Landscapes and outdoors - Andrew Brown Photography

Some stunning views.



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Kodak says camera sensor may eliminate flash

By Franklin Paul NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eastman Kodak Co. (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it has developed digital camera technology that nearly eliminates the need for flash photography, part of the company's effort to make money...



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Boris Krylov's Nature and Macro Photography

Interesting photography!



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Do you Love Photography? This community will help you love it more!

A new, and more useful approach to sharing photography. Discover new exciting shooting locations, and share yours with others.



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PHOTOGRAPHY - How It Works - Zoom Lenses

Good basic lesson on how camera zoom lenses operate.



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Wedding Photography Advice, how to find your wedding photographer

What are the things that are important when looking for a photographer for your wedding. This article covers the questions that you need to ask before you book a photographer for your wedding. If it's a high profile celebrity wedding or a small gathering of friends and family, the photographs are the things that you will have to remember the day.



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Kodak: Reinventing digital cameras?

Kodak's new image sensor technology may be poised to change the world of digital photography, too bad it's a couple years away from production.



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Photography Tips and Tutorials [Videos]

A video collection of very good photography lessons and tutorials. Watch on the web or on your mobile phone. Video channel by HooQs.



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Online photography classes: Pros and Cons

Online education is a very controversial issue. There are strong supporters of this rapidly developing trend, but there are people who still refuse to acknowledge these new methods of education.



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Ultimate Guide To Getting Started in DSLR Photogpraphy - Getting Equipped

The ultimate guide continues with a list of recommendations of all the equipment you'll need to get started in DSLR photography on a budget. Great recommendations on cameras, lenses and everything else you need. If you are interested in digital SLR photography, you gotta read this one.



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Photography Enhancement 1

I am going to show you how to create a professional quality photograph, from your every day picture.



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Sony DSLR sensors monopoly fell

Pentax will use sensors from the other manufacturer for thir new cameras



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Flash Tips for Point And Shoot Camera Owners

Most photography enthusiasts are getting into D-SLR cameras, in other words really expensive ones. But the rest of us still dealing with point and shoot cameras, those great single piece of equipments that gives us the opportunity of taking great photos to keep our memories for as long as humanly possible. While point and shoot seems [...]



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How to edit digital images in order to impress a girl

Here's a quick instructable on how to impress a girl, with a simple digital camera hack (if you can call it that)...



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Free Digital Stock Art Photographs To Download Or To Be Framed

The title says it all...check this site out...it is worth the time.



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Portrait retouch challenge

DigitalDilemmas.blogspot.com has passed a challenge from the DPReview Photography site onto it's readers, asking the posters to try their hand at retouching a simple portrait. The original image by DPReview member Mr. Eamon Hickey has been given new life! Follow the link to the DPReview site and give it a try.



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What to get after buying a digital SLR

A nice brief commentary on useful add-ons to a digital SLR. The comment about the 50 mm prime lens is spot-on.



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Get your photos turned into canvas art

Canvas On Demand transforms your pictures, digital photo enlargements, traditional photo enlargements, family portraits, senior portraits and pet portraits into beautiful giclee style canvas prints. A photo on canvas makes for a unique gift for any occasion.



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Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) Secure Digital Cards ( SD )

Secure Digital cards are solid-state devices designed with flash technology, a non-volatile storage solution that does not lose its information when power is removed from the card.



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PhotoShop Upgrades - Unprecedented New Features

They are even expanding into the 3D market among many other new enhancements



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Purchasing A Digital Camera

The term "Digital Photography" can be used to cover both still and video photography, when purchasing either of these technologies the same criteria can be used to make sure that you acquire the correct piece of equipment for your needs.

There are many things to consider when buying either a digital camera. The first thing to do is to figure out what your budget is. Camera prices range from a few pounds for low-end models to thousands for the high-end models for professional use. Decide how much money you would like to spend and what the usage of the camera will be. Try to answer questions such as: Are you going to take family photos, shoot landscape photos, travel a lot with the camera, use a lot of flash photography, Speed of aperture for the faster action shot is also important with the stills camera. The same applies for camcorders, are you looking for camcorder to work in bright sunny conditions or darker cloudy conditions such as using on a skiing trip

Once you have decided on the budget and the usage look for potential cameras. If you have decided to look for your camera on the web you may want to make use of a more specific search engine phrase such as" Sony digital camera" or "digital photo printing services", in doing this your results are going to be highly targeted to your particular digital camera needs.

If you create a table you can list the cost and features of each of the different types of camera or camcorder, this will help you to narrow down your search for the correct camera to fit your needs.

The features you should be looking to add to your list should be the following:

New cameras are packed with an ever increasing number of mega pixels. Is more mega pixels better? A quick answer would be yes - but a better answer would be "it really depends". More mega pixels are important if you are going to print photos (especially enlargements) or if you are going to zoom in and crop fine details out of big photos. If you plan to watch your photos on your computer screen and maybe just print a few 4X6 prints every now and then than 2 mega pixels is more than enough (yes… just 2). Most screen resolutions are about 1024X768 so even when viewing the photo in full screen mode you can only view 1024X768 which is less than 1 mega pixels. A 2 mega pixels, 4X6 photo print will have a DPI higher than 300 which is more than enough for a high quality print.
If you plan to print photo enlargements then a rule of thumb is to be able to print at least 300DPI resolution. The following is a table for different print sizes and the mega pixels needed for such print quality:

page 4X6 2MP
page 5X7 3MP
page 8X10 7MP
page 11X14 14MP
page 16X20 28MP
page 20X30 54MP

Unless you budget is infinite when you buy a camera with more mega pixels you make a compromise between mega pixels and other features. For example is it better to spend money on more mega pixels or on better lenses? Or maybe on an external flash? It all depends on how you will use your camera. Evaluate your usage and decide what is more important to you.

In some situations it is very useful to have a good zoom capability. For example when you take a portrait photo you want to make sure the object's face fills the photo frame while when you take a group photo you want to make sure everybody is in the photo frame.

Some manufacturers state the camera's zoom figure without specifying if it is optical or digital. Optical zoom works by physically moving the camera's lenses and changing the focal length. By changing the focal length you can make objects appear bigger and fit the full photo frame. Digital zoom works by applying built-in software in the camera to define a portion of the photo which you are interested in. Once chosen the software crops the rest of the photo and enlarges the area you chose to fit the complete photo frame. The downside of this digital process is that the enlarged photo quality is lower than the original photo's. The conclusion is that optical zoom is superior to digital zoom so when you compare different camera's zoom always compare their optical zoom capabilities. You can totally ignore the digital zoom figures.

With ever growing storage capacities digital cameras today can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always have a few more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that a digital camera has practically infinite capacity. You can shoot as many photos as you want and at the end of the day just dump them on your computer disk. There is no time lost changing film and there are no photo opportunities lost due to lack of film or reserving film for later.

Advances such as the internet can make us neglect the many different digital photography resources that are currently freely available to us such as the town book shop or town library which can often be an obvious place to obtain guidance about digital camera products, you should certainly make use of these kinds of havens of great digital camera data as suitable digital camera product information may very often be hard to find.


By: peterrscott

Seven Common Mistakes When Taking Digital Photos

You have probably taken photos before just to find out later that they did not come out as expected. Although digital cameras are getting smarter there are still a lot of decisions that the photographer has to make. There are also many mistakes that the photographer can make. Here are seven common ones.

Many mistakes can ruin a photo. Here is a list of seven common ones. The first step to avoid these is to understand what they are and why they ruin a photo. The second step is to be aware of them when shooting your photos.

Out of focus: An out of focus photo looks blurry and has low contrast. Usually such a photo is useless and can not be corrected. Most digital cameras can automatically set the focus for you and in most cases they choose the right focus for the scene. Some scenes however are harder to focus on and can fool the camera’s auto focus mechanism. If you are using an SLR camera you can make sure that the objects are in focus by looking through the viewfinder. Most cameras sound a short beep when the focus is locked and also display a green rectangle around the area that they focused on. Always make sure that this area is where the objects that you care about are. For example if there are two objects in the scene in different distances from the camera make sure that the camera focused on the object you want.

Blurry photos: Blurry photos are most likely the result of camera shakes. Learn how to hold your camera to minimize shaking: it should be held firmly with two hands and it should “touch” your face. If you are shooting photos using slow shutter speeds you should use a sturdy tripod to prevent shaking. If you can not guarantee that the camera will be stable – for example if you are shooting while you’re moving – set the camera to shutter priority and choose a fast shutter speed (assuming of course that the light conditions allow such setting) – for example setting the shutter speed to anything faster than 1/250 of a second will most likely guarantee a non blurry photo even if the camera shakes a bit.

Underexposed: Photos that are underexposed look dark and lack details. The reason for underexposed photos is setting the exposure too low. Although the camera can measure ambient light and make the exposure decisions for you it can be confused by more complicated scenes. For example if there is a very bright light source in the photo it can confuse the camera to believe that there is enough light in the scene for a low exposure setting. The result will be a photo that captures the bright area but darkens all the others. Usually you can assume that scenes that have extreme lighting gaps between different areas confuse the camera – for example if a quarter of the photo is very bright and the rest is very dark the camera is likely to set the wrong exposure. In such cases you can manually correct the exposure.

Overexposed: Photos that are overexposed have blown out areas and sometimes are completely saturated and white. The reasons for overexposed photos are similar to underexposed ones. The camera makes an exposure decision that is incorrect due to complicated scene conditions. In such scenes you can manually correct the exposure.

Shaded objects: A good example of shaded objects is when taking a portrait photo in daylight. The camera measures enough ambient light to set a low exposure value. Although there is enough ambient light shades can appear on the object depending on the angle of the light source relative to the object. For example if the object’s face is lit from the side the object’s nose can create shades. Or maybe if the object is wearing a hat and is lit from above the hat can create shades on the object’s face. The camera can not automatically correct such shades. By understanding what causes shades you can easily eliminate them by turning on the fill-in flash. Firing the fill-in flash (make sure that the object is within flash range) will remove the shades from the object.

Red eye: This is a very common phenomenon. When taking photos of people or animals using a flash in a dark environment the eyes have some red glow in them. There are a few things that you can do to prevent red-eyes: some cameras support a “red eye reduction” mode. In that mode the camera fires the flash a few times before taking the photo. Although this can help reducing red-eye it can also result in photos of people with their eyes closed (as they are blinded by the pre-flash their reflex is to close their eyes). Other ways to prevent red-eye is to use bounce flash (you can do that with special equipment or for example by pointing the flash to a white wall) and using more ambient light if possible (for example by turning on all the lights in the room). Some cameras include built-in image processing software that automatically removes red-eye from the photos or alternatively you can use many software packages on your home computer to accomplish the same.

Dark Silhouettes: When taking photos with a bright light source behind the object (for example when the sun is behind the object) the result will be a silhouette of the object. One example is taking a photo of someone on the beach against a sunset. The result will be a dark silhouette of the person with a good photo of the sunset background. This problem can be solved using a fill-in flash. The fill-in flash lights the object making sure that it is captured with all its details. Simply remember to use a fill-in flash when taking pictures of objects with a bright light source behind them. One limitation is that the objects must be within the flash range – otherwise the flash is useless and they will appear as silhouettes in the photo.


By: ziv haparnas

5 Ways To Earn Money With Digital Cameras & Photo Printers

When it comes to the internet and the advancements of modern technology, the revenue generating options are truly unlimited. One way that many people are finding great success as entrepreneurs is through the use of their digital cameras and photo printers. Whether you use your digital knowledge to enter photo contests using images taken with your digital camera or choose to start an online auction business, the use of a both camera and photo printer are essential.

With entrepreneurship in mind, the following five tips may help to get you started on the road to success using nothing more than your digital camera and photo printer.

• Start an eBay business and use your digital camera to take pictures for inclusion in your auctions. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much money will it be worth for your auction? After all, would you buy something without seeing it?
  
  
• Become an amateur photographer using your digital camera and print out the images using a realistic photo printer, which can use either black or color ink.
  
  
• Create personalized calendars by taking a photo with your digital camera, incorporating it into a calendar creation program and print them out using a photo printer. These are extremely popular at craft shows and flea markets.
  
  
• Take photos using your digital camera and incorporate them into a program that manipulates photos. You can even take two photos and merge them together. For instance, take a photo of two sunflowers and another of your two best friends. Download the images from your digital camera onto the computer and manipulate them so that the faces of your two best friends are inside of the sunflowers. Print this photo using your photo printer and use it as an example of your new digital imagery business. These, too, are extremely popular at craft shows.
  
  
• Using nothing more than a digital camera and quality photo printer, you can work in the publishing industry. Several years ago, a national magazine cover featuring a well-known celebrity was created with nothing more than a personal photo printer. The magazine office was unable to make an e-mailed image work, so they enlisted the help of a writer who enlarged the photo and printed it out using a color photo printer. The print was then mailed to the magazine’s office, who then used the image as their full-color cover picture.
  

When purchasing any type of electronics, including digital cameras and photo printers, always pay close attention to the warranty and make sure that you are buying a quality name in technology. Depending on your intended use, you may want to select a digital camera with a high pixel count and a photo printer capable of producing high DPI (dots per inch) images. Both will allow for better quality and more realistic photo creations.

By Dennis Conner

Macro Photography

Exploring the world of miniature objects with a macro lens is a special and exciting area of photography, and once you start, you will quickly become addicted. The world of macro photography holds many delights and is an area that cannot be appreciated with the human eye.

Macro photography is the name given to close-up photography, and is best explained as images that are taken at reproduction ratios of life-size and above. Ratios of between 1:7 and 1:1 fall into the macro photography category.

Understanding Ratios: This is a term used to express the magnification of a macro lens or other macro equipment that relates the real life-size object to the reproduction size on a slide or negative. If you shoot an object that is 3cm in length and it measures 1.5cm on a 35mm slide or negative - the ratio is 1:2. When both are equal length the ratio is 1:1

Choosing the right lens is the most important factor with macro photography. While a telephoto lens may be acceptable with some types of close-up photography, the macro lens is invaluable to get really close and really accurate focusing.

There is an endless range of subjects that fall under the range of macro photography. The most common subject for macro photography is the natural world - all types of flowers, plants, and insects. For the more creative photographer, macro photography is used in abstract imagery.

With many forms of macro photography, especially with insects, a lens with a long focal lens - minimum 200 mm is required for some nature subjects. You need to keep a working distance from the subject to get a successful image - you don’t want to frighten your subject away.

When shooting close-ups you are limited with depth-of-field - to get an attractive image you must focus on the most important part of the subject. This will be achieved easier if you place your camera on a tripod or monopod.

By using your tripod you will reduce the risk of camera shake. Subject movement is also an important factor to consider. Macro photography magnifies the subject, leaving more room for blur. A strobe unit can be used to freeze movement - even on the brightest of days you should consider using your strobe unit. Try bouncing light from your strobe unit off a reflector. This will give your image a softer illumination.

Many amateur photographers stay away from macro photography because they feel that their technical ability is too inept - your personal ability should not turn you away from this exciting part of photography - macro photography is like all types of photography - practice makes perfect.


By TJ Tierney

Portrait Photography

Almost anyone that can point a camera and take a picture can take a portrait picture. There are a few things to learn about when it comes to this type of photography that will help you understand the basics of what makes a good portrait. In reality, you do not need a studio or some special equipment and technical resources to take an outstanding portrait photograph.

A portrait is taken to define the likeness of a person or people and even more so, it is a picture of someone’s face. However, in general the word has a deeper meaning when it is shown in a photo. Portrait photography is understood to be of good quality and not only does it capture a person’s physical look on film, but will also show a characteristic in the manner that is pleasant to the eye, attractive and a unique mannerism of the subject. A very well done portrait will at least contain one element that reveals what the subject’s personality and attitude or any other traits or features that is natural to the person.

One of the benefits of doing portrait photography is the conversation that will take place. It takes an understanding and skill of human nature to be able to take a good portrait. It will require engaging in a conversation with the subject you are working with, find a suitable topic that will spark and interest and a reaction. Common ground is a great way to start when building a rapport with the person, the more you know about the person you photograph, the easier it will be to take a great quality shot. It is important for the subject to be at ease with you so their natural characteristics will show through and appear natural on film.


By Albreht Moy

Digital photo prints like a pro

Paper considerations in digital photos. Looks like film will soon become extinct. With digital photography at everyone’s disposal, expect it to happen soon.

Using digital cameras have eliminated the need to use film in photo taking. Why many use digital is quite obvious. People can easily capture photos, save them and see the final results in seconds. Instantly, pictures can be shared to other computer users through the Internet.

Photos can be edited through some program in the computer. Minimizing and adding features in photos depending on what you like. In addition, the quality of printed digital photographs is unsurpassed. You can never get precision, vividness and life-like pictures anywhere than by using digital gadgetries. This you can achieve by having professional printers do the work for you.

But then a lot of computer users do not know that they can achieve professional-looking photo prints themselves in the comfort of their own home. By using quality color printer, this is very much possible.
Granted the you have the best photo printer available, but if you are printing them on regular paper, the result would not be near as good as a professionally done one.

If you are quality-conscious of how your photos will look like, consider four things when choosing paper suited for your digital photographs.

1. Paper whiteness. The whites the paper used, the livelier and more vibrant pictures will look. White paper generates sharp images and lively colors. This is a crucial element in producing high-quality photo prints.

2. Paper thickness. You need to know how to balance the paper you are using. Use one that you think is thick enough to make your pictures appear alive but is not very thick that you cannot feed it to your printer. Choose the one that is capable of these two considerations.

3. Paper exterior. Gloss and matte are two paper surfaces to choose from. Glossy paper produces great color but is susceptive to fingerprints. Matte paper gives less lively colors but is not sensitive to irregular handling.

4. Paper size. You can get the regular paper size you are used to when developing films.

When choosing the paper that will suit your photo prints perfectly, it is best to go with what printer manufacturers suggest. Many of them have already developed the kind of paper that is a perfect combination to the printer used.

Consider these things and you will have photo prints that look like they have come straight from a professional printer.

By Florie Lyn Masarate

News: Nikon launches its new smallest Digital SLR - Nikon D40X

Nikon’s smallest digital SLR combines a 10.2-megapixel CCD with a simple, intuitive operation designed to take great, high-resolution pictures for everyone.

TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the D40X, a new digital SLR incorporating a 10.2-megapixel CCD. The D40X is scheduled to launch worldwide at March 22, 2007 (TBD) and is a sister model to the D40, which has a 6.1-megapixel CCD.

While maintaining the compact size and portability of the D40 camera body, the D40X produces even more outstanding, detailed pictures thanks to its 10.2-megapixel CCD and cutting-edge digital technologies. Its resolution power makes it easy for users to print up to A3-size pictures or crop aggressively without losing any fine details. The D40X is loaded with everything you need for truly amazing images: a 10.2-megapixel CCD, Nikon’s exclusive 3D Color Matrix Metering II, an improved Image Processing Engine and superb Auto White Balance. Together with a world-famous Nikkor lens, these features combine to ensure perfect exposure, refined details and natural, vivid colors.

The D40X shares the D40’s ergonomic design and streamlined interface, which means the same intuitive operation that’s simple and fun – even for entry-level users. The bright and clear viewfinder ensures precise composition, while the 2.5-inch large LCD monitor utilizes an easy-to-use menu system and a wide viewing angle so that everyone can navigate their settings and view their images with ease. There is also a handy built-in Help menu: simply press a button and useful information on key features is displayed on the LCD monitor.

The D40X is fast. Its near-instant power-up (0.18 second) and fast, reliable responses help photographers act on the moment, while the continuous shooting mode lets photographers easily capture up to 100 JPEG images of action as fast as 3 frames per second. The camera’s razor-sharp autofocus ensures crisp images for a wide variety of photographic scenes.

Flash photography is simple with the D40X because the camera employs Nikon’s market-leading i-TTL flash control, which evaluates ideal flash exposure automatically and accurately, even in difficult lighting situations.

Eight Digital Vari-Program modes offer creative shooting options that are optimized for common shooting situations. Fun, fast and simple, they are as easy to use as rotating the mode dial. For further control over aperture and shutter speed, P/S/A/M modes are available.

Exclusive in-camera image editing features are available in the Retouch menu. One of the main features is Nikon’s exceptional D-lighting, which brings out details usually lost in underexposed areas of an image while retaining the proper exposure in brighter areas. Photographers can correct red-eye easily, or use Monochrome effects to change an image to Black-and-white or Sepia tone. Nikon’s bundled software, PictureProject, also allows users to edit images on a computer. PictureProject makes transferring, organizing and sharing images incredibly simple, while the optional Capture NX software offers even more creative control.

Some of the D40X’s major improvements include an even longer-lasting battery that allows up to 520* images per charge (470* images for the D40), faster continuous shooting at 3 frames per second (2.5 fps for the D40) and a wider ISO sensitivity of 100 to 1600, plus HI-1 (200 to 1600 plus HI-1 for the D40).
*CIPA standards, with Built-in Flash used for 50% of the shots

While it inherits many advanced digital and optical technologies from professional models, the D40X and its sister model, the D40, are Nikon’s smallest, most compact digital SLR cameras. By offering everyone mobility, ease-of-use and incredible pictures with great resolution, the D40X welcomes everyone to the world of Nikon digital SLR photography.

Sales release schedule
To launch worldwide at March 22, 2007 (TBD).

Buy your own Nikon D40X right now!

Lossless And Lossy Digital Photo File Compression

Digital photos are stored as digital files on electronic media. Digital photos are comprised of pixels each one with a unique color and intensity. While digital photos do not have to be compressed in most cases they are. Compression serves one goal make files smaller and save storage space.

A digital photo is a built of pixels. A pixel is a single dot in the photo that has a value. A pixel’s value represents its color and intensity. Usually each pixel is represented by an RGB value (Red, Green and Blue that combined together create the pixel’s color) that occupies 3 bytes. Digital photo files can be very big. For example if you shoot a photo using an 8 mega pixels digital camera the photo will have 8000000 pixels each one occupying 3 bytes. The total file size would be 8000000*3=24000000 or 24Mbytes. However ff compressed using the right technology this file could be much smaller - about 3Mbytes would be common.

There are two main types of compression technologies: lossy and lossless:

Lossless compression: Lossless compression means that if you take a file compress it and then decompress it – the decompressed file would be the exact copy of the original file. With lossless compression no data is lost in the compression process – the compression software uses better representation of the data in the file but it does not remove any data from it.

Lossy compression: Lossy compression means that if you take a file, compress it and then decompress it – the decompressed file would be slightly different than the original one. The compression software not only represents the file’s data more efficiently but it also removes data that it analyzed as being minor or not important. Such data can be removed without hardly any noticeable degradation in the compressed file quality. The differences between the original file and the decompressed file are minor and negligible to the user.
Lossless compression is usually applied to text and other data where all data is equally important. For example when compressing the text in this article and later on decompressing it you would want to get the exact original article without any words or sentences dropped by the compression software that decided they were not important.
Lossy compression on the other hand is usually applied to digital photos and graphic files. Such files include data that the viewer would not be able to notice if removed. For example small changes to color in a photo might not be noticeable. The decompressed file is not exactly the same as the original one but when viewing both the original and decompressed photos side by side the viewer can not tell the difference. Lossy compression software can be set to different compression levels based on how much data is allowed to be lost. At some point losing too much data is noticeable and degrades the digital photo quality. Many digital cameras allow you to set the level of compression from low to high where high compression means smaller files but less quality and low compression means bigger files but no noticeable quality degradation.
Digital photos are almost solely compressed using lossy technologies. The reason is that due to the nature of a photo (it includes noise, very minor changes that are hard to compress but are not important to the view and more) lossless compression technologies do not perform well on it. On the other hand Lossy compression technologies can be very effective in reducing digital photo file sizes – sometimes an order of magnitude or more.

Digital photos are stored as digital files on electronic media. Digital photos are comprised of pixels each one with a unique color and intensity. While digital photos do not have to be compressed in most cases they are. Compression serves one goal make files smaller and save storage space.


By: ziv haparnas

Glossary: what is ISO Sensitivity?

The sole purpose of adjusting your camera’s ISO is to increase or decrease its sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive the camera is to light. Each setting is twice that of the previous setting, for example my Canon EOS 20D has the following ISO settings: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200. So let’s say you are taking a photo of a puppy in your living room… Though you may think the room is plenty bright, compared to natural sunlight available outside your living room is likely relatively dark. When shooting indoors with my Canon 20D, I usually crank the ISO up to about 400 so I can use a fast shutter speed to avoid camera-shake or motion blur. To give you a better idea, typical camera settings for me indoors (in a well-lit room using just the available light) would be ISO 400, 1/80, f/2.8.

ISO Crops

So why not just use ISO3200 with a really fast shutter speed? With film, as you increase film speed (ISO), image quality diminishes and more and more grain is introduced. In the digital world, the same thing happens, but this ‘grain’ is noise – and it’s arguably less attractive than its film counter-part. In the image below, you can clearly see that as the ISO increases, so too does noise.

A trusty guideline here is what is commonly referred to as the Sunny 16 rule. If you’re taking photos outdoors and it is nice and sunny, and you’re not sure what camera settings to use, you can set your aperture to f/16 and then simply match up your shutter speed and ISO. If they won’t match up exactly, just make them as close as possible (i.e. ISO 50, shutter speed 1/60). There’s a little more to the rule than just that, but once again we’ll save that for another time.

Digital Photo Camera File Formats

How To Set Your Digital Camera To Save The Best Photos!

Your digital camera will save your photo files one of three ways.

It will save your photos in a file format as '.jpeg', '.tiff' or '.raw', or as a combination of these!

But how do '.jpeg', '.tiff' and '.raw' work? Which one should you use? And what will give you the best photo?

Well, most use '.jpeg' as it can shrink the file size greatly making it fast and easy.

Tiff will provide an extremely high quality image because it doesn't use compression.

Raw will record the image exactly as the camera sees it - with no image adjusting at all, unlike '.jpeg' or '.tiff'.

Depending on your camera, not all formats will be available. Don't fear - all digital cameras are set to '.jpeg' by default and it can give you exceptional images if you follow these simple tips below!

What do these file formats mean and when should you use them?

JPEG

The default format on your camera will most likely be '.jpeg'. It will save your photo files quickly to the memory card whilst producing the smallest file.

Jpeg - which stands for 'Joint Photographic Experts Group' - will shrink your file as it saves it to your memory card. It uses a 'lossy' compression, which will 'throw away' parts of your image data to reduce the file size.

However rather than being a 'bad' format, '.jpeg' will produce fast, small image files that are easy to use in photo-editing software.

What you should know about '.jpeg'!

Your digital camera's menu settings for saving jpeg files are often called 'high', 'medium' and 'low'. Your photo will be saved as the quality you select.

Choosing 'high' will give you the best photo quality, take the longest to save and produces the biggest file size - which takes up the most room on your memory card.

'Low' saves the poorest quality photo in a smaller file that takes up less room on your memory card.

'Medium' is in- between.

I.e. you can take more photos on the same memory card with a 'low' setting than you can with 'high'.

However I would strongly recommend you always use 'high' or the 'best' setting on your camera.

Choosing 'low' or 'medium' will reduce the quality of your photo dramatically!

It also effectively reduces mega-pixels that your digital camera can take!

So if you've got a 6 mega-pixel digital camera and set the jpeg quality to anything other than the 'best' setting, you will be affectively taking photos with a 4 mega-pixel camera or less! Why would you use a 6 mega-pixel camera as a 4 mega-pixel?

Do not reduce your jpeg quality - ever!

Always set it to the very best setting available.

That way if you want to crop or enlarge that 'idyllic' landscape you took last week to a reasonable size there will be no problem. Reduce the jpeg quality and you could be unhappy with the result!

One final note on jpeg:

You should never open, edit and save '.jpeg' repeatedly on your computer, as it will give you poor results!

Opening and saving the same image as '.jpeg' over and over will case the image to become 'soft' and in extreme cases, even blurry. Saving the image once or twice will be fine but if you need to do multiple editing use 'save-as' and then select '.tiff' instead of '.jpeg'.

TIFF

Tiff (Tagged Image File Format) offers high quality images because it does not use any compression.

Not every digital camera will have '.tiff' as a file format option.

You will need a good size memory card if you use '.tiff' as the files can be very large.

So why would you use '.tiff'?

When you see that 'gorgeous' sunset or 'perfect' scene and you know that you will probably enlarge it to poster size - then shoot with '.tiff'.

However, for everyday photos, save yourself time and memory space, set the camera to highest quality jpeg, and your pictures will still look awesome!

RAW

Many professional photographers use '.raw' as their file format.

Raw saves the image with no adjustments whatsoever and most consider it the true 'digital negative'.

That means no sharpening, no color adjustment, no exposure correction and no white balance. You need to do these later on your computer.

To use '.raw' you must have a photo-editing program that can translate the '.raw' file, which often comes with your camera.

The file sizes of '.raw' are larger than '.jpeg' but only about 1/3 the size of '.tiff'.

Using '.raw' takes some practice, as often the results may be not what you expected! Digital cameras make so many adjustments automatically that an image taken without them can be startling!

Raw will suit the advanced amateur or professional photographer.

---

So of these file formats of '.jpeg', '.tiff' and '.raw', which one should you use on a regular basis?

Jpeg will give you swiftness and acceptable compressing. And it'll give you exceptional images whilst not taking up valuable memory space.

To compare a high quality '.jpeg' with a '.tiff' or '.raw' at an enlargement of 8x10 or 11x14 inches, you won't find dramatic differences - when taken on the same camera.

Most photographers prefer the widely used '.jpeg'. You will find it extremely easy to use with very good speed; and set at the best quality, rarely will you need to venture past it.

However, if you do see that once-in-a-lifetime shot - use '.raw' so adjustments can be made later… but you should be comfortable with its format.


By Teresa Pocock (www.yourdigitalphotosuccess.com)

How To Choose A Digital Camera

How to choose a digital camera? This is not an easy question to answer given the wide range of digital cameras available in the market today. Each camera comes with its own individual features like image resolution, storage capacity, lens power etc. So, what should the buyer look for in the camera?

1. Image Quality

Image quality and trueness of colors need to be studied carefully. In fact, one should spend considerable time looking at images generated by different cameras before taking a decision. These images should not be the retouched images but fresh shoots.

2. Resolution

Resolution is another major requirement. The quality of a camera is directly proportional to the resolution of the images. For example, a 3 megapixels (MP) camera outputs images that are anywhere from 1 to 2 MB in size while a 7 MP camera outputs images that are 4 to 5 MB in size. If you are a professional photographer then you should go for high pixel cameras; beginners can look at low or mid-end cameras.

3. Weight

You should also not forget the camera weight. A large and heavier camera is difficult to carry. It is also more difficult to keep it still when shooting. You should therefore select a camera that you can focus with ease.

4. Capacity

The number of images a camera can take before you download them on to your computer may not be a problem if you are shooting near your computer. Of course, it does matter if you are shooting outdoors in that case you should choose a camera that will store enough images. You should therefore go for large memory cards or several small memory cards. This will allow you the luxury of long photo shoots.

5. Lens Quality

Mid range cameras have a single lens with or without zoom facility. For shooting objects from a close range (around less than 1.5 feet) choose a camera with a macro option. High-end cameras, that are basically 35mm. SLR (Single Lens Reflex)) cameras, come with changeable lenses but can cost quite a lot. They are more useful for professional photographers. Beginners need not burn money on them.

By: Paul Graham

Choose Your Photo Camera on Amazon Right Now!

News: Sony debuts its first wireless Cyber-Shot digital camera

Sony is advancing wireless digital photo sharing with today’s introduction of the 6-megapixel Cyber-shot ® DSC-G1 digital camera. The G1 model is Sony’s first digital camera with the ability to send photos wirelessly to other Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) - enabled devices, such as another camera or a PC.

“This is a step towards realizing a platform for networked photo communication,” said Phil Lubell, director of marketing for digital cameras at Sony Electronics. “We will continue to explore the possibilities for networked digital imaging as broadband Internet becomes more pervasive in American homes.”

One-Touch Wireless Photo Sharing and Archiving
The G1 model features a 3.5-inch LCD screen with resolution of 921,000 pixels. Lubell said that’s four times higher than the average compact digital camera and all previous Sony Cyber-shot models. The new camera’s slide show with music function makes sharing photos directly on the camera even more enjoyable.

“Sony popularized the use of large LCD screens on compact cameras, with the understanding that simply passing the camera around is a means of sharing,” Lubell said.

The new models’ camera-to-camera wireless capability makes it possible to send your friends a photo at the push of a button. It’s also possible for up to four camera users to send each other photos in real time. With a DLNA-compatible PC, storing and sharing photos becomes simplified through wireless image transfer from the camera to the PC.

Mega Storage Capacity and Sophisticated Image Management
The G1 unit is the ideal vacation camera with 2GB of internal memory, saving you from having to manage extra media cards. It becomes a virtual photo album in your pocket as it can store up to 7,500 VGA-quality photos or 600 6-megapixel pictures. If additional storage is needed, the camera's capacity can be expanded with an optional Memory Stick Duo ™ media card or Memory Stick PRO Duo ™ card, now available in capacities up to eight gigabytes.

In addition to storage capacity, it incorporates an auto image management system with sophisticated search functions. You can organize your photos by events, such as vacations or birthdays, and retrieve them later by keywords or labels. It’s also possible to select an image and search for other photos with the same face, same color, or a similar composition.

Armed with features for optimal shooting and sharing, the new model also integrates built-in technologies to minimize image blur, including Super Steady Shot® optical image stabilization. It also has high light sensitivity, up to ISO 1000, to facilitate shooting at higher shutter speeds, as well as low-light conditions for more natural exposures or for settings where flash is not permitted.

This new Cyber-shot model also features a distinctive design. Its Carl Zeiss® 3x optical zoom lens is wrapped in an elegant metal body. You slide the lens cover across, instead of down as with previous models, and you’re ready to shoot in less than a second.

The DSC-G1 digital camera will ship in April for about $600. Additional accessories will include lenses, filters, batteries, travel chargers, sports packs and cases.

Buy Sony DSC-G1 Now!

Glossary: what is an aperture?

In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.

An optical system typically has many openings, or structures that limit the ray bundles (ray bundles are also known as pencils of light). These structures may be the edge of a lens or mirror, or a ring or other fixture that holds an optical element in place, or may be a special element such as a diaphragm placed in the optical path deliberately to limit the light admitted by the system. In general, these structures are called stops, and the aperture stop is the stop that determines the ray cone angle, or equivalently the brightness, at an image point.

Sometimes stops and diaphragms are called apertures, even when they are not the aperture stop of the system.

The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's degree of exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.

A device called a diaphragm usually serves as the aperture stop, and controls the aperture. The diaphragm functions much like the iris of the eye—it controls the effective diameter of the lens opening. Reducing the aperture size increases the depth of field, which describes the extent to which subject matter lying closer than or farther from the actual plane of focus appears to be in focus. In general, the smaller the aperture (the larger the number), the greater the distance from the plane of focus the subject matter may be while still appearing in focus.

The lens aperture is usually specified as an f-number, the ratio of focal length to effective aperture diameter. A lens typically has a set of marked "f-stops" that the f-number can be set to. A lower f-number denotes a greater aperture opening which allows more light to reach the film or image sensor.

Aperture priority refers to a shooting mode used in semi-automatic cameras. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the correct shutter speed. This is sometimes referred to as Aperture Priority Auto Exposure, A mode, Av mode, or semi-auto mode.


Maximum and minimum apertures

The specifications for a given lens typically include the minimum and maximum apertures. These refer to the maximum and minimum f-numbers the lens can be set at to achieve, respectively. For example, the Canon EF 70-200mm lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and a minimum aperture of f/32.

The maximum aperture tends to be of most interest; it is known as the lens speed and is always included when describing a lens (e.g., 100-400mm f/5.6, or 70-200mm f/2.8).

A typical lens will have an f-number range from f/16 (small aperture) to f/2 (large aperture) (these values vary). Professional lenses for 35mm cameras can have f-numbers as low as f/1.0, while professional lenses for some movie cameras can have f-numbers as low as f/0.75 (very large relative aperture). These are known as "fast" lenses because they allow much more light to reach the film and therefore reduce the required exposure time. Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon is notable for having scenes shot with the largest relative aperture in film history: f/0.7.

Large aperture prime lenses (lenses which have a fixed focal length) are favored especially by photojournalists who often work in dim light, have no opportunity to introduce supplementary lighting, and need to capture fast breaking events.

Zoom lenses typically have a maximum aperture (minimum f-number) of f/2.8 to f/6.3 through their range. A very fast zoom lens will be constant f/2.8 or f/2, which means the relative aperture will stay the same throughout the zoom range. A more typical consumer zoom will have a variable relative aperture, since it is harder to keep the effective aperture proportional to focal length at long focal lengths; f/3.5 to f/6.3 would be typical.

Do I need an 8MP digital camera?

By Ziv Haparnas

If you are on the market for a new digital camera then there is a good chance that you are asking yourself that exact question. Maybe the number of megapixels that you are considering is different. Do you really need a 16MP digital camera? 8MP? 6MP? This article tries to help you answering this question.

New digital camera models that are put on the market support more and more megapixels. This race for more megapixels is in part driven by manufacturers who want you to buy their newest and greatest digital camera and the easiest way for them to make you compare cameras is by using one simple number – megapixels – the higher the better or at least this is what they want you to think.

But reality is different. When it comes to megapixels more is not necessarily better. Since most of us have a limited budget that we are willing to spend on a digital camera spending more money to get more megapixels means spending less on other features or accessories – such as storage and lenses. The overall quality of your photography experience is dependent on such extra features.

When deciding on the number of megapixels that you need you should first consider what your expected usage is. You need more megapixels if you plan to print photos (especially big enlargements) or if you need to zoom in and grab fine details out of big digital photos. On the other hand – you do not need much if you plan to watch your digital photos on your computer screen and occasionally print a few 4X6 prints. In fact 2 megapixels are more than enough for such usage. Consider your computer screen resolution which is in most cases 1024X768 - even when viewing your digital photos in full screen mode you are only really watching 1024X768 < 1 megapixels. A 2 megapixels 4X6 photo print has a DPI higher than 300 which is more than enough for a good quality print. If you plan to print enlargements consider the following table for the recommended number of megapixels for different print sizes (based on print quality of about 300 DPI):

page 4X6 2MP

page 5X7 3MP

page 8X10 7MP

page 11X14 14MP

page 16X20 28MP

page 20X30 54MP

When considering spending more of your digital camera budget on getting more megapixels you should ask yourself questions like: should I instead get better lenses? Should I instead get an external flash unit? Should I instead get extra storage media?

Don’t be a victim of the megapixels race. In many ways the race for more megapixels is similar to the race for more megahertz on personal computers. In early days when computers speeds were slow – more megahertz was important. Today though – having a 4Ghz or 5Ghz computer does not make a difference and you are better off spending more money on more memory than more megahertz. The same is true with megapixels – in early digital cameras days the number of megapixels was low and it was important to get more. Today with most cameras having a high number of megapixels it is probably wiser to get better lenses or more storage than upgrading from 8MP to 10MP.

Photographs Has Something To Say!

By Salvador Daet

Isn’t fun and exciting to take pictures? As for photo lovers it is their passion have a good collection of pictures. However, for professional photographers, which taking pictures is their profession, they are oblige to have a good photo shot in order for them to have more clients.

As for travelers who love to discover new places, photography is their perfect companion, because the photo itself provides them tangible memories of their trip, they can also show to their families and friends the exciting places they have been, the wonderful scenery, and the great people they have met.

Some say that photograph is considered as a message, because it conveys a statement, an impression, or an emotion. You as the author of your photograph you are expressing this message in a clear, brief, and effective way. But how will you do it to be able for your viewers understand your message? Like any ordinary message, first you need a subject. The subject is the center of attention and it is usually placed in the forefront of the shot. This can be a building, a natural panorama, or some abstract form. As a true message, if you have a subject you must be able to have a context to define or to discuss your subject. This can be your second element, the context, which is frequently the background. The context gives the subject relevance, presence, location, or other interest. With the help of these two main elements, which are subject and context, or the foreground and background, you can now tell to your viewers what exactly the message of your photo.

As for photo artists it is their way to express themselves in art they consider that photograph is a piece of art because it captures the spirit of a subject and evokes emotion.

Due to the fast change in our technology, cameras are one of the many technologies that take their way to the next stage. Back then storing and printing photos is a time consuming process there’s no room for on demand printing. In this new digital world, where digital camera is born which the main function is to capture and store images in a solid-state image sensor instead of traditional film.

By using the process so-called digital photo imaging; you can now transform your digital memories into photographs by yourself with the aid of photo printers at your own convenience. Nowadays, digital cameras are fast replacing traditional analog photography equipment, which is the reason why digital photo imaging and digital photo printing are the new and very in demand services today.

Glossary: what is an exposure?

In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance.

Correct exposure

The "correct" exposure for a photograph is determined by the sensitivity of the medium used. For photographic film, sensitivity is referred to as film speed and is measured on a scale published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Faster film requires less exposure and has a higher ISO rating. Exposure is a combination of the length of time and the level of illumination received by the photosensitive material. Exposure time is controlled in a camera by shutter speed and the illumination level by the lens aperture. Slower (longer) shutter speeds and greater (bigger) lens apertures produce greater exposures. The electronics in a digital camera may allow one to adjust the sensitivity of the CCD or CMOS sensor. ISO numbers are usually used to express this attribute.

An approximately correct exposure will be obtained on a sunny day using ISO 100 film, an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second. This is called the sunny 16 rule: at an aperture of f/16 on a sunny day, a suitable shutter speed will be one over the film speed (or closest equivalent).

Ultimately there is no such thing as "correct exposure", as a scene can be exposed in many ways, depending on the desired effect a photographer wishes to convey.

Reciprocity

An important principle of exposure is reciprocity. If one exposes the film or sensor for a longer period, a reciprocally smaller aperture is required to reduce the amount of light hitting the film to obtain the same exposure. For example, the photographer may prefer to make his sunny-16 shot at an aperture of f/5.6 (to obtain a shallow depth of field). As f/5.6 is 3 stops 'faster' than f/16, with each stop meaning double the amount of light, a new shutter speed of (1/125)/(2·2·2) = 1/1000 is needed. Once the photographer has determined the exposure, aperture stops can be traded for halvings or doublings of speed, within limits.

How To Use Your Camera's Flash for the Perfect Digital Photography

It takes time and experience to learn how to control your digital camera's flash and shoot the perfect digital photography, but it's definitely worth waiting and trying because it's so rewarding! After all a picture worth a thousand words! I hope you will like and benefit from these flash tips for the perfect digital photography!

You have to take full control of your digital camera's flash. Why? Because digital cameras and their build-in software are pre-programmed and make a few assumptions.

For example:
There are sensors inside your camera that measure the percentage of illumination in the scene at which your camera points. If the sensors measure low illumination then your flash will fire. That is because your camera is pre-programmed with the assumption that flash will improve the photograph in a low-illumination environment. On the other hand in a high-illumination environment the flash will not fire because the camera will assume it's not necessary. After all it's dark out there!

The issue with these assumptions is that there are certain situations when you want an opposite result.

For example there are times when you want to shoot the perfect digital photography in a low-illumination environment without using the flash. e.g. when you are in a dark room with a candle burning and no other light sources. If that's the case you need to be really steady for the photograph to be sharp. You may want to use a tripod to achieve better results. If you do it right you will have a perfect digital photography with beautiful warm orange/red colors. Remember that the straight light coming from the flash gives a cold commercial look to your photographs. That could be ok in some cases but not in all cases.. You should decide whether to use flash, not your camera.

But what happens when working in Bright Light, high-illumination environments?

Then, the flash will not fire! Of course that saves battery-power but what are the results of your perfect digital photography? You definitely don't want to lose in quality right?

Imagine when you want to take the perfect digital photography of a person wearing a hat and the sun is overhead in the sky shining.. Then you will notice that the person's face will be in dark shadow because of the hat! But even if there's no hat, you will usually see shadows under the chin or under the person's eyes. So what you should do is fill those small shadows with light using your camera's flash!

Again, YOU should decide whether to use flash or not, and not your camera. YOU should take control of your camera's flash.

Today's digital cameras have five basic flash settings:

• Setting #1:
  Automatic Flash: This is where your camera is pre-programmed to make assumptions depending on the level of the environment illumination and use the flash accordingly.
  
  
• Setting #2:
  Automatic Flash with Eye Reduction: Again, the camera uses its software to determine when the flash will fire but there's also some type of red eye filters to reduce the red eye effect.
  
  You camera will probably automatically select, by default, one of the above two settings. I recommend to never use the above settings if you're aiming for the perfect digital photography. And why is that you may ask. As I said before YOU should be the one who decides whether to use flash or not. And furthermore the eye reduction filters will not always do a good work and will confuse your subjects in most cases.
  
  I recommend to make use of the following settings depending on the scene and the subject you're trying to shoot.
  
  
• Setting #3:
  Flash Always: With this setting enabled your flash will fire in all cases. You may want to choose this setting when you want to fill small shadowed areas with light.
  
  
• Setting #4:
  Flash Disabled: Your flash will not fire no matter how illuminated the environment or the scene is.. Make use of this setting when you want to shoot in a low-illuminated environment e.g. a dark room with a candle burning. Just remember that in a low-illumination environment you have to be really steady in order to shoot the perfect digital photography.
  
  
• Setting #5:
  Slow Shutter Flash: This is a very underestimated setting and the least used.. If you choose this setting your flash will fire occasionally but the shutter will remain open for a longer time than usual. This will allow you to capture the subject illuminated by the flash, but it will also allow other lighting sources (like a candle's light) to record themselves. This setting is perfect if there is high illumination on the background while in-front of the subject there's certain darkness. For example when you want to shoot a person in front of a casino at night.
  

So.. If you're aiming for the perfect digital photography you should be able to switch between those five flash settings found in almost all digital cameras these days. Have a look at the camera's manual for more information on these settings. They are really important.


By: M.Mark

News: Microsoft unveils HD Photo photo file format

HD is a shortened form of the term HDRI - High Dynamic Range Image. Read more about HDRI.


Microsoft today formally announced HD Photo, a new file format for end-to-end digital photography, which it claims offers higher image quality, greater preservation of data, and advanced features for today's digital-imaging applications. Previously known as Windows Media Photo, the Redmond-based company says that the digital image format is designed for digital photography on devices, applications and services; it offers compression with up to twice the efficiency of JPEG, with fewer damaging artifacts, resulting in higher-quality images that are one-half the file size, Microsoft claims. The announcement was made at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) '07 International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas.

In addition, HD Photo offers increased image fidelity, preserving the entire original image content and enabling higher-quality exposure and color adjustments in the image. The new format offers also the ability to decode only the information needed for any resolution or region, or the option to manipulate the image as compressed data.

"With support on popular platforms such as Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X, HD Photo will allow consumers to easily view, edit and share images without conversion or special applications," the company said. "The format also allows for flexible metadata handling and supports industry-standard metadata formats."

"With HD Photo, we're taking a new approach to creating and editing photos that simply isn't available to photographers with today's formats," said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft. "HD Photo fully preserves the original image fidelity with high dynamic range while still allowing for significant improvement in compression size."

In addition, HD Photo offers both lossless and lossy image compression, and can retain the full dynamic range and color gamut data from a camera's sensor. Also, because making adjustments to common color balance and exposure settings won't discard or truncate data as other common bitmap formats typically do, it's easier to "undo" those changes at a later time. As a result, significantly smaller files can be created while still retaining optimum picture quality.

HD Photo in Photoshop, Vista

Microsoft also announced the beta release of a set of HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop software, developed with the help of Adobe. The plug-ins enable users to both read and write HD Photo files from within Adobe Photoshop software, and include support for high dynamic range pixel formats.

The plug-ins support both the CS3 and CS2 versions of Adobe Photoshop software, and will be available for Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as Mac OS X (Universal Binary). A beta version of the Windows plug-in is available today for download at the Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft expects to release finished plug-ins, which will be free of charge, in approximately 60 days. The HD Photo Device Porting Kit is also available for download at the Microsoft Download Center, allowing manufacturers to add HD Photo support in devices and to other platforms.

Microsoft said that HD Photo is natively supported in Windows Vista by a Windows Imaging Component (WIC) codec, and can be similarly supported in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 through a free WIC download. HD Photo is also included in Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0. Microsoft said that it intends to standardize the technology and will be submitting HD Photo to an appropriate standards organization shortly.

Glossary: what is EXIF?

Besides information about the pixels of the picture itself, digital cameras store additional information:

• Date and time the image was taken
  
• Aperture
  
• Shutterspeed
  
• ISO
  
• Flash status
  
• Exposition program used (e.g., Portrait, Landscape, Macro)
  
• And most other camera settings
  

These data are known as "metadata" and they are stored in a "header" of the image. A common type of header is the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) header. EXIF is a standard for storing information. It was created by JEIDA (Japan Electronic Industry Development Association) to encourage interoperability between the wide range of imaging devices. EXIF data can be very useful because you do not need to remember the settings you used when taking the image. Later you can use your computer and appropriate software to analyze which camera settings created the best results, so you can learn from your experience.

Most current image editors and viewers are able to display EXIF data, and some of those programs also allows editing EXIF data. Be aware that EXIF data may be lost when saving a file after editing in some program. It's one of the many reasons you should always preserve your original image file and use "Save As" command after editing it.

The example of free imaging software capable of viewing EXIF data is XnView. It is very powerfull image viewer with some image editing features. It's worth to download and use.

How Do I Get Started In Digital Photography? Part II

How to take great digital photographs

There are seven main steps to ensuing that you take professional looking digital photographs. These are:

1. Subject: Pose your subject with care. Even with the best software some faults cannot be totally corrected.
   
2. Lighting: Right light is important in digital photography as the appearance of your subject will be affected if lighting is wrong. Too harsh a light will show up wrink.
3. ISO calibration: To ensure that your pictures do not come out looking like they were done by a total novice, check to ensure that your camera is properly calibrated. Getting the right camera setting can be the difference between brilliant pictures and blah.
   
4. Composition: Good photography is an art form, so your background is as important as your subject. Too much clutter in your picture will make the result look unprofessional.
   
5. White balance: If you want to ensure that your photograph has natural looking colors, then make sure to manually set the white balance.
   
6. Do not be afraid to experiment: Do creative crazy things with your camera, the results may just surprise you. Remember, with a digital camera you can always delete the images if you do not want to keep them.
   
7. Zoom and flash: Practice using these features until you find what works best in different situations.
   

One point to remember about digital photography is that it cannot turn a lousy photography into a professional overnight, but with practice and learning you can become good at photography using a digital camera. And, with enough talent, business savvy, luck, downright determination and love of the craft you might even be able to turn it into a business venture.

How Do I Get Started In Digital Photography? Part I

The Ins and Outs of Great Photography

By: Robert Provencher

Whether you are a seasoned photographer or a novice, or just someone who want to do photography as a hobby, the first thing you need to be clear on is, what exactly is digital photography?

Digital photography is the use of a digital camera to capture; take an image that can be viewed on a computer screen. The main benefits of digital photography are:

• You can see the result of your work right away
  
• You can delete unwanted photographs instantly
  
• You can easily and cheaply edit your photographs by improving the tone, retouching some areas, adding background etc.
  
• Digital photographs can be send instantly via email
  
• Except for batteries you do not need to constantly buy items to use in digital photography such as films.
  

Next you will need to decide on the type of digital camera to buy. This will of course depend on the following factors:

• How much money you can spend
  
• What is your goal, that is, why do you need to take digital pictures: business, hobby, personal
  
• What functionality do you want with your camera
  

There are two basic types of digital camera, the DSLR-Digital Single Lens Reflex- and automatic. If you are really serious about digital photography you will want to get yourself a DSLR since this type of camera gives you more control.

In making a decision on type of digital camera also explore the types of storage media available and see which one may be best for you. The two most popular storage media for digital camera are flashcards -digital film- and microdrives. The storage media in a digital camera is really important; it is what holds the pictures. It is important to read reviews and talk to other users of digital cameras to determine the type of memory, and the capacity of the memory -how much images can it hold- you will need. I recommend flash cards since they have no moving parts and are more reliable.

After you have decided on the type of digital camera to purchase, you must now look at the other types of equipment you need to make a success of digital photography. A good personal computer and printer is needed, especially if you do not wish to pay to have your pictures printed elsewhere.

Your computer is important because this is where you will download, store, edit, review and any number of other things to your photographs. If you are using an older computer, make sure your operating system is compatible with the camera and software you will be using.

If you plan to do this professionally, you will also need to invest in software to help you get the most out of your digital photographs. Software used by professional digital photographers include Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady.

Welcome to Master Your Photo Camera blog

What's this blog about?

• News from the world of photography
• Photography tips and tricks
• Photography articles and guides
• Digital camera buying advices
• Anything else related to digital photography