Sunday, July 19, 2009
Relaxing time at the beach - bar - Summerphotos of Kiel - Germany
Many early such cameras could only capture grayscale images. To take a color picture, it required three separate scans done with a rotating colored filter. These are called multi-shot backs. Some other camera backs use CCD arrays similar to typical cameras. These are called single-shot backs.
Palm trees and sun - even in northern Germany - digital photoshots of Kiel
Have a drink and relax! Digital photos of Summertime in Kiel
Most digital cameras are built to operate as a self-contained unit. This is especially so at the lower-end, for these cameras usually include zoom lens and flashes that cannot be changed. However, at the highest-end, some digital cameras are nothing but a sophisticated light-sensing unit. Experienced photographers attach these digital "camera backs" to their professional medium format SLR cameras, such as a Mamiya.
A walk on the beach - digital photos of Summer in Kiel
In Kiel you find sharks only up in the air... digital photo impressions of Summer in Kiel
Digital photography was used in astronomy long before its use by the general public and had almost completely displaced photographic plates by the early 1980s. Not only are CCDs more sensitive to light than plates, but they have a much more uniform and predictable response. The CCDs used in astronomy are similar to those used by the general public, but are generally monochrome and cooled with liquid nitrogen so as to reduce the noise caused by heat. Many astronomical instruments have arrays of many CCDs, sometimes totaling almost a billion pixels. Nowadays amateur astronomers also commonly use digital cameras, including the use of webcams for speckle imaging or "video astronomy".
Kiel offers alot - cruising ships and light houses - digital photos of Kiel - Germany
landscape and sailing boats - digital photos from the beaches of Kiel - Germany
Other commercial photographers, and many amateurs, have enthusiastically embraced digital photography because they believe that its flexibility and lower long-term costs outweigh its initial price disadvantages. Almost all of the cost of digital photography is capital cost, meaning that the cost is for the equipment needed to store and copy the images, and once purchased requires virtually no further expense outlay. Film photography requires continuous expenditure of funds for supplies and developing, although the equipment itself does not outdate so quickly and has a longer service life. Some commercial photographers have also begun moving to digital technology because of the tremendous editing capabilities now offered on computers. The photographer is able to color-balance and manipulate the image in ways that traditional darkroom techniques cannot offer, although film users can utilize the same technology with a film scanner. With fully color-balanced systems from the camera to the monitor to the printer, the photographer can now print what is actually seen on the screen.
Who gets the biggest fish? Digital summer impressions of Kiel - Germany
Some commercial photographers and some amateurs interested in artistic photography, have been resistant to using digital rather than film cameras because they believe that the image quality available from a digital camera is still inferior to that available from a film camera, and the quality of images taken on medium format film was thought to be impossible to match with a digital camera. Some have expressed a concern that changing computer technology may make digital photographs inaccessible in the future. A related concern in a specialized application is the use of digital photographs in court proceedings, with the added difficulty of demonstrating an image's authenticity. Some high-end film can also still be projected for viewing at a much higher optical resolution than even the best digital projectors.
I build my own castle... digital photos of Kiel in summertime
Digital photography has also been adopted by many amateur snapshot photographers, who take advantage of the convenience of the form when sending images by email, placing them on the World Wide Web, or displaying them in digital picture frames. Digital cameras have also been integrated into many cell phones, although, because of the small, poor quality lenses and sensors in most of these phones, the quality of these pictures makes them unsuitable for making even moderate size prints.
Summer at the beach - digital photos of beaches round Kiel - Germany
With the acceptable image quality and the other advantages of digital photography (particularly the time pressures of vital importance to daily newspapers) the majority of professional news photographers have begun capturing their images with digital cameras.
Summer and sailing time - digital summer photos of Kiel
I love the sea! Digital photos of Kiel - Germany
Practical imaging systems, digital and film, have a limited "dynamic range": the range of luminosity which can be reproduced accurately. Highlights of the subject which are too bright will be rendered as white, with no detail; shadows which are too dark will be rendered as black. The loss of detail is not abrupt with film, or in dark shadows with digital sensors: some detail is retained as brightness moves out of the dynamic range. "Highlight burn-out" of digital sensors, however, can be abrupt, and highlight detail may be lost. And as the sensor elements for different colors saturate in turn, there can be gross hue or saturation shift in burnt-out highlights.
Photos of Kiel - Summer in Germany
The quality of a digital image is the sum of various factors, many of which are similar to film cameras. Pixel count (typically listed in megapixels, millions of pixels) is only one of the major factors, though it is the most heavily marketed. Pixel count metrics were created by the marketing organizations of digital camera manufacturers because consumers can use it to easily compare camera capabilities. It is not, however, the major factor in evaluating a digital camera. The processing system inside the camera that turns the raw data into a color-balanced and pleasing photograph is the most critical, which is why some 4+ megapixel cameras perform better than higher-end cameras.
Photos of my hometown Kiel - summer in Kiel
Digital photography is one of several forms of digital imaging. Digital images are also created by non-photographic equipment such as computer tomography scanners and radio telescopes. Digital images can also be made by scanning conventional photographic images.
Photos of summertime in Kiel
Friday, July 17, 2009
Photos of Athens - Greece
The first true digital camera that recorded images as a computerized file was likely the Fuji DS 1P of 1988, which recorded to a 16 MB internal memory card that used a battery to keep the data in memory. This camera was never marketed in the United States, and has not been confirmed to have shipped even in Japan.
The first commercially available digital camera was the 1990 Dycam Model 1; it also sold as the Logitec Fotoman. It used a CCD image sensor stored pictures digitally, and connected directly to a computer for download.Ditital photographic impressions of Athens - Greece
Athens - Greece - Photo impressions of a great City
Many early professional SLR cameras, such as the NC2000 and the Kodak DCS series, were developed from 35 mm film cameras. The technology of the time, however, meant that rather than being a digital "backs" the bodies of these cameras were mounted on large, bulky digital units, often bigger than the camera portion itself. These were factory built cameras, however, not aftermarket conversions.
Digital photographic impressions of Athens - Greece
When digital cameras became common, a question many photographers asked was whether their film cameras could be converted to digital. The answer was yes and no. For the majority of 35 mm film cameras the answer is no, the reworking and cost would be too great, especially as lenses have been evolving as well as cameras. For the most part a conversion to digital, to give enough space for the electronics and allow a liquid crystal display to preview, would require removing the back of the camera and replacing it with a custom built digital unit.
Ancient meet modern times - photos of Athens - Greece
Digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) are digital cameras based on film single - lens reflex cameras (SLRs), both types are characterized by the existence of a mirror and reflex system.
Greece - photos of Athens
Compact cameras are designed to be small and portable and are particularly suitable for casual and "snapshot" use, thus are also called point - and - shoot - camera. The smallest, generally less than 20 mm thick, are described as subcompacts or "ultra-compacts". Compact cameras are usually designed to be easy to use, sacrificing advanced features and picture quality for compactness and simplicity; images can usually only be stored using lossy compression (JPEG). Most have a built-in flash usually of low power, sufficient for nearby subjects. Live preview is almost always used to frame the photo. They may have limited motion picture capability. Compacts often have macro capability, but if they have zoom capability the range is usually less than for bridge and DSLR cameras. They have a greater depth of field, allowing objects within a large range of distances from the camera to be in sharp focus.
Digital photos from the capital of Greece - Athens
A digital camera (or digicam for short) is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor.
Many compact digital still cameras can record sound and moving video as well as still photographs. In the Western market, digital cameras outsell their 35 mm film counterparts.
Digital cameras can do things film cameras cannot: displaying images on a screen immediately after they are recorded, storing thousands of images on a single small memory device, recording video with sound, and deleting images to free storage space.
Digital cameras are incorporated into many devices ranging from PDAs and mobile phones (called camera phones) to vehicles. The Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomical devices are essentially specialised digital cameras.
Athens the capital of Greece - photoshots
The market for photographic services demonstrates the aphorism " A picture is worth a thousand words" which has an interesting basis in the history of photography. Magazines and newspapers, companies putting up Web sites, advertising agencies and other groups pay for photography.
Summertime in Athens - Greece - photo impressions
Commercial photography is probably best defined as any photography for which the photographer is paid for images rather than works of art. In this light money could be paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. Wholesale, retail, and professional uses of photography would fall under this definition.
Street impressions - Athens - Greece
Image capture is only part of the image forming process. Regardless of material, some process must be employed to render the latent image captured by the camera into the final photographic work. This process consists of two steps, development and printing.
During the printing process, modifications can be made to the print by several controls. Many of these controls are similar to controls during image capture, while some are exclusive to the printing process. Most controls have equivalent digital concepts, but some create different effects. For example, dodging and burning controls are different between digital and film processes.Photos of buildings and streets - Athens - Greece
Photoshot of an old church near Akropolis - Athens - Greece
Athens - Greece - photographic impressions
People in Athens - photoshots from Greece
Athens - Greece - photographic impressions
To translate the amount of light into a usable aperture and shutter speed, the meter needs to adjust for the sensitivity of the film or sensor to light.
This is done by setting the "film speed" or ISO sensitivity into the meter.
Old columns and new building - Athens - Greece
On digital cameras, electronic compensation for the color temperature associated with a given set of lighting conditions, ensuring that white light is registered as such on the imaging chip and therefore that the colors in the frame will appear natural. On mechanical, film-based cameras, this function is served by the operator's choice of film stock or with color correction filters. In addition to using white balance to register natural coloration of the image, photographers may employ white balance to aesthetic end, for example white balancing to a blue object in order to obtain a warm color temperature.
Photographic impressions of Athens - Greece
Adjustment of the speed (often expressed either as fractions of seconds or as an angle, with mechanical shutters) of the shutter to control the amount of time during which the imaging medium is exposed to light for each exposure. Shutter speed may be used to control the amount of light striking the image plane; 'faster' shutter speeds (that is, those of shorter duration) decrease both the amount of light and the amount of image blurring from motion of the subject and/or camera.
Photoshots - street life in Athens - Greece
Adjustment of the iris measured as f-number, which controls the amount of light passing through the lens. Aperture also has an effect on focus and depth of field, namely, the smaller the opening aperture, the less light but the greater the depth of field--that is, the greater the range within which objects appear to be sharply focused. The current focal length divided by the f-number gives the actual aperture size in millimeters.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Photo - impressions of Athens - Greece
Some photography instructors have recommended starting out by trying to be stealthy and using long lenses. Others suggest bypassing such crutches, instead leaping into the "deep end of the pool" and heading into the street with a normal or wide-angle lens. Sometimes using an extreme wide angle lens and appearing to be pointing the camera somewhere other than at the subject can help, but at the expense of direct involvement with the action. Other photographers stand at one spot on the street and wait for the proper subject to appear. This was done most notably by Philip Lorca di Corcia who actually has set up elaborate strobe rigs on street corners in advance of unknown action. Magnum Photos photographer Bruce Gilden's famously direct method of just suddenly walking up to people in New York at close range with a powerful strobe shows that the demeanor of the photographer before and after the moment of exposure is a key element to interaction on the street, with the latter more important. Gilden has claimed to have never suffered an aggressive response. Gilden also has said, "The older I get, the closer I get," showing that experience is often the key to overcoming shyness.
Rush hour in Athens - photoshots in Greece
Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. Street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with. In the 20th century, street photographers have provided an exemplary and detailed record of street culture in Europe and North America, and elsewhere to a somewhat lesser extent. Many street photographers adopt a specialization. For example, some street photographers might emphasize the ugliness of modern society by depicting drug use, prostitution, and other forms of crime and/or exploitation. Others might focus on the humorous moments that usually go unnoticed. Either form is a constituent part of street photography.
Digital photo - impressions of Athens - Greece
Documentary photography usually refers to a type of professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur or student pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people. The pictures usually depict a certain perspective of the photographer.
Usually such photographs are meant for publication, but are sometimes only for exhibition in an art gallery or other public forum. Sometimes an organization or company will commission documentary photography of its activities, but the pictures will only be for its private archives.
Old houses in Athens - photos of the biggest City in Greece
Digital imaging has raised many ethical concerns because of the ease of manipulating digital photographs in post processing. Many photojournalists have declared they will not crop their pictures, or are forbidden from combining elements of multiple photos to make "illustrations," passing them as real photographs. Today's technology has made picture editing relatively simple for even the novice photographer. However, recent changes of in-camera processing allows digital fingerprinting of RAW photos to verify against tampering of digital photos for forensics use.
black and white photoimpressions of Athens - Greece
Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image as a set of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. The primary difference between digital and chemical photography is that chemical photography resists manipulation because it involves film and photographic-paper while digital imaging is a highly manipulative medium. This difference allows for a degree of image post-processing that is comparatively difficult in film-based photography and permits different communicative potentials and applications.
Skin and hair - photo impressions
In the 1950s and 1960s, high-key lighting was achieved through multiple light sources lighting a scene—usually using three fixtures per person (left, right, and central) —which resulted in a uniform lighting pattern with very little modeling. Nowadays, multiple hot light sources are substituted with much more efficient fluorescent soft lights which provide a similar effect.
Skin and hair - photo impressions
Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism and commercial photography. Photojournalism provides visual support for stories, mainly in the print media. Commercial photography's main focus is to sell a product or service.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Photoshots of skin and hair - "high - key"
Skin and hair - "high - key" photo impressions
In general, nude photography is a planned image, not a snapshot. Nude photography wants to show a stylised depiction of the human body. Photographers sometimes use extremes of light and shadow, oiled skin and shadows falling across the body to show the texture and structure of the body.
Photoshots - skin and hair - "high key" impressions
Nude photography is a style of art photography which wants to show the naked body as a form of art. This is different form erotic photography, which has an erotic component. For many photographers, nude photography is a study of the human body, much like some paintings did. Photographing a person to be recognised is called portrait. Nude photography focuses on showing the human body, often the face is not visible.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Macro photgraphy - photo impressions in black and white and color
Macro photography is close-up photography.The classical definition is that the image, projected on the "film plane" (film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. On 35mm film (for example), the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Another important distinction is that lenses designed for macro are usually at their sharpest at macro focus distances and are not quite as sharp at other focus distances.
photoshoots - flowers and plants - macro photography
Many photographers record images of the texture in a stone, tree bark, leaf, or any of other small scenes. Many of these images are abstract. Tiny plants and mushrooms are also popular subjects. Close-up nature photography doesn't always need a true macro lens; however, the scenes here are small enough that they're generally considered different from regular landscapes.
Skin and hair - photo impressions - black and white photography and color
The first color plate, Autochrome, invented by the French Lumiere Brothers reached the market in 1907. It was based on a 'screen-plate' filter made of dyed dots of potato starch, and was the only color film on the market until German Agfa introduced the similar Agfacolor in 1932. In 1935, American Kodak introduced the first modern ('integrated tri-pack') color film which was developed by Polish constructor Jan Szczepanik. It was Kodachrome based on three colored emulsions. This was followed in 1936 by Agfa's Agfacolor Neue. Unlike the Kodachrome tri-pack process, the color couplers in Agfacolor Neue were integral with the emulsion layers, which greatly simplified the film processing. Most modern color films, except Kodachrome, are based on the Agfacolor Neue technology. Instant color film was introduced by Polaroid in 1963.
Skin and hair - photographic impressions
Practical application of the technique was held back by the very limited color response of early film; however, in the early 1900s, following the work of photo-chemists such as H. W. Vogel emulsions with adequate sensitivity to green and red light at last became available.
Skin and hair - photo impressions
One of the early methods of taking color photos was to use three cameras. Each camera would have a color filter in front of the lens. This technique provides the photographer with the three basic channels required to recreate a color image in a darkroom or processing plant. Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin Gorskii developed another technique, with three color plates taken in quick succession.
Skin and hair - black and white photos
Photography (from Greek φωτο and γραφία) is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an electronic sensor.Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects activate a sensitive chemical or electronic sensor during a timed exposure, usually through a photographic lens in a device known as a camera that also stores the resulting information chemically or electronically. Photography has many uses for business, science, art and pleasure.