Not long ago the course title "Digital Photography" implied a
course on Photoshop. As digital cameras have become increasingly
popular, the introductory course has also gone digital so you are now
introduced to photography using a digital camera. As this new era of
digital photography matures, it won’t be long before the "digital"
in "digital photography" becomes redundant. It will be assumed,
because that is the way almost all photography will be done. One of
the primary reasons for this rapid movement from film to digital
imaging is that photography is embedded in a world that has gone
digital. To take full advantage of the digital world in which we live,
photographs also need to be digital. For awhile, capturing images on
film and then scanning them into a digital format was a solution.
However, this process is expensive and time consuming. Digital cameras
remove those impediments and capture images that are already in a
universally recognizable digital format that makes them easy to
display and share. You can insert digital photographs into word
processing documents or PowerPoint presentations, print them on almost
any material, send them by e-mail, integrate them into slide shows to
be played on the TV, post them on a Web site where anyone in the world
can see them—even have them laser-etched into glass or granite. A
digital camera, a computer, and a high-speed Internet connection make
each of us a member of an ever-expanding network or community of
photographers and viewers. Just as digital images make it easy to integrate photos into many
of the other things we do, digital technology makes it easy to add
cameras to other devices. One of the current trends is to embed
cameras into cell phones and other mobile devices. With just a push of
a few buttons, you can snap a picture and immediately e-mail it or
post it on a Web site. It won’t be long before there are digital
cameras everywhere, all the time. What impact this will have on our
photography remains to be seen, but if history is any indicator,
people will soon be discovering practical, creative, and even artistic
ways to use these new tools. Changes in technology always open new opportunities and present
approaches that change the way images look and are used. For example,
the introduction of the 35mm Leica in the 1930s was a revolutionary
change that made it easier to capture fast-moving action. Images
became more spontaneous and fluid, a far cry from the more formally
posed images required by much larger and more awkward cameras. Smaller
cameras allowed photographers to discretely capture life on the street
and people in motion, without modifying the flow of action by his or
her simple presence. Reality could be captured unchanged and unposed.
With cameras built into almost all cell phones in the near future, an
even larger impact is possible. Although it’s both the immediacy and flexibility of digital
photography that has made it so popular, there is one aspect that is
rarely mentioned. This is the new freedom it gives you to explore
creative photography. In the 1870s when William Henry Jackson carried
20 x 24 glass plate negatives around the West on a mule, you can bet
he hesitated before he took a photograph. He had to set up a darkroom,
coat a glass plate, expose the image, develop the negative and then
take down and repack all of the gear. We may not be carrying
window-sized glass plates, but you and I also hesitate before taking a
picture. We’re always doing a mental calculation "is it worth it?"
Subconsciously we’re running down a checklist of costs, times, effort,
and so on. During that "decisive moment," the image is often lost or
we fail to try new things. We lose the opportunity for creative growth
and choose to stay with the familiar that has delivered for us in the
past. Surprisingly, Jackson had one big advantage we’ve lost over the
last century. If an image didn’t turn out, or if he was out of glass
plates, he could just scrape the emulsion off a previously exposed
negative, recoat the plate, and try again. Digital photography not
only eliminates that nagging "is it worth it?" question, it also
returns us to that era of endlessly reusable film (and we don’t need a
mule to carry it). Hand the camera to the kids, take weird and unusual
angles, shoot without looking through the viewfinder, and ignore all
previously held conceptions about how to take photographs. You may be
surprised at the photos you get if you exploit this new era of
uninhibited shooting. Digital cameras are only a few years old, and we are only at the
dawn of this new era. Where it will lead no one really knows, but it’s
exciting to play a part in this dramatically changing world. As you
begin to explore the field, you will be awash in technical jargon.
Most of it can be safely ignored. To show how some things never
change, here is what Jacob Deschin, the photographic editor of the New
York Times, wrote in 1952 about the earlier era when the Leica
revolutionized photography: "When 35mm was in full flower in this country–in the miniature’s
golden Thirties–photographers in the new medium became "experts"
overnight, full of tall talk about small grain and big enlargements.
They had to, in self defence, for in those early days of the miniature
it seemed important to be technically hep, at least in conversation.
Never mind the pictures! In spite of much hokum, much good came to the
surface, survived the babel and exerted an influence that has since
benefitted all photography."
PhotoCourse.com was established by ShortCourses.com to develop and
publish high-quality, extremely affordable materials in digital
photography for both classroom and independent study. With photography
texts from traditional publishers exceeding $80, it is time to try a
new approach more attuned to the digital era—full-color, animated,
fully searchable PDF eTexts™ that can be displayed on any computer
using Adobe’s free Acrobat reader. eTexts and PDF files are slowly but
surely revolutionizing the publishing and printing businesses in many
ways including the following: • Timeliness. Since large quantities of inventory aren’t
required, materials can be revised and updated as needed instead of on
a fixed schedule every 2 or 3 years. In a rapidly evolving field such
as digital photography these frequent revisions are often required to
keep materials up to date. • Distribute and print. Textbook publishers work on a
print and distribute basis. This means they take enormous risks,
tie up millions of dollars of capital, and bear marketing, sales,
warehouse, shipping, and billing costs. All of these costs are passed
on to students or their parents. The emerging model, used by this
eText, is called distribute and print. Using this model,
materials are distributed around the world electronically and then
printed where needed. • Print on demand. Instead of printing large quantities,
the print on demand model is to print materials only when
needed—in this case students and instructors only print the pages or
chapters that are being studied at the moment. No one has to carry a
backpack full of books, and if materials get lost or damaged, you just
print another copy. • Linked learning resources. The eText edition of this text
acts as a central hub connecting you to other learning resources on
the Internet. Throughout the eText™ you can click buttons to access
resources stored on the PhotoCourse.com Web site. To access these
resources you need an Internet connection. This text introduces the entire panorama of digital photography and
includes the following topics: • Digital cameras and digital images (Chapter 1) Be sure to frequently visit the PhotoCourse Web site (www.photocourse.com)
for an up-to-date listing of what’s available. For additional
information on digital photography, visit the publisher’s Web site at
www.shortcourses.com.
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