Photography Blog

Fortunately, we no longer have to deal with buying flashes for our cameras anymore. Flash digital photography is now a real term used both in words and in the photography industry. The flash (instead of being put on top of the camera like it used to) is now built right into the flash digital cameras themselves.

Today, our digital cameras come with a built in automatic flash and, even better, is the feature that allows you to change the setting, depending on how much light is available. Some digital cameras even come with a setting that will let you know when the lighting isn’t right for the setting you have it set on. Then you will need to change the setting yourself.

The best way to use flash with your digital camera is to first read the instruction manual on how the settings are set up and how you should use them. You should also learn how to use the settings by then taking that knowledge and working with your camera hands-on. Try it outside at different times of the day, in different areas, in your studio (if you have one), in your home and anywhere else you might be taking pictures. By doing this, you can see first-hand what settings work best for what type of lighting.

Unfortunately, some digital cameras have the flash too close to the lens and that can lead to red eyes in your pictures. Fortunately, you can get a digital camera that has a setting to help reduce red eye or you can fix the problem with your photography software.

You should also play with the settings with different areas where shadows could show up. This will help you determine how far away from your subject you can be before the shadows disappear. This happens because the flash didn’t reach those areas. The camera manufacturer will usually list the maximum flash strength and how far away you can be when taking a good shot. You certainly don’t want to lose any perspective and/or depth in your pictures.

You can reduce both of these problems of red eye and poor depth by getting a flash device that is separate from your camera. You will just need a detachable flash component that is simply powered by a bracket on the camera along with a cable that all work together to help the flash inside the camera to work with the external flash unit. This will help your flash digital camera by providing an extra source of flash and reduce the amount of red eye and poor depth coming out in your pictures.

Your flash digital camera can provide you with a wealth of creative photography opportunities. You just have to know how to use it and this is easy to learn. By using the steps outlined in this article and by playing around with your flash settings, you can get a great number of beautiful pictures using flash digital photography.

The power of digital technology has intervened in most works and imaging is one of them. The digital cameras have established a foothold in the market and are slowly but surely wiping away the film camera market. The digital camera has an edge over film cameras in many ways. The quality of the digital photographs differs from camera to camera and one can choose the digital camera that meets their requirement.

The cost and efforts are the major differences in the two forms of cameras. While film cameras cost less, the camera film cost is never ending. Once you have finished your roll of film you need to reload it with another one. The film then has to be developed through a lengthy process and then printed according to your size requirement. Developing the film isn’t an easy task and most of us would prefer doing it from a professional, which adds to the cost. On the other hand, digital cameras have the photos saved on the memory card in the camera. These can be easily transferred to your computer or laptop. They can then be easily printed at your home if you have a printer. The whole process of getting the image in your hand is much simpler and faster.

Digital cameras sport user-friendly features and offer array of options. The most useful function is the instant reviewing of your image. The LCD display at the back of the digital camera lets view your images taken and if you are not satisfied with an image you can reshoot it. You can get the right proportion of the image and not miss out on anything. The size of the LCD displays are increasing for better viewing and some cameras like the Sony digital cameras, Nikon digital cameras etc offer LCD display up to 2.5-inches.

Many digital cameras also offer video shooting ability. Most digital cameras will get you small video clips and higher cameras like the Canon digital cameras will get you extended video shooting. Digital cameras give you the liberty to shoot in several modes like black and white, sepia, tungsten etc, which will enable you to get varied effects in your picture. You can buy digital camera online from popular online shopping based websites. i.e. http://www.naaptol.com/buy-online/WO-shopping-best-deals-W6O/cameras/digital_cameras.html . These sites have different brands featured and you can get the one that suits your needs and fits your budget. You can also avail great deals and offers on your digital camera purchase.

Consumers have gone digital ever since the technology improved and became cheaper. Nowadays, digital cameras are build to be affordable and user friendly. Gone are the days when we buy specific ISO films for specific occasion.

Still, you need to learn about digital photography before you start using your camera.

1. Understand the features

Do you know how wide your camera lens is? Do you know the smaller the lens size (mm) the more you can fit into your picture? How much is the optical zoom of your camera? Do you know optical zoom is more important than digital zoom when you are taking a picture?

Besides, cameras nowadays don’t just take photos. Cameras like compact digital cameras are capable of taking video too. Can you benefit from this feature?

Digital camera is just a tool to the vast world of photography. If you really want to learn digital photography, you need to realize the potential of your camera.

2. Read the manual

Unless you are really into photography, a lot of consumers didn’t read the manual. If you are one of them, probably you have even misplaced the manual now.

But the fact is, your untouched manual is a very good guide for your digital photography hobby. It often surprises the consumers because their camera can do a lot more than they think.

3. Learn the basics

The basic of using a digital camera is to look at the subject from the LCD screen or eyepiece, focus on the subject manually or automatically, snap the picture and view it on TV or PC.

You will only know how to make your pictures unique after you master the basics.

4. Experiment

One of the best ways to understand the potential of your digital camera is to experiment with it.

Capture the subject with different mode and compare which of them is better. Sometimes capturing a picture under dim light with flash off is better than setting the flash on.

Since your pictures are stored digitally, you don’t need to worry about spending money on film. The maximum wastage can only be battery power which is also rechargeable.

 

One of my subscribers asked me how he could take digital photos at his friends wedding. He did not want to use the flash to distract the bride and groom during the time they were saying their vows. What he was asking me was how to get better digital photos in low light conditions without the necessity of using a flash. It’s a very good digital photography question. Good news; it can be done.

The flash is the biggest solution to low light digital photography. However the problem with this is that not all situations can benefit from using the flash. It’s also very directional, meaning it comes from the front only and does not light up the subject from all angles as you would need.

The flash can sometimes interfere with your “moment” socially and artistically and can flatten out your digital images. This is especially true for a flash that is built-in on digital cameras. The built in flash (and a flash in general) has the effect of lighting your subject on the front only which compresses the depth in your digital photos. Compressed depth can really decrease the beauty of your subject in your digital photography.

This can be avoided to a certain degree, depending on your subject and by watching how your light falls. Learn how to see how the light falls on your surroundings and your mind will become adept at knowing what works and what doesn’t with the flash.

A good way to combat the problem in low light is by using a higher ISO. Your ISO simply means the amount of sensitivity of light falling on your sensor. For example take traditional photography as a comparison to digital photography. Traditional photography ISO will be film sensitivity. (ISO in traditional terms works with film speed as well.)

The only set back in digital photography ISO is noise. If your ISO is perfect for the photo yet there is a significant increase in noise you can use software to sharpen up your digital photo. There are two good noise reduction software programs called “Noise Ninja” or “Neat Image”. If you don’t push the ISO higher you may find the problem with camera shake if a tripod is not in hand. By adjusting the ISO you will find that noise is better than camera shake. In digital photography noise will always be something to consider.

In digital photography, a higher ISO allows you to take photos in low light situations. In traditional photography you’d have to change your roll of film from. In digital photography ISO give you the opportunity to adjust a setting, rather than fiddle with changing film. This is advantageous if the subject is not going to stay around or you yourself are unable to stay for an extended length of time.

I’ll use another example. Let’s take for example you are taking dome digital shots indoors, like someone speaking, or playing an instrument. Perhaps the flash is not appropriate in this situation. In this case (which happens a lot in digital photography) you would simply adjust the ISO to a higher setting. If you set the camera on “ISO Auto” your digital camera will then detect that a higher ISO is necessary. Alternatively you can set the ISO yourself. This higher sensitivity can give you the opportunity of gaining the right exposure for the shot.

If you find that’s still not right, because your digital photo now has camera shake and you don’t have a tripod, you can in fact decide on the next top ISO which will then enable you to select a faster shutter speed.

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Want to capture the perfect portrait every time? Keep reading to learn some tips professionals use that you can adopt – even without a fancy camera or a studio of your own. Learn what you need to know about simple but effective lighting, flash photography, and more. You should also consider following a photography course online that would guide you step by step until you could take truly memorable portraits time and time again.

Good lighting is key to any successful portrait. With on-camera flash, you encounter problems that detract from a quality picture. For example, flash brightly illuminates your subject in an unnatural, flat light. It can also cast harsh shadows behind your subject – especially if they are positioned near a wall, or some other object. This effect is not attractive. Additionally, flash frequently reflects light from the pupils in the eyes, causing the dreaded red eye effect – something you definitely want to avoid.

Portraits are actually much more interesting if there is some shadow on the portrait, but not harsh background shadows. It is good to work with directional lighting and then use a reflector or some fill lighting to lighten up features that might otherwise fall into deep shadows. You don’t want to eliminate the shadows altogether, though. That can make for a portrait that lacks dimension.

Where possible, try ambient light, such as that through a large window, or outdoor light instead. If using supplemental lighting, place a bright, diffused light directly behind where you are standing with the camera. This illuminates the subject’s face effectively. You can then add some softer light to one side of the subject to fill in some of the shadows on one side and emphasise the subtle shadows on the other. You could also “bounce” some light from a reflector onto the side of the face, instead of using direct light, so it is less intense.

This set-up creates a well-lit portrait – then you can start experimenting with adjusting the lights to see the effect you can achieve. If the light behind you is very bright, you may need to slightly reduce the exposure on your camera to compensate so the bright light does not overexpose the subject. A decent photography course online would explain in detail exactly how to create these desired lighting effects.

Another approach to try is to place the bright light to one side of the subject and then to place your fill light or a reflector on the opposite side. Your fill or reflected light should always be less intense than the main light. This will show the curves on the face and body more effectively. If you use extra lighting, take note of how it affects your digital image. You may need to adjust the white balance on your camera or set your camera for the kind of lights you are using to avoid yellow or blue colour casts on your photos. You can avoid this if you use natural outdoor light.

For a great outdoor portrait, an overcast but bright, cloudy day works well. The clouds diffuse the sun so the light isn’t too strong, yet there is plenty of light to work with. Alternatively, you can photograph in an evenly shaded area. This will also eliminate hot spots or over-exposed highlights on the face in your portrait. Make sure you don’t have any light filtering in between leaves and branches, though, as that can look odd when it shows up in your pictures. Avoid using the flash outdoors if you can help it, too.

One great way to add dimension to your portraits and flatter almost every face and body type is to turn the subject’s body away from the light about 90 degrees. In other words, have the subject face the light and then turn their body one-quarter turn. This gives shape to the body as the light wraps around it. Now turn the subject’s face so it is facing the light. This illuminates the face, which is the focal point of your image. It gives your subject somewhat of a glow, and should result in some catch lights in their eyes, which can really bring a portrait to life!

Using lighting effects successfully can be a little daunting at first, but practice makes perfect – experimentation is key. By following a reliable photography course online you could easily master these, and more, lighting techniques, learning when and how to apply each for optimum results.

For most of us firing the flash is something that happens in the background and that does not require our attention.. Flash photography was not always so easy to use. Flash is useful in many situations for example when taking photos in dark scenes or when getting rid of shades in fill in mode. It is beneficial to know some facts about flash usage and how it works.

Flash photography has been around for more than a hundred years. At first it was a dangerous and a manually controlled technology. It used powder that was literally ignited by either fire or electrical current. These flash solutions were both dangerous and hard to use since the flash was not automatically synchronized to the camera’s shutter. This meant that the photographer had to manually synchronize the shutter and the flash making sure that the flash was fired at exactly the time when the shutter was being opened. Modern flash units use an electronic flash tube that is synchronized to the camera’s shutter – relieving the photographer from the burden of timing the shutter and the flash.

Here are some facts that are important to know about flash units and shooting photos using them:

Internal flash units: Internal flash units are built into the camera. They are controlled through the camera’s menus and buttons. Internal flash units are usually small (limited by the camera size). As a result they are relatively weak units and only allow photography in dark conditions to a distance of a few feet. Internal flash units are easiest to use as they do not require any special settings or buying and installing accessories. In most cameras the internal flash can set to an automatic “point and shoot” mode in which the camera fires the flash whenever it senses that it is needed. Some low-end cameras can only use built-in flash units. Most cameras however support external flash units attached to the camera body.

External flash units: External flash units are either mechanically attached to the camera’s body through a dedicated slide-in slot or are mechanically detached from the camera and only connected via an electrical synchronization cable. External flash units come in many sizes and have different features. They vary in intensity- how much light they generate and for how long – and in mechanical features – can they be tilted or skewed or are they fixed in relation to the camera’s body. The external units are electrically connected to the camera allowing the camera to control the flash timing. Some connection standards also transmit advanced information to the flash unit such as the reading of the camera’s light sensors, its optical settings and more. This allows smart external flash units to optimize their settings for shooting the best photo.

Firing the flash:The decision to fire the flash is either automatic or manual. The camera can fire the flash when there is not enough light available. In some scenarios the camera will not automatically fire the flash although doing so would have resulted in a much better photo. One such scenario is taking a photo during day time when the object is shadowed. For example if the object is wearing a hat the hat can block the light from the object’s face or when the object is lit from the side the object’s nose can block the light creating a shadow. In such scenarios the flash unit can be set to “fill in” mode. The flash will be fired to fill-in those shadowed areas but it will not be fired strong enough to wash out the photo. Another scenario is when the sun is behind the object. One example is taking a photo on the beach during a sunset. If taken without a fill-in flash the result will most likely be a silhouette of the object. If taken with a fill-in flash and the object in range the result will be a clear photo of the object against a sunset.

Flash can also cause problems: Shooting a photo using the flash can also cause problems. One such problem is washed out photos as a result of the flash being too strong or the object too close to the camera. Washed out photos do not have enough details and the object appears to be too white or too bright. Another problem is a photo with more details than in the original scene: in some scenarios the flash can create artificial shadows and lights which result in a photo that includes details that are exaggerated relative to their appearance in real life. For example when taking a photo of an older man using a flash the skin wrinkles and imperfections can look much worse than they really are in real life.

Flash is limited: It is important to know the limitations of the flash unit. Any flash unit has a certain amount of light that it can generate. Usually this amount can be translated to an effective flash range. When trying to take a photo with the object too far – more than the flash unit range – the object will appear dark. If you need to take a photo with your objects not within your flash unit range it is better to turn off the flash completely and use a tripod and long exposure. Using the flash in such scenarios can fool the camera into setting lower exposure which results in a photo darker than a photo taken without using the flash at all.

It is important to know the flash unit that you are using and to get a feeling of when and how it should be used. The best way to accomplish that is by experimenting. With digital photography experimenting is practically free as there is no film development cost – take advantage of that and experiment shooting photos in different scenarios with and without a flash.

iPhone contains many useful features. One of them is build-in camera and Camera application system for making photos. It looks great but what about camera usage with native applications? iPhone SDK provides the capability of using camera through UIImagePickerController class. That’s great but there is a small disadvantage – you cannot create a full-screen persistent “live” camera view like the Camera application does. Instead of that you should use UIImagePickerController only in modal mode – show the pop-up modal view when you need a photo and close the view after the photo is made. You have to reopen this view again to take the next one. Moreover, that modal view contains additional panels and controls that overlay the camera view. Another disadvantage is – you cannot take a photo in one touch; you need to touch the Shoot button to take a picture and preview it, and then you need to touch the Save button to get the photo for processing. Probably it’s the best practice but I don’t like it and I hope you think the same way.

What about using the UIImagePickerController as an ordinal non-modal view controller under the navigation controller the same way as we use the other view controllers? Try it and you will found that it works! The camera view works and looks as it should. You can assign a delegate and process UIImagePickerControllerDelegate events to get and save the photo. Ok, touch the Shoot button, touch the Save button – great, you’ve got the photo! But just look at this – the Retake and Save buttons stay above the camera view, and they don’t work now when they are touched… This is because you cannot reset the view to take another photo after taking one and touching the Save button, the view is freezed and the buttons are disabled. It seems you need to fully recreate the UIImagePickerController instance to take another photo. That’s not so simple and not so good. And you still need to use the panels and buttons that overlay the camera view…

Now I have an idea! When we touch Shoot, the view stops refreshing and displays single image from the camera; then we have to touch Retake or Save button. Can we get that image and save it without using the UIImagePickerControllerDelegate and then touch the Retake button programmatically to reset the view and get another photo? Sure we can! If you explore the camera views hierarchy after touching Shoot you will find that there is a hidden view of ImageView type. This class is not described in the SDK, but we can explore its’ methods using Objective-C capabilities. We can see that the class contains a method called imageRef. Let’s try this… Yes, it returns CGImage object! And the image size is 1200 x 1600 – it’s definitely the camera picture!

Ok, now we know we can get the photo without UIImagePickerControllerDelegate. But in what moment should we do this? Can we catch the user touches on the Shoot button to start processing? It’s possible but not so good. Do you remember our main purpose – creating the persistent full-screen camera view like system Camera application does? It’s time to do it! When we explored the views hierarchy, we’ve found that there are number of views above the camera view. We can try to hide these views and create our own button below the camera view to take the photo in one touch. But how can we force the camera view to make the photo? It’s very simple – we can get the corresponding selector from the Shoot button and call it from our action handler!

Ok, we’ve forced getting the image. But it takes us few seconds. How can we detect that the image is ready? It occurred when the Cancel and Shoot buttons are replaced by Retake and Save ones. The simplest way to detect this is starting a timer with short interval and checking the buttons. And then we can get and save the photo, using the corresponding selector from the Retake button and calling it to reset the camera view and prepare it for making a new one. Here is the code:

// Shot button on the toolbar touched. Make the photo.- (void)shotAction:(id)sender {[self enableInterface:NO];// Simulate touch on the Image Picker’s Shot buttonUIControl *camBtn = [self getCamShutButton];[camBtn sendActionsForControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];// Set up timer to check the camera controls to detect when the image// from the camera will be prepared.// Image Picker’s Shot button is passed as userInfo to compare with current button.[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.2 target:self selector:@selector(savePhotoTimerFireMethod:) userInfo:camBtn repeats:NO];}// Return Image Picker’s Shoot button (the button that makes the photo).- (UIControl*) getCamShutButton {UIView *topView = [self findCamControlsLayerView:self.view];UIView *buttonsBar = [topView.subviews objectAtIndex:2];UIControl *btn = [buttonsBar.subviews objectAtIndex:1];return btn;}// Return Image Picker’s Retake button that appears after the user pressed Shoot.- (UIControl*) getCamRetakeButton {UIView *topView = [self findCamControlsLayerView:self.view];UIView *buttonsBar = [topView.subviews objectAtIndex:2];UIControl *btn = [buttonsBar.subviews objectAtIndex:0];return btn;}// Find the view that contains the camera controls (buttons)- (UIView*)findCamControlsLayerView:(UIView*)view {Class cl = [view class];NSString *desc = [cl description];if ([desc compare:@"PLCropOverlay"] == NSOrderedSame)return view;for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < [view.subviews count]; i++){UIView *subView = [view.subviews objectAtIndex:i];subView = [self findCamControlsLayerView:subView];if (subView)return subView;}return nil;}// Called by the timer. Check the camera controls to detect that the image is ready.- (void)savePhotoTimerFireMethod:(NSTimer*)theTimer {// Compare current Image Picker's Shot button with passed.UIControl *camBtn = [self getCamShutButton];if (camBtn != [theTimer userInfo]){// The button replaced by Save button - the image is ready.[self saveImageFromImageView];// Simulate touch on Retake button to continue working; the camera is ready to take new photo.camBtn = [self getCamRetakeButton];[camBtn sendActionsForControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];[self enableInterface:YES];}else{NSTimeInterval interval = [theTimer timeInterval];[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:interval target:self selector:@selector(savePhotoTimerFireMethod:) userInfo:camBtn repeats:NO];}}// Save taken image from hidden image view.- (BOOL)saveImageFromImageView {UIView *cameraView = [self.view.subviews objectAtIndex:0];if ([self enumSubviewsToFindImageViewAndSavePhoto:cameraView])return YES;return NO;}// Recursive enumerate subviews to find hidden image view and save photo- (BOOL)enumSubviewsToFindImageViewAndSavePhoto:(UIView*)view {Class cl = [view class];NSString *desc = [cl description];if ([desc compare:@"ImageView"] == NSOrderedSame)return [self grabPictureFromImageView:view];for (int i = 0; i < [view.subviews count]; i++){if ([self enumSubviewsToFindImageViewAndSavePhoto:[view.subviews objectAtIndex:i]])return YES;}return NO;}// Grab the image from hidden image view and save the photo- (BOOL)grabPictureFromImageView:(UIView*)view {CGImageRef img = (CGImageRef)[view imageRef];if (img){// Taken image is in UIImageOrientationRight orientationUIImage *photo = [self correctImageOrientation:img];UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(photo, nil, nil, nil);return YES;}return NO;}// Correct image orientation from UIImageOrientationRight (rotate on 90 degrees)- (UIImage*)correctImageOrientation:(CGImageRef)image {CGFloat width = CGImageGetWidth(image);CGFloat height = CGImageGetHeight(image);CGRect bounds = CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, width, height);CGFloat boundHeight = bounds.size.height;bounds.size.height = bounds.size.width;bounds.size.width = boundHeight;CGAffineTransform transform = CGAffineTransformMakeTranslation(height, 0.0f);transform = CGAffineTransformRotate(transform, M_PI / 2.0f);UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(bounds.size);CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();CGContextScaleCTM(context, - 1.0f, 1.0f);CGContextTranslateCTM(context, -height, 0.0f);CGContextConcatCTM(context, transform);CGContextDrawImage(context, CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, width, height), image);UIImage *imageCopy = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();UIGraphicsEndImageContext();return imageCopy;}

Another important question is: in what moment can we hide the overlaying camera views and controls and create our own button? Trying the viewDidLoad… Oops… The camera view is still not created. Trying the viewWillAppear… The same thing… Trying the viewDidAppear… Yes, the views have been created and can be hidden now. Ok, we hide that and create a toolbar with our Shoot button. It works, but the screen flicks – we see how the standard views and buttons are shown and then hidden. How can we prevent this? I tried a number of ways and had found the best one: we should hide the views before they are added to the camera view (when the addSubview method of the camera view is called). It’s possible using Objective-C capability to replace the method dynamically at run-time. Ok, let’s replace the addSubview by our own method. In our method we can check that the passed view is one of the camera view subviews and set its’ “hidden” property to YES. So, we replace the addSubview in the viewWillAppear before the camera view is created. And we create our toolbar and Shoot button in the viewDidAppear after the camera view is created. Take a look at the code below:

// Replace “addSubview:” if called first time; hide camera controls otherwise.- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {[super viewWillAppear:animated];if (toolBar != nil){// The view was already appeared; we don’t need to subclass UIView// but need to hide extra camera controls.UIView *cameraView = [self findCamControlsLayerView:self.view];if (cameraView){cameraView = cameraView.superview;int cnt = [cameraView.subviews count];if (cnt >= 4){for (int i = 2; i < cnt - 1; i++){UIView *v = [cameraView.subviews objectAtIndex:i];v.hidden = YES;}}}}else{// Subclass UIView and replace addSubview to hide the camera view controls on fly.[RootViewController exchangeAddSubViewFor:self.view];}}// Exchange addSubview: of UIView class; set our own myAddSubview instead+ (void)exchangeAddSubViewFor:(UIView*)view {SEL addSubviewSel = @selector(addSubview:);Method originalAddSubviewMethod = class_getInstanceMethod([view class], addSubviewSel);SEL myAddSubviewSel = @selector(myAddSubview:);Method replacedAddSubviewMethod = class_getInstanceMethod([self class], myAddSubviewSel);method_exchangeImplementations(originalAddSubviewMethod, replacedAddSubviewMethod);}// Add the subview to view; "self" points to the parent view.// Set "hidden" to YES if the subview is the camera controls view.- (void) myAddSubview:(UIView*)view {UIView *parent = (UIView*)self;BOOL done = NO;Class cl = [view class];NSString *desc = [cl description];if ([desc compare:@"PLCropOverlay"] == NSOrderedSame){for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < [view.subviews count]; i++){UIView *v = [view.subviews objectAtIndex:i];v.hidden = YES;}done = YES;}[RootViewController exchangeAddSubViewFor:parent];[parent addSubview:view];if (!done)[RootViewController exchangeAddSubViewFor:parent];}

The technique described above was used in iUniqable application available from Apple App Store (Social Networking section). Feel free to use.

Feel free to visit the website of the developer www.enterra-inc.com

The photos we take are all about experiences – photos from our last trip, photos of friends and family and of places we visited. We also want to share those photos with our family and close friends and by that to share our experiences. In this article we will go over a few options for doing just that.

There are a few methods for sharing photos. Before the digital era sharing was done by printing photos and arranging them in photo albums. Then when family or friends gather they could go over those albums viewing each photo and talking about their experiences. Another way to share photos with people that were physically far away was via mail. Printed photos were put in an envelope and mailed.

The digital era made sharing photos and experiences much easier and almost instant. For example with digital photography you can share a photo at the instance it was taken with anyone in the world.

There are a few ways to sharing digital photos:

Sharing by email: Photos are computer files and like any other file they can be sent as an email attachment to any number of email recipients. To share a photo over email simply create a new email, enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the photo with, write a small description in the email body and then attach the photo files.
There are a few things to consider when sharing photos by email. Most ISPs and free email services limit the size of the attachments that can be sent. Many limit those to just a few megabytes. Some providers also limit the size of the email mailbox and thus sending a large number of big photo files can clog the recipient’s mailbox.
It is not considered ‘ok’ to email large attachments unless you personally know the recipient and he or she expects to receive such an email. It is highly recommended that you resize the photos before sending them by email. In most cases the recipient will only use the files to view the photo on the computer screen. For that purpose a photo resolution of 640X480 or 800X600 is more than enough and the reduced resolution files will be much smaller. If the recipient needs to print the photo then a high resolution version should be emailed.

Sharing using online sharing services: There are many online services that offer photo sharing for free. Using the service you can either share photos with a private group of people or share photos with the public. Sites such as www.flickr.com or www.shutterfly.com are very popular sharing sites. In addition to photo sharing they offer many other services such as photo printing. Using these services is simple: create an account with one of the services and start uploading your photos. When you’re done simply send the site’s link to whoever you want to share your photos with.
Sharing photos this way is very easy and efficient. You only need to upload the photos once and whoever you share the photos with can at their own time login to the site and view the albums. Most sites will resize the photo and reduce their resolution for faster viewing. However they will not allow the viewers to download the original full resolution file. In most cases this is not a problem as users can order prints directly from the sharing site. If they do need the original high resolution file you can always separately send it to them by email.

Sharing by FTP or other file transfer utilities: In this method the photos are just uploaded to an FTP server. The people you want to share the photos with will login to the FTP server and download the photos. This can also be done using online storage services that allow users to upload any file and then other users to download them. Similar to photo sharing services these services allow the sharing of files. They do not limit the users in downloading the full resolution photo files but they also lack the advantages of easily browsing through photo albums and quickly previewing low resolution version of the photos. Usually FTP servers are used by professionals or companies that need to share a large amount of data between them. Also professional printing services will sometime host an FPT server and have users upload full resolution photo files to this server for printing.

Sharing by burning CD/DVDs: This method is similar to the old fashion method of mailing printed photos. Instead of printing paper prints and mailing them you burn all the images for sharing on a CD (or DVD if more space is needed) and mail the CD/DVD to the people you want to share it with. This method is slow and used usually only when the amount of photos to share is very big and transferring so much data online is a hassle. An example for using this method is sending a large number of high resolution photos for a printing service

In conclusion there are many ways to share photos. For most users who simply want to share photos for viewing on the computer screen and maybe print a few photos using the online photo sharing and printing services is the best. These free services provide all the functionality most users need. Occasionally when you need to share a high resolution photo for printing you can easily send it by email.

 

 

Although this is the age of digital photography, one can still purchase cameras that use film. The key question is to ask why it is advantageous to use digital photography. What are the advantages of digital photography over the ordinary film camera? You will still many people that prefer using film not because they don’t know any better but because they just haven’t taken the time to weigh the advantages or are unfamiliar with modern technology much as the person who is afraid of computers. Anything new and different is scary for some people but to make things easier for those people it is important to look at the advantages of one over the other.

Before the era of digital photography many people lost beautiful pictures because they failed to take the film to be developed or lost the film until it was too old to guarantee quality processing. Keep in mind that film is only good for a limited period of time so if you misplace the used film or don’t take it for processing within a specific time, you will lose some of the quality of the photographs. With digital photography there is never a concern about the film expiring because there is no film. There is no need to worry about processing the photographs in a certain period because you can take the memory card at any time to get printed pictures or you can download the memory card to your computer and print your own photographs at any time you so desire.

Another advantage of digital photography is being able to see the photograph before you print it. Many times with film cameras the lighting was not right or we failed to focus correctly and the picture was blurry or otherwise distorted. With digital photography you can see the picture right then and if it is not perfect, you can delete that pose and begin again. This avoids the disappointment of losing a perfectly good pose because of focusing or exposure errors. You also do not have to take additional shots just to make sure one of them comes out the way you are hoping.

Digital photography has made picture taking for both amateurs and professionals easier. Even professional photographs can be delivered quicker because of digital photography and allow the customer to view and choose the pictures almost immediately instead of having to wait days for proofs and then another week or two for the pictures themselves.