STUDY GUIDE FOR THE STATE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TEST

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1 Make sure to do the 10 Internet Assignments for the test help. STUDY GUIDE FOR THE STATE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TEST Dear student, Use this study guide to help with the BIG all IMPORTANT State Digital Photography Test. Much of the information you may already know, but some may be new to you. Please read through the guide and the information you know pat yourself on your back and say I know that. With the information you did not know read it several times, it may help with the BIG all IMPORTANT State Digital Photography Test. You also have your note sheets from class that you should take a good look at. This study guide may not have all of that information. The first digital camera was invented in 1969, the same time Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Of course the public did not use this camera. It wasn t until the early 1990 s that the public could afford digital camera. The first digital cameras were low in resolution less than 1 mega pixel. They were also very expensive costing around $5000 for a basic model. Did you know that cell phones are the fastest selling point and shoot camera. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. It is a type of camera. A point and shoot camera is a compact type camera. A good exposure requires a shutter speed and aperture setting that allows the correct amount of light to hit the image sensor. If one or the other is not correct the image can turn out underexposed (dark) or over exposed (light). The mode selector dial on a camera allows you to change the camera mode from P-program to A-aperture priority to S-shutter priority to M-manual. The green auto icon on the cameras mode dial sets the camera to full automatic. P on the cameras mode dial stands for Programmed exposure. The camera will select a good shutter speed and aperture setting for an exposure. It will also allow you to make other setting adjustments. M on the cameras mode dial stands for Manual exposure. You need to select the correct shutter speed and aperture setting to get a good exposure. T or S on the cameras mode dial stands for Shutter Speed priority. You can select fast shutter speed to freeze the action or a slow shutter speed to blur the motion. The camera will select the proper aperture for you.

2 A on the cameras mode dial stands for Aperture priority. You can select the f/stop needed for a small depth of field or a large depth of field and the camera will select the shutter speed for you. Some cameras have an optical viewfinder or eyepiece. If you can not see the scene on your LCD monitor very well you can look through the viewfinder instead. Pushing the shutter button down half way makes the camera focus and sets the exposure (measures the light for a good exposure). When you push the shutter button down the rest of the way down it will take the picture. Inexpensive cameras can be very slow with the first part. This delay can be very frustrating. Macro mode is the same as close-up mode. Turning on the flower icon on your camera will allow you to get extreme close-ups in focus. The digital zoom feature is a poor way to zoom. It electronically enlarges the image by cropping a lot to give the image a long telephoto look. Optical zoom uses the optics (lens) to make the subject look closer. With an SLR camera you can attach an external flash to the hot shoe. The hot shoe is a part of the camera that the flash slides onto. This flash will be more powerful and adjustable unlike most pop up flashes. Talking about flash, did you know that red eye in portraits is cause by light from a flash reflecting back from the retina of the subjects eyes. Fast shutter speeds can freeze the motion of a moving subject and slow shutter speeds blur the motion of a moving object. Fast shutter speeds would be listed as 1/2000 of a second to 1/125 of a second. Slow shutter speeds would be 1/30 of a second to 15 seconds or more. Some cameras capture action continuously when holding down the shutter button. The camera computer buffer may limit the number of images you can take at once.

3 The major digital memory card names are as follows... Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Smart Media, and Memory Stick. The most common digital format for digital cameras is JPEG (.jpg). This is a format that compresses the file smaller so more images will fit on a memory card. It is also a format that most other programs will recognize. Importing a.jpg to a Word document your typing will work, but importing a.psd (Photoshop format) will not work. The image format called Tiff (.tif) stands for Tagged Images File Format. This format is like.jpg but it will not compress the file. DSLR (digital) cameras are very similar to the film cameras. An image sensor has replaced film. There is no film rewind knob or button. DSLR has an LCD monitor on the back to view your images. A cameras lens that allows you to choose a wide angle all the way to a magnified view (many focal lengths) is called a zoom lens. Most cameras have a zoom lens but some zoom more than others. Do you know what a unipod is for cameras? It is a one legged support for a camera. It is like a tripod that has three legs, but only one leg. Many photographers need different lenses for subjects they shoot. A DSLR camera allows the photographer to interchange one lens for another. Workflow is the sequential order a photographer will go through start to finish. This would include set-up, capture, adjust, output. When looking a computer monitor or an LCD screen on the back of your camera the image is displayed using three primary colors of light, red, green, and blue. White is all three primary colors. Cool.

4 Contact Sheet Photoshop can make a proof sheet or sometimes called a contact sheet. A proof sheet is a page with small images called thumbnails. This is a hard copy of many images on one page to look at. Image size and resolution After opening an image most likely you will need to change the size of the image and the resolution. One way to do this is by cropping the image. In the options bar for the crop tool you can choose the size and resolution. Images for the web or should have a resolution of 72 ppi (pixels per inch). This is great for viewing images on the monitor but too low for printing. If you are making quality prints the resolution should be 300 ppi. In Photoshop the Image Size menu is a great place to change the size of an image. Find Edit in the main menu then Image Size. If you un-click the constrain proportions all kinds of strange wacky distortion things happen. Usually not a good idea.

5 Levels and the Histogram Photoshop s adjustments panel has an icon to adjust the Levels. A histogram is a graph showing the images tones or values. This is were you can help an image that is lacking in good highlights or shadows. Vibrance Adjustment Lets say your image is lacking in intense colors. Everything looks dull. Adjusting the vibrance and or the saturation can make some or all of the colors more intense. Dodging and Burning Tools Have you seen the dodging and burning tools? These tools are brushes that can be used to dodge (lighten) or burn (darken) areas of an image. Be careful they may help or hurt the look of the image.

6 Use the key [ or the key ] to change the size of tools like the brush tool. Lets say you are using the brush tool and you would like to make a precisely horizontal line. If you hold down the control key while you drag the mouse the line will stay horizontal. This works for vertical lines as well. Did you know that the Sponge tool is used to saturate or desaturate an area of an image? The Lasso tool is used to make a free hand selection. The Polygonal Lasso tool is used to make selections with straight lines. The Magic Wand tool is used to make a selection of related pixels in an image. Have you tried putting text into an image? Click on the text tool (T) then click in the image and drag a box to type in. The rest is just like any other text program.

7 Did you notice the eye dropper tool in the tool box? If you ever need to copy a color from some part of an image use the eye dropper tool to select that color. Ctrl + Alt + Z is the multiple undo shortcut key. Ctrl + Z is the undo shortcut key. Copyright is a legal term that means you can not use other photographers images for gain without their permission.

8 The Parts of a Typical Digital Camera Here s a quick introduction to the key components of the average non-slr digital camera: The front of a typical digital camera. The back of a typical digital camera. Shutter button: Press this button all the way to take a picture. Control buttons: Adjust various camera settings. Shooting mode dial: Change among different scene modes, adjust exposure choices, and so on. Microphone: Capture audio for movie clips and voice annotations, or even activate a sound-triggered self-timer. Focus-assist light: Helps the camera focus in dim lighting conditions. Electronic flash: Provides addition light to your scene. Optical viewfinder: To frame and compose your picture. Zoom lens and control: Magnifies or reduces the size of the image. Tripod socket: Allows you to attach the camera to a firm support. Docking port: Can be used to transfer photos, recharge the batteries, make prints, or perform other functions. Battery compartment: Contains the cells that power the camera. Power switch: Turn the camera on or off. Indicator LEDs: Show the camera s status. LCD (liquid crystal display) panel: The camera s display. Display control/menu button: Controls the amount of information shown in the LCD and menus. Picture review: Press this button to review the pictures you ve already taken. Cursor pad: Navigate menu choices. Set/Execute button: Activate a feature or set a menu choice to the current selection. Memory card slot: Accepts digital memory cards. USB port: Access for a USB cable. File-save LED: This light usually lights up to indicate that an image is being saved to the memory card.

9 Do not forget to look over your note sheets from class. The History notes will be a good one to go over. The note sheet for Operating a Camera is another good one to study. Look over your work sheet for Careers in Photography and the Ethics and Law for Photographers. Functions of Popular Tools in Photoshop Because Photoshop has so many features, and because it can be highly complex, it is not possible to discuss every tool and option available in this document. However, descriptions of several of the most popular tools follow. Rectangular Marquee This tool allows the user to select rectangular shaped areas within an image. The areas can then be copied or cut and then pasted into new layers. The tool also can become a bounding border for pouring color with the Paint Bucket or Gradient tools. Other marquee tools are available by clicking and holding the button. Move tool The Move tool is used to move selected layers around. Clicking and holding the mouse button can adjust the ositions of layer elements. This tool is also used to set and move Guide Lines. Lasso Tool This tool is used to select parts of a layer for editing. There are other types of lassos available, including a agnetic Lasso and Polygonal Lasso. Magic Wand The Magic Wand is used to select portions of an image based on color. Sections of the same color are selected hen the wand it touched on the desired color and the mouse if left clicked. Crop Tool The Crop tool is an important tool for making adjustments to the overall size of an image. Using the Crop tool affects the size of the whole image, not just a single layer. This is a powerful tool and must be used carefully. Healing Tool This is an especially helpful tool that is new starting in Photoshop. It is used to remove dust marks and scratches from photographs. The Patch tool is found at the same position on the Tool Bar, but is used to repair areas of a photograph that are larger than the typical scratch. Clone Tool The Clone tool is used to copy portions of a layer from one area to another. It is similar to the Rubber Stamp tool found in earlier versions of Photoshop. Text Tool This is the tool that is used to add to an image and to edit existing text. Size, color, and other attributes of the text can be specified and adjusted. Zoom Tool This is a very handy tool used to quickly zoom in or out of an image.

10 Get out your History of Photography note sheet. It should have all you need for the test. For a brief History of Photography click on the links bellow or type in the link. Next is a great website for knowing more about your camera and how to use it. Click on Using Your Digital Camera then click on CHAPTER 1. CAMERA CONTROLS & CREATIVITY then click on Good Things to Know. Read this information it has some good things to know. Go back to Chapter 1 and click on Exposure Controls The Shutter And Aperture. Read about what the shutter and aperture is all about. Go back to Chapter 1 and click on The Aperture Controls Light And Depth of a Field. About half way down click on the Animation button for Click here to explore how the aperture affects depth of field. Now look in CHAPTER 2. CONTROLLING SHARPNESS Click on Increasing Sensitivity. Read about ISO and what it might have to do with digital noise. Go back to the beginning and click on Digital Photography Workflow and study Formats, Evaluating Your Images-Historgrams. YOU HAVE TO GO TO THIS SITE!!!!!!!

11 Exposure Understanding Exposure- ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed When you think of the craft or art of photography, you must immediately think of exposure. Exposure is a critical element that determines what is actually recorded on the image sensor. There are three adjustable elements that control the exposure - ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. ISO ratings determine the image sensor s sensitivity to light, each value of the rating represents a stop of light, and each incremental ISO number (up or down) represents a doubling or halving of the sensor s sensitivity to light. The Aperture controls the lens diaphragm, which controls the amount of light traveling through the lens to the film plane. The aperture setting is indicated by the f-number, whereas each f-number represents a stop of light. The Shutter Speed indicates the speed in which the curtain opens then closes, and each shutter speed value also represents a stop of light. The shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second.

12 ISO Speed ISO is actually an acronym, which stands for International Standards Organization. The ISO rating, which ranges in value from 25 to 3200 (or beyond), indicates the specific light sensitivity. The lower the ISO rating, the less sensitive the image sensor is and therefore the smoother the image, because there is less digital noise in the image. The higher the ISO rating (more sensitive) the stronger the image sensor has to work to establish an effective image, which thereby produces more digital noise (those multicolored speckles in the shadows and in the midtones). So what is digital noise? It is any light signal that does not originate from the subject, and therefore creates random color in an image. The digital camera engineers have designed the image sensor to perform best at the lowest ISO (just like with film). On most digital cameras this is ISO 100, although some high end DSLRs have a mode that brings the ISO down to 50 or even 25.

13 Aperture A lens s aperture is the opening in the diaphragm that determines the amount of focused light passing through the lens. At a small f-stop, say f/2, a tremendous amount of light passes through, even at a fraction of a second; but at f/22, when the diaphragm is perhaps at its smallest, only a tiny amount of light is let in (even at longer shutter speeds). An interesting thing about the aperture and the f-numbers is that it doesn t matter the focal length of the lens as long as the f-number is held constant. This is because the arithmetical equation that determines the f-number indicates that the same amount of light passes through the lens on a 35mm lens as on a 100mm lens, with a shutter speed of 1/125s. The size of the diaphragm is unquestionably different, but the amount of light passing through is the same.

14 Shutter Speed Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, and indicates how fast the curtains at the film plane open and close. The shutter speed controls how long light enters the lens and hits the image sensor or film plane. The shutter speed enables you to capture the world in split seconds, but it can also absorb the world at speeds upwards of three and four seconds (or remain continually open up until the photographer wants to close the curtain). Snapping the shutter in a fraction of a second, also gives you control on how motion is recorded. If the shutter speed is faster than the object or background, then the image will be tack sharp. If the shutter speed is slower, then you ll get blurred objects. Think about the rain in a rainstorm, how fast is that water falling? Well, at 1/30th the raindrops are streaks of undistinguishable white. But at 1/250th, the raindrops hover in midair and you can see the full swell of each water drop.

15 What controls exposure? When these three elements are combined, they represent a given exposure value (EV) for a given setting. Any change in any one of the three elements will have a measurable and specific impact on how the remaining two elements react to expose the film frame or image sensor and how the image ultimately looks. For example, if you increase the f-stop, you decrease the size of the lens diaphragm thus reducing the amount of light hitting the image sensor, but also increasing the DOF (depth of field) in the final image. Reducing the shutter speed affects how motion is captured, in that this can cause the background or subject to become blurry. However, reducing shutter speed (keeping the shutter open longer) also increases the amount of light hitting the image sensor, so everything is brighter. Increasing the ISO, allows for shooting in lower light situations, but you increase the amount of digital noise inherent in the photo. It is impossible to make an independent change in one of the elements and not obtain an opposite effect in how the other elements affect the image, and ultimately change the EV.

16 Overexposure & Underexposure Overexposure is when the information in the highlights is effectively unreadable. When there is this type of excessive loss of image information there is no way to retrieve that missing information in the digital dark room. Underexposure is pretty much the same concept; except in this case there is no image information contained within the shadows. This non-existent information cannot be retrieved through post processing either. In digital photography, once that image information is gone, there s no way to retrieve it.