My first digital photograph

Continuing from the last post.. Digital photography.. has got me hooked on to photography. I always had a penchant to photography and videography.. but I never knew I would be so interested..

Before my digital camera, I had a analog film camera, point and shoot, with a 28-70 zoom. The photographs from it were decently okay.. but then nothing like an SLR or a SLR like Digital camera. Moreover the camera I had, started malfunctioning. So anyway that was the story of my old camera..

Then I bought this Nikon E 4300 way back in 2002. This was one helluva camera.. Did a lot of research on the cameras available at that time, considered Kodak, Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc. Finally ended up buying the Nikon. I must have taken at least 2-3 months before deciding on the camera to buy. I did not want to just go and buy any run-of-the-mill camera, neither did I want to pay through my nose to get myself a nice expensive camera. At this point of time, I was not sure whether I had real inclination to use my camera to a great extent. I was sure that I would not use it just to shoot picnic and get-together photographs but put the camera to better use. But the degree of better varies from good to best, and I tell you, its a large range. So my decision on buying a camera was to be based on where I would see myself in that large range.

After lot of research and equal amount of introspection to place myself in the range, I said, I would spend around 400 dollars, for starters. Then upgrade myself to better cameras based on my proficiency at it. So saying I shorlisted couple of them and voila, Nikon 4300 fit the bill, but it was a tad expensive with the flash cards thrown in. But then, I said, I will go for it.

Internet in a way has given us a great platform for getting information at a click of button (okay may be a few). I was just wondering how I could have made the decision of actually buying this camera without internet. But then, this is only an example. I feel, I can hardly do anything without the ubiquitous internet and the computer now. Well that is a separate topic to write about.. will reserve it for later.

Coming back to the camera, finally I got the camera and was all excited. Coming to think of it, the risk element was slightly high. I had actually bought the camera from an internet store. Now we all know how internet can be misleading at the same time it being so useful. So I was hoping that the camera would work, with the fact that I had invested around 450 dollars in it. And it did work :-) Cool.. Loved it.. I could immediately see what I had shot.. wow !!! That's it.. I had stepped into the world of digital photography.

The photo seen here is one of the first photograph I took with my camera on a cold snowy day in Chicago.

The CCDs

Digital Photography, is something which has taken the world by storm. It has redefined photography. The heart of the digital camera being the Charge Coupled Devices, a.k.a CCD, invented by Smith and Boyle way back in 1969. These are the "sensors" which we are talking here which makes Digital Photography possible. These act as the "film" in the digital cameras where the image is captured.

Well we can get to the nitty gritties of the science behind the Digital Cameras and CCDs later, but the fact is that it has allowed amateurs to develop their photography skills at a much lower price.

Digital Cameras give the "Instant Gratification", i.e. one does not have to wait for the roll of the film in the camera to be shot completely and then given to a photo lab for processing and at the end of which, one finds what he had clicked. Now this process in a film camera could span anywhere between a day to months. Now as an amateur, when I am learning photography, I would like to see the outcome of what I shot as soon as possible, more so if I have the penchant to improve my skills. Seeing the shot immediately, lets me understand my mistakes with the surroundings, lighting, my camera settings everything fresh in my mind. In the analog world, I would hardly remember how the lighting was or what was the settings on my camera etc., when I would see the outcome. I think this is the one main thing which distinguishes Digital photography from Film era.

But as we always have, the purists still claim that Film photography is the best. Well that is their opinion, either due to the fact that are already masters in this art, and they do not need the instant gratification, or they just resist the new developments in technology.

More later..