Digital Photography 101 For Library Applications: Jeanne Moje

Digital Photography 101 for Library Applications Instructor:

Jeanne Moje [email protected] An Infopeople Workshop Winter 2004

Workshop Agenda Digital Camera Overview Hints on Taking Photos Who Owns That Image? Photo Design and Repair Managing Your Digital Photo Collection

Digital Camera Overview

Why Digital Photography? Advantage over film cameras   

Immediate feedback / results Don’t need to develop film Ease of image manipulation

Add interest to your web site  

Publicize and document library events Pictures are worth a thousand words

Provide material for library displays

Overview of Digital Cameras Lens types Case sizes Pixel depth Zoom power Storage media types   

Older memory formats Newer memory formats Alternative memory formats

Lens Types Regular fixed lens 

with or without zoom

Digital SLR (single-lens reflex)  

More control over depth of field Interchangeable lenses

Large format  

For incredible detail in a large image Huge file sizes

Digital Camera Case Sizes Listed in order of price    

Compact Micro Medium Large

Pixel Depth Why would you want more pixels?    

3 megapixels 4 megapixels 5 megapixels Foveon technology 3.4 • •

Three layers to each pixel Equivalent to 10 megapixels

Pixel Print Comparison To maintain quality, choose higher megapixel settings if you need larger print sizes     

1 megapixels ≅ 4 x 6 2 megapixels ≅ 5 x 7 3 megapixels ≅ 8 x 11 4 megapixels ≅ 11 x 14 5 megapixels ≅ 12 x 16

Zoom Power Optical zoom changes the image by moving the lens Digital zoom changes the image by cropping (enlarging the pixels) Interchangeable lenses on SLR digital cameras – expensive!  

Gives you more shutter speed control Wide-angle, panoramic, specialty lenses

Types of Storage Media Some can be used in multiple portable devices 

Digital cameras, notebooks, PDAs, music players, car stereo

Standardize on a flash memory type  

Secure Digital (SD) - up and coming Compact Flash (CF) - still a good choice

Older Memory Formats These formats are being phased out  

SmartMedia (SM) MultiMediaCard (MMC)

Mini-CDs, floppy disks Compact Flash (CF) 



More devices use CF that any other media type High capacity

Newer Memory Formats Memory stick (MS) 

only used by Sony

xD-Picture Card  

Fujifilm, Olympus Projected highest capacity

Secure Digital (SD)  

Projected highest use Broadest support

Alternative Memory Formats CF Mini hard drives  

IBM microdrive Up to 1 GB in storage

Digital camera off-load units

Now For Our Camera Tour…

Finally, Taking Photos…

Before You Start Practice with the camera Double-check your camera settings Carry extra batteries Experiment with flash  

How close to subject? Test red-eye settings

Hints On Taking Photos Use a tripod or lean against stationery object Conserve batteries 



Limit use of screen viewer Is camera turned off when not in use?

Automatic & Forced Flash Automatic  

Fires automatically as required Useful for ordinary photography

Forced Flash   

Photograph backlit scenes Use outside in shade Color correct fluorescent light

Suppressed & Red-Eye Flash Suppressed Flash  

Indoors where flash is ineffective Photos taken through glass

Red-Eye Reduction 



Pre-flashes so subject’s eyes appear more natural Fires automatically as required

Slow-Synchro Flash Types Slow-Synchro 





Slow shutter speed for taking pictures of people at night Will show both subject and night time backdrop Recommend tripod

Red-Eye Reduction plus Slow-Synchro

Example of Flash Icons Red eye reduction Red eye reduction plus slow synchro

Slow synchro

Suppressed flash

Forced flash

White Balance Control Will attempt to correct the color for given light sources such as:      

Daylight fluorescents Warm white fluorescents Cool white fluorescents Incandescent lights Outdoors Shade

Delayed Shutter Response Anticipate shutter lag 

Shutter delay varies between cameras

Ask your subject to hold still! Image-writing delay while the camera stores the photo 

Some cameras are able to store images more quickly

Taking Photos of People Avoid red-eye   

Use red-eye flash function Ask subject to look away from flash Use natural light

Don’t get too close  

Distortion You can crop image later

Flattery Or Kindness? Avoid harsh shadows Try different viewpoints Use natural light instead of flash Red clothing will overpower skin tones

Hold Still! Posing versus natural action Take numerous photos of same pose  

Subject may relax Pose will look more natural

Shutter lag makes natural action shots difficult

Connect That Camera…

Connecting to a Computer Install camera software Check camera battery charge or plug in power adapter Choice of connections  

Camera to computer Memory media to computer

Copy or move files from camera to computer

Problems? Where to go if you have problems with your camera Camera batteries weak? What if your computer won’t talk to the camera? Software updates and other annoyances

Indoor Lighting Fluorescent light is green Incandescent light is red North light bulbs are blue “Color-corrected” light bulbs are best Use two light sources if possible

Photographing Objects Avoid parallax effect if object has straight lines  

Align camera to object Align lines of object with frame of viewfinder or LCD monitor

Use a tripod or stand Macro lenses

Lighting Objects Lighting   

Two lights are best 45° angle to object Measure distance of lights

Use a “color key” for fine reproductions

Camera Purchase Decision

Before You Choose What is your budget? Will it connect to your computer? Evaluate your photographic needs     

Pixel depth Power supply requirements Memory needs (16 MB to 1 GB+) Do you have other portable devices? Zoom capability needed?

How To Choose A Camera Try out cameras for a good fit     

Does it fit your hands? Controls easy to locate? Display screen large enough? Light enough to carry? Zoom power?

Purchase at a store or buy online? Keep an eye on sale prices

Bookmarks Topics to Visit Digital camera glossaries and dictionaries Digital camera overview Vendor web sites for digital cameras and photography

Taking Photos Outdoors

Outdoor Lighting Sunlight causes shadows North light is blue Overcast days Indirect lighting best for people Use fill-in flash or reflector

Taking Photos Outdoors Sunrise, sunset High noon Overcast Fill-in flash Few filters available for digital cameras  

Glare and reflections Dust and smog

Legal Issues…

Do The Right Thing! Get a signature release from your subjects Copyright considerations Infopeople course materials available

Signature Releases Who owns that photograph? If you put a photo of a person on the web, get a signature release Legal issues Sample signature releases

Copyright Considerations Again, who owns that photograph? Legal issues Get permission! Protect your images

Bookmarks Topics to Visit Infopeople course 

Library Laws For The Web Environment 2002

Signature release samples Copyright law

The Art Part…

Photo Design and Repair Design and color hints Cropping Resizing Color correction

Design Hints View as abstract artwork (turn the photo upside down) Save as black & white for a fresh view Look at negative spaces Avoid clutter

The Rule of Thirds in Design Hum Beethoven’s Fifth Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid on your image  

Line objects on the grid Offset the focal point within the composition

Check for proportions of two-to-one

Value, Contrast & Luminance Value  

Relative lightness or darkness of a color Black & white photography helps you see value

Contrast 

Difference between highest and lowest luminance values

Luminance relates to light

Hue, Saturation & Brightness Hue 

Intensity or gradation of color

Saturation 

Chromatic purity - has color been diluted with white?

Brightness 

Brilliance of a color relating to hue or saturation

Color Impact Emotional impact of color 

What kind of message do you wish to convey?

Reds “bleed” 

May overpower other parts of the image

Color Hints The rule of threes in color Squint to see the values in the image Check proportions of color of two-to-one

Cropping and Resizing Focus on the subject Get rid of clutter The web can only show so much! Reduce image file size Improve your design

Software Can Correct Color Balance your color Correct bad lighting Punch up the values Increase the hue

Photo & Graphics Software

Types of Software Beginner 

Apple iPhoto, Hypersnap, LviewPro

Intermediate 

PaintShop Pro, Photoshop Elements

Advanced 

Fireworks, Photoshop

Camera software

Exporting for Web and Print

Exporting For The Web Use “save as” - keep original safe PC vs Macintosh color differences Reduce image and file size   



Crop image Resize image Change file format to jpg or gif Set resolution to 72 dpi

Exporting For Print Use “save as” - keep original safe Use largest pixel size setting available for camera 

You won’t be able to take as many photos at a time, but the print quality will be greater

Save to highest quality TIFF format setting Talk with your printer! Color-correct your monitor

File Extensions JPEG (*.jpg) web graphics GIF (*.gif) flat color web graphics TIFF (*.tif) print graphics PSD (*.psd) Adobe Photoshop PNG (*.png) Fireworks PDF (*.pdf) Adobe Acrobat Proprietary extensions

Digital Photos Can Be Huge! Managing disk space Organizing your photos Types of file management software Infopeople course materials available on digitization projects Don’t forget metadata!

Bookmarks Topics to Visit Graphics software vendors Digital collections projects Infopeople course materials   

Planning To Digitize Your Treasures, 2000 Planning Your Digitization Project, 2001 Creating Web Images With Fireworks, 2002

Planning A Photo Session

Back To Reality… What photos do you need (or want) to take for your library?      

How / where will you use these photos? What camera settings to use? What is the subject matter? Environment? What kind of lighting? Legal issues?

Summary and Evaluation Overview of digital cameras Hints on taking photos Who owns that image? Design and color hints Managing your files and disk space