If you pay attention to some simple rules of photographic composition, rather than simply "pointing and shooting," you’ll begin to notice a significant difference in your snapshots, even the ones you take of family events.

1) Remember, centered photos are boring. Pay attention the next time you’re in a movie theater; nothing is ever centered. Follos the rule of thirds – mentally divide the frame into thirds both vertically and horizontally, and place the center of interest (usually your subject’s eyes) on one of those ‘third lines.’

2) Frame your pictures. If you’re taking scenics of a distant lake or mountain, look for an interesting frame. This is no different from framing a photo on your wall. Your frame can be tree branches, rocks, or some other interesting foreground object.

3) When shooting portraits, use the longest zoom setting your camera will allow (without using the "digital zoom"). Also use the widest aperture (or the lowest f-stop number). This will throw the background into a nice soft focus, drawing your viewer’s eyes right to your smiling subject.

4) Look for distractions in the frame. It’s hard to learn to do this, because your brain naturally filters out the telephone pole growing out of Uncle Joe’s head – but the photo printer won’t. Look for objects which will draw your viewer’s attention away from your desired center of interest.

Follow these four simple rules, and you’ll begin to see a dramatic improvement in your photos!

About the Author

Mark Rigney has been an entrepeneur and professional photographer for over two decades, and has worked in the film industry as well. Learn more about digital photography at http://digitalcamerapage.com/

Digital Technology is making its presence felt not only in the printing industry but more imminent in the field of photography. Digital photography has taken photographing into a realm of infinite possibilities. Digital technology has also offered great diversity when it comes to colors of pictures that were not possible with the use of traditional photographing machinery.


Digital technology has also paved the way for express photography developing which only requires a minimum of 3 minutes to process pictures. This express picture development is great for rush picture requirements like personal id pictures as well as rush visa and passport photos. The best-suited camera used for express development is a digital camera.

The process of express development starts with the taking or the capturing of an image, which is a multi-process since it includes image display, as well as image printing by means of a computer and appropriate printer equipment. However, like any technology the digital technology is not without flaws, the use of an incompatible printer may have an adverse effect on the quality of the developed picture.

In terms of the digital camera to be use, it is important to correctly choose the camera�s resolution in order to produce high quality photographs. For passport and visa photos a digital camera with one mega-pixel resolution is the best choice. Such types of cameras also have automatic features that are designed to control the numerous photographic qualities involved in the process of taking pictures. Nevertheless, the photographer�s sensitivity when it comes to his or her subject must still exist since the automatic control of the digital camera won�t be able to choose from among the subject�s facial expression which is best to capture or decides on the clothing that would best reveal the subject�s features.

Camera-to-computer interface are well suited for those photography activities that require the use of an external memory card. The transferring of data is also much faster and offers confirmation of the storage of quality images stored in the computer. Likewise, it provides a room for retakes and the images are easily stored in the computer, which is a good thing since it will be much easier to choose from among the taken images the one that really stands out.

The computer also plays an important role in digital photography since it helps in storing and displaying of digital images taken with the digital camera. The computer also enables for the printing of the images in various digital printers. And since digital photography makes use of high-resolution images it is vital that the computer should have a sufficient memory space as well as ample storage capacities. Likewise, a computer should also have a high-speed interface to the camera and printer and a speedy but reliable CPU in order to provide efficient image processing.

About the author:
Jinky C. Mesias is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Business Management. She is at present an Associate Manager of a Life Insurance Corporation and a freelance writer. For comments and suggestions regarding the article kindly visit Digital Color Printing Company

 

1. You bought a video camera

 

2. You want to shoot sports of your kid

 

3. Here is how to do it

 

What a wonderful age of technology we live in. You can buy the greatest gadgets now days to record video and music and play them in all sorts of ways on other great technology gadgets from computers, DVD�s, MP3 players, VCR�s, and many more. It is all great stuff. But they all come with thick owners manuals that do not always get you going the right direction. You may eventually learn to use your great new camera for instance, but that does not mean you will necessarily take pictures that are worth looking at down the road. Rolling tape in your camera is one thing and creating video that is high quality and interesting is another thing. The goal of this product is to bring you up to speed with using your video camera (whatever format, and whatever brand) to get the best results for recording those precious moments of your kid�s athletic achievements.

 

We as parents spend plenty of hours out on the field, court, pool, or track watching our kids take part in and compete in youth sports. If you have a video camera you are going to want to record some of these events for posterity and perhaps education. Following the simple steps in this guide will help you to capture them in the best possible fashion so that it is watch able but also usable down the road.

 

My video expertise stems from two decades as a network television cameraman and as a parent with several kids actively involved in youth sports. In my years of shooting video professionally I have been around the world and seen just about every type of news event. I also spent 15 years covering pro sports events for my employer. These were the best type of assignments as far as I was concerned. In my entire career the things I have enjoyed most is being able to go to places where the average person cannot. In sports that usually means being on the field, next to the court, in the press box, or in the pit. I have shot football games of all levels up to and including NFC and AFC championship games. Living in the Bay Area has allowed me to cover many baseball pennant races and several World Series. I was right behind home plate the night the earth shook in the 1989 World Series. Talk about a shock. I had to give up covering a World Series between the two Bay Area teams to go and cover a huge news event. Baseball seemed small for a while after the magnitude of the earthquake. The point in this is that I love sports, have been around sports my whole life and I know how to shoot video of sports. With that in mind I will do my best to give you advice on how to do the same.

 

Gear

 

Now whether you have the latest DV camera in your hands or an old VHS format camera there are basic things you will need to keep in mind if you are going to shoot sports. As we say in the video business your camera is only as good as the glass that you hang in front of it. The better the lens the better the results will be no matter what kind of recording format you use. Now you already have a camera in hand and may never have heard this particular bit of advice so it is too late to factor it into the equation. However if you have camera in hand and it has any limitations on what it can do due to the lens being less than wonderful there are things you can do to mitigate the situation. We will discuss those things in more detail later on.

 

The key factors before setting out on your game day video assignment are to make sure you know the operating functions of the gear, have a tape supply in hand (soon to be DVDs with the revolution in gear design that is taking place right now), and batteries fully charged. I know these may seem like the simply obvious things but even the pros have to constantly remind themselves to check and double check these items.

 

A little aside here about preparation. Over the many years of covering news I learned lots of little tips from other photographers in the field and applied them to my work regimen. In the early days of video we always had to carry around a portable hair dryer because the record decks would seize up if the moisture levels got to high. So in the winter time if you came in from the cold outside into a nice warm building the air would condense inside the machine and cause moisture build up. The warning light would come on and bang we were dead in the water. One of us would have to run to the car and get the hair dryer, fire it up and chase the water away from the record heads of the deck. It caused some very funny moments in public places I can assure you. (This by the way can still be a problem even today with electronics/VCRs/lenses. Too much moisture can cause havoc. So just remember a portable hair dryer can save your day)

 

Another thing I learned from others is the value of backup. A few years ago I was out on assignment and we had a young eager college intern along with us in the field. This young man wanted to learn all about what we did in our job. He was very interested in how to take pictures, unlike most of our interns who only wanted to become reporters or anchors. He asked many questions and after seeing that he was really paying attention I decided to take him under my wing and really fill him up with information. One tidbit that I shared with him was to always have an emergency stash of tape in his car when out on assignment. He didn�t quite understand the importance of this at first since I had already drilled him about always bringing tape stock with him when going out on assignment. I filled him with stories of times when something or other happened and I�ll be darned if you didn�t need another tape and there under the seat of the car was that emergency spare. So anyway he went off to graduate from college and get a job in a small market TV station. He would send us progress reports from time to time, which I really enjoyed. Then lo and behold one day he sends me a letter telling me how he got into a jam one day on a story and needed that emergency tape. He had dutifully tucked one under the back seat and it was there to save the day. I hope that what you learn in this book will in some way keep you from having a video failure down the road. What I learned in my career is that video production is 80% of it is dealing with the curves and problems that are thrown at you and 20% talent. If you can learn to trouble shoot then you will always be successful.

 

My first suggestion for shooting your kids sports activities is to go watch TV. Yes sit down put your feet up and watch some sports on TV. Really watch how they make it interesting at the top level. Then watch the news and see how they cover the games from a news perspective. Don�t pay attention to the content; just watch how it develops visually. Now of course you can never duplicate what the networks are doing with just your one camera. However if you can glean anything from watching it should be how they try to bring intimacy with the athletes out in the broadcast. All the new improvements in covering sports have to do with getting you the viewer as close to the athlete as they can. Bring you into their world. From cameras on wires overhead that swoop along the field to cameras in the net of a hockey game to cameras inside the cars at Daytona, it brings you into the game. Now you cannot stand on the pitchers mound at your kids� baseball game but you can learn some techniques that can make your baseball video more intimate and therefore more compelling to watch.

 

A side note here, if your task is to capture the whole game or sporting activity for review as a coaching tool you should focus mainly on getting a good high view and putting the camera on a tripod. Pan slowly to follow action and don�t zoom in and out. My main goal here is not to teach you this skill since it is pretty darn basic. However if this is what you are doing you should do it right. Find the right framing to keep as much of the activity in the frame and follow it carefully. Some sports move quickly from one end to the other and you will have to be smooth. Resist the temptation to follow the ball on full zoom. You will lose. Those guys that shoot sports on TV are full on pros using much better gear than you will ever have at your disposal.

 

Now in order to get a good video of your child�s game you need to find that emotion and excitement that exists in any game. Think of it as capturing a few of the things that occur and making those golden. Does the team do a pre game cheer? Get up close, stick your camera wither way up high over their heads looking down or get underneath looking up and shoot it in a way that takes the viewer where they can�t go. Capture an at bat in baseball by taking a full pitch cycle in close-up of the pitcher, and then one of the catcher and then as close as you can of the hitter. Show their face if you can. If they get the big hit don�t go crazy rushing to zoom out. Follow the runner down the line. It will be almost impossible to follow the ball so stay with the runner. Look for the angles that will give you these emotional shots.

 

Some sports are more of a challenge due to the size of the field and the amount of movement up and down the field. Take soccer of instance, if you follow the ball the camera is moving all over the place and the viewer gets queasy. To capture some good video of your kid playing you need to focus on specific shots and not try to follow the play. Look for moments such as throw ins, free kicks, kick offs when things are predictable and you can get closer to the action. Walk down the sideline and wait for the action to come to you. If you child is playing right forward then get ahead of the play and when you see the ball moving towards you then you can find you child and roll tape in anticipation of them playing the ball. Be sure to get some shots of the crowd cheering, the coach watching (not yelling I hope) the goalie waiting in anticipation.

 

Hold your shots steady for 6-10 seconds at a time. If you are taking a shot of someone watching the game actually count it out in your head (thousand one thousand two�) This will ensure that you get good solid shots and that you don�t run on and on with the shot. Brace your arm against your chest for stability and use your other arm across your belly underneath to create a stabilizing platform. This is in lieu of a tripod of course. If you have a tripod it can always be a good thing to use if it does not get in the way.

 

Use creative angles as much as possible. Get down low and wait for the action to run by you. Don�t pan with it but rather let the action race through the frame. At a swim meet get the camera down on the deck for more of a swimmers perspective of the action. Of course you may not want to stay there when the swimmers approach for a turn. Digital electronics do not like water inside them. I was getting the most awesome low angle shots of some open water ocean swimmers one time and the boat lurched on me and salt water sprayed over the camera. I had a cover on the camera but salt water seeped into the crannies and it caused us much grief getting it cleaned out so as to avoid damaging the electronics of the camera.

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information, tips and news for digital camera users. Oh and he loves to shoot pictures of his kids playing sports.

http://www.great-digital-cameras.com

info@great-digital-cameras.com

 

 

 

 

The digital camera is not meant only for capturing images and storing them on the computer memory disks. The real effect comes from the hard copy of those fantastic images taken by the users, that is the printed photographs! In order to get the printer copy of the images a very important device necessary is the printer. The digital image printing requires a few numbers of components that comprises the total process of printing. This discussion is thus primarily focused towards analyzing and understanding this whole experience of digital camera printers.

 

Scrutinizing in some more detail, it can be observed that in digital photography some really good and fantastic one-trick-pony printers have filled up the market that are exclusively designed for the sake of printing digital camera photos. These printers are not for the purpose of printing everyday documents, simply because their cartridges and photo paper, that are sold together in single boxes, are not cheap and thereby economic for such purposes. Thus they are solely for the reason of getting the images into physical paper with a high degree of perfection and elevated quality. In these printers the ink and paper are by and large sold together in single boxes, and the average print costs to around 30 to 70 cents. However the biggest advantage remains that these printers themselves are inexpensive.

 

Looking at the advantages of these digital camera printers, the very first and the most significant one is that these printers do not require a computer for their functioning. They have the ability of printing directly from the digital camera, which enables the users to take and use them on the road too! A few examples of such great printers are Canon’s Selphy DS700 and CP330; the Olympus P-10; Sony’s FP30 and EX50; Epson’s Picture Mate; and Hewlett-Packard’s Photo smart 375. Some digital cameras nowadays enable the users to connect them directly to a PictBridge printer using a standard USB cable. And then obtain the printed photographs. Another loom is to include memory-card slots right on the printer as a result the users do not run down the camera’s battery while printing.

 

The above discussion reveals almost all the rudimentary yet important information regarding the digital camera printers and it is expected that more and more users of the digital cameras would appreciate this fantastic device!

 

 

 

 

 

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snapjunky.com. Visit his digital camera guide and learn how to take better pictures with your digicam.

 

 

 

 

The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is an excellent point-and-shoot digital camera that is currently selling very well. Just consider its features: 4 megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, 16MB of memory, as well as a movie mode. Given it�s low price (around $190), it�s an amazing deal. This camera is most suitable for beginners � it has all of the basic functions you need in a simple digital camera. Let�s have a look at its various features:

 

Design and Construction
Like all point-and-shoot digital cameras, the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is designed to be compact enough to fit in your pocket. It�s silvery finish will certainly attract lots of attention too. Its dimensions are 4.0 inches by 2.6 inches by 1.25 inches (weight-height-depth), and it weighs only 6.3 ounces. There is a little 1.6 inch LCD screen behind the camera for viewing images. Initially, I found the LCD screen a tad on the small side, but I got used to it after snapping a couple of photos.

Optics and Resolution
The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is equipped with a Kodak Retinar lens and offers with a 4 megapixel resolution. There�s also a 3x optical zoom for taking subjects faraway. What is interesting about this camera is its wide range of scene modes. Most point-and-shoot cameras have a handful (maybe 5) scene modes for photography under different conditions: macro, landscape, night photography, etc. The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 has 9 scene modes to choose from, which is much more than the competition.

I didn�t expect much in terms of manual control in the camera�s optics. If you�re looking to play around with shutter speed, aperture, white balance and other photography options, then this camera is not for you. Sure, there are some basic exposure controls but they are nowhere near the fine settings allowed in advanced digital SLR cameras.

That being said, the quality of photos taken by the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 were nothing short of outstanding. The photos, when printed out, were of extremely high quality. So if you�re the type you just whips out a camera and takes quick shots, with a minimum of fuss, then this camera will be great for you.

User Controls
The user controls in the Kodak CX7430 are located on both sides of the LCD and also on mode dial at the top surface of the camera. Those more accustomed to Canon or Sony models will find that the controls take a little getting used to. However, I did not have any problems reaching commonly used functions like flash control or image viewing.

Movie Mode
If you like to shoot some spontaneous movies with your digital camera, then you�ll be glad to know that the CX7430 comes with a movie mode. You can capture video at 13 frames per second (fps) at VGA size 640 x 480. The movie mode is continuous, meaning that the camera allows you to record movies up to the memory limit of your memory card.

Storage and Transfer
In terms of storage, the Kodak CX7430 comes with internal memory of 16MB. You�ll certainly want to purchase a SD or MMC memory card to add on to the amount of memory available. In terms of image transfer, the camera supports USB 1.1 ports. This is enough for fast image transfers between the camera and your computer.

Battery Life
The Kodak CX7430 uses AA batteries. The ones that come in the box are alkaline batteries � I�d recommend that you get some NiMH rechargables. They will pay for themselves very quickly. The support for AA batteries is a great bonus because AA batteries are easily found in any convenience store, even when you�re overseas.

Shortcomings
The bad points about the Kodak EasyShare CX7430? Well, here�s a few shortcomings I�d point out � Kodak would sell many more units if they were corrected:

* Videos taken by the camera are at very low frame rate
* The door covering the memory card slot doesn�t latch strongly
* The bundled software isn�t very impressive

Conclusion
Despite its shortcomings, the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is one heck of a good camera. If you�re just starting out in digital photography, this it the camera to buy. Take it with you anywhere you like, snap many photos and immerse yourself in the world of photography. You can always upgrade to a better camera when you grow in your skills.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site at www.basic-digital-photography.com. Read his tips on digital photography and learn to shoot better photos with your digicam.