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You have a digital camera, now what? Thanks to memory sticks, docking stations, computers, image editing software, and printers, using your new digital camera can be frustrating and intimidating. With Absolute Beginner's Guide to Digital Photography, you'll learn everything you need to know to take great digital pictures and share them with friends or family.
Author Joseph Ciaglia, a teacher and award-winning landscape photographer, first gives you a quick start guide to using a digital camera so you can read a few step-by-step pages and then go from picture to print in moments. He then uses everyday, easy-to-understand language to explain exposure, focus, lighting, file formats, file storage and organization, how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements and iPhoto to edit and improve images, printers, specialty photo papers, and how to get your photos on the Web and in email messages. After reading this book, even the most digitally challenged shutterbug will be able to produce high-quality digital photographs!
Film Basics for Digital Photographers
I. DIGITAL QUICKSTART.
1. Quickstart to Digital: Pix to Print in Seconds.What Do You Mean by “Digital Photography”? Why Flash Media Is Important. Photography and the Internet. Is Digital Photography Expensive? Is Traditional Photography Really Less Expensive?
2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Cameras.Capture Delays. Sensor Resolution and Crummy Lenses. The RGB Color Space. The CCD Image Sensor. Aliasing and Other Imager Problems. Highlights and CCD Sensitivity. Digital Camera Technologies and Standards.
3. Film Basics.Choosing a Color Film. Types of Color Film. Selecting and Using Film. How Film Responds to Light.
II. DIGITAL BASICS.
4. The Importance of Lenses.Lens Focal Length. Focal Length and Digital Cameras. Automatic Focus. Focus and Depth of Field.
5. Exposure and Focus.Digital Cameras and Color Balance. Exposure Latitude. Film Latitude.
6. Getting Your Pix Onscreen.Making a Scan Step by Step. Alternatives to Scanning.
7. Files and File Formats.Photoshop Elements and Photoshop: File Format Compatibility. JPEG File Format. TIFF File Format. Photoshop File Format.
8. File Recovery: Finding “Lost” Images.Using PC Inspector File Recovery. Recovering Lost Images from Flash Media. Filesystems at Work: The File Allocation Table (FAT). Preventative Maintenance: Defragmenting Flash Media. Another Disaster Point: USB.
III. IMAGE EDITING.
9. Basic Editing with Photoshop Elements and iPhoto.Finding an Image on Your Computer. Editing with Photoshop Elements. Rescan or Resample a Photo. Modifying an Image in Elements. Editing with iPhoto.
10. Editing with Selection Tools.Introduction to Selection Tools. The Most Popular Selection Tools. Introduction to Image Editing. Color Balance 101.
11. Advanced Selection Tools.The Polygonal Lasso Tool. Magnetic Lasso. Single Row and Single Column Marquees. Quick Mask Mode. The Amazingly Versatile Pen Tools. Saving Selections. When Your Software Tools Quit Working. Photoshop Elements Workarounds for Pen and Quick Mask.
12. The Importance of Resolution.Understanding Different Terms for Resolution. Input Resolution. Output Resolution.
13. The Importance of Filters.Sharpening Prints. Taking Advantage of Blur.
14. The Importance of Brightness/Contrast.Introduction to Histograms. Using Histograms to Diagnose Exposure Problems.
15. The Importance of Levels and Curves.Using Levels to Fix Your Images. Correcting Images with Curves. Accessing Levels and Curves Adjustment Layers.
16. The Importance of Layers and Masks.Adjustment Layers Are a Different Kind of Layer. Creating Image Layers. Harmonizing the Elements of a Collage. Preventing Color Banding and Data Loss in Adjustment Layers. Making a Composite Image Step by Step. Layer Masks: Attaching a Mask to a Layer.
17. The Importance of Channels.Using Masks to Create Selections. Seeing Through a Mask. Troubleshooting: Keeping Track of Layers, Channels, and Masks.
IV. DIGITAL OUTPUT.
18. Printers and Printer Resolution.Printer Technology. The Correct Settings for Printing Images. What Resolution Are My Images? Third-Party Ink and Printer Resolution. Why Do Images Look so Good on the Monitor? Printing Big Pictures.
19. Preserving Your Images.Photo Papers. Plain Papers. Archival Issues with Paper. What About Dye-Sublimation Printers?. Saving Your Images on CD-ROM.
20. Color Theory.Three Image Layers Create Color Images. Making Your Prints Match the Monitor—Gamuts and Color Management.
21. Lighting.Degree of Diffusion: From Hard to Soft Light. Available Light: Outdoors. Available Light: Indoors. Qualities of Artificial Light. The Main Light: The Dominant Source. The Fill Light: To Lighten Shadows.
V. USING YOUR DIGITAL PICTURES.
22. The Portrait.Converting Color to Black and White.
23. Digital Photography and the Web.Making Images for the Internet. Creating a Web Photo Gallery. The Internet: Resource and Gallery.
Glossary.