Kira

St. Peter's

3 pm, Shutter 1/3200, F3.5, ISO 400

I like how you can see where the sun is popping up behind the building and creates a gradient of color in the sky.

The Colosseum

12 pm, Shutter 1/16, F13, ISO400

I like how this picture captures the aging and detail of the bricks as well as the blue sky within the arches. 

CCD vs CMOS

CCD, or a charge coupled device, and CMOS, or complementary metal oxide semiconductor are both image sensors found in digital cameras. CCD turns images from analog light signals into digital pixels and takes place in the chip without distortion.  This creates high quality images with low noise. CMOS chips use trasistors at each pixel to move charge through traditional wires. They also need more light to create a low-noise image at the correct exposure

RAW vs JPEG

A raw file is uncompressed and has at least 8 bits per color; they are usually higher in dynamic range, lower in contrast, and not as sharp. However, a JPEG is compressed and has exactly 8 bits per color and is usually fairly small in size, lower in dynamic range, higher in contrast, and sharper.