Hang On To That Digital Camera Manual!
October 16th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Basic Digital Photography Tips – Hang On To Your Digital Camera Manual!
It doesn’t matter if you got a single page set of instructions or a huge manual, hang on to it! There will come a time when you want to know how to do something with your camera, and can’t figure it out intuitively. You need the manual.
The best place to keep your manual is in your camera bag. (You have bought one by now haven’t you? We’ve discussed the importance of that basic digital photography tip before!) Cause sure as the world, the time you’re really going to need that manual is when you’re out somewhere and want to do something a little different than you’re used to with your camera. So keep it in your camera bag.
If something goes wrong with your camera, it’s also the best place to look to see what parts are what, and where you can send your camera for repair.
It’s Not Too Late To Use This Basic Digital Photography Tip!
“It’s too late!” you say. “I haven’t got a clue where my manual is.”
Never fear, if your manual is misplaced, downright lost or even if the dog ate it, you can usually find a copy online. Go to the manufacturer’s site that made your camera, and look for manuals for your specific model in the support or tech section.
Here are a few sites for some of the more popular brands of digital cameras:
- Canon Download Library
- Nikonians.org for SLRs
- Nikon Instruction Manuals
- Sony Manuals at Sony eSupport
- Panasonic Digital Cameras
If you have a different brand camera, just type in the model name of your camera plus the word “manual” into a Google search box, and it should bring up some sites where your camera’s user manual is available.
Save your manual to your computer. Depending on how big it is, you may not want to print out the whole thing, but just some of the more pertinent pages. However, when you need to look for other information, you’ll have that resource for digital photography tips about your camera available when you need it.
And sooner or later, you probably will.
Five Easy Digital Photography Tips For Weddings
October 13th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
When family or friends get married, it’s always fun to get some great photos of the wedding. Sure, most people have a professional photographer taking pictures, but sharing some of your candid photos can make a great after wedding gift.
Wedding Photography Tip #1 - Planning Ahead
If you’re not too concerned about what pictures you get, all you have to do is grab your camera and head to the wedding. But that can have disappointing results, like when you start to take a picture and find out your battery is dead or the memory media is full. Not good.
So remember, besides your camera take extra batteries and memory media! If you’re hoping for some really great shots and really into it, take a tripod too.
Wedding Photography Tip #2 - One Of The Basic Digital Photography Tips
This may seem so simple and so basic, it doesn’t need to be said. I’m going to say it anyway!
It’s just this… turn the sound off on your camera before you go to the wedding. If you don’t know how to do that, look it up in your camera’s manual. If that seems too much trouble, just go through the setting screens looking for the sound, and TURN IT OFF. Nobody wants to hear the little beeps during the ceremony!
Wedding Photography Tip #3 – Expand Your Focus
I’m not talking about the focus of your digital camera here, I’m talking about YOUR focus. The professional wedding photographer will be focusing on the bride and groom, and while it’s nice for you to get some shots of them also, think about the other people attending the wedding. Pictures of family and friends watching the ceremony and during the reception are usually quite appreciated by the bride and groom.
After all, the bride and groom are so focused on all the particulars of the ceremony itself, they aren’t going to see everything going on at the wedding and reception. Pictures of people chatting, children playing, folks going through the reception line…. just look for interesting groups of people and take some pictures.
Wedding Photography Tip #4 – Continuous Shooting Mode
If you’ve never used your camera’s continuous shooting mode, take some practice shots at home. After all, one of the beauties of easy digital photography it that it’s easy to take a lot of pictures and just as easy to delete them!
Test it out, and when you’re at the wedding, give continuous shooting mode a try. You’ll be surprised how often it’s the 2nd or 3rd picture after the intended shot that is actually a winner!
Wedding Photography Tip #5 – Wait To Delete
Let’s face it, even with a 3-inch LCD display screen, it’s still hard to tell sometimes if a picture is worth saving. Take plenty of memory cards and unless it’s a totally obvious “so-fuzzy-can’t-tell-what-it-is” sort of picture, wait until you get home to delete unwanted shots. You never know what gem might be hiding in one of those pictures!
Sometimes you can crop a picture to show just one good section. Sometimes the picture is just a little different from other wedding shots and worth saving just for that reason. Or maybe the picture just needs a little tweaking using a software program.
So wait until you get home to delete any pictures, so you can check them out on the bigger screen of your computer first.
The Wedding Photography Tips In A Short List
- Plan ahead and remember charged batteries and plenty of memory cards.
- Turn the sound off on your camera.
- Look for candid shots of other people at the wedding besides the bride and groom.
- Use the continuous shooting mode on your camera.
- Don’t delete any pictures until you get home.
Have fun at the wedding, and don’t forget to give the bride and groom copies of some of your great pictures! They’ll be thrilled!
Digital Photography Tips - Lens Care
October 9th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Since a lens is such an important part of the camera and so difficult to repair or replace, it behooves us to protect it in every way possible. Yes, it is appropriate, if not downright necessary to protect the lens on a digital camera so there’s no problem with breakage or scratches.
After all, why spend money replacing something you already had when you could use it for some new piece of digital photography equipment, right?
The Second Line Of Defense
Basics of digital photography put the UV filter as the first and probably best line of defense, but there’s another good option to consider, and that’s a lens hood. Many cameras come with a lens hood, and many lens hoods languish unused in the box or on a shelf somewhere.
Whether you’ve got a beginners digital camera or a top notch camera, rescue your lens hood from the realms of forgotten camera equipment. Dust it off and put it on your digital camera!
A Lens Hood Can Do More!
Granted a lens hood is designed to reduce or eliminate lens flare caused by bright light when shooting outdoors, but it can do more! If you keep the lens hood attached to your camera at ALL times, even when shooting indoors, it will provide yet another barrier between your lens and the outside world.
Not only will your camera lens have a bulletproof vest, the UV filter, but the lens hood can act as a suit of armor, and keep things from whacking against the lens.
Protect Your Digital Camera Lens
It’s a cruel world out there and you don’t want your camera to crack up or be scarred for life with a big scratch. And you don’t want to spend money on repairs or buying a new lens or even a new digital camera.
Use that UV filter, and its’ sidekick, the lens hood for a double whammy of protection to help keep your digital camera lens in one piece!
Lens Safety, Part I
October 6th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Good Pictures Start With A Good Lens
The most important part on the outside of your camera is the lens. It’s a pivotal part of your digital camera, and one of the determining factors on how good a picture you can get.
Now if you really want to hear a heart-breaking sound to strike pain in a photographer’s heart, it’s that loud crack heard when a digital camera lens hits something hard and breaks. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a beginners digital camera or a professional quality camera, a broken lens is a disaster.
Scratch Those Perfect Pictures
Less dramatic but equally disturbing is finding a big scratch on the lens. Of the two, this is the more likely to happen. It may not seem as bad, but it’s going to keep you from getting a nice clear picture when every shot you take has a blurred area where the scratch is located on the lens.
Either way, your pictures aren’t going to look too good with a lousy lens, and either way, it’s an expensive repair or a new camera.
Basics of Digital Photography - Prevent Lens Damage
Fortunately, there’s a digital photography secret that’s an easy and relatively cheap way to prevent scratched or broken lens.
Get a UV filter.
While a UV filter doesn’t really do all that much for your pictures, it’s a positively fantastic way to protect your digital camera lens. It’s like a bulletproof vest, and when the outside environment takes a shot at the lens on your trusty digital camera, the UV filter protects the lens from damage.
Not all cameras can use a UV filter, but if your digital camera will, don’t delay. Buy a UV filter and keep it on the camera! It’s a whole lot cheaper to replace a scratched or cracked UV filter than it is to buy a new lens for your camera.
Your camera lens is hard to replace. Keep it safe.
Keep The Memory Cards Safe!
October 2nd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Another Case For Just In Case!
You know by now you need to buy a case for your digital camera to keep it protected when not in use. But what about those little memory cards you use in place of film with a digital camera? While they are fairly sturdy, it’s still possible to break one, and even more likely to damage the little strip on the end that connects it to your camera.
It’s a good plan to buy a case for those digital memory cards while you’re buying a case for your camera! They’re not that expensive, and it’s a good way to protect the memory cards from damage, and misplacing or outright losing one. (You know, a place for everything, and everything in its place?)
Almost any store that carries digital cameras will also have these little memory card cases. Just be sure to choose one that fits the particular type of memory card used by your camera. They come in different shapes and sizes, so not all card cases will work for all cards.
Keeping Your Cards In Order
Once you have your case, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of putting empty cards in it with the labels facing OUTward. Then once you use a card and fill it with photos, place it back in the case with the label facing INwards. That way you can tell at a glance which cards have been used and which you can grab in a hurry to take more pictures.
Protect those memory cards. It’s bad enough to lose or break a one, but when that happens, you’ve also lost any pictures that were on the cards.
Keep your memories safe and buy a case for the memory cards.
