The Camera: History and Information

The Camera
1. "Camera obscura" is latin for "dark room". Around 500 BCE, philosophers learned how to make the first camera. They took a dark room in which there was one tiny hole in a wall, and through this hole the light was focused and seen on the opposite wall was an upside-down picture of the scene outside.
2. Something that helped man get one step closer to the modern camera in the 17th century was when Isaac Newton and Christian Huygens were able to understand optics and how to make high quality glass lenses.
3. The parts of the first modern camera, invented by Niepce, were a glass lens, a dark box, and film.
4.  Modern day digital cameras and Niepce's camera both work the same way: light passes through the lens, into the body of the camera, and this exposes the film. In the end, both cameras make a photograph.
5. Digital cameras use an electronic sensor, a CCD, to capture an image.

Camera Modes
6. Auto Mode is when the camera controls the flash and exposure, while Program Mode is when the photographer controls the flash and a couple other settings.
7. Portait mode is used to blur out the background of a photograph. It uses the fastest lens setting, which is also referred to as aperture.
8. Sports mode is used for taking pictures of things in fast motion. It freezes the motion, and it uses the fastest shutter speed available.

The Half Press
9. A photographer should use a half-press on a trigger button because it helps the camera to lock focus on the object and have a faster full-press response.

Controlling Flash
10. The symbol with a line through the lightning bolt means that the flash is disabled. A photographer would use this when they want natural light for their pictures.
11. The symbol with a lightning bolt and the word "auto" means that the camera will automatically use the flash if the picture seems to need more light.

Introduction to Exposure
12. If there is too much light in a photo, it will be washed out.
13. If there is not enough light in a photo, the picture will be too dark.

The Universal Stop
14. A stop is a  term used to represent a relative change in the brightness of light.
15. If a planet has two suns instead of one, it will be one stop brighter.
16. If there are four suns instead of two, the planet will be two stops brighter.

Shutters and Aperture
17. A long shutter speed will result in the picture being exposed to more light.
18. A shorter shutter speed will result in the picture being exposed to less light.
19. The aperture controls the amount of light that reaches the picture.
20. When adjusting the aperture, you can increase the amount of light by setting the aperture to a larger opening.