Math for Photography

As I’ve gotten more serious about my photography, it was natural for me to manage my growing catalog of images with a custom-built database application. In a nutshell, I have a process by which I insert entries for each image into my database. Part of what I capture is metadata related to focal length and exposure settings. Using this data, I derive certain other data points.

It wasn’t long before I began to need more sophisticated formulas for making the kind of calculations I wanted to make. After scouring the internet, I discovered the extent to which photography rests on math.

Partly out of the desire to document for myself what I’ve done thus far, and partly out of the belief that one doesn’t really know something until one has written about it, I assembled a new long-form article entitled “Math for Photography” that I added to my section on photography tips and advice.

It’s a long one, and it’ll probably be of interest to a rather limited audience of readers. But I’m pleased to have articulated what I’ve learned and shared it with others who may be interested.