8 Tips For Better Digital Photos

by Brandon Layne

Whether you consider yourself an amateur photographer, or you just want to create better family photos, there are many things you can do to get better photos. Here are some easy tips to use the next time you head out with your digital camera.

Even a beginner can take professional-looking photos - suitable for framing.

Be Prepared
Keep all your photography equipment ready for use. Collect everything you'll need into one place. A camera bag is ideal, because it keeps all your stuff together and lets you carry it all with you. Everything in its place. A good camera bag will let you organize a miniature tripod, extra battereis, memory cards, etc. - even a plastic bag or waterproof housing to protect your camera in wet weather.

Hold your Camera Steady
Blurry photos are almost always the result of camera movement. Just your own unsteadiness, causes your camera to shake enough to blur your pictures.

So steady yourself and your camera before you take the shot.
Plant your feet firmly on the ground and tuck your elbows in close to your sides. Instead of using the LCD viewer, steady your camera against your forehead and frame the shot using your camera's viewfinder. You can also steady your upper body by leaning against a wall or a tree. Or totally eliminate any camera movement by using a tripod.

Once you're all set, gently press the shutter release in one motion. Pressing the shutter release too hard could jerk the camera downward.

Get Closer
One difference in "snapshots" and really great photos is the composition of the shot. Unless you're shooting an outdoor landscape, you can improve most photos just by getting closer to your subject. Depending on the situation, you can physically move closer to your subject, or use the zoom feature on your camera for the same effect. Try to get within a few feet of your subject so you eliminate most of the background. You'll like the results.

Take more Pictures
Even professionals take loads of shots of the same subject - to get just a few that they will use. With a digital camera, you can delete the images you don't like, and only print the winners - so don't hesitate to take several shots of the same subject. Change the angle of the shot. Get a little closer. Adjust the lighting.

Why not fill the entire memory card with pictures of your kid at the pool, or your daughter in her cap and gown? The more pictures you take, the better the odds that you'll get a few shots that will really thrill you.

Vary the Lighting

Using natural light will give better skin tones when photographing people, so try not to use the flash if you don't have to. Outdoor daylight shots are easy, but you'll have to be a little more creative when shooting indoors. Try using the light coming in from a window for warmer tones than you would get using the flash.

Experiment with natural lighting. You can get stronger shadows by moving your subject closer to a window, and turning your subject can create more dramatic shadows.

Eliminate Red-Eye
Red-eye is the result of light passing through your subject's eye and reflecting back. You'll get it more often when using your flash, just because the light from the flash isn't as diffused as natural light. So the first tip for eliminating red-eye is simply to avoid using your flash when you don't absolutely have to.

Another way to reduce red-eye is to have your subject look anywhere but at the camera. This reduces red-eye because any reflection isn't directed back at your camera lens.
If you have to use the flash, some digital cameras have a built-in feature to automatically remove red-eye. Use it.

Go for Candid
Instead of posing two (or more) people looking directly at the camera, get a shot of them interacting with one another. Even two people having a conversation is more interesting than having them stand next to each other facing the camera. Some of the best professional portraits have the subject captured deep in thought, with their attention focused inward, rather than on the camera lens.

It makes a more interesting shot. Your portrait will look more natural - less posed.

Create a Scene
Putting your subject in the center of a photo is just boring. You'll get a much more pleasing result if you place your subject off center when you frame the shot.
This is a truly professional technique. Place your subject so that they occupy 1/3 to 1/2 of the total composition, but NOT at the exact center of the frame. Capture an interesting background object in the rest of the frame.

Anybody can practice these techniques. They're easy and you'll get better, more professional photos.

About the Author
Brandon Layne is a "serious amateur", using both digital and film cameras for action shots and outdoor photography. His web site contains digital photography tips, current digital photography news, and digital camera reviews.

Digital Photography Printing: Simplifying the Pixels and DPI's

by John Sollars

Digital photography printing has opened new avenues for amateur and professional photographers alike. For most photographers, the backup of digital photography printing offers unprecedented freedom to get the best shots. No more worrying about wasting that precious piece of film running out, in addition to not knowing for sure that anything worthwhile is on it!
However, when it comes to getting the printing done, there are a few things one should keep in mind to prevent wasting too much of quality photo paper, and the costly printing ink. In this article, we'll review a few basic terms related to digital photography and offer a few tips on getting the best prints.

Resolution Resolution refers to the 'image-sharpness' of a document, and is usually measured in dots (or pixels) per inch (DPI). It also refers to the image-sharpness that printers and monitors are capable of reproducing. Depending on your particular needs, documents can be scanned at various resolutions. The higher the resolution of a document, greater the image-sharpness, and larger the file size will be.

With digital photography printing in mind, the first thing you need to ensure is that you download the pictures at their full resolution. If in the end, you have 72dpi (dots per inch) pictures, your print quality will be useless. A 72dpi resolution is good for viewing on your computer screen, but an image with 200 to 300dpi will give a good quality 8x10 inch print.
Pixel Pixel is short for 'Picture Element.' It is the smallest part of a digital image, and each image is comprised of thousands or millions of pixels. This basic unit, from which a video or computer picture is made, is essentially a dot with a given colour and brightness value. The more pixels an image has, the higher the resolution of that image will be. One Megapixel is equal to one million pixels.

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is a standards committee that designed this image compression format. The compression format they designed is known as a 'lossy' compression, as it deletes information from an image that it considers unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small amounts of lossless compression to large amounts of lossy compression. This is a common standard on the World Wide Web, but the data loss generated in its compression makes it undesirable for printing purposes.

When dealing with digital photography printing, you will mostly work with the JPEG file format. Remember that every time you open and save a JPEG file, you lose some of the image information. Therefore, it is advisable to do all the changes in one sitting, and then save them only once.

Resolution Guide to Quality Prints The higher number of megapixels a camera has, the more detail an image will retain when enlarged and/or printed.

1 to 2 Megapixels Cameras with this resolution range are sufficient for sending photos electronically via email, but are not ideal for printing photos. Most camera phones, PC camcorders, and PC cameras have a resolution in the 1 to 2 megapixel range.

3 to 4 Megapixels Cameras with this resolution range are good for printing and retouching the standard 4x6 inch images.

5 to 6 Megapixels Cameras with this resolution range produce professional results when enlarging photos up to an 8x10 inch format.

7+ Megapixels Cameras with a resolution range of at least 7 megapixels promise superior quality and detail when printing or enlarging photos beyond the 11x14 inch format.

By simply looking at the file size, you will quickly learn to be an expert judge on quality. A picture of 100kb (kilobytes) or less is most probably too low-resolution for good quality digital printing. Once you get to a minimum size of 400kb, you are working with a more useful resolution for an 8x10 inch print.

Printing Paper If you're proud of your photographic effort, or if you want those family shots to be available for the next generation, you will definitely want your prints to be done on decent paper. Needless to say, in the end, your prints will be only as good as the paper you use.

There are many new coated papers available on the market specifically for this purpose, and you should consider what is recommended for the printer you are using.

Archival paper, popular in the world of inkjet printing, is the longest-lasting paper and it is acid-free. These printing papers don't come cheap, so plan carefully. Print only after final cropping, or on completion of other changes, such as after the addition of a border with your imaging software.

Regular colour inkjet and laser printers are good for text and charts, but not always best for digital photography printing. PictBridge-enabled printers allow you to print your digital photographs directly from the camera. Portable printers, such as the HP Photosmart 320 series, allow you to take a picture and print 4x6 inch sized pictures anywhere on the move.

Incidentally, for smaller 4x6 inch prints, dye-sublimation printers give outstanding quality prints, and they are generally waterproof. However, the materials for such printing do not come cheap! If you cannot get satisfactory results with your own digital photography printing, especially if you're printing larger than 8x10 inch sized images, you could try one of the brick-and-mortar, or even online photo labs that make use of dedicated photo printers with excellent results.

Photo labs can easily handle digital files directly from your memory card. Take your digital camera, a homemade CD, or your camera's memory card along for professional quality digital photography printing.

About the Author
John Sollars is the managing director of Solar Electronics, which are both ink and pc peripheral suppliers based in Shropshire, UK. To access a comprehensive online shop of original and re-manufactured hp and canon inks please visit http://www.mega-office.co.uk

Secrets for Sensational Safari Photos

by James Weis

Exploring wilderness areas on safari and viewing wildlife in its natural habitat is a breathtaking experience and to capture this experience photographically is especially gratifying.

When you're on safari in Africa, you can expect to take most of your photos from within a Land Rover, car or boat since the vehicle allows a safe approach to getting close to wild animals. Some areas offer walking safaris with a guide, but photographing wild animals on foot is more dangerous and does not permit the close proximity of a vehicle or boat. Remember that stalking and approaching wild animals is potentially dangerous. Although most animals do not view a vehicle as a threat, almost all will run away from humans on foot. As a result, photographing wild animals on foot is far more challenging - plus, you have to carry all your equipment. For walking safaris, I recommend bringing only your best zoom lens as it offers the most versatility.

When photographing from a vehicle, it is best to turn off the engine before attempting to take any photographs. Although the vibrations from the vehicle's engine may seem inconsequential, they will ultimately be noticeable in your pictures, especially if you are using a telephoto lens. Using a tripod from an open-air vehicle or boat is quite possible if you have a private vehicle or have only one or two passengers per row of seats. If you don't have a tripod, be sure to use whatever support is available (bean bag, monopod, roof-top) to avoid camera shake.

Tips for Getting Started

The following are some tips to get you started on your safari photo adventure:
If you plan to be on safari for many days, be sure to bring enough digital storage. You never want to be faced with passing up an excellent photo opportunity or having to delete good images.

Know your camera - you don't want to miss a shot! Because many scenes, especially those with a high degree of contrast, can fool your camera's automatic metering, practice using your camera's exposure compensation and also the different metering options (spot, center-weighted and evaluative).

Experiment with shooting moving objects and anticipating the action. Some of your best images will be of animal interactions and animals on the move (birds flying, zebras running, lions hunting).

Be patient and wait for things to happen - you'll be rewarded with spectacular opportunities. Also, when you get to a location, really take time to listen and observe- most of my best sightings have come when the vehicle is turned off and listening for clues. Constantly driving around will not yield good results.

Try to include something in the foreground to enhance the sense of depth when photographing landscapes. Something as simple as a rock, a termite mound or a person will effectively add scale and interest to your composition.

Always be sure to focus on an animal's eyes whenever possible. Having the eyes in sharp focus will make the difference between an image which works and one which is a throw-away.

Animals don't stay in one place for very long, so be prepared. Always move cautiously, slowly and smoothly and stay the recommended distance when photographing or observing wildlife. ALWAYS be respectful of wild animals and never pressure or stress them.

Don't hesitate to go out on "bad" weather days--some of the most striking images are captured during inclement weather.

In summary, for many people photography is one of the most essential parts of an African safari. Photographs are much more than just a record of where you have been and what you have seen--they are something to look back on in later years or a way of sharing your experience with friends and family back at home. In addition, many people get as much enjoyment out of taking the photos themselves as they do in seeing the animals and sights and they will take great satisfaction in their photos for years to come.

Eyes on Africa, an African safari company, boasts an extremely knowledgeable team of staff members, who are passionate about every aspect of travel to Southern Africa, including its wildlife and safari destinations. When you're ready to plan your African safari, a holiday in Africa, or if you just have questions, please feel free to contact us toll free at 800-457-9575 or visit our web site at www.eyesonafrica.net/contactus.htm and complete an information request form.

About the Author
Eyes on Africa, an African safari company, boasts an extremely knowledgeable team of staff members, who are passionate about every aspect of travel to Southern Africa, including its wildlife and safari destinations. When you're ready to plan your African safari, a holiday in Africa, or if you just have questions, please feel free to contact us.

Review: Kodak Digital Cameras

Full review posted for Kodak EasyShare V610 imaging resource - Woodstock,GA,USA... Like Kodak's other EasyShare cameras, when perched on a camera dock or printer, the V610 ranks among the easiest to use digital cameras.
more>

Review: Sony Digital Cameras

Sony Alpha α100 Digital SLR Review ForcersHQ.com - USA... debut from a new player in the digital SLR market, the Sony Alpha α100 is pitched at the consumer end of the market, but is actually a better camera than most ...
more>

Sony DSC-H5 imaging resource - Woodstock,GA,USA ... it marred my otherwise happy experience with this camera whose images were a delight to review on the ... The double digital zoom option was welcome as well ...
more>

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P200 Digital Camera PC Magazine - USARead Full Review... ... In our simulated-daylight still-life photo, the camera produced some patterned ... It doesn't quite outdo the Canon SD500 Digital Elph in image ...
more>

Digital Camera Lingo

Every advance in technology creates new terms, acronyms and definitions. The digital camera revolution is no different. When shopping for your first digital camera, it is always good to know the lingo. Saves you from that stupid feeling one often gets when speaking with sales people. I hope this glossary helps.

Aperture
The size of the lens opening, which controls how much light, passes through the lens. Aperture is measured in f-stops. A higher number equals a smaller amount of light. Most digital cameras allow manual aperture settings.

Auto Focus
This feature automatically focuses your picture at the touch of a button. By pressing slightly on the shutter release, the auto focus feature of the camera is activated.

CCD
The CCD (charged couple device) is the electronic imaging device that forms your picture in the camera. In other words, it is the electronic version of film for a digital camera. The higher pixel counts in the CCD, the more detailed image.

Digital Image Stabilization
A process by which blurring in pictures caused by camera movement is minimized and possibly eliminated.

Digital Zoom
A function which can enlarge a picture by increasing the size of the pixels. This often results in some fuzziness of the subject.

DPI
DPI stands for dots per inch. It also refers to the resolutions of the picture. The higher the DPI, the sharper the picture.

F-Stop
F-stop is the number assigned to a particular size opening on the aperture. The higher the number, the small the opening. Larger numbers admit less light; smaller numbers admit more light.

File Format
This is the way digital pictures are stored. The most common formats are jpeg, GIF, tiff and RAW. The format being used appears at the end of the file name.

Gigabyte
A gigabyte (GB) is a measure of data storage capacity. It is approximately on billion bytes.

LCD Screen
The liquid crystal display (LCD) screen is used to set and view digital pictures immediately after taking them.

Macro
A feature that allows a camera to take extreme close-ups of the subject.

Megabyte
A megabyte (MB) is a measure of data storage capacity. It is approximately one million bytes.

Megapixel
A Megapixel is a unit of measurement in a digital picture. A megapixel equals on million pixels. The higher the megapixel total the higher the picture resolution.

Memory Card / Media Card
A memory card is a small electronic device that stores images. Storage capacities range from 16 MB to 4 GB. It is capable of storing still images or video.

Noise
Graininess in an image, caused by too little light or a defect in the electrical signal generated during the image capture process.

Optical Zoom
A type of zoom on a digital camera that enlarges the subject by the use of glass lenses. It is the most important type of zoom on a digital camera.

Recycling Time
This is the amount of time it takes for a digital camera to ready itself for the next shot.

Red Eye Reduction/Red Eye Removal
This is a process by which red eye coloring is reduced or eliminated. Red eye is more common in low light situations when the pupils are wide open. Light reflecting off the back of the eye causes it.

Scene Modes
Scene modes are pre-set programs in a digital camera that adjusts the camera to specific picture taking situations.

USB Connectivity
A popular way of connecting all sorts of devices such as a digital camera to computers. USB connectivity is used to download your photos from the camera to the computer.

I know this is only a few of the terms and acronyms that articles and sales people "throw" at you, but it is a start. It takes a lot of reading and study to keep up with the digital age.

About the Author
Mike Browns has been an amateur photography enthusiast for many years. He invites you to visit http://www.camerasatcousinmikes.com and browse other informative articles and shop for a new digital camera.

Shutter Speed, Aperture, and Depth of Field

Shutter Speed and Aperture are the two most important functions of a camera. If you ever want to be an accomplished photographer it is essential that you learn how these two functions interact with one another. Shutter speed refers to the amount of time the camera sensor or film is exposed to light. Aperture refers to the amount of light that is let into the camera for the sensor or film to collect.

Shutter Speed
The shutter on a camera is what opens the front of the camera body to expose the image sensor or film to the light flowing through the lens. Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter stays open to expose the sensor to the light. In the middle of the day photographers typically use a short shutter speed because there is a lot of light available to flow into the sensor. Towards sunset or sundown photographers tend to use longer shutter speeds because since there is not very much light available, the sensor takes longer to collect a sufficient amount of light to create an image.

On the new top performance digital slr cameras being released today, shutter speeds usually range between an incredible 1/8000th of a second and 30 seconds. There is also a "Bulb" function on most cameras that allows the photographer to just manually hold the shutter open as long as he wants or needs to. Photographers typically only use the "Bulb" function when trying to take photos of lightning or fireworks. A shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second is short enough to freeze the motion of just about anything such as a batter hitting a fast ball or a race car sliding around a corner. A shutter speed of 30 seconds is long enough to collect sufficient light in almost in any situation such as a city street that is poorly lit or the inside of a room with only a few lights.

Aperture
The aperture of a camera controls how much light is let into the sensor while the shutter is open. The aperture of a camera works much like the iris of an eyeball. In the bright of day the iris in our eyes contracts somewhat to minimize the amount of light that is let in to the deeper parts of our eyeballs. Aperture is the camera's version of an iris and contracts or expands depending upon how much light the photographer wishes to have hit the image sensor.

Aperture is often much more confusing than shutter speed for most photographers because of how it is measured and it's effect on a photo. Aperture is measured in something called f/stops. A very wide diameter aperture is f/2.8 and a very small diameter aperture is f/19. Lenses are rated and priced much on what apertures they are capable of achieving. Lenses that can achieve a wider aperture (lower f/stop) are said to be "faster lenses" and are therefore more expensive.
The relationship between shutter speed and aperture is the primary interaction that separates point-and-shoot photographers from advanced photographers. Advanced photographers usually pay careful attention to what aperture and shutter speeds they are using for each situation, point-and-shoot photographers couldn't care less. Aperture interacts with shutter speed in a very precise manner. For example if there is only a little light available and you want to use a short shutter speed, then you will need a wide aperture to let more light in. On the contrary if you want to use a long shutter speed when there is only a small supply of light you will need a narrow aperture. But why would photographers care about what aperture they were using if there was a sufficient amount of light for any shutter speed? The answer is Depth of Field.

Depth of Field
In any given photo, there will be areas that are in focus and areas that are out of focus either in the foreground or in the background. Depth of field is the distance into the photo that everything stays in focus. The aperture is in direct control of how much depth of field will occur in a photo. A wider aperture (low f/stop) will create a small depth of field meaning that the subject will be in focus and not much else. A narrow aperture (high f/stop) will create a large depth of field meaning that almost the entire scene will be perfectly focused.

With a narrow aperture you must also consider that not much light is being let into the sensor therefore the shutter speed will have to be substantially longer. And since the shutter speed will need to be substantially longer it is probable that a tripod will be necessary. I almost always use a narrow aperture (high f/stop) for landscape photos and a wide aperture (low f/stop) for portrait photos.

About the Author
Richard Schneider is a digital photography enthusiast and founder of http://www.picturecorrect.com/ which offers tips and news about digital photography, digital camera reviews, and photoshop tutorials. Please also visit http://www.picturecorrect.com/freewallpaper.htm where there is free high resolution desktop wallpaper available.

Olympus Digital Cameras

Olympus Digital Mju 810 digital camera Computeractive - London,UK... us. The Olympus Digital Mju 810 is no exception being an easy-to-use eight-megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom. Its ...
more>

The Olympus E-500 digital SLR The eight million pixels Olympus E-500 digital SLR is a creative photographer’s dream with a full complement of manual settings plus the user-friendly simplified and detailed display. It incorporates a CF as well as...
more>

Olympus Stylus 300 Digital Camera Olympus has finally introduced the film Stylus' digital counterpart, the Stylus 300 Digital camera. ... the Stylus 300 Digital features both a real-image optical viewfinder and a 1.5-inch TFT color LCD monitor. The LCD monitor provides a limited exposure-information display (shutter speed and aperture aren't reported), and is controlled by a small...
more>

Olympus FE-170 & FE-180 Digital Camera Reviews and News - USA... one button, one function” design and a 6.0 million pixel CCD, the FE-170 and FE-180 make taking – and printing – even larger size photos a cinch. ...
more>

Review:Fujifilm Digital Cameras

Review: Fujifilm FinePix F30 Zoom digital camera
Computeractive - London,UK
... A camera with a specific purpose, the FujiFilm FinePix F30 achieves ... With professional digital cameras arguably capturing low light detail better than ...
more>

Review: Canon Digital Cameras

Review: Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS digital camera Computeractive - London,UK... With its ‘800’ numerals, you’d expect the Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS to ... The camera powers up in two seconds, the lens barrel extending from flush ...
more>

Canon Digital Rebel XT / EOS 350D Digital Camera with EF-S 18-55mm ... PC Magazine - USA... Read Full Review... Save on these great deals from Dell Small Business! ... Many challenges exist in creating a consumer digital SLR camera. ...
more>

Tricks You Can Do With Your Camera

Silhouettes, sunrise, sunset Jamaica Gleaner - Kingston,Jamaica ... You can add colour to a white background by placing a coloured filter over the camera's lens. When shooting outdoors, the trick is finding a space to shoot ...

The Southwest revisited Frederick News Post (subscription) - Frederick,MD,USA ... A trick I learned from local photographers is to be there with my camera set-up on its tripod about a half hour before sunrise. ...