Clinical Photography in Dentistry
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Introduction1

Photography has become an integral part of our daily life. Today, photography is omnipresent in every sphere of human activity right from research work to entertainment and from documentation to creating stunning pictorial work of art.
With reference to medicine and dentistry, photography plays a vital role, not only in academics but also in clinical practice.
In clinical practice, it serves many important purposes. First and foremost it allows one to document patient's condition pre, post and during treatment. By taking pictures we are creating a visual record that will be helpful in clinical presentations and will tell fascinating story of progress in treatment. Photography, in this sense, is a very strong means of communication, a vehicle for expressing ideas. Photographic documentation of treated cases is a must for passing masters degree in many branches of dentistry. It also helps in clinical settings as a prominent marketing tool.
In scientific conventions, those people are in limelight who have clinical photographic records. For want of it others are just the audience.
Photography also makes one more observant and receptive to what is going on in the treatment of a particular patient. The simple act of taking picture forces you to look more closely at the clinical condition. You begin to see things that other clinicians miss because they are blinded by familiarity, and this leads to greater appreciation of the clinical situation. It has been observed that those who maintain clinical and photographic records are the ones who are disciplined in their clinical approach.
Not only maintenance of record will make you disciplined but also it will act as a self improvement tool. You learn from your past records, which will make a better clinician of you.
The term photography literally means photo = light and graphy = creation / painting, i.e. painting with light or creation with light.
As early as 350 BC, Aristotle knew that light passing through a tiny hole, could produce an inverted image. Centuries later, it was discovered that the same light, if passed through a lens, a brighter and sharper image could be produced. This principle was developed into the foundation of “camera obscura’ and subsequently the camera itself.2
For the first time Daguerre, a Frenchman, publicly unveiled the first camera of world in Paris in 1839. Photography that time was an elite affair. The amazing advancement since then in camera, lens and film production has made photography, a much easier and more accessible than ever.
You can take perfectly exposed and pin-sharp pictures with no prior experience—just point and shoot. But photography as an art is more than that. Photography beyond the realms of the snapshot requires skill (Figs 1.1 and 1.2).
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Fig. 1.1:
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Figs 1.1 and 1.2: Once you have mastered the basics of photography, it will be possible to take successful pictures of any subject
3
Technology, in spite of its advances, is yet to harness the artistic side of photography. Cameras cannot tell you what to photograph, or how to compose a picture. Neither can it tell you when to trip the shutter to capture a person's character on film.
This is where this book comes in. It will be taking you through all aspects of photography, from choosing a camera and lenses and mastering the intricacies of exposure and depth of field, to the importance of light, using flash and composing a picture.
This book is an essential reading for enthusiast medical and dental practitioners and students, who like to gain a complete grounding on photographic technique, develop the ability to judge what makes a successful shot and achieve quality results with their pictures again and again.
The emphasis in this book is on how to become a good clinical photographer through hands on experience. The freedom of knowing, that most of your photographs will turn out satisfactorily - can only be gained by practising the basic skills until they become habitual.
Going through this book, you will be mastering the practical side and at the same time also would develop your visual sense—an awareness of why you are taking a particular picture. Without this sense of purpose, the result is likely to be dull, no matter how technically correct one is.