Are digital pictures more or less expensive, compared to the cost of 35mm film and processing? Consumers today can expect to pay a premium for the ability to take digital pictures. Digital cameras with a wide range of features range in price from $300 to $1,000. However, in the next 4 to 5 years, anticipated advances in technology will result in a more affordable situation.
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Digital Imaging Digital imaging or filmless photography generally relies on electronic sensors known as CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices) and electronic circuits instead of film to capture images formed by camera lenses. These electronic images, or digital files, can be brought into a computer and either printed on the computer's printer or manipulated and subsequently shared with others. The popularity of today's home computers has helped to make it easy for many people to share these photos with others by connecting to online services or the Internet via home telephone or cable modem lines. Industry experts predict that during the next three to four years, digital cameras will offer even higher-quality images at lower prices than today. Soon, even the most casual users will be able to share their snapshots with friends and relatives all over the world - almost instantly.
HIGH CONTRAST An image that is high in contrast (as opposed to a "flat" image), wherein the negative, slide or print contains a wide density range.
HIGH KEY An image that is mainly made up of light tones, which relatively few mid-tones or shadows.
HIGHLIGHT The brightest area of a subject or scene.
HIGHLIGHT DETAIL Details that are visible in areas of an image that are brightest.
Ice Magic -- Lake Louise, Canada If you needed another excuse to visit one of the most photogenic areas of North America, here it is: The Banft ski resort hosts one of the world's largest snow and ice sculpture festivals for an entire weekend each February. Staged in the shadow of the glacier-clad Mt Victoria on the shores of Lake Louise, 13 teams carve in the Ice Magic Team Championship at Chateau Lake Louise, creating a crystalline walkway of world-class ice carving. Teams of three carve 15 blocks, weighing 300 pounds each, into breathtaking sculptures, each a minimum of seven feet high.
Il Palio di Siena (The Palio) - Siena, Tuscany, Italy Dirty fighting. Horses blessed in a church. Rigged betting. Inter-neighborhood fist fights. Amazing food. Hordes of drunken tourists. Now this is an event! The Palio is the roughest and most unruly of horse races. It is held twice each summer and culminates on August 16
I'm looking to buy a new camera. Should I buy a digital camera now? That really depends on how much money you're looking to spend and what you want to do with your photographs. Traditional cameras and film, even the simplest single-use cameras, still offer better picture quality and lower cost than today's digital cameras. However, if all you intend to do with your photos is to publish an Internet Web-site or send your pictures to friends via an online service, then a digital camera may be right choice for you.
My camera doesn't work well in cold weather. It will often make my picture too bright, or stop working all together. How do I stop this from happening? The problem isn't with your camera, but actually with your batteries. Batteries are greatly affected by the cold and many of them can be sucked-dry in minutes by sub-zero temperatures. The worst-performing cold weather batteries are Alkaline batteries. These are common, inexpensive non-rechargeable batteries. The capacity of these will be greatly reduced by cold weather, and you will have lost your investment, because they are non-rechargeable.
Rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride(NiMH) batteries are a better option. These have a higher capacity than Alkaline batteries to begin with and are much less affected by the cold weather. In addition, the shorter battery life in the cold won't cost you any more money because you can re-use them later at full strength.
Many photographers find that an even better alternative is Lithium batteries. If you do a lot of winter photography you may be interested in a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. These can be kept in your pocket, where they will be warm, and attached to your camera with a power cord. However, they are not compatible with all cameras, and rechargeable lithium batteries are not yet available in all popular battery sizes. The best insurance against the cold is to always have a spare set of batteries with you.
Roswell UFO Encounter - Roswell, New Mexico New Mexico, land of enchantment. Site of the first atomic bomb explosion. Home of Smokey the Bear. And in 1947, some say, the location of an alien encounter when an unidentified object crashed on Hub Corn's sheep ranch and caused quite a stir. Every year, "Roswellians" descend on and double the population of Roswell, New Mexico, for the Roswell UFO Encounter festival.
Saut d'Eau Vodou Pilgrimage - Saut d'Eau, Haiti On July 15 and 16 each year in the region of Saut d'Eau, there is a huge celebration that simultaneously honors the Virgin Mary and Erzulie, the Voudou Goddess of Love. If you go, you can pray at a church then participate in a real Voudou experience.
What major advantage does digital imaging offer to the casual snapshot-type photographer? The ability to capture and manipulate digital pictures -- almost instantly -- is a compelling incentive for many amateur photographers with access to a computer. Once a digital picture is in the computer, even inexperienced computer users can transform it into greeting cards, party invitations, calendars and more. Then, using their computer and their telephone line, they can send these crafty creations - electronically -- to friends near and far.
What size prints can I get from different megapixel cameras?
To figure out what size prints you can make from today's digital cameras, you have to first break down the pixel measurements. For example, a 3.34 megapixel camera works out to dimensions of approximately 1536 x 2048 pixels, while a 2.24 megapixel camera works out to approximately 1280 x 1600 pixels.
For a reasonable quality print you need approximately 150 pixels per inch of resolution (we'll call this medium quality), while for professional quality prints you need at least double that. For simplicity's sake, pick either the long or short dimension of the print/camera resolution and work with that one. For this instance we'll use the long edge of the print. Let's work through a couple of examples:
Maximum print size (medium quality) for a 2.24 megapixel camera: 1600 divided by 150 = 10.7." Using this example, you could get a medium quality print of up to about 10 inches (so you could get a medium quality 8"x10")
Maximum pro quality print size would be 1600 divided by 300 = 5.3". In this case, you'd be able to get a pro quality print at 3.5" x 5".
Maximum print size (medium quality) for a 3.34 megapixel camera: 2048 divided by 150 = 13.65", so you'd be able to get a medium quality print of close to 11" x 14".
Maximum pro quality print size would be 2048 divided by 300 = 6.8." In this case, you'd be able to get a pro quality print at 5" x 7."
Keep in mind that these guidelines are not absolute! Your lens, lighting, CCD quality and method of printing all play a huge part in the final results. Also, the resolutions quoted are based on optical resolution and not interpolated (upsampled) resolution. The formulas can be applied to cameras of any resolution, or you can work the formula backwards to find out how many megapixels are required to get the image quality you require at the size you will be printing. Good luck!
What's the difference between GIF files and JPEG files?
There are a lot of technical differences between the two, but here's the short answer:
Both formats offer some great image compression that results in small file sizes. In general, the GIF format maintains good detail, but reduces the number of colors in the file to get the size down. JPEG maintains a great range of colors, but tends to reduce the sharpness and definition of the images. For this reason, GIF files are usually used for text and logo images, while JPEG files are usually used for photos.
To learn from the pros, don't hesitate to "right click" on the images you see on web sites and select "properties" from the context menu that appears. In the properties, you will see the file name, which will indicate what format has been used for the image. If you want to experiment further, take a variety of images and save them as both GIF and JPEG files. Then, compare the size, overall quality, color range and sharpness of the various images to each other.
When I take pictures with my digital camera at night, I often get strange spots all over my picture. Is this normal for digital cameras?
The spots that you are describing are called "noise." This is common in digital cameras, especially at lower shutter speeds and higher, light-sensitive ISO settings, which are generally used at night.
The most problematic noise for digital photographers is thermal noise, caused by the camera's light-sensing elements, called photosites, being warm. Once the camera has heated up, the sensors have more trouble capturing an image.
The best way to avoid this is to take your high-ISO photographs soon after you have turned your camera on and to let it cool between shots. Some newer digital cameras will automatically test the signal from each of the photosites by taking a photograph with the shutter closed just before the shot is made. This "dark reading" will tell the camera which photosites are malfunctioning so that they can be subtracted from the shot.
Why do my photos look so much worse when I print them out on the laser printer at work compared to when I print them out on my inkjet printer at home? Although laser technology is improving, an inkjet printer will generally produce better photographs than a laser printer. In a laser printer, the laser is used to create a pattern of electrical charges on a rotating drum. This pattern then attracts toner (dry ink) to the drum, which is rolled over the paper. When printing a color photograph, the drum must be passed over the paper four times, laying down a different color of toner each time. These overlapping layers of black, yellow, magenta and cyan create all of the colors we see in the photograph. However, small errors that occur when lining up the different layers of toner can lead to the loss of quality you are experiencing.
These alignment errors are not such a problem with inkjet printers because the ink is sprayed onto the page by hundreds of tiny jets during a single pass, resulting in a more careful alignment of colors and more gradual blending between colors.
World Heli-Challenge - Wanaka, New Zealand What do you get when you take those zany Kiwis and give them skis, snowboards, and helicopters? Broken bones. The RipCurl World Heli Challenge in Wanaka, New Zealand, is proof. It's the premiere alpine sporting competition in the Southern Hemisphere, and when New Zealanders host a sports event, you can be sure it will be extreme.
