Understanding Digital Images

In his article, "Understanding Digital Images," J.V. Bolkan informs his readers of the technical aspects of photography so that they may make a wise selection in their choice of cameras, and therefore have low-cost, time-efficient, and great quality pictures of their classroom and students! He explains such technicalities such as pixels and megapixels, digital camera resolutions, printer dpi's (dots per inch), photo editing, and the difference between a film camera and a digital camera. Surprisingly, he makes the claim that "a $6 disposable 35 mm snapshot camera is capable of taking higher-quality pictures than the best $1,000 techno-wonder digital camera"! He goes on to explain that a digital camera's resolution could be more limiting than a film camera that uses chemical grains, rather than digital pixels. Bolkan also goes into great detail explaining how photo editing and picture resizing, if not done correctly, can really harm the quality of your pictures. This point is illustrated by the following two pictures....

 

 (Bolkan, pg. 2)

 (Bolkan, pg. 1)

These two images are both from the same picture. The first image is the original. Whatever camera took this picture clearly had a low resolution, because the image is very small. This is a problem because when the picture is enlarged (second image), it becomes grainy and loses its quality. For this reason, it is very important to research cameras before you buy them, keeping in mind what the main purpose for the camera will be. If you're on a tight budget and just want to take a few snapshots of the classroom here and there, you might consider purchasing a film camera or a lower-cost digital camera. However, if you plan to take pictures that you would like to crop, edit, enlarge, print and post on the internet, you could save a lot of time, effort, and money by buying a nicer digital camera that does all the work for you so that you don't have to toil over enhancing low-quality photos.

As a photographer and future teacher, I definitely plan on using a camera in the classroom. However, I definitely do not agree with Bolkan's notion that it would be better to purchase a film camera for this purpose. While film can be great for other occasions, I think it would be much more beneficial to have a digital camera when photographing students and school activities. Some major advantages to going digital are: immediate image display, capacity to take and store hundreds of pictures at a time, ability to delete unwanted images and not waste film on them, quick shutter speed for capturing kids in motion, quality files that can be edited on the computer, and any other fun features that may come with your digital camera such as color accent and self-timers. Canon makes excellent point and shoot digital cameras that last for a long time, take quality pictures, come with great insurance plans, and fall under the price range of the upper-end film cameras that Bolkan was suggesting! As a teacher who plans on doing lots of fun activities with my students, I will definitely be investing in a nice digital camera.

This article is definitely worth reading for a better understanding of how to select a camera and get the best quality out of your pictures. If you're a film person, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that Bolkan has more faith in a low-cost chemical grain film camera than a low-cost digital pixel camera. However, if you have the budget for it, Bolkan explains that it may be worth your while to invest in a nicer digital camera that has great resolution and a lot of megapixels. In making this investment, you could save a lot of time and money in the long run, especially if you would like to manipulate, print, and post your pictures for your class to see. Regardless of all of the suggestions that this article makes, if you simply do your research and choose a camera that is a perfect fit for you, you should be pretty satisfied with your decision to bring a camera into the classroom!

With its in-depth look at the technicalities of film and digital cameras, as well as the various aspects of photo editing and printing, this article satisfies the ISTE requirements 6.A: Understand and use technology systems, and 6.B: Select and use applications effectively and productively.