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Photography 101:
Going Digital
Everybody is going digital. Digital cameras are compact, take great
pictures which can be downloaded to computer and emailed instantly
to family and friends. Pictures can be manipulated using many
different software programs eliminating red-eye, cropping frames,
or erasing the drainpipe or potted plant that does not fit into the
background. Pictures that do not come out well can be deleted from
the camera on the spot, thus saving money on film developing costs.
Simple, user-friendly cameras are the norm. No experience with
photography is necessary to take great pictures! Digital images are
not destroyed in airport x-ray scanners, and high quality prints can
be made from digital just as easily and inexpensively as with
conventional film.
The Top Five Reasons to Go Digital
Pictures can be Viewed and Deleted Immediately
Instantly look at the results of your digital photo and keep it or
delete it on the spot. Somebody have their eyes closed? Is there a
kid in the front who is making a funny face or not looking at the
camera? Simply delete the photo and try again.
Email and Print Photos Quickly and Easily
The minute the picture is taken, it can be shared or printed. Want
to show off your new kitchen or how much the baby has grown? Take a
picture and email it immediately. Or print the photo of holidays or
birthdays and send a print home with every guest as they leave the
party.
Perfect Your Pictures Digitally
Did your picture come out too dark? Does everyone who faces the
camera have red eyes? Pictures can be edited with a myriad of types
of software to eliminate problems, crop out unwanted backgrounds and
fix any of a number of problems.
Get Creative!
There are plenty of ways to put your digital photos to use. Unleash
your creativity! Make photo greeting cards, party invitations or
post digital photos on a personal web page. Digital photos can be
sized to make anything from posters to postage stamps without a
significant loss in quality, and pictures can be blended together to
make photo collages using photo editing software.
Enjoy Your Pictures
Digital photos will allow you to escape into a world where you can
have fun with the photos you take, maintain a fast, easy and
convenient way to catalog and preserve memories, and keep the
memories of family, friends and fun always at your fingertips.
Different Ways to Go Digital
If you are considering going digital but are a little intimidated
by the process; dont be! It is surprisingly easy to use your
computer to send digital images to family and friends. A digital
camera is not necessarily required, either. There are a wide variety
of ways to go digital. Digital photos can be shared via email and
stored on CD or computer hard drive regardless of how they were
created.
Scanner
The scanner provides the capability to convert hard-copy,
conventional photographs into digital images. Once pictures are
scanned, they can be edited and manipulated like any other digital
image.
Scanners are the perfect compromise for the photographer who is
heavily invested in conventional camera equipment, or for the person
who simply does not wish to take the digital plunge.
Inexpensive flatbed scanners are fine for prints, and can be used
for film with the proper accessories.
Superior scans of negatives and slides are possible with a more
expensive, film-only scanner.
A scanner is less expensive than a digital camera.
Online Photo Service
Online photo services are perfect for the person who cannot print
high quality photos using the home printer they have available to
them, or who simply does not want to take the time to print out a
huge number of photographs. Online photo services can do it all
develop film, print hard copies of photographs, post pictures
online, and burn digital images onto CDs.
Online photo services are available to both film and digital
camera users.
Prints are easy to order from home or in-store
Pictures can be shared with online albums. Anybody can see the
pictures, it costs nothing to the viewer, and family and friends can
order their own prints directly off the site.
Services such as red-eye removal, color and brightness adjustments
and cropping and borders are available.
Remember that there are costs associated with storing photos
online, some services limit storage, and all prints should be backed
up to CD at home for permanent storage.
Share Pictures on CD
For most people, sharing digital photos by email or online album is
great. For some, that type of transmission lacks a personal touch.
Placing your pictures on a gift CD is the perfect solution. A CD
holds hundreds of pictures, can be created with each recipient in
mind and provides for permanent storage of pictures. Unlike emailed
photos, which need to be reduced in size to send online, files on CD
can be very large and suitable for printing. Many home computers
have CD writing capabilities, but if yours does not, an online photo
service can make the CDs for you.
Photo Kiosk
For the photographer who likes the idea of editing his own pictures
but lacks the software to do it, photo kiosks are the perfect
solution. Located in drug stores, photography stores, super markets
and discount department stores nationwide, these kiosks allow access
to software allows the creation of greeting cards, photo gifts and
photographs with a convenient, user friendly touch-screen.
Photo kiosks are easy to use. Digital files on CD, disk or memory
card can be used. Scanning capabilities are also available.
Negative, slide, print or picture cards can be used to create
prints.
Most kiosks provide a variety of options prints, gift photos and
greeting cards, for example.
Photo editing capabilities are available. Reduce red-eye, crop,
zoom, adjust color and add text or borders yourself before printing
photographs.
Edited pictures can be saved to CD or disk for printing again
later.
Digital photography is undoubtedly the trend. With the goods and
services available, photographing and transmission of snapshots,
family events and milestones is fast, easy and fun. For everyone who
wants to keep a photo log of kids growing up, families expanding,
and life unfolding, there has never been a better time to do it, an
a better way to keep these important milestones up to date and at
your fingertips.
Review of Digital Terms
Many people find the terms used in digital photography to be
intimidating at best. The following are some of the most commonly
used terms and their definitions.
Pixel (PICture ELement) The smallest element of a digitized image.
The pixel is one dot of light among the total dots on the image to
complete the full image.
Megapixel A unit equal to one million pixels. The higher the
resolution of the photograph, the more pixels in the image and, as a
result, the better the quality of the photograph. A 1 MP (megapixel)
image file can reproduce into a high-quality 5x7 photograph, 2 MP
can make a realistic 8x10, and for an 11x14 print, a file of at
least 3MP is required.
Resolution The number of pixels in an image. The higher the
resolution, the higher the quality of photograph.
DPI Dots Per Inch. The total number of dots per inch a printer or
display device can display per linear inch. Most laser printers have
a DPI of 300 DPI, monitors are usually 72 DPI, and most PostScript
imagesetters are between 1,200 and 2,400 dots per inch.
Photo-quality inkjet printers have a dpi value of 1200 and 2400 dpi.
PPI Pixels Per Inch. Image resolution is measured in pixels per
inch (PPI). The higher the PPI, the better the image detail and the
higher the quality of the image. Monitors typically display images
at 72 PPI, but to produce high quality prints, most inkjet printers
will require at least 150 PPI.
Megabyte The amount of computer memory disk space or document size
equaling about one million bytes.
Kilobyte The amount of computer memory, disk space or document
size consisting of about one thousand bytes.
JPEG Most digital cameras use the JPEG image format to store
images. The JPEG is probably the most likely format for images found
in email, on the web, or digital photography.
LCD Liquid Crystal Display. The display monitor on the digital
camera. The LCD displays the menu settings, camera options and photo
previews.
Memory Card Interchangeable storage device used to store pictures
and movie files on the camera. Memory cards come in a variety of
sizes, from 8 MB to 256 MB or more.
Digitize To convert analog information to digital format for use
in a computer
Photo Kiosk Usually found in retail stores, this computer-run
system allows users to edit and print pictures from negatives,
prints or digital files from memory card, CD or disk.
Need more help learning to take great pictures and use digital
photography? Check out kodak.com online.
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