Summer Digital Photo Tips

The Digital Photo Academy has published its list of “hidden gem” digital photo opportunities in some of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. With interesting sites at the top 10 travel destinations in the US, Digital Photo Academy also has digital photo tips for photographers at all levels.

Secaucus, NJ (June 19, 2008) – In anticipation of summer vacation planning, Digital Photo Academy by Panasonic LUMIX is helping travelers find “hidden gem” photo opportunities in some of this year’s most popular U.S. hot spot destinations. The expert instructors of the Digital Photo Academy, a nationwide series of digital photography courses, also are sharing their professional photo tips, which are easy enough for beginners, and can assist travelers at any skill level to capture their summer vacation memories with beautiful images worthy of being shared year-round.

According to the American Society of Travel Agents’ “2008 Summer Hot Spots” survey, the top 10 domestic travel destinations, in order of popularity are: Orlando, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, New York City, Honolulu, San Diego and Washington, DC.

Read Full Article - Summer Tips by Digital Photo Academy

Creative Inspiration Photography Online Course

lynda.com, a leader in online software training videos, has released the Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration, a video course on photography featuring one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century - Douglas Kirkland. The course covers his insights on photography and techniques and tips to improve your photography.

Creative Inspiration Photography Course

Ventura, CA, 6/3/2008 - lynda.com, the leading provider of software training videos online, today announced the release of Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration, a video course featuring one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th Century.

Members of the lynda.com Online Training Library® receive on-demand access to this entire course, while non-members can access 10% for free by visiting the course page at lynda.com. Kirkland shares his insights on photography craft and technique, gleaned from 50 years photographing the entertainment industry. He also takes viewers to on-location photo shoots, and discusses cameras, Photoshop, and the art of capturing his images.

"Douglas Kirkland brings a lifetime of photography experience to this video course, having created some of the most iconic celebrity images of the last half-century," says Lynda Weinman, CEO of lynda.com. "We are thrilled to have been able to profile Douglas's passion, wisdom, and outstanding imaging skills, to provide our subscribers with this informative and inspirational view into the world of photography from one of its great practitioners."

To view free demo video tutorials of this course, visit the Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration course page.

For more information on lynda.com, visit www.lynda.com or call 1-888-335-9632.

About Douglas Kirkland

Douglas Kirkland is one of the most accomplished and celebrated photographers of the last 50 years, from his early career at Look magazine during the golden age of photojournalism in the 60s and 70s to his transition from analog to digital photography in the 90s. He has worked on the sets of more than 100 motion pictures, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Titanic, and Australia. His iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, and Antonio Banderas, among others, are known all over the world. Douglas has received numerous awards, including a Lucie for Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Photography in 2003, The Golden Eye of Russia in 2006, and also in 2006, a Lifetime Achievement Award from CAPIC in his native Toronto. In 2007, Douglas received an honorary MFA from Brooks Institute, which honored his deep commitment and dedication to his profession.

Hama releases Carbon Camera Tripods

Hama has released its latest line of carbon tripods aimed at semi-professional digital photographers. The lightweight and high stability of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics make it ideal for digital camera tripods.

Weighing under 3 kg, or 6.6 lbs., the Omega Carbon III digital camera tripod is the ideal traveling companion for digital photographers who shoot high-angle shots. The Omega Carbon III tripod's height is adjustable from 28 in to almost 80 in.

The smaller Hama Omega Carbon II camera tripod has an adjustable height of between 27 in and 69 in. It weighs about 2.5 kg, or 5.5 lbs. Both camera tripods also come with Hama's impressive precision 3D ball head.


Hama presents its new Omega Carbon tripod series for semi-pros.

Carbon for connoisseurs

Carbon, used colloquially to describe carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, is used in products that require high stability at a relatively light weight, such as in automobile construction or sporting goods. The two new Omega Carbon II and III tripods from Hama take advantage of these characteristics, and are stable and lightweight at the same time.

Lightweight giant: Omega Carbon III

Omega Carbon III’s height adjusts from 71 to an imposing 202 centimeters, making the tripod ideal for taking impressive high-angle photos. Including the versatile 3D precision ballhead, the tripod weighs just under three kilograms; it is the perfect traveling companion. The completely removable central column helps with this, too. It can become a fully adjustable monopod, with a height of 54 to 158 centimeters; or, inserted upside-down into the tripod, it can be used for macro photography.

Little brother: Omega Carbon II

The little brother, the Omega Carbon II, with an extension length of 68 to 174 centimeters, weighs just 2.5 kilograms, including the tripod head. A crafty detail: the hook on the bottom of the extendable central column also functions as a holder for items such as the camera case, which means that they can be used to provide greater weight for improved stability.

Comprehensive Features

What the two carbon tripods have in common are the comprehensive features. The stable 3D precision ball head is impressive. It features a separate ball and pan head lock, adjustable tension settings as well as a quick-release plate with a safety catch and locking screw. The four-piece tripod legs can be extended in three places and spread out in various patterns. The large, quick-action leg clamps help you fix the legs in the required position in a snap. Rubber feet with a ball joint and extensible steel spikes provide for completely secure positioning, even in rough terrain. The foam sheathing around the legs means that you will always have a comfortable and secure hold, even in the cold and during transport. The tripod case included with both models makes it easy to carry the tripod when you are on the go.

April Digital Photography FAQ

PC World's monthly digital photography FAQ answers some of the most interesting questions submitted by readers. For April, some of the digital photography questions answered deal with photographing dark subjects in bright lighting conditions, recovering lost digital photos from defective memory cards, and blurring the background when shooting digital photos. Also addressed is the effect of airport screenings on your digital camera and how fading batteries can influence your digital photos.

PC World readers can submit their own digital photography questions and the most interesting questions are rounded up at the end of the month.

Read Full Article - Frequently Asked Digital Photography Questions for April

Digital Photography at National Parks

National parks are one of the most popular destinations for digital photographers at any level of expertise. Not only are there stunning scenery and natural features, national parks also allows you to view wildlife in their natural habitat. This opens up a wide variety of digital photography opportunities.

by Rajendra Varma

The landscapes and animals at America's national parks provides a multitude of digital photography subjects simply because national parks in fact were set up to preserve the beauty of these areas in their original state. Therefore, national parks are as close to nature as most of us will get to. The following techniques will help you produce stunning digital photographs of America's natural wonders at these national parks.

National Parks Digital Photography

There are many national parks across America, each with its own distinctive beauty and uniqueness that were deemed worthy of preservation. For digital photographers, this opens up a variety of options. The many national parks offer stunning views of mountains, canyons, geysers, glaciers, valleys, lakes and vistas. They also contain within hundreds of different types of wildlife in the natural setting, giving you the opportunity to get up close with some of these animals.

Planning for Digital Photography

Planning ahead can be very helpful when you are going to shoot digital photography at national parks. Go through park websites and user comments about the parks you are interested in for information on good shooting locations and ideas for your digital photos. You can also search for photos of the parks on digital photo sharing websites like Flickr to get ideas for your own digital photography. Park visitor centers will also often have information on unique shooting locations. Most importantly, however, walk around on your own when you get to a shooting location to find the best angles and lighting conditions to create stunning, unique digital photographs.

Best Time for Digital Photography

The best time to shoot scenery is right after sunrise and just before sunset when the lighting is best. Animals will also be most active during these times, allowing for amazing wildlife photographs. Therefore, plan to be at your shooting location while its still dark before the sun rises or to stay there after the sun sets.

Lighting Conditions

Lighting is the key to high-quality digital photography. It is important to always think about how the lighting will affect your photography, and for outdoor photography, lighting could not be more important. Think creatively about how you can use the lighting conditions to properly reflect the sense of the place, and then plan to shoot when lighting is optimal. Cloudy days are perfect for photography in forests or of waterfalls, while sunny days are optimal for sweeping landscapes.

Composing Photographs at National Parks

Composing your pictures properly can mean the difference between a good digital photograph and an average one. Try to fill the frame with your subject and bakcground or foreground elements. Simplify the composition to focus attention on the subject by eliminating any element that does not add constructively to the digital photograph. Think about the shot and how you compose the digital photograph before shooting.

Also try to shoot unique shots of well-known features like the Grand Canyon or the geysers at Yellowstone. Try to give your digital photographs you personal touch by exploring different angles and digital camera settings.

Stitch Photos

A panorama is a series of photos 'stitched' together digitally to form one wide digital photograph. A lot of medium-range and higher-end digital cameras nowadays offer in-camera stitching feature for shooting panoramic shots of vistas and mountain ranges.

Always experiment with different angles and shooting techniques when taking digital photographs at national parks. It will help you grow as a photographer in addition to producing unique digital photographs of America's natural treasures.

Night Digital Photography

Photographing The Moon In The Landscape with a Digital Camera - Techniques and Digital Photography Tips.

by David Rose

Photographers have been trying to utilize the light of the moon in their landscape photography ever since the photographic process was invented. It was not until World War II, however, that technology had improved enough to make night photography possible.

Night Digital Photography Techniques

Today, despite technological advances, knowing the phase of the moon during a night photography shoot is important as it will affect everything from the type of equipment that you'll need to the actual composition of your photos.

The best times for landscape digital photography without additional light sources, or looking at it in a different manner, away from city lights, is either when the moon is full, the two days before the full moon and the two days after the full moon. Any clouds in the sky will also affect the amount of light available for your night photography, just as they would if you were shooting during the day.

You will have to experiment with your exposure times as so many elements will affect the outcome. The degree of available moonlight; any other light sources; clouds; rain; light reflective surfaces; each of them can make a huge difference to the amount of exposure time needed.

Night Digital Photography Equipment

When embarking on a night digital photography trip, there are standard types of equipment that you will need to take with you.

• A digital camera that will allow you to manually set very long exposure times.
• A good, sturdy tripod is mandatory.
• Extra batteries for your digital camera.
• Sufficient memory card space for your digital camera.
• Lenses with which you are already comfortable.
• A cable release.
• A good carrying case or a vest with a lot of pockets for your equipment.
• A flashlight so that you can easily record your information.

Remember that if this is your first attempt at night photography by moonlight, you will largely spend your time experimenting. The resulting digital photographs and your records will help you plan your next venture more effectively.

Digital Camera Settings

In general, during night photography, one can say that on a night of full moon, with optimum conditions, 8 seconds at f/8 using ISO 100 film will be about right. If there’s a crescent moon and conditions are also optimal, you’ll need as much as 10 hours on one shot! So you see, experimentation while photographing the moon is really the only way to go.

Repeat your shots with different exposure lengths so that you can get a feel for what your digital camera will do for you. A very nice composition for a moonscape might include the moon with beams bouncing off of a river, stream or creek. As the moon moves through its different phases, you can still enjoy landscape photography at night although you may have to bring some "extras" and move locations.

Moonscape Photography Compositions

Different moonscape compositions to experiment with during your moonlight digital photography shoot include:

• A waxing crescent, or a small portion of the moon, hanging in the sky over sparkling city lights.
• Bring a flash or a flash unit to your moon digital photography shoot in order to illuminate an abandoned house, use colored gels to get different color effects and have a muted last quarter moon lurking in the background.
• As the moon goes from full to new, you can play with light effects from the stars or allow car lights to streak through your composition.

When photographing the moon with a digital camera, be sure to record not only the length of time that you exposed your film, but also general weather conditions and what phase the moon was in. This will help you to produce better digital photos in the future. Night photography becomes easier when you're able to plan properly so knowing how much natural light is likely to be available will help you pick the right time to go out and what kind of equipment to take.

Nighttime landscape photography is a creative, rewarding challenge that every keen digital photographer should try.


About The Author: David Rose is a nature photographer and creator of the popular moon software, QuickPhase Pro, the fun and easy way to view the phases of the moon.

A Look at Digital Photo Printers

If you are into digital photography, chances are you will be interested in printing your digital photos. Home digital photo printers lets you play around with your photos and offers more convenience than online or retail store printing services.

Rajendra Varma

Epson, Canon and HP are the three main manufacturers when it comes to home digital photo printers. And they offer a wide variety of models to suit every digital photographer. Having a digital photo printer lets you play around with your pictures on your computer and then print them, all in the convenience of your home. Newer digital photo printers even have media card readers that lets you bypass the computer altogether, while most printers will still need to be connected to a computer. Here we look at a few popular digital photo printers available today.

General Digital Photo Printers

Canon Pixma iP4500

The Canon Pixma iP4500 is a general purpose ink-jet printer that delivers good overall quality prints up to 8.5x11. It has a PictBridge port for easy interface with cameras. Priced at $129.99 (www.usa.canon.com), the Pixma iP4500 is a good option for most users.

HP Photosmart D7460

The Photosmart D7460 features a media card reader and a large, 3.5 in LCD touchscreen, allowing you to preview and print without using a computer. It also has wired and wireless network options as well as PictBridge support. The HP Photosmart D7460 supports prints photos up to 8.5x11 and is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).

Epson Stylus Photo 1400

High quality color prints and supports prints up to 13x19. The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 is a dye-based printer that also allows printing directly on CD's and DVD's. Black and white prints, though, are less than perfect. Priced at $299.99 (www.epson.com), the Stylus Photo 1400 is recommended if you are into larger print sizes.

Professional Digital Photo Printers

Epson Stylus Pro 3800

The Stylus Pro 3800 is the cheapest pro-series digital photo printer available and is the industry standard for black and white printing. Overall print quality is excellent and it supports a variety of paper sizes, up to 17x22. The Epson Stylus Pro 3800 has large ink cartridges and prints last long. It is priced at $1295.00 (www.epson.com).

Canon Pixma Pro 9500

Canon's pro-series Pixma Pro 9500 uses pigment inks, which means prints will last longer but do not have the same color vibrancy of dye-based inks. However, the Pixma Pro 9500 produces excellent prints as large as 13x19 and has PictBridge support. It is priced at $849.99 (www.usa.canon.com).

Compact Digital Photo Printers

Epson PictureMate Dash

If you are into 4x6 prints exclusively, the PictureMate Dash is an good choice. With a large LCD screen for previewing and a memory card reader as well as PictBridge support, the PictureMate Dash allows easy and fast 4x6 printing. Picture quality, however, is lacking. It is priced at $129.99 (www.epson.com).

HP Photosmart A627

Another option if you are going to print a lot of small prints is the HP Photosmart A627, which also prints 5x7 digital photos. It also has a memory card reader and touchscreen for easy previewing. It is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).

Full Review - Sony Cybershot DSC-H50

NEW SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-H50 DIGITAL CAMERA IDEAL FOR FAST-ACTION SHOOTING

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 25, 2008 – Sony today announced the latest addition to its high-zoom camera line, the 9.1-megapixel Cyber-shot® DSC-H50 digital camera. It is the ideal choice for people looking for high zoom, high-resolution and speed.

This new model utilizes a powerful Carl Zeiss® 15x optical zoom lens with Super SteadyShot® optical image stabilization to capture action at a distance. One of the main lens elements is manufactured from super low-dispersion glass, which helps it produce more exact point-to-point correspondence between an object and its image. The lens yields sharp, high-contrast images and reduces color fringing, even when shooting in telephoto ranges.

The camera also features a large, 3-inch tilting LCD screen so you can shoot comfortably from nearly any position, at low and high angles. Its scratch-resistant, UV hard-coat finish adds a premium look and feel that mirrors the performance of the model.

Improved Advanced Sports Shooting Mode

Its improved “advanced sports” shooting mode now employs a system to apply higher shutter speeds, up to 1/4000 of a second, more frequently than on previous models. This mode combines high shutter speeds with predictive continuous auto-focusing so you can quickly focus and capture fast-moving subjects with minimal shutter lag - basically the time it takes for the camera to focus and shoot.

Sophisticated Operation

The camera’s versatile, long-distance flash is powerful enough to illuminate subjects more than 55 feet away (when using ISO 3200, wide angle).

Noise reduction is now a user-selectable option, with high, low and standard settings, for greater control over the final look of images. For example, a high setting used for portraits or night scenes can help produce smoothly textured images with reduced noise.

The unit features extensive manual controls, including an exposure bracketing mode that newly includes settings for white balance and color modes. This function records three images, each with a different white balance or color mode applied, to help capture the ambience of the original scene.

Smart Technology to Capture Better Photos Automatically

The camera also incorporates intelligent features that help you take better pictures more easily. They include improved smile shutter and face detection technologies with child or adult priority recognition, as well as, intelligent scene recognition with standard and advanced modes to analyze shooting conditions and select the optimal setting automatically.

Other helpful features include a new D-Range Optimizer (DRO) plus mode that applies a high image correction algorithm to retrieve more picture detail in bright highlights and dark shadows; NightShot® technology to help capture photos in virtually no light as well as infrared remote access; five color modes including “real” for less in-camera processing and more faithful color reproduction; in-camera editing features; advanced in-camera image management functions; improved slide show functions with longer music files; and HD component output for viewing photos on a compatible HDTV set.

Pricing and Availability

The H50 model will soon sit at the top of the Cyber-shot high zoom line. It will ship in May for about $400 with a full line of accessory options. All can be purchased online at www.sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores, at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide.

Digital Camera - Sony Cybershot DSC-H50

Sony's new Cybershot DSC-H50 digital camera is its latest high-zoom camera with 15x optical zoom along with 9.1 megapixel resolution. With a 3.0 inch LCD screen, the Cybershot DSC-H50 also allows easy viewing of your digital photos as well as the menu options.

The DSC-H50 digital camera supports ISO settings up to 3200 and shutter speeds as low as 1/4000 sec, making it a very powerful non-SLR digital camera. Maximum image resolution is 3456 x 2304 pixels. Priced at $399.99, the Cybershot DSC-H50 is expected to be available in early May 2008.

According to Sony's press release, the DSC-H50 "is the ideal choice for people looking for high zoom, high-resolution and speed." Powered by Sony's BIONZ image processor and supporting digital technologies like Dynamic Range Optimization and Intelligent Scene Recognition, the Cybershot DSC-H50 aims to please the most discerning of photographers.

The DSC-H50 digital camera is a very good option for advanced photographers who are not ready for a true SLR yet but take their digital photography seriously enough to want the advanced features this Cybershot offers.

At A Glance
Resolution: 9.1 Megapixels
Optical Zoom: 15x
Dimension: 4.6 x 3.2 x 3.4 in.
Weight: 1 lb. 3 oz.

Visit Sony Cybershot DSC-H50 Official Website
Read the Sony Press Release on Cybershot DSC-H50

Imaging Resource - Sony Cybershot DSC-H50 Digital Camera Review
Photography Blog - Sony Cybershot DSC-H50 Digital Camera Review

Digital Photo Printing

Beautiful Prints from your Digital Camera

by Timothy Rea

There are basically two options when it comes to printing your digital photos and get photographic quality prints for your scrap books or your wallet. Whether you like to be served, or you are a do-it-yourself kind of person, you can get beautiful, high-quality prints from your digital camera.

Online or Retail Store Prints

After you take your digital photos, you can go online to a site like Shutterfly, Snapfish, KodakGallery, or Walgreens Photo Center among other choices to print them. Click here to read about the different online digital photo printing services available.

On these sites you can upload your digital photos into your own private gallery. From there you can order prints in all sizes and have them shipped to your home with a minimal shipping fee. You will have to register on the site, and upload your digital photos from your camera to your computer so that you have them available to upload to the site.

Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, and other regional or national stores with online digital photo printing services will also allow you to upload your pictures and order prints to be mailed for you to be pick up.

Additionally, you can take your memory card out of your camera and take it to your local pharmacy or to a discount store and look for the digital photo print customer service desk. Here you will hand your memory card to a customer service person to have your prints made. Some of these stores also have kiosks where you can order your prints and download digital photos for printing using step-by-step instructions on the kiosk touch screen.

Home Digital Photo Printers

The other option you have to print your digital photos is to get your own photo quality printer. Companies like Dell, HP, Epson, Samsung, Sony and others make photo lab quality printers to instantly print your digital photos.

Some printers allow you to print your digital photos by docking your camera directly on the printing station and downloading your photos there.

Others require you to upload your pictures to your computer and then send them to your digital photo printer to get prints of your digital photos. If you are in the market for one of these digital photo printers, you will want to check the resolution and print quality and figure in the cost of photo quality paper, and the color printer cartridges with which you will print your digital photographs.

For some people, this cost outweighs the advantage of getting instant pictures. It really depends on how much you plan to use your digital camera and how often you want prints of the pictures you take. Click here for home digital photo printing tips.

Whether you choose to let someone else print your digital photos and send them to you, or go to a local store and upload your digital photos to get prints, or buy your own printer and go the self-service route, you are bound to get beautiful, high-resolution pictures with little or no trouble.

Home Digital Photo Printing Tips

How To Get The Best Results When Printing Your Own Digtal Photographs

by Gregg Hall

One of the biggest joys of using a digital camera is to then have the ability to print out digital photos in the comfort of your own home. Usually, when you own a computer, the printer is a common accessory attached to it. This is all you need to be on your way to producing the images from your digital camera. When you are interested in printing out your own digital photos, you should take into consideration some of the techniques you can use to achieve the best results.

Digital Photo Paper

All printer companies produce their own line of ink and paper for their consumers to use. With most of the printing projects you deal with, any type of paper or ink is sufficient, but with digital photo printing, a different type of paper is required. This ensures that you will receive the best quality for your digital photos, including brighter colors and a clearer appearance. If you mix different brands of paper, you will find that each one will give you varied results.

One of the options for choosing digital photo printing paper is one that claims to be of the unique archival variety, which is supposed to keep photos from fading over the years. But, once your digital photo is saved to a file, you can always reprint; gaining the same original appearance as the first time you printed it out. All you have to do is find digital photo printing paper that is compatible with your inkjet printer.

There are many different kinds of finishes available for your digital photo printing paper. You may choose from a glossy to matte finish. When storing paper, make sure it is placed within a cool place that doesn't receive any direct sunlight. You will also find that paper designed for digital photo printing costs more than regular copy paper. This means, try not to waste. When you want to use the majority of the paper, let your software guide you on the correct positioning. Speaking of waste, don't forget how expensive the printer ink is.

Digital Photo Printer Settings

Make sure that when printing digital photos that you have chosen the "normal" print setting. Choosing higher options will not make a 300 dpi photo come out any better and sometimes it actually decreases the appearance. These options are really just a waste of ink.

Some users opt for the purchase of a printer that is only used for printing digital photos. These options possess a different kind of technology, which are responsible for producing better quality digital photos. A disadvantage to using one of these digital photo printers is that the most common maximum print size is 4 x 6 inches.

But, for portability and added convenience, they are a joy for avid photographers. These types of digital photo printers also tend to create photos that last longer because they use a different method to apply the ink to paper. The long lasting finish is also made possible through a protective overcoat that is added as a final layer.


About the Author: Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as quality digital prints at www.qualitydigitalprints.com

Secrets to Editing Digital Photography

Digital photo editors allow you to create and modify graphics and digital photographic images. This includes tasks such as painting and drawing, color correction, photo enhancement, creating special effects, converting images, and adding text to digital photographs. Your digital photo editor will probably be your most frequently used tool for working with graphics so it should be flexible and intuitive. Many software programs are available for enhancing and otherwise working with bitmap images, but unless they can perform all of the tasks above sufficiently, they should only be considered as companion tools to your primary digital photo editing application.

The best thing about digital cameras is that it's easy to take a lot of pictures. That is also the worst thing about digital cameras. After you've owned your camera for a few months, you will not be able to find that great picture you took a couple of months ago if your pictures aren't well organized or named logically. Folders are the best way to organize groups of pictures, and the My Pictures folder in Windows is a great place to start. In your My Pictures folder, create a sub-folder for each year: 2004, 2005, 2006, and so on. This might seem silly the first year you own your camera, but after five years, you'll be glad you did this because you can go back to your 2005 folder and easily find a picture from a vacation you took that year. Arranging pictures by year is also helpful if you're scanning older photos stored in shoe boxes or albums that you took before owning a digital camera. This is also a good way to start organizing the pictures that you currently have on your computer.

Digital Photo Editing Software

When it comes time to touch up your digital photos, you will need a digital photo editing software. You can choose a low-priced, consumer-oriented program or a high-priced program targeted at professional photographers. For most of us, the consumer-oriented digital photo editing programs are more than adequate-and, in fact, you might have received one with your computer or digital camera. Depending on what you do with your photos, you may not need a lot of the bells and whistles when it comes to photo editing. Explore your options and find out which software is best for you. If you're a beginner, you may be happy with a package that offers only the basics, like cropping and red-eye removal. Or, perhaps you need something with more creative effects. For the ultimate in photo-editing, you may consider investing in a professional editing suite. Be warned though, software like that is going to cost you. Adobe Photoshop, for instance, has become the industry standard among professional photographers everywhere. It allows functions like level adjustment, advanced compositing, and RAW image processing.

Digital Photo Sharpening Tools

Sharpen filters bring out detail in digital photographs by increasing the contrast of pixels next to one another. More advanced image editing programs offer several options such as Sharpen, Sharpen More, Sharpen Edges and Unsharp Mask (USM). Unsharp Mask gives you a lot of control over how an image is sharpened. Sometimes a digital photograph will benefit from selective sharpening. You select an area with a programs selection tool and only sharpen the area. The important thing is not sharpen an image too much. The Unsharp Mask searches through your image looking for where colors change, and sharpens those areas. The Unsharp Mask is superior to any other sharpening because it makes decisions based on adjacent pixels, not random color changes, so it usually can find and sharpen just the true edges of color areas.

Resizing Digital Photographs

Often times digital photographs are posted on the web and resized with HTML code. This leads to an image full of jagged edges. By resizing your image in a digital photo editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop, you can utilize smoothing algorithms that will make an image look much smoother. Additionally, resizing the image will reduce the file size, allowing a web page to load faster than usual. When you resize a digital photograph, you are resampling the image. In other words, your program is taking all of the image data and redrawing the pixels so that the image is the desired size. However, when you ask the application to increase the size of the image, the size of each pixel is increased, which inevitably leads to degradation of the image. You can also change image resolution when you resize the digital photograph to keep the quality of your image.

Digital Photograph Cropping

At times the subject of a picture is lost in the surrounding parts of a picture. If this happens, you can always crop your picture. This means cutting down the picture to a certain size. There are many ways to do this in terms of the size of cropping. In just about every digital photo editing program there is a cropping tool, and you can experiment with the size of the area that you take out of your digital photograph. If you don't like what you've done, all you have to do is click "undo."


Learn more about editing knowledge editing digital photography at Edit Your Digital Photos.

Photography 101: Content in Digital Photography

Even with good techniques and composition, without content digital photography loses its substance. It is important to think of the content when you photograph something.

by Kelly Paal

Even if you feel that you already know what kind of digital photography you like to do, it’s always a good idea to try your talent at different aspects of digital photography.

Pictorial
This is a general term but it applies to any digital photographer who’s goal is simply to create beautiful photos. This breaks down into smaller subsets but the most popular form is landscape and nature digital photography. This is what I do and it’s tempting to go on and on but I will just say that this form of digital photography, to me, is a real art. At least that is goal to create art in photographic form. It is the goal of the digital photographer to use their abilities to capture an image in it’s moment of beauty and simplicity.

Portrait
This can be people and even animals. It also includes wedding photography as well. This is an aspect of digital photography that can be a lot harder than it seems. Not only do you have to know your basic photo composition but you need to understand what makes each person look their best. You must know how to bring out their personality and character in the shot. If you love working with people this may be your field. It’s fun and challenging.

Photojournalism
Now this isn’t just press photography, though that is one aspect of it. It is also documentary photography as well, the latter doesn’t always need an event to occur right in front of you. Either way the purpose is to tell a story. Really good photojournalism shouldn’t need the text below it to tell you what is going on. It should be compelling and storytelling. Composition still plays a part in digital photography, you can’t tell a story if the story can’t be seen. And while these digital photos can be beautiful in their technical aspects they aren’t necessarily beautiful images. The story telling is as important.

Abstract
Probably not as common of a form of digital photography but I’m seeing it more and more. This is usually characterized by extreme close ups of detail of something, so much so that you can’t identify the original subject. But in this case that doesn’t matter since the abstract detail or pattern is the subject of the digital photo. (Color can also be the subject as well.) Basic composition still plays a part, maybe a bigger part in this form of digital photography.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: Basic Composition

Basic information about the rules of composition in digital photography. Composition turns digital photography into an art.

by Kelly Paal

Now that you are beginning to understand how your camera works you can begin to understand basic composition in digital photography. I know that many people that I’ve talked to think that digital photography is just pointing your camera and taking a photo but it’s more than that. After you understand how your equipment works you can begin to get into the real art of digital photography and that art is called composition.

Basic Principles

1. Use all of your available space. Fill the image with the image. If the reason that your taking the photo is your daughter’s beautiful face then get closer. If you’re taking an image of the breathtaking valley before you. Fill the frame with the valley. Keep distractions out of the frame. They’re called distractions for a reason.


2. Look at the forms in your image. You almost have to look at the people or the landscape before you in their simplistic geographic forms. A good way to learn form is to practice taking photos of still life objects, that you can arrange into pleasing forms. A good digital photograph is always a beautiful arrangement of form. Whether it’s the beauty of a woman’s face, her features being forms, or a wonderful landscape, trees, rocks, and hills being forms.


3. Line or direction, motion. The direction of the forms in your photos is very important. Never have action or motion moving outside of your digital photograph. It will direct the eye away from your image. Diagonal motion lines are good, curves and “s” curves are better. The last two is probably way landscape photography is so popular nature is full of curves. Also never put a horizon line in the center of your frame.


4. Contrast, the difference between black and white. Now it is possible to have a beautiful photo with little contrast if that is your intention, this works best with color. But a lot of shots, some really beautiful shots have a nice balance of black, white, and grays. This can be manipulated for artistic purpose of course, but in the beginning you want to focus on trying to take digital photographs with equal amounts of black, white, and shades of gray.
   


5. Color, you may have to familiarize yourself with the color wheel. Whether you’re shooting nature or setting up your own shots in a studio you need to know what colors go together and why. Many of us have an instinct as to what looks good. When in doubt follow your instincts. Start out by taking shots of things that you think have pretty or beautiful colors. Show the photos to others and see if they agree. Digital photographers learn not only what they think is beautiful but what is universally beautiful as well.

Now the hard part practice all these principles at the same time. It’s not easy! Now you really know why digital photographers take years to really learn their craft.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: Digital Photography Basics

A simplified digital photography course aimed at new photographers out there who want to know where to start.

by Kelly Paal

If you really want to learn digital photography the first thing you need is a good and reliable camera. It must, and I repeat must, be able to shoot in fully manual and fully auto focus modes. To really learn digital photography you must understand the equipment. You’ll need to learn how manipulating the shutter speed, aperture, and focus will have a dramatic effect on your digital photos. Meters, if you have a camera that can work in a fully manual mode it should have an internal meter suitable for what you will be doing. Tripod, you’re going to need one whether it’s portrait work or landscapes you’ll need one eventually to improve your digital photography. Luckily you don’t have to spend a lot here. Just something lightweight and durable. Flash, you can buy a separate camera mounted flash, which is great if you can afford it. Consider what kind of digital photography that you will be doing though. If you’re going to do mostly nature and landscape digital photography, you may only need the fill flash that comes with most cameras today. If you plan on doing portraiture only you will definitely need a camera mounted flash that has an adjustable angle.

Film Speed
ISO setting to be exact. Slower speeds (25 to 400) are intended for portraiture and landscape digital photography. Faster speeds (600 and above) are intended for actions shots and photojournalism. So first you need to know what you going out to digital photograph and make sure that you have the appropriate film for the job.

Shutter Speed
Now that you have the camera loaded with film consider the shutter speed. Do you want to blur motion, or freeze it? If there is no motion at all what shutter speed do you need to expose the scene with natural light. Shutter speed plays a very important role in digital photography. From 1/60th and down to the bulb setting will blur most motion. For example if you want to blur the water in a waterfall, a setting of 1/30th should work. (You’ll need a tripod though.) 1/125th is a normal setting for most shots. On many cameras the 125th setting is marked in a different color to make it obvious. If you want to freeze action you’ll need to start with 1/500th and work up from there. The faster the motion the faster the shutter speed needed to stop motion. Many digital photography cameras go up to 1/2000th of a second. If you’re trying to use natural light alone in a scene you will want to determine the aperture first and then see what shutter speed you need to properly expose the scene for available light. (Keep in mind sometimes there isn’t enough light.)

Aperture
These are the set of numbers on your lens closest to the body of the camera. They can go from 1.8 to 22, and they are also referred to as f-stops in digital photography. These numbers determine how much light reaches the film inside of your camera. Most internal meters will blink on the appropriate aperture for the shutter speed that you’ve set, or the speed you’ve set will blink if your f-stop is correct for the speed. Both the f-stop and shutter speed can be changed to expose the scene correctly in digital photography. Consider that the faster the shutter speed the more light will be needed to expose the scene correctly. This makes logical sense if you think about it. If the shutter isn’t open as long, fast shutter speed, then there is less light able to make it to the film and so the scene must be brighter to expose correctly. To learn, bracket your digital photography shots. Take the first shot at the aperture suggested by your meter, move one stop up, take a photo, one down, take another photo.

Flash
I personally like shooting with natural light whenever possible and at most I use a fill flash in digital photography. But if you’re going to do portrait work then most of the time you may be indoors and you will need a flash sometimes. For the amateur the fill flash units that are on the top of most of today’s cameras are wonderful for basic work. You will have to read your manual on your particular flash unit to learn what it can and can’t do. This is where the camera that is fully manual and fully auto is great for the amateur. You can usually set it so that the camera will meter and set the flash output accordingly and then you still can control the shutter speed and aperture.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: White Balance Demystified

White balance is a very important concept in digital photography, and involves the process of measuring light and colors. Understanding how it works will allow you to do wonders with your digital photography.

by Jennifer Clarkson

The term “white balance” originates from the world of video imaging where a device (waveform monitor) was used to match or “balance” the signals from the camera’s red, green, and blue channels to make accurate whites under various lighting conditions, thus balancing your white. In this article, we’ll use “white balance” for digital cameras in a similar sense: the process of measuring your light source’s color temperature accurately, based on your lighting conditions, and using that information to correctly balance your whites and colors.

Symptoms of Poorly Set White Balance
If your digital camera’s white balance is set incorrectly, or if your digital camera chose the wrong algorithm for measuring color temperature, then you will observe a color cast on your digital photo: it will either look slightly blue, slightly orange, or slightly green. A low color temperature shifts light toward the red; a high color temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different color temperatures, and thus the color cast. Let’s take a look.

What is Color Temperature and How Is It Measured?
Color temperature is effectively the warmth that is emitted from a light source, and the effect that temperature has on the intensity of any particular color in the visible spectrum. For example, a 200 W bulb has more intensity in the orange/red end, and shows purples and blues with very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “warm”. Daylight has equivalent intensity across the whole spectrum, so you see purples and blues with the same intensity as oranges and reds. But shade or a heavily overcast sky has more intensity in the blue/purple end, so your oranges and reds will have very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “cool”.

Here are some examples of color temperatures from common light sources:
1500 K: candle light
2800 K: 60 W bulb
3200 K: sunrise and sunset (will be affected by smog)
3400 K: tungsten lamp (ordinary household bulb)
4000-5000 K: cool white fluorescent bulbs
5200 K: bright midday sun
5600 K: electronic photo flash.
6500 K: heavily overcast sky
10000-15000 K: deep blue clear sky

Newer light sources, such as fluorescent and other artificial lighting, require further white balance adjustments since they can make your photos appear either green or magenta.

How Does a Digital Camera Auto-Detect White Balance?
Your digital camera searches for a reference point in your scene that represents white. It will then calculate all the other colors based on this white point and the known color spectrum. The data measured from its R G B sensors is then run through a whole lot of numbers and predetermined equations to figure out which white balance setting is most likely to be correct. Remember, white balance is the automatic adjustment that makes sure the white color humans observe will also appear white in the image.

Setting your digital camera’s white balance to auto white balance (AWB) will provide color accuracy under many conditions. Your digital camera will adjust the white balance between 4000K – 7000K using a best guess algorithm. Auto white balance is a good choice for situations where the light changes over time and speed is an issue (e.g. animal photography, sports photography). However, you should avoid using auto white balance settings in the following situations:

1. Your scene is heavily dominated by one color
2. Color accuracy is absolutely imperative
3. You are photographing particularly warm or cool scenes (e.g. a sunset)

White Balance Presets
Most digital cameras come with multiple white balance preset options. These presets work well when:

1. The light source matches one of the preset white balance options
2. Your scene is heavily dominated by one color

Common Preset Options:

• Tungsten - "Tungsten" is the name of the metal out of which the bulb's filament is made. The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 3,000K. Best Use: indoors at night. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too blue. Creative Use: Set your exposure compensation to -1 or -2 and use this setting in daylight to simulate night.


• Fluorescent - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 4,200K. Best use: Fluorescent, mercury, HMI and metal halide lights used in your garage, sports stadiums and parking lots. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too purple.


• Daylight - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,200K. Best use: studio strobe lights. Otherwise, your exposure may have a slight bluish tinge.


• Cloudy - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 6,000K. Best use: direct sunlight and overcast light. This setting will warm your photo by giving it an orange tinge, which is often desirable in landscapes and portraits. Creative Use: sunsets.


• Shade - The color temperature of this setting ranges from 7,000K - 8,000K. Best use: shooting in shade, no direct sunlight (cloudy), backlit subjects. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too orange. Creative Use: direct sunlight – it will warm up your photos even more!


• Flash - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,400K. This is almost identical to Cloudy but sometimes redder depending on the camera. Best use: overcast skies. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too red.

About the Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For more Photography Tips, and to browse her Photo Galleries, please visit her website at www.jclarksonphotography.com

Using Long Lenses in Digital Photography

Great digital photographs can result from using a telephoto lens to get in close to the action or sneak up on a subject from a discreet distance. But the high magnification of long tele and zoom lenses serves to accentuate the effects of camera shake caused by your inability to hold the camera and lens absolutely still. The effects of wind, moving or shaking floors, residual vibration from camera mirrors flipping up just prior to exposure, atmospheric haze, and heat waves can also add problems.

When hand-holding your digital camera and zoom lens, start with a fast film, ISO 400 or higher. This will allow you to use higher shutter speeds (1/1000 sec and above) and minimize the effects of shake in a variety of lighting conditions. Use the proper stance: arms closely tucked into the body, elbows partially supported by the chest or abdomen, lens and camera balanced by the left hand and arm.

Practice supporting and focusing the digital camera with your left hand. Aim the digital camera slightly above the subject, take a deep breath, let the view drop to the proper composition while exhaling, and gently press the shutter.

For support, find a fence post, parked car, or folded jacket. Lean on it or rest your digital camera on top of it while shooting. If you have such a support, a 1/30 second exposure isn't an impossibility, even with a 500mm lens. You'll be using slower shutter speeds more often than you'd like. The minimum shutter speed rule of thumb for hand-holding a long tele or zoom lens is this: Slowest safe shutter speed = 1 over the lens focal length.

For example, if you're photographing with a 500mm f/4 lens, the limiting shutter speed for a hand-held digital photo would be 1 /500 second at the correct aperture for a good exposure. This rule applies to a properly-braced photographer standing on solid ground.

Chest braces, rifle stocks, and similar devices aren't as practical as a lightweight monopod or tripod. A monopod is easy to carry, and you can set it up just about anywhere.

It won't allow you to set shutter speeds as slow as you can get away with using a tripod. But it will let you shoot safely—that is, without a serous risk of image-softening shake—at speeds two or three steps slower than you'd have to use if you were shooting handheld. That may make it possible to shoot in lower light, and/or to use a slower, finer-grained film.

Get a monopod that can be raised to your eye level, is quick and easy to set up. If you shoot a lot of verticals, you may want to add a good swivel ball head for maneuverability.

A tripod is the best device for insuring minimal effects from vibration with a long tele or zoom lens. With a sturdy one, you can use slower shutter speeds and lower ISO-higher resolution films. If you own a shaky tripod, tie a three to five pound weight to the center column for added stability.

Physically long tele-lenses should have tripod-mounting collars to attach the lens at the proper fulcrum to the tripod rather than the digital camera. You can also use a secondary support for the digital camera like Bogen's Long Lens Support. This telescoping brace attaches to most tripod legs via a universal clamp at one end and a swivel ball head for the digital camera at the other. The brace makes it more difficult to change camera position, but it considerably lessens the effects of vibration.

If you're on shaky ground, tripods won't help. They'll actually transmit the motion right to the lens and camera. It's better to handhold the camera if you can set a reasonable shutter speed, and let your body damp the vibration.

Atmospheric haze and heat waves can't always be eliminated, but using a haze or polarizing filter can help cut through the haze and increase color saturation and contrast. Also, use your lens hood, or shade the lens, to minimize the possibility of flare.

Few techniques in photography require more expertise and skill than the successful use of a long tele or zoom lens. If you want to become more proficient, practice, practice, practice!


About the Author: Jan Linden is a professional photographer and designer.

Digital Photo Editing Software

Digital photography inevitably involves the use of digital photo editing software to perform a variety of tasks in order to make your digital photos better. There are a variety of photo editing software available today, and each comes with its own set of tools and features. The prices on these digital editing software also vary widely.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

Adobe's Photoshop Elements is perhaps the best and most popular digital photo editing software. It is the consumer version of Adobe's industry standard Photoshop graphic design software. Photoshop Elements is one of the most powerful and sophisticated digital photo editing software available, and is priced at $99.99 (Adobe.com).

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Corel's Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 digital photo editing software is a worthy competitor to Adobe's Photoshop Elements. Priced similarly with Elements, Corel's $79.99 (Corel.com) Paint Shop Pro X2 performs very well and has many intuitive tools and features to simplify your digital photo editing tasks.

Ulead PhotoImpact X3

Ulead's digital photo editing software - PhotoImpact X3 - is priced lower than Adobe's and Corel's offering at below $69.99 (Ulead.com), and has most of the features of its competitors.

Apple iPhoto

Mac owners have the highly capable Apple iPhoto digital photo editing software as their option. Offering a variety of tools for correcting and editing your digital photos. iPhoto also features an advanced photo organizer included. iPhoto is part of the iLife package, priced at $79 (Apple.com)

ACDSee Photo Editor

ACDSee's Photo Editor is the best in the crop of mid-range home digital photo editing software, priced affordably at $49.99 (ACDSee.com). It has all the basic features needed for everyday digital photo projects for the home photographer.

Google Picasa

Google's Picasa is first and foremost a digital photo organizing software, but its built in photo editor performs basic digital photo editing tasks seamlessly. Although it does not have advanced editing features, Picasa is very powerful in organizing your photo collection. Plus it is available free from Google.

Digital Camera - Canon Powershot SD1100 IS

The Powershot SD1100 IS is Canon's latest model in its ELPH line of fashionable compact digital camera. Elegant in design and offered in five different colors, the Powershot SD1100 IS nonetheless produces excellent digital photos. Ideal for the casual photographer, the SD1100 IS has a maximum resolution of 8.0 megapixel, 3x optical zoom lens and 4x digital zoom.

The Powershot SD1100 IS features Canon's new DIGIC III image processor, and for the first time in an entry-level compact digital camera, "Canon’s advanced Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) system that significantly reduces the image-blurring effects of camera shake by shifting the lens to compensate for the movement." It also sports a 2.5 inch LCD screen that is intuitive.

The Canon Powershot SD1100 IS allows movie recording at 640x480 resolution at 30 frames-per-second for up to an hour. This beautiful compact digital camera also allows ISO sensitivities up to 1600 and shutter speeds as low as 1/1500 sec.

Overall, the Canon Powershot SD1100 IS is an excellent compact digital camera that is both beautiful and functional.

At a Glance

Resolution: 8.0 megapixels

Optical Zoom: 3x

Dimensions: 3.42 x 2.16 x 0.87 in

Weight: 4.41 oz.

Visit the Official Canon Powershot SD1100 IS Website

Photographing Waterfalls

Top 4 Mistakes made when Photographing Waterfalls and How to Correct Them

by Jennifer Clarkson

Waterfalls often make great subjects of photos, but it's very easy to get a bad result if you're not paying attention when you click the button. Here are the top 4 mistakes photographers make, and the easy ways to improve your shots!

Mistake #1: Setting your camera to auto-select aperture and shutter speed
Metering is something that cameras generally do very well. They begin to fail, however, when you start to introduce very white or very black subjects in an image. The reason for this is because humans see in 16-stops, whereas cameras "see" no more than 5-stops. This means that images with high contrast are not correctly exposed when left to the camera's automatic settings , if you have a lot of white in your subject of focus, the camera tends to make it grey in the final image, and correspondingly underexposes the rest of the image. Similarly, if you have a lot of black in your image, the camera tends to make the black turn out grey in the final image, thus overexposing the rest of the image.

Mistake #2: Photographing Waterfalls on a sunny day
Sunny days in the forest may be nice for close-up studies, but adding sun to a waterfall landscape is not a good idea , the range of light and dark is so extreme that your compositions will be washed out or hidden in blackness. The best time to head out for a waterfall shoot is on an overcast day, with or without rain.

Mistake #3: Shooting Waterfalls without a polarizing filter
In a nutshell, polarizing filters cut the glare. Wet surfaces tend to reflect the sky colour, so you'll actually need the polarizing filter more for rainy days where the sky colour is grey than for sunny days. But we've already agreed you shouldn't photography waterfalls on sunny days Removing glare from an image allows you to see the colourful world underneath the glare, and no amount of Photoshopping after your shoot will fix it.

Mistake #4: Leaving your waterfall site without trying to slow the water motion on camera
Let's face it, it's fun to try to make those ethereal shots of rapids or waterfalls where the movement of the water looks like silk. Why walk away from a waterfall if the conditions are right for taking such a shot? To capture water motion, experiment with these techniques.

• ensure the sky is overcast
  
• decrease your ISO setting to as low as possible
  
• consider enabled auto-bracketing on your camera, if you have it, or setting the exposure to 2/3 of a stop
  
• set your camera up on a tripod and frame your waterfall in the viewfinder
  
• lower your shutter speed to 1/15th of a second or less
  
• take a shot and check the histogram
  
• play with slower shutter speeds and different exposure bracketing
  

Metering and Exposure for Waterfall Photography
The idea is to meter off the part of your composition that would be closest to medium grey, should the image be turned to greyscale. If your waterfall is surrounded by lush forest, try metering off nearby green leaves or grass , never off the waterfall, and never off anything in shade. If you're photographing at dawn or dusk, meter off the sky. This will make the waterfall appear white, and the shady areas appear black. It's really very simple!

In automatic mode:
First, learn how to "lock" your camera's exposure so as to trick it into getting the right exposure. Enable bracketing if you've got it. Point your camera at the green leaves or dusky sky, and lock your exposure. Re-focus your camera on the waterfall, and click the button , this should tell your camera to expose the scene how we see it, and not what its algorithms have told it to do.

In manual mode:
Set your exposure to 2/3 of a stop. Point your camera at a spot nearby the waterfall that is neither bright nor dark. Set your aperture and shutter speed to whatever you prefer (see Mistake #4). Now point your lens at the waterfall and frame the scene in your viewfinder. Click the button and voila , beautiful exposure!





Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For a more information on exposure, aperture, and depth of field, please visit her website at Jennifer Clarkson Photography

Article source: Articlecat.com