How Digital Photography Works, Second Edition

How Digital Photography Works, Second Edition

by Ron White
Released February 2007
Publisher(s): Que
ISBN: 9780789736307

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Book description

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


Introduction

Part 1: Getting to Know Digital Cameras 

Chapter 1         The Workings of a Digital Camera

Chapter 2         Inside Digital Video Cameras 

Part 2: How Digital Cameras Capture Images

Chapter 3         How Lenses Work 

Chapter 4         How Light Plays Tricks on Perception 

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

Chapter 6         How Technology Lets There Be Light 

Chapter 7         How Light Becomes Data 

Chapter 8         How New Tech Changes Photography 

Part 3: How the Digital Darkroom Works 

Chapter 9         How Software Changes Pixels by the Numbers 

Chapter 10       How Digital Retouching Rescues Family Heirlooms 

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

Part 4: How Digital Print-Making Works 

Chapter 12       How Computers and Printers Create Photographs 

Chapter 13       How Photo-Quality Printers Work 

Glossary 

Index 

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Praise for the First Edition of How Digital Photography Works
    1. And Praise for Ron White and Tim Downs’ Bestseller for 10 Years, How Computers Work
  3. About the Author
  4. About the Illustrator
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. We Want to Hear from You!
  7. Introduction
  8. 1. Getting to Know Digital Cameras
    1. 1. The Workings of a Digital Camera
      1. Gathering the Light
      2. Creating the Image
      3. Storing the Image
    2. 2. Inside Digital Video Cameras
      1. How the Digital Camcorder Captures Future Memories
      2. How a Professional Digital Video Camera Works
  9. 2. How Digital Cameras Capture Images
    1. 3. How Lenses Work
      1. How Light Works
      2. How a Lens Bends Light
      3. How We Perceive Detail
      4. How a Lens Focuses an Image
      5. The Magnifying Glass Effect
      6. How Lenses Don’t Focus
      7. How Active Autofocus Makes Pictures Sharp
      8. How Passive Autofocus Sees Sharp and Fuzzy
      9. How a High-Tech Motor Moves the Lens
      10. How the Eye Controls Autofocus
    2. 4. How Light Plays Tricks on Perception
      1. How Viewfinders Frame Your Pictures
      2. How Lenses See Far and Wide
        1. The Normal Lens
        2. The Wide-Angle Lens
        3. The Telephoto Lens
      3. How Digital Lenses Manipulate Space
      4. How Optical Zooms Zoom
      5. How Digital Zoom Fakes It
      6. How Perception Creates Depth of Field
    3. 5. How Digital Exposure Sifts, Measures, and Slices Light
      1. How a Diaphragm Controls Light
      2. How a Shutter Slices Time
      3. How a Camera Measures Light
      4. How Light Meters See the World
      5. How Digicams Juggle Exposure and Creativity
      6. How Exposure Systems Balance Aperture and Shutter
      7. How Digital Photographers Remain Masters of Their Domains
        1. How Bracketing Gives Digital Photographers Insurance
        2. How Photographers Use Exposure Compensation
        3. How Photographers Get in the Zone
      8. How Digital Cameras Create a Whiter Shade of White
      9. How Speed Creates Noisy Pictures
      10. How Histograms Run the Gamut
    4. 6. How Technology Lets There Be Light
      1. How Electronic Flash Works
      2. How the Flash Knows When to Quit
      3. How Shutter and Flash Sync
      4. How a Flash Turns Eyes Red
      5. How Fill Flash Works
      6. How Studio Lighting Works
      7. How Photographers Control Light and Shadow
    5. 7. How Light Becomes Data
      1. How Film Photography Captures an Image
      2. How a Microchip Catches a Picture
      3. How Image Sensors Differ
      4. How the Foveon Image Sensor Stacks It On
        1. The Digital Rainbow
      5. How an Image Becomes Data
      6. How Algorithms Smooth Out a Picture’s Rough Spots
      7. How Software Compresses Pictures for Storage
      8. How Pictures Are Stored on a Chip
        1. Compact Flash Types I and II
        2. xD-Picture Card
        3. SD Card
        4. Sony Memory Stick
        5. Smart Media
        6. How Fast Is X-Rated Memory?
      9. How Flash Memory Works with the Power Off
      10. How a Digital Camera Squeezes Video Down to Size
    6. 8. How New Tech Changes Photography
      1. How Digital Tech Changes the Way Lenses Work
      2. How Four Thirds Digital Cameras Create a New Standard
      3. How Digital Cameras Cure the Shakes
        1. How Vibration Creates Blurred Images
        2. How Cameras Detect Movement
      4. Electronic Image Stabilization
      5. Vari-Angle Prism System
      6. Piezoelectric Supersonic Linear Actuator Stabilization
      7. Shift Image Stabilizer
      8. How Lenses Tilt with Images
      9. How Two Lenses Work As One
      10. How a Light Field Camera Can Focus Anything
      11. How Digital Cameras Tidy Up
  10. 3. How the Digital Darkroom Works
    1. 9. How Software Changes Pixels by the Numbers
      1. How Software Manipulates Images on the Pixel Level
      2. How the Digital Darkroom Focuses Pictures After They’re Taken
      3. How Blurred Becomes Better
      4. How Software Changes Exposure After the Shot
        1. Underexposure
        2. Overexposure
      5. How Software Corrects Bad Lighting
      6. How Bigger Pictures Preserve Little Details
      7. How a Digital Darkroom Improves Even Correctly Exposed Photos
      8. How Photoshop Multiplies a Photo’s Dynamic Range
      9. How Layers Serve and Protect Photos
    2. 10. How Digital Retouching Rescues Family Heirlooms
      1. How Software Removes Dust and Tears
      2. How the Digital Darkroom Revives Your Ancestors
      3. How Darkroom Software Brings Pictures Back to Life
    3. 11. How the Digital Darkroom Makes Good Photos into Great Fantasies
      1. How to Change a Red Rose to Blue
      2. How Digital Photos Make Fun of You
      3. How Software Makes One Photo Out of Many
      4. How Panorama Programs Stitch Several Photos into One Superwide
  11. 4. How Digital Print-Making Works
    1. 12. How Computers and Printers Create Photographs
      1. How a Camera’s LCD Displays Photos
      2. How Colors Are Created
      3. How Color Calibration Works
    2. 13. How Photo-Quality Printers Work
      1. How a Printer Rains Ink to Create a Picture
      2. How Photo Inkjet Printers Work
        1. Thermal Nozzle
        2. Piezoelectric Nozzle
        3. Dyes Versus Pigments
        4. Paper
      3. How Dye-Sublimation Printers Work
    3. Glossary

Product information

  • Title: How Digital Photography Works, Second Edition
  • Author(s): Ron White
  • Release date: February 2007
  • Publisher(s): Que
  • ISBN: 9780789736307