All in all, digital photography is an excellent choice for those who are learning photography. Though it is still necessary to learn all the traditional things about how to take a picture; and what makes a good picture in terms of technique, content and form; the time required to learn these skills is greatly condensed through the use of digital imaging.

Course Objectives
As a guide to getting started in digital photography this course will cover computer concepts that accompany the study of digital cameras and a basic understanding of the principles of a digital camera. The basics of shooting successful pictures with a digital camera will reference some tips from traditional photography and highlight how traditional photography applies to the digital shoot. Also covered will be an introduction to image correction in the computer and creating a digital print of a digital photo. These topics and shooting assignments offer a thorough approach to helping students and digital imaging beginners get a handle on digital photography.

FLASH SYNC MODES
Select these by holding down the flash button on the left side of the flash hump and spinning the rear dial. Your selection is shown on the top LCD in the box with the bolt.

Normal (blank, which is the default): In Program and A exposure modes, the shutter won’t stay open longer than about 1/60 second. You can change this minimum speed in custom function 21, which defaults at about 1/60 second. I forget the exact default because I have mine set to 1/15.

In this mode you won’t get blur indoors, but you may not get more than a very black background either. Choose a longer speed, like 1/8, in CSM 21 to lighten the backgrounds indoors, but watch for motion.

I usually use Normal mode, since if I don’t I can get some scary long exposures if I’m not expecting them in the dark.

Types of Digital Cameras
In its most basic form, a digital camera is a photographic device consisting of a lightproof box with a lens at one end, and a digital image sensor at the other in place of the traditional film plane. Advances in digital photography are fast providing a wide spectrum of features and options that can be challenging for the new digital photographer to master.

There are two basic types of digital cameras: digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) and digital rangefinder.

Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR)
This camera is named for the reflexing mirror that allows you to frame the image through the lens prior to capturing the image. As light passes through the DSLR camera’s lens, it falls onto a reflexing mirror and then passes through a prism to the viewfinder. The viewfinder image corresponds to the actual image area. When the picture is taken, the mirror reflexes, or moves up and out of the way, allowing the open shutter to expose the digital image sensor, which captures the image. Most features on a DSLR are adjustable, allowing for greater control over the captured image. Most DSLR cameras also allow the use of interchangeable lenses, meaning you can swap lenses of different focal lengths on the same camera body.

Go back into the Color Settings once again. This time set the policy for RGB documents to Convert To Working RGB and click OK. You might note that the U.S. Prepress Defaults (North America Prepress 2 in Photoshop CS2) heading we saw in the Settings pop-up menu earlier is now replaced with Custom. Anytime a user alters a fixed setting this happens since the Color Settings are no longer matching the original and saved setting.

1. If the Dog_in_Bowl.tif document is open, you can close it. Now reopen this document again. Photoshop’s File-Open Recent menu is a useful way to recall frequently opened documents. Once more, the Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog appears. Notice however that in Fig. 9-5-4, the radio button is now set on Convert document’s colors to the working space. The reason the radio button defaulted to this item is due to the policy being set to Convert to Working RGB.

Taking photographs of animals
Animal photography is challenging because it’s difficult to get your subjects to do what you’d like them to do. Sure, a well-trained dog is more likely to sit or stay than your average hamster, but even Lassie doesn’t follow directions as well as your average human. But by following just a few helpful tips, you can take animal photographs that say a lot more about your pet than, “Gosh, he’s sure blurry!”

Get ready to say cheese
A lot of animals, whether they are house pets or barnyard creatures, don’t like cameras. Perhaps it’s something to do with the size or the shape of the camera that frightens many animals. Add in the loud click of a shutter and the bright light of a flash, and you can seriously spook some animals. The end result is a blurry, out-of-focus shot.
Many household pets can be trained to get used to cameras. Let your pet sniff or smell the camera when you’re not using it, and give them special treats every time you take their picture.
He might be a cute cat, but this picture is blurry. This could have been eliminated with the use of the camera’s flash.

Practice your focusing technique: Even with auto focus, getting sharp images of fast moving sports subjects takes practice and auto focus is not infallible. The best way to increase your chances is to practice, whether you are manually focusing—and yes, sports pros still do use manual focus under certain situations—or relying on the camera’s inbuilt auto focusing capabilities. And one of the best ways of photographing fast moving subjects is to shoot vehicles in everyday traffic. Set yourself up where you can photograph cars coming down a road towards you; pan as they go by; and even shoot as they move away from you. It’s all good practice. You might get some strange looks but you’ll quickly find out how good you—or your camera’s auto focus—are.