Learn the ropes of Digital Photography

The camera has one small, slow chip and very little memory to do that interpolation. Your computer has a big, powerful processor and lots of memory, not to mention, no particular need to compromise their software routines to fit into a small amount of memory or trade quality for speed to avoid long delays after taking a picture. In short, your computer will do a vastly better job at interpolating the picture than your camera will, and to top that off you can choose different algorithms (often named after the mathematicians or programmers who created them, like Lanczos or Mitchell) and experiment with how well they work on a particular image. You can even save different versions of the file, including the original, which you can't if the camera is doing the work. There's nothing to be gained by compromising image quality, which is exactly what you're doing if you don't use the best filter you can get your hands on. The interpolated image even takes up more space on your camera's memory card, but it doesn't hold any more information than the original. Finally, as I mentioned above, it adds time between shots, as the camera has to grind away at reshaping your picture before you can take another one.

You can recreate the settings of a favorite shot or repeat a favorite effect, and higher-level information such as special lenses and light metering modes can be invaluable as you advance your knowledge of photography. You can even share this information with friends or colleagues to help duplicate tricky shots, or create a database or spreadsheet of the effects of specific settings to help you recreate effects or types of shots under different conditions. An example would be keeping track of how white balance changes affect the appearance of particular colors. Instead of making notes of what changes you made and what order photos were taken in (particularly when the string of photos were all taken of the same scene), you can skip the notes and compare the settings in the EXIF data instead. Then, when you work on your log, you can copy setting information over and just make a note about which settings worked best.

If you have ever wondered why TIFF files are historically larger than JPEGs we provide an explanation that will hopefully dispel the mystery. Even though TIFF files retain only 8 bits per channel of data, that data will take up twice the storage space because it has three 8 bit color channels versus the one 12 bit RAW channel. JPEG uses compression of the data at the cost of image quality to manage the data. Thus, RAW data offers the best of both worlds where it preserves the original color bit depth and image quality while saving space using only one 12 bit RAW channel. Some cameras offer compressed RAW that minimally compromises data. If you are taking photographs for fun, JPEG offers an option to increase the number of photos stored on a memory disk. So, why would you want to archive your photographs also as a RAW data file?

Analog or film cameras use the term ASA speed, however it is important to remember that a single digital camera can capture and store images at several ISO speeds. Amplifying the image signal in a camera can also amplify noise and thereby higher ISO speeds may produce progressively more noise in the photo. The character of an image in a photo can also change noise. Where lighter areas in analog or film photos tend to have the most noise, it is the darker areas of digital photographs that have the largest amount of noise. Digital cameras produce three types of noise called random noise, fixed pattern noise and banding noise. Random noise describes the abnormal intensity of color fluctuations compared to the rest of the photograph. It is most influenced by the ISO speed however the pattern of random noise may change even if exposure settings remain the same. Random noise may be the least objectionable, but the most difficult to remove where the noise is too often mistaken for true image characteristics. Fixed Hot pixels or fixed pattern noise describe pixel intensity that far exceeds that of ambient random noise fluctuations.

If you are looking to turn your pictures into pieces of art, there are many options available to you, as well. You can turn your print into a black and white picture and hand color some details. You can create beautiful special effects that will really make your digital photo stand out in a crowd, too. As you can image, the tools to create the perfect picture can cost a lot of money, if you have to purchase them. If you are on a budget, or just like to save money, anything you can find for free is a bonus! Well, there are free photo editors out there, you just have to look for them. Since the introduction of the Internet, there are literally thousands upon thousands of pages of information that are geared specifically toward helping you achieve the pictures of your dreams. You don't have to spend one penny to edit your photographs. All you need is access to a computer and scanner and you are well on your way. Just log onto any one of the number of free photo editor applications available and a whole new world of editing possibilities will be right at your fingertips. Don't let your money, or lack of, keep you from making the best pictures, just download some freeware and start editing your own pictures!

At the opposite end of the spectrum, you can take advantage of the extremely short duration of the flash in low-light situations. Flash firing time can be as short as 1/50,000 of a second, and while the camera's CCD sensor will remain active longer than that, almost all of the light in a dark scene that reaches the CCD will be from that flash event. This can effectively "freeze" the action as if you were using a shutter speed faster than your camera can support. Small built-in flash units have a very short "reach," often providing effective light only as far as two or three meters. This weakness, however, can be turned into a strength if you think about how you want to compose your scene. Certainly for "isolating" or emphasizing your subject, the ability to move only a short distance from background objects and radically reduce their light level is handy. In night shots outdoors or low-level indoor shots, the "weaker" flash gives more control over the content of the shot by dramatically reducing the "foreground" and magnifying the effect of distance.

The good news in the world of memory cards for digital photography is that new media is cheaper, faster, and more readily available than ever. The abundance of choices means you can always find a method of storage that fits your needs and budget, and you'll likely not end up with a camera that you can't find storage media for. Most of the time you choose your memory card based on which camera you have, and then you're more interested in size and brand than technology. When you're shopping for a new camera, however, you want to take memory type into account. That being said, here's the latest news on the available choices. Multi-Media Cards (MMC) are definitely worth looking out for. Developed as a royalty-free standard, anyone can make the cards or the devices that support them. As an added advantage, the full-size MMC cards can be used in SD card slots. As a disadvantage, the standard is growing - in the sense that there are now five versions of the MMC standard with different sizes, voltages and features, in use. So watch your eBay purchases carefully. Available in sizes up to 2 Gigabytes

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