How Digital Photography Works

by Ron White, Timothy Edward Downs

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   ·         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 
 

Genres: Photography, Ebooks, Nonfiction

226 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2005

About the author

Ron White is a two time national memory champion winning the USA Memory Championship in 2009 and 2010. He held the record for two years for the fastest time to memorize a deck of shuffled cards in only 1 minute and 27 seconds.


Note: There are several authors named "Ron White". Their books need to be properly segregated.

Reviews

[Fernando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge information...

[Torpor]

RBG three different sensors
Fish 2 ft away appears 3ft away in water
Chromatic aberration, each color bends differently. Solution : Achromatic lenses, two lenses that cancel each other effect.

Bigger lens to gather more light to focus on sensor.

AF:
1. Active: smaller cameras, IR based, good at night, works for small distances only
2. Passive: Old DSLRs have linear sensor, tries to have max delta in intensity of adj photodiodes

USM:
Ultrasonic motors.
Piezoelectric effect.

DSLRs AF uses EYE! IR LED reflects IR from retina and sensor using its metering zones that have AF points, tries to determine where eye is looking.
That's why there is a diopter corrector in viewfinder.


Viewfinder:
Normal : they have parallax, hence have parallax indicator
DSLRs: through the lens (TTL) viewfinder (have mirror), accurate
EVFs: Electronic VFs: quieter (no mirror) but drain battery.


Lens:
Normal: Focal length = diagonal length of img sensor
Wide angel : FL < diag of img sensor , fisheye < 15mm (180 deg) converging/positive
Telephoto: > 65mm , diverging/negative

[Monte · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good basic explanation