The term pixels in digital photography simply comes from the words ‘picture elements’. Simply put, a pixel is the smallest aspect of a digital image, and each pixel has a certain brightness level and a certain color which is linked to the information that is collected by the camera’s image sensor. A colored photo that we see is a result of millions of pixels gathered together in an organized manner similar to a stitched tapestry which produces a picture with larger basic elements.

It follows that if a picture has a greater number of pixels, then you will have a better quality picture. It is particularly important to have a larger number of pixels if you are wanting to produce an enlargement. As you can imagine, the larger the picture, the further apart the pixels or dots will be. Generally speaking, when we speak of a higher resolution, we are saying that there are more pixels contained in the picture.

On the other hand, the term compression in digital photography refers to the fact that in most cases (except for RAW images) the digital camera compresses files by default so that it is possible to store more images in the camera’s memory. For instance, in the case of a JPEG image, the camera takes blocks of picture image, removing unnecessary information and retaining what is essential so that the picture can be reconstructed. So how much compression you select, has a big bearing on your picture quality. For instance, a low compression setting on your camera will give you better results than if you chose a high compression setting on your digital camera.

As always, I suggest that you experiment with these settings to educate yourself in regard to obtaining the best quality digital photos that you can from your particular camera.

To all budding digital photographers, I offer you one extremely basic tip which will save you being one of the many who have spoilt photos because they haven’t observed the following:

When taking a digital photo… SQUEEZE the shutter release, don’t jab it. It is especially important when shooting without flash in lower light situations because your camera shutter speed it slower and any camera movement will cause smearing of the image. You can imagine that if you were to jab the shutter release, you move your camera and voila; a disappointing digital image.

Wishing all readers a happy and safe holiday season, and as always, experiment with your digital camera as experience is a wonderful teacher.

Well, the other day, I heard of a really nifty and inexpensive gadget, a clip-on flash diffuser. How does it work, you may ask? If you have a camera which has a pop-up flash mounted on the top, then this little number will clip in front of it and produce a softer lighting effect for those important portrait snaps.

Should you be the proud owner of an SLR with an attachable flash gun, you may be aware of a similar clip-on flash diffuser device to suit your particular gun. They are quick to clip on and improve the lighting noticeably.

The only down side is that flash range may be significantly reduced, so they are only suitable for closer work.
Where might you obtain one of these wonderful clip-on flash diffusers, you may ask? Basically, any of the better camera stores or outlets catering for enthusiasts should stock a range of them or be able to order them in for your particular flash gun.

As always, enjoy this wonderful hobby of digital photography and never be afraid to experiment a little. Any mistakes we make will show us what not to do. Anyway, I mentioned this interesting device to you as it is a great little extra for your digital photography kit.

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Have you ever wondered how to best use your digital camera when photographing some of yours or a friend’s art work. Well, the following outlines a few helpful tips which, if applied will result in greater success with these specialized digital photos.

1. Keeping the camera steady is a must, so a tripod is of great value.

2. If you choose to photograph outdoors, then use natural light and choose a day which is both light and
cloudy.

3. Never use open shade where the item is lit by blue sky as the colour balance will be out.

4. Position the camera so that it is right opposite the centre of the art work, and make sure that the camera back is parallel to the angle of the camera. In other words, the painting and the camera are tilted at exactly the same angle.

5. Use the lowest ISO setting. For example you could use an ISO setting of 50 or 100 depending on your camera.

6.Some people feel that a polarizing filter is useful. It is best to experiment on this one.

7. For best results, always use RAW image capture. You can later convert this to a different, say TIF file.

8. Since your art work is only 2D you can leave your camera settings on automatic.

9. Earlier, I mentioned using a tripod for added stability. You could ensure movement was minimized even more when in natural lighting conditions by using a remote release or a self-timer.

Great digital photos for your art work will mean you can diversify what you do with your painting. Images may be sold, given as prints or you might become creative by developing your own cards or calendars. Whatever the reason, it is worthwhile knowing these fews digital photography tips, as the presentation of your work will look quite professional.

As always, enjoy this wonderful hobby/career and don’t be afraid to venture out and experiment in various ways as this in itself is such a great teacher.

It is fairly common these days to present photos in sepia form in order to create an antique look and feel. For instance, selected wedding photos are digitally given a sepia tint and placed in a setting of older farm buildings or scenes contrasting with the fresh newness of bride and groom. Many people these days are interested in genealogy and copy photos of ancestors. These are quite often in faded black and white, so it is an enhancement to digitally select sepia after one has scanned and downloaded to their computer.
Another creative presentation in the digital realm is to select sepia for instance, a photograph of a child and then to add on a color item, say a flower on a hat, a ribbon or toy.. looks inventive and very impressive! Or, alternatively, you may have a scene which you wish to make look more dramatic. You could choose to change it to sepia and then add to the contrast, thereby creating the desired effect.

Most digital cameras these days have a built in setting which allows you to select a digital function. However, it is often easier to down-load to your computer and digitally create this effect with a fairly easy to use editing program. One such program which we enjoy using is Picasa, provided by Google. If you choose to change an image to sepia, you simply need to double click on the image to bring it into edit mode (this function is also available at the top bar of the program) and then after this, simply click on the effects tab and then the sepia icon. Sometimes it helps to sharpen the photo a little after which, voila, you have created the desired effect. Such is the beauty of digital photography and digital editing programs which all computer users have access to. As always, experiment and enjoy this wonderful hobby!

Taken in beautiful Bright at a friend's home using a Pentax K10

Personally, I love using a digital SLR as it just enables those few extra options which enhance the subject and add to the fact that digitial photography is such a wonderful hobby. The setting used in this photograph was using moderate aperture which in turn creates a shallow depth of field and an out of focus effect in the foreground and background. Experiment yourself using the different settings mentioned in the last post, and you create a great professional looking digital photograph.

If you’re feeling creative, then you can experiment and try some special effects. Most people are aware that this can be done quite easily within a wide range of editing software. As well, there is generally an option to create these different effects on your camera, in particular with digital SLR’s . You can select a mode for black and white or sepia or even for special filter effects. For instance, you can have color-toned pictures in green, yellow, purple or red. One tip is to take the photo you want as is, and then one of the filtered shots as one can’t re-create the original picture once the color information has been removed. This is how the effects work on a digital camera. All the color information from the photo is removed and you’re left with the color effect that you wanted.

In the days of 35mm cameras, the keen photographer would use filters. Today, this is all built-in to your digital camera or you can be very inventive with your editing software program.

As always, I suggest that you experiment with your digital camera. There is definitely no better teacher than failure and success. In the meanwhile just enjoy!

Well, for most who just want to ’snap’ a photo with their digital camera will often choose the Auto setting. The only changes that you would make if you choose this setting would be exposure levels, flash mode, self-timer, close-up and digital zoom, or image resolution. For instance, if you wanted enough quality for some form of presentation, then you would choose 300 dpi resolution ( dpi stands for dots per inch). Digital photography gives you all of these options to have the opportunity to produce the best photo for the purpose for which you need to use it.

If you have an SLR digital camera then you can have the ability to control more of the settings on your camera.
The following shows some of these various modes:
*Aperure priority mode (A) This allows you to manually set the aperture priority while your digital camera changes the setting depending on the lighting and preset sensitivity. By the way, it is interesting to note that aperture priority is often used for portraits as it allows you to cause your subject to be really noticeable without having a distracting background.

* Shutter priority mode (S or TV). This is when you set the shutter speed and your camera decides the lens aperture to match it. This is very handy if you want to take action shots and want to create a blurred background.

* Manual mode (M). This gives you full control over both aperture and shutter speed and possibly manual focus. If you use this, then you want full control over depth of field, exposure levels and focusing.

This is a general outline to show you some of the options you have to enhance the digital photos that you take. As always, I suggest that experimentation is a great teacher. Allow yourself experimentation time and you will really produce some great photos. Good luck!

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You’ve just managed to take this great shot with your digital camera, but alas when printed the faces come up with that annoying red-eye. After all, doesn’t digital photography provide red-eye reduction? Well, yes, but it is just that red-eye REDUCTION and under certain conditions red-eye will be evident in the best framed photo. Red-eye occurs because the light emitted from the flash (which is close to the camera lens) passes through the wide-open pupil of the eye, and illuminates the red color retina at the back of the eye. A couple of ways of avoiding this are:

1. Use a the pre-flash function on the camera (red-eye reduction). This has the effect of reducing the pupil size if the subject is less than two metres away.

2. Don’t photograph blue-eyed blondes (they tend to have larger pupils in low light situations than brown-eyed people. (use of a photo editor would actually be a wiser choice here)

3. Change the image to black and white or sepia.

4. Use a photo editor to fix the problem. Special dye pens remove red-eye from photographic prints.

By the way, there was no such problem when flash guns were attached to a camera, and were too far away from the camera lens to illuminate the retina of the eye.

Many imaging programs, including those in photographic stores have features that enable you to edit out the red-eye and replacing it with black.

Continue to have a great time enjoying your digital photography. The best teacher is experimenting yourself, remembering what features you used, and making note of the effect and presentation of your final photo.
Until next time, Cheers, Deb.

An optical viewfinder was always used by film cameras, and is a wonderful added option for digital cameras. I find it particularly handy when trying to photograph on a very sunny day as it enables you to see more clearly than it would with bright sunlight obscuring what you’re viewing on the back screen. On a digital camera, other than SLR’s, the optical viewfinder is completely seperate from the camera’s lens. It is used to frame the picture you intend to shoot, but has a couple of effects that the keen photographer needs to be aware of. One is that as a result of the physical seperation between the viewfinder lens and the camera lens, the image does not exactly match up. The technical name for it is “parallax phenomenon”. It is much more evident when taking close up shots. If you are aware of this, then you can make the adjustment to compensate for this error. The second issue to be aware of is that the optical viewfinder sees about 80% of what the camera lens sees and as a result you will often find that unwanted and unattractive content around the borders. Once again, awareness of this enables you to realize that a small amount of cropping may be necessary. This camera knowledge helps optimize your chances for really great photos. Good luck!