Your journey to the land of accurate color begins when you capture an image with your digital camera. In this chapter I outline the basics of good photography, proper camera settings, and lighting control.

In the previous chapter you learned that light is made up of all the colors in the rainbow and that your camera and printer speak slightly different dialects of a language called color. It is time now to learn how to capture that light effectively with your digital camera. This chapter will cover two important areas: the biggest little secrets of great photography, and how to successfully capture images in a variety of lighting conditions.

You will learn to deal with a variety of lighting conditions; some obvious and simple, and others more complex and challenging. You'll understand how light behaves in each scene and how to set your camera to capture the light accurately. This process may sound like a no-brainer when you listen to some advertisements, but as you have realized by now, many times it is not.

While this book addresses digital photography, and uses a particular digital camera for illustrations of features and capture techniques, it is neither a tutorial on photography nor a camera endorsement. The details of how your camera operates are well covered in the manufacturer's books and manuals. This book concerns the accurate capture, transfer, and reproduction of digital color images. I am concentrating on the product (the image) rather than the device (the camera).

What this chapter will introduce is the best way to set your camera to capture images in a variety of lighting conditions.

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