Controls Light  64

    How a Shutter Slices Time  66

    How a Camera Measures Light  68

    How Light Meters See the World  70

    How Digicams Juggle Exposure and Creativity  72

    How Exposure Systems Balance Aperture and Shutter  74

    How Digital Photographers Remain Masters of Their Domains  76

    How Digital Cameras Create a Whiter Shade of White  78

    How Speed Creates Noisy Pictures   80

    How Histograms Run the Gamut  82

Chapter 6   How Technology Lets There Be Light  84

    How Electronic Flash Works  86

    How the Flash Knows When to Quit  88

    How Shutter and Flash Sync  90

    How a Flash Turns Eyes Red  92

    How Fill Flash Works  93

    How Studio Lighting Works  94

    How Photographers Control Light and Shadow  96

Chapter 7   How Light Becomes Data  98

    How Film Photography Captures an Image  100

    How a Microchip Catches a Picture  102

    How Image Sensors Differ  104

    How the Foveon Image Sensor Stacks It On  106

    How an Image Becomes Data  108

    How Algorithms Smooth Out a Picture’s Rough Spots  110

    How Software Compresses Pictures for Storage  112

    How Pictures Are Stored on a Chip  114

    How a Digital Camera Squeezes Video Down to Size  116

Chapter 8   How New Tech Changes Photography  118

    How Digital Tech Changes the Way Lenses Work  120

    How Four Thirds Digital Cameras Create a New Standard  122

    How Digital Cameras Cure the Shakes  124

    Electronic Image Stabilization  126

    Vari-Angle Prism System  127

    Piezoelectric Supersonic Linear Actuator Stabilization  128

    Shift Image Stabilizer  129

    How Lenses Tilt with Images  130

    How Two Lenses Work As One  132

    How a Light Field Camera Can Focus Anything  134

    How Digital Cameras Tidy Up  136

 

Part 3: How the Digital Darkroom Works  138

Chapter 9   How Software Changes Pixels by the Numbers  142

    How Software Manipulates Images on the Pixel Level  144

    How the Digital Darkroom Focuses Pictures After They’re Taken  146

    How Blurred Becomes Better  148

    How Software Changes Exposure After the Shot  150

    How Software Corrects Bad Lighting  152

    How Bigger Pictures Preserve Little Details  154

    How a Digital Darkroom Improves Even Correctly Exposed Photos  156

    How Photoshop Multiplies a Photo’s Dynamic Range  158

    How Layers Serve and Protect Photos  160

Chapter 10   How Digital Retouching Rescues Family Heirlooms  162

    How Software Removes Dust and Tears  164

    How the Digital Darkroom Revives Your Ancestors  166

    How Darkroom Software Brings Pictures Back to Life  168

Chapter 11   How the Digital Darkroom Makes Good Photos into Great Fantasies  170

    How to Change a Red Rose to Blue  172

    How Digital Photos Make Fun of You  174

    How Software Makes One Photo Out of Many  176

    How Panorama Programs Stitch Several Photos into One Superwide  178

 

Part 4: How Digital Print-Making Works  180

Chapter 12   How Computers and Printers Create Photographs  184

    How a Camera’s LCD Displays Photos  186

    How Colors Are Created  188

    How Color Calibration Works  190

Chapter 13   How Photo-Quality Printers Work  192

    How a Printer Rains Ink to Create a Picture  194

    How Photo Inkjet Printers Work  196

    How Dye-Sublimation Printers Work  198

Glossary  200

Index  214