White Balance

How to manually set white balance on a video camera (if your camera allows)

• Locate the white balance settings on your camera and select the manual or custom WB option. On higher-end cameras, WB controls are often found on the exterior of the camera body. On les expensive cameras, be prepared to delve into the onboard menu system.
• Have the subject or assistant aim a white card or sheet of paper at the camera. The card should reflect the same light source hitting the subject.
• Zoom in on the card to fill 80%-100% of the frame with white. Be sure your exposure and focus settings are properly set. If the image is too dark or out of focus, the camera may not be able to perform the operation.
• Press and hold the set button until the camera confirms that WB has been acquired. If the color temperature has changed dramatically from the last time you performed a WB, you actually notice a color shift in viewfinder.

If You followed the procedure correctly, your camera is now set to reproduce the best color possible!

FOCUSING

Question And Answer

1.  Why should you avoid using autofocus when doing videography?

* AF may roll of shift as the subject moves with the frame. Manual focus (MF) mode will give a more satisfactory result.

2.  When is using the autofocus acceptable?

* Autofocusing is intended to make life easier, so as long as the lighting is good, the subject-camera distance is relatively stable, and there isn't a lot of visual complexity or movement within the frame, autofocus can yield acceptable results.

3.  What are the 4 steps to properly set your focus manually when shooting a static subject (such as an interview)?

1. Compose your shoot. Make sure the camera is set to MF mode.
2. Zoom in as far as you can on the subject's eyes.
3. Adjust the focus control until the eyes are sharply in focus. Moving quickly back and forth in smaller sweeps can help you identify the sweet spot more accurately.
4. Zoom back out to compose your shoot.

4.  What does the term "rack focus" mean?

* Rack focus is a popular technique that shooters use to rapidly shift the viewer's attention from one subject to another along the z-axis. A focus puller can change shallow depth of field to obtain noticeable contrast between sharply focused  to soft and blurry.

Sampling Rates

What is PCM?

Pules-Code Modulation is one of the most common codecs used for recording audio as digital stream of binary data. PCM relied on a process called sampling to transform a continuous signal into a sequence of discrete measurements occurring at regular intervals. In digital recording, each sample is stored numerically as a binary string of zeros and ones.

The three variables that control the fidelity of a PCM:

1. Sample Rate: Specifies the number of samples recorded every second.
2. Bit Depth: Specifies the number of bits used to encode the value of each sample.
3. Bit Rate: Specifies the number of bits per second transmitted during playback.

Fun Fact!

Since human hearing has a frequency range of 20Hz (Hertz) to 20 kHz, a minimum sample rate of 40kHz is required in order to effectively capture and encode all the frequencies within this range.

Recording Video and Audio

Defining File Types and Codecs

• MPEG-2: An advanced format for encoding standard definition (SD)and HD video at a higher bit rate. Paved the way for VHS replacement to DVDs.

• MPEG -4:Compression and encoding high- definition audio and video signal. Most likely, the video you shoot from your smartphone, watch on Blu-ray, stream for Netflix or Hulu, etc. is encoded in a format prescribed by ubiquitous MPEG-4.

• h.264:Advanced video coding format which is part 10 of MPEG-4.

• MOV: Video file is a common multimedia format for saving movies and other video files.

• WAV: Raw uncompressed PCM audio streams. Only the container or wrapper is modified instead of the enclosed bit streams.

• MP3:Or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, One of the most widely known audio codecs in the world. First digital format designed for encoding and storing music digitally on a portable audio player.

• AAC: Advanced audio coding with MPEG-2. A format that extended the stereo capabilities of MP3 to multi-channel surround sound.

What is the difference in container format and compression codec?

A container or wrapper file is used for bundling and storing the raw digital bitstreams that codec creates. Each codec performs a single encoding/decoding function, while a container format can support multiple codecs.

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Depth of Field

Depth of Field

-DOF refers to the area of a scene in front of and behind the main subject that is in focus. The term great depth of field, is used to describe a photograph where the majority of the scene is sharply defined. Sharp depth of field describes an image where noticeable portions of the foreground/ background areas of the scene are out of focus.

How can playing with the depth of field enhance your photo? Background elements can often steal the attention away from the main subject in a photo. Photographers will sometimes manipulate DOF to emphasize the focal point of a composition through visual contrast.

What three factors affect the DOF in your image?

• Size of the lens aperture or f-stop setting: As the size of the aperture decreases, the DOF increases, causing more of a scene to appear in focus and vice versa because the size of the aperture is inversely related to the DOF.

• The focal length of the lens: The focal length is inversely related to DOF. As you zoom in the length increase while the DOF decreases. Wide-angle shots have great depth, while narrow-angle shots often have a shallow depth of field.

• The distance from the camera to the subject: Physical distance can affect the DOF in a composition. DOF increases with distance and decreases as you move the camera physically closer to the subject.

Difference in aperture size

WHITE BALANCE

Question and Answer on White Balance

What is meant by White Balancing a camera? White balancing of a camera can be set manually by shooting a whit object, such as a blank sheet of paper, while depressing the manual white balance button. Once a camera "sees" what white looks like under existing light, it can extrapolate the values of all the other colors in the spectrum.

What is considered the "golden hour"? Golden hour is typically an hour after sunrise and a hour before sunset. Daylight is redder or softer than when the sun is higher in the sky.

What is the color temperature of daylight, and what is its general hue? Average daylight color temperature is 5500 K and it's general hue is "daylight" or bluish white.

What is the color temperature of an interior fluorescent light, and what is its general hue? Indoor fluorescent light color temperature is 4000 K and has a general hue of cool white.

Embed an image of incorrect white balance. 

The Exposure Triangle

The Exposure Triangle

-The three primary components of a camera system that a photographer adjusts to control exposure. The tree variables interact to achieve the exposure value for each shot.

Three Components:

• Aperture: The larger the aperture, the more light strikes the image sensor and the greater there will be for acquiring shallow depth of field. A series of f-stops printed on the outside surface of ring , indicates the size of the aperture. Opening the aperture one full stop, doubles the size and the amount of light hitting the image sensor.

• ISO/ Film Speed: Increasing the ISO increases the light sensitivity of the image sensor, but the image becomes noisier and grainier. Each jump to a higher ISO number results in a doubling of the film's light sensitivity.

• Shutter Speed: The more you increase the shutter speed, the greater detail you can achieve when shooting fast action, but more light you will need for achieving proper exposure. Shutter speed influences how motion is captured by the image sensor.

Define the Parts of the Camera

The Imaging Chain

The imaging chain of the camera are made up of four components: the lens, the iris, the shutter, and the image sensor.

• Lens: Determines the field of view, or what the camera "sees". The lens is mounted on the front of the camera and is designed to capture and manipulate the light reflected from objects in the camera's line of sight.
• Iris: Regulates the intensity of exposure. An adjustable plastic or metal diaphragm that regulates the amount of light striking the image sensor.
• Shutter: Regulates the time of exposure. A movable curtain, plate, or other device that controls the amount of time the image sensor is exposed to light.
• Image Sensor: Captures light and converts it into digital signal. A small electronic chip used to register the intensity and color of light. Also the digital equivalent of "film".

Display and Resolution

Aspect Ratio: Is an indicator of the proportional relationship of the width to the height of the screen and is depicted with the expression x:y, where x equals the number of units wide and y is equal to the number of units high. The aspect ration remains constant even though the display screen may vary.

What are the aspect ratios for the following formats?

10" tablet (9.7" display)- 4:3

Smartphone (4.7" display)-  16:9

Leaderboard Ad- 728:90 (pg.285 in textbook)

HDTV 16:9 -  16:9

Interlaced Scanning: Raster scanning that minimizes both bandwidth and flickering. Each frame of an image is captured with two parts, odd line appearing first followed by even lines second.

Interlaced Scanning

Progressive Scanning: Consecutively scanning the lines of the picture from top to bottom, just as you would type on a typewriter. This help combat eyestrain, which is why it's a given on computer monitors.

Progressive Scanning

GRAPHICS AND IMAGES

Graphics and Images

A graphic is any type of visual presentation that can be displayed on a physical surface such as a sheet of paper, wall, poster, computer monitor, etc. These are products of human imagination and are typically created by hand or with computer-assisted drawing and design tools.

An image is a two-dimensional or three- dimensional representation of a person, animal, object, or scene in the natural world. Images can be still or moving. A still or static image is one that is fixed in time. A moving image , or time-based image, is one that changes over time.

Raster Vs. Vector Images:

A raster is formed by dividing the area of an image into a rectangular matrix of rows and columns comprised of pixels. The total number of pixels in a raster is fixed.

• Advantage: Ideal for images with lots of color information and complexity.

• Disadvantage: Since the number of pixels are fixed, image quality deteriorates when enlarged. For example; scaling, resampling, and anti-aliasing.

Vector imaging defines the area of a picture using paths made up of points, lines, curves, and shapes. Each vector path forms the outline of a geometric region containing color information.

• Advantage: Because paths can be mathematically resized, vector pictures can be scaled up or down without losing any picture clarity.

Why should you avoid upscaling when possible?
Upscaling often results in a noticeable loss in image quality(increased blurriness).

What is the difference between Aliased and Anti-Aliased text?
Aliased text gives off the stair-step effect which is the most pronounced along the curved segments of a stroke. Anti-aliasing smoothes out the edges by blending the color transition points.

Anti-Aliasing Vs Aliasing

Kerning and Leading

• Kerning selectively varies the amount of space between a single pair of letters which improve the appearance and readability of text by eliminating distracting white space.
• Leading is used to define the amount of space between vertically adjacent lines of text.

* Examples of bad kerning and leading

Font Color

Importance of font color:

Colors can be used to frame your text and backgrounds should contrast well with your font color choices. Pick a contrasting shade that stands out from the background. The degree of font color and background color can dramatically alter the readability of the text.


http://lifehacker.com/5801255/choose-the-best-font-and-color-for-your-message

True and Faux Font Styles

Font Styles: Used by designers to add visual variety and emphasis to text by varying the weight, angle, and width of the face type.

True Font Styles: The designer carefully changes each glyph during the design giving a authentic and consistent look.

Faux Font Styles: Computer- generated effects that simulate font adaptions to create faux bold and faux italics.

Why should you never use Faux Font Styles? Faux styles often produce a look that is different than what the designer intended in size, shape, and spacing.

Characteristics of Typeface

What is Typeface:
Although people use the terms font and typeface interchangeably, typeface is about the design. Typeface refers to a particular style of type making an image have a uniformed appearance.



Characteristics:

Stroke- Can move vertically, horizontally, diagonally, or in a curved direction. In hand lettering the width of the stroke can vary as the angle and direction of the nib changes with the movement of the pen.

Contrast- The transitions between the thick and thin areas of a stroke is the contrast. Low- contrast has little to no variation between the thick and thin portions of the stroke. Readers can view high- contrast typefaces easily for they are more pronounced.

Stress- The location or angle of a transition from thick to thin or vice versa. In vertical stress fonts, the transition occurs at the top and bottom of vertical axis. In angled, the transition takes place off-axis.

Weight (regular, boldface, light)- Boldface increases width and the visual weight of the regular roman letterform. Light typefaces does the opposite, with small stroke widths.

Posture (Roman, oblique, italic)- The term Roman with and uppercase R refers to the inspiration of certain typefaces and to categories of typefaces. The lowercase r, however, refers to upright typefaces. Oblique and Italic usually slant to the right. Oblique will use roman counterparts while Italic typefaces have features that emulate handwritten forms.

Proportions and letterforms Parts- The basic characteristics of typeface: baseline, capline, mean line, x-height, counter, ascender, descender, memospaced, and etc.

San serif vs. serif- Serifs are decorative accents added to the end of a stroke. The word Sans in French means "without", thus san serif typefaces are those without serifs.

Decorative typefaces-  Connote a sense of mood, emotion, or attitude. They have personality, which is great for attracting attention, but little for enhancing the readability of the text.

Script fonts- Attempt to emulate the cursive style of handwriting or the artistic appearance of calligraphy. Scripts are slanted, and a stroke connects adjoining letters and preserves linear flow.

Symbols and special characters- Many common symbols are included in the Universal Character Set. Many special characters can be added to a document by combining a modifier key with a character code. The design of the inserted character with match the style of the currently active typeface if using this method.

Main Street Sweet (Wireframe)

If you were to create a website for "Main Street Sweets", who are your users for the site? Once established, using techniques previously learned in this course, sketch a wireframe of your site. Include the homepage, and at least 3 other pages on the site found in the main navigation. Embed images of all wireframes - sketched and scanned/photographed - in a post on your blog site.

Main Menu

Catering Tab

Menu Tab

Our Staff page

Main Street Sweets "On the GO" users:

Since Main Street Sweets in a Traditionally warm and friendly everyday oasis, simple will be better. An orderly site with a welcoming feel will set the same tone we want in our bakery. I would rather the customers not to be overwhelmed with a complex layout that would take away from the quality of the food. I need a site that shows our "technology savvy" users that we have not forgotten about them!

What is CSS?

So What Is CSS?
Cascading Style Sheets or external style sheets.

Why are they beneficial?
The way the rules for styles fall into a cascade, or how one rule overrides another. Basically if you need one page to look different from the rest, you can override the CSS by using internal and inline styles.

Three elements to planning site structure and navigation

Defining a Site and the "Root Folder"
By setting up a root folder on your local computer, it will allow you to store the files for your website. All files for the site MUST be stored in that folder, or folders inside of the root folders.

Establishing a Hierarchy
Most websites often include the three main page levels: Home, Main Pages, and Content pages. Decide on how many pages you need linked as well as the need for secondary navigations(submenus) and navigation area.

Maintaining Site Uniformity and Consistency
Repeat components and have the same consistent locations, particularly the navigations. You should design from a basic template and design one page as index.html.

HTML

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML which are text files that are tagged to control what the browser will display on the World Wide Web (WWW). HTML can be broken down in three sections declarations, head, and body.

Sections:

Declarations- the "doctype" at the very top of the document that codes for the HTML5 or older version.

Head- Controls the body of information that the user cannot see.

Body- Information that is visible to the user or a code that directly controls the information.

What is found in the HTML head content?
Other invisible head content that may be found are links to external style sheets, style information, Metadata, links to other external script files, and tags that indicate scripts for the body.