TIPS TO PICTURE PERFECT DIGITAL PHOTOS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

This holiday season, you’ll have only one chance to capture each magic moment. It’s impossible to re-play the scene if you’re disappointed with your picture. That’s why it pays to be prepared and ready. Here are several tips from expert Rufina James to help you make sure your digital pictures turn out memorable:

Get The Lighting And White Balance Right. Lighting is much more important to digital cameras than to film cameras. If your digital camera has settings for different lighting conditions, such as daylight, cloudy, fluorescent, incandescent, make sure you use them—it can make or break your pictures. Never aim a digital camera at a light source (unless it’s a sunset or candles). Make sure that bright lamps, sunshine, glare, etc. are out of the frame.
Use a flash for indoor shots and dim outdoor lighting. If the flash is too bright, lower the intensity a couple of f-stops, or use a homemade diffuser by placing a one-ply tissue over the flash.

Be Sure To Get Close Enough. One of the biggest reasons digital pictures look bad is because they were taken from too far away. Avoid vast expanses of boring “dead” space (like the walls, ceiling, grass, pavement). Move in and get close to your subject. Fill the frame with the scene, the people, or the faces you want and leave the background out.

Reduce Red-Eye. It’s almost impossible to completely eliminate red eye with a pocket or compact digital camera. But it can be reduced by using the “Portrait” setting, turning up the house lights, and having the subject face the light while turning slightly away from the flash. If all else fails, use image-editing software to remove red-eye.

Compose Your Pictures. Before pressing the shutter, take a quick, objective look at the composition and background. If there’s clutter, distraction or a confusing subject, make changes before taking the picture.

Steady The Camera. Prevent “camera shake,” by using a wall, table or tripod to hold the camera steady, especially at night. And be sure to wait until the camera completes the shot before you put the camera down. It can take 5 seconds or longer if the light is low.

Be Prepared For Shutter Lag. Digital cameras are really small computers—they require time to capture the scene. Plan ahead when shooting people and especially children or your two-year-old’s smile could be a scowl by the time the shutter snaps. Anticipate the perfect moment and press the shutter just before it happens. It’s tough to do, but with practice, you get better at it.

Use High Resolution. High resolution and low compression produce smoother and more detailed images. For best results, get 3.2 MP or higher and use the highest resolution for important pictures you plan to print.

Have Battery Backups And Extra Storage On Hand. Running out of batteries or room on your storage card puts a quick end to your photo fun. Be prepared with spare batteries and another memory card so nothing puts a damper on your holiday memories.

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Cell phones boost digital photography's image.

Digital cameras are getting an image boost from an unlikely source: cell phone cameras.

Interest in digital cameras is going up in direct relation to the growth in sales of cell phones that also take pictures, a new survey by technology market analyst IDC shows.

The Mobile Imaging Survey, made public this week, shows that well over a quarter of camera phone users were inclined to buy a digital camera because their experience with the camera phone made them less intimidated by digital photography.

The findings refute earlier speculation among market and industry analysts that camera phones eventually would replace digital cameras. Since the first camera phone appeared in late 2000, the image quality has improved, approaching that of some digital cameras.

Camera phone users like to snap pictures anywhere, anytime and send them immediately by e-mail.

Still, users prefer a digital camera for "keepsake" pictures, such as family portraits and vacation snapshots, IDC discovered.

Those keepsake images also are the pictures that camera phone users are most likely to save and print at home, the survey found. Consequently, fewer camera phone images are being printed, dropping to an average of one every three months now from one a month last year.

IDC's research appears to match, in part, studies cited earlier this year by Eastman Kodak Co. on camera phone habits. The company discovered that more than 70 percent of camera phone users rarely move images into a computer for archiving or printing later.

Camera phones outsell digital cameras about four to one, but they aren't the source of most digital images. About 7.5 billion images will be taken with camera phones this year, compared with an estimated 40 billion from digital cameras, IDC said.

The survey analyzed responses from 150 people nationwide, mostly 25- to 44-year-olds; it was weighted to reflect the nation as a whole.

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Ten Tips for Better Flower Photographs

1. BE SELECTIVE. At a flower show , there is an enormous number of beautiful flowers. Don’t rush to photograph the first blossom you see. Find a plant with the best combination of form, color, lighting and background.
   
2. ISOLATION. For impact, isolate your subject. Find a camera angle that minimizes distracting elements, such as other flowers or spectators. Take the time to try low angles, high angles, or moving to the right or left. A wide lens aperture ( a lower-numbered f-stop on and SLR camera) will enhance this effect by softening the background.
   
3. COMPOSITION. Pay attention to the position of your subject in the viewfinder. Putting the subject in the dead-center of the picture is often the first instinct, but is not always the most aesthetic composition. Concentrate on what you see in the viewfinder, and recompose the picture until it looks the best to you. And don’t forget to try vertical framing, as well as horizontal.
   
4. TRIPOD. Because the light in parts of the Conventions Center (or building) is varied, you may be forced to use slow shutter speeds. In this situation, hand-holding your camera might result in vibrations and unsharp pictures. Use a tripod to steady your camera if it has a tripod screw-socket. If you don’t ( or can’t) use a tripod, try to steady your camera in other ways- nestle it on a bean bag or your coat; brace the camera against a wall; or at the very least, take a firm stance while shooting, with your legs slightly apart and your elbows braced. When using and SLR camera on a tripod, cable a release can significantly reduce unwanted vibrations.
5. PATIENCE. When photographing flowers outdoors, be aware of small breezes that might set the flowers in motion. Likewise, breezes can be caused indoors by the opening of a door or the brisk movement of people. For sharp picture, you must be prepared to wait for all movement to cease before releasing the shutter.
   
6. ENVIRONMENT. Wonderful photographs can be created by showing the relationship of you subject to its environment. A simple way to achieve this is with a wide- angle lens on a SLR camera, or the wide mode on a dual-lens or zoom lens point-&-shoot camera. Position your subject as close as possible in the foreground.
   
7. EXTREME CLOSE-UPS. Flowers take on an entirely different look when viewed in extreme close-up. Use your viewfinder indicators to move in as close as possible, while still maintaining sharp focus. If you are using a 35mm SLR camera, your macro (close-up) capabilities can be extended with accessories such as a macro lens, a macro teleconverter, or even screw-on supplementary close-up lenses or extension tubes for your present lenses.
   
8. THE WHOLE PICTURE. Consider the whole plant when you photograph, and not just the colorful bloom. Examine the fascinating textures and geometries of leaves, seed pods and fallen petals.
   
9. EXPERIMENT! Don’t be afraid to shoot a few extra pictures. Try different angles and different lighting. Also depict your subject from several different viewpoints.
   
10. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. If your picture don’t convey what you saw in your mind’s eye, ask yourself: “What went wrong?” If you study your mistakes, you will be rewarded wit a greater number successful photographs on your next outing.

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Auto and manual focus modes in digital cameras

One of the important phases of shooting a good photo is focusing on the photo’s objects. Photos that are out of focus look bad and blurry. Sometimes shooting out of focus objects is done on purpose as an artistic effect but in most cases a sharp focused object is the photographer goal.
Most low-end pocket digital cameras do all the focus work for you. These are literally “point and shoot” cameras. Furthermore even if you wanted to manually focus using such cameras it would have been practically impossible since they do not include a real optical viewfinder. Using the LCD to check for focus is useless as the LCD is not good enough to truly let you know if an object is perfectly focused or not.
Digital SLR cameras on the other hand have an optical viewfinder that allows you to truly see the photo through the camera’s lens. With digital SLR cameras you can see how well the objects in the photo are focused and correct the focus as needed.
Digital cameras support at least three focus modes:

Manual focus: In this mode the camera does not automatically focus on the objects in the photo. You will have to manually set the focus as desired. This is accomplished by either pushing some buttons that in turn change the focus or more commonly by rotating a focus ring on the lens clockwise or counterclockwise as needed. You can see the results of changing the focus by looking through the viewfinder. When you are happy with the focus you can press the shutter button to take the photo. Single auto focus: In this mode the camera automatically focuses on the objects in the photo. The camera automatically focuses when you press the shutter button either all the way down to shoot a photo or half way down to lock the focus. In this mode the automatic focus process is carried out only once as soon as the shutter button is pressed. Once the focus is achieved it is locked and it is not changed until the next time the shutter button is pressed. If you keep the shutter button pressed half way down and then the camera moves or the object moves the focus might be lost. This mode is useful when shooting static objects. In most cases you will press the shutter button and hold it half way down. The camera will run the auto focus process. It will let you know when focus is achieved by displaying a green icon and by playing a short beep. Continuous auto focus: In this mode the camera continuously focuses on the objects in the photo. Once the shutter button is pressed and as long as it is held half way down the camera continuously focuses on the objects in the photo. In this mode the camera continuously corrects the focus as the objects distance from the camera changes. This mode is useful when you shoot photos of moving objects such as a race car during a race or airplanes during an air show. You can hold the shutter button half way down and continuously move the camera to follow the object. The camera will continuously keep the object in focus. When you are ready to shoot the photo simply press the shutter button all the way down. One drawback of this mode is high power consumption as the camera continuously corrects the focus it uses the power hungry motors in the lens in order to move the optical components. Like any other feature automatic and manual focus modes have their pros and cons. The first step to using them to your advantage is to understand how they work and what they were designed for. The next step is to experiment shoot photos using different focus modes and different types of objects and see how the camera behaves. Once you have done that you will be ready to instinctively use the best focus mode for each photo situation.

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Panasonic Digital Camera

Digital cameras are the craze in today’s world. Since its invention in recent times every one owns a digital camera. The price of a digital camera is also said to be less than professional cameras. The mechanism used in a digital camera is different from what is used in a SLR. The clarity might be less than a SLR but the features are same as compared to a professional camera. Panasonic digital cameras are made out of finest material available in the market. The clarity of these cameras is excellent and up to mark. They are crafted to give 100% results with good durability. They lasts long than other manufacturers, the software of a Panasonic digital camera is also different and easy to understand. These cameras help a lot in capturing precious moments of your life, printing these memories is also done easily.

Panasonic offers a good range of digital cameras where amateurs and professionals can take out their skill. The Panasonic Lumix DMC FS5 is one of the best cameras produced by Panasonic. It weighs only 119 grams only. It has a 10-mega pixel lens which captures high quality images. It also has a 4x optical zoom which gives cleared images. A 2.5-inch LCD screen is given for this camera. A wide-angle zoom feature is provided so that enlarging an image is possible. It supports external memory card so saving your memories is not a problem.

One more out the factory is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. It has a 10-x zoom which makes it most outstanding in the digital camera series. It has a 10-mega pixel lens also which is very clear and gives good clarity in images. It weighs 214 grams only which is normal according to a digital camera. It has a slot for external memory card. The zoom feature is excellent as it is very rare to find a 10-x zoom in a digital camera. The image-stabilizing feature takes care of shaky images. It can be turned on when you are about to click moving pictures.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC LZ10 is one more perfection of technology which can be added in the list. It has a 10.7 mega pixel lens where nature and friends or family images can be captured. The lens has got a 5x optical zoom, this type of clarity is good for a 10 mega pixel camera. It also has a 2.5-inch display on the camera where you can view your best flicks. It works on two AA external batteries. It comes with a basic memory of 20 MB but external memory can be attached to as it has a memory card slot. It only weighs 141 grams.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC FX500 EB-S is also recommended camera for beginners. It has a 10.7 mega pixel lens which has got a 5x optical zoom. This camera also has optical plus digital zoom. It only weighs 155 grams which makes a handy and easy to carry anywhere. It also has external and internal memory where you can insert your memory card inside the camera. There is a 3-inch screen given to view pictures. There is stock memory of 50 Mb provided so that you can start with your clicking photographs…see the complete article www.my-digital-camera.info/panasonic-digital-camera

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