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Cliff's Corner 1 -
For some of my favorite photos
and tips, visit
Cliff's Corner 2
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 Improve
Your Photography
-
Photographs preserve
memories of good times and special occasions, all of which happen only
once. With a little effort, you can dramatically improve your skills and
the quality of your pictures so that your photo collection becomes
extra-special. It's
certainly worth the effort. Photography has been my
favorite hobby since
the early '60s. It's fun
and has been very rewarding. In 2004, I made the switch to digital,
mainly for the ability to edit
and print for the exact results I want.
This is the greatest benefit of digital photography.
Don't miss out on it!
 Five Basic Tips -
1) Most cameras have useful and nice features that
you'll never know about unless you read the manual. So read it front to
back. Surprisingly, most
people don't do this. 2) From your local bookstore,
buy a book about basic digital photography. You will learn some great
techniques, such as
composition
to frame and balance each scene for
better results. 3) Don't just point and shoot. Think about each
shot and make it count. 4) Use photo editing software
to improve and organize your photos. 5) Back up your photos to CD or DVD
so you don't lose them if your hard drive fails.
Editing and Managing Photos -
In the days of film, people took far fewer photos, as
there were only 24 or 36 shots on a roll. Plus film was expensive to
buy, process and print. The smart hobbyist tossed the bad prints and put
the good ones into photo albums for easy chronological viewing. With
digital you don't have these
 limitations or costs. So everybody just
shoots away, resulting in hundreds or thousands of photos in a very
short time. This makes organizing a nightmare. But it doesn't have to be
that way. Where to start? 1) Use a good photo software program.
This will make editing a breeze and allow
you
view your photos
in an album format, a very convenient feature. I
use ACDSee
which has a clean interface and excellent editing features, but the free
Google Picasa
is very good and has most of what you need. 2) Learn
how to crop, straighten, fix redeye and enhance your photos. This will
make the difference between having average or excellent photos in your
collection. 3) When first viewing your photos, just keep the best few of
each event and delete the rest. For example, you might take 50 photos of
a birthday party and cull this down to 10-15. This is a great start
toward photo management. When people visit PhotoPages or
view my photo albums, they often comment that
I take such good pictures. That's when I tell them that the secret to being a good photographer is knowing
which pictures to throw away!
Buying a Camera -
I own three digital cameras. My Nikon DSLR is my primary
camera, but I often switch to my lighter Nikon super-zoom or
carry my sub-compact Sony
on my belt
when it is more convenient. It is really a
 good idea
to have two cameras: 1) Your primary camera should be at least a mid-size with powerful flash and
a long zoom. 2) A smaller sub-compact camera
with a belt case, or for your purse, is a great second camera for when
you don't want to lug a larger camera around. The flash is too weak for
this to be your primary camera. For the serious hobbyist, an affordable entry level
Digital SLR (DSLR) camera is the way to go,
but they are not for point and shooters. They are larger, heavier and
loaded with features that can overwhelm you. If you go this route, pick
up a basic DSLR book at your local book store. Whichever camera you buy,
learn how to use it by reading the manual front-to-back. Otherwise,
you're shooting in the dark!
Converting Prints & Movies -
Use a
scanner to transfer old photo prints to your PC to preserve them and
share with others (yourself growing up, your parents, etc).
Click here to learn how. Some photo
shops
can convert
 your slides, photos and
8mm or VHS movies to digital CD or DVD format. I recently had all of my
slides and movies transferred to DVDs for easy viewing on a TV or
computer.
Sharing Photos
-
As you
already know, it's not convenient to share photos stored in your PC. I
suggest doing it the old fashioned way and keeping your selected best
pictures in photo albums. Albums are a visual history of your family,
friends and vacations. Plus it's easy to pass them on to your children.
Posting photos online is a great way to share the very best of your
pictures: 1) You can post a limited number of photos
an online
service
like
Microsoft Skydrive. 2) You can get a free web space from your internet
service provider, again with limited space. 3) For about $5 a month, you
can host a web site like PhotoPages with enough
space to allow your
online album to grow virtually forever (PhotoPages
has over 400 pages and 2000+ photos). Some even provide free site building software.
Just do a web search for "personal web hosts" to find one that suits
you.
Safeguarding Photos -
I cannot
stress enough the importance of backing up your digital photos to CD or
DVD.
 A friend recently lost all of his digital photos, five years worth,
when his hard drive crashed. Every single photo lost forever! Don't make
this mistake.
Click here for some good photo
tips and learn how to back up to DVD or CD. I recommend using a DVD
writer (about $50) as a DVD holds seven times more data than a CD.
In Closing -
Remember that when it comes to photography, a little effort goes a long
way and you will be nicely rewarded as your photo collection grows. For
more than forty years, photography has given me much pleasure, with the
added benefit of recording many very special moments of my life. And
PhotoPages gives me an easy way to share my photos with family and
friends.
A Little Humor -
This 'Pearls Before Swine' strip sums it all up
for most casual photographers!
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protect yourself from
today's serious PC security threats, visit
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