Digital Photography

Overview

Conventional and digital photography are in many ways very similar, but in just as many ways, quite different. Both have their advantages, so in the foreseeable future, there will remain applications for each. Conventional photography using chemically photo-sensitive film is a highly developed system very close to a perfected technology.

Digital photography is a relatively new and radically different technique to film photography which records images in the form of digital (ie. 2 digit or binary) codes. Digital has major advantages over film; but the technology is new and still developing.

In simple terms digital codes are similar to Morse code. One number or digit is indicated by a pulse of electricity, a second digit is indicated by no electrical pulse. By combining these pulses and lack of pulses into codes, we can, for example, create representations for letters of the alphabet; allowing us to write language or text on a computer. When we combine these electrical “pulses” and “no pulses” (or ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’) in more complex combinations, we can create more complex representations. These can include the colour, and degree of darkness or brightness in a single spot on a picture.

Aims of the Digital Photography course from Warnborough College

• Describe the scope and nature of digital photography

• Select appropriate equipment for use in digital photography

• Explain how technology enables digital images to be captured.

• Compare different digital cameras and select an appropriate camera for a particular application.

• Control the effects created in a digital photograph which you take.

• Describe techniques which can be used for digitally capturing images from film photographs, or graphics.

• Explain how digital images can be transferred effectively from a camera (or scanner) onto another device (eg. a computer, video monitor, television set, etc).

• Describe techniques that can be used to process digital photographs within a computer to achieve improved or changed images.

• Explain how digital photos can be manipulated and changed to produce altered images.

• Discuss the scope and nature of special effects that can be created with digital photographs.

• Identify how and where digital photography can effectively be used.