Beginning Digital Photography

You've just purchased your first digital camera, or perhaps received one as a gift. Eager to begin capturing impressive images to share with family and friends, you take the camera out of the box and charge the battery. When the battery is charged, it's time to start using the camera!

A digital camera's menu system can be as confusing to first-time users as the dashboard of a space shuttle. Confronted with an extensive amount of setting choices, many users simply opt to put the camera on Auto and trust it to make the right setting choices in every situation. This can lead to disappointing photos, regardless of the make and model of the camera. Let's examine some alternative choices.

Changing the Camera Settings
Many digital cameras have a mode dial (or it may be called a scene selector) on the top or back. This dial will have, among other things, small icons which represent assorted presets. When one of these modes is selected, the camera adjusts for exposure and depth of field to achieve the optimal result. For example, your camera may have a small picture of mountains. This usually represents a preset for shooting landscape images (check your manual to verify the meanings of the icons). Select this preset to take photos of scenery, and your distant subjects will be in focus. In contrast to the landscape setting, you may see a flower icon; this represents settings for a close-up photo. Select this preset to capture images of nearby objects. You may have a beach setting, which will increase saturation of the color blue, to make lake or ocean water appear more vivid. A snowman icon will allow the camera to take snow scenes without overexposing the whites.

If you do not have a mode dial but would still prefer to exert more control over your camera than the Auto setting allows, you may want to consider Program mode, which is often represented by the letter P.  This setting allows you to preset individual elements of your shooting menu. For example, if you have noticed that your photos are often overexposed (too bright; too little contrast), you may want to adjust your exposure to a lower level. Programmed settings generally stay the same even if the camera is turned off.

Transferring Photos From the Camera to the Computer
Now that you have captured some images, it's time to get them out of the camera. Your computer may have a built-in card reader that will accept the type of memory card in your camera. If not, you can purchase a card reader for very little money at any store that sells photography supplies. Alternatively, your camera may have come supplied with a cable that connects the camera itself to your computer. This method works, but it taxes the camera batteries.

If these are your first photos, you may want to carefully consider your storage method. While it is easy to locate any image if you only have 12 or 15 photos in your computer, it can be daunting when you have 100. You can purchase software that will organize your images for you, or simply create a system on your hard drive; perhaps organizing them by date or place. Regardless of your method, it's important to start using it early rather than late.

Processing Your Images
Processing (often referred to as post-processing) your images is a vital step toward producing superior-quality photos. While digital cameras are truly amazing, they are not yet perfect. An image is rarely, if ever, ideal straight out of the camera.

Digital cameras often misinterpret the ambient light, which results in images that appear either too warm (too much red) or too cool (too much blue). This is referred to as the white balance, and may need to be corrected. You can use the image-editing software packaged with your camera, or you can purchase or download a program that better suits your needs and budget. Most image-editing programs will correct white balance. You may also find that your image can be improved by cropping the edges to accentuate the subject. Perhaps you will want to apply a little sharpening. It's very likely that you will want to resize the image if you are going to send it in an email message or post it on the web (unless you are offering it as computer wallpaper). Photos posted in blogs and on websites are typically sized no greater than 800 pixels in width or 500 in height.

Saving Your Images
When you are finished processing your photos, you will want to save them as .jpg files, perhaps with a unique name rather than the series of numbers and letters applied  by the camera. Interestingly, .jpg images are degraded every time they are saved, and therefore, unlike with most computer processes, it's best not to save too often.

Finally, you may want to periodically copy your images to a CD or separate hard drive rather than storing them only in your computer.