Point and click. The new life of digital
cameras gives us all the opportunity to
capture images as we go. Whether you simply
hit the shutter button to take pictures
of your friends and family or if you want
to have your camera with you at all times
in order to capture the beauty of life
wherever you find it, getting the most
out of your digital camera can be easy.
Let's imagine ourselves with the perfect
set up of digital camera and a few accessories
to make things just right. My personal
and professional recommendation is that
we start with memory. Get more today.
If you only have one memory card for your
camera it is time to add to the collection.
If you have more than one then good job!
The more memory you have for your digital
camera the less likely it will be that
you get stuck wanting to take more pictures
and have no more room on the storage.
Memory is relatively cheap, takes up no
space in your kit and gives you total
control over creativity.
Your camera comes with a variety of quality
settings to work with when taking images.
Don't use TIFF, leave it on one of the
medium quality level settings and your
camera will take fine images for you and
not eat up all your memory. If you use
the highest setting you will get very
few images onto your card. They will for
the most part be of very high quality
but you would only want to shoot at that
level of quality if you are intending
to make high quality large format prints
of your images.
Now if that child of yours is just so
incredibly cute and your wall is aching
for a portrait of his or her shining face
then by all means do it on the highest
quality. The key will be to use good software
to process the image and then a printer
that can make a large format, high quality
print of your image. They exist and for
not unreasonable prices I might add.
I was stunned at a recent art show in
my neighborhood to be looking at a photographer's
exhibit of large size prints (18x24 and
up in size) to find out that he shoots
exclusively in digital now. He was a former
film photographer who switched over in
recent years and now makes stunning prints
from his digital images. His landscape
images were simply amazing and to find
out that he shot them on a good digital
camera made me very curious about the
process, but that is fodder for another
article.
Juice is the answer to your next question.
Always have more juice. I spent 20 years
in the TV news business and my mantra
was always have extra batteries ready
to go and an extra tape under the back
seat in case of emergency. For TV cameras
the batteries were always big and heavy
rechargeable NiCads. Lithium batteries
are the rage nowadays as they are lighter
in weight, have no memory problems, and
run longer. Digital still cameras can
take advantage of Lithium batteries but
the cost is often slightly prohibitive
for most of us. Some camera systems use
proprietary battery systems. I would recommend
not buying into that sort of system. Try
to buy a camera that uses universal types
of batteries such as AA's. I use a camera
that takes AA's and I have three sets
of rechargeable batteries so I can rotate
through them and never be caught short.
Total cost for three sets of batteries
is about $30, and they will last you several
years if you treat them right. If you
just buy regular AA batteries and shoot
a lot of images your battery cost might
triple that over a like period of time.
Edison did it and now we consider him
a genius. Experimentation is the name
of the game. Digital images cost you nothing
but time and a little battery life. Play
around and take lots of shots of things,
people, events, you name it. Look at magazines,
newspapers and notice what images look
cool to you. Try to take shots like that
yourself so you can see how it is done.
This will get you thinking about how to
make your everyday shots better. Look
for new and different ways to frame things,
take both a vertical and a horizontal
shot of the same thing and see how it
changes perspective. Get closer to your
subject, or get farther away to see which
looks better. Find something unique about
your subject and look for a way to exploit
that for a better image. Here is and example,
say for instance you have a great looking
car you want a picture of, well don't
stand across the street from it and zoom
in on the car, get right up close with
the sun behind you so the car is sparkling
shiny and fills the whole frame of the
image. Find it's best feature and center
that in the shot say the awesome lines
of front of the car or snazzy wheels.
Print something from your camera every
week to remind you of the beauty of everyday
things. Take shots all the time, pick
one and print it out and then put it in
front of you for a day or a week. Live
life as though you want beauty around
you all the time. If you are madly in
love then surround yourself with pictures
of that love. If you live in a beautiful
place then take pictures of it all the
time to make sure you never forget how
special it is to be there in your life.
Don't let those images hide away and not
be seen. Wallpaper on your computer can
be another place to put your weekly image,
change it regularly with images from your
family, work, life, hobby and you will
get more smiles and more joy out of your
camera than you know what to do with.
My current wallpaper takes me back to
a wonderful day on a mountain lake this
past summer paddling kayaks in the afternoon
breeze. What about yours?
| About The Author
Kevin Rockwell worked as a network
TV cameraman for 20 years shooting
news. Now a devoted fan of digital
photography and video he works to
gather information and news for
digital camera users. Free reports
->http://great-digital-cameras.com/gdcj.html
|
This article was posted on September
14, 2005
