Digital Photography Tips
Whether used for trial exhibits or capturing a breathtaking scene, digital cameras (digicams) introduce a number of useful features which dramatically affect the results and overall impact of your photos. While their enhanced features are good tools, it's important to realize that it's the photographer who makes all the difference. So how well do we use them? The really cool part of digital photography is that we don't have to be professional photographers to use them effectively. I'm clearly in the amateur class, but have been amazed by the results -- particularly in the semi-auto modes where it's easy to vary the settings without messing things up.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take,
but by the moments that take your breath away."
With this in mind, here are some of the better resources I've found for getting more out of your photos. Certainly these are no substitute for practice and experience, but they'll likely give you a number of creative ideas and techniques to try:
- Top Ten Digital Photography Tips
I really liked this guide. Simple and easy to follow regardless of your expertise level.
- Digital Photography Composition Tips
This is a veritable smorgasbord of great tips, ranging from the Rule of Thirds to varying your height, composition, framing, depth of field, and much more including digital camera specifics such as histogram tips.
- Kodak's Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures
This is another basic but useful guide, with numerous photo examples showing how simple changes make all the difference between "boring" and "masterpiece".
On to Batteries: I vastly prefer digicams that take AA-size batteries, so the fun never ends when all my rechargeables are dead. As for maximizing the longevity of your batteries' charge and lifespan, the following sites do a great job of reviewing/ranking the latest rechargeable batteries and quick chargers.
Many batteries' stated capacities in milliamp hours (mah) are overrated, so it's helpful to know which ones live up to their claims. Also, some fast chargers cook the batteries. It's widely believed that overheating is the single largest contributor to the "memory effect", especially in NiMH batteries. As I've learned from the above, not all quick chargers are created equal -- some are much gentler on the batteries and/or do a better job of "topping off" so you'll get more use from them.