Photography and Digital Media
Subject: Art and Design
Topic: 6
Photography Fundamentals
Camera Types
DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex):
- Interchangeable lenses
- Optical viewfinder
- Professional quality
- Manual control
Mirrorless:
- Electronic viewfinder
- Lighter weight
- Advanced features
- Growing popularity
Compact/Smartphone:
- Convenience
- Automatic settings
- Fixed lens
- Immediate sharing
Exposure Triangle
Three elements:
Aperture (f-stop):
- Controls light amount
- Affects depth of field
- f/2.8 (wide) to f/16 (narrow)
- Smaller number = larger opening
Shutter speed:
- Time light hits sensor
- 1 second to 1/4000 second
- Motion blur effects
- Fast freezes action
ISO (Sensitivity):
- Sensor sensitivity to light
- Low (100) - clean, bright light
- High (3200+) - dim light, more noise
- Balance with noise
Composition in Photography
Rule of Thirds
Grid division:
- Divide frame into 9 sections
- Place subjects on lines/intersections
- Creates dynamic composition
- More interesting than center
Leading Lines
Eye guidance:
- Paths, roads, rivers
- Architecture lines
- Natural lines
- Draw viewer into image
Framing
Natural frame creation:
- Trees, doorways, windows
- Focuses attention
- Adds depth
- Professional appearance
Depth and Layering
Foreground, middle, background:
- Multiple planes
- Sense of dimension
- Visual interest
- Atmospheric perspective
Lighting in Photography
Natural Light
Sunlight quality:
- Golden hour (sunrise/sunset) - warm, soft
- Midday (noon) - harsh, contrasty
- Overcast (diffused) - soft, flattering
- Direction important
Artificial Light
Studio lighting:
- Key light (main)
- Fill light (reduce shadows)
- Back light (separation)
- Modeling light (see effect)
Light Direction
Effects:
- Front lighting (flat, even)
- Side lighting (dimension, drama)
- Back lighting (silhouettes, glow)
- Overhead (harsh shadows)
Digital Image Editing
Software Overview
Adobe Photoshop:
- Industry standard
- Extensive capabilities
- Steep learning curve
- Professional results
Lightroom:
- Photo organization
- Color and tone adjustment
- Non-destructive editing
- Efficient workflow
Free alternatives:
- GIMP (open-source)
- Paint.net (simple)
- Pixlr (online)
- Affordable options
Basic Adjustments
Exposure:
- Brighten/darken overall image
- Preserve highlight detail
- Lift shadow areas
- Maintain quality
Color:
- White balance (temperature)
- Saturation (color intensity)
- Hue shifts
- Color correction
Tone:
- Contrast (light/dark difference)
- Highlights (bright areas)
- Shadows (dark areas)
- Blacks and whites
Advanced Digital Techniques
Retouching
Portrait enhancement:
- Skin smoothing (careful)
- Blemish removal
- Eye enhancement
- Teeth brightening
- Natural appearance
Landscape retouching:
- Clone tool (copy areas)
- Healing brush (blend)
- Content-aware removal
- Ethical considerations
Compositing
Multiple image combination:
- Select images
- Align layers
- Blend with masks
- Adjust lighting
- Harmonize colors
- Final execution
Digital Manipulation
Creative approaches:
- Distortion effects
- Color grading
- Artistic filters
- Surreal combinations
- Conceptual imagery
Digital Art Creation
Digital Painting
Drawing software:
- Adobe Fresco
- Procreate (iPad)
- Clip Studio Paint
- Corel Painter
Tools:
- Digital brushes
- Layers (non-destructive)
- Color selection
- Pressure sensitivity (with tablet)
Photo Effects
Artistic filters:
- Black and white conversion
- Vintage effects
- Posterization
- Artistic blur
- Stylization
Digital Design
Graphic Design Basics
Composition:
- Whitespace (breathing room)
- Visual hierarchy
- Alignment
- Balance
Typography:
- Font selection
- Size relationships
- Readability
- Visual interest
Color in Digital Design
Digital color:
- RGB mode (light-based)
- Hex codes (#FF0000)
- Color harmony
- Contrast and accessibility
Image Formats and Output
File Types
Raster (pixel-based):
- JPEG (compressed, photos)
- PNG (lossless, transparency)
- TIFF (high quality, large files)
- GIF (animation, limited colors)
Vector (math-based):
- AI (Adobe Illustrator)
- EPS (scalable, print)
- SVG (web, scalable)
- PDF (universal format)
Resolution
Pixels per inch (PPI):
- Screen: 72-96 PPI
- Print: 300 PPI minimum
- Scaling considerations
- Quality loss with enlargement
Digital Photography Workflow
Capture:**
- Plan composition
- Set exposure
- Take multiple shots
- Review and retake
Organization:**
- Import to computer
- Create folder structure
- Back up originals
- Rate/flag images
Editing:**
- Global adjustments first
- Local adjustments (selective)
- Creative effects
- Final polish
Export:**
- Appropriate format
- Quality settings
- File naming
- Backup edited versions
Ethical Considerations
Image Manipulation Ethics
Responsibility:
- Disclosure of manipulation
- Journalistic integrity
- Not misleading viewers
- Fine art vs. documentary
Copyright and Licensing
Respect intellectual property:
- Photographer rights
- Model releases
- Stock photo licenses
- Attribution requirements
Key Points
- Exposure triangle controls image
- Rule of thirds improves composition
- Light direction affects mood
- Digital editing enhances images
- Multiple software options available
- Compositing combines images
- Digital painting tablets useful
- Resolution matters for output
- Ethical manipulation important
- Workflow organization efficient
Practice Activities
- Exposure experiments
- Compositional studies
- Lighting exploration
- Basic photo editing
- Retouching practice
- Composite creation
- Digital painting
- Design projects
- Photo series
- Portfolio development
Revision Tips
- Practice exposure metering
- Study composition examples
- Experiment with lighting
- Learn editing software
- Process images systematically
- Understand file formats
- Practice retouching
- Study digital artists
- Analyze professional work
- Respect ethical standards