The Photo Info

By David M Peters

You don't even have to open your wallet to take advantage of some of the photo editors out there. Many are free and ready to download from home! These software programs will fill your basic image editing needs with easy to use features offering standard photo enhancement jobs.

I've compiled a list of 5 free photo editing programs for Windows which you may like to look at. These are quality programs which give commercial ones a serious run for their money. Do take note, however, that some of these programs may be limited in features unless you buy an upgrade version.

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open-source program originally developed by two university students in 1996. It has now morphed into a powerful image editor with a huge user base. The latest version, the GIMP 2.0, has a revamped user interface that places it up there with mainstream image editors.

Picasa can assist in all of your photo needs from organization to editing. This powerful freeware helps you to directly find, edit and share all of the pictures on your PC. Picasa can easily manage your photos by arranging them into visual albums for quick reference. Plus, Picasa offers the ability to repair any flaws in your photos in only a few simple steps. Sharing your photos with friends and family is simple with Picasa's email, printing or CD options.

VCW VicMan's Photo Editor has a list of features comparable to Adobe Photoshop. With this program, you can effortlessly zoom into and pan within your image and carry out standard image editing. It also provides a wide range of color adjustment selections. While the free version is limited, you can purchase the commercial Pro version for the reasonable price of $30.

ImageForge is a freeware image editor gives you a great set of tools for painting and editing images and photos. Whether you want to touch up your photo shots, or add a creative effect to a boring photo, ImageForge can provide you with the tools to do it. You can even share your photos easily by creating photo albums and simple slide shows.

Paint.NET markets itself as an on-going project at Washington State University, with features that equal commercial functions, including support for layers. It is offered as freeware and is readily accessible for download. There is a special Effects API for you to generate your own special effects in addition to standard image editing features. The program also has a strong user base that sustains its progress and development.

I hope this has given you a little bit more knowledge about the best photo editors free for Windows. These programs are easy on the wallet while fulfilling all of your photo needs from editing to effects. If you find that you still need more out of your editing software after trying these out, commercial grade programs such as Ulead, PhotoImpact and Jasc Paint Shop Pro to provide for the more in-depth, long term photo editing tasks.

Would like to find out more about editing digital photography? Don't trust anybody's advice until you read this free report

By Nick Estrada

It's no secret that photography is hard work. Taking photos is a very creative process and requires lots of artistic ability. Not only that, you need to know all the technicality of exposing as well. This article will give you some beginner photography tips to get you taking great shots in no time.

One of the most valuable skills to get good at in photography is composing. Get good at this and everything else is much easier. Composing your photos is hard at first. But with the tips below, it should be much easier.

Tip 1: Don't just point and shoot

Many people take photos of things all the time. They see a bird. Snap. They see a waterfall. Snap. No thought is involved in taking the shot. Before taking a photo, look at it first. Notice the lines, the colors, the contrasts, and the lighting. See which arrangement would look best for the shot.

Tip 2: Keep it Simple Stupid

Nobody likes to find a needle out of a haystack. And in photography, that's exactly the same story. When people look at photos, they should tell what the subject of interest is instantly. If they have to ask "what should I be looking at" the photos too complex. Keeping your photo simple is easy. Just define your main subject of interest and isolate it. Don't have any unwanted details in there. For example, if your photographing a moose and there's a fast food restaurant close by, don't compose the shot with the restaurant in the frame.

Tip 3: Add Some Depth

A photo is a 2 dimensional thing representing a three dimensional world. Taking photos in front of a wall dead on will get rid of the depth. The solution is to try adding as much depth possible. Photograph from an angle so the lines add depth from foreground to background.

Nick Estrada recommends a Free Photo course that teaches beginners digital photography He also recommends a free five day video e-course on how to Sell Your Pictures Online

By Jason Kay

Pictures are priceless! And with families and friends usually spread far apart in terms of geography, pictures are the way to keep up with the latest news. With digital photography, you can see the new baby in the family, check out the latest fencing project that Uncle Jeff finished and see where Grandma is spending her summer vacation.

It used to be that when you took a picture, you wouldn't develop any pictures until the roll of film was full. Then, the development process meant visiting a local photo shop, waiting a week for development and getting prints back. Sharing these prints usually involved the US Mail or a personal visit. The options today are so much more user-friendly and you can pick the one that fits you and your sharing needs best!

The key to understanding options is to understand that there are very few rules anymore. You can take just one picture before "developing", you can crop and remove redeye yourself or you can merge pictures together. But before getting into advanced options, let's review some of the basic options for sharing your precious photographs.

Special Delivery!

You can still hand-deliver those photos today, but the options for doing so have increased ten-fold. You can now print digital pictures from your home computer whenever it's convenient for you. Some of the other options include taking your camera memory (check the user's manual) into a local super center or pharmacy chain. These stores usually have photo kiosks where you can insert your memory, select your print option and place your order. You can usually get calendars, postcards, shirts or cups with your pictures on them if you'd like.

Or you can create a collage of pictures and load to a CD. The software that came with your camera should have instructions on how to copy the pictures from your camera to your PC. Then follow the instructions with your picture software to create your collage and copy to disk. This option is especially helpful when you want to share the pictures with a larger group of people, such as an entire Pee Wee football team or all of the cousins who show up at the family reunion.

Upload and share

There are so many photo sharing sites available that it's oftentimes hard to choose among the options. However, for those who are somewhat new to digital photography, these are a few of the free sites that make it easy on the new user, but still provide a bevy of choices and options:

1. Shutterfly. This site has earned rave consumer reviews. It has free unlimited storage of pictures and when sharing the pictures, also allows for users to add comments! What's great with this site is that it allows you to create keepsake photo books and all types of printing options including picture borders, cards or photo gifts. The biggest drawback is that the only pickup option when choosing a hard copy print is at a local Target store. Although Target stores are popping up all over, there are still many places in the US that don't have a Target for miles! However, Shutterfly does provide mailing options.
2. Flickr. Flickr is another great online photo management and sharing application. Show off your favorite photos to the world, securely. Easily upload, organize, join groups, and discuss photos from all over the world. Also create books, prints, cards, calendars, and more from your pictures.
3. Picasa. Most users rate this site very high as it's easy to use and, after loading your pictures onto your PC, it sometimes only takes one click to upload to the web. It's easy to organize pictures into photo albums, share with as many or as few people as you wish and do some basic photo edits. The only drawback is that you have to download the proprietary software, so if you are someone who doesn't like to download software from the web, this option may not be for you.
4. Kodak Gallery. Of course, what option for sharing photos would be complete without Kodak being involved somehow? Kodak provides some great options that go beyond just sharing the photos online. You can order prints, edit photos, share photos and organize in albums. Some of the user options at Kodak Gallery do involve a subscription and of course, hard copy prints cost money. The option where the new shutterbug can create their own webpage featuring their own pictures is really neat and easy to use. One drawback to this service is that for anyone to view your pictures, they must also have a login to the site. So sharing is not just as easy as just sending a link.
5. Snapmor. This site is a little different from the rest. It allows you to create digital slideshows from your photos. Just upload your pictures, and they weave them together with music and dynamic transition effects into a really interesting way of sharing photos. Your photo slideshow "movies" will be put onto a DVD, which makes it really easy and convenient to enjoy, since you can just watch it on your TV. It's truly amazing what an effect adding music to your photos has. It must be tried to be appreciated.

Just about anyplace nowadays that still develops rolls of film will also have an option for printing your digital photos. Other options for printing out pictures include publishing stores and pharmacy chains. Check out their online store and look for the option that links you to their photo center.

This is a great option when someone you love doesn't have a computer or really just likes having the picture in her own hand. You can upload your pictures and instead of picking your local store for pickup, choose the store closest to your loved one. This is more like the old-time process of getting your pictures developed and mailing them out, but eliminates several inconvenient steps.

Just try it out

The greatest aspect about digital photography is that no one has to be a professional to take or share great pictures! Just keep your camera on and snap pictures until your memory chip is full. If a picture is truly bad, just delete it and take some more until you get the one you want. If a picture is close enough to being good, but is off-center or has a strange background, just perform some edits to change the background or center the faces. Then get ready to share with all your loved ones.

For friends and loved ones who are computer savvy, impress them with your ability to create beautiful photo albums. Enter captions and share with all of them, no matter how far away they live. For family at Christmas, create personalized albums or calendars as a fancy stocking stuffer. And for those who love to frame pictures or create scrapbooks, order some prints for them and let them be surprised when the prints show up at their front door! Check out your options and find the one that's right for you!

Jason Kay recommends you consider making extra money by selling your photos. Learn more about how to sell your photos Create digital slideshows from your photos at Snapmor.com.

By Andrew Goodall

A new digital camera comes with a multitude of features, but one of the first things we consider is the quality and power of the lens. But how many of us really understand what can be acheived by creative use of lenses?

The difference between a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens is about more than just magnification. To get the most out of your lenses, you also need to understand how they affect depth of field and perspective.

You already know that the telephoto lens enlarges everything in the picture. But did you also know that when you zoom in, or attach your large telephoto lens, you also reduce the depth of field around the subject? This is a great method for eliminating a distracting background from your photo. The result is twofold: the narrow field of view minimizes how much of the background we can see, and the small depth of field ensures it will be completely out of focus.

So when photographing subjects like people and animals, using your telephoto lens (or zooming in with your zoom lens) is often the best approach. The result will be a very three dimensional effect, with the subject appearing to emerge sharp and clear from the blurry background.

On the other hand, your wide-angle lens does just the opposite. It certainly does a lot more than just make everything appear smaller. The wide angle lens takes in (as the name suggests) a much wider angle of view, and it has a much stronger depth of field than a standard or telephoto lens. That means that not only will you see a lot more of the background in your photo, but it will also be much more focused.

Consequently the wide-angle lens is not so good for portrait style photos, because the background is too distracting. On the other hand, it is excellent for landscape pictures, especially when you have objects both in the foreground and background that you need to keep in focus.

The other aspect of your choice of lens is perspective, which is a lot harder to explain without pictures, but I will give it a go.

Have you ever watched a cricket match on television? (If you are from the United States substitute baseball here). When you see a close-up image of the batsman, you may notice that the wicket keeper (shortstop) seems to be standing right behind him, and the crowd is only a short distance further back. When you see a side-on view, you may be surprised to see that the wicket-keeper is standing about ten meters behind the batsman, and of course we know that the grandstand is a good 60 meters or so further back. So what's going on?

The answer is simple. The very large telephoto lens used for the close-up shot tends to make objects at different distances seem much closer to each other than they really are. In short, it compresses the natural perspective, making people separated by some distance appear to be quite close to each other.

This principle also applies to landscape photography. Imagine a scene with a tree in the foreground and a mountain range in the distance. By standing a long way from the tree and shooting it with a telephoto lens, you will also enlarge the mountains in the background. As a result, they will appear much closer to the tree than they really are.

Now imagine taking the same scene with a wide-angle lens. By standing a lot closer to the tree, you can photograph it in such a way that it takes up the same amount of space in the composition. However, by reducing the scene to fit the tree in the frame, you also reduce the background...making it appear much further away than it really is.

In this way, the wide-angle lens does the opposite of the telephoto lens. It exaggerates the perspective, making objects at different distances appear much further apart than they really are.

Put simply, the end result of these two approaches is this; the telephoto lens adds prominence to the background, which will appear relatively large in your photos (albeit with depth of field issues in some cases). The wide-angle lens adds prominence to the foreground, making the background appear much smaller and more distant.

Thus by simply changing your choice of lenses, you can dramatically alter the impact of your photos. Imagine the creative possibilities; you have the power to control how the viewer sees not only your subject, but how it relates to the surroundings at the same time.

This is a tough subject to explain without pictures, but hey - you have a digital camera. Why not step outside right now and try out a few of these ideas. Or if you are feeling lazy, sit down and watch some sport on telly. It may actually teach you something about photography.

Andrew Goodall is a professional nature photographer of 20 years experience. He is also an author, teacher and gallery owner. Visit http://www.naturesimage.com.au where you can see Andrew's images and ebooks, and subscribe to the free online newsletter for further tips.

By Dan C Jackson

Taking photos through an infrared filter gives your pictures a great effect, often beautiful, sometimes quite spooky! Do a quick search on Flickr to see what I mean.

It's an effect that can be achieved quite cheaply without the need for an expensive SLR camera with a fancy lens.

Step 1: Choose your subject. Make sure it's something stationary rather than a fast moving car or people. The reason being is that your camera shutter will be open for a few seconds, so anything moving is going to be nothing but a blur.

Step 2: Place the camera on your tripod. Make sure it's on level ground. If it's on something like grass and is uneven, adjust the legs of the tripd so that the image in the view finder is level.

Step 3: Adjust the exposure time on your camera to about 15 seconds (check in the user's manual on how to do this)

Step 4: Hold the IR filter in front of your lens. This is the only tricky part. You'll need to hold it flush against the lens, ensuring that there are no gaps between the glass of the filter and the camera lens. You can also try attaching it with some sticky tape or blu-tack.

Step 5: Take the photo. As it's a long exposure time, you'll have to wait for the shutter to close, you'll hear a click when it does.

Step 6: Review your photo on the camera, if it's too dark increase the exposure time, if it's too light, decrease it. It's all a bit experimental so don't worry if it takes you a few shots to get it right.

You can edit the photo in an application such as Photoshop. Many IR shots look great when they are converted to black and white so give that a go first. You could also try tweaking the color and contrast balances. I found that every shot was different and benefitted greatly from 10-20 minutes of "playing around" in Photoshop to see what made it look best. That's one of the great things about digital photography, you can tweak and edit your shots until you get it just right.

Daniel runs http://www.dan-jackson.com/blog - a UK based blog about photography, digital imaging and everything in between.

By Al Sanez

Because of the internet, now many are able to sell their photos online and start earning money. What once was a poor mans hobby can now be used to earn some decent money. Selling your photos online is easier than before and this article will show you exactly how.

How do you sell your photos online? What types of photos?

Stock photos is the answer! If you've ever seen an advertisement, magazine, book cover, or website photos most likely they used stock photos. Stock photos are any photo that is "loaned" to someone and they are then given royalties. These royalties let them use the photo in what they wish... books, magazines, etc. Now, these people must may the royalty rights fee to get the photos.

Before, only stock photos were available to major agencies. With the internet, however, micro stock agencies are now out and let people get stock images very easily. This also means that the stock photographer is now much more common than before.

Selling your shots in micro stock agencies is really easy. To do so, simply register for a website such as shutter stock, and then start submitting your photos. Every time your photo is downloaded, you make some money.

Now, you won't get rich off one picture (most of the time). But if you have a few hundred photos being downloaded almost every day, you could really start to make a decent amount of money. The amount of gains you get out if this is determined by your work.

Al Sanez has a Free 5 day e-course on how to sell pictures online

By Steven Wagenheim

I have learned so much about photography since my early days of photographing my wife. No, don't even ask. I used to think I had all the answers. Just pick myself up the latest and greatest camera and I was off to the races. Then I couldn't understand why my photos looked like garbage. Well, I quickly learned that it's all about lighting. I don't care how great your camera is. If you don't have sufficient lighting, your photos are only going to be so good. This article is going to give you some personal tips that I've picked up over the years that have greatly helped me make the most of my digital photos.

For starters, the time of day when you take your photos greatly matters. There is a huge difference between natural sunlight and the light that comes from your halogen lamps or whatever source it is that you're using. For example, I can take a photo inside my living room, with absolutely no lights on at all, just the window shades wide open, and end up with crystal clear photos. This will be true with the cheapest digital camera all the way to the most expensive top of the line model. As a matter of fact, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two as long as the megapixels of each are about the same. Natural daylight does wonders for your photos.

Okay, but what if you're taking photos at night? Well, then you're going to have to depend on good lighting. The flash of your digital camera, especially if it's a built in flash, is only going to do so much. Many times, with poor lighting, you'll end up with photos that are either very dark or grainy or both. This is what used to drive me crazy with my early photos. What I have found is that halogen lights are great if you simply want photos that are bright and crystal clear. If they're white halogen, don't expect very soft or colorful photos as the white light kind of washes them out. But they will be bright and clear. Just make sure the light is focused on the subject from the side. Either side will be fine. Anything but directly behind as the light will end up in the line of site of the photo. You don't want that.

If you want softer photos, you need different color lights. There's a resource in my signature that goes into all that stuff. You can read my review of it at my blog.

I never used to like taking photos. But these days, taking great looking photos is a breeze.

To YOUR Photographic Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to turn your digital photos into pure gold? Please check out the review of a great resource at my blog at http://digitalphotographytipsonline.blogspot.com/ where you'll find the answers to all your questions about digital photography that will turn you into a master of the lens in no time.

By Shen Gerald

Photography is the process of capturing images by means of recording light on a light-sensitive medium such as a film or electronic sensor. Generally speaking, the end product of photography is known as a photograph or photo.

Landscape photography is the photo taking of sceneries and landscapes.

In this article, we will present some tips for landscape photography.

1. Use the lowest possible ISO setting. What is ISO? ISO stands for International Organization of Standardization. It is a governing body that provides the standards for a wide variety of subjects. For photography, it set the standardization for Film Speed ratings.

2. When using Jpeg as a file format, set to the highest quality. This will ensure good image quality.

3. Where available, use the honeycomb metering mode. Honeycomb metering is also known as evaluative, matrix or multi-segment metering. It is a type of through-the-lens metering system that can simultaneously evaluate readings from multiple areas in order to determine the correct exposure.

4. Reset Exposure Compensation to zero before shooting photos.

5. Use a small aperture. Usually f/11 or f/16 are considered small.

6. For White Balance setting, set to daylight for sunny conditions. White balance is the process of eliminating or reducing incorrect color casts, so that objects which are white in colour will be rendered correctly as white in your photo.

7. Select Aperture-priority mode on the camera. This mode allows the photographer to manually select a specific aperture value while the camera automatically picks the most appropriate shutter speed for correct exposure.

Well, that is all for the landscape photography tips. Thanks for reading.

The author's photography website covers many types of photography such as Panorama Photography and Digital Black and White Photography.

By Andrew Goodall

ISO should be one of the easiest aspects of digital photography to master, but many beginners in photography still have a hard time understanding this fundamental camera setting.

I suspect this is because of the way it is being taught. You see, ISO started out as a property of film, and it was much easier to visualise it in terms of the old technology. So that's where I want to start my explanation, before bringing you into the 21st century with ISO today.

ISO actually started out as ASA, which stands for American Standards Association. Decades ago, a commercial film manufacturer came up with a set of numbers to define the sensitivity of different types of film. That set of numbers was accepted by the American Standards Association, so all American manufacturers could use the same system. Later, the American standard was adopted by the International Standards Organization, so ASA became ISO.

What does all that mean? Well, it means that the letters ISO didn't really stand for anything except for the name of an organization.

What is important is what ISO referred to, which was the sensitivity of the film. The emulsion on some films reacted quite slowly to light, and on other films much faster. Slower films had a smaller ISO number, like 25, 64, 100. Faster films had a higher number, like 200, 400, 800.

A slow film needed a relatively high level of light to create a well-exposed photo. That meant that to take a photo in darker conditions, you would need to use a fairly wide aperture and/or a fairly slow shutter speed to get a result. On the other hand, a faster film reacted to light a lot more quickly, so it needed much less exposure to light to take a photo.

Fast film sounds pretty good, doesn't it? A chance to take a photo in any conditions without a tripod, and to freeze moving subjects with very fast shutter speeds. So why didn't everyone just use fast films all the time?

The answer is that the advantages of fast films came with a trade-off; loss of image quality. The grains of emulsion on a fast film were larger, so a photo taken on a film with ISO 400 or 800 had a rougher, 'grainier' look. This may not have been a problem in a small print, but became quite apparent with big enlargements. Consequently, most professional photographers preferred to use slower films of 100 or 64 ISO for most of their work.

So is this just a lesson in ancient history? After all, you have a digital camera, so what does all this have to do with you. Well, it may surprise you to know that despite the huge revolution in technology, the essentials of ISO have not changed one bit.

Your camera should allow you the option of adjusting your ISO setting. Just like in the days of film, if you set your ISO to a low number like 100, you will need more light to create a correct exposure. That means that you may need to keep a tripod handy for cloudy days, and in certain low-light situations you may not always get the aperture and shutter speed settings you want. If you set your ISO to 400 or 800, your camera will become much more sensitive to light; you will be able to shoot in exactly the same conditions without a tripod, and with greater flexibility to choose the aperture and shutter speeds you want.

But here is the amazing part. Higher ISO settings still come with the same trade-off that once existed with film. Along with the speedier sensitivity to light, you can also expect the image to have a grainier finish. I don't know if it is pixellation, or digital noise, or a combination of both, but it is generally understood that for all their advantages, high ISO photos come with a reduction of image quality that becomes more obvious the more you enlarge the image.

So there you have a quick introduction to what ISO is all about. Perhaps I am just showing my age, but I find this subject easier to explain in old-technology terms. For many people it is easier to visualise when related to something solid like film, rather than something that happens on a computer chip. Anyway, I hope this helps you if you have had trouble understanding what ISO is all about.

The essentials of good photography should be easy for anyone to learn...as long as they are explained in terms you can understand. Visit http://www.naturesimage.com.au to see Andrew Goodall's photography and top-selling ebook "Photography In Plain English". You can also sign up to the free online newsletter for even more great tips.

By Richard Starkey

Arizona desert photography has made the state famous. Despite the fact that Arizona is full of lush, green forests; even with the snow-covered mountains and ski resorts in and about Flagstaff; and irregardless of the metropolis that Phoenix has grown into over the past few years; with all that has happened in Arizona, desert photography is still the first thing people around the world envision when they think of the state.

Early Arizona desert photography was the product of expeditions into the untamed frontier land. The 1872 Thompson Expedition, or the 1869 to 1872 Powell expeditions yielded a great deal of Arizona desert photography. Of course, this subject matter of Arizona desert photography was old hat to the natives of the area - even if the medium used was not. To the rest of the world, however, which had only heard of the "Wild West" and the Arizona desert, photography of the desolate places - which had seldom been seen by human eyes - captivated their attention.

The 1940s saw a renewed interest in pictures of Arizona, in particular desert photography, and the Southwest in general. Fifteen years earlier, Arizona Highways was first published as an engineering journal. In that early format, it was strictly concerned with the state's road quality. It also had photographs of the surrounding scenery, however, and these became more prominently placed as years went by. Eventually, the magazine would emerge in its current format - full of stories about the state's ecology, the history, jokes, travel information, and color photography.

Again the world took in the unparalleled beauty of Arizona: The monsoon storms; the purple skies of sunset in Spring; Lake Powell, named for the explorer who'd first showed it to the world in his Arizona desert photography some 70 years earlier.

The beauty of the Arizona desert hasn't diminished in all of these years. Arizona Highways Magazine still leads with color photography of the inhospitable but breathtakingly beautiful vistas of Arizona.

Richard Starkey is a blogger and writer from Tempe, Arizona. He is also a fan of desert photography.

By Matt Smolsky

The fun and hectic days of summer are upon us, and that means taking lots of photos at backyard barbecues, days at the beach, camping trips and other fun outdoor activities.

But just because it's bright and sunny out doesn't mean every photo is guaranteed to turn out right.

In fact, summer photography comes with challenges - a glaring sun, blinding reflections from the water, just to name a few.

Here are three great tips for taking great photos this summer.

Tip #1: Use a fill flash. We've all done it. You find the perfect backdrop and you position your subject in front of it, delighted you're going to end up with the perfect photo. Then, when you go to review your shot, you see that your subject is dark because your camera lens was facing towards the sun.

How do you solve this problem? Well, you can try repositioning your subject, though oftentimes this isn't possible without completely spoiling the shot you intended to get. Or, you could come back at another time, but this is most often not possible.

There are easy ways to get light onto your subject. One can be achieved by using a fill flash.

To fill in the subject with your camera flash, you'll need to be able to set the f-stop on your camera. First, take a reading with the light meter built into your camera. Be sure that your shutter speed is slower than, or equal to, your flash's sync speed. Then, go ahead and set your flash so it exposes at an f-stop 1 or 2 stops larger than the f-stop you set on the camera (you are opening up the lens, so more light gets in).

Tip #2: Use reflectors. Fill flash isn't the only way to bounce light onto the front of your subject. You can also buy reflectors at a photographic store, or you can make them yourselves using white cardboard. You'll have to experiment with how much light to reflect back onto your subject, so be ready to take a couple of different exposures on the same settings.

Tip #3: Handling bright reflections off the water. First, try a polarizing filter. It could reduce or completely eliminate the problem. It will also deepen the colors of the sky, trees, grass, etc. You will need to experiment a bit with your polarizing filter, but the results will be well worth it. The filter reduces overall light reaching the camera, so you will need to adjust your f stop accordingly.

Also, glaring water surfaces may require taking a little more time with metering. For example, if you're trying to capture sea foam on the waves as they break and the water is dark, try reducing the exposure by one stop. You can do this by reducing the f stop or reducing the shutter speed. If your subject is darker than the surrounding water (or other glaring surface) you can take your meter reading close up on your darker subject, and then step back to take the picture, overriding your camera's automatic setting with the reading you got close up.

Put these three tips to use, and you'll see a lot more of your summer time photos turn out the way you want. Of course, experimentation is the key. Don't be afraid to try a lot of different exposures. You'll be glad you did when you get the one shot everyone wants.

Matt Smolsky writes articles for a variety of clients, including Hoorray, a photo sharing website that lets new members create a free online photo album and is the easiest place to create a digital photo album, calendar, and more.

By Daniel P Elliott

With the proliferation of digital cameras, photography using 35mm cameras of yesteryear is quickly becoming an obsolete art form. More and more major manufacturers are discontinuing production of 35mm cameras altogether. As digital cameras advance both in resolution and versatility more and more people are finding that they don't need to be a whiz at electronics to take a decent picture. There are pros and cons to using a digital camera over a 35mm camera. Your choices are either a compact point-and-shoot camera or a Single-Lens Reflex, or SLR.

A serious photographer or professional will always opt for a Digital SLR as their primary camera. SLR cameras allow the user flexibility and precision that surpasses point-and-shoot cameras because of the quality lens attachments, settings, and format of file image. SLRs also take less time to perform the same operations that compact point-and-shoot cameras can do. This is a must if high speed or action shots are desired such as you would take at a sports game. As a general rule, SLR cameras provide higher resolution, or mega-pixels, than compact cameras. This is due to the physical size of the chips that receive the light and image inside the camera.

Despite some compact point-and-shoot cameras surpassing a few SLRs in the number of mega-pixels, it does not mean that the compact cameras will provide a superior image. The sizes of the sensor chips inside compact cameras are smaller so that each pixel is being crammed in. This can produce some digital noise which shows up as slightly specked or a grainy image.

SLR cameras are superior in every way except for the cost and weight. SLR cameras start around the $400 range just for the body. Once you begin to add on a lens or two, the cost will start around $600. Many of the better SLR cameras range from $1200 all the way up past $7000. Because of the lenses, SLR cameras tend to be moderately heavier than compacts.

The majority of people won't want or need an SLR Digital camera. Compact cameras are improving every month and what was never possible last year, is now common place today. Mega-pixels is the buzzword that everyone looks to when deciding on which camera to purchase. Generally speaking, the higher the mega-pixel count a camera can take the better the photo will be. A common 5 or 6 mega-pixel camera can take absolutely beautiful photos. The big draw to choose a camera with 8 or even 10 mega-pixel capability is that one can enlarge the image to an 11X13 size photo and larger with no detectable loss of quality by the human eye. The disadvantage of using a high mega-pixel capable camera is that they are often very slow and can be extremely difficult to get a crystal clear picture, unless they have an image stabilizer function.

The cost of compact digital cameras is a fraction of their big brothers. Some start below $100. A relatively good compact camera can be found for around $180 and up. The more one spends on a point-and-shoot digital camera, the more features and control the user will have. Many compact cameras today feature controls that could only be found on higher end SLRs five years ago.

It's not very difficult to get a decent camera in any price range, but if an individual is looking for the best possible photo, such as of a family portrait or a wedding, an SLR camera is the one with which to go. For most people, spending a ton of money on an SLR camera for a rich quality picture is not practical. Professional photographer studios are easily found and have the experience to give you the best possible pictures for the lowest cost.

For examples and photographs of the excellent picture quality you can experience from digital photography, many professional photographers have portfolios on their Websites. Visit http://www.photographersguild.com for some excellent samples. The Photographer's Guild studio specializes in all types of portraits and photography, including bridal, wedding, engagement, senior class, pets, family photos, and organizational/company pictures.

Daniel Elliott is an independent contractor who authors articles and media on a variety of topics for diverse audiences. WebDrafter.com, Inc. produces Website design, hosting, and search engine marketing services for many of the clients, industries and markets related to the articles and media authored by Dan Elliott. If you would like Dan Elliott to ghost write or pen an article for you or your company, please contact him with your specifications.

Understand how online articles add value to your business while providing valuable information to the public, consider reading the book Website 411: Business Survival in an Internet Economy ( http://www.website411book.com ). Offer a value to your readers by providing education on relevant topics that interest them.

By Augusto Clarke

I'm guessing that I'm a lot like you in that I want to take good pictures.

Not necessarily because I want to sell them, but just because I want to take better pictures when I go on vacation or when I go to parties or just when I'm going around town. I've done a lot of searching and have found some tips that I thought you may find handy, so I figured I'd share with you in this article.

This is by no means a definitive list, but these are the most pertinent digital photography tips about landscape photography that I've found most useful. Without further ado, here are 8 tips about digital photography of landscapes:

Landscape pictures:

1. The best light is early in the morning, or late afternoon just before sunset. No one ever photographs the Grand Canyon in the middle of the day for a reason. The hour just after sunset is known as the golden hour because of the golden hue of the light. Make sure you turn off the flash so you can capture all the colors. Make sure that you use a tripod to steady the camera during times of low light. A window sill, fence post or wall will do the trick in a pinch. Of course, you can take pictures at any time of day, just make sure that you play around with the effect of the natural light on your photo. So, tip #1 can be summarized as: Choose the right light.

2. Use the software on your camera. Depending on the camera, it may have a special setting just for taking digital pictures of the landscape. It's usually called the landscape shooting mode. This camera mode usually ensures that all items both near and far are focused and color balanced. So, tip #2 can be summarized as: Use your camera's settings properly.

3. If you want to show the magnitude of a scene, use objects that are close to the camera to show the magnitude and scale of the scene. Use something like a fence post or the branch of a tree to juxtapose in your picture.

4. Another great way to show the magnitude of a scene is to feature people in the landscape pictures. This is great for showing the majesty of the scene.

5. Place your subjects off center. Place the people or the objects in your pictures just off center to make for a more interesting shot. Some scenes are just more interesting when there's a person in the picture.

6. Frame the shot using framing techniques to help the photo seem complete.

7. Enhance your photos using the color effects that come with your camera's software. For instance, you can enhance the color of the sky or of the ground using the digital settings on your camera to make the scene look richer.

8. Have fun taking pictures!

Want more? Check out vacation photography for tips on taking better pictures while you're on vacation.

By Peter Phun

Here are some suggestions to help you as you document your children's lives.

1. Photograph at their level. Get down close. Show the world from their perspective.
2. Shoot a lot. If you're using a digital camera, there's no waste, so why not? Even the most mundane activities can be give you great memories.A great benefit of shooting a lot? They'll get used to you and the camera and ignore you after awhile.
3. Pre-focus if you have manual focus capability. If they're on a swing, focus manually on a spot when they'll be swinging through. Then wait and time it. You'll get better results than trying to let your camera chase the focus. If your digital camera doesn't have this manual focus capability, try this. Half depressing the shutter to lock the focus then wait for the right time to fully depress the shutter.
4. Set the exposure beforehand, so all you have to do is compose, making sure the subject is framed the way you want in your viewfinder before tripping the shutter.
5. Use a long telephoto lens especially if you're in the bright outdoors. This clears out the clutter of the background and isolates your subject. Also gives them some space so that they'll forget about you and stop hamming it up.
6. Talk to your subject, engage them in conversation. It will help them forget about the camera. Or don't. With kids sometimes you have to play it by ear.
7. Don't get in their faces the whole time. Not every picture has to show their faces. Try one that shows perhaps how little they are compared to dad's leg or maybe dad's hand. These can be closeups.
8. Try shooting in monochrome mode or black and white mode.If you don't know much about photo-editing and don't want to learn, look for that setting in your owner's manual but remember to set it back to color afterwards.
9. Shoot with the highest jpeg quality. If you know photoshop, by all means shoot both jpeg and raw. Having a large digital file is like having a longer zoom because it allows you to crop the picture and still have good resolution to print the cropped image.
10. Be flexible. Some of thebest pictures of kids are not posed. Keep your camera handy all the time. Point-and-shoot cameras are great for that because they're compact and easy to keep close by.
11. Pay attention to your shutter speed. If your camera is sophisticated enough to display this setting, try to use a high shutter speed since kids seldom stay still. A side benefit of this is that you'll have a shallow depth-of-field or zone of sharpness so that your subject will be emphasized if the camera is correctly focused on your child. If you're using a digital SLR, try shutter priority with a shutter speed set at 1/500th of a second, letting the camera select the aperture automatically.
12. Study and analyze the lighting. There are 2 reasons. When you preview your image after taking the picture, how do the skin tones look? You may have to change the white balance if you find you can't live it how it looks. If that doesn't work, maybe turn the room light off and just let one light source dominate. 2nd reason. Is the lighting too harsh? Cameras can only record a certain range of highlight and shadow, something has to give. You may have to use a flash to boost the shadow areas to tame the contrast.
13. Use the self-timer. If you see a wonderful moment and the light is wonderful, don't forget to include yourself in the picture. Set it up and get in the picture. This will naturally make it more fun for your child.

Read a more detailed, illustrated version on this article about how to photograph your kids. Peter Phun is an adjunct photography instructor at Riverside City College. He is a freelance photographer, web designer and stay-at-home dad. He previously worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. Peter is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire. For more information about this Riverside based photographer, visit http://www.peterphun.com

By Mara Griffins

Fourth of July is right around the corner and capturing the light-filled moments of the fireworks is something we may have all attempted. Unfortunately, we sometimes end up with prints that look foggy, blurry, and painted with a mixture of light -- that look nothing like the fireworks we had viewed. Here's the great news -- making the photos better is simple if you follow a few tips.

Lights, camera, action

Turning the independence holiday into a memorable event is easier than you think. Check out these strategies for taking some fabulous fireworks photos.

#1 Don't overexpose your picture.

Photos have a unique quality when it comes to fireworks: you should take them at a precise moment. If your camera is set to snap the photo in the wrong number of seconds, you'll lose the shot you were looking for and end up with a smoky, blurry mess. Manually set your camera to snap in 1.6 seconds. You'll catch the vibrant burst you were looking for and the film will display it beautifully.

#2 Use a tripod.

Fireworks aren't just about glorious light in the sky. They're also about the movement of the lights. Handheld cameras lack the ability to stay still long enough to depict the firework in its true form. A tripod helps you hold steady and get the shot you were aiming for.

#3 Lose the flash.

Many of us may see the flash as an assistant during dark photos. Unfortunately, the flash won't do anything for a fireworks shot. Leave the flash turned off during all of your fireworks photo snapping.

#4 Use low ISO.

Taking photos of fireworks is much different than it is for most other picture subjects. The best part of the snapshot is the color embedded with the look of falling fire stars. To make this come out beautifully on your photos, your ISO (i.e. light sensitivity) needs to be low. I recommend that you manually change your ISO to the speed of 100 to help your camera better portray the air show in the dark.

#5 Don't trust your camera's automatic features.

I know what you're thinking. You bought that camera because of all of the automatic features it boasts and you'd like to use them. Well, for fireworks photos, cameras don't detect the light properly and usually end up taking photos that come out blurry and overexposed. Try the manual settings on your camera and your shots will be clearer.

This Fourth of July, pull your camera out and try some of these tips. You'll have some gorgeous memories of the fireworks in the night sky.

Looking to take amazing photographs of fireworks this 4th of July? Just follow these tips and tricks! And for even more great information go to 7PhotographyQuestions.com and listen to Master Photographer Jim Zuckerman offer inside secrets on how to take stunning photographs at night, including extraordinary fireworks photographs.

By Linus Rylander

There are many ways to learn digital photography, the most obvious one being practice, but there are also less obvious choices... like the title of this article for example: "online digital photography training".

Learning how to take good pictures with a digital camera can be a hard task to accomplish, and I guess more importantly for some people, to make (a lot) of money from them can be an even harder task.

But now after the huge thing called the internet, learning digital photography online has never been easier.

Getting a mentor

There are many ways actually, to go through online digital photography training, for example you could hire someone to teach you personally, basically a mentor... but that would probably run you dollars up in four figures.

Another way to learn digital photography is...

Taking online classes

Similar to the previous option, except not only you get coached and you do it together (virtually, that is) with an entire class. Very expensive, but also very effective.

The third option, which is my favorite, is to...

Teaching yourself

Now studying and learning digital photography all by yourself may seem like a daunting task at first, but let me tell you one thing:

There are hoards of courses online which you can get hold of very cheaply. A lot of them aren't legit, so watch out. That would be the one drawback of purchasing some products online, but you just have to pick the good ones.

Making money from your photos

Now what I think is even cooler about the whole internet thing is that you can make a full time income just by submitting your digital photographs to certain websites, it's really cool actually, and some people make serious money from it.

Well that's it for this article, feel free to research any of the above ways by yourself... I can't do everything for you! Good luck with your Digital Photography!

Find out the best and most effective way to rake in more money than your boss, simply by submitting pictures to the web. Read my "guide" here: =>> http://camera-dollar.blogspot.com <<=