The Camera

History

1. Who is credited with taking the first "permanent" photograph?
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, 1826 in France 
2. What specific materials did Louis Daguerre use to create the first "commercial photographic material"?
The Daguerreotype (the first commercial photographic material) were images fixed on heavily polished sheets of silver-plated copper.  
3. What type of images is Ansel Adams famous for?
He is most famous for taking pictures of landscapes and natural scenes. (At the time photographers mainly took photos of people.)

4. What are the three fundamental settings you need to understand to be an excellent photographer?

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO

Metering (how your camera determines what the correct shutter speed and aperture should be, depending on the amount of light that goes into the camera and the ISO)

5. What are the three types of metering modes?

Matrix Metering/Evaluative Metering, Center-weight Metering, and Spot Metering.

6. When does the article suggest you use "Center-weight" metering?

For close-up portraits and large subjects in the middle of the frame. (This metering evaluates the light in the middle area of the frame/image)

7. What is one very specific subject does the article suggest would be great for "Spot" metering?

Taking photos of birds in a light/dark background (taking back-lit subjects) because the metering is good for small subjects that need to be exposed.

Camera Modes

8. What are the four Camera Modes?

Program (P)- auto aperture, auto shutter speed (quick snap photos)

Shutter Priority (Tv) or (S) - auto aperture, manual shutter speed (blur/ frozen effects)

Aperture Priority (Av) or (A)- manual aperture, auto shutter speed (properly exposed pics, depth control)

Manual (M)- manual aperture, manual shutter speed (consistent settings/exposure for all pics)

9. What is the difference between the Aperture and Shutter priority modes?

Aperture priority allows you to manually control aperture, Shutter priority allows control over shutter speed.

Focus

10. What is the difference between Manual and AutoFocus?

Autofocus has a motor that controls the lens and focuses on the selected subject, manual focus requires the user to change and control the focus.

11. Which do you think is best for most circumstances (make sure to answer why you think this)?

Auto focus is the best for most cases because it's more convenient to use (and accurate if you focus on the right subject) than manual focusing. It takes less time to shoot a focused image in autofocus than in manual.

Flash

12. When should you use a flash indoors?

When the area is poorly-lit and requires the ISO to dramatically increase or if photographing details.

13. When should you use a flash outdoors?

When the subject is either poorly lit (sundown) or if they're backlit (behind the light source).

Video

14. Why is using a tripod a good decision?

It allows slow, controlled panning and stabilization (no shaky video).

15. Should you use auto focus when shooting video (why or why not)?

No, because the autofocusing lens shifting back and forth will create noise in your video.

16. What are the percentages according to the article when deciding to shoot wide, medium and close up (or even extreme close up)?

50% close-ups and extreme close-ups in video

25% medium shots in video

25% wide shots in video

Histogram

17. What is a histogram?

A tool to evaluate exposure on a picture (digital).

18. What will a "low key" histogram look like?

Weight (large data) on the left side tapering to the right. 

19. What will a "high key" histogram look like?

All data is to the right.

20. What is clipping?

The loss of data from a region of the image. (The light/darkness exceeds the dynamic range of the camera, so the camera perceives it as pure light/dark).