The last century proved to be the revolution of photography and has changed the whole concept of recording an image onto a medium. As a matter of fact, this change is not an isolated change but it was a part of a great breakthrough that is, converting of the conventional analogue information into digital information which is represented by the binary system of ones and zeros or what is known as bits. This fundamental shift in technology has completely redefined and improved the quality and usability of the visual information. A conventional camera records the image on a film and depends entirely on chemical and mechanical processes, a digital camera records images electronically with the help of light sensors CMOS/CCD. The process of photography which was process and combination of optics and chemistry has now become a combination of optics and mathematics. Digital images can be viewed stored and manipulated on computer. This opens a vast spectrum of possibilities in all area, from media and entertainment to pure scientific research, from military uses to weather forecasting, from fashion to advertising, so much so that the proliferation of the digital cameras into mobile phones has given the ordinary street-walker the power of photography.
CMOS/CCD – These both type of sensors captures the light and convert it to digital data which is then recorded by camera. Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is a technology for constructing low power integrated circuits along with high speed which is very much useful in digital camera sensors. CMOS technology is used in various digital logic circuits. Charged Coupled Devices(CCD) are the sensors used in digital cameras to record photo and videos. The basic difference is their mechanism. Performance and speed of both the technologies is remarkable but CMOS are preferred for Camera and CCD are preferred for all the imaging devices eg. copier, scanners etc.
CMOS, costs are lowered because CMOS image sensors can have the processing circuits on the same chips, while the CCD’s have their processing circuits on separate chips.
Image Sensors. It may surprise you but the image sensors capture only the brightness, not the colour. These record the greyscale – range of colour shades between pure white to pure black. It is the camera processor which creates a colour image shown to you by additive colour method, as every pixel have RGB filters on the photosites in pattern.
Digital Image Formats
JPEG – This is named after its developer, the Joint Photographic Experts Group. This is basically compressed image file format of RAW data file.
RAW – This is the data file which contains each and every captured detail in it. “RAW” is the “negative” of the previous era as we can make some corrections without the loss of data will result in better output than a JPEG.
DNG – Digital Negative. As the growing digital era there are over 170 raw file formats now which every camera company is making for every new camera. So, Adobe tried to gave a solution to the problem, a new format the Digital Negative(DNG). So if your RAW files are not opening in a software then you can convert them to DNG and then they can be opened in Photoshop or Lightroom.
TIFF – Tagged Image File Format. There file are larger than JPEG or Raw file formats as these files can carry more data as can handle 8bit or ever 16 bit Colour data profiles. These can be open in any application as simple as Paint.
Storage Devices
We will explain only three type of devices which are in trend now.
- SD Cards – These are the most preferred and the most used devices in most of the electronic cameras now a days. These available with different names and for different devices. eg. Micro SD, SDHC, SDXC etc. These are water proof & X-ray proof.
2. CF Cards – Compact Flash Cards are delivering a very high speed data transfer and have good life also. These are found in some professional grade cameras only.
HDD – Hard Disk Drive. These are devices most commonly used to store our data. These available as internal HDDs and External Portable HDDs. One more advanced form of Hard drives is also available now i.e. SSD – Solid State Drives, these are water proof, shock proof, X-ray proof unlike SD cards but are more durable and solid than SD cards. These are now priced high but as the technology develops these will also be available with an affordable price tag.
Digital Workflow
- Capturing
- Storing and Organizing
- Editing
- Sharing/Showcasing/Portfolio
- Deleting & Backing Up
Capturing photograph is the first step of digital workflow which includes checking your camera body, lens, battery, memory card status and make it ready to shoot your project. All settings should also be checked before capturing images.
Storing and organizing comes second which ensures the transfer of the images to a permanent storage or your computer. You should organize your photos in a better way so that you can easily find them when needed.
Editing comes after storing your photographs you need to have a look on your work so that you can edit or prepare your digital photographs to share or showcase as per need. whether to give it for print or to share it on digital platforms.
Sharing/Showcasing/Portfolio So after editing your images you need to share your images on an appropriate platform as per your convenience. That could be your Social Media account or your professional media account or it could be your own website or any other professional group where you can showcase your work in your desired manner.
Delete & Backup the last and the most important part of photography, i.e. you need to delete the accidental or the unnecessary images and backup the good one which you a require in future. As in the digital era as there are more chances of losing data, so, you should backup on at-least 2 devices if possible.
The Analogue Camera have a win point over digital era as the negatives have a very long life and the positives can be reproduced at any time from even a 100 year old negative as there are proofs of capability of very old negatives to produce a positive with good amount of details in that.
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