1. Watch Your Background – Make sure that in the picture, your background items won’t interract negatively with your subject. You don’t want a tree branch sprouting from Uncle Harry’s head!

2. Watch for Shadows – Slight shadows can be more pronounced in the picture. Make sure your subjects don’t have strong shadows against features you want to capture.

3. Get on their Level – Especially for children and animals, take the moment to kneel down in order to take a straight on picture. You’ll not only capture their expressions better but also give them a more inviting feel.

4. Get Close-ups – Eliminate the background by bringing your subject closer. Make it the only focus of your picture and highlight its beauty.

5. Use Flash Outdoors – This can help eliminate shadows on the faces of your subject in high sunlight. Can also brighten them in contrast to the background.

Pictures taken with cameras that take these huge four, six and eight megapixel images are way too big to email or use on a web site? The problem is that your images are physically too large to use.

You’ll need a program to make them smaller. Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements will do the job just fine. First you need to open the photo in your software and bring up the image resizing option – in Photoshop CS  you’ll choose Image, Image Size. The numbers you see at the top for the width and height are the current dimensions. As a rough guide, a common computer monitor’s resolution is 1280 x 1024 pixels and you probably have at least double that. A good size photo for a web site is around 600 pixels along its longest size. Click the Resample Image checkbox and the Constrain Proportions checkboxes and set the largest of the Width or Height values to 600 pixels (the other setting will alter automatically). Click Ok to resize the image. If it seems very small, use the zoom tool to enlarge it until the title bar says it is 100% size. That’s how big it is now.

Choose File, Save for Web, choose JPEG as the format and experiment with various compression values until you get a good compromise between file size and quality. You should be able to reduce each image to less than 30k in size this way.

Remember never to use the Save command by itself or you may end up overwriting (losing) your original picture.

In this clip from our step by step beginner guide to digital photography, learn basic digital photography tips and techniques, including how to capture a vision with a digital camera. It’s digital photography made easy.

http://www.learndigitalphotographynow.com/

Beach vacations are a wonderful opportunity to capture beautiful pictures. The most important factor in doing so is timing!

Sunrise – OK…So you’re on vacation and that means you don’t have to get up early. However, you will find it well worth it to pick at least one day to rise before the sun does. Carry your camera and tripod to the beach and click away as the sun rises to greet you.

Early Morning – Once the sun is up, take advantage of the untouched beach. Search for seashells not  yet carried away by collectors. Direct your camera to the lines in the beach left by the rising and falling tides while still unmarked by feet.

Mid-day – This is your best time to get high-activity pictures. If your hotel has a balcony overlooking the beach, take a wide angle photo capturing the activity below. Be ever watchful of other people, kids, and dogs as the photo opportunities are endless. A good zoom is useful!

Evening – This is a great time to snap pictures of the day coming to an end. Children longing to stay longer; umbrellas being carried off the beach; the aftermath of the sand having been played with throughout the day. Look for the unusual.

Sunset – Again, the sun can have a remarkable color effect on the water. Capture the shadows falliing across the beach.

Dark – Try to position yourself where you can see the lights from the boardwalk.

Take the time to capture pictures throughout the day. They will bring you memories to cherish for a life time.

In this article, found on CBSnews.com, Mr Gadget gives best buy tips for amateur photographers. A great article worth repeating here. Thanks Mr. Gadget!

Consumer technology expert Steve "Mr. Gadget®" Kruschen told The Early Show that digital camera might not be for everyone and what are the alternatives to the digital camera revolution.

The prices of digital cameras have steadily decline since its inception into the consumer market. Some basic prices for digital cameras have gone down to $200, fine for Internet posting and sharing online. The top-tier consumer cameras can past $1,000.

The biggest drawbacks to going digital are inherent in the differences between electronic and film media and how we use them. With digital, there is no "shoebox" in which to put photos. Photos will be needed to be kept in computer hard drive (not a good idea) or photos saved to a CD. Saving photos to a CD can be done inexpensively and easily by many consumers using what is generally referred to as a "CD burner," that can create or "burn" a CD.

The so-called sweet spot in cameras is the 2.1 megapixel (million pixels) imaging sensors, most commonly named CCD (Charge Coupled Device). The chip allows the camera to "see."

Digital Image Quality

Digital cameras have varying image quality… called megapixels…. the more megapixels, the higher quality the image, and the larger the file size. A higher quality makes for better enlargements and maintains a better quality image when cropped and enlarged. When shopping compare the various megapixel ratings and the maximum enlargement size.

Digital cameras don’t use film. They use on-board memory to store the pictured you’ve shot. The memory in digital cameras is always reusable. The greater the number of pictures taken without transferring to the computer, the larger the capacity and more expensive is the memory that is required. Most consumer digital cameras can use removable memory, and there are several types of memory devices, may come with about 16MB, enough for as many as 20 photos at full resolution. A 128MB memory card of the various memory types now costs about $60, less than half what it was a year ago. It’s either a case of taking extra memory on a trip or take your laptop computer (or an expensive device that will off-load the images and store them while you’re on the go).

Memory providers include Lexar(www.lexarmedia), SanDisk (www.sandisk.com), Kingston (www.kingston.com), SimpleTech(www.simpletech.com) and PNY (www.pny.com). Despite the claims, they’re all about the same from manufacturer to manufacturer, so buy on price, whether you need Compact Flash, SmartMedia. MultiMedia, Secure Digital, or Memory Stick.

Printing and Other Viewing Options

Next comes the printing issue. It is relatively expensive to print photos on an inkjet printer. Paper costs can run from about $.23 each for 4×6 sheets to about $.50 each for good quality, high-gloss 8×10 photo paper.

Add the cost of the ink and each photo can run from $.50 to $1 each, or more. Also, in most cases, these inkjet photos do not last but a few years without fading, especially if you want to frame these photos and expose them to daily light, even if not direct sunlight, while traditional photographic prints last generations.

Some printer makers are offering what they call archival inks that they say last as long as traditional photos, but at considerably greater cost. Any color inkjet printer, and especially inkjet photo printers will do a decent job. You can shop for photo paper in various sizes and in various finishes, but the following information may save both time and money. Konica paper quality is as good as any other. The paper is reasonably priced through their Website (www.konicaonlinestore.com).

There are also dye-based photo printers starting at about $300 that will do a great job printing photos. Check out these products from Sony(www.sonystyle.com), Olympus (www.olympusamerica.com) and from Canon (www.powershot.com).

Consumers can also upload digital photos to a photo sharing Website, such as www.ofoto.com and at prices start at $.50 for 4×6. They will use that same photographic process as with traditional 35mm film to make prints from your digital images that will last, because they are just like 35mm film prints.

An increasingly popular alternative to doing-it-yourself or to using an online digital photofinisher is a local solution. Do-it-yourself kiosks are sprouting up at retail locations that accept the removable digital media from your camera and offer photographic prints at a reasonable fee. Both Kodak and Fuji are leading the charge, with Sony announcing recently a move into this market.

Consumers simply may not wish to print their digital photos, but still share them. It’s easy to upload photos to the photo sharing Websites and create albums for invited visitors, family and friends to view. Users from anywhere, any time, can log on and see a slideshow (most sites offer this feature) of photos and even order their own prints! Or, simply send the images as e-mail.

Traveling and vacations are prime opportunities for photographers. But just when we have unlimited picture taking opportunities, we also have less access to storage of our precious memories captured with our cameras. Here are some tips for extra storage for those memorable times.

? Bring along your laptop. Though this is probably the most cost-effective and convenient way to save your pictures, it may not be worth the risk of damage or theft.

?Buy more memory cards. This is great if one extra card will get you through.

? Have your images saved to a CD. Many one-hour photo shops offer this rather inexpensive service. Just make sure you check the CD before deleting your images.

? Visit and Internet Cafe and email them to yourself. You will want to plan ahead with this option. Make sure the cafe has the capability to download your images from your camera.

Cleaning and maintaining your lens is an important step for beautiful pictures. Doing so correctly can save you a lot of time and money! But keep in mind  you do not want to clean your lens too often. This can cause damage which is not worth the small amount of clarity.

 To avoid the need to clean too often, keep your camera in a case with protective lining and use a lens cover. This will help protect your camera and the lens keeping you ready to capture those special moments.

Though canned air is not the best option, you can use it if you keep the nozzle 12 inches from the lens and approach it from an angle. Do not point it straight at the lens and do not shake the can. You can also you a blower brush, ear syringe or a Mini-vac. 

Use a microfiber cloth, in a circular motion to wipe the front of the lens. If it’s still not clean, use pure isopropyl alcohol on the cloth. Never use solvent directly on the lens. You can also try a 50-50 combination of regular windex and pure alcohol. If you have a plastic lens, no NOT use solvents!

If an interior lens is fogged, this can be checked by shining a flashlight through the back of the lens, do not try to dismantle the lens yourself. Take the camera to a professional repair shop for cleaning.

1. To give bodies more shape, turn them away from the light source.

2. To make your subjects appear more friendly and engaged, have them lean forward a bit with their chests.

3. To make your subject more shapely and thin, have them hold their arms slightly away from their body.

4. To reduce the site of a double chin or bags under the eyes, use a higher angle with high light.

5. To give your subjects a friendly, more engaged look, have them lean forward with their chests.