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Before buying, you should think about what kind of pictures you are planning to click as well as the circumstances. For instance, for persons who would look forward to have an accessible camera 24/7, battery endurance will play a crucial role. On the contrary, in case you’re considering this through the eyes of a professional, your requirements will consist of image clarity, zoom preferences, etc.

Take a look at the essential Panasonic Lumix DMCFP8 Digital Camera

Also consider the following cameras:
* Ricoh G600
* Sony Cybershot DSCW270
* Panasonic DMCTZ6
* Sony Cybershot DSCH20
* Nikon Coolpix S70

Moreover, it’s imperative that you are aware of the fundamental technicalities of these cameras prior to buying any particular one. A largely discussed about aspect is the megapixels the camera boasts of. This will fundamentally indicate how fine the resultant photos would be. Every pixel is a single speck within the photograph. Your computer’s screen also consists of pixels, and picture printers come with settings for how numerous pixels per inch to turn out.

For people hoping to print pictures that have been downloaded on a computer, cameras which come with 5 MP resolution ought to be adequate. In case you’re simply planning to show your images on a screen, TV screen, or on the World Wide Web, then your old 3.2 megapixel camera will help! New designs come with considerably advanced resolutions and you could expect to stumble on cameras which come with up to fifteen MP at the present.

Digital photography is taking the photography market by storm — and with good reason! To be able to take pictures and view them in real time is a true technological wonder! Digital photography may just be one of the most convenient “photo organizing” tools available — allowing you to immediately purge bad photos and keep only the highest quality photos.

But before you let yourself get swept away by the excitement; we want to give you a gentle nudge and encourage you to remember the old standby . . .printed photographs. Do you think we’re being unrealistic . . . .acting purely from a state of unbridled nostalgia?

Ask yourself this…how many of those digital photos have you actually printed?

Are they sitting on your hard drive waiting until you “have time” to print them, “have time” to get them into albums?

When was the last time that you grabbed the family and cuddled around the computer together to view those precious images? (You must admit that nothing beats a traditional album for sitting down with your loved ones and reminiscing over those
special memories.)

And what if your hard drive were to crash today? What would become of your family’s most prized possessions? Would all be lost in just a matter of minutes?

Okay, so maybe you have taken the time to download them onto a CD. Well did you realize that if that CD gets scratched, you have lost the entire contents of the CD?

Furthermore, did you realize that writable CDs have a significantly shorter life span than you may have imagined, and that they can be susceptible to breaking down after just a few short years?

So what’s the solution?

Well, we’re certainly not recommending that you abandon the concept of digital photography. But we do recommend that you set realistic expectations for the technology, and perhaps shift your perception of the concept. Think of it as a means of taking photographs and processing film. It is a means to an end . . . it is not the end!

Take the time to actually print your favorite photographs so that you don’t have to rely solely on technology to preserve your past!

Excerpted from “Save Your Photos and Your Sanity: How to Organize and Safeguard Your Entire Photograph Collection…in as little as 10 days, without losing your mind!”

Christine Sutton and her business partner, Tracey DuBois have helped countless people organize, protect, and enjoy their precious photographs. As authors of “Save Your Photos and Your Sanity” and producers of “Treasure Your Memories”, they take a unique and FUN approach to organizing photographs. They offer a FREE Photo Organizing Idea Kit at http://www.organizedphotos.com

Picture a beautiful holiday card featuring an artistic rendition of a snow

a scene done in soft pastels, or a nicely framed oil depicting a weathered barn in a field of poppies. These finished products and many more like them have one thing in common - a photograph.

An annual vacation presents a wonderful opportunity to start a collection of photographs for later development into a work or art. Someday you will have the time and interest to turn this raw material into watercolors, digital art, oil paintings or attractive, cropped, matted and framed photographs.

When on vacation, be prepared, mentally and equipment-wise, to record the basic images needed for enhancement. Cloudy skies need not concern you for nicer skies can be painted into the scene. Important are the basic lines of the photograph and the quality of light on the subject. The light from a dying sun can highlight details missed in other light. The

glow of dusk can create a warm, friendly mood, enhancing everything with a rose tinted mood while preserving the shadows in a cool shade.

A trip to the ocean could contain a foray on the beach at dawn. Sand dunes and beach grass, old boats drawn up on the beach, and macro shots of sea shells head the list of possibilities. Pictures that include the shoreline present an opportunity of creating an ‘S’ curve in your composition. Super close ups of patterned grains of sand make wonderful abstract art when processed through your computer software.

Arboretums and botanical gardens are a gold mine of photogenic subjects. Tree peonies, day lilies and mountain laurel make wonderful close up subjects for the camera. Look for curved lines, solid color masses of flowers and back lit plants. Winding paths supply a perfect lead in to a white gazebo or rose arbor. Be creative.

Every vacation contains the seeds of great compositions: Disneyland, river rafting, or a journey by car through the wilds of Canada are favorite fodder for the creative juices to work on. A European tour places you in romantic narrow streets filled with canopied shops, ancient signs and photogenic locals. Two weeks in the mountains skiing could include one early morning exploring a local forest, climbing up to a lookout point or capturing skaters on a pond. Then transform these ordinary scene into wonderful works of art with the creative talents lurking inside your artistic photographer’s soul.

http://www.photoartbyken.com [Articles, Digital Art, poetry, Original sheet music.](in progress)

Photoshop is a wonderful program that allows you to edit a photograph in as many ways as you can imagine. It allows you to control every aspect of a photograph and gives you editing tools that a traditional photographer could only dream about. With this wide range of editing and compositing tools comes the ability to create fantastic works of art. With the rise in popularity of photography and personal computers, the door has been thrown open, now anyone with a half decent PC and a few spare dollars to buy PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS can and are calling themselves RETOUCHERS.

In the hands of a skilled user Photoshop can produce awe inspiring work; in the hands of a novice it can produce images of extremely poor quality. Unfortunately, as the popularity of the program grows and people become more and more exposed to these poor images, this lack of quality is becoming accepted as the norm. Here are the things to watch for when creating Photoshop compositions:

1) Feathered edges. When you make a selection, using the dancing ants around an area you wish to move, change, colour or otherwise edit, you have to feather the edge by at least 2-3 pixels (depending on the resolution of your image), in order to avoid the jagged edges we so often see in photo montages. Feathering creates a soft edge that blends the area of the selection with the area it abuts. Feathering an edge by a high value is also a useful way to fade out a selection.

2) Correct Perspective. If you have one element in an image that has a different geometrical perspective that does not match the rest of the image the whole image will look odd. A viewer will generally not know what is specifically wrong with the image, they will just know that it looks odd and generally undesirable. This is generally seen in buildings or cars that have been composited in from other images and not had their perspective adjusted to match the greater image as a whole. This would happen if two images shot at different focal lengths were then combined. An image from a 28mm lens combined with an image from a 200mm lens will need perspective adjustment to look right.

3) Correct Depth of Field. Images that have one object or area in focus and then behind that an object out of focus, and then behind that another object in focus will look very odd and be completely unbelievable. Like perspective, combining images shot with differing depth of field will require you to adjust the focus of the elements to correct the Depth of Field. One draw back, while it is possible to soften objects to make them appear out of focus or have short depth of field, it is next to impossible to sharpen soft objects to make them appear to be in focus. Depth of Field problems are one of the most common mistakes made in Photoshop compositions.

4) Direction of Light. When montaging images it is important to combine images shot with the same lighting conditions. The play of light on an object creates a series of shadows that have a specific directional play depending on where the light source was in relation to the object. If you montage together two images with differing light sources the image will look unreal and undesirable.

5) Colour cast. All images have a colour cast otherwise know as WHITE BALANCE, this is the HUE of the white areas. Also know as the colour temperature of an image. Be careful to adjust the colour cast of montaged images so that the white areas look the same, doing otherwise will render your images unreal and undesirable.

The human eye has an amazing ability to spot subtle changes in what it considers normal. Stare at a picture of a pink banana, after a short while the banana will start to appear yellow, but you will still have the feeling that something is not right. This also applies equally to Colour, Focus, Perspective and Light Direction. When creating montage images in Photoshop it is important to watch for mistakes in these areas as you will want to have your images look as real as possible and thus as desirable or aesthetically pleasing as possible. I have seen far too many images used in big advertising campaigns with blatant disregard for these basic principles. Done right Photoshop can create compelling compositions; done wrong and it just looks, well… wrong!

Sean David Baylis is a professional photographer who has been using the popular photo editing program Adobe Photoshop since 1994 version 2.5. He is considered by many an expert user and is called on to retouch major national ad campaigns and art books in addition to his own commercial and editorial work. Examples of Sean’s work can be seen at http://www.sdbphoto.com

Before you choose a lens, decide what sort of photography you are likely to need it for.

Do you do mainly portraits and “people” shots (in which case you’ll want a short telephoto, say 100mm), landscapes (best with 24 -28mm) or sports / nature (300mm+). You can’t take good portraits with a long telephoto. Neither can you get action sports shots with a wideangle.

Nowadays, you can get zoom lenses in all focal lengths. An 18-55mm lens will cover landscapes and most standard work. 70-200mm will suit portraits and some action shots. Longer lenses will suffer from smaller maximum apertures unless you are willing to pay. They will also be harder to hold steady.

The quality, and the price, will vary depending on your needs. Your long telephoto will have a maximum aperture of perhaps f5.6, making it hard to undertake action photography in low lighting. The bigger the aperture the greater the price and usually the better quality the lens (in general).

Manufacturer’s lenses are fit for the job and usually of good quality (although even this may vary). However, don’t discount the independent manufacturers who often will give great quality and service at a much reduced price.

Spend the most you can afford - there is no point getting a great camera only to use a poor lens.

Eric Hartwell is an enthusiastic photographer. He owns and runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums http://www.theshutter.co.uk/forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com Anyone interested in getting involved contact him at shutter@theshutter.co.uk

If you’ve been waiting for technology to catch up with your point and shoot film camera, it has arrived. Not inexpensive at $250 to $480, the following digital cameras feature some type of vibration reduction, 6 - 8 megapiixels of resolution and a large (2.5″ diagonal) monitor (except Casio). Some have a viewfinder for easy viewing in bright sunlight and while all models have built in flash, their range is limited.

The feature of image stabilization enables you to capture a sharp picture in dim light without using the flash or when a telephoto lens setting is needed. Every one of these digital cameras are capable of producing ultra sharp 4 x 6s and great 11 x 17 enlargements.

My choice is the Pentax A10. It has the sharpest monitor, the most effective image stabilization and the best flash range. The DIVx movie mode is also a plus. However, you may have other priorities to help you decide on a model. The Sony features a terrific slide show with music but is pricey for 6MP. The Casio is low priced and thin, but hard to see in bright light. The Panasonic has a nice optical view Finder and is reasonably priced. The Canon has the longest zoom but is overpriced. All have a plethora of special features but the one you will use most is the dial marked ‘AUTO’. If the video capability is important to you then buy the largest SD or MS Card available (2GB). For regular still photos a 256 or 512 megabyte card is enough. Some models include many manual settings for the advanced amateur so further research may be called for.

 Camera			View	RES	Zoom		Card	LCD	Thickness	Flash	Price*

Casio Exilim EX S600	NO	6MP	38 - 114		SD	.6″ 	85K		9 ft.	$273.00
 Canon SD 700 IS		YES	6MP	35 - 140		SD	1.0″ 	173K		11.5Ft.	$479.00
 Nikon Coolpix P4		NO	8MP	36 - 126		SD	1.2″ 	150K		13Ft.	$340.00
 Olympus Stylus 710	NO	7MP	37 - 111		XD	.8″ 	115K		13 Ft .	$283.00
 Panasonic DMC FX9	YES	6.4MP	35 - 105		SD	.9″ 	207K		12 Ft.	$256.00
 Pentax A10		NO	8MP	38 - 114		SD	.8″ 	232K		15 Ft.	$273.00
 SonyCybershot DSCFX9	NO	6MP	38 - 114		MS Pro	.8″ 	230K		9 Ft.	$375.00

*Lowest Internet Quote

Retired portrait and wedding photographer.

A icy storm has taken over two thirds of our county right now. We are having some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded. It is so cold out side that the snow that has fallen on the ground is still as fluffy and light as the day that it fell out of the sky. My dog had refused to go outside. I know that he has to go to the bathroom, but now he has decided to hold it for as long as he can, and try to save it all up. Then when he really has to go, he barks and runs around the house, as if pleasing for me to let him out. As soon as I let him out, he ran to his spot, let loose and quickly ran back inside the house. Now, as for me, I like the cold weather. Being a photographer, the cold weather always offers you the best visibility. I am not too sure why that is but for some reason, when it is a nice clear day, and its cold outside, it seems like you can see the curvature of the Earth. I was driving home the other day and going past the airport, and I looked up and saw a plane coming in for a landing. Then I noticed in the distance, another, and then another, and another. I think that I could see about six or seven planes in the distance. I have never been able to see that far. It must be because of the clear sky and cold weather. Then all of sudden the clouds rolled in and then dropped a few inches of snow on the whole area. This paralyzed traffic in the area for the next few days.

As the light fades, do thoughts of photography wane also? If that’s the way you think then read on as we will be showing you that low light photography is awash with opportunities!

Images, whether from film or digital cameras, need one ingredient… light. How then can photographers get good images in low light conditions? Using flash would be one way. But even the most dimly lit scene has some light - and that means the potential for a great photo!

What equipment will I need?

Well, you will need a camera as well as charged batteries, that’s for sure. Also, a tripod is invaluable for exposures lasting greater than 1/30th second (1/60th in some cases). A torch, a decent lens and think about a remote shutter release - using long shutter speeds means the potential for camera shake and blurred images is even greater than usual (the alternative is to use a self timing mechanism to trip the shutter).

What about white balance?

Night time often means scenes lit with artificial light. This will inevitably give a colour cast to your shots although this can be pleasing sometimes. There are many types of lighting (tungsten, halogen, fluorescent) and they will all come out with different colour casts - live with it! Try different white balance settings to see what effect it has on the final image.

How do I calculate the exposure?

This can be difficult. But with modern digital cameras you can see the results immediately and therefore make any adjustments straight away. Your meter may lie! Be ready to change the settings (and give a longer exposure). Night time shots can be very contrasty (bright lights and deep shadows) - the camera won’t be able to cope with the extremities of exposure so just change the settings yourself until you are happy with the results! You may need to use the “B” or “Bulb” setting to hold your shutter open for long periods.

What can I photograph at night?

Virtually anything! The choices are almost limitless. We suggest you consider:

Buildings
Lights
Signs
Bridges
Cars / vehicles
Lit houses / pubs / shops
People (motion blur can be a useful effect)
Street illuminations
Fireworks
Bonfires
Fairgrounds
Reflections in lakes, pools

Look around for other ideas. Don’t forget if there is any light at all, it can be turned into an image.

To calculate exposures you can use a rule of thumb - see below for rough examples of exposure times. However, each circumstance will require a different approach so you can expect to adjust things frequently!

Night (assume f16 ISO 100)

Town / City 20 sec
Signs / Lights 2 secs
Streets 20 secs
Streets 20 secs
Churches 30 sec
Fairgrounds 10 - 15 secs
Candlelight 60 secs
Fireworks 1 - 60 secs

One interesting aspect of night photography is the recording of moving trails of light. Cars, buses, trains, bikes will have bright headlights and tail lights which will record as trails across your image if you shoot them whilst they are moving with a slow shutter speed of anything from 2 - 20 seconds. Try it! The same goes for fairground rides. And don’t forget that you can create your own trails with statically lit objects by zooming in or our during a long exposure or even panning the tripod head.

Bracketing

By taking a shot of a scene with, say, as stop of under exposure and a stop of over exposure, you will be more likely to capture an image that is correctly exposed. Bright lights tells the camera to underexpose. Many cameras will have automatic exposure bracketing to allow this to be done with minimal fuss! You are trying to record some detail in the shadows without burning out the highlights. If you take an image of a scene at 4 second exposure, take the same scene with 8 seconds and 2 seconds. In this way you will be likely to get the exposure you are looking for.

Night photography “feels” different. Different sights, different sounds, different locations and different camera settings. Nobody is an expert - we all have to experiment. With modern digital cameras this is something that can easily be achieved.

Have fun!

Eric Hartwell is an enthusiastic photographer and owner of the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and discussion forums at http://www.theshutter.co.uk/forums.

Recently my friends, parents home burned to the ground. As tragic as it was insurance covered almost everything. But there were some things that money just couldn’t replace. Like the antique furniture passed down from family. Like an emerald ring from his great, great grandmother. And the photography, the beautiful glimpses of generations in action. Time capsules from the past, our family roots.

These are some of our most valuable possessions, if not the most valuable! My friends mom says what she really misses most is all the family photography they lost.

Let’s rethink the way we go about our photography. Look at it from a new perspective, one that places the proper importance on these family treasures. There are many things that we can do to ensure quality images for generations to come.

First of all always use the highest quality setting your camera has to offer. The more megapixels you shoot with the better your photos will look when they are enlarged. Even if you like 8×10’s today fine, in 211 years they may want to make a 20″x 24″. Shooting at the highest resolution also allows greater flexibility editing your photos. You can crop and zoom more to compose a better picture without the image becoming to pixelated.

Use high quality long lasting photo paper and inks. When putting photos in albums, always use archival quality materials. Also display your photos under glass and out of the direct sun to protect them from fading.

You don’t need a fancy camera to record your families heritage. Today there are several compact and ultra-compact point and shoot cameras available that approach the quality of the digital SLR.

These new little cameras From Casio, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and other companies sport from 7 to 9 mega pixels and fit perfectly in a purse or pocket. Many of the features are the same ones offered on their bigger models. If you have an older digicam replace it right away, with one that’s at least 7 megapixels your ancestors will thank you and you will notice the difference too.

Back Up Your Photography. Set aside a saturday and scan every photo you own, even the ones on the wall. These images are what make a house your home. Pull out all your old negatives and get those in the computer immediately and preserve them. They are way too valuable to be deteriorating somewhere in the house. As you did with your framed family artwork carefully take apart your photo albums and scan those too. Next time you are visiting a relative, call ahead and ask if you can bring your photo scanner with and scan some family photos while you are there.

If anything were to happen to their photos, they would be able to replace their cherished memories with a simple call to you. Also give them a cd of the family photos that you scanned on saturday to hold as a backup for you just in case.

After you have your photo collection together, look for a photosharing website such as smugmug that lets you upload every photo you own, no limit. Once you’ve uploaded to your own private gallery at your own web address on the internet (Ex. johnstonphotos.smugmug.com), family members can order copies online anytime and any size they want. You can even order a burned cd of all of your photos and have it delivered. Having your family pictures in a few locations is very smart.

Use either link below to compare several different online photo sharing providers. Some are free like Kodak EasyShare and some are not, they all have different features to compare.

Take your camera with you everywhere you go. Bring it out and use it. Take it to the kids sporting and scouting events and capture them participating in activities. The only thing more tragic than losing a photo you love, is missing the shot to begin with. It’s not like you have to pay for film and developing anymore. Shoot it up!

Read books to learn more about photography, a few tips here and there will really improve your photos, which will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Have your families photo taken professionally on a regular basis. Every photographer has their own style including you. It’s always good to sprinkle another artists interpretation of the family into your photo collection. It makes it richer and more interesting.

Get one of the new photo viewers, like the Archos AV500 with a 100 GB hard drive. Store all your family photos on it and when you visit family, they can look at your photos on the built in screen or hook it up to the TV, for a show everyone can enjoy. Then exchange photo files. Upload your files to their computer and download their images to the Archos.

A photo from the photographer at the scenic overlook in Vail Colorado, of your family skiing together, is $35.00. The same photo, 20 years from now, framed on your wall, is worth more than money! In the long run, the investment in professional photography services is worth it.

Instead of washing the car on saturday, take control of your photos. It’s really much more important. Our photos are our most valuable family heirlooms. Great photography enhances your family’s legacy.

Visit KISSERreviews.info to compare several online photo sharing plans, and multimedia photo viewers. Read our review of the 5 best digital cameras over 7 megapixels. Read actual customer reviews or find accessories. You will also find KISSER reviews for digital cameras and inkjet Printers.

For helpful information about, How to Become a Freelance Photographer, visit our unique Freelance Photographer Jobs website at: FreelancePhotographerJobs.com for There’s a lot of free photography tips, tutorials and travel information there along with more great ideas. I have been a professional photographer at many western ski resorts. Starting out in Wyoming. Where I landed my first professional photography job, taking action photos of skiers on the slopes at Grand Targhee. I am currently a freelance photographer in Lake Tahoe, California.

As you might imagine the paradigm shift from traditional film-based photography to digital is rapidly creating new opportunities to learn and grow. The photography industry is moving at an incessant pace, and digital cameras sales have surpassed their film-based cousin at an alarming rate each year. On January 16, 2004, Eastman Kodak announced it would end its sales of film cameras in the United States and on June 15, 2005, Kodak announced it will discontinue production of black-and-white photographic paper by the end of the year as it continues its transition to digital photography. Soon digital cameras will hit critical mass and film will only represent a minute segment of the industry.

Traditionalists are disappointed, and amateur and advanced film photographers alike are pondering the inevitable question - how can I learn this new digital camera technology in shortest amount of time?

The differentiator between a traditional 35mm film camera and digital cameras is how the pictures are captured, processed, and stored. A conventional camera exposes an image on a roll of silver-halide coated film. A digital camera captures an image on a photosensitive silicon computer chip called a charged couple device, also known as a CCD. The camera converts the image captured by the chip into digital data and saves it in a camera’s memory as a digital photo. These photos can then be copied onto your computer’s hard drive where you can email, edit, and save them.

ASSESS YOUR INTERESTS

The immediacy of digital is quite satisfying and may present you with opportunities to photograph subjects that perhaps you had not thought of due to the financial constraints of film and development costs prior to taking on this new digital experience. It is important to assess what peaks your interest, i.e. sports, nature, medical, macro, people and lifestyle, etc. Brainstorm and narrow your equipment selection to suit your current and future photographic needs and budget.

CAMERA SELECTION

Just as with traditional film cameras, digital cameras come in two offerings: point and shoot, and digital single lens reflex (DSLR).

Both types of camera use flash memory cards (”digital film”) to store images and are immediately available for viewing through the camera’s rear liquid crystal display (LCD).

Point and Shoot

Point-and-shoot cameras are extremely affordable and remain popular in current market conditions. These cameras are easy to use, give outstanding results, and for all practical purposes are compact. Point-and-shoot cameras mainly offer a limited feature set, offering mostly automatic features such as: auto flash, auto exposure, and the camera selects the shutter speed and aperture for you. Family gatherings and vacations are ideal for point and shoot cameras. The corporate world also uses point and shoot cameras for company newsletters, web sites, and business functions.

Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR)

Digital SLR cameras offer photographers the ability to use interchangeable lenses and accessories, which give the photographer greater artistic control and flexibility. DSLR cameras allow photographers to visually check image sharpness and composition. The effects of changing lenses, changing exposure values, and viewing the camera’s histogram are immediately visible in the LCD viewfinder and/or eye viewer. There are many advantages of using DSLR digital cameras. They can handle a variety of lighting and focusing situations unlike point and shoot cameras. DSLR cameras offer optical zoom as opposed to just digital zoom, which essentially crops pixel data and will add unwanted noise to an image.

IMPORTANT TIPS

• Look for cameras that can save files in RAW.
Saving your image as a RAW file will provide you with a higher quality image to work from in post processing. Images shot in RAW remain uncompressed, unlike JPEG images. Through repetitive opening/closing of JPEG files image — image degradation occurs.

• Equally important is finding a camera with a minimal amount of shutter lag. It can be rather frustrating with some of the point and shoot cameras available when there is a long lag between clicking the shutter and the camera taking the shot. Choose a camera with a large buffer memory. This allows a number of images to be continually snapped before stopping to allow them to be downloaded and processed.

• Digital camera quality and the size of the created images are continually rising. As a general rule you will need at least 1800 x 1400 pixels (2.5 mega pixels) to print up to 6 x 4 inch with good quality. To date recommendations include the Canon Rebel XT (8.0 Mega Pixels), Canon EOS 20D, Nikon D70 and so on.

Based on the previous tips, there are two resources that will enable you to read professional reviews as well as real-world user feedback on various types of digital cameras presently available in the marketplace.

Steve’s Digicams http://www.steves-digicams.com and
Digital Photography Review http://www.dpreview.com

DIGITAL FILM: FLASH MEMORY

Manufacturers of cameras ,namely Canon, Olympus, and Sony use memory cards that are usually not compatible with one another. Canon uses compact flash cards and/or IBM micro drives. A micro drive is similar to a compact flash card, but it was formerly recognized for its larger capacity. Olympus uses an xD Picture card and smart media card, and finally there’s Sony. Sony uses a memory stick. File formats generated by flash memory for digital cameras are RAW, TIFF, JPEG (pronounced ‘J-peg’). RAW being a memory intensive format uses several megabytes of data on a memory card and does not compress the image at all.

Both RAW and TIFF are known as ‘lossless’ file formats because compression algorithms are absent, thus giving the photographer more pixel data and better image quality. However, since RAW is not as widely recognized as JPEG in the photography marketplace, special conversion software is necessary to convert images from RAW to TIFF or JPG. Some camera manufacturers include RAW conversion software with their higher end point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras, but it is not as great as some RAW applications developed by cutting edge companies such as PhaseOne, a Danish company that markets an outstanding product called Capture One DSLR. It is made specifically for photographers that wish to process RAW files.

For a complete primer on flash memory cards, visit the following links:

Primer: Flash Memory http://www.steves-digicams.com/flash_memory.html

Finally, once you determine which camera you plan to use, there are peripherals you might want to consider to round off your purchase. First, if you intend to take a lot of family photographs and wish to print photographs for friends and family, then a color photo printer is a must. There are low-to-high end printers. Get something in between. Needless to say, the printer is only as good as the paper you print your images on. Read the manufacturer’s recommendations and check the online forums on dpreview.com to learn who is having success with a particular brand of paper.

Interestingly enough, another peripheral that will save battery life on your camera is a compact flash card reader. It plugs into your USB port and permits you to download your images by inserting a memory card in it. This is preferred over downloading from your camera/cable because your camera’s battery juice will quickly render your camera’s battery dead, especially if you are downloading several hundred photographs. The memory card reader acts as an auxiliary drive. Just make sure you get a memory card reader specifically made for your type of memory card and that it can handle a high capacity card such, i.e. 4GB (Gigabyte) flash card.

In closing, it is important to determine your budget for all of your photographic needs before you start spending. Whether a hobby or soon to be home-based business, your photographic equipment can quickly add up in price. It is not uncommon to spend thousands of dollars after the digital photography bug bites you.

Ryan Shapiro is a freelance digital photographer based in Germantown, Maryland. His most recent clients include Kerrigan Media International and Harvard Graduate School of Education.

You may reach Mr. Shapiro at: http://www.digitalstockpro.com