Both words in the phrase digital photography denote an activity that is important, magical, and powerful.
In the early days, about 150 years ago, photographs were created using now-arcane chemical techniques such as the daguerreotype, albumen, and wet collodion processes. Photography was a worldwide sensation: you could create lifelike images without drawing or painting by hand. The wordphotography, which comes from Greek and literally means to paint with light, reflects this early perception of the magic and miracle of photography.
As the twentieth century progressed, black-and-white photography was dominated by silver halide chemistry. Photographers made exposures on film, and worked in darkrooms lit by soulful red lights to expose film negatives to the silver halide grains in photographic paper.
Eventually the color photographic film chemistries and technologies we are familiar with today emerged. But whatever the processes, one thing did not change: Photography is the dominant way we learn about and perceive our world, our history, and ourselves
The magic is still there. With digital photography, it is more magical, and more fun, than ever.
Technologic innovation continued. Silver halide was not the end of the line. The industrial age turned to the digital age, and the twentieth century faded. Computers came of age. No longer a chicken in every pot, satisfaction was guaranteed by a PC, a MAC, an IPod, and, yes, a digital camera in every home
Make no mistake, access to a computer and the ability to manipulate the bits that are at the root of every rendition of reality is a new miracle every bit as compelling as the invention of chemical photography.
We can create images from reality, without drawing, painting, or using film, with digital cameras — which are really special-purpose, powerful computers. We can save those images as photographs using the same kind of storage media used by any computer, and transfer digital photographs from one computer to another. Digital manipulation software can be used to enhance the photographs. The photographs can then be printed from your computer, uploaded to the Web, and used in photo Web logs, also called photo blogs.
In other words, the miracle of photography is compounded with a second miracle: Digital technology. Together, the two have changed the world and how we perceive it — and will continue to do so.
Welcome to the world of digital photography!
Although I suppose it would be a nice thing if you read this book from cover to cover, I don't suppose you will do so — nor do I think you necessarily should.
This book can be used as you would a cookbook to look up a recipe. You can look up a specific, common photographic situation and easily see:
Recommended camera settings
Information about lights
Tips, tricks, and alternate techniques
This book can also be used as a source of ideas for digital field photography. If you look at a photograph or a description of a photographic technique in Digital Photography Digital Field Guide, maybe you will be inspired to take photographs in the field. Your photos may be similar to the examples in this book, using the techniques described — or you may use the examples and information in this book as a springboard for your own work
You should know that this book has a companion Web site, www.digitalfield guide.com. There you'll find tools, tips, techniques, and information that complement this book.
I assume that you are interested in digital photography, and curious about it — otherwise why would you have picked up this book?
You don't need to know much about photography, or about digital technology, to get something from this book. But it will help if you already have a digital camera and enjoy taking pictures.
If your camera is a bit more advanced than the basic point-and-shoot variety, you will be able to take full advantage of the tips, tools, and techniques included in this book. In other words, you don't need to have a digital SLR. In real life, digital cameras that use an LCD viewfinder actually have some advantages over the more expensive digital SLRs (in addition to being far less expensive). But your camera should be able to set exposure and focus manually when you need to.
I don't know about you, but I don't much like to read camera manuals. They are densely packed with information, printed on incredibly thin paper, full of incomprehensible icons, and read like they've been translated from Japanese to some other language and then into English — in each case by someone who doesn't speak the language like a native. Worst of all, manuals don't tell you what you most need to understand: the implications of specific settings of the camera controls.
Don't throw away your camera manual yet! It is a fact of life that a digital camera has many complex controls that are specific to each camera model. The manual is the best (perhaps the only) way to learn about these settings. But this book is intended to provide the information that is absent from the manual, or not put clearly in the manual, so you can learnwhy you set the camera one way or another.
If this book inspires you to take your digital camera along and use it in the field and helps you a bit along the way, then it has done its job. Go have some fun, and happy digital photographing! This book is your invitation to join the digital photography revolution.