A full-color, illustrated adventure into the high-tech wonders inside your digital camera by the author/illustrator team that created the bestselling How Computers Work.

With clear and simple explanations that say, “You, too, can understand this,” and brilliant, full-color illustrations, How Digital Photography Works, Second Edition, gives you detailed information on the hidden workings of digital cameras, professional picture-taking techniques, and even photo-editing software. Some of the topics covered in this groundbreaking book include:

·         How Digital Viewfinders Frame Your Pictures

·         How Twin Lens Cameras and Tilt-and-Shift Lenses Change the Rules

·         How Cameras Focus on Moving Targets

·         How Exposure Systems Balance Aperture and Shutter

·         How Electronic Flashes Create a Burst of Light

·         How Studio Lighting Creates a Perfect Lighting Environment

·         How Color Calibration Makes What You See on the Screen Match What You See on Paper

·         How Your Camera’s Microprocessor Manipulates Images

·         How Photoshop Expands a Photographer’s Artistry

Introduction

Part 1: Getting to Know Digital Cameras 

Chapter 1         The Workings of a Digital Camera

Chapter 2         Inside Digital Video Cameras 

Part 2: How Digital Cameras Capture Images

Chapter 3         How Lenses Work 

Chapter 4         How Light Plays Tricks on Perception 

Chapter 5         How Digital Exposure Sifts, Measures, and Slices Light 

Chapter 6         How Technology Lets There Be Light 

Chapter 7         How Light Becomes Data 

Chapter 8         How New Tech Changes Photography 

Part 3: How the Digital Darkroom Works 

Chapter 9         How Software Changes Pixels by the Numbers 

Chapter 10       How Digital Retouching Rescues Family Heirlooms 

Chapter 11       How the Digital Darkroom Makes Good Photos into Great Fantasies 

Part 4: How Digital Print-Making Works 

Chapter 12       How Computers and Printers Create Photographs 

Chapter 13       How Photo-Quality Printers Work 

Glossary 

Index 

 

About The Author

Author Ron White is the author of the award-winning, decade-long best-seller How Computers Work and a dozen other books on digital photography, computers, and underground music. He has been a photojournalist for three decades, both shooting photos and writing for some of the best-known publications in the United States. He gained attention early in his career by leaving the water running in the darkroom at the San Antonio Light, flooding the publisher’s office. He has since acquired drier recognition as a newspaper and magazine executive and as an award-winning writer and publication designer. He has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Robert F. Kennedy Awards for his criticism and investigative reporting and by the National Magazine Awards for his self-effacing humor as a feature writer and columnist at PC Computing. He has been a host on NPR’s Beyond Computing and a frequent guest on television and radio to explain new technology. Currently, he is working on The Daily Digital Digest, a newsletter and Internet blog to expand on the information found in his books. Tim Downs and Ron White have worked together on editorial and advertising technical guides for more than 10 years. Ron lives with his wife, Sue, in San Antonio. He can be reached at ron@ronwhite.com.

Illustrator Timothy Edward Downs is an award-winning magazine designer, a photographer, and the illustrator of the best-seller How Computers Work. He has directed and designed several national consumer business, technology, and lifestyle magazines, always infusing a sense of “How it Works” into every project. By tapping his vast computer system and process knowledge, Tim has developed the richly illustrative style that is unique to the How It Works series. In How Digital Photography Works, Tim has further blurred the lines between informational illustration and photography.

 

Customer Reviews & Comments
This review is from: How Digital Photography Works (How It Works) (Paperback) Anyone with a solid background in photography and digital imaging can tell you that popular digital photography resources - particularly online, and particularly those with unmoderated user forums - are filled with partially (or entirely) incorrect information on this topic. As a rule, most people who use digital cameras on a regular basis, do not understand how they work... even when they think they do. This book is a quick study and a tremendous aid in understanding the underlying technology, mechanisms and science behind digital photographs. There is also quite a bit of useful information on how lenses work, and rightly so as they are at least 50% of the "picture quality equation". The illustrations alone are worth the cost of the book. The writing style is down-to-earth but not dumbed down, which is refreshing. My only complaint about this book is its layout. There is SO much information to convey about each aspect of the photography process, that the illustrations and text tend to get badly jumbled in some sections. Attempts were made to use a "1-2-3 bullet point approach", and it works in most areas but not all. Since much of the information necessarily must be conveyed on a single page, the solution for the next edition is to make the book slightly larger. About 2" in both directions would enable the effective use of empty space, allow larger fonts (some are extremely small), and in general make for a better layout. Still, I have formal (collegiate) education in the field of photography, have worked in the industry for over five years, and still found many pages in this book to be a huge help / great refresher. Unless you are an engineer working for Nikon or Kodak, there is something in this book that will increase your understanding of digital photography. Definitely recommended.