Understanding digital cameras - learning digital photography

So many digital cameras lie unused in drawers and glove compartments. And the only reason they lie there unnoticed is because the owners don't really know how to use these technical miracle tools properly. Digital photography is not rocket science. On the contrary, every child can handle a digital camera. My little four-year-old son understood how to take photos with a compact camera in no time at all. He doesn't yet understand how to influence exposure, focus and so on, but he can't yet take part in my courses either. That gives you an advantage! :-)

Compact cameras are small snapshot cameras that you can take with you on every occasion in your free time and on vacation. How do compact cameras differ from system cameras and digital SLR cameras?

Every good cell phone today has a built-in camera. Are small compact cameras still useful if you already have a cell phone? If you are interested in photography, shouldn't you buy a "bigger" camera straight away?

What is the point of interchangeable lenses? Why do professionals and photo enthusiasts work exclusively with system cameras or DSLRs? What are their advantages over compacts and bridge cameras?

Why is it better to opt for high-quality equipment right from the start? There is nothing more annoying than a great subject photographed with a bad camera.

Digital cameras often advertise their high resolution. However, resolution is no longer so important today. Much more important are factors such as image noise or the quality of the lens. What does resolution mean? How much resolution makes sense? What resolution is sufficient for amateur photography?

The main chapter of the second section deals with all the important distinguishing features between the three major camera classes: compact, system and DSLR. You will find out which sensors and lenses the cameras are equipped with, for which purposes which system makes sense, what the cameras and accessories cost and what megazoom and bridge cameras are all about.

On/off button, play button, trash can - these buttons are already familiar to you shortly after you hold your camera in your hand for the first time. However, there are even more functional elements that are identical on most cameras. Once you have internalized the main elements of a digicam, you can start to go beyond pure snapshot photography and discover the functions with which you can manually adapt the camera to new situations.

Every digital camera supports the photographer with several fully automatic shooting programs. The fully automatic mode allows you to concentrate fully on perspective, focal length and image composition. When is fully automatic mode useful? And do you reveal yourself to be a complete beginner if you use automatic mode?

In addition to the fully automatic mode, in which the camera analyzes a subject and makes the appropriate settings, there are scene programs for narrowly defined subjects such as close-up subjects, sports, portraits or landscapes. What do these programs do and when should you use them? What are the limits of such automatic programs?

Aperture priority, shutter priority, program shift - with advanced shooting programs, you can set an exposure value manually and let the camera determine the rest automatically. Why does this contribute to better image composition? What is meant by depth of field and why do you need aperture priority to control the depth of field? How can you freeze fast movements with aperture priority? And what does all this have to do with sensitivity/ISO?

Do you want to set the Blender, shutter speed and sensitivity yourself? This is also perfectly possible for beginners. However, there are a few things to bear in mind to ensure that your pictures are correctly exposed and well designed despite many sources of error. With manual exposure control M, the camera does exactly what you expect it to do. You can see whether the set values are correct by checking the display when the photo you have just taken is shown. And if something is not right, it is easy to change the exposure values. You can find out how to do this here.

The Blender is a hole in the lens through which light falls. What is the relationship between aperture and depth of field? How does the Blender influence the exposure? Why is it important to manually set the Blender to a certain value for some subjects? What does light intensity mean?

The shutter speed determines how long a subject is exposed. How long or short are these speeds? What are very slow and very fast shutter speeds for? What is the normal range of shutter speeds for everyday photography? How do you create a motion effect with the shutter speed?

The sensitivity of a sensor is specified in ISO and directly influences the other exposure values, Blender and shutter speed. What ISO values should you use to achieve the best quality? Where does image noise come from and how can it be dealt with? Are high ISO values generally bad?

JPG is the standard in digital photography. The file format has great advantages due to its variable compressibility. What disadvantages does it have? What is the relationship between compression and image quality? Why is RAW the professional file format? And what can you actually do with RAW data?

You can influence the look of digital images even before you press the shutter button. With picture styles, you can influence contrast, sharpness and colors even before you take a photo. Why is this a great way to create special looks and how can you edit photos that have already been saved using the camera?

Light has a color temperature. Why is it important to pay attention to the color temperature and to know what color temperature candlelight or daylight has? How does the camera measure the colors and how does the automatic white balance help to display colors neutrally?

If the camera does not detect the color temperature correctly and the colors of an image are not correct, you can intervene manually. How can the white balance be controlled? What are white balance presets?

You can focus on anything with autofocus. But what if the camera doesn't automatically recognize the right subject? How do you move autofocus points? How do you photograph off-center subjects? What are the limits of the autofocus system?

Autofocus is convenient, but not always reliable. When do you have to intervene manually to focus? Which photo subjects are particularly dependent on precise focusing? How do you focus manually with a system camera, DSLR or compact?

You don't need a computer to print pictures. What technology is available to print pictures without using a computer? What is a dye-sublimation printer? What advantages does it have over an inkjet printer?

If you save images on your computer, you can produce prints from there with your own printer or order them online. You can find out how to find a provider on the web and how to transfer the images to the lab here.

What topics are you interested in? What else would you like to learn? Your feedback determines which of my courses appear here on PSD-Tutorials.

The six most important rules for image composition, briefly and concisely with sample images.