Photography Digital Camera

If Only I Had A Better Camera

by Andrew Goodall

"If only I had a better camera, I could take great photos like these!" That is something I hear every day in my gallery, and I am sure many photographers hear the same thing. People walk around a display of professional photography, and think that it is the camera, not the photographer, who is responsible for the great photos.

Pride makes it hard to admit that we are just not very good at something. Photography is no exception: much easier to blame the camera. The trouble is, if we want to take better photos, will buying a better camera make that happen?

Of course not.

The truth is, you can take better photos no matter what sort of camera you have. Digital cameras have become so advanced that almost all cameras now have aperture and shutter speed settings, not to mention amazingly powerful optical zoom lenses. These are features that, until very recently, were only available on SLR cameras. So if you want to take better photos, the features are right there in front of you. All you have to do is take the time to learn how to use them.

To take better photos, start with the manual that came with your camera. It will tell you how to operate the major settings, although it may not be so good at explaining what they are for. Then find the information you need to understand how those settings will help you take better photos. There are courses, workshops, books and ebooks that will tell you what you need to know.

Make sure the course or ebook you choose is about how to take better photos. These days, a lot of the information out there is about fixing your photos on a computer, and not about taking better photos.

A lot of what you can learn has nothing to do with the camera. That's right; you can improve your photography without changing one thing about your camera. My experience in nature photography has taught me that the way you use the light to capture your subject makes a huge difference. The weather and the time of day can affect the light, so your timing and patience can be the difference between a snapshot and a great photo.

Developing a good eye for visual balance and composition is another aspect to taking better photos that has nothing to do with what sort of camera you have. You can go a long way towards better photography by learning to think like an artist, not like a tourist. A good guide to photography should teach you this important element of photography as well.

Here are a few simple examples. If you are photographing a waterfall, try looking at the scene creatively. Perhaps you can stand back and take a photo that follows the flow of water upstream, with the waterfall in the background. Or you could try looking through the branches of a tree, to frame the subject, rather than just snapping the first and most obvious angle.

When photographing people and animals, think about the best way to position them to make a stronger composition. Instead of putting them in the middle of the photo looking straight at the camera, try positioning them to one side, looking in towards the centre of the picture.

These are just a couple of simple ideas to get you thinking. The point is this: you can take great strides to becoming a better photographer by concentrating on the artistic aspects of the craft, rather than just the technical.

Of course, many things you can do with a compact camera, you can do even better if you have an SLR camera. However, buying a better camera is not going to help you take better photos if you just switch it to automatic and keep taking snapshots. So here's my tip. Buy the camera you can afford, then learn how to use it. It's as simple as that. No matter which camera you have, you can take better photos with a bit of knowledge, and a bit of practice. If you decide to upgrade later, so be it, but learning the basics of good photography will get you a lot further than succumbing to the "If only I had a better camera" mindset.

Now, if only I had better golf clubs...

Digital Photography Camera

Digital Photography Camera Requirements

by Jim Zurbrugg

If you are taking the plunge into digital photography, you are going to need a camera. Speed is the key consideration in choosing a digital camera. Because digital cameras need time to transfer the image to your storage media, it is an important issue. This is referred to as 'shutter lag' by the photography pros. With candid photography, a three-second shutter lag can mean the difference between taking a blah, ordinary photo, or capturing your child with the perfect grin.

Because digital cameras eat up a lot of batteries, you'll also want startup speed. If you are taking photos intermittently, you'll want to be able to turn off your camera to preserve battery life. Then you'll need it to start right up again when the perfect photography moment arises.

Autofocus is another speed requirement in digital photography. You don't want to wait for your autofocus to resolve your photo after you aim your camera, only to find that your target has wandered off!

Through the lens (TTL) composition is another consideration. TTL refers to the fact that some digital cameras require photographers to compose their photos on an image screen. To allow for the battery-sucking screen to be shut off most of the time, a digital camera with TTL has a viewfinder like a film camera.

You will want manual controls if you are the least bit interested in using digital photography to produce quality photos as a hobby. Someday you may want to compose a photo without using the presets built into your digital camera even if you do not know what those controls do.

Another important element of digital photography is megapixels. Generally, the more megapixels your digital camera can take, the larger your end photographs can be without distorting them. However, the more megapixels, the slower your camera responds. Even just three megapixels will produce large, quality photos.

Photography Camera

How To Click It Right With The Best Digital Photography Camera
by. Connie Fillmore

The digital photography camera has ushered in an absolute revolution in the world of photography. With its excess of futuristic features, the digital photography camera has also brought in considerable cost reduction of photography. No wonder, people are flocking to digital camera stores.

To elaborate, digital cameras make for easy storage and editing of pictures on the PC, you cut back on film costs with the reusable memory cards and innovative features like sound and video recording. Photography just had quite an interesting makeover.

Delving into the intricacies of the entire digital camera mechanism is worthwhile so that the salesman doesn't lead you up the garden path with tall claims. And being well up on the features of your digital camera will also give you food to brag.

The first thing to know about your digital camera is the kind of CCD (Charged Couple Device) you have. This fancy-sounding device is actually the be-all and end-all of your photography unit and the pixel count in them is what that determines how good your snap is going to be.

It is also vital to know what pixels count to opt for. Anything upwards of 3-Megapixels is good for prints of 8 x 10 inches or larger, of course, the more the merrier. But if your requirement is minute 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 photos for the Web, then 1 or 2-megapixel camera will suffice admirably. On the other hand, nothing less than 5-megapixels should be on your minds if you plan to have prints of your digital stuff.

The Zoom feature is closer to your digital camera than any other feature. Optical zoom refers to the camera's capacity to magnify a subject. This zooming in or zooming out takes place within the lens itself and it is visible from the lens advancing and retracting just like the conventional film camera. This is one feature, which is best when you have it in plenty.

There are many who would swoop on a digital camera lured by its pixel count and optical zoom capacities. But the power consumption of a camera is also worth taking a peek into, for there are cameras with voracious appetites for batteries and you could well end up spending a fortune on them. So when you are buying a digital camera, ensure that it works on rechargeable batteries. A charger included in the package is a great buying option.

Stacking up on the memory card is a good idea if you are the traveling kind. A CompactFlash memory card, offering a lot of storage sizes ranging from 16MB to 1GB and greater compatibility with a large number of makes, is definitely a popular choice.

LCD monitors come in a variety of sizes and resolutions, besides the captivating ones that bend and twist at impossible angles. What you will go for of course depends on the kind of work you will be doing with the camera. If you are involved in on-site architectural work and it is shooting around angles that you are aiming at, then a moveable LCD is the one to go for. But the primary thing to take care of is that you don't have to peer too hard to make out what is on the screen.

These are the basic things that you look out for when purchasing a digital photography camera. Things when gone awry will virtually render your camera quite inefficient. There are certain other features of a digital photography camera that when present in the right dosage, make for some excellent photography sessions.

Scene modes, for instance. Having a choice helps, especially when you have not yet familiarized yourself with the intricacies of exposure, focus and shutter speeds.

A Red-eye reduction feature is quite a handy mechanism to have around when you shoot a lot of portraits. If red-eye is much of a bother, then opt for a camera with a hot-shoe connection, that is one that facilitates the installation of an external flash. A flash that is away from the lens reduces the incidence of red-eyes.

Be well up on the internal mechanism of a digital photography camera and enjoy your tryst with it.

Connie Fillmore is a successful writer and publisher of photography related issues, for more informative articles go to www.digitalphotographyguy.com

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Summary : The basic things that you look out for when purchasing a digital photography camera. There are certain features of a digital photography camera that when present in the right dosage, make for some excellent photography sessions.