Always Recharge Your Batteries

If you use rechargeable Lithium batteries, my suggestion is to recharge them every chance you get. No need to keep them in the camera until the low battery indicator lights up. Remove the battery and recharge them even after taking as little as 5 - 10 pictures. This will allow the batteries to retain their power for longer periods and insures that the battery charges to the highest possible level each time.

The best scenario is to have a spare set which you can insert in to the camera while one set recharges, This way, the internal settings can be retained. Many cameras will allow you the ability to swap out batteries without losing the internal settings like the date and time. Most will not retain the settings when the batteries are not returned within a few minutes therefore a spare set is handy.

What You See is Not Always What You Get

Many times you take a picture thinking you have a great shot but later realize the shot is either washed out or not the right color at all. Your eyes are very complex and have the ability to adjust to all sorts of lighting conditions throughout your eyes field of view but your camera is not as complex.

Always take into account that the overall lighting and color reproduction is based on the central area of the view finders frame that measures the idea lighting. The rest of the picture will be adjusted based on this measurement. The easier option is to take pictures where you have even lighting conditions.

If you have a very bright area and also a very dark area within the same picture, 2 things will happen depending on where the actual lighting measurement is taken.

1: When the light is measured where the image is dark, The brighter areas will turn out over exposed.

2: If the light is measured where the image is bright, The darker area will appear very black.

To compensate, you can always take the light measurement in an area of the framed picture that appears to have a lighting condition that is between the darkest and brightest area. To do this follow these simple steps.

1: Move the center of the viewer finder over to the object within your picture that seems to have a lighting condition that is between the lightest and darkest objects.

2: Press the shutter button half way to allow the camera to take the proper measurements for lighting and adjust focus.

3: While holding the shutter button half way, now move the camera to frame the image exactly as before.

4: Now, press the shutter button all the way to take the actual picture.

The end result should be a picture that has an overall lighting that works for the whole picture and not just the brightest or darkest area within the picture.

Megapixels

The Internet has all kinds of definitions and descriptions about megapixels. Most are too complicated for the beginner to grasp how knowing what megapixels they have can benefit them when printing photos.

Hope this definition below helps you.

All cameras indicate a megapixel value whenever you look at the various advertisements. The value represents the size of the imaging chip that captures the light and the actual image similar to the size of the film in old cameras.

Smallest film size: 110 - instamatic camera

Normal film size: 35 mm - standard film camera

Larger film size: 4 X 6 - box camera

In respect to digital cameras, the higher the megapixel value, the higher the image quality will be for a given print size like 4 X 6. The chart below indicates the maximum print size suitable to retain a good print quality.

The maximum print values are based on taking the image size and dividing the width and height by 300. 300 is the value used by commercial printing firms to maintain good print quality. 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch) can for this explanation be also viewed as PPI (Pixels per Inch).

 By referring to the chart:

3.1 megapixel camera is the minimum required to print a high quality 4 X 6 photo or smaller.

8 megapixel camera is the minimum required to print a high quality 8 x 10 photo or smaller.

By referring to the chart you can see what your maximum print size should be or what the minimum megapixel your camera should have before you purchase your next camera.

Focusing on the Object

A common mistake made by many beginners is to press the shutter button all the way when taking pictures. This prevents the proper amount of time necessary for the camera to focus correctly.

All digital cameras have a built in focusing mechamism and to fully activate this, you must press the shutter button ONLY half way. This will triggers the camera to focus based on the image located within the center focusing square. Once the camera indicates with an audio beep or shows the image in focus, you can further press the button all the way down to snap the final photo.

DO NOT press the the shutter button half way, release and then press the shutter button all the way. This will defeat the auto focus and you will be back to square one.

Check Your Default Resolution Setting

Most cameras are set at a default resolution which is not the highest capable on the camera.

Learn to use the Cameras Basic Settings

All digital cameras have adjustments like these:

- ISO setting

- Scene setting like indoor or outdoor

- White balance

- Default resolution

By understanding what these do and how you can take advantage of these adjustments will allow you to take better photos with little added effort.. �

How to Tell if a Camera has a Built in Optical Zoom

Either the lens extends out when you switch on the camera or the lens moves when you adjust the zoom.

Optical Zoom VS Digital Zoom

Optical zoom is the better choice.

The original image is created based on the light being detected by the imaging sensor.

Optical zoom will use lenses to magnify the incoming light to enlarge the image detail before being detected by the imaging sensor.

Digital zoom involves manipulating the information detected by the imaging sensor afterwards and not the original light before capture.

 The digitally zoomed image is created based on the origianl 1:1 image size. This means the camera is SIMULATING what the optical lens does therefore the quality of the digitally zoomed image is not as good as the optically zoomed image.

Digital zoom is equal to cropping the image manually afterwards.

Camera and Photo Tips

Over the years, I have made plenty of mistakes and have also taken plenty of good shots by accident. I will be sharing my experience with you in the BLOG about digital photography in general. I hope to inspire you to take more pictures and improve your snapshots. I look forward to sharing and hearing back from you on how photography has changed your outlook and appreciation of your own MIND’S EYE.

 Bob Katayama

Street Performance

 CLICK TITLE FOR LARGER IMAGE

This image is based on the same main page image.

The image of the giraffe was also taken at the same venue and then later combined using Adobe Photoshop.

Please visit the Pages Link on the left hand side for more current images.

Location: Dundas Square - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date: July, 2005