Complete Digital Photography

CONTENTS......Page 6
INTRODUCTION......Page 20
1 EYES, BRAINS, LIGHTS, AND IMAGES: Understanding How You See......Page 25
How Your Eyes See......Page 27
Transmitting Color to the Brain......Page 28
Light and Dark......Page 30
How to Learn Photography......Page 32
2 GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAMERA: Using Auto Mode for Snapshot Shooting......Page 33
Point-and-Shoot or SLR......Page 34
Compact Interchangeable Lens Cameras......Page 37
Setting Your Camera to Auto Mode......Page 38
Framing Your Shot......Page 39
How to Press the Shutter Button......Page 40
Adjusting the Focus of the Viewfinder......Page 42
Shutter Speed and Status......Page 43
Reading Shutter Speed......Page 44
Playing Back Your Images......Page 46
Using Scene Modes......Page 47
Pay Attention to Headroom—Fill the Frame......Page 50
Lead Your Subject......Page 51
Watch the Background......Page 52
Watch Out for Backlighting......Page 53
Coverage......Page 54
3 CAMERA ANATOMY: Holding and Controlling Your Camera......Page 55
A Very Fancy Box......Page 56
Point-and-Shoot Design......Page 57
SLR Design......Page 59
The Lens......Page 61
Mode Selection......Page 66
Status Display......Page 67
Shooting Controls......Page 68
Playback Controls......Page 69
Image Size and Compression......Page 71
Image Processing Parameters......Page 73
Other Features......Page 74
The Grip......Page 76
Feet, Elbows, and Neck......Page 77
Shoot with a Fixed Focal Length......Page 79
Batteries and Power......Page 80
Lens Cleaning......Page 81
Sensor Cleaning......Page 82
Cleaning Your Sensor......Page 83
Water and Digital Cameras......Page 84
Hot Weather and Digital Cameras......Page 86
Media Cards......Page 87
Portable Battery-Powered Hard Drives......Page 88
Blank Discs, Cables, and PC Adapters......Page 89
4 IMAGE TRANSFER: Building a Workstation and Transferring from Your Camera......Page 91
Choosing a Computer......Page 92
Storage......Page 93
Backup......Page 94
Backup Software......Page 95
Preparing Your Monitor......Page 96
A Little More Color Theory......Page 97
Profiling and Calibrating Your Monitor......Page 98
Software......Page 99
Browsing and Cataloging Applications......Page 100
Image Editing Applications......Page 102
Workflow Applications......Page 105
Card Readers......Page 109
Transferring Images to a Windows XP or Vista Computer......Page 110
Transferring Images to a Windows 7 Computer......Page 112
Transferring Images to a Macintosh Computer......Page 113
Configuring Your Mac for Image Transfer......Page 114
Renaming and Organizing......Page 115
Moving On......Page 116
5 IMAGE SENSORS: How a Silicon Chip Captures an Image......Page 117
How an Image Sensor Works......Page 120
Counting Photons......Page 121
A Little Color Theory......Page 122
Interpolating Color......Page 124
Gamma Correction......Page 126
How JPEG Compression Works......Page 128
Meanwhile, Back in the Real World......Page 130
6 EXPOSURE BASICS: The Fundamental Theory of Exposure......Page 131
Over- and Underexposure Defined......Page 132
Exposure Control Mechanisms......Page 134
Shutter Speed......Page 135
Less Is More......Page 136
Why There Are Two Ways to Control Light......Page 137
How Shutter Speed Choice Affects Your Image......Page 138
Depth of Field—How Aperture Choice Affects Your Image......Page 139
Shutter Speed/Aperture Balance......Page 140
Reciprocity......Page 141
Reciprocal ISOs......Page 142
Summing Up......Page 143
Returning to Auto Mode......Page 144
7 PROGRAM MODE: Taking Control of Exposure, Focus, and More......Page 145
Switching to Program Mode......Page 146
How Autofocus Works......Page 147
Autofocus Modes......Page 149
Evaluating Focus......Page 158
White Balance......Page 159
Auto and Preset White Balance......Page 161
Manual White Balance......Page 162
White Balance Shift......Page 163
White Balance Aids......Page 164
Drive Mode......Page 168
Shooting in Drive Mode......Page 169
Self-Timer......Page 170
Remote Controls......Page 172
Manual Override with Program Shift (Flexible Program)......Page 175
Stabilization and Shutter Speed......Page 177
Changing ISO......Page 178
Putting It All Together......Page 182
8 ADVANCED EXPOSURE: Learning More About Your Light Meter and Exposure Controls......Page 183
The Light Meter Revisited......Page 184
Locking Exposure......Page 186
What Your Light Meter Meters......Page 187
The Risks of Over- and Underexposure......Page 189
Exposure Compensation......Page 192
Exposure Compensation and Program Shift......Page 193
Controlling Exposure with Your Light Meter......Page 194
Priority Modes......Page 196
Manual Mode......Page 197
In-Camera Histograms......Page 199
Histograms Defined......Page 200
Assessing Contrast......Page 202
The Three-Channel Histogram......Page 205
Bracketing......Page 206
Auto Bracketing......Page 207
Image Processing Parameters Revisited......Page 210
Enough with the Button Pushing......Page 212
9 FINDING AND COMPOSING A PHOTO: Learning the Art of Photography......Page 213
Looking Versus Seeing......Page 214
Seeing Exercises......Page 215
Make an Assignment......Page 216
Look at Other Photos......Page 217
Pay Attention and Do What Works for You......Page 218
Finding a Subject......Page 219
Photography as Abstraction......Page 223
Building a Shot......Page 226
Choosing a Camera Position and Focal Length......Page 227
Shooting Shallow Depth of Field......Page 231
Balance......Page 235
The Rule of Thirds......Page 238
Geometry......Page 239
Lines......Page 240
Foreground/Background......Page 242
Composing with Light and Dark......Page 244
Less Is More......Page 245
Mixing, Matching, and Ignoring......Page 246
Seeing in the Camera, not Through the Camera......Page 247
Work the Subject......Page 248
Narrative......Page 250
Don’t Be Afraid......Page 252
Combining Art and Craft......Page 253
10 LIGHTING: The Process of Controlling Light......Page 255
Controlling Available Light......Page 256
Flash Photography......Page 260
Flash Modes......Page 261
High ISO Low-Light Shooting......Page 263
Slow Sync Flash Mode......Page 264
Using Fill Flash in Bright Light......Page 266
What to Look for in an External Flash......Page 267
Shooting with External Flash......Page 268
Getting Your Flash off the Camera......Page 270
Slow Sync Flash......Page 271
Further Lighting Study......Page 272
11 RAW SHOOTING: Gaining More Editing Power Through Raw Format......Page 273
What Raw Is......Page 274
Editable White Balance......Page 275
Highlight Recovery......Page 276
More Editing Latitude......Page 277
Digital “Negative”......Page 278
Other People May Not Be Able to Read Your Files......Page 280
Configuring Your Camera to Shoot Raw......Page 281
12 SPECIAL SHOOTING: Camera Features and Techniques for Specific Situations......Page 283
Black and White......Page 284
You Say Red, I Say Gray......Page 286
Seeing in Color, Shooting in Black and White......Page 287
Infrared Photography......Page 288
Focusing......Page 290
Choosing an IR Exposure......Page 291
Stable Shooting......Page 292
Landscape Photography......Page 294
Keep an Eye out for Flare......Page 295
Exposing for Extreme Depth of Field......Page 296
Tilt-and-Shift Lenses and Depth of Field......Page 298
Shooting Panoramas......Page 299
Preparing Your Camera......Page 301
Proper Panoramic Panning......Page 302
Panoramic Exposure......Page 304
Shoot with Care......Page 305
Collaging......Page 308
Macro Photography......Page 309
Macro Focusing......Page 310
Poor Depth of Field......Page 311
High-Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging......Page 312
Shooting HDR......Page 313
Shooting Concerts and Performances......Page 314
Setup......Page 315
Exposure Strategy......Page 316
Performance Composition......Page 318
Shooting Events......Page 319
Shooting Sports......Page 320
Exposure Strategy......Page 321
Street Shooting......Page 322
Offering Something in Return......Page 323
Using Street Shots......Page 324
Shooting at Night......Page 325
Real-World Low Light Shooting......Page 326
Underwater Photography......Page 328
Vacation Shooting......Page 329
Product Shots......Page 330
Types of Filters......Page 331
Exploring on Your Own......Page 334
13 WORKFLOW: Managing Your Images and Starting Postproduction......Page 335
Postproduction Workflow......Page 336
Metadata Tagging and Keywording......Page 339
Selecting Your Pick Images......Page 340
Archiving and Backup......Page 341
No Right or Wrong Approach to Workflow......Page 342
IPTC Metadata......Page 355
Creating Keywords......Page 357
Collections......Page 358
Smart Collections......Page 360
Batch Rename......Page 361
String Substitution......Page 362
Other Bridge Commands......Page 363
Mini Bridge......Page 364
Image Forensics......Page 365
It’s Not Which Software, It’s What You Do with It......Page 366
14 EDITING WORKFLOW AND FIRST STEPS: Understanding the Order of Edits and Making Your First Adjustments......Page 367
Editing Order......Page 368
Histograms Revisited......Page 370
Cropping......Page 371
Straightening......Page 376
Correcting Geometric Distortion......Page 378
Auto Lens Correction......Page 381
Correcting Perspective......Page 382
Correcting Chromatic Aberrations......Page 384
Dust and Spot Removal......Page 386
Red Eye......Page 388
Undo and History......Page 389
Understanding Save and Save As......Page 390
15 CORRECTING TONE: Ensuring That White, Black, and Overall Contrast Are Correct......Page 393
Levels......Page 395
Should You Worry About Data Loss?......Page 404
Auto Levels......Page 405
Curves......Page 406
An Easier Way to Edit Curves......Page 413
Learning to See Black as Black......Page 414
16 CORRECTING COLOR: Repairing, Improving, and Changing Color......Page 417
Levels and Curves and Color......Page 418
Hue/Saturation......Page 428
Vibrance......Page 431
The Story So Far......Page 432
17 IMAGE EDITING IN RAW: Correcting the Tone and Color of Raw Files......Page 433
Nondestructive Editing......Page 434
Initial Settings......Page 435
A Simple Experiment......Page 439
Raw Workflow......Page 440
Raw Conversion Software......Page 441
Workflow with Bridge/Camera Raw/Photoshop......Page 443
Choosing a File Format for Saving Raw Files......Page 444
Manual White Balance......Page 445
Correcting White Balance When There’s No Gray to Sample......Page 446
White Balance and Posterizing......Page 448
The Recovery Slider......Page 449
Highlight Recovery and Color......Page 452
More About Fill Light......Page 454
Additional Tabs......Page 456
Detail......Page 457
Effects......Page 458
Workflow Options......Page 459
Copying Raw Edits in Photoshop Camera Raw......Page 461
Batch Processing in Camera Raw......Page 462
Choosing Where to Host a Batch......Page 463
What More Do You Need?......Page 464
18 MASKING: Using Masks to Constrain Your Adjustments......Page 465
Selection Tools......Page 467
Altering the Edge of a Selection......Page 472
Saving Masks......Page 478
The Limits of Selection Tools......Page 480
Adjustment Layers......Page 485
Targeted Hue/Saturation......Page 496
Selective Edits in Camera Raw......Page 499
Targeted Adjustment......Page 504
The Masks Palette......Page 505
One-Click Layer Masking......Page 506
Advanced Masking......Page 507
Saving Revisited......Page 512
19 BLACK-AND-WHITE CONVERSION: Turning Your Color Images into Black-and-White Images......Page 513
Simple Grayscale Conversion......Page 514
Photoshop’s Black-and-White Command......Page 515
Black-and-White Adjustment Layers......Page 518
Sepia Toning......Page 520
Channel Mixing......Page 521
Desaturating an Image......Page 522
Black-and-White Conversion in Camera Raw......Page 523
Black-and-White Plug-ins......Page 524
Refining a Grayscale Image......Page 525
Low Contrast Images......Page 526
20 LAYERS, RETOUCHING, AND SPECIAL EFFECTS: Additional Editing Tools and Concepts for Improving Your Images......Page 529
Layers......Page 530
Some Layer Basics......Page 531
Opacity and Transfer Modes......Page 536
To Flatten or Not to Flatten......Page 538
Brushes......Page 539
Rubber Stamp or Clone......Page 540
Patch and Heal......Page 541
Adaptive Shadow/Highlight Correction......Page 543
Cleaning Portraits......Page 552
Vignetting......Page 554
Photoshop Smart Objects......Page 556
Where to Go from Here......Page 557
21 PANORAMIC STITCHING AND HDR MERGING: How to Process These Multi-Shot Effects......Page 559
Stitching Panoramas......Page 560
Launching a Stitch from Within Bridge......Page 561
Configuring Photomerge......Page 562
Other Photomerge Options......Page 563
Cropping and Filling......Page 564
Stitching Raw Images......Page 566
Stitching Vertical Panoramas......Page 567
What HDR Merging Does......Page 568
Configuring Merge to HDR Pro......Page 569
Aesthetic Considerations......Page 571
HDR Panoramas......Page 573
22 OUTPUT: Taking Your Images to Print or Electronic Output......Page 575
Resolution......Page 576
Resizing an Image......Page 577
When Should You Resample?......Page 581
How Sharpening Works......Page 583
Not All Sharpness Is Created Equal......Page 585
Selective Sharpening......Page 586
Web and Email Output......Page 587
Outputting Electronic Files......Page 590
Bridge CS5 Export Tab......Page 591
Choosing a Printer......Page 592
Ink-Jet Printers......Page 593
Media Selection......Page 594
Choosing a Resolution......Page 595
Improving Your Print......Page 601
Web-Based Printing......Page 604
Conclusion......Page 605
A......Page 675
C......Page 676
D......Page 678
F......Page 679
H......Page 680
L......Page 681
M......Page 682
N......Page 683
P......Page 684
S......Page 685
T......Page 687
W......Page 688
Z......Page 689