When I popped in to see grandma, I always knew if that 12 exposure roll sitting in her camera for the last six or eight months had been polished off.
Out came the packet of prints as she talked about this uncle or that cousin. At the bottom would occasionally be one shot that contained some bleach white figure or dark blob.
The images had been over-flashed, underexposed or over-printed. To grandma they all fell into that vague, all-encompassing heading of 'did not turn out'.
I tell you about my grandmother because of the digital revolution that has begun to sweep through the photographic industry. It has changed the way we see images in many ways and it has added a whole new set of principles, practices and jargon to the business.
Many people have found that producing a good digital image is often not as easy as running your word processor. Terms such as dpi, bit depth and dynamic range sometimes leave even seasoned professionals about as confounded as grandma with her blurry 3Rs.
Digital imaging is a fast-moving area and it would be useful start with the basics and explain some of the jargon.
