What is a pixel, and how can it be manipulated?
The word pixel comes from “picture element,” and it is the basic unit of color on a computer display or in a computer-generated image. When digital technology is used to capture, store, modify or view images, they must first be converted into numbers: the 1s and 0s found in binary data streams. The images are then put back together in a grid of small squares. These tiny squares are the pixels, and they are the building blocks of all computer text, graphics and images. A digital camera works just like an ordinary camera, but it does not require chemical development for the pictures. Instead, the images are stored on disks in the computer memory chip inside the camera. Images are recorded by something called a charged-coupled device (CCD): a collection of thousands of light-sensitive cells. When each cell is struck by light, it emits an electrical signal, which can then be converted into a digital data stream. Before the digital age, it was fairly easy to detect altered photographs. Than
