Obi-Wan's Photography PagesAbout Me
Whenever I happen across a useful web page out in the wild, I add a link to it on this page so that all the world can benefit from my good treasure hunting fortune -- and so that I can find the page again myself from a different computer. Educational PagesThe following pages aren't so much about me personally. They were written to help educate the general populace about a particular subjct or to document a particular modification that I've made. I'm a died-in-the-wool engineer, so I'm handy with fixing things. I also have a master's degree in computer science, specializing in image processing, and have been a professional computer programmer and system administrator for the last 20+ years, so I do have some expertise in the following areas. Hopefully these pages will help others learn a little more about the technical side of photography.
This 150KB PDF contains a chart showing the depth of field provided by a variety of focal lengths, focal distances, and aperture sizes. It's very handy for determining how big an aperture you need to keep a range of subjects in focus. If you have any interest in digital photography, you're going to be generating a fair bit of electronic data in the form of images. Since any number of things can bring about the disappearance of data from your computer's hard drive, I wanted to describe my recommendations for backing up your computer. People who refuse to do even basic backups and then expect my help and sympathy when their hard drive dies annoy me to no end.
I see a lot of people throw around terms relating to image resolution while obviously having no clue what they're talking about. Understanding the basics of image resolution will not only help you get better quality prints, but will also keep you from sounding like an idiot (and recognize those who do). Strobist rocks! I've fallen in love with using cheap, old, shoe-mounted flashes (located off camera) to light my photos. I recently did a presentation to my local photo group on the basics of off-camera flash. You can view the PDF slides from that presentation here.
DIY ModificationsMost of the topics discussed in this section require the use of a tiny screwdriver. If that idea excites you, read on.
BooksThe following are some books on photography that I recommend or plan to read: last updated 10 Feb 2010 Obi-Wan (obiwan@jedi.com) |
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