Digital Photography

Understanding why you click the shutter button half way, and polaroid digital cameras to view.             The Half-Press: Focus and Exposure Lock
Control focus, exposure, and more with the half-press shutter button technique.

Introducing the Half-Press:
This is an easy yet essential skill for beginners to learn. The “half-pressed” button is helpful in many ways, including:

faster camera response time
more control over focus
encourages better composition
Using the half-press is easy, aim your camera directly at the subject and gently press the shutter release button until the camera comes “alive”. If you want to take the shot, press down until the camrea fires.

Ready, Aim, Fire..
To use the half-press technique, think of it as a 3 step process.

1. Ready (Half-Press)
Point the camera at the subject and half-press. Wait for focus lock. While focusing, the camera will show a blinking focus indicator (usually a green dot). When you hear a beep and the indicator stops blinking, the camera is telling you it’s ready to go..

2. Aim (Hold and Compose)
WHILE HOLDING the button at half-press, take time to explore the composition of the scene. The camera will remain at the ready with focus locked.

3. Fire (Full-Press)
Take the shot by pressing down until the camera fires. Only a gentle pressure is needed, be careful not to shake the camera.

Polaroid i1035 10.0MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom - Black

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What to Look for In a Digital Camera - a good selection - Panasonic digital cameras to view.
Digital cameras come in a variety of different shapes and sizes.
Different brands of digital cameras also offer users an array of features
designed to make each and every shot fantastic. Despite the
numerous features offered by digital cameras, manufacturers still
manage to create products that are simple enough for a child to use.
Day by day digital cameras are becoming a well-known fixture in
most homes across the globe. In fact, most of the people around the
world own one and use it on a regular basis. Digital cameras have also
been incorporated into a variety of technical gadgets that have been
integrated into the lifestyle of people everywhere.

PDA devices as well as cellular phones, technological devices that have                                                  a digital camera feature. Despite being an add-on feature, the digital                                                      camera device installed in these gadgets fair, relatively well compared                                                  to detached models.

Panasonic DMC FX-150K 14.7MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

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A friend of mine has the new tough series,  Olympus digital cameras.  He was on a trip in the Islands.  He was impressed with his new camera, not just because it was tough but is was compact.  Compact and waterproof.  Unlike other tourists who had the big protective cases around their cameras, this digital does not have a case enclosure.

A little more info:  It has … Waterproof features * Freezeproof features * Crushproof feature. Compact and attractive, and a great Brand!

Refer to 2009/01/20 Post -

Newest press release - Olympus stylus

Olympus Stylus 8000 tough series

Thought this would be helpful… Maps - camera help tip - view reconditioned digital cameras Until you are carrying around an iPhone or personal GPS unit, your camera can substitute. With modern 5-12 megapixel cameras, you can fit a lot of detail on a single photo, and most cameras allow you to zoom in on photos for a closer view.

If you are new to an airport, snap a shot of their floorplan in case you have to find gate L45 in a hurry. This trick is also good for keeping a shot of the Metro system. Lately, when checking an address online, I’ve been snapping a photo of the Google Maps screen as an insurance policy. I’ve also found it useful when describing what part of the city our new house is in. This would also be good for people who find themselves challenged with describing where on earth to find Laos.

Rob Cockerham  - http://www.popsci.com/diy/gallery/2008-12/ten-clever-tips-digital-camera-owners

Panasonic Lumix dmclz5s - outstanding features - the Lumix DMC-LZ5

Discount digital cameras .  Group picture taking, anyone.  Here are tips for arranging and composing group photos:

* Depending on the size of the group, shoot using a moderately wide focal length, such as 28 mm or 35 mm.
* When composing groups, arrange people so that there are even, unbroken lines and visual movement throughout the group, for example, circular and triangular arrangements. Make one person the focal point of each composition, and arrange the other subjects to support that point of interest.
* Ask everyone to look at the camera, or at least in the same direction.
* For groups where there are noticeable differences in heights, full-length photos are more pleasing than waist-up or head-and-shoulder shots.
* Pay attention to details, such as clothing and hair, that may cause embarrassment or distract from the final photograph.
* Do one last check to ensure that no one’s face is completely or partially obscured.

Samsung S730 Pink 7.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom & Image Stabilization

Just as you piece together the outer circle of the pie dough… to make a whole new piece.  You know if you don’t over roll it, it will be just as good as the original pastry dough.  Anyways that is my way of thinking today.  I was making a meal and thinking about the reconditioned digital cameras.  They are as good as new.  As I am careful with my dough… I know the cameras are well checked over.  They work.  I have had demonstration models and they have worked just fine, and I got a bargain price.

I know you can buy a model very reasonably because of some fault in the production line process.  It is caught before it leaves the factory.  Sometimes one can get an overstock item.  The price is reduced.  A camera can be put on a shelf and redistributed and called refurbished.

Further reading on this:  Check February’s blog post - Reconditioned digital cameras explanation.

Kodak EASYSHARE Z1012 IS - 12X optical zoom

Canon PowerShot SD880 IS fulfills the promise of the wide-angle pocket digital camera, pulling it off with style. The Canon SD880 has larger buttons that are easier to read and operate, but not so easy that you’ll accidentally activate them. And the camera’s front flares out into a nice grip. The Canon SD880’s rear LCD has Canon’s new coating, which reduces glare and increases contrast, making for easier operation and more enjoyable playback. Optical quality is noteworthy for its overall sharpness, and the built-in image stabilization helps in low light. Chromatic aberration is an issue at wide-angle, though it’s quite common in pocket camera lenses. What’s impressive is the PowerShot SD880’s corner sharpness and relatively low distortion. Color meets the needs of the average consumer, offering punchy images, and incandescent performance is nothing short of admirable. The flash is weak at telephoto, but does okay at wide-angle. Most impressive is the Canon SD880 IS’s low noise and excellent noise suppression. Chroma noise is nearly nonexistent in shadows, with only luminance noise that looks rather film-like. The Canon SD880 IS is an excellent pocket digital camera, and an easy Dave’s Pick.

Canon PowerShot SD880 IS Digital ELPH 10.0 Megapixel

Canon powershot G7 - An insert about experimenting with the depth of field:  It seems like beginning photographers often struggle with the idea of aperture and how it affects their photographs more than any other concept.  Here’s a great way to really nail the idea down.  Choose an object you’d like to photograph.  Set it outside on a bright day - we’re going to need a fair amount of light for this experiment - and start by shooting it on the widest aperture possible (smallest f/number) from as close or as zoomed in as possible.  Then, take another photograph at every couple aperture settings until you get to the smallest aperture possible (highest f/number).  Notice how the depth-of-field becomes wider with the smaller apertures.

But don’t stop there - zoom out (or back up about four or five feet) and repeat the same exercise again.  You’ll notice that the depth of field from further away is much greater than it is from close range.  This is because the depth of field is regulated both by the distance to the subject and by aperture.

In addition to macro photography to this is a great exercise to help you with portrait photography too. Beginning photographers often wonder how to get that creamy smooth background in their portraits behind the subject. It’s a function of depth of field.  If you limit the depth of field, either through using a smaller aperture or by getting closer to the subject, the background will be less in focus.

Canon PowerShot G10 - digital camera - 14.7 megapixels

Burst Mode and explanation also discount canon digital cameras.  The Burst Mode:
What it is: A mode that enables you to take many individual frames per second.

Where to find it: Typically, a button on the outside of your digital camera with several squares stacked on top of each other. May be a setting inside the digital camera menus.

What it does: Ever get frustrated while shooting photos of a moving object? Just as soon as you get your focus and exposure locked down, the object moves just out of your frame, ruining your shot. Burst mode may be the remedy.

When burst mode is enabled, the camera takes several photographs per second - typically 3-5 FPS on most modern SLRs - until you either remove your finger from the shutter or the camera runs out of buffer memory. This can be a big help when photographing sports or some other type of fast-paced action — just push your finger down and pan your camera along with the subject as it is moving. A lot of your shots may wind up to be losers, but sometimes burst mode helps you get that one, perfect photograph.

What to watch out for: Your digital camera can only take so many shots in burst mode before it runs out of a place to store them. Because your digital camera cannot write to its memory card at the same pace that it can fire off photos, your shots taken in burst mode are stored in buffer memory until they can be written to the card. Buffer memory is fairly small, meaning you may be able to use burst mode only for a few seconds until it fills up. Buying a memory card that operates at faster speeds is one way of getting a bit more out of burst mode.

Canon PowerShot A470 - 7.1 MP

Exposure and discount digital cameras:  Exposure is the amount of light that you allow into your camera when you take a picture. Too much light makes a photograph overexposed. Too little makes it underexposed. These are among the most lighting issues people face.

In an overexposed photo way too much light comes through the aperture, completely blowing out the highlights, washing out the colors, and flattening the surfaces. What few shadows are left are harsh. You’ve essentially burned the image away, leaving only a few light and color values behind.

In an underexposed image,  not enough light has made it through the lens, which means that there just isn’t enough information coming into the camera. Everything is flat and dull, and only the strongest colors are able to make any sort of impression. Shadowed areas become completely lost.

A properly exposed image has the right mix of shadows, highlights, and middle ranges. It is sharp and in-focus up close, the colors are rich and accurate, and we haven’t lost detail in the shadows or highlights.

compact Olympus Stylus 840 8 MP