Ground Report

Welcome to DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY #101.  To access all the information available at this time (more resources are being developed), please just click on VSPHO at the top of any article for the current available resources.

This is a series for beginner to intermediate photographers. Before we get into the various aspects of Digital Photography, I must touch on some of the basics first that I will expand upon in later sections.

There are two sides of digital photography:
1. The TECHNICAL side that’s entailed in our first few sections.
2. The ARTISTIC side that our technical knowledge allows us to create.

Let’s get to it: What is LIGHT?
In nature, Light is a by-product of heat, that is to say, heat generates light.

Defined in physics, Light is ElectroMagnetic Radiation through the Visible Light Spectrum.

Light is measured as a quantity of photons just as water is measured as a quantity of H2O.

Water is a good analogy to use to convey the concept of measuring light.

There are two basic light types:

1. Direct Light from the heat source (e.g. Sun light, incandescent light bulbs, candle light…)  We use direct light for our computer monitors and in photography, pictures that may include colored holiday lights for example.

2. Reflected or Ambient Light. Obviously this is the light that allows us to see objects and scenery from the reflected light. Most of the time the amount of light available for photography is the essence of light manipulation. When we use flash and external lighting, we can often control this variable.

We can manipulate the amount of available light with the EXPOSURE settings on our digital camera.

A DOT (as in: Dots Per Inch) composes any image that is printed on paper.

The image elements on film have historically been referred to as DOTS when printed. 

A PIXEL (short for Picture Element) is still a Dot that is created by a super tiny square cluster of lights (RGB) that look like a Dot. That means that the images stored in your Digital Camera and in your Computer are technically still PIXELS. 

But the term DOT or PIXEL are interchangeable for common daily use.

Have fun!

Virtual Studio Photography (VSPHO)