Chapter 5. How Light Becomes Data

How Light Becomes Data

The real difference between a film camera and a digital camera is not how the cameras take pictures, but how they store them. After a picture is stored on film, there is only so much that can be done with it. How the film is processed can change the image—once. Then the picture is frozen in the form of chemical molecules that have clumped together to form microscopic dots of color. There’s no way to manipulate those molecules. Sure, you can disguise the information stored on the film. When you make prints from the negative, you can burn here and dodge there, or use a special paper for a silvery look. You can…well, ...

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