Awesome Tips that will help you with Digital Photography
Posted on 08. Oct, 2008 by dan feildman in Photography
The camera consumer trend over the past five years has been to go digital. The development and use of Single Lens Reflex [SLR] digital cameras has grown dramatically. The marked drop in use of large format film cameras and enlarging lenses reflects the decreasing market demand for those historically traditional film cameras. While one reputable manufacturer is still producing their flagship film cameras, most have discontinued a large number of their film lenses. While many remain faithful to the advantages of film technology, it is obvious that digital photography is going to capture the mainstream market. The increased quality in digital capture and memory capacity has been one alluring factor. For the first generation digital cameras, there was the challenging question of whether to store the digital data files in RAW or in JPEG or TIFF. Now many companies provide instant storage of a RAW image at the same time a full-color JPEG is displayed for the photographer's immediate use.
Almost all low-end cameras use center-weighted metering, so you can use the old trick of using the shutter-release feature while pointing at an object with the desired light level before taking the shot. There are a lot of different ways to store digital photos in cameras, but almost all low-end cameras worth considering use one of the many memory card formats. There are too many advantages to removable memory to even consider a camera that uses only its own fixed internal memory. You want to check before purchasing, either with the manufacturer or through an online search, to see if the particular camera you're looking at has limitations as to card speed or capacity (some cameras can't read or write to the newest high-capacity multi-gigabyte cards). Capacity limits are less of a concern for low-end cameras, however, as their lower-resolution pictures take up little space. It doesn't make sense to spend $200 on a memory card for a $50 camera unless you really need to take 2000 pictures.
It is commonly believed that cold weather can damage a camera - and it also happens to be true. Condensation can form inside a camera, as it grows cooler, and not just in the lens. Moisture can cause a number of intermittent or permanent problems with the camera's electronics. Condensation inside the camera can freeze and cause damage if it is in the cold for too long. Warm the camera up slowly after it's been out in the cold, but do your best to keep it from getting cold in the first place! Many cold-weather photographers carry their cameras inside their jacket to keep them from getting cold enough for condensation to form. Lastly, consider storing the camera in a plastic bag - the condensation will form first on the bag before it forms in the camera.
It is often said that resolution is the most important factor in image quality. This one is not even close, it's lenses, hands down. That's why DSLR cameras with removable lenses are so highly valued, and why professionals spend so much more on lenses than on cameras. Even a single high-quality lens can cost more than the camera body. Poor quality lenses can impose many problems, from blur and distortion to color flaws and darkening of the image edge, that high resolution cannot hope to compensate for. I'd definitely rather have a 6 mega pixel SLR camera than an 8 Mega pixel compact. Dynamic range is the scale of light tonality from darkest to brightest in an image. The greater the dynamic range to start the more versatility you have with a photograph in post captures. Cameras at ISO 100 have a dynamic range of about 446:1. That means the digital image captures and delivers an image made from 8.8 stops of brightness. Where you capture a wider dynamic range, you have more to work with. Digital cameras provide the user the ability to change many camera exposure settings to brighten or lighten a photograph. Exposure settings such as White Balance, exposure compensation and saturation are limited in their ability to represent a photograph by the quality of raw capture provided. Many cameras now allow one to capture in RAW and in JPEG to provide one immediate true color representation of JPEG while archiving the maximum amount of material in RAW. Digital cameras increase our ability to edit more tonal characteristics of RAW files with a variety of sophisticated user-friendly software. A 6 mega pixel cameras may have sophisticated lenses and a sensor that provides 35 mm coverage with 8 to 10 mega pixel quality. The sensor and lens dramatically affect the capture quality of your camera, mega pixel or not
You will see and hear about a term called the "ISO". This is an abbreviation for the International Standards Organization. This is the organization that sets the bar for photography. In terms of the ISO of your digital camera, it is talking about how sensitive your camera is to lighting. You need to know that the higher the ISO on a camera, the better for darker conditions. The lower the ISO, the better suited this camera will be in lighted conditions.
Who doesn't love the night sky? Whether you are admiring the stars, or a really cool array of light, there are probably many night pictures that have been burned into your mind, right? Well, why not capture them on film? If you have been intimidated by night photography, or have failed at it in the past, there are a few simple tips that can help you take better nighttime photos. First of all, it is always a good idea to know when you should and shouldn't attempt to take a nighttime picture. That way you won't get so frustrated and waste your time! Some of the most beautiful photographs are taken at dusk. You will notice some really stunning natural lighting colors available at this time, as opposed to completely dark. You should take a little time to check out the weather and know ahead of time what you may encounter that evening. If there is a chance of rain and it is cloudy, you won't have much time to capture the stars, if any at all! Also, the location of your shoot is important. If it's possible to get out of the city, you will be able to capture better pictures. The most important aspect, aside from weather, when taking a night photo is the exposure. You need to use a longer exposure time for the night pictures. This will allow as much natural light through to the picture as possible.
There are dozens of ways to share your photos with other people. You could choose to place the pictures onto your own business or professional website. This way, you can just direct people to the website instead of sending out a bunch of emails! It's a really great way to be able to share many pictures with a lot of people all at the same time. They won't have to wait for their turn and can pick and choose what it is they want to see. If you don't already have a website, or don't have a clue as to where to begin making one, there are a lot of really good resources on the Internet that will help you out. Many sites will charge a small fee, but will set it all up and run it for you, that way all you need to worry about is taking those pictures! When it comes to sharing your prized digital pictures, you don't have to get in your car and drive across town to do it! The Internet is the perfect way to share the pictures with many people, very quickly! You can also store the pictures and email them. If you prefer the old school method, just download the photos onto a CD or DVD and print out the ones that you would like to share. Then you can mail those out, too!
