How to master your tool the digital camera

Sharpness Tone Color Light Perspective

Image Sensors and Pixels Digital photographs are made up of hundreds of thousands or millions of tiny squares called picture elements or just pixels. Each of these pixels is captured by a single photosite on the image sensor when you take the photo. The makeup of a pixel varies depending on whether it's in the camera, on the screen, or on a printout.

On an image sensor, each photosite captures the brightness of a single pixel. The layout of the photosites can take the form of a grid or honeycomb depending on who designed it.

The quality of a digital image, whether printed or displayed on a screen, depends in part on the number of pixels used to create the image (sometimes referred to as resolution). The maximum number that you can capture depends on how many photo sites there are on the image sensor used to capture the image.
(However, some cameras add additional pixels to artificially inflate the size of the image. You can do the same thing in an image-editing program. In most cases this upsizing only makes the image larger without making it better. ) Optical and Interpolated

This diagram shows the typical sensor sizes compared to 35mm film. The sensor sizes of digital SLRs are typically 40% to 100% of the surface of 35mm film. Digital compact cameras have substantially smaller sensors offering a similar number of pixels. As a consequence, the pixels are much smaller, which is a key reason for the image quality difference, especially in terms of noise and dynamic range.

Below is a list of a few digital cameras (as examples) and their sensor size.

The marketing race for "more megapixels" would like us to believe that "more is better". Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The number of pixels is only one of many factors affecting image quality and more pixels is not always better. The quality of a pixel value can be described in terms of geometrical accuracy, color accuracy, dynamic range, noise, and artifacts. The quality of a pixel value depends on the number of photodetectors that were used to determine it, the quality of the lens and sensor combination, the size of the photodiode(s), the quality of the camera components, the level of sophistication of the in-camera imaging processing software, the image file format used to store it, etc. Different sensor and camera designs make different compromises.

The cone-shaped cells inside our eyes are sensitive to red, green, and bluethe "primary colors". We perceive all other colors as combinations of these primary colors. In conventional photography, the red, green, and blue components of light expose the corresponding chemical layers of color film. Similar to an array of buckets collecting rain water, digital camera sensors consist of an array of "pixels" collecting photons, the minute energy packets of which light consists. The number of photons collected in each pixel is converted into an electrical charge by the photodiode. This charge is then converted into a voltage, amplified, and converted to a digital value via the analog to digital converter, so that the camera can process the values into the final digital image. In CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensors, the pixel measurements are processed sequentially by circuitry surrounding the sensor, while in APS (Active Pixel Sensors) the pixel measurements are processed simultaneously by circuitry within the sensor pixels and on the sensor itself. Capturing images with CCD and APS sensors is similar to image generation on CRT and LCD monitors respectively.

The Additive RGB Colors The cone-shaped cells inside our eyes are sensitive to red, green, and blue. We perceive all other colors as combinations of these three colors. Computer monitors emit a mix of red, green, and blue light to generate various colors. For instance, combining the red and green "additive primaries" will generate yellow. The animation below shows that if adjacent red and green lines (or dots) on a monitor are small enough, their combination will be perceived as yellow. Combining all additive primaries will generate white.

The Subtractive CMYk Colors A print emits light indirectly by reflecting light that falls upon it. For instance, a page printed in yellow absorbs (subtracts) the blue component of white light and reflects the remaining red and green components, thereby creating a similar effect as a monitor emitting red and green light. Printers mix Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow ink to create all other colors. Combining these subtractive primaries will generate black, but in practice black ink is used, hence the term "CMYk" color space, with k standing for the last character of black.

ISO 100 is the "normal" setting for most cameras, although some go as low as ISO 50. The sensitivities can be increased to 200, 400, 800, or even 3,200 on high-end digital SLRs. When increasing the sensitivity, the output of the sensor is amplified, so less light is needed. Unfortunately that also amplifies the undesired noise.

The above unmagnified crops of digital camera images show high levels of color noise at higher sensitivities. Noise is usually most visible in the red and blue channels.

Color Temperature Most light sources are not 100% pure white but have a certain "color temperature", expressed in Kelvin. For instance, the midday sunlight will be much closer to white than the more yellow early morning or late afternoon sunlight. This diagram gives rough averages of some typical light sources.

Color Temperature Most light sources are not 100% pure white but have a certain "color temperature", expressed in Kelvin. For instance, the midday sunlight will be much closer to white than the more yellow early morning or late afternoon sunlight. This diagram gives rough averages of some typical light sources.

The shutterspeed determines how long the film or sensor is exposed to light.

Shutterspeeds are expressed in fractions of seconds, typically as (approximate) multiples of 1/2, so that each higher shutterspeed halves the exposure by halving the exposure time: 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s, 1/500s, 1/1000s, 1/2000s, 1/4000s, 1/8000s, etc. Long exposure shutterspeeds are expressed in seconds, e.g. 8s, 4s, 2s, 1s.

Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens that determines the amount of light falling onto the film or sensor. The size of the opening is controlled by an adjustable diaphragm of overlapping blades similar to the pupils of our eyes. Aperture affects exposure and depth of field.

Just like successive shutterspeeds, successive apertures halve the amount of incoming light. To achieve this, the diaphragm reduces the aperture diameter by a factor 1.4 (square root of 2) so that the aperture surface is halved each successive step as shown on this diagram.

We just learned that the next aperture will have a diameter which is 1.4 times smaller, so the f-stop after f/4 will be f/4 x 1/1.4 or f/5.6. "Stopping down" the lens from f/4 to f/5.6 will halve the amount of incoming light, regardless of the focal length. You now understand the meaning of the f/numbers found on lenses:

Maximum Aperture or Lens Speed The "maximum aperture" of a lens is also called its "lens speed". Aperture and shutterspeed are interrelated via exposure. A lens with a large maximum aperture (e.g. f/2) is called a "fast" lens because the large aperture allows you to use high (fast) shutterspeeds and still receive sufficient exposure. Such lenses are ideal to shoot moving subjects in low light conditions.

Zoom lenses specify the maximum aperture at both the wide angle and tele ends, e.g. 28-100mm f/3.5-5.6. A specification like 28-100mm f/2.8 implies that the maximum aperture is f/2.8 throughout the zoom range. Such zoom lenses are more expensive and heavy.

Depth of field (DOF) is a term which refers to the areas of the photograph both in front and behind the main focus point which remain "sharp" (in focus). Depth of field is affected by the aperture, subject distance, focal length, and film or sensor format.

A larger aperture (smaller f-number, e.g. f/2) has a shallow depth of field. Anything behind or in front of the main focus point will appear blurred. A smaller aperture (larger f-number, e.g. f/11) has a greater depth of field. Objects within a certain range behind or in front of the main focus point will also appear sharp.

The basic rule is, "On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed [or ISO setting] for a subject in direct sunlight. For example: On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film / setting in the camera, one sets the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second (on some cameras 1/125 second is the available setting nearest to 1/100 second).

On a sunny day with ISO 200 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250. On a sunny day with ISO 400 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.

As with other light readings, shutter speed can be changed as long as the f-number is altered to compensate, e.g. 1/250 second at f/11 gives equivalent exposure to 1/125 second at f/16. An elaborated form of the Sunny 16 rule is to set shutter speed nearest to the reciprocal of the ISO film speed / setting and f-number according to this table:

Aperture Lighting Conditions Shadow Detail f/22 Snow/Sand Dark with sharp edges f/16 Sunny Distinct f/11 Slight Overcast Soft around edges f/8 Overcast Barely visible f/5.6 Heavy Overcast No shadows f/4 Open Shade/Sunset No shadows