Digital Photography from Photo to Print
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Photography is an art. It takes practice, skill, and an eye for the unexpected. Not everyone will take the time to study a landscape, wildlife, building or other subject to discover its hidden depths. When this is done, however, great meaning can be found in photographs of seemingly trivial objects and scenarios. Photographers spend their days looking for innovative ways to shoot a particular subject. Digital photography is just one of the relatively new ways of capturing a moment and there are many advantages of using this method.
The darkroom is out of the picture and the computer and printer come to the fore. Digital photography makes taking a picture simple, mostly because it eliminates some of the guesswork with many automated functions. With the LCD screen on a digital camera you can now view the photo you just took without waiting and hour or longer to see the film develop. We are no longer limited by film capacity, but by memory cards. Memory cards come in many different sizes, from mere MB to monster 16GB versions.
Digital photography includes a range of professional cameras with interchanging lenses, manual settings or a simple point and shoot camera. Whether you are looking for a professional picture or something your friends will laugh about, digital photography has made taking photos easier. As we know, we are able to see the picture before we print, and most cameras nowdays have on-board editing options. This means that you are able to edit and view your photograph digitally before having to waste time, money and materials on printing.
Digital cameras come in all sizes; from key chain cameras to the larger, professional versions. We have all had a little fun with digital cameras on our phones, haven’t we? If you are more interested in the professional side of photography, the first digital camera you choose should have interchangeable lenses with a high resolution. It can be automatic if you feel more comfortable with light settings; although most have ISO settings, aperture, and shutter speed choices that you need to become accustomed to as well.
Like with older photography, setting up your shot is half the fun. Determining the settings you need to use for light is the next step. Setting up your shot still requires you to have an eye for the unusual or for creating the unusual from a common scene. Walk around the subject and look for every possible angle, you may even decide to take several photos to choose the best angle. This is where digital photography surpasses film cameras every time. Once you have looked at all angles and taken photos you get to see if you have achieved the desired effect. Experimenting is the fastest way for you to learn how to set the shutter speed and aperture on a shot and optimize available lighting because you see the result while you are still at the scene.
Instead of long hours in a darkroom you are able to get the picture you want right then. It certainly adds another dimension to vacation photos when you can see if your thumb is over the lens or the camera strap was in the way. Digital photography, like all things, has evolved to help us experience photography in a new way.