Over at our sister site - Digital Photography School - the last few weeks have been incredibly busy with loads of new tips and tutorials going up on the blog. Here are 10 of the latest tutorials that you might be interested in checking out: Should You Buy a DSLR or a Point and Shoot Digital Camera? Which Lens Should I Upgrade my Canon Kit Lens to? The Pros and Cons of Using Teleconverters (Extenders) on your DSLR 5 Situations...
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One of the most common photography topics that I'm asked about is Wedding Photography. I've done a few weddings over the last few years and while I wouldn't claim to be a Pro - I've picked up a few tips that I've been meaning to share for a while. So last week I sat down and wrote everything I know about the topic. Read my 21 Tips for Wedding Photography. I hope you enjoy the tips. Feel free to...
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Over at Digital Photography School we've been busily adding a stack of new tutorials and tips over the last month or two. Here are some of the more popular posts that we've written. I hope you enjoy them: Depth of Field Preview - an introduction to an often under utilized camera function Most Popular DSLR Lenses - a summary of DPS readers favorite lenses Understanding Histograms - an introduction to a feature that is often not understood Introduction to...
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Every few days I'm asked by readers for advice on buying DSLR Lenses. I guess with DSLRs becoming more and more affordable it's only natural that they're being bought more and more and that users are wanting to get the most out of them. There's such a big difference in quality between one DSLR Lens and another that it's important to understand what you're buying - so over at Digital Photography School I've been writing a lot of articles...
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Over at Digital Photography School last week we celebrated our first year birthday. As part of the celebration I posted the top 20 posts from the DPS blog from the past year. The list was so successful that I though it might be worth republishing it here. I hope you enjoy these digital photography tutorials (by the way, they're in no particular order_: The Rule of Thirds - an early post on a basic compositional 'Rule' Working the Lines...
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Have you ever wanted to get close up shots of objects on white backgrounds looking like they've been taken in a studio? Don't have the budget to buy your own professional light tent? You might want to check out this hack at Digital Photography School titled How to Make A Inexpensive Light Tent which takes you through the process of making your own for just a few dollars step by step. All you need is a box, some fabric,...
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If you got a digital camera for Christmas and are looking for some tips on how to use it check out some of the following tutorials at Digital Photography School. ...
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What is the best Digital Camera? Which Digital Camera should I buy? In an attempt to help people find the best digital camera I tend to answer them in three ways: 1. My personal Digital Camera Reviews and Recommendations Point and Shoot Camera wise I tend to recommend the Fujifilm FinePix F30 (compare prices on the F30 here) for many users who want a nice compact camera for everyday shooting, particularly in low light. For a larger point and...
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Are you looking to buy a digital camera for yourself or that special someone as a gift? Here are a few tutorials and guides from our sites that might be of some assistance in choosing the right camera: Digital Camera and Photography Gift Ideas How to Buy a Digital Camera - A 9 Step Guide When is the Best Time to Buy a Digital Camera? 3 Questions to Ask Should You Buy a DSLR or a Point and Shoot Digital...
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Popular Photography has a helpful guide to photographing live events and concerts in small to medium sized venues: "Whether you simply want a souvenir of your favorite act, photos of your children at the school recital, or aspire to be a professional music photographer, learning to photograph under available stage light is important. The inherent lighting conditions, while making for atmospheric shots, present challenges and require a certain amount of specialized equipment, film, and technique to get optimum results....
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Photoshop expert, Shane Goldberg, has announced that he's giving away his successful PhotoShop made Easy eBook for free. Many of you already know Shane's work through his Photoshop Video tutorials but his eBook is also a very helpful resource if you're wanting to build up your Photoshopping skills. Best of all, while Shane does offer some excellent paid resources - both of the above are completely free and give you a feel for his style (as well as teaching...
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Today over at Digital Photography School I've posted a tutorial on How to Choose a DSLR Camera after getting a lot of questions on the topics from readers. In the post I cover: 9 Reasons to Upgrade to a DSLR 8 Factors to Consider when Choosing a DSLR My DSLR Recommendations If you've got a DSLR and have a recommendation to add to mine I'd love to include it - just leave a comment on that post. Other recent...
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Last week in our weekly newsletter I gave three recommendations for good Digital Photography Books (some of the best books I've come across). A number of people have emailed to ask me to post them again on the main blog because they deleted the email. Here they are: Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson I've referred to this one in my series on Exposure - good if you want to learn how to get out of 'Auto Mode'. Perfect Digital...
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It's time for another update of the latest digital camera tips and tutorials over at DPS. Here's the latest 5: How to Take a Photograph out of a Plane Window - Aerial photography for airliner passangers 7 Digital Camera Predators and how to keep them at Bay - you pay good money for your digital camera - now learn how to care for it Photographing Signs - Add a new dimension to your travel photography by focussing on signs...
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The weekend has arrived and its an ideal time to get out and about with your digital camera. I've just got a Fujifilm FinePix F30 which I'm going to take for a spin. So far it's got some definite improvements over the Fujifilm Finepix F10 (which I raved about) and could be the ideal second camera for those times when I don't want to haul my DSLR around. Anyway - since it's the weekend and I know many of...
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Regular readers of this site will know of David Peterson and his range of digital photography products. He's a fellow Australian who is the guy behind a number of good digital photography e-books and a free newsletter called Digital Photography Secrets (which I know have been popular with many of you). Today David emailed me to let me know about a service he's relaunching in the next few days called Review Your Photos which I know many of you...
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The following tip on photographing Children was submitted as an exclusive tip to DPB by Amy Renfry of the Digital Photography Success e-book. Children and both wonderful and exhausting! They can leave a perfectly fit adult in a state of exhaustion we’re not careful! But how beautiful they are to photograph. I should say, to be more precise, they are beautiful and the experience of photographing them is a heartwarming one. Kids are forever running, playing, imagining, inventing, discovering...
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Strobist has a really cool tutorial at their blog titled DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio which, as the name suggests, shows you how to make a very affordable photo studio to help you get stunning macro shots. All you really need is a box, some tissue paper and a little tape. Great tutorial and the results look fantastic. Found via Lifehacker. ...
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It's been a week or so since I last updated you on what the latest digital camera tips at DPS were. So here's the latest 10 tutorials: How to Photography Fireworks - just in time for 4th July An Introduction to types of DSLR Lenses - the start of a series hoping to answer 'which lens should I buy?' Factors to Consider When Shopping for a DSLR Lens - some of the basic things to keep in mind when...
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The Strobist has a basic, but good, tip on How to Quick-Change an SLR lens that I think is worth a look for new DSLR owners who have multiple lenses. I think it's worth a read simply because I see a lot of DSLR users changing lenses in a way that is bound to end in misery (either dropping the lens or camera and/or that will get dust into the camera). While the post doesn't mention it, the beauty...
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Just a quick note to let you know some of the latest digital camera tips at Digital Photography School. How to Crop Images Using Colour in Photography Patience and Photography Also - we've started a Flickr group for digital photography school where we're setting group assignments based upon the tips we write. Read about the goals of the group here. Lastly - if you have a digital camera tip to share we'd love to publish it. Check out the...
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One of my favorite times to photograph is in the 'golden hour' - just before the sun goes down when you get that wonderful golden glow over the landscape. I remember a trip a few years back to the outback of central Australia where I discovered the potential of this time of the day in a place where the golden glow of the sun on the red sand and rock of the outback was pure magic. It was on...
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Taking photos at the beach is one of my favorite locations for shots so it seemed natural that I write a couple of tips on it this week at Digital Photography School. You can read them at: 10 Beach Photography Tips Beach Photography and Digital Camera Maintenance I hope you enjoy them - have fun at the beach! ...
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At DPS we covered 11 Tips for Better Candid Photography in the last few days: 'Candid styles of photography are increasingly becoming popular both in general day to day photography but also in formal photographic situations. Last time I was asked to photograph a wedding the couple actually hired me purely to take paparazzi style shows of them and their guests throughout the day. They had another photographer for the formal shots and gave me the brief of getting...
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The last week has been a hive of activity at Digital Photography School with loads of new tips and a record week of traffic with over 40,000 visitors popping by to check out some of these Digital Camera tips: How to Hold a Digital Camera (the most popular post of the week) Using the Zoom Effect How to Photograph Pets...
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The latest tip at DPS is on Removing Clutter from Your Photography: "Sometimes what makes a great image stand out is not just what you include in your framing of the image but what you DON’T include. Each element of an image should add something to to the overall photograph. If it doesn’t you should attempt to leave it out by either using on of the techniques below... " Read the de-cluttering techniques here ...
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Using Focal Points in Photography is the latest tip article over at Digital Photography School: "The reason a focal point is important is that when you look at an image your eye will generally need a ‘resting place’ or something of interest to really hold it. Without it you’ll find people will simply glance at your shots and then move on to the next one. Once you’ve identified a point of interest or focal point you then should ask...
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At our house we're preparing for a baby in just a few weeks and the preparations have been pretty crazy. It's amazing how something so little can need so much stuff! Amidst the preparations I've been enjoying using my DSLR - the 'stuff' is very cute 'stuff' and is ideal for some great still life photography. I've written up my approach to Preparing for a Baby Photographically as a tip post at Digital Photography School. I hope you enjoy...
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There are many factors that come into play when planning the composition of a photograph but one of the important lessons to learn is to learn how to use Lines in your Photography. In this latest mini-series at Digital Photography School takes a look at three types of lines: Using Horizontal Lines in Photography Using Vertical Lines in Photography Using Diagonal Lines in Photography ...
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Sometimes it's the simplest things that can have a large impact upon the results of your photography. I was reminded of this today when a reader emailed me after my tip at Digital Photography School on Shutter Release Techniques. In the email the reader told me that he'd thought his new digital camera had a problem with focussing because just about every shot he took was slightly blurry. On reading my shutter release tips post he realized that the...
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The ability to fire off multiple frames in quick burts of frenzied photographic activity is something that most digital cameras these days have the ability to do - yet so many digital photographers are unaware of the impact that shooting in continuous shooting mode can have upon their photography. The benefits are many and with a little practice the impact can be quite wonderful as you look at the sequences of shots you can take as well as the...
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Learning how to how to use Fill Flash is one aspect of digital photography that I strongly encourage all new digital camera users to learn how to use. I see many photographers when I'm out and about allowing their camera to determine when the flash should fire or not and not realizing that to override the camera and fire a flash when it might not see a need for it can really lift a shot and add detail to...
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What equipment do you pack in your digital camera back when traveling? This is the latest question that I tackle at DPS this week after being asked the question by a reader. Here's one of the things I included in the list of items I pack: "Memory Cards - gone are the days of having to haul mountains of film around with you but giving careful consideration to the way you store you images while away is definitely worth...
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Today's tip at DPS is on How to Photograph People When Traveling. In it I give 8 tips on the topic - here's just one of them: 'Arrange an extended photo shoot - This goes against the nature of most travel photography which is usually very fast and spontaneous - but on one or two occasions when I’ve traveled I’ve had opportunity to sit with a person for a longer period of time and photograph them in a more...
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Over at Digital Photography School I've been working hard on producing a series of tips for digital camera users who want to improve their Travel Photography. So far in the series you can read Travel Photography Tips on: Introduction to Photographing People while Traveling Thinking about Context Keeping Your Photography in Perspective while on a trip Mixing Up your Shots A lot of these travel photography tips (and the ones that will follow) are aimed at travel photographers but...
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Should you buy a DSLR or Point and Shoot Digital Camera? This is a question I'm asked every second day and so I thought I'd put together as comprehensive an answer as I possibly could on the topic from my experience of using both a DSLR and a Point and Shoot camera. I posted it a couple of days back and it's turned out to be an incredibly popular post with over 6000 visitors to it in just 24...
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I have a theory that one of the most used buttons on digital cameras is the one with the little trash can next to it - the delete button. In fact when I talk to digital camera owners one of the things they often tell me that they love about digital photography as opposed to film photography is that they have the ability to take as many shots as they like and immediately delete the ones that they don't like....
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Taking Better Photos By Taking More Photos is the latest tip at DPS. My first experience of a digital camera was back in 1999 when I spent a year traveling around Australia managing a band. I don't remember the camera's model number but it was a Sony and it stored images on a 3.5 inch floppy disk. While the disks could only store 1.44 megabytes of data I loved this boxy digital camera mainly because of the ability it...
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One of the biggest questions I find that DSLR owners ask me is on the topic of 'which lens'? I am asked it a lot and so on Digital Photography School this week wrote a post on Which Lenses to Take when Traveling?. It's a tricky question to answer on many fronts with many factors to consider but I narrowed my choices down to two Canon lenses (I'm sure there are equivalent for other brands). I've been lucky enough...
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Another portrait composition tip over at DPS today on how to frame your subject so that you give extra space on the side of their head that they are facing. It sounds like a pretty basic tip (and it is) but it's also a pretty effective one. "The reason for this is that when a person views an image with a person looking in one direction or the other their eyes also are drawn in that direction. In a...
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Digital Photography School's latest tip is on the Rule of Thirds: "Perhaps the most well know principle of photographic composition is the ‘Rule of Thirds’. It’s one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots. I will say right up front however that rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily...
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Low Light Sports Photography is the latest topic that I tackle over at DP School where I'm getting a lot of reader suggestions for topics to cover. Taking photos of sports is challenging at the best of times with the speed at which subjects move around but in low light the difficulty of freezing your subject and capturing all of their features increases significantly. Add to this the problem of often not being able to use a flash for...
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Today at Digital Photography School we take a look at another important digital photography composition technique - Filling your Frame with your Subject. Yesterday I was out and about in the centre of Melbourne (where I live) doing some people watching (with a coffee in hand) and I found myself particularly watching the many people with digital cameras (mainly tourists) taking pictures of each other. One of the things that I noticed most about them was the distance that...
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Long term friend of this site is David Peterson (a fellow Melbournian) who is the guy behind the free email newsletter - Digital Photography Secrets, a free tips newsletter that I've subscribed to and recommended to readers. David has a number of quality products to help digital camera owners get the most out of their cameras and the latest one I've had the privilege to take a look at today. It is called Depth of Field Secrets. It is an...
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Another simple tip today over at Digital Photography School - this time on Getting your Images Straight and watching not only the horizontal lines (like horizons) but also the vertical lines in your images. I'm constantly amazed by how many people don't seem to know or use this principle. While you can definitely go overboard with it and take way to long to make sure everything is straight, even just a quick check and adjustment before pressing the shutter...
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Today I've posted a post over at Digital Photography School which sounds so simple yet is something that so many digital camera owners fail to do: Check it out at - Getting Horizons Horizontal ...
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I mentioned in my free digital photography newsletter last week that we are expecting our first child in June of this year. Those of you who've had kids know that the months leading up to the birth are filled with excitement, planning, spending money (who knew something so small needed so much!) and a little fear. Part of the planning for the day of the birth is thinking through what to do when it comes to recording the day...
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Today Digital Photography School focusses in further on photographing babies with a technique that many professional photographers use with great effect - zooming in. There are no rules out there that make it compulsory to fit in your whole subject and zooming in on just part of it can have a massive impact, especially when the subject of your zoom is as cute as a babies foot, ear, cheek or big eyes. Take a number of these shots and...
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Today at Digital Photography School we continue the Composition series by look at how to compose a photo when your subject when photographing children. Children can be amazing to photograph as they are so playful, full of expression, colorful and fun. Having said this they also present their own set of challenges including their height (or lack of it) and the speed at which they often move around. This post talks about getting down on their level, learning to...
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More on Digital Photography Composition today from Digital Photography School. Today the focus is Photographing People from New Angles. "People come in all shapes and sizes and to photograph them from the stock standard six foot high standing position just doesn’t do them justice. Experiment with getting down as low as you can or find a way to climb above them and you might just find yourself discovering a new angle on your subject that adds that special something...
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Digital Photography School continues the composition tips series with a post on Finding Fresh Angles or Perspectives to Shoot Images from. The key is to experiment with your own position as photographer, the height you shoot from, the distance from the subject etc: "Not only does changing the angle that you shoot from impact the feeling of size of your subject but it can have a real effect upon the light and shade and patterns on it. You can...
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Digital Photography School has just started a series of posts on Digital Photography Composition and has posted it's first tip post on Planning your Digital Camera Shots. In it they talk about two extremes of digital camera users - the 'snap happy photographer' and the 'over planner'. Somewhere between the two is a happy medium. ...
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Earthbound Light's photo tip of the week is a good one. It's titled 'Diffraction: When Smaller Apertures No Longer Mean Sharper Pictures' and is an explanation of the impact that changing aperture can have on the sharpness of your digital images: 'Conventional wisdom is that one can achieve a sharper image by stopping down to a smaller aperture, but this misses the mark in two fundamental ways. First, the image will always be sharp at the point of focus....
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Every day we get emails from readers asking for tips on how to improve their digital photography and wanting information on how to make money from their photos. So we've assembled this list of five of the best online Digital Photography Resources to show some of the options available for online learning in these areas. 1. Digital Photography Success - a course on improving your digital camera technique and skills. 2. Profitable Photography - a very popular e-book on how...
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I love getting out and about to sporting events with my digital camera. Recently I went to the Australian Open Tennis and took a few hundred shots over the day (you can see one of M. Sanchez Loren to the right). So when Amy Renfrey from the Digital Photography Success e-book asked me if I'd like to post this tip on taking Action Shots in lowlight situations I jumped at the opportunity. Here's what she writes: You know recently I...
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There is an interesting column over at Digital Media Thoughts on Culling your Digital Images which is worth a read: 'I think you should get in the habit of deleting "good" photos, and here's why: I believe that deleting/culling photos is an important part of learning how to be a better photographer. The word culling has its genesis in ranching, but the idea is a good one: separating the weak from the strong, for the purpose of making the...
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PC World has a tutorial on Eliminating Noise From Your Digital Photos: 'The ability to change your digital camera's ISO level is a mixed blessing. Increasing the ISO allows you to capture sharp pictures in low light by increasing the camera's sensitivity, but it also adds unwanted digital noise to your picture--which looks like the grain you'd see in a print made from very fast 35mm film. Last week, we talked about how you can use ISO to your...
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There's a great article over at Gary Voth Photography titled The Forgotten Lens which examines the recent rise in popularity of the 50mm prime lens. 'The 50mm lens is called a "normal" or "standard" lens because the way it renders perspective closely matches that of the human eye. Consequently, images made with a 50mm lens have a natural and uncontrived look. This is the lens that likely would have come with your camera had you bought it 10-15 years...
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All Business has a good 'dummies' article on how to Share Photos between a Digital Camera and a Pocket PC: 'The most straightforward method of sharing digital images between your digital camera and your Pocket PC is to use a memory storage card that is compatible with both units. If this is an option, you can typically just pop the memory card out of the camera, plug it into your Pocket PC, and you're ready to go -- almost....
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Want to know one of the secrets to successful shots of people? That's easy. It's them. What I mean by that is that the art to capturing a great shot of someone is simply finding a way to let their good self shine through. You see, when someone feels good it shows in their eyes, their facial expression and their body language. And this means that the more relaxed someone is the better chance you have to capturing that...
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Michael Carr has written a tips post on How to Protect Your Digital Camera from Extreme Heat, Cold Weather and Rain which might be helpful if you're planning a trip to anywhere with extreme conditions. ...
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Carlo Van de Roer (a photographer - check out his site at Carlo Van De Roer Photography) has submitted the following mini tip for getting a digital image ready for email or posting on a website. He writes: Here is a little tip about preparing digital images for web use, for emailing or posting on a website. These 3 steps are fairly basic, but make a remarkable difference to sharpness and how your images are viewed across various browsers...
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Rhonda from Photography Hack has a great post today on Tips for Photographing Children with some very sensible tips (as well as some very cute photos of some children). Rhonda's main points in her advice for photographing children (each of which are expanded in the article) are: 1. Get them involved. 2. Location, location, location. 3. Be quick! 4. Be patient. 5. Choose your equipment wisely. 6. Shoot at eye level. 7. Get close! 8. Finish on a good...
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Many people are getting digital cameras for Christmas and as a result the number of times we've been asked in the last few days for advice on how to use them has been on the rise. So today I thought I'd compile a list of a few of the online tips resources that I've had good feedback on from readers. I hope you find them helpful. Digital Photography Success - A useful resource by Amy Renfry who has been writing...
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Blogging Baby has a cool article on the topic of The best digital cameras to give your kids this holiday where they take a look at which digital cameras are best for children in the following five categories: The He’s-Only-Six-But-He-Wants-A-Camera-Just-Like-Daddy’s Kid The She’s-A-Complete-Daredevil-And-Wants-To-Capture-Her-Own-Action Kid The He’s-Not-Really-Into-Photography-But-Loves-To-Take-Candids-At-The-Mall Teen The She’s-Going-Away-For-The-Summer-By-Herself-For-The-First-Time Teen The Will-Probably-Be-A-Pulitzer-Prize-Winning-Journalist-One-Day Teen Hopefully it's an article that will help you decide which digital cameras are best gifts for your kids this Christmas. ...
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It doesn't take much to get great shots indoors. In fact the secret is so simple that it'll amaze you once you know what it is. The first secret to taking good indoor shots is that you need light. The major problem with indoor shots is really just they are far too dark. I've taken shots of things inside and sometimes found that no matter how hard I try, without the aid of an overhead lamp or sunlight streaming...
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This Landscape Photography Tip was submitted by Amy Renfrey - author of the popular Digital Photo Success and a newer resource on Landscape Photography Have you ever wondered what it would be like to finally capture that big expansive look and feel to your landscape pictures? How awful is it to arrive at an awesome place that lays out a scene of majestic colour and expansiveness before you only to find you can't capture it properly on your digital...
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Luminous Landscape has a brilliant piece on the topic of Street Photography in China. It contains some great advice including: 'Don't carry a lot of gear. Ideally, just one body and a couple of lenses. No camera bag, or if you must, a small canvas sack with an extra lens and a couple of memory cards and batteries. This will allow you to walk further, work longer, and not be singled out as a target for theft. Keep it...
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Those of you wanting to improve your Landscape Photography might be interested in a new resource just released today by a fellow Australian - Amy Renfrey - who has put together a resource called How Take The Most Clear, Breathtaking, Majestic and Powerful Landscape Photos. Without Spending Hundreds Of Dollars On Expensive Camera Equipment, Using Any Good, Basic Digital Camera. Ok - it might be a bit of a mouthful but those of you who have used Amy's Digital...
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About.com has some tips on Shooting Great Pictures of the Fall Foliage and Autumn Scenes which will be useful for some northern hemisphere readers of this site: 'Aim for the “magic hours” - Anytime of the day you’ll find great pictures of the fall foliage, but try to take photos in the early morning or late evening. You may have heard the term “magic hour” in photography, which refers to the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.'...
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Paul Watson has posted a helpful post on Choosing between bridge digital cameras and DSLRs where he looks at the pros and cons of entry level DSLRs in comparison to higher end compact digital cameras like the Fujifilm Finepix S9000. This is a topic I get asked a lot about by readers of this site so it's one I'll be referring people to a lot. 'I was in the camera shop yesterday holding a Fujifilm FinePix S9000 Zoom. Purely...
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Photoshop Support has a good tutorial on fixing overexposed Images with Photoshop: 'The easiest way to fix an overexposed photo is to open it in Photoshop and choose Image> Adjustments> Shadow/Highlight (CS-only. For pre-CS look below). You'll see an immediate change in your photo and it will probably be too extreme, but just use this setting as a starting point. Photoshop ships with defaults that are often way over the top. Just play with the Amount Slider and the...
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One of the nice parts of running one of Australia's most visited Digital Camera sites is that manufacturers are always sending us digital cameras to review - it seems that there is always a camera on my desk (we get them for a couple of weeks at a time) so that if I have a wedding, party, trip to the beach etc to go to - I always have a way of capturing the moment. As a result I've...
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Paul Watson has started a series of posts on how to shoot and then edit digital images titled Behind the photograph #001 where he's taken one of his images (left) and worked through the process of taking the photo and then discusses how he edited it in photoshop to get the results that he did. The first post in the series is quite helpful for those of us with less photoshopping skills and the series will be one to...
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Earthbound Light has another tip article - this time comparing Printer Resolution and Image Resolution'Printers and monitors produce color in opposite methods. A monitor screen starts out being black and gets brighter the more color we add using a system known as additive color. If red, green and blue are at maximum, we get white. By contrast, printer paper starts out white and gets darker the more ink we lay down on it. This is called subtractive color....' ...
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Earthbound Light has a good tips article on Digital Camera Resolution versus Film Scanner Resolution 'Digital cameras create digital images composed of lots of tiny pixels. So do film scanners by digitizing your existing slides or negatives. A good digital camera will create images between 6 and 12 megapixels while a good scanner can easily produce files with more than 20 megapixels. So does this difference have any bearing on which is better? The answer may not be quite...
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Today's Digital Photography Tips has been submitted by Darren Collins from One Stop Under: Here’s a neat tip for digital photographers trying to shoot at slow shutter speeds without image-stabilized (IS or VR) lenses. Actually, it can even be helpful for those using IS/VR lenses when you’re really pushing the limits of hand-holdability. Set your camera to burst mode, frame your subject, brace yourself as firmly as you can, and squeeze the shutter button gently. Hold it down so...
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Are you confused about which flash memory card is for you? the Gadgets Page has a useful tutorial on Understanding SD flash memory card speeds which might just clear up some of your SD Card questions: 'SD (secure digital) cards are becoming increasingly popular for digital camera storage. They’re tiny, convenient, and getting affordable in sizes as large as 1GB and 2GB. But they come in a bewildering array of different speeds and prices, even within one manufacturer’s line....
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About.com has some basic macro photography tips for Digital camera users - here's a couple: '- Try shooting from different angles. If you’re looking for deep saturation of the colors, use front lighting. If you’d like to bring out the texture of your subject, side lighting is the way to go. - due to the narrow depth of field, the background will usually be thrown completely out of focus, which allows the natural background to be nice backdrop,. Just...
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PC Magazine has a tip on Mastering Color Controls on your Digital Camera that is worth a read: 'Digital cameras are not that smart. They photograph exactly what they see. In the case of the rose in the dark room, the camera would probably capture something close to black, with varying levels of maroon. Just how much black or dark red is captured will depend upon that particular digital camera's ability to distinguish details in shadows. To make up...
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Earthbound Light has a good tip article explaining 'DPI - or Dots per Inches'. Here's how the tip starts: 'When you open image files from your digital camera, are they 240dpi, or are they 300dpi? Or perhaps only 72dpi? If you open them in a different program, does the resolution change? This can happen, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong. After all, resolution is just a number. And it can be changed. Allow me to explain. The...
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About.com has posted a Digital Camera Buyer's Guide - a step by step lesson in choosing your digital camera which might be helpful for the many readers of this site that are in the market for a new camera. it's filled with links to other tips on about.com that come together to give an all round useful guide. What tips would you give a new digital camera buyer? ...
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About.com has a post on How to Protect Your Digital Camera from Extreme Heat, Cold Weather and Rain - overall it's pretty much a common sense topic but it's worth keeping in mind because digital cameras do tend to freeze up (quite literally) in both extreme heat and cold situations. In fact extreme temperatures can be one argument for completely manual film cameras (although they have their own issues in extreme heat also). Here's a bit of what about.com...
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PC Magazine has written a useful tip on Recovering Images from Memory Cards that looks at why Windows can't help, recovery tools and what not to do when you lose images on your card: 'You slide the flash memory card from your camera into the card reader on your computer, but your photos can't be found. Neither Microsoft Windows, nor your image-editing software, nor your file undelete utility can detect them. But don't panic: Most lost images can be...
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River Valley Newspapers has a feature article on Digiscoping - or combining a digital camera with a high powered spotting scope to get right up close for photographing wildlife 'Trying to photograph wildlife can be difficult, since the subject usually is, well, wild. It doesn't tend to want to stick around long enough to get close enough for a decent shot. The resulting photo often is a small, fuzzy figure — vaguely recognizable as a animal of some sort...
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A tip submitted by Darren Collins This is an easy technique I read about a long time ago, and it works really well. I use it a lot when shooting weddings and portraits. Outdoor portraits can often end up with a washed-out and boring sky when you set your camera to correctly expose the person’s face. But if you set the exposure to capture the sky perfectly, you end up with a very dark or even silhouetted person. We...
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Michael Carr from About.com has a feature on Storing Your Images While Traveling that takes travelers through the options that they have for storing images whilst on the road. In my recent travels I found the iPod method to be my preference although i did also have my laptop with me for part of the time. The beauty of opting for storing the images taken on an iPod Photo is the ability to show them to fellow travelers quickly...
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Michael at Digital Camera Tracker has a good little series on the secret to Making Impossible Real Estate Pictures Possible which takes a look at the technique of photo stitching. Good tip if you're in real estate or if you like getting those impressive wide angled shots right. Get part 2 of the series here. ...
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Earthbound Light's Photo tip of the week this week is on Dodging and Burning in the Digital Darkroom using Adobe Photoshop: 'Dodging and burning are among the oldest and most time honored techniques in the traditional darkroom. By selectively blocking or focusing the light while printing the negative, the operator could compensate for the limited range both of film and the printing medium, toning down highlights and opening up blocked-up shadows. While the way we dodge and burn has...
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Earthbound Light has a good tips tutorial on Exposure Adjustment in Photoshop CS2: 'With Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, and Shadow/Highlight, there's no shortage of ways to make an image brighter or darker in Photoshop. If you are in the process of migrating to the new CS2 release, you may have noticed that there's now one more way. The Image >> Adjustments menu now sports a new “Exposure” option that may well become your first choice for significant shifts in exposure....
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PCWorld has a helpful primer on portable printers that will be useful for anyone wanting to buy themselves a printer of the transportable variety: 'The digital realm is great; but some things just need to be put on paper to seem legitimate. With a lightweight portable printer, you can print contracts for clients or photos for family wherever there's an electrical socket. And for supreme portability, some mobile printers come with a rechargeable battery pack or offer one as...
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DPexpert posts a helpful tip on Lens Blur in PhotoShop: 'With the old 35mm film camera it was easy -- put on a lens longer than 100mm in focal length, choose a wide aperture, focus on the subject and the background will be all soft blur and dancing points of light. Why doesn’t it work that way on digital cameras? To oversimplify the matter, it is because the sensor in a compact digital camera is only a fraction of...
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Graphics.com has a good tip on choosing the right name for your saved digital photos - 'Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements give you an impressive list of file formats that you can save to. They then complicate matters by adding a variety of options as to what to include with a file when you save it. If you don’t pay attention to how you name your files when you’re choosing those options, you’ll either needlessly increase the number of...
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Ecopix.net has a good post on eliminating camera share and shares a long list of tips that include: Use a solid tripod as low to the ground as possible, without centre extension. A fluid head, as used by cinematographers, is better that a normal pan and tilt head. The heavy studio style ball and socket heads are good too. Try to work long lenses on a tripod at only the fast speeds, down to 1/125th of a second, and...
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DPexpert reviews FRED MIRANDA'S Intellisharpen II plugin for Photoshop and writes - 'Intellisharpen II further refines what was already a supremely useful Photoshop add-on. It is an image sharpening routine based on the assumption that the photographer wants edge enhancement, but without adding noise to the picture or making flat surfaces, such as skin, disagreeably hard. To produce the best overall sharpening the process is broken down into several steps rather than doing the job in a single stroke...
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Photo Tips at Earthbound Light have a great tip on the useful Unsharp Mask in many photo editing software packages: 'To understand what this is all about, we'll need to go back to the beginning. The name has its origins, as do many things photographic, in the conventional darkroom. Creating a print the old-fashioned way involves exposing photosensitive paper by projecting onto it a negative of the desired image. In order to accentuate edges in a print and thus...
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Peter Marshall has a good tips tutorial on Managing Colour that might interest readers: 'Colour Management (CM) aims to control colour throughout the whole process of producing digital pictures, from digital camera or scanner to the final print or display, in order to produce the best possible print or on-screen image. Do you need to use Colour Management? If you are a photographer, you will probably not need to bother with CM if: you are always happy with the...
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'Can you please produce a tutorial and tips collection on Composition of good digital images?' (Reader suggestion via email from Gary). Thank you Gary for your suggestion. Your question spurred us into action and we've just spend a number of hours scouring the web for the best tutorials on Photographic Composition that we can find. All of the following tips are relevant for photographers using both the digital and film medium. There is no shortage of information out there and...
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The Sydney Morning Herald has a good article on What you Need in a Digital Camera. They point to some different features that you might want to take into consideration in addition to Megapixels: Fast shutter response Fast startup Manual controls Fast autofocus TTL - Through the Lens Composition Megapixels that matter...
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Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Eliminating Red Eye with Quick Fix In Photoshop Elements 3: 'One of the most significant improvements in Elements 3 is the way you can dramatically improve the appearance of a photo with just a click or two—even if you have no idea of what you’re doing. The Quick Fix window gathers together easy to use tools that can help you adjust the brightness and color of your photos and make them look sharper....
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Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Using Photoshop to Create a 3D Look: 'The following tutorial can be completed by anyone who is familiar with Photoshop. You don't have to be an artist and only Photoshop's basic tools have been used. No tablet or digital pen is required. The image you'll create was inspired by a Softimage XSI render by Baruch Zevolun, so the design credit goes to him. The aim of this tutorial is to show you...
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Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Repairing and Colorizing Old Photographs: 'In this tutorial I'll show you how to repair and add color to old photographs. While I use Photoshop CS, you should be able to reproduce these techniques in most digital imaging applications. The image I'm working with is one I began correcting in Old Sepia Photo Restoration Techniques. Old photos often have an existing tint that you can use to restore their original tonal integrity. Here I'm...
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Photo Review also have a wonderful article examining the question of whether one should buy a 6 megapixel DSLR or an 8 Megapixel Digital Camera? Which is best? 'On the basis of new cameras announced in the past couple of months we can state with confidence that by the middle of this year there will be at least five 6-megapixel DSLRs and five 8-megapixel, non-interchangeable compact-type digicams on the Australian market. This creates a quandary for photographers who plan...
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Margaret Brown over at the Australian Photo Review Magazine has an excellent article explaining Colour Fringing. 'Expect to hear a lot more about colour fringing in digital photos as the pixel counts for compact digicams continue to rise, while sensors become smaller. At the same time, expect to see the true reasons for colour fringing misattributed more often than not. To ‘put you in the picture’ (so to speak), if you see coloured fringes along edges in a photograph...
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Photographic.com has a good article on how to stay motivated with your photography - especially for those of you experiencing winter in the northern hemisphere. 'Taking pictures during the summer is a wonderful experience. You’re wandering around in a tee shirt while the sun illuminates your images. The warm weather draws other similar-minded folks and this camaraderie motivates and inspires you. In the fall, the changing colors and crispness of the autumn air are heady—you can’t wait to get...
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I just had an email from a reader email the following question asking for help in getting the sky exposed right in his digital images. I've notice that whenever I take scenery shots or taking shots on days when its sunny with blue skies or when its cloudy and the sky seems very pearl white, the pictures I took tend to be very dark and grainy. I read the manual and they suggested adjusting the white balance and change...
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Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Automate Color Adjustments in Photoshop: 'The Auto adjustment commands aren’t just for beginners. Even imaging pros use them as initial steps for color correction. Which Auto option you choose—Color, Levels, or Contrast—depends on the image type, the problem you want to resolve, and your artistic intent. Each Auto command in the Image > Adjustments submenu performs the same function: It darkens the darkest area (shadows) and brightens the lightest area (highlights). The differences...
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Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Achieving Texture in a Photoshop Image: 'The painting Little Wolf, shown below, is composed of a sketch and loose dabs of color, with the only detail being the lone figure on a path to the hills and the dramatic sky. This technique doesn’t show every step of the painting in great detail, but focuses on a variety of texture application ideas. I based the technique on a favorite method of using transparent...
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Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Creating Movie Matte Paintings with Photoshop: 'efore the development of digital technologies, matte painting was a technique that was reserved for glass artists. Today, Photoshop, which skillfully combines both retouching and photomontage techniques, occupies an essential place in the field. The original image at left is transformed into the final image at right. Among the many special effects techniques that are used in the film industry, matte painting is the cheapest solution. It...
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Graphics.com has an excellent photoshop tips tutorial on Converting a Photo into a Sketch with Photoshop Elements: 'I learned this technique from Rich Harris, the former creative guru over at Wacom Technologies. He sent me a bunch of PDFs with some special effects he had come up with, and this one just blew me away, so I asked Rich if I could include it in my Photoshop Elements 3 for Digital Photographers book. It does the best job I've seen...
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Business Week looks at what to do if you've Lost Your Digital Photos 'You've made it through the holidays, and you have a digital camera full of pictures to prove it. Or so you think. When you finally start to transfer them to your computer to print out the highlights, your camera responds with an error message. Or it simply acts as if there's nothing on the memory card. It's every shutterbug's nightmare, discovering that the priceless Kodak moment...
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Bob Atkins knows what he's talking about when it comes to digital photography tips and so when he publishes a new article I always check it out. His latest on Digital Sensor Size is well worth the read. It examines the important topic of the size of your digital camera's sensor - a vital component in the equation to getting a quality results from your digital images. 'There's a lot of attention paid in the digital camera world to...
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Outback Photo has a great tutorial on using a Gray card to get good color balance titled Color Correction using a Gray Card: Workflow Technique #065. 'I sometimes sound like I obsess about color balance; in many ways, color balance is one of the first steps to creating a great image; good balance makes the colors pop, makes the color contrasts stronger, and makes the image more pleasing. Color balance can be very challenging to get right; it can...
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Bob Atkins has a great tutorial on Resizing your Digital Images which I've found helpful today in helping to explain resizing digital images in the last hour or so to a friend. Bob writes: 'One aspect of digital images which seems to cause a lot of confusion to beginners is the matter of image size. There are three basic measures of image size - Pixel count - e.g 3000x2000 pixels - Physical size - e.g. 4“ x 6” -...
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PC Magazing has a good article titled Troubleshooting Your Images which is full of tips on diagnosing and correcting poor digital images. They write: 'Nothing is more frustrating than looking at a photo you took of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find that it didn't turn out. Maybe it is blurry, dark, or “noisy.” Many new digital-camera owners become so frustrated that they give up entirely, or keep replacing their cameras, hoping to find one that magically takes the...
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Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Edge Masking Techniques in Photoshop: 'Because it’s a situational task, there’s no one right way to mask an image. It can be as easy as clicking the magic wand or as difficult as manually tracing edges with an eraser. For this project, I had two goals: I wanted to separate a difficult element from its background and minimize the manual labor to do it. When you consider the problem of masking, it’s...
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Popular Photography Magazine has a good article on File Formats that explain JPEGs, TIFFs and RAW files in an easy to understand way. 'When an image is captured by your camera's digital sensor, a series of settings are applied as alterations to the original raw data. In many high-end cameras, this raw data can be retrieved “un-touched” as a RAW file, but most digital cameras save your photos as JPEGs. In addition to “alterations” for sharpness, white-balance, and the...
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In the past few days I have been inundated with requests for information from new digital camera owners wanting to know how to use their new toys. Unfortunately the volume of requests has made it difficult to answer them all - however over the past year or so of writing here at Digital Photography Blog we've added hundreds of useful tips to our Digital Camera Tips section of the site. Here are a few useful links to tips that we...
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Photo.net has a great tutorial on Using Image Calibration Techniques to Reduce Noise in Digital Images - 'This article is about a method of reducing noise in images taken with digital cameras - especially long exposure and/or high ISO images taken with digital SLRs. The simplified workflow presented here is derived from more advanced techniques of noise reduction (known as calibration) that are used in scientific and technical imaging. Because of limitations in the software tools commonly available to...
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Graphics.com has a tips tutorial on Reducing Facial Wrinkles with Photoshop Elements 3: 'This is a great trick for removing wrinkles, with a little twist at the end (courtesy of my buddy Kevin Ames) that helps make the technique look more realistic. His little tweak makes a big difference because (depending on the age of the subject) removing every wrinkle would probably make the photo look obviously retouched (in other words, if you're retouching someone in their 70s and you...
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Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Old Sepia Photo Restoration Techniques and writes - 'In this tutorial I'll show you several techniques for improving the quality of old sepia-tinted photographs. Of course, these techniques can be used on any image and while I'm using Photoshop, many image editing programs provide similar tools. I began with a scan of the photo below. Scanning using at least print resolution (300 dpi) or higher is recommended so you have the best possible...
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Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Using Photoshop Elements 3 to Remove Unwanted Objects: 'Many times a picture is perfect except for a power line or an unwanted sign or, for that matter, an unwanted person who wanders into your shot. Sometimes all it takes to get the picture right is a little Photoshop Elements blur here, or a burn there. Other times you’ll need to remove the object entirely, and that’s when other techniques come in handy. In...
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Photoxels has a good guide to Night Photography. 'Night photography has an attraction all its own. There's something about scintillating lights from office windows hanging in the dark of the night -- a modern version of the starry skies -- that appeal to us. Whether it's a city skyline, lamp posts on a dark and deserted street, or the front of your house all decked out with holiday lights, the challenge of capturing the mood of a night scene...
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Outback Photo has a great tutorial on Printer Test Strips which help get the best results when printing you digital images: 'I strongly recommend that you learn to properly profile your monitor and to use profiles for your printer and papers. Profiles will make the process much easier to get good prints; the monitor can be a very good representation of your printer output if you learn to use color management well. But the monitor is not a perfect...
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EarthBound Light has a good tutorial on 'Levels' in Photoshop:'So, you're trying to learn how to optimize your photos in Photoshop. Nothing radical, of course. Basically just the digital equivalent of what has been done in the traditional darkroom for years. With any number of ways to do even simple things, Photoshop can seem a bit overwhelming at first though. We looked last week at Brightness and Contrast and discovered why they really don't work that well. Now it's...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com While analyzing any camera, one of the most important qualities of a photograph that a person seeks, is resolution. This word itself needs a brief discussion before progressing onto its implication upon a digital camera. This is a word that seems to almost every new photographer as a nightmare. With all the myths and irrelevant information circulating all around, this is quite common. This however is an effort to clear those misty myths and provide...
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About.com has a good article on Sharpening and Workflow and writes: 'With film images, sharpness is generally determined by the quality of our equipment and the film in use - so long as we hold the camera steady. Almost always the post-processing in lab or darkroom is aimed at retaining the sharpness we managed to get on film, though occasionally we may use some diffusion for effect. With digital images - and this applies to some extent to scanned...
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Bob Atkins Photography has a great Digital Camera Basics Primer and writes: 'Digital cameras are confusing to a lot of new users. In this basic guide to digital camera technology we hope to try to give digital beginners at least some basis to use in deciding which digital camera is appropriate for them. When shopping for a digital camera it's at least good to know what the basic terms like white balance, pixel, ppi and dpi mean and how...
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Generation5 has an interesting article titled A Basic Introduction to Image Processing: 'This article is intended as an introductory look at image processing (not machine vision). We will look at how colour is represented within an image, how images are stored, what resolution means, as well as the most rudimentary statisical analysis of an image: the histogram.' Should be an interesting article for those getting into digital photography with their new digital cameras....
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Graphics.com has a tutorial with plenty of tips on Mastering Clipping Groups in Photoshop: 'Clipping groups are an underused and interesting effect, although just the words "clipping groups" sends fear down the spines of novice and intermediate Photoshop users alike. The concept is really not as hard as it sounds. I will attempt to de-mystify this technique and you will be creating your own clipping groups in a few moments. The best way for me to explain clipping groups is...
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Graphics.com has a tips tutorial on Brightening Outdoor Images in Photoshop - This technique can be used for any image, but it is particularly useful for those with a sunny, vacation theme that can benefit from some overall brightening, to enhance the mood.... Continue reading Brightening Outdoor Images in Photoshop....
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Graphics.com has a good article on Digital Image Enlargement Tools: 'If you want to create prints with resolutions larger than that of your digital camera, you could leave the job of digitally enlarging the photos to the printer driver. But in that case you can not be sure of the quality of the prints. Many graphics applications offer an Image Size or Resize feature for enlarging images, but if higher quality is your concern, you should look further. Especially if...
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Peter Marshall has posted a good tutorial post over at About.com on the topic of Sharpening & Workflow. He writes: 'In this feature, Sharpening & Workflow I try to sort out when and why you need to sharpen your digital images, and also to suggest the best ways of doing this. I look at two great Photoshop plugins, PhotoKit Sharpener and FocalBlade which take very different approaches to sharpening, but both give superb results. Which you choose will depend...
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Fujifilm have a good resource for people searching for their first digital camera that has 10 pieces of advice for Digital Photography beginners. 'Pixels do not determine the quality of the image; they determine how big the image is. How good the image looks is determined by the quality of the pixels, the lens and the processor inside the camera. Think about the biggest size of print you will ever require and choose the right number of pixels. If...
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Tech Tree has just published a PBasic Digital camera Buying Guide that may be of use for those of you in the process of searching for a new digital camera. 'Digital imaging is advancing rapidly, thanks to the rapid innovation and technological advancements in this field. In this hi-tech age, choosing the right digital camera can be an uphill task, especially with the choice available to you. This guide has been written keeping in mind novices and first time...
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'I've been trying out some of the latest models of color ink-jet photo printers from Canon, Epson and HP. Each is designed to make high-quality photo prints, up to 8 1/2" x 11", as well as black and white documents, making these ideal for general use in the home or small office. All have the same list price of $199 and work with both PCs and Macs. I looked at the Canon PIXMA iP5000, the HP 8150, and the...
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'The thrill of owning a digital camera can quickly give way to despair once the images start piling up in a disorganized heap on your hard drive. That's a lot of photos. And it presents a daunting challenge to anyone needing to scour their computer for a picture of their kid's first day at school, or that Yosemite rock-climbing trip from two years ago. "Many people buy a digital camera, and the nightmare begins," said San Jose, Calif., photographer...
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'Once children realize how easy it is to snap photos on a digital camera, instantly view images on the screen and watch photo slideshows on a computer monitor or on a TV, questions will be asked. Why can't I take daddy's new camera to the beach? When can I have my own camera? Be prepared - and enjoy the marvels of digital photography with the whole family. 1. Separate memory cards. A good way to start is to have...
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'Many new cameras will come with built-in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds or longer, which is enough for most long-exposure photography. Other cameras will have a B (bulb) setting that will keep the shutter open as long as you keep your finger on the shutter release button or a T (time) exposure setting that will keep the shutter open until you press the shutter release button a second time. Cameras with bulb settings can also be fitted...
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Graphics.com has a good tutorial on using Brush Inspiration Back In with Photoshop's History Palette: 'The more options designers have, the easier the task becomes of creating strong design without being consumed by the process. While most are comfortable with selectively applying filters through masks in the Layers palette, it's predictably sufficient. The History palette lets you rapidly brainstorm concepts without getting buried under a stack of layers, and the best part is how it's partnered with the history brush...
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'Have you ever wished you could test your own camera like the professionals? Here at dpnow when we test digital cameras we use a variety of test targets, including the standard ISO 12233 resolution target for testing electronic cameras. It's a pretty standard test used by a lot of reviewers. Our target cost us over £100 (approx US$180 or EU€150) but is vital to our battery of camera tests. Stephen H. Westin, a research project leader at the Cornell...
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PC World has a good collection of tips for using your digital camera. 'The typical mobile professional's bag bulges with a notebook, a PDA, and a mobile phone (or smart phone), not to mention business cards, folders stuffed with papers, and the occasional half-eaten ham sandwich. And there's probably an MP3 player in there somewhere, too. So I'm loath to suggest adding yet one more thing to an already overstuffed bag. But suggest I will: On your next business trip,...
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PC Magazine have a good article on Histograms - they write: 'A search in pcmag.com for the word histo-gram reveals that dozens of cameras have this feature, and occasionally a review notes its disappointing absence. You may have seen these references or come across the histogram on your camera, and wondered what the heck a histogram is and why you should care. Histograms are not widely understood, but taking a few moments to learn about them can improve your photography...
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'Tired of waiting for your film to be developed? Tired of paying money only to see that your head is cut off in most of the pictures? Tired of wasting money on disposable cameras? Then it is time for you to buy a digital camera. They're easy to use, efficient, and cost-effective. "They have advantages for just about any teen that uses a computer. You can e-mail, print and send your pictures, and you don't have to wait for photoshop...
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by: Warren Lynch The most important part of buying a digital camera is making sure that the one you select meets all of your needs. Digital Camera 101 Better digital cameras uses a chip called a "Charged Coupled Device" (CCD) instead of film. Light enters the camera, through the open shutter, and strikes the CCD where it is converted to digital data before being stored in the camera's memory. While that is the simple description, things can get pretty...
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One of the most common requests for tips that we get is for advice on how to take good photographs of food. If your house is anything like mine it has a shelf somewhere full of cook books (my wife is rather addicted to them) - most of which are filled with stunning photos of all kinds of food dishes. Some of them are mouth watering to read. Taking good photos of food is not as easy as it...
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"Although bright, radiant leaves are a big part of autumn, they are still only a part of it. So let's take a look at the many ways of revealing the true essence of autumn. Free the leaves in your pictures - Soon enough strong winds and heavy rains will knock the remaining leaves from the trees. But until then you'll be faced with the daunting task of photographing whole hillsides of colourful leaves. Why is it daunting? Because what...
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"Remember, cropping is as much an art form as it is a technical operation. No two images or scenes are the same and therefore no two cropping solutions will be the same. Concentrate on the fundamental issues behind why an image is being cropped and then be bold and experiment. Learning from failures is just as valuable as learning from successes." Read more at Tutorial: Cropping Photos :: Every Picture Tells a Story ...
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Taospace is writing a series of Digital Photography Tips - their latest is 'Shoot More, Cull More'. "The best thing about digital photography is that you can take as many pictures as you want (within the limits of your memorycard(s) obviously) without increasing the cost of it. That is very good news indeed as you will be able to experiment more with your photography. Try and shoot the same scene multiple times with different settings. Change things like white-balance, color-tone,...
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Digital Camera Cleaning Techniques and Products is a useful online resource for those of you wanting to explore what it means to clean your own digital camera. “We have put this site together to help educate the consumer on how to clean the CCD/CMOS sensor in their Digital SLR Cameras. The difference between this site and others is that these instructions are written by a Professional Camera Repairman, Curt Fargo, and Camera Repairs most published author, Larry Lyells.” Read more...
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Photoxels has a good feature on the best digital cameras for Real Estate interior shots. They write: "Taking interior shots of houses and commercial buildings for real estate purposes poses a number of challenges: - Most consumer digital cameras have a lens with focal lengths starting at 35mm, which does not cover a wide enough angle to show off an interior properly - The interior may not be lighted well enough - These two challenges can be addressed a...
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Bob Atkins Photography has a good tutorial on Digital Depth of Field that is very informative and will help you get some excellent results. 'Let's try to define depth of field. The usual definition runs something like this: "The region over which objects in an image appear sharp". While there is some truth in this, there's also some confusion - and some untruth too! Let's try a more accurate definition: "The depth of field is the range of distances reproduced...
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PC Mag has a good article on Choosing your Digital Camera. 'Shopping for a digital camera is stressful. Most stores carry a fraction of the 200-plus cameras on the market, and except at specialty stores, salespeople aren't much help. You can ask friends for recommendations, but even if they love their camera, it might be discontinued, given short product cycles. Don't throw up your hands and give up. A little information, some strategizing, and our reviews can make the process...
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Luminous Landscape has a great article that covers the topic of Adding A Diffuse Glow To Your Images. 'Giving your images a diffuse glow with Photoshop is a combination of blurs, layer blend modes, and blending techniques. Rather than blurring the entire image, we instead add a halo to a desired range of tones. We can add richness and shape the tones in an image in this way without sacrificing a lot of image details.'...
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Along with the rise of the digital camera, the past year or so has seen a large number of Online Photo Processing and Printing services appear one the web. Its difficult to sort through the different options - especially when many of them seem to have a very similar online presence and special offers. We've found a few sites that have tested many of them and have collated them below for your convenience. Feel free to add your own experiences...
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'The best photos these days are digital—not because they're better quality, but because they can go everywhere. And once you have e-mailed them around, shared them online, or put them in a slide show, you print them. Whether they end up on your mantelpiece, on your refrigerator, or tucked neatly away in a photo album, you want them to look like the real thing. Now that printers can finally produce true photo quality, you can print your precious memories with...
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MVPix.com has just posted an interesting article examining Digital Cameras that have TTL Support Underwater. It examines some of the ways in which manufacturers offer TTL support. "My wife decided it was time to upgrade her underwater photography equipment. She's been using a Sony P&S with a Sony housing and Ikelite DS-50 for over 2 years, so this upgrade is long overdue. After looking over the features of different housings and cameras, she decided flash TTL was one of her...
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'When Adobe first released Photoshop CS much was made of improvements to the File Browser feature set and flexibility; yet months later we still find that it is causing many new and established Photoshop users a great deal of confusion. This tutorial is intended to provide you with a better understanding of the new features and how File Browser can be incorporated into your digital workflow.... The key to maximising File Browser performance is for you to ensure that the...
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Making Sense of Camera Sensors is a good article that unpacks and explains the sensors that play such a vital role in our digital cameras. "The most important part of your digital camera -- its brains, heart, and soul -- very well maybe its image sensor. It's where all the magic happens and where all the mistakes are made. Ben Long explains. Good film photographers often have a very thorough understanding of the nature and properties of particular film chemistries...
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Along with the rise of the digital camera, the past year or so has seen a large number of Online Photo Processing and Printing services appear one the web. Its difficult to sort through the different options - especially when many of them seem to have a very similar online presence and special offers. We've found a few sites that have tested many of them and have collated them below for your convenience. Feel free to add your own experiences...
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"One of the skills that separates novice photographers from the more experienced is an awareness and control over “Depth of Field” (commonly referred to by its abbreviation “DOF”). Sometimes, to get the shot, we need to use a very small aperture. When we do, not only is the subject in sharp focus, but features in the background and/or foreground can compete for attention. This tutorial will walk you through the steps in using a new feature in Adobe Photoshop CS:...
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Do you want a Digital Camera but can't afford it because you spent too much on the purchase of that Scanner last year? Well maybe now you can make your Scanner into a Digital Camera (actually this article has been online for years - but I only just found it)! Ok - so it might not be a high quality digital camera but it might be a fun project if you have an old scanner around that you don't want...
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PC Magazing has a good article on Photos in the RAW which explains some of the implications of Shooting in RAW format... Many midrange and high-end digital cameras offer the option to save photos in RAW format instead of JPEG. If your camera can do this, you've probably wondered what the RAW format's strengths are and whether you should try it. We'll walk you through how and when to shoot RAW, and how to make the most of your RAW...
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Over the gamut and through the woods is the latest monthly column over at Steve's Digicams which examines the topic of color management. 'It seems that the longer you stick with a particular hobby or profession, the more complicated things get. In digital photography, once you get past that initial thrill of being able to view, edit, and print your own photos, you start to become aware of subtleties like the fact that certain colors on your monitor don't match...
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About.com has a new Basic Photography page with: 'Short, straightforward features to tell you what you need to know if you are new to photography. All you need to know to start using your camera - whether digital or film - and making great pictures. It is designed especially with beginners in mind. It's also for those people who've used a camera but never really found out how things like shutter speeds and apertures work. It contains short, straightforward introductions...
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Malek Tips has a good digital camera Help and Tips page with over 200 Digital camera tips to help anyone buying or using a digital camera. There should be enough on this site to most of us busy for a while....
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Ken Milburn has released Part 5 of his Ideal Digital Photographer's Workflow: The Three Ideal Stages for Sharpening Your Images. 'Would you believe that every image shot by a digital camera needs to be sharpened -- not once, but three times? Well, you shouldn't, because it's not always true -- but almost always, it is.' Read More ...
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With the Olympics just around the corner I thought it might be fun to do a feature on Sports Photography to help those attending the games capture the best action sports shots, but also help the rest of us who will be watching along from home who will no doubt be inspired to improve our own sports photography. Some of the following sports photography tips and resources are specifically for 'Digital' photography while others are more general in their nature...
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Ever wondered how a digital camera image sensor works? Ben Long from Creative Pro explains all in his article Framed and Exposed: Making Sense of Camera Sensors. 'Good film photographers often have a very thorough understanding of the nature and properties of particular film chemistries -- often going so far as to make their own paper and emulsions. Though digital photographers can't sit around forging their own image sensors, they can still benefit from understanding some of the rudiments of...
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Web Aperture has a good article that gives an insight into the Digital Workflow Experience of one particular digital photographer. 'Digital photography opens up a lot of new opportunities but also new challenges to overcome. The most important element is storage. I found that with a digital SLR, my shooting rate went up quite a bit. In many of my travels, i usually estimate somewhere in the region of 1.5 rolls of film per day. I'm sure many professionals will...
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Better Photo has some great photographic tips and tutorials on their site on a huge array of topics. Ten Tips to Improve Photographic Technique is a worthwhile one to check out even if you've just got a few minutes up your sleeve before taking your digital camera out next time. The tips are simple and things that most of us have probably heard of, but they work and are good reminders....
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Photography Blog has a great 'tips collection' on how to take good photographs of Fireworks. Should be useful for those of you that live in parts of the world that celebrate 4th July....
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Near Infrared Digital Photography is a tutorial that will 'take you through all of the steps necessary to procure and manipulate near infrared photographs through the use of a digital camera (or camcorder).' 'nfrared photography has been around for at least 70 years, but until recently has not been easily accessible to those not versed in traditional photographic processes. Since the charge-coupled devices (CCDs) used in digital cameras and camcorders are sensitive to near-infrared light, they can be used to...
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White Balance Settings are an important function on most modern Digital Cameras. They can mean the difference between a beautifully exposed and balanced digital image and an over or under exposed shot. Below are some of the best White Balance Tips and Tutorials currently available on the Web. We've included a short taste of each one to give you a feel for their approach. Feel free to suggest your own White Balance tips or online resources below in comments: Also...
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One of the Digital Camera Accessories that is becoming more and more common is the 'Underwater Housing' that enables a user to take their digital camera where it was previously impossible to take it without things getting pretty messy - under water. Getting great underwater digital images is not as easy as simply having an underwater housing or purpose built underwater digital camera - so once again we've searched the web for the best tips, tutorials and online resources on...
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Have you ever been looking through a photo album only to find a picture and have no idea where you took it? GPS Photo Linking might be a technology for you. 'As you are out recording pictures, your GPS receiver is busy making a digital popcorn trail of your movements. Then when you're back on the computer, a topo map or aerial photograph is pulled from a terraserver on the Internet, and your shots show up on the map as...
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The Histogram is one of the most useful tools in Digital Photography yet it is one of the least understood and utilized. We've searched the web for ten of the best Histogram Tips and Tutorials to help us all to get the best possible exposure for our digital images. These tutorials focus upon both in camera histograms and histogram tools in imaging editing software. Add your tips, hints and suggested resources in comments below. Also check out Digital Photography School...
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Tech Lounge have just released the third and last part of their Beyond Megapixels series. 'This last installment of Beyond Megapixels contains an overview of camera function, such as metering, white balance and focusing systems, popular filetypes and their usefulness to the photographer, and features that define each digital camera. In keeping with the editorial nature of this series, I will share my preferences and opinions of these aspects when I deem prudent.'...
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Thanks to Gavin for the tip that PhotonHead has just been updated with some new tips and tutorials to help digital photographers. Worth checking out is their Sim Cam which 'is an online camera simulator designed to teach basic photographic principles.'...
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Along with the rise of the digital camera, the past year or so has seen a large number of Online Photo Processing and Printing services appear one the web. Its difficult to sort through the different options - especially when many of them seem to have a very similar online presence and special offers. We've found a few sites that have tested many of them and have collated them below for your convenience. Feel free to add your own experiences...
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Photo.net has a good article on RAW, JPEG and TIFF files. 'There seems to be a lot of confusion among some new digital camera owners about exactly what the difference is between RAW, JPEG and TIFF files. This article is intended to be a very basic guide to these file types and how they are related in a typical digital camera.' Read More - Found via Photography Blog...
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Raw Power: Using Raw Digital Files is a great article from About Photography that examines some of the issues in shooting RAW digital images. 'If you are using a digital camera to produce images for professional use, or want to get the best possible digital images as an amateur, you are almost certain to have bought a camera that produces images in a 'raw' format and be using this for the majority of your work.' Read More...
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Shooting Digital Images at night and in low light situations can produce both stunning and terribly disappointing results. We've searched the net for the best night digital photography tips and tutorials to help us all shed some light (sorry, I couldn't resist) this sometimes tricky aspect of digital photography. Here are 9 sites on Night Photography. Also check out Digital Photography School for more free Digital Camera Tips on All Topics....
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Photoxels asks the question What is the Best Email Image Size? Of course it depends on a number of factors including end purpose (printing or display) and perhaps depends partly upon your internet access (and that of the receiver of the images) - ie dial up or broadband.... Photoxel makes some useful suggestions on the optimum image size for emailing. Check out some of our other Digital Camera Tips: - Digital Photography Composition 101 - Night and Low Light Digital...
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The digital camera revolution need not snap your nerve gives a good snapshot of some of the issues one needs to consider when choosing which digital camera is best for them. Check out the rest of our growing collection of tips on how to choose a digital camera....
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Do you have marks on your digital images that you can't get rid of by cleaning your lens? One of the reasons for such smudges, blotches and blobs could be dust, little hairs or marks on your Image Sensors. It might be time to clean them. Some camera repairers offer image sensor cleaning services, but many find a do it yourself approach cheaper and more effective. Cleaning Image Sensors is a delicate job that should be approached with real care....
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More and more cameras have the ability to shoot in Raw mode. 'JPG', 'Raw', 'Tiff'....what does it all mean? Understanding Raw Files is a good article from Luminous Landscape that unpacks the topic and gives reasons why and why not one would shoot in Raw mode. Also check out Digital Photography School for more free Digital Camera Tips on All Topics....
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Geoff Lawrence Photography is a new site dedicated to photography in general (film and digital). It has a growling collection of tutorials on a variety of subjects that whilst not specifically about the digital medium will help anyone starting out in photography that wants to improve. They features some great images to illustrate points. This will be a site to watch develop in the months and years ahead....
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After sinking hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in your digital camera kit it is so important to protect your investment by caring for it in the best way possible. What is the best way to clean and care for your digital camera? We scoured the web today to find 10 of the best digital camera cleaning and care tips from some of the most respected digital camera sites:...
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Scanning and Sharpening is a great digital imaging tutorial that will help anyone looking to learn how to use scanners and who desire to use sharpening tools like Photoshop's Unsharp Mask filter. Check out some of our other Tutorials - Digital Camera Care Tips - Macro Digital Photography Tips - Getting the best Results from your Camera Phone - How to Choose a Digital Camera - Tips - Depth of Field in Digital Photography Tips...
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How To Reproduce A Tone is the first essay in a series titled The Art of Digital B/W and is a very useful tutorial. 'Did you ever see a toned image on the web and wonder how they did it? Here's a simple procedure you can use to copy a tone from any picture and apply it to your own image. It doesn't matter whether the original is a duotone, tritone, quadtone, or whatever.' Check out some of our other...
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The 'About Photography' pages has just published How to become a Photographer which is an excellent series of articles examine 'how you can gain the skills you need to be a success as a photographer.' They look at a range of topics including Assessing your Abilities, Studying Photography and potential Areas of Work part 1 and part 2. Check out some of our other Tutorials - Digital Camera Care Tips - Macro Digital Photography Tips - Getting the best Results...
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One of the things I've enjoyed most about my digital camera is its ability to get in close to small objects and take some stunning photos. One of the advantages of doing Macro Photography in the digital format is that you can review your shots as you go and make small adjustments depending upon the results you're getting. More and more digital cameras are coming with Macro Photography modes enabling you to shoot from very close distances - in addition...
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Photoblogs and Moblogs are becoming more and more popular with the release of many new models of camera phones. The internet is being flooded with pictures from the every day life of millions of camera phone users, but unfortunately many of the images that are taken using camera phones are poor in quality. This is partly due to the fact that camera phone technology is still developing and that their features are often limited (although this is changing with...
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On Digital Photography is one of the better digital photography articles on the web. Author Stephen Voss shares a collection of miscellaneous tips and lessons that he's learned over his four years of exploring this medium. Here is a few tasters: The Sham of the Megapixel - Now that you have approximately 6328 varieties of digital cameras to choose from, making the choice is easy, just get the one with the most megapixels, right? Well, maybe.... Professionally Speaking - One...
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Tech Lounge has just released Beyond Megapixels II - the second article of three in this excellent series examining current digital photography hardware. This week focuses on Bodies and Lenses. 'The best sensor in the world is worth nothing without a body and lens that compliment its design. Today I will be looking at the build, size, weight and ergonomics of camera bodies, as well as the size, weight, function and versatility of the glass strapped to the front of...
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Professional Photographer Gary S. Silverstein (located in Southern California) kindly submitted the following tip for our growing collection. You can view some of his work at We Shoot and Billbord. One of the age-old problems of shooting interiors is that the outside (through the windows and doors) is usually brighter than the interior on a sunny day, and it overexposes the light coming in to the point of a blown-out outside image. The problem is the same with film or...
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The question I get asked more than any other about Digital Photography is 'How do I choose the right digital camera?' There are so many digital cameras currently on the market with more being introduced weekly (over 120 new ones this year alone so far) - how does one make the decision of which digital camera to choose? A lot has been written online on this subject. Some take a very technical approach and talk about resolution, file formats and...
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Beyond Megapixels is part 1 of a three part series of editorial articles examining current digital photography hardware, as well as the author’s views of what is to come. It starts with an examination of the latest collection of 8 megapixel cameras recently released by manufacturers and encourages the reader to look beyond megapixels alone when making the choice of which digital camera to purchase. 'Don’t get me wrong, I find that “8.0 megapixel” stamp on the front of the...
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After sinking hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in your digital camera kit it is so important to protect your investment by maintaining for it in the best way possible. What is the best way to maintain and care for your digital camera? We scoured the web today to find the best digital camera maintenance and care tips from some of the most respected digital camera sites:...
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Photoblogs and Moblogs are becoming more and more popular with the release of many new models of camera phones. The internet is being flooded with pictures from the every day life of millions of camera phone users, but unfortunately many of the images that are taken using camera phones are poor in quality. This is partly due to the fact that camera phone technology is still developing and that their features are often limited (although this is changing with the...
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Check out the following Depth of Field Tutorials for Digital Cameras. Depth of Field is one of the most important aspects of photography, whether it be digital or film. It can be the difference between an ordinary and stunning photograph. However so many photographers have little or no idea of how to set their cameras for a desired Depth of Field effect. Also check out Digital Photography School for more free Digital Camera Tips on All Topics....
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forbes.com has just published this 6 page guide to help you choose the right digital camera. They break the market down into the four sections of Basic Shooters, Little Wonders, Megapixel Monsters and Digital SLR's and analyzes sixteen digital cameras from across these sections....
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Computer Darkroom - Lens Blur Tutorial provides an excellent tutorial on Adobe Photoshop's 'Lens Blur Filter'. It's worth checking out. 'One of the most useful features introduced with Photoshop CS is the Lens Blur filter. Unfortunately Adobe failed to provide much in the way of guidance as to how it is to be used. This short tutorial shows one example whereby I have used the filter to replicate a widely used photographic technique called differential focus.'...
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Photoblogs and MoBlogs are continuing to grow in popularity. I've had a number of emails in the past week asking for information on how to start your own photoblog or moblog so I thought I'd put together a central resource page on the topic of photoblogging and moblogging. What are Photoblogs and MoBlogs? Whilst a photoblog can be a Moblog (and visa versa) they are not neccessarily one in the same thing. Lets looks to a couple of definitions...
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Do you have a Sony Digital Camera and need some tips on how to get the most out of it? Check out the following sites dedicated to Sony Digital Camera Tutorials and Tips - Source - Digital Art & Photography - Mav Magazine - The magazine for Sony digital camera enthusiasts - Online tutorials on how to use Sony Mavica Digital Cameras...
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Obtaining Maximum Sharpness is a great digital photography tutorial on getting your photos crystal clear and sharp. 'Extreme sharpness is frequently of little consequence to a picture’s quality or worth, but it is often a desired property. Many people go to all kinds of extremes for the sake of sharpness, such as buying expensive lenses and/or high resolution digital cameras, testing their lenses by photographing resolution charts, and memorizing MTF (modulation transfer function) charts. Unfortunately, most of these people, nevertheless,...
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Karmakars offers some useful hints on buying digital prints of photos online. They post three great questions to ask before you purchase your prints to ensure that the prints that you get have a chance of looking like what you see on your screen. The tips might not be worth it if you're just after one or two prints at small sizes - however if you're after something big at high quality they could save you a lot of pain....
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Digital Outback Photo has a great series of digital photo workflow technique tips. Their latest one is on Dust Removal. In particularly they look at the new Nikon tool - 'Dust off' which looks like being a very useful tool, especially for those of us with DSLRs. Source - Photography Blog...
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Beating the Photography Blues is a fantastic article over at Photography Blog written by Mark Goldstein. We all know that feeling of not having taken a photograph for a while and knowing that we should really get our equipment out again and touching base with that creative side that we bury under the busyness of life. Mark's article gives some practical hints about how to take the plunge back to photography. It is refreshing to read something like this that...
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Digital Photography - Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn is a book that is getting a lot of exposure around the web at the moment. It is full of expert tips and techniques for digital photographers from all levels. Check out O'Reilly's Press Room for a good introduction to this excellent book. Following is an excerpt:...
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A Short Course in Choosing a Digital Camera is one of the most comprehensive short courses/tutorials that I've seen on the topic of choosing a digital camera. It covers everything that someone wanting to buy a digital camera would need to consider - starting with answering the question, What is a digital photograph? and progressing right through to questions about Batteries, Lenses and Sensors. It ends with an excellent digital photography Glossary. Here is how it is described on the...
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Correcting Distortion and Color Fringing is a great tutorial with some practical tips on how to deal with the problems of distortion and color fringing in your digital photographs. Here is the introduction to wet your appetite. 'The effect of optical distortion in a lens is to create curved images of straight objects.� Color fringing, or lateral chromatic aberration, is closely related to distortion, and in fact can be thought of as a chromatic variation of distortion.� Most reversed telephoto...
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The question I get asked more than any other about Digital Photography is 'How do I choose the right digital camera?' There are so many digital cameras currently on the market with more being introduced weekly (over 120 new ones this year alone so far) - how does one make the decision of which digital camera to choose? A lot has been written online on this subject. Some take a very technical approach and talk about resolution, file formats and...
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Getting Digital Exposure Right is a useful digital photography tutorial full of handy tips to get your exposure right when taking digital photographs. Its not just a topic for film photography as one might think, but something that can enhance your digital photos if you pay attention to it. Here's the intro: 'Whether you are taking photographs on a digital camera or on film, getting correct exposure is the secret to getting great results. However good your ideas, if you...
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Pitfalls of buying a digital camera is a buyer's guide to digital cameras which gives a quick outline of the important features to look for when buying a digital camera and explains some of the terminology of digital cameras. It examines: - Camera Categories - Megapixels - Optical vs Digital Zooms - LCD Screen, Optical Viewfinders - Start-Up Time - Shot-to-Shot Time - Continuous Shooting - Battery Life - Memory Cards, Cradles It is a good and simple outline of...
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L.A. photographer Allison shares digital secrets is an interesting article about Photographer Glen Allison's transition to Digital Photography and how he approaches the medium. '"Now that I have switched to digital," says Los Angeles-based Glen Allison, "there is no way I'm going back to film, no way in the world. My feeling is that if I can't shoot using digital, I don't want to shoot.".... But shifting to digital involves more than just using a new camera body. Allison is...
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Ken Milburn has just released Part 3 (the final part) in his series The Ideal Digital Photographer's Workflow. Its been one of the better series of articles/tutorials written on the topic of digital photography. Hopefully Ken will release some more digital photography tips shortly. Here are short introductory excerpts to each part in this latest series of tips. Part 1 - 'Keeping images organized with the help of a systematic workflow is the key to your sanity. I've written this...
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Making Money with your Digital Camera is an interesting that talks about how to pay off your digital camera purchase by earning money with it. 'I know that many digital camera users are interested in ways they can turn their interest in digital imaging into cash. There are many kinds of event photography that only require the delivery of small color prints. It may be a company golf tournament, awards presentation at an annual meeting, or couples photographed at the...
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Do you want to learn how to sharpen your digital images? 'Most of us upload our pictures or print them the way they were captured by our digital cameras. We read and hear of a post-processing technique called "Sharpening" using "USM" (or "UnSharp Mask") and decide it is just too difficult for us. If you are comfortable using a computer and can load an image into an image editing software, such as Photoshop Elements, then be prepared for a pleasant...
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Here is yet another article with Advice about Buying Digital Cameras. I've take the headings and given you a summary of what they write (with a couple of my own digital camera buying tips). At the end check out some other great articles on the topic. • Fun and sharing - Make sure you buy a digital camera that is easy to hook up to a computer and get photos out of. Consider the storage media on each and even...
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This Short Course in Choosing a Digital Camera is a great online course which covers a range of topics including: 1. What is a Digital Photograph? 2. Why Go Digital? 3. How a Digital Camera Works 4. Types of Digital Cameras 5. Image Sensors 6. Image Storage 7. Downloading Images 8. Image Compression & File Formats 9. Preview Screens & Viewfinders 10. Lenses 11. Creative Controls 12. Automatic Flash 13. Batteries 14. Other Features 15. Is it Time to Buy?...
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Coincidences (which is a great blog) writes a fantastic post asking the question - Are Photography Courses Helpful? The post gives some great tips on how to make sure the answer is yes! ...
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Serendipity posts an interesting post on 'Streak Photography'. 'Streak photography gets its name from the way the pictures are produced. They are composite images built up from a single streak (or strip) out of many different images.' The images are remarkably beautiful....
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Working Digital is a great series of digital photography tips for anyone exploring the digital photography medium. Part 1: Buying Digital Part 2: Dust and Emergencies Part 3: Digital Negatives - In the Raw Part 4: TIFFs and JPEGs Part 5: Storage in Camera There are more in this series of Digital Photography Tips to come....
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Check out Nikon School! They offer four main schools of study: 1. The Nikon School of Photography 2. Digital 101 3. Digital 201 4. The Nikon School of Underwater Photography Source - The Scobleizer...
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Photography Blog has a great article giving a great digital photography tip on color accuracy for digital photographs. 'If you think color integrity doesn’t matter much, you might think you can stop reading now . . . but think twice about that. The reality is that anyone sharing photos, charts, graphs, or other images electronically can run into situations where what looks like the perfect shade of teal on your screen comes across as eyeball-bursting blue to your colleagues, friends...
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Choosing a camera phone is a short article with tips on how to buy a camera phone. Here are their top tips. • Shop around for a phone that's easy to use: You should be able to shoot, add text or a voice message and send. • Carrier network coverage: The phone is only as good as the network it's on. Ask if you can send and receive picture messages while roaming. • Price-per-picture:How much does it cost to send...
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Buying a Digital Camera for under $200 (US) should be a helpful article for those looking for such cameras. Topics covered include: - The Lens - The Zoom - The Flash - Resolution - Ease of Use - Memory...
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Top 10 Digital Photography Tips is a great article that shares a number of tips that you may not have considered before including: 'Sunglasses Polarizing Filter What's that you say? Your digital camera can't accommodate filters. Don't despair. I've been using this trick for years with my point-and-shoot cameras. If you have a pair of quality sunglasses, then simply take them off and use them as your polarizing filter. Place the glasses as close to the camera lens as possible,...
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Photo Junkie talks about the importance of backing up your files in the first part of a series on the topic. Looking forward to the next one which will get into 'how to' do it....
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Digital Camera Image Resolution is a great tutorial explaining how much resolution you'll need on your digital camera for different sized prints. There is no point in buying a 5 megapixel camera if all you're going to be doing is sending pictures via email or printing small prints. The tutorial includes a great little chart to help you discern your needs....
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Learning To Use Your Digital Camera - Part 1 is a great introduction to digital cameras. It gives advice ranging from lenses, to LDCs, to flash and hotshoe, to memory cards and batteries....
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Also check out Digital Photography School for more free Digital Camera Tips on All Topics. There are hundreds of online digital photography and camera tutorials and courses. Here a selection of some of the more helpful ones. Tutorials - Buying Digital Camera Equipment - What to Look For in a Digital Camera - Choosing a Digital Camera - Top 10 Digital Photography Mistakes - Choosing a Tripod - Digital Camera Equipment Tutorials - Digital Photography Technique - Sharpness and...
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Digital Camera Buying Guide has a great collection of Digital Photography Tips that anyone interested in Digital Cameras should check out. It covers a wide variety of topics that will be helpful to the beginner right through to experienced user. ...
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Got a Digital Camera for Christmas and you're not sure how to make the most of it? Pixels to pictures gives some tips on some starting points including integrating your camera with your computer and printing digital photographs. Photographers offer advice on digital cameras is another helpful article in a similar vain that gives a basic introduction to digital Photography. ...
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Choosing a digital camera is getting more and more of a challenge as the variety of cameras being released increased. It seems that every week a new camera enters the market. So how should you make the decision? How to Choose a DigiCam answers that question by giving a framework to make your decisions. Topics examined include: - Big or small - Megapixel - what's it mean - RAW or not - Lenses - zoom range - Storage media -...
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Just found this good little Making Photographs Tutorial. It goes through the basics of photography for beginners. It covers - Light - Lens - Film - Exposure - Camera ...
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Just found this article on Advice for Digital Camera Buyers. They cover resolution, lens, zoom, size, light sensitivity, lag time, batteries, manual exposure settings and LCDs. I'd probably also add memory/storage media. Its a god article for people looking to buy their first Digital Camera....
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It's Time To Upgrade Your Digital Camera. This article is about buying Digital Cameras, whether for the first time or to update an older one. Its easy to understand and makes some good recommendations including some of the following excerpts: - The 2-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 2100 is a good starter choice. - The $279 Pentax Optio 230 is another 2-megapixel model. Unlike some other 2-megapixel cameras, this model has the ability to take TIFF images. - The 2-megapixel ...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera is but a technological advancement of the conventional analog camera. And thus every component of the analog camera must have been upgraded or changed to bring in some improvisations. This discussion is an effort to unravel alteration and make one comparison between what was and what is! This discussion is thereby focused upon a very critical component of a camera (analog as well as digital), the zoom! Also check out Digital Photography...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera is not something of a magic box that came out of the blue and made wonders! The digital camera is very much like the conventional analog camera, but the technology has been altered. It also contains most of the associated components that the conventional camera contains, like lens and a shutter for letting in light, however instead of reaching a photosensitive film, the light is made to fall upon array of image...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com There are a few very important tasks associated with using the digital camera. The most important is of course capturing a beautiful photograph. The next most important task is that of transferring this image somewhere from where it can be printed. The most suitable place is hence the computer. Now, here comes another area of importance that needs to be analyzed and sufficient knowledge is required to be imparted to the users to make ample...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera is essentially a computer-based device, whose core is controlled by the computer. And as a result the photographs are stored in a location called memory. Now, this concept is or paramount importance in discussing digital camera. Strictly speaking, digital camera memory is where digital pictures are stored inside the camera. The digital camera memory is an essential and often a very neglected and overlooked section of equipments for digital photography and camera....
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com Every device needs a driving force to operate, just as every living thing needs a heart to keep it alive! Basically electric power does this job for any kind of devices nowadays. Similarly for any digital camera too, a good battery is necessary in order to ensure an excellent performance from it as long as possible. Being such a crucial task as if searching for a good heart for a human being, perhaps the most...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com Looking at the digital camera, a person can visualize it as a combination of a camera along with a miniature computer system that stores the images as files or sets of bits, rather than a chemically treated film. Thus it comes to be a fact that there are certain file formats in which these images of the photographs captured by the camera are stored. And again, this is subject of discussion for understanding the digital...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com Photography with the aid of a digital camera is beyond doubt very fascinating. However, it also has many a nooks that the users of the digital camera must be aware of and also must be well educated to deal with in order to produce good photographs worth the most prized digital camera. Such a concept is that of the red eye! In order to understand what this red eye actually is, a little detailed introspection...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera is in reality a great possession with many facets of its utilities and not only that knowing these utilities makes the understanding the digital camera complete. The utilities are also so very diverse that they too offer further introspection of details in their varying applications. Such an area is digital camera exposure compensation. Only knowledge of digital camera exposure is not enough, so the digital camera exposure compensation requires some amount of...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera is a wonderful device that allows a diverse variety of applications with its even diverse spectral collection of utilities. As technology progresses it brings along with it those intense pleasures that human beings have only thought of. Now the digital camera has opened up the dimensions for the people and the photographers in providing with the liberty of capturing whatever they wish and of whatever type they prefer! Well the magic words...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com The digital camera being a fantastic and technologically advanced device contains many different applications of its own. Many users of this fabulous device are unaware of quite a few of these functions which can actually do wonders. And it is the duty and right of every person possessing the digital camera to intervene into the depths of knowledge to understand their prized possession and their varying qualities in order to foster the true respect that...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com Underwater photography's is primarily focused towards entertaining and informing the people and the users themselves about what is happening in the world of under water with the aid of photography. The advent of digital cameras has opened up new horizons for such ventures. These digital cameras are not only handy and sleek but also they offer a spectral range of features that helps the underwater photographers in their work a lot. In this discussion these...
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By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com In a device such as a digital camera it is very important to understand the very basic aspects of the device so as to properly operate it and give it the due respect it deserves. Such a topic is interpolation! These are accessories that help the digital camera to perform the technologically advanced features that it is capable of. In extreme explanatory and simple terms it can be summed up as that interpolation refers to...
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About.com has a helpful article on Choosing the Right Printer where they give a series of tips on how to choose a printer. 'Printers are an essential peripheral for many of us. Whether we're using them for printing reports and other documents, publishing newsletters or just printing photos, they've become a standard part of a home computer system. However, not all printers perform equally well with every task. Here, we'll provide you with a few basic tips to help...
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Popular Photography has a useful article on File Formats that will help you work get your head around RAW files, JPEGs and the like: 'In most cases, uncompressed TIFF files are cumbersome in-camera, being slow to process and write to memory, but they come into their own when working in an image editor and shouldn't be ignored completely. RAW files offer sublime versatility, but the spectre of guaranteed support for so many individual formats in 10 years time, let...
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Here is a very handy tutorial on getting rid of digital noise in your pictures using Photoshop. It comes complete with plugin suggestions and ideas on printing to get clear images. Its very comprehensive and I'm sure will come in handy for me....
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