Get
The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Today!
by: Kevin
Rockwell
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
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