ABSTRACT
The origins of ophthalmic imaging are based in photography. The earliest photographic imaging systems in ophthalmology were film based, including fundus cameras. Electronic flash made modern fundus photography possible in the 1960s with consistent, efficient light delivery. The chapter reviews the basics of photography, as well as how photographic techniques are applied in ophthalmology. Light travels in straight line until it encounters something: air, an object, a piece of glass. Light has three basic behaviors; reflection, absorption, and transmission/refraction. One of the key components of creating a photograph is gathering and focusing light rays coming off of a subject to a particular point in space. In modern photography, the focusing of light rays is accomplished by a lens. In theory, photographic exposure is the device's requirement to have a certain amount of light for maximum detail in all aspects of an image.
