Digital Photography Tips
At digital photography tips we have put together a guide to
digital photography. Digital photography has taken the photographic world
by storm. The industry is already worth billions of dollars world-wide and is growing.
This is partly due to the availability of good quality digital cameras at affordable
prices, but also the fact that it is now commonplace for families to have a home
computer.
Types of digital photography
Digital imaging works essentially on two levels. Firstly, a digital camera can be
used to capture images without the need for film. The images are then downloaded
from the camera to a computer system for storage, viewing, manipulating and printing.
Software packages are available that make it possible for the images to be manipulated
for both technical and creative reasons. Photoshop is such popular software package
that the term ‘Photoshop it’ is widely used referring to manipulates a digital image.
Here are digital photography tips we definitely endorse it.
Choosing your equipment
The level at which you become involved will depend on your interest in photography
and reasons for taking pictures. At digital photography tips we say that this will
also determine the type of camera you purchase weather it’s a compact or
DSLR (Digital Single-lens reflex).
For example, digital cameras are incredibly useful for taking reference shots: engineers
and surveyors often use them to record the stages in a project, while estate agents
use them to capture images of properties they are marketing. Many people use a digital
camera instead of a conventional compact to take snapshots of family and
friends, downloading them to a home computer for immediate viewing and printing.
This speed and convenience is one of the major attractions of digital imaging. Take
a picture and literally a minute later a photo-quality colour print could be emerging
from your computer printer or flashing on the screen of a friend on the other side
of the world, thanks to the advent of e-mail and the Internet. Obviously, in order
to take advantage of this technology you need to invest in more than just a camera.
A PC is essential, as is an inkjet printer if you intend to print off your favourite
shots. If a PC is out of budget, at digital photography tips we recommend purchasing
a printer that connects directly to the camera.
Digitising existing analogue pictures
Even pictures taken on a film camera can make use of the technology to manipulate
existing picture. This is achieved by scanning an original negative, print or slide
into a computer system where it can be worked on using suitable software. If you
don’t own a scanner most photography shops and even supermarkets have them. The
creative possibilities available if you work in this way are virtually endless,
with software becoming more and more sophisticated and computers faster. Parts of
different photographs can be combined, unwanted elements removed, colours changed,
special effects applied and so on, all at the touch of a button and with far less
effort than if such work was done conventionally. Many photography enthusiasts no
longer have a darkroom, because today they can achieve exactly the same ends using
a computer — and don’t need to lock themselves away in a dark, smelly room. At digital
photography tips we recommend you look through your old pictures and digitise them.
Choosing a digital camera
Whenever new technology is launched, the buying public tend to pay a lot of money
for very little. This is partly owing to the novelty factor, but also because there
is usually a long way to go before that technology is perfected, the market expands
and prices fall. This was certainly the case when digital cameras entered the market.
Early models offered limited poor image quality and if you needed to print or reproduce
an image bigger than a standard colour en-print — 6 x 4 inch — they simply weren’t
good enough. Thankfully for you and us at Digital Photography Tips, all that has
changed and it is now possible to buy a digital camera that is light years ahead
of earlier models at a fraction of the price. At digital photography tips we say
wait 6 month after a new technology is in the shops before you consider entering
the market.
Picture resolution
The most significant development has been in the resolution on offer, which governs
picture quality. Digital cameras record images on something known as a CCD (Charged
Couple Device), which is basically a grid of sensors which convert light into coloured
dots known as pixels. The more pixels a camera can produce, the greater the resolution.
Bigger prints can then be produced without a drastic loss of quality. Mega-pixel
cameras offering eight million-plus pixel resolution are now commonplace and it
isn’t worth considering anything less.
The resolution offered by a digital camera is quoted as the maximum number of pixels
produced horizontally and vertically. Generally, the bigger these numbers are, the
better image quality will be, although lens quality influences this as well. To
produce a good quality print, the image needs to have at least 300 dpi (dots per
inch), so to find out what is the biggest print size you can comfortably get from
a digital camera, you simply divide this number into the horizontal and vertical
resolution values. So, for example, a 5 megapixel camera offering resolution of
2592 x 1944 will produce photo-quality prints up to roughly 8 x 7 inch.
Picture Storage
Digital cameras store images in their internal memory, so once this is full the
images must be downloaded to a computer or erased before more pictures can be taken.
The majority of models use removable memory cards, however, so when one card is
full you simply take it out and put another one in the camera, in the same way as
you would load a new roll of film into a conventional camera. Memory is incredibly
cheap with a10GB memory card cost $15 which will store about 700 image in a 5 megapixel
camera.
Camera accessories
Most compact
digital camears run on standard AA batteries, while some use lithium batteries
that last longer and are rechargeable. To download images from the camera’s internal
memory to your PC, the two are linked via a cable which plugs into a USB port. Alternatively,
the memory card can be removed and placed in a memory card reader and read by the
PC. At digital photography tips we recommend that you choose .rechargeable batteries
as it will save money in the long term.