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Digital Photography - What's
So Great About It?
by
Carol Miller
I admit
it - I've been slow to embrace the digital
photography phenomenon. As a hobbyist, I
have two film cameras, an old manual focus
Nikon and a newer autofocus Canon Rebel, and
I resisted the temptation to indulge in a
digital camera up until recently, even
though each of my children had them for
years now. But recently my father gave me
his mid-priced Olympus (he didn't like the
menus), and I've been giving it a try. And,
to my surprise, I even like it.
My
favorite thing about the camera is pretty
obvious - no film. My father gave me two
(bless him) substantial memory cards, and I
just don't run out of film. I don't pay to
develop photos that I don't really want now
that I've seen them (I don't pay to develop
photos period), and since I can actually see
how they look on the spot, I can delete bad
shots to save the space for more. Taking
lots of shots helps me improve, and improves
the chances of a better than average
photograph as well, and now it's free. My
camera has settings on it that allow me to
pretend I have film - I can set film speed
and worry about aperture/shutter speed
combinations just like with my other
cameras, so I can still use what I already
know about photography, which I really like.
And I love not having to wait to see how the
pictures came out.
The other
really cool thing about digital photography
is photo editing. I haven't invested in
Photoshop yet, but I have my eye on the
Elements program for next year. I just use
Google's free Picasa and sometimes my
PhotoDeluxe editor (came free with my
scanner), and even then I can do an
incredible amount of really exciting things
with my pictures. The best is being able to
correct poor exposures (I admit, I often
don't notice backlighting). With a couple of
adjustments, what would have been a
throwaway photo can become a keeper! I
remove red-eye easily, sharpen focus, adjust
contrast, warm up colors, and remove
excessive unwanted tint (such as from
lamplight). Cropping is my favorite - those
lucky few who have their own darkroom crop
their photos routinely, but us regular folks
used to have to take what we got - no
longer! We can pick and choose, and glory in
removing unwanted background, excess sky -
we can even remove most of the shot and make
it a close-up. Resizing is a snap - want
some wallets? No sweat. 8x10, 5x7, some
oddball size - just a simple selection will
do it. And don't forget special effects.
Depending on the editor, you can turn your
photo into a painting, add glow, filters,
neon - your imagination can go wild!
When you
have your masterpiece ready to go, you can
print it on photo paper at home, or you can
send it out for processing. Through Picasa,
you can click and send it to a processor via
the internet, and get your professionally
printed photos in the mail - but only the
ones you have decided you want. You can
upload your photos to a web page, email
them, use them in a blog or on MySpace -
they are easy to share.
So, as
you can see, I am a digital photography
convert. There is so much fun in having this
kind of control over your work that it has
actually rejuvenated my love of photography.
If you haven't already converted too, think
about it. It really is a blast.
Interested in learning more about
digital photography? Then try visiting
DigitalPhotography4All.com where you can get
real information for regular folks, and lots
of ideas to improve your own
digital photography.
About the Author
Carol
Miller is a long-time photography fan, and
the owner of many websites, such as
http://www.DigitalPhotography4All.com.
Article
source:
http://www.goarticles.com
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