Digital Photography Techniques - How Digital Cameras Capture Photos

I wanted to talk to you about the concept of digital cameras: How they actually function and take photos. I'll skip the technical explanation as much as possible but I want you to understand the concept so that you can actually take better photos in the future.

Let's begin with the camera's metering. The camera works by analyzing the brightness of the light from the subject and adjust the camera settings accordingly (If you are using automatic or semi-automatic modes). There are normally three metering mode in most digital cameras: 'Multi-segment', 'Center-weighted' and 'Spot'.

'Multi-segment' metering enables the camera to meter the light falls on all parts of the sensor. This mode is suitable for wide-angled photography like landscapes.

'Centre-weighted' metering allows the camera to meter the light falls on the center bracket of the sensor. This mode is suitable for more focused photography like sports and portraits

'Spot' metering allows the camera to read the light falls on the absolute center point of the sensor. This mode is appropriate for discreet and isolated subjects like macro photography

Take advantage of these modes and read the desired light. Once done, lock the exposure compensation (this setting is available mostly in DSLRs), and recompose before capturing the photo.

Now that you know how metering works, let's talk about the subject brightness range. Unlike our eyes, your camera sensor does not have a large brightness range over a subject. The maximum possible range is 9 stops. The sensor takes black as darkest and white as brightest. Therefore the neutral compensation of a sensor is called neutral gray. (On another related matter, this explains why sometimes it is advised to use neutral gray color as a reference for white-balance settings).

There's a simple way to know whether the composure you make is out of the brightness range of the sensor. Switch your camera to aperture priority and use 'Spot' metering mode. Using a constant aperture, point your camera to the brightest region of the view and then to the darkest region. If the shutter-speed adjusts more than 9 stops, then the composure is out of range and the image will either be overexposed or underexposed.

This is when a photography technique called HDR kicks in. HDR stands for High-Dynamic-Range, and it is a photography method that allows the photo to extend to a larger brightness range. The procedure for this technique is simple. Take three photographs: one underexposed, one well-exposed, and one over-exposed. Then use software such as Photomatix Pro to merge the three photos together and generate the HDR image.

This is a digital method of solving the problem. To solve this problem manually using the camera, filters will have to be utilized.