Photography Magazine

Being a black and white buff doesn’t always mean that you have to use film. Modern digital cameras are more than capable of shooting black and white files. Well, that is one way to create digital black and white photographs. The other method would be to first shoot in the normal color mode of your digital and then convert the file to black and white using an editing software. The only downside to the latter method is the fact that you will need to invest in an editing software (lets face it - no decent software is available free of charge). However, using post production techniques to get digital black and white images is by far the better option…for various reasons.

The most obvious advantage would be that you have a color back up. Not every photograph looks ‘better’ or ‘more suited to one’s liking’. When you have a color photograph you could always convert it to black and white at a later stage, maybe experiment with the file to see if the monotone version suits the subject. When you shoot in black and white you have already committed to using that version and there is no way you will be able to reproduce the colors if you wish for it later. Also, when you shoot using the black and white mode of the camera, you are recording only about 256 shades, whereas you are able to record thousands of shades on color. Starting with a color file, you would much better and more easily be able to give the black and white filter effects to the color file (black and white filter effects dealt with in a separate article).

To convert a digital file to a monotone, you should get your self a good editing software. We highly recommend that you stick to using Adobe’s Photoshop software for the simple reason that it is a world standard imaging software, and studios and photographers are constantly exchanging and working with the .psd format files. Once you have the file open in Photoshop, all you need to do is change it to monotone using the commands -

Go to the IMAGE menu - select MODE and sub select GREYSCALE

OR

IMAGE — ADJUST — DESURATE

OR

IMAGE — ADJUST — HUE/SATURATION (make saturation null)

The first option is the simplest to understand, while the second and third have their own applications when you need to create sepia images etc. Once you are familiar with converting images to black and white on the computer, you will no doubt opt to do things this way rather than shoot in color on the camera. You will be able to make convenient comparisons between the color and BW versions of your photographs and then begin to learn what kind of images look better in the monotone format.

Once you learn a bit more on Photoshop you will also be able to convert isolated areas of an image to black and white (very common technique in jewelery ads) and add lighten or darken selective color areas on the B/W version. The latter technique is exactly what is achieved on B/W film using color filters.

Ok - you’ve got your self a panoramic tripod head. You’ve aligned it to suit your camera-lens combination (it is a good idea to mark the position of the brackets so you do not have to go through the painful process of aligning your camera and lens every time you have to shoot a panorama). You’ve also found a great landscape or interior location to shoot your panorama. You mount your camera on the tripod using your panoramic tripod head. You shoot your 360 degree (or partial) panorama. Now comes the painful task of stitching together the images on  manual software, right? Wrong! There are dedicated software on the market for this very task. And what’s more, they also publish your images in variable formats. Once you have the shooting mastered, you need to invest into a good panoramic software. This technology was first introduced by Apple USA, on their VR WORX software that played panoramas on the Apple Quicktime player. Today there are a number of software available on the market to stitch and publish your work. We will not deal with any specific software here, but speak of the basic principles behind every one of them. Any panorama software involves the execution of three basic steps mentioned below.

The Shooting Stage

This involves positioning the camera and lens on a tripod with a panoramic head (as mentioned in earlier tutorials). Whatever the software you will be using to stitch together your images, it will never work (just as you will never be able to manually stitch the images either) unless the camera was positioned at the optic center of the lens while shooting. Different software will call for different shooting methods - some will ask for images of top, down, left, right, front and back, some will ask for panoramic images shot rotating the tripod head clockwise, etc. But remember, in every case the camera and lens first need to be mounted correctly on the tripod.

The Stitching Stage

Now ends the hard work and now begins the fun! When you have photographed the required images, you load them on to the panorama software and click away. Usually the stitching is completely automated while you sit back and relax.

The Publishing Stage

Next you will need to publish your panorama… you could choose to publish it as a jpg for print format. On the other hand you could choose to publish it on the web, so as to make an interactive panorama. Interactive panoramas invite a user to click and drag with the mouse so as to be able to ‘look’ this way or that, giving them the feeling of standing in a room or at a location and looking around. This has today become the norm to market real estate in most developed countries. To view the published Panoramas on a web page, the user usually needs a JAVA enabled computer or a FLASH player. But let us not get involved with the graphic design stage…

The photographers using the digital equipment sometimes get really disappointed when in some very hot moment they get the “Memory Card Full” message on their LCD display.

Such a situation is almost impossible if you become an owner of the new professional digital camera - NIKON D3. For the first time, leaving behind the rivals, Nikon offered to its admirers a new camera (full-format) that is equipped with 2 slots for Compact Flash memory cards. For press photographers and those who take many photos in a very high pace this option is a must.

And now, here is some information about technical parameters of the new camera. D3 is equipped with full format (36 x 23.9 mm) 12.1 mega pixel CMOS matrix. The speed range is from 200 to 6400 ISO. The speed of shooting is also very high – 9 shots per second and camera can even perform faster, shooting 11 shots per second when working in DX (24 x 16 mm) format.

The camera start up time is also very low. It takes D3 only 12/100 of a second. This option is much faster than in its predecessor D2Xs for 8/100 of a second. Also camera is equipped with a HDMI interface, high quality 3-inch LCD monitor that allows using a Live View mode.

NIKON D3 is produced inside of a strong body made from magnesium alloy and has a very good protection from dust and moisture. In other words the camera is a very reliable and fast photo device that is created for a demanding and straight-out professional. With appearing on the market of a full-format DSLR the professionals received an alternative to the full matrix Canon 5D camera. The Nikon D3 is a modern and very fast camera but of course at a higher price. The comfort and speed always cost money, doesn’t it!?

The digital camera revolution has changed the entire process of photography and has in fact made it easier for even amateurs to enjoy wildlife or nature photography to the fullest. One of the salient points is that a digital camera can take still photographs as well as record movement through its video capability.

There are different types of digital cameras available in the market and some are for amateurs while others are for purely professionals. Most of the digital cameras in the DSLR (Digital single lens reflex) range are for professionals. Some of the amateur digital cameras are available in compact body offering high resolution like 10MP (mega pixel), 6X digital Zoom and up to 14x optical zoom. Amateur digital cameras like the Canon S3IS or S5IS offers almost 12x (36-432mm equivalent) optical zoom, Optical Image Stabilizer, 6.0 Megapixel CCD, 30fps VGA movies with stereo sound and photo in movie feature, DIGIC II, iSAPS and Flexizone AF/AE for fast, precise results and 2.3 fps continuous shooting, High ISO Auto and ISO 800 for low light flexibility and Widescreen (16:9) recording. These features make it almost a PRO digital camera that has been marketed for amateurs who want to take pictures like professionals do.

The main difference between a professional digital camera and an amateur one lies in the performance. Most of the professional cameras like the Nikon D40, the Canon EOS400D, Olympus E510 etc. The performance depends on the lens of the camera, which can be changed according to the requirement in a professional camera as opposed to an amateur camera. In a professional camera you can change the lens from a 18-55mm standard lens to a 35-350mm zoom lens for wildlife or sport photography. This is not possible in amateur cameras as they don’t support multiple lenses.

Other differentiating factors include the various technical aspects of the professional or amateur cameras. Professional cameras have a high burst rate, vertical grip, and even a direct plug for attaching studio lights and all this can be used without an adapter. The amateur camera is not as detailed and is mostly for photography that is restricted within a boundary like the streets, close-ups, portraits, family photos etc. Due to the high technical ability of the professional camera, they are available with a high-end price tag as opposed to an amateur camera, which you can buy for as less as $150.

Most professional high-end cameras range from 8 MP to 16 mega pixels. For example, the Canon EOS 400D has a 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC II processor that renders colors to images with a high precision, speed and accuracy thus making the photograph look almost life-like. This component is missing in amateur digital cameras.

Amateur digital cameras are known as multipurpose cameras, which you can slide into your pocket and carry anywhere you want and click pictures almost anytime. The difference is that you might not get the same amount of clarity and quality as in professional cameras. Even at a higher ISO, your amateur digital camera will click an image with grains. This is not the case with a pro digital camera like the Nikon D40X.

There is one last differential element between the amateur digital camera and the professional digital SLR and this is the capability of metering. Metering is an option that you will find only in PRO cameras and this enables a photographer to choose the color, the intensity of light, shadows, darkness etc while taking an image of the subject. The truth is that if you are planning to become a professional photographer then start with an amateur digital camera or a analog SLR and then learn the ropes slowly before diving into the PRO or the big league.

The first ever photograph was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 and he used a sliding wooden box camera. Photography has come a long way since then. The first camera was called Daguerreotypes created by Louis Jacques Daguerre and was followed by the Calotype created by William Fox Talbot. In that era, photography was a luxury but today, due to the technological innovations, photography is one of the most generic hobbies.

The Early Years
If we take a walk back into history, we will find that the first ever photographic film was developed by George Eastman, a man who was considered a pioneer in the world of photographic films and equipments. In 1888, he gave the world a camera called Kodak and in 1900 he created Brownie, which allowed him to enter the mass-market for camera. Today Kodak is a brand name that offers photographic films as well as digital cameras.The 35mm format, which any digital, SLR or point and shoot photographer uses as the benchmark became a popular format in 1925. The introduction of the Leica I (short for Leitz camera) brought about a revolution, and prompted Kodak to join the legion of the 35mm. Almost a decade later, the Japanese entered the worldwide camera market with the launch of Canon 35mm rangefinder and this was just the beginning of a new era in photographic equipments and precision photography.

Digital Photography Age
The development of a digital camera caused quite a stir in the industry and results point out the fact that today the digital camera has achieved higher sales within a short period of time as compared to its predecessor, the 35mm camera. The concept of a digital camera came to the forefront when Steven Sasson of Eastman Kodak who developed the camera using CCD image sensor chips. The drawback was that the camera weighed almost 8lbs and could take only Black & White images with a resolution of 0.01 megapixels. The first image was captured in 1975 by Steven Sasson’s camera.

The first truly digital camera was the Fuji DS-1P with a built-in 16MB memory card although it was never really sold commercially. It was in 1990 that the first commercial digital camera was launched and it was the Dycam Model-1 also known as Logitech Fotoman and it had CCD image sensors. Some of the top digital camera’s today include the Nikon D40x, Canon Digital Rebel, Olympus FE-130 and the Olympus E-510, Fuji F6000 etc.

Processors & Digital Camera Equipments
The performance of a digital camera is dependent on several factors like resolution, which is governed by different parameters like aspect ratio, actual pixel count etc. But the most important component of the Digital camera that assists in digital photography is the processor. Most of the top digital camera firms or manufacturers develop and manufacture their own processors like Canon’s DIGIC chip, which is an all-in-one processor. The DIGIC processor enhances different functions of a digital camera to enable faster AF, improvement in image quality, quick JPEG compression, longer battery life and even rapid continuous shooting. Zoran is another company who has launched a digital camera processor that is capable of supporting DivX Video.

Although internal processors are an integral part of a digital camera but there are several external enhancers that can influence the overall performance and is mostly used by professional photographers using DSLR’s (Digital Single Lens Reflex). The external enhancers sometimes defined under camera equipments will include different type of lens like macro, shift lens, AF lens (can be mounted on both DSLR and SLR), tele-zoom, wide angle etc. Some of the top camera firms develop/manufacture their own lens like the Canon EF200mm f2.8L II USM, which is a tele-zoom lens used mostly by sports photographers. Some of the other popular or commercial digital camera lenses and filter manufacturers include Asahi/Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Tamron, Sigma, Fotoman, Fujifilm, Hasselblad, Horseman, Kodak, Leica, Marumi, Panasonic, Samsung etc.

The world of digital camera has become bigger, wider and more competitive as firms vie with each other to develop and manufacture compact equipments, which are easier to handle and can create a perfect digital photography experience for both amateurs and professionals.