Foundations of Photography: A Treatise on the Technical Aspects of Digital Photography

281 Pages·2022·13.181 MB·English

by  George Pavlidis

George Pavlidis
Foundations of
Photography
A Treatise on the Technical Aspects
of Digital Photography
Foundations of Photography
George Pavlidis
Foundations of Photography
A Treatise on the Technical Aspects of Digital
Photography
GeorgePavlidis
AthenaResearchCentre
UniversityCampusatKimmeria
Xanthi,Greece
ISBN 978-3-031-06251-3 ISBN 978-3-031-06252-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06252-0
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ToEvrinomi,thebeautiful personwhohas
alwaysbeenmystablefoundation.
Preface
Any study of photography naturally relates to the study of how one may use
light (Greek ‚ originally pronounced , now simplified to ‘fos’) to write,
inscribe,orcreateimages(Greek pronounced ).fos+ gives
,theGreekwordfortophotograph.Lighthashadandcontinuestohave
aspecialimpactonhumans,infactineverythingthatrelatestowhatweperceiveas
life. It is what wakes us up in the morning, what warms us, and what gives us the
imagesoftheworldaroundus.Ithasthepowertoturnasimpleviewattheseainto
serenityandanticipation,thegazeattheforestintocalmness,theglanceatthesky
andstarsintocosmologicalandexistentialsearch,orthelookatalovedoneintojoy.
Recognising the value of light in life, humans throughout history devised ways
of capturing the images created by light, while, at the same time, wondering and
exploringtheverynatureofthismagicalelement,sometimesusingscience,some-
timesusinglogicandphilosophy,andsometimesrelyingonfeelingandsuperstition.
Whatiscertainisthatlightisakeyelementoftheuniversethatisourhome,exists
regardless of our perception of it, and even plays a defining role in relationships
withintheuniverse.
Inscience,manyattemptshavebeenmadetoexplainthenatureoflight,which
sometimes led to theories about the particle nature, the wave nature, or the elec-
tromagnetic nature of light. The first to support a particle theory of light was a
brilliant person called Newton, when in 1675 he (but also other scientists of that
era) argued that light was a continuous stream of particles travelling in a straight
linefromasource,thus,givingapureparticlecharactertolight.Eveninthesame
periodbutalsolater,severalgreatscientificmindssupportedawavetheoryoflight,
attributingtoitexclusivelyawavenature,likethewavesonthewatersurface.Among
themwereRobertHooke(1660),ChristiaanHuygens(1678),LeonhardEuler(1746),
TomasYoung(early1800),Augustin-JeanFresnel(1817),andSimeonDenisPoisson
(1820s).Withthedevelopmentofelectromagnetictheory,scientistssuchasMichael
Faraday(1845),JamesClerkMaxwell(1862,1873),andHeinrichHertzpavedthe
waytowardsanelectromagnetictheoryoflight.WiththeadventofEinstein’stheory
ofspecialrelativityin1905,theideaofadualnatureoflight wasfirstintroduced,
which solved the paradox of the constant speed of light, creating, in this process,
vii
viii Preface
another‘paradox’thatspaceandtimearesomewhatmore‘exotic’parametersofthe
universe.Atthesametime,thelightappearedtoplayanevenmoreimportantrole,
since first appeared as the connecting element between energy and mass, through
thefamousEinsteinsimplifiedequationE =mc2.Inaddition,theacceptanceofthe
dualnatureoflightprovidedan‘elegant’interpretationoftheparadoxofthephoto-
electriceffect,thereleaseofelectronsfromasurfacewhenlightfallsuponit.Infact,
itwasthisinterpretationforwhichEinsteinwasawardedtheNobelPrize.Thisview
was supported by scientists such as Max Planck (in 1900) with the interpretation
ofblackbodyradiation,whichreinforcedaquantumtheoryoflight (photons)that
backedthedualnaturewhilepavingthewayfortheadventofquantummechanics
and quantum electrodynamics. Even tothose notparticularlyfond ofmathematics
andscience,thenamesoftheaforementionedscientistssoundparticularlyfamiliar
andshowtheimportancegivenbyhumansintheunderstandingoflight,highlighting
itsuniquenessintheuniverse.
One might say that the study of light within subjects like photography is more
relatedtoitswavenature.Asawave,lightcorresponds totheknown andmapped
spectrumofelectromagneticradiation,sinceitisa‘carrier’ofenergyintheuniverse.
Apparently,thepartofthisspectrumthatrelatestophotographyisonlyasmallone,
the one called the ‘visible spectrum’, that is, those frequencies (or wavelengths)
thataredetectedbythehumaneye.Thesefrequenciesarehigherthanmicrowaves,
which are used in communication and some other technologies useful for heating,
and are located between the areas defined by infrared and ultraviolet radiation. In
addition, one of the characteristic properties of light that plays an important role
inthestudyofissuesrelatedtophotographyisthatofrefraction.Refractionisthe
phenomenon,inwhich,whenlightpassesthroughdifferentmedia(e.g.fromairto
water, or through a lens), a change in its velocity occurs, which is expressed by a
change of direction of propagation. In addition, there is also the phenomenon of
chromaticdispersion,inwhichshortwavelengths(violetlight)arerefracted(bent)
morethanlongwavelengths(red)andthisiswhythewell-known‘lightspectrum’
appearswhenwhitelightpassesthroughaprism,orrainbowsappearinthesky.
Inspiredbyhowbiologicalsystems,likethehumanvisualsystem,detectlightand
formimages,humanshavealonghistoryoftryingtocapturelightandpermanently
imprintimagesusingspecialtechniques,devices,andequipment.Thishistoryhasits
rootsinancienttimeswhenearlythinkersgotanideaofwhatadarkroom(camera
obscura)mightbe,evenduringtimeswhenitwasimpossibletocreateone.During
the later scientific revolution, chemistry has been put to the task, with many great
contributions that ultimately made it possible to permanently imprint full-colour
images on various media and surfaces. In the following years, the technology to
createphotographsswitchedfromachemistrytoanelectro-mechanicalapplication,
which,eventually,enabledsmallerdeviceswithbetterresultsandwiderapplicability.
Asignificantstepwasmadeduringthetwentieth-centurydigitalrevolution,carrying
alongtheimagingtechnology.Significantadvancementsindigitalsystemsmadeit
possibleforhigh-qualityimagingwithsmallerandsmallerdevices,atmassivescales
withenhancedsharingcapabilities.
Preface ix
Itseemsthattheartandscienceofphotographyhasbeenthesubjectofnumerous
studiesandthereisavastrelevantliterature.Worldwide,photographymaturedtoa
state-of-the-arttechnical and artisticlevel around the twentieth century, and in the
twenty-first century, it walked boldly into the digital realm. One could easily find
severalcurriculathatsupportthestudyofphotographyandthereisavastamountof
onlinecoursesonphotography,primarilyfocusingonitsartisticform.Thistreatise
departsfromthattreatmentandstudiesphotographyasahighlyscientificandtech-
nical subject so that it may be of actual utility to those interested in the principles
andtheinnerworkingsoftheapparatuses,providing,thus,anunderstandingofwhy
imagesandphotographsarecreatedthewaytheyare,whatthelimitationsmaybe,
andwhichconfigurationsmayresultintowhichoutcomesandwhy.
Xanthi,Greece GeorgePavlidis
December2021
Contents
1 FromVisiontoPhotography .................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ............................................... 2
1.2 TheNatureofLight ......................................... 9
1.3 ColourVision .............................................. 28
1.4 MeasuringLightandColour ................................. 60
1.5 TheScientificPhotograph ................................... 78
2 ABriefHistoryofPhotography .................................. 81
2.1 Introduction ............................................... 81
2.2 MilestonesinPhotography ................................... 83
2.3 Closure? .................................................. 162
3 APhotographyPrimer .......................................... 163
3.1 Introduction ............................................... 163
3.2 AnatomyoftheDigitalCamera ............................... 166
3.2.1 TheLens ........................................... 167
3.2.2 TheShutter ......................................... 177
3.2.3 TheSensor .......................................... 178
3.2.4 ExposureControl .................................... 181
3.2.5 PhotographyCheatSheets ............................. 182
3.3 ACameraModelasaBasisforThisTreatise ................... 183
4 TechnicalAspectsofPhotography ............................... 185
4.1 Optics,LensesandtheAperture .............................. 185
4.1.1 LensTypes .......................................... 192
4.1.2 TheDiaphragmandtheAperture ....................... 194
4.1.3 DepthofField ....................................... 198
4.1.4 FocalLengthMultiplier ............................... 203
4.1.5 LensAberrations ..................................... 206
4.1.6 ACuriosityofConvexLenses ......................... 216
4.2 TheShutter ................................................ 217
4.3 TheImagingSensor ........................................ 219
xi
xii Contents
4.3.1 TheImagingSensorinDigitalCameras ................. 219
4.3.2 TheSensorImageArray .............................. 222
4.3.3 TheCropFactorandOtherConsiderations ............... 224
4.3.4 SensorNoise ........................................ 227
4.3.5 Amplification,ConversionandPost-processing ........... 228
4.3.6 Exposure ........................................... 233
4.4 DigitalPost-processing ...................................... 235
4.4.1 Demosaicing ........................................ 235
4.4.2 ColourBalance ...................................... 237
4.4.3 Bit-MappingandGammaCorrection ................... 238
4.4.4 Compression ........................................ 239
Glossary .......................................................... 241
References ........................................................ 245
Index ............................................................. 259