Digital Photography for Dummies

323 Pages·2016·85.87 MB·English

by  Julie Adair King

Digital

Photography
8th edition
by Julie Adair King
Digital Photography For Dummies®, 8th Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939093
ISBN 978-1-119-23560-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-23563-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-23564-4 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part 1: Exploring Digital Photography Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CHAPTER 1: Choosing the Right Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
CHAPTER 2: Starting to See Like a Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
CHAPTER 3: Easy Does It: Using Auto and Scene Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
CHAPTER 4: Understanding Basic Picture Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Part 2: Taking Your Photography to the Next Level . . . . . . . 107
CHAPTER 5: Taking Control of Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
CHAPTER 6: Manipulating Focus and Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
CHAPTER 7: Getting the Shot: How the Pros Do It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Part 3: After the Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CHAPTER 8: Viewing, Downloading, and Storing Your Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
CHAPTER 9: Printing and Sharing Your Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Part 4: The Part of Tens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 10: Ten Accessories to Enhance Your Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
CHAPTER 11: Ten Fixes for Common Photo Flaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .63
CHAPTER 12: Top Ten Maintenance and Emergency Care Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Appendix: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
How This Book Is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Part 1: Exploring Digital Photography Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Part 2: Taking Your Photography to the Next Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Part 3: After the Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Part 4: The Part of Tens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Beyond the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Icons Used in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Where to Go From Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PART 1: EXPLORING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS . . . . . 7
CHAPTER 1: Choosing the Right Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Thinking About Your Artistic Goals (Or Lack Thereof) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Reviewing Basic Camera Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Interchangeable-lens cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fixed-lens cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Understanding Photo Quality Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Resolution: How many megapixels? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Image sensor: Full frame or smaller? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Image file format: JPEG versus Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
High ISO performance (noise levels) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Looking at Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Lens focal length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Lens aperture range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Checking Out Shooting Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Considering Focusing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Taking the Exposure Reins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Understanding Advanced Flash Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Investigating Color Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Reviewing Other Important Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Viewfinder: Optical or electronic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Video-recording capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Memory-card features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Convenience features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
So . . . Is It Time for a New Camera? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Table of Contents v
CHAPTER 2: Starting to See Like a Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Exploring Composition Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Positioning elements in the frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating movement through the frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Eliminating clutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Leaving some head room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using Depth of Field to Artistic Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Capturing Motion: To Blur or Not to Blur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Becoming a Student of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Exploring New Subjects and Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER 3: Easy Does It: Using Auto and Scene Modes . . . . . . . . . 65
Investigating Automatic Shooting Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Setting Up for Automatic Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Shooting in Auto Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Stepping Up to Scene Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Portrait mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Landscape mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Close-up mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Sports mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
CHAPTER 4: Understanding Basic Picture Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Choosing an Exposure Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Setting the Shutter-Release Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Setting Picture Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Pixels and print quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Pixels and screen images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Pixels and file size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Setting the File Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Camera Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
TIFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Looking at a Few Additional Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
PART 2: TAKING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY TO
THE NEXT LEVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
CHAPTER 5: Taking Control of Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Understanding Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Introducing the exposure trio: Aperture, shutter speed,
and ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Doing the exposure balancing act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Adjusting f-stop, Shutter Speed, and ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Taking advantage of exposure guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
vi Digital Photography For Dummies
Changing the Metering mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Using “priority” exposure modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Adjusting Autoexposure Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Applying exposure compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
AE Lock (autoexposure lock) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Expanding Tonal Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Bracketing Exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Adding Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Enabling and disabling flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Exploring special flash modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Using an external flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Adjusting flash power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CHAPTER 6: Manipulating Focus and Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Diagnosing Focus Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Understanding Focusing Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Getting good autofocusing results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Focusing manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Playing with Depth of Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Controlling Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Exploring the world of digital color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Using white balance to adjust color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Using white balance for effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Investigating JPEG Picture Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Shooting Raw for Maximum Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CHAPTER 7: Getting the Shot: How the Pros Do It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Capturing Captivating Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Shooting Better Action Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Taking in the Scenery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Getting Gorgeous Close-ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Coping with Special Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
PART 3: AFTER THE SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Viewing, Downloading, and Storing
CHAPTER 8:
Your Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
Taking Advantage of Playback Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Getting a close-up look at a photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Displaying thumbnails and calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Viewing picture settings (metadata) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Displaying histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Displaying highlight alerts (“blinkies”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Rating, Deleting, and Protecting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Table of Contents vii
Setting Up Your Digital Darkroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Assessing your computer needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
Sorting through software solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Preserving your files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Downloading Your Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Looking at connection options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Completing the download process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
CHAPTER 9: Printing and Sharing Your Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Converting Raw Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Avoiding Printing Pitfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
Checking resolution: Do you have enough pixels? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Getting print and monitor colors in sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Ordering Prints from a Retail Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
Printing Your Own Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Choosing a printer type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Looking at other printer features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Protecting Your Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Sizing photos for screen display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Saving files in the JPEG format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Viewing Photos on a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
PART 4: THE PART OF TENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 10: Ten Accessories to Enhance Your Photography . . . 247
Invest In a Good Camera Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Steady Your Camera with a Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Find a More Comfortable Camera Strap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Get a Better View of Your Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Take Advantage of Remote Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Consider a Few Lens Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Download Some Cool Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Catch Great Light with a Reflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Dive In with a Waterproof Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Treat Your Wrist to a Graphics Tablet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
CHAPTER 11: Ten Fixes for Common Photo Flaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Correcting Exposure Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Fixing Focus Flubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Eliminating Distractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Softening the Impact of a Busy Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Getting Rid of Lens Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Straightening a Tilting Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
viii Digital Photography For Dummies