May 22, 2005
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Buying a digital camera is just the first step. Learning to use it effectively is the hard part.
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Digital cameras: snap decisions
By MIKE MUSGROVE
The Washington Post
Used to be that the trusty old film camera got pulled out a few times a year — on vacations, birthdays and holidays.
But digital cameras are changing people’s habits. According to research firm InfoTrends, households with digital cameras take more than twice as many pictures as households without a digital
camera — 35 shots per month compared with 17.
Where every shot was a commitment in the film world, it costs nothing to push the shutter button on that digital camera, cell phone camera or other high-tech gadget. And, thanks to e-mail, it
costs nothing to share that photo with friends and family around the world.
"We’re getting to the point where photography itself is really starting to transform in people’s minds," said Christopher Chute, an analyst at IDC. Some digital photographers
in the 23-and-under set never print their pictures at all, he said.
As a result, people are shooting a lot of images that once went uncaptured, for better or worse — check out Fotolog, a site that lets people post their latest snaps for all the World Wide
Web to see. If the Internet really needed a repository of, say, 20,000 pictures of Converse sneakers, it now has one at this site.
"A lot of people start out taking the cliche pictures," said Adam Seifer, chief executive of Fotolog: "’Here’s my kid, here’s my dog, here’s my
house."’ But with the potential to take unlimited "free" shots, people usually start to get more adventurous, he said.
Seifer has taken a picture of every meal he has eaten for the past 2½ years. (Check out his eating habits at www.fotolog.net/cypher.)
For shots that you might actually want to keep, here are a few tips about how to get the most satisfaction out of the digital camera.
Mark Greenberg
A photojournalist whose work has appeared in magazines such as People and National Geographic.
Take advantage of the fact that digital means you don’t have to buy film. Just shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot. Don’t be afraid to push that shutter button, because every moment will
yield some different expression on your subject’s face.
It’s better to underexpose a shot than to overexpose a shot. Underexpose a shot and there’s a chance that you can pull out more detail with editing software on your computer. You
can sometimes pull such details out of a dark shot, but you can’t put such details into a shot that’s too light.
Protect the original file of your image — keep it in a safe place on your hard drive and make backups.
Derrick Story
Author of "Digital Photography Hacks" and "Digital Photography Pocket Guide" (both from O’Reilly Media).
Use your camera’s flash, even in shots taken outside in daylight. Your friends may thank you — this can help get rid of wrinkles and eye shadows in your shots. Just look for
"fill-flash" or "flash-on" in your camera’s menu of flash options.
Get a polarizing filter for outdoor shots to help reduce glare and get rid of unwanted reflections. Unfortunately, some digital cameras don’t accommodate such filters — but a pair
of good sunglasses can do the job, in a pinch. Just hold the glasses as close as possible to the camera lens and make sure the edges aren’t in the shot.
Don’t skimp on the memory cards. Digital cameras usually ship with memory cards that are too small for a user to fit many pictures onto. For a two-megapixel camera, consider getting a
128-megabyte card or larger. Go with 256MB cards for three-megapixel models, 512MBs for four-megapixel cameras and 1GB cards for five-megapixel cameras and up.
Nigel Aves
Freelance digital video producer.
Throw away the free software that came with the camera for editing those digital shots and buy a good photo editing package.
Use only your digital camera’s "optical zoom." Though some digital cameras attempt to create the same zoom-in effect with software, all that will do is make one heck of a
grainy shot. Turn off your camera’s "software zoom" if you can.
Alek Komarnitsky
Hobbyist.
When you are just about ready to take your picture — waiting for your kid to smile, for example — press the shutter release halfway to focus the shot. You have a much better chance
of getting the picture as the camera doesn’t have wait to focus.
Be sure to set the date and time correctly so you don’t find yourself later wondering, "Um, when did I shoot that picture?" Digital cameras can record this information as a
part of each photo’s digital file, but out of the box they’re unlikely to be set to today’s date. They can sometimes forget the correct date, too, so check every now and then.
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