Awesome Tips that will help you with Digital Photography

by Dan Feildman

Over the past five years, the camera consumer trend has been to go digital. The development and use of Single Lens Reflex (SLR) digital cameras has grown dramatically, while there is a marked drop in the use of the historically traditional film cameras. While many remain faithful to the advantages of film technology, there is no denying 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 digital photography. When digital cameras first came out, there was the question of whether to store the digital data files in RAW format or in compressed JPEG or TIFF files. Now many digital camera manufacturers provide instant storage of a RAW image at the same time a full-color JPEG is displayed for the photographer's immediate use.

There are a number of very inexpensive digital cameras available, but low resolution, unreliability, fixed memory, and often poor or inconsistent image quality plague the bottom of this segment. Avoid anything that has an unlisted resolution or a rating less than 2.1 Megapixels. Almost all brand-name low-end cameras have certain features in common with more expensive variants, such as shutter-release, red-eye reduction, and flash fill. If you anticipate the need for close-up photography, choose a camera with a "macro mode" and be prepared to work with available light or your own lighting - many low-end cameras disable their flash in macro mode, and even if they don't you may find that the flash causes more harm than good.

One interesting myth about digital photography is that digital cameras, with fewer moving parts, are somehow more durable than their film cousins. Digital cameras have as many (if not more) sensitive parts as film cameras. They share their most sensitive assembles, such as lenses. Digital cameras are often of lighter construction than film cameras. In short, there's no reason to treat any device roughly. Take care of your tools, and they will take care of you.

For most photographers, the vastly increased depth of field in digital cameras is good news. Too many pictures taken with our 35 mm cameras are not quite sufficient where they quickly run out of the depth of field. Digital provides a sharp foreground while enjoying details in the distance. This is especially evident in landscape photography. Being able to work with wide apertures (small F-stops) allows us to use higher shutter speeds, thus eliminating another source of image distortion. The program mode, especially for wide-angle lens settings, clearly favors wide apertures and high shutter speeds. Actually, small apertures, i.e., large F-numbers, may lead to image degradation due to diffraction effects. These factors depend on the actual (as opposed to relative) diameter of the lens aperture, which makes F-stops critical when programming digital cameras. This is one reason digital camera maker's limit themselves to F/8 or F/11, but not greater values, although these would be still quite useful in the macro mode. The camera lens, shutter speed and aperture play important roles in the quality of the photographs you take. They will determine how well you use the mega pixels you have to most accurately document your subjects.

If you stumble across the term "Shutter Lag", this is referring to the time it takes between pressing the button for a picture and the time it gets taken. Sometimes, the picture seems to take a pause in that time, and that is because of the shutter lag. You really only need to worry about this if you expect to be taking pictures of things that need a quicker or slower response time. For instance, you may want a faster shutter speed for action type pictures. If you are taking pictures of sleeping babies, it probably won't matter if there is a lapse in time. It is important that you ask questions about the camera you are buying. Most digital camera makers don't list the shutter speed of a camera. The best way to find out is to test it yourself, before you buy the camera. Also, many digital cameras have different "modes" of shooting, so that is a good way to control the shutter speed for many different conditions. If you need a versatile camera, get one that offers modes of shooting, instead of just manual.

If you want to capture incredible details and use less flash for night photos, then using a longer exposure time is the only way to go. If you are going to use a long exposure, make sure that you use a tripod, as any movement at all during the picture will cause the picture to become blurred. Also, you can capture some pretty cool effects, like car lights, when using a longer exposure. You will want to make sure that you know how to use and when to use your flash when taking a night picture, too. Most of the time, you probably will not even want to use your flash when you are taking a night photo. If youare taking a picture of an object, like a person, though, you will want to use your flash. When taking pictures of the night skyline, though, it is best to use a long exposure and take advantage of the natural lighting conditions. If you decide to take pictures at night, you will want to be able to control the photo as much as possible. Basically, you would take a shot of the area you want in your picture. Then, you take a picture of that same shot, only with the lens cap on. The reason for this is that at night, some of the pixels in the picture will not be visually good. When you take the picture with the lenses cap on, you will be recording the pixels again, while they are hot in your camera's memory. You can then use those pixels to repair the bad ones in the photo, with a photo editor. There are free photo editing software available online, but will not have some of the features of a professional photo editor.

If you are a picture-taking nut, then you probably love to share your work with others. When it comes to sharing digital pictures, there is nothing easier! Whether you have just taken another great picture of the new baby, or you have recently found an old photo that you know someone else would love, you can quickly share it with others. There are many ways to share a digital photo and there are just as many great reasons why you should! Why do you want to store your digital photos onto a CD or DVD? So that you can have them anytime you want, and so that you can print copies that you may need in the future. You can quickly slide the CD or DVD into a computer or any player you may have lying around. You can view the CD or DVD as a kind of slide show, if you want, and everyone can look at it at the same time; no more waiting to pass the pictures from person to person this way! You can also conveniently and effortlessly copy the CD's for anyone you want, if you have a CD or DVD burner, which are not really very expensive.


Author: Dan Feildman is the author of Learn Digital Photography Now

Article source: Articlecat.com