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Digital
Photography
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Digital
Photography
Dave Huss
McGraw-Hill/Osborne
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Part I Digital Photography Basics
1
Discover the Excitement of Digital Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2
Essential Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Part II Take Better Pictures Now!
3
Learn These Essentials for Great Photos Every Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4
Get the Best Lighting for Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5
Get Clear and Sharp Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6
Get the Right Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Part III Do More Than You Can Imagine
7
Discover All Your Camera Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8
Get Ready to Share Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
9
Use Flash Photography to Your Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
10
Gain a New Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Part IV Special Opportunities for Stunning Photographs
11
Capture the Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
12
Make Blurred Photos on Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
13
Take Great Photos of People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Amateur or Professional Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Difference Between Digital and Film Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Film, Digital Cameras, and Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Digital Versus Film Quality Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Use the Creative Advantage of Taking Multiple Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Why More Photos Are Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
CHAPTER 2
Essential Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Types of Digital Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Low-Resolution Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Combination Video/Still Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Point-and-Shoot Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Semiprofessional (Prosumer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
What Makes a Camera Semi-Professional? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Professional D-SLR Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
How a Digital Camera Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Pixels: The Foundation of Digital Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
What Features Are Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Sensor Size: How Big Is Big Enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Optical vs. Digital Zoom Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Media Storage (Digital Film) Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Which Brand of Camera Is Best? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
ix
For more information about this title, click here
Essential Digital Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Buy Plenty of Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Choose the Best Battery Charger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Get Lots of Digital Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using a Photo Editor to Capture the Entire Image . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Shoot, Review, Adjust, and Shoot Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Evaluate Using A Histogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Understand Exposure Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Finding the Best Exposure with Auto Bracketing . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Making the Best of Available Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Block the Sun to Get the Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Block the Sun for Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
x
How to Do Everything with Digital Photography
CHAPTER 5
Get Clear and Sharp Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Reviewing Your Fuzzy Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The Out-of-Focus Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Which Auto-Focus System Does You Camera Have? . . . . . . . . . 64
When Auto-Focus Doesn’t Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
When Auto-Focus Doesn’t Focus on the Right Subject . . . . . . . . 67
Using Focus Lock for Sharp Focus on the Correct Subject . . . . . 68
A Moving Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Depth of Field and How It Effects Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Eliminate Camera Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Push the Button Slowly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
How Shutter Speed Relates to Focal Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
CHAPTER 6
Get the Right Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Why Film and Digital Cameras See Colors Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Understand Color Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
How Your Digital Camera Corrects White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Control the Focus Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Flash Mode Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Finding the Diopter Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Control Your Time-Date Stamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Learn to Decipher Your Camera Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Discover Shortcuts for Your Camera Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Alternatives to the User Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Online Digital Camera Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Learn What You Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
CHAPTER 8
Get Ready to Share Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Moving Photos to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Using Card Readers to Import Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Printing Photos with Your Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Inkjet and Dye-Sub Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Printing Photos Without Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Advantages and Disadvantages of Printing Your Photos . . . . . . . 114
Photo Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Making Prints That Last:Dye-Based vs. Pigment-Based Inks . . . 115
Other Ways to Print Your Digital Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Local Photo Developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Online Photo Developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Advantages (and Cost) of a Professional Finisher . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Share Photos Using E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Image Size, ISPs, and Connection Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Attach a Photo to an E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Embedding a Photo in an E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
CHAPTER 9
Use Flash Photography to Your Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
What Your Flash Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

CHAPTER 11
Capture the Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
The Reality of Shutter Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Compensating for Shutter Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Catch the Action Like a Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Set Up Your Camera to Freeze the Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Pan the Camera with the Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Tips for Better Action Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Blurring for Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Capture Action Coming Toward You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Changing Auto-Focus Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
CHAPTER 12
Make Blurred Photos on Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Photographing Creeks and Waterfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Capture the Motion Slowly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Use Still Motion Camera Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Position the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Adjust Your Camera Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Circular Polarizer (CP) Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Weather Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
After You Take the Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Blurring Other Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Photographing Blurred Traffic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Using Blurring for Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Creative Blurring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Contents
xiii
CHAPTER 13

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
CHAPTER 15
Low-Light Photography: Taking Great Night Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Low-Light Photographic Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Low-Light and Night Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Advantages of Early Morning and Evening Light . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
The Beauty of Night Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Photograph Holiday Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Digital Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Night Photography and Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Remove the Noise Using an Image Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Photographing Fireworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Tips for Getting Great Fireworks Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
xiv
How to Do Everything with Digital Photography
Photographing Lightning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
CHAPTER 16
Create Great Close-up Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Mastering Macro Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Does Your Camera Have Macro Capability? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Decipher the Technical Descriptions of Your Macro Settings . . . 230
How to Set Up Macro Mode on Your Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Position Your Camera for a Better View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Find Subjects Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Take Low-Light Macro Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Capture Macro Photos of Shy (Moving) Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
CHAPTER 17
Photograph Your Stuff Like a Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Real Estate Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

xv
CHAPTER 20
The Magic of Digital Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Using the Power of Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Understanding Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
What a Selection Does . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Using Basic Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Adding Text to a Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Feathering the Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Rounding Up the Lasso Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Using Automatic Edge Detecting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Using the Magic Wand Tool to Make Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Moving a Subject from One Photo to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Replacing an Overcast Sky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Removing and Replacing Objects in Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Removing Unwanted Stuff from Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Switching Faces with the Clone Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Creating Classic Black-and-White Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Creating Hand-Tinted Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Achieving Painterly Effects with Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Quick and Easy Ways to Take Better Photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
xvi
How to Do Everything with Digital Photography
Foreword
Inspiration.
A couple of years ago, my then eleven-year-old son ran his first marathon. I watched from the
curb as he crossed mile twenty-four. Together we jogged the last few miles of the race, and when
he finally saw the finish line, he sprinted toward it, leaving me behind. He made it look so easy.
“Next year, Mom,” he shouted over his shoulder, “we cross this line together.”

are kept because no one except the author and those who work with the author ever reads the
acknowledgments. For example, do you want to know the truth about Area 51? It can be found
in the acknowledgments section of The Collected Recipes of the Moose Breath Cafe. So, what
secrets are hidden in these pages? Read on.
Here is a compilation of the fine folks that made this book great (these are also the people
that will be blamed if it doesn't sell well). First on the list is my acquisitions editor, and friend,
Megg Morin. She has the unenviable job up putting up with me, my delayed schedules, and lame
excuses (not only from me but from other authors, as well). The fact that she has continued to
work with me for almost 10 years could bring her state of mind into question but the fact is, she's
the best. A tip of the hat goes to Scott Rogers (one of the head honchos at Osborne) who made
some excellent suggestions that improved the content of this edition (oh well, there's a first time
for everything, Scott). Elizabeth Seymour (project editor) has done a fantastic job of juggling
multiple chapters, finding missing figures, and somehow producing a coherent book out of the
sea of cumulative changes, deletions, and insertions that were scattered throughout the book
during the editing process. Many thanks to my friend Jim Patterson who, as an experienced and
accomplished photographer, shared his wisdom, experience, and technical knowledge while
serving as the book's technical editor.
There are several others whose contributions have made this book possible. First is Steve
Heiner of Nikon who loves digital photography almost as much as I do and is a wealth of
knowledge when it comes to getting the most out of a digital camera. My heartfelt thanks also
go to John Schwartzman (cinematographer) who taught me more about shooting in available
light on a two-hour flight than I could have learned in a lifetime, and who deserves to win the
Oscar for the movie, Seabiscuit. I also must acknowledge Val Gelineau (photographer and CEO
of PhotoSpin) who reminds me how much fun photography is, and Stephanie Robey (president
and co-founder of PhotoSpin), for her encouragement and acceptance of my work. My thanks
also to Arlen Bartch for helping me to define and find my style of photography.
In the more important non-technical side of the book, I give thanks to my wife, Elizabeth,
for putting up with long absences when I am out shooting, and for teaching me new ways to use
mathematics. For example, when we got married (30 years ago this month) she was 3 years older
than I was. Last week we celebrated her birthday and I discovered she is now 12 years younger

nation’s Capitol you photographed
actually came out until the pictures
were developed hours or weeks later—
and by then it is too late to reshoot.
xxi
Copyright © 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Click here for terms of use.
With digital cameras you get instant feedback on the
photo you just took. You know immediately if it is out of
focus, under- or over-exposed, or just right, like the little
girl in the bunny costume shown here.
Not tethered by either the expense or hassle of film, a
digital camera can unleash your creative potential—if only
you’ll let it. This book is all about learning to look at the
world that surrounds you in a different way than you have
before and then daring to capture what you see, using your
camera. You will learn how to find the extraordinary in the
ordinary and use your camera to harnass it, like the rainbow
of colors in a bicycle race or the unexpected hues in a stack
of drill stems waiting to ship to an oil platform.
To capture the eye candy that surrounds you takes
some effort on your part. It involves a little reading
(especially of your camera’s manual) and a lot of practice.
In this book you will discover how to compose and take
a portrait like the one shown in Figure 1.
xxii
How to Do Everything with Digital Photography
F
IGURE
1 Forget paying for
glamour photos. Learn to take