This presentation provides the basics of taking digital photographs.

1. Digital Photography
Bethany Smith
Learning Technologies

2. The Camera ‐ Front
http://www.canon.com

3. Shoo:ng Modes
• Auto Portrait & Landscape
• Portrait shooting modes are
not the same as
• Landscape orientation
• Running

4. The Camera ‐ Back
http://www.canon.com

5. Taking Pictures
• Hold it steady
• Use natural sunlight whenever possible
• Put the sun behind you
• Get close…almost too close
• Use propor:on
• Use the horizon as a guide
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/
PageQuerier.jhtml;jsessionid=5RF
Z03RK0PRMVFW4FBCXWEMW1

6. Rule of Thirds
Imaginary lines are drawn
dividing the image into thirds
both horizontally and
vertically. You place important
elements of your composition
where these lines intersect.
http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/
tips/thirds.asp

7. Rule of Thirds Example

8. Off Center….
but in a good way
• Hand in hand with the rule of thirds is keeping
your subject off center

9. Up‐close & Personal

10. Up‐close & Personal
• Embracing your inner zoom & the MACRO
feature on your camera
• The macro mode buQon, when pressed,
switches the camera into a special close focus
mode and allows the photographer to shoot
less than 10cm from the picture subject.

11. Macro

12. Go Ver:cal!
• The camera is not
locked in a horizontal
posi:on!
• Ver:cal pictures suit
some subjects beQer
‐ and are much easier
to add in
PowerPoints!

13. Ac:on Shots
• Keep taking pictures ‐ you have space!

14. To Flash or not to Flash
• Use natural light whenever possible
• Use flash sparingly
• If unsure, take one with and one without and
decide later!

15. Memory Cards
• Memory cards store the actual data files of
your photos
• The bigger the memory card the more photos
you can take
• The faster the memory card the faster you can
take pictures
• The memory card type is not as important as
the two above features

16. Photo Safari
• Find the following in the FI
– Mr. Friday
– A flower You have 20
– A person working minutes!
– A pen
– Something in the shape of a circle

17. Impor:ng

18. Turn camera on and place
in PLAYBACK mode once
it is connected to the
computer

19. Photo Applica:ons
• Mac
– iPhoto
• PC
– Irfanview
• hQp://www.irfanview.com/
• Both
– Adobe Photoshop
– Macromedia Fireworks

20. Edi:ng Pictures

21. What is a Mega Pixel?
• What is a Pixel first…
– A pixel (short for picture element, using the
common abbrevia:on "pix" for "picture") is one of
the many :ny dots that make up the
representa:on of a picture in a computer's
memory.

22. What is a Mega Pixel?
• A unit equal to one million pixels.
• The higher the resolu:on, the more pixels in an
image and therefore the greater the image quality.
• An image file that is 1 megapixel (MP) can make a
photo realis:c print of 5 x 7 inches; a 2 MP file can
make an 8 x 10‐inch print; a 3 MP file can make an 11
x 14‐inch print.

23. To Crop or not to crop
• There is always room to crop!
• Use the rule of thirds
• Keep original
• Don’t be afraid to get in close

24. Resolu:on
• The number of pixels per square inch on a computer‐
generated display; the greater the resolu:on, the
beQer the picture.
• For display on a screen, 72 pixels per inch both
ver:cally and horizontally is the maximum.
• For print work, a higher number will give beQer
results, such as 300 dots per inch.
• With higher resolu:on, more memory space will be
used for the image.

25. What do MP & Resolu:on have to do
with me?
• To find the largest photo quality image you
can print, simply divide each dimension by ppi
(I.e. 300 or 72)
– A 3.2 MP camera has a resolu:on of 2048 x 1536
• 2048/300=6.83
• 1536/300=5.12
This will make excellent
4x6, but don’t print 8x10

26. Resizing photos
• By pixel
• During Export
• In program
• Size for purpose

27. File Types
• GIF ‐ raster‐based color graphics file format, onen
used on the World Wide Web to store graphics. This
is the type best used for cartoon‐like images.
• JPEG ‐ A graphic format that allows images to be
viewed on the Web. It allows compression of
memory, using less space and facilita:ng faster load
:me on a Web page. This is the type best used for
photographs.

28. Web images
• GIF Images‐ Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images are
the most common type of image found on the Web. GIF
images are limited to 256 colors, which is the same number
of colors most computer monitors can display.
• JPEG Images‐ Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
images are commonly found on the Web. JPEG images can
have millions of colors and are onen used for photographs
and very complex images.
• PNG Images‐ Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images are
a newer type of image specifically designed for use on the
Web. PNG images can have millions of colors will eventually
replace GIF images.