The Camera

1. The "camera obscura" is latin for "dark room". In a pitch black room, a tiny hole is put in one of the walls. A light is focused through the hole, and the scene outside is projected upside down on the opposite wall.

2. During the 17th century, Isaac Newton and Christian Huygens perfected the understanding of optics and the process of making high quality glass lenses.


3. Joseph Nicephore Niepce added film as a final touch the small portable camera obscura to create the first successful photograph. The modern camera was born!

4. Modern cameras work the same way as the very first models. Light passes through the lens, into the camera, then exposes the film. In the end, the product is a photograph.

5. Digital cameras capture images with an electronic sensor called a CCD, which replaces old fashion plastic film. The images are stored on a reusable computer memory devices. Modern devices are now cheaper.

6. Auto and Program mode are two of the most useful modes of them all. With Program mode, you can just point and shoot to get a photograph, but unlike Auto mode, you can control flash and some other camera settings.

7. Portrait mode is used to blur out the background. To do this, the camera will try to use the fastest available lens setting.

8. Sports mode is used to freeze motion, and uses the highest shutter speed possible.

9. Half-pressing the trigger button shows tells the camera that you're almost ready to take a photo and to be prepared and triggers photo lock and faster full-press response.

10. The symbol with the arrow crossed out means that flash is disabled. When there is no flash, natural can make an image look more dramatic.

11. The "auto" arrow symbol is a default setting that will automatically fire if the camera thinks an image will need more light.

12. If there's too much light in a picture it will be washed out.

13. If there's not enough light in a photo it will be too dark to define specific features.

14. "stop" is a term used to represent a relative change in the brightness of light.

15. A planet with two suns nearby is considered 1 stop brighter.

16. If the new planet had four suns instead of two, it would only be 2 stops brighter.

17.The opposite of shorter shutter speeds, longer shutter speeds means more light.

18. Shorter shutter speeds result in less light.

19. Aperture controls the amount of light allowed into the camera (similar to a pupil).

20. When adjusting the aperture you can increase the amount of light by controlling the length of exposure.