Satchmo’s Story, Music Substituting for Words
Wynton Marsalis and friends provided the live accompaniment for a silent film about Louis Armstrong’s childhood.
New Great Lakes Seaway Trail GeoCoin Features Historic Fort Ontario
The new Great Lakes Seaway Trail GeoTrail Coins are here! The elegant, antique metal-finish tokens celebrate the waters and history of the 518-mile-long America’s Byway that is host to a new 75-cache adventure for those who enjoy exploring by latitude and longitude.
Dear Abby: She fears bridesmaid's tattoo could ruin wedding photos
DEAR ABBY: I'm a 36-year-old woman who has a 25-year-old friend I love like a little sister. Because of that connection, I felt compelled to ask her to be a bridesmaid in my wedding.
In the world of digital professional photography, taking pictures is not as simple as clicking that shutter button. Though digital imaging has made it easier and affordable for photographers, the quality of the pictures would still be questioned. A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration if you want to be successful at professional photography. Light, composition and background affect pictures. The professional photographer knows this so he or she often ends up chasing light to achieve that perfect photo.
A normal digital camera is not enough in this endeavor. A photographer needs to be armed with a professional digital camera to get all the details. It produces the best image quality and has the capacity to operate even when exposed to low light. It has complicated settings that a novice would not understand at first glance. Photographers often learn through trial and error. This is why a professional digital camera comes in handy because it eliminates the need for films that are expensive to print. And when you go by trial and error, you would make a lot of mistakes along the way. With a professional digital camera, you would be able to check the result immediately without printing the picture. You would also be able to capture extremely small subjects even if it’s too far away because of its zoom capacity. The high-end professional digital cameras allow this and you would be able to get every last detail. Fast-moving subjects are also not a problem with a professional digital camera. It has special controls that let you capture the subject. For example, you are at a basketball game. You can’t exactly order the players to stand still while you take a picture.
The great thing about a professional digital camera is it gives you more control on how you want your pictures to come out. It allows you more freedom on how to play with light. You can set how much light can enter for a particular shot or if you just want to get a picture of a silhouette. This eliminates blurs because you fixed your camera at the right setting. It’s all a matter of how you adjust your shutter speed and play with natural light.
Most digital cameras focus automatically so you don’t have a choice if you want to go about this manually. With the professional digital camera, you could fix it to focus on your subject automatically or not. Another advantage is that you could attach different accessories; specialty lenses, waterproof housing and filters. Special filters would emphasize your photos and add effects. They could also neutralize the light if it is too bright or dark.
The only problem with the professional digital camera is its cost. Because of its quality and features, it is justifiably expensive. But you can buy discount goods at your local discount store so this could solve this issue. Even if it is still expensive at the discount store, the price point has been reduced because it is either used or refurbished.
So if you want to take the best photos, buy a professional digital camera. Your investment would pay off when you see the quality of your pictures.
How to Trash Your Treasured Photos in 6 Easy Steps - Part 2
Copyright (c) 2008 Tom Jackson
This is part two of this article. I the first, part we covered the following points; Please see the first part for a full explanation of the 3 points.
1. Make sure that all your batteries are fully charged. This is critical, not just to make sure your camera can take photos on the day, but to also protect the photos you take and be sure the memory card does not become corrupt.
2. Make sure that you have enough memory cards to hold all of the photos you will be taking on the day. By having several memory cards available, you can shoot a number of images on each card and minimize the risk of losing all the images you take on the day.
3. Before you start the days event, make sure that you format the memory cards and get them prepared for the days event. Always format in the camera you will be using.
This is the continuation from part 1 of this article.
4. Never use a memory card in more than one kind of camera without formatting the card. You can not only damage a memory card but you may lose the images you have already taken by using the card in a camera other than a camera of the same make and model as the one you used to format the card. Most cameras will write the file a little differently, and so if you use the card in a different camera, you again run the risk of losing images. If you intend to use a card in a different camera, that make sure that you copy all the files onto your computer, and then format the card in the other camera before use.
5. Part of the reason for item 1 above (fully charged batteries), is not just to make sure you have enough power to take photos during the days event, but also to ensure that the camera will not power off during writing a file to the memory card. If the camera battery fails while writing a file, you will not only lose that image, but the rest of the images on the card may be lost forever. A memory card is just like a computer hard drive. It has a directory and file structure so that the camera and your computer know where the files are, how many files are on the card, and how big the files are. If the camera fails during writing a file to the card, it can corrupt the card, just like a hard drive crash. Also, never take a card out of the camera while the file is still being written to the card. Always make sure that if you need to remove the card after taking a photo, wait a few seconds to make sure the file has been written to the card to avoid problems.
6. When it comes time to move your photos onto your computer?s hard drive, I suggest that you use a memory card reader and not the camera. Again, it is always possible that the camera?s battery could fail during the process to copy the photos over to your hard drive. This will not usually be a problem, but it could cause the card to become corrupt and therefore potentially lose your images. It is generally accepted i the industry that a memory card reader is faster than your camera when transferring files. Card readers are very inexpensive, and you have a choice of using a multi format reader or one designed just for the card type your camera uses. They are so cheap, that I always carry one with me so that if I need to, I can either copy files to a computer that happens to be at the location I am shooting, or to display some of the images onto the computer monitor for the client or subjects to see right away.
So, if you would really like to lose all those treasured photos, if you really want to have the hassle of explaining to your client, family or friends that you have lost all of the images you took, then just ignore these tips. You will lose some money, some friends and have to endure the wrath of some potentially very angry people. Good word of mouth advertising cannot be bought. So, if you do have a problem during the event, you will miss out on a lot of income that you could've made over the years. There are wedding photographers who consistently make well into the 6 figure income. And in the US alone, the wedding photography market is in excess of five billion dollars a year. Not a bad market to be in.
So, if you follow these simple steps, you will ensure that your images will be saved, and everyone will live happily ever after. OK, well, maybe we do not need to be that melodramatic, but I am sure you get the picture (pun intended). Your clients will be happy, you will be happy, and your wallet will be happy. Plus, you get the benefit and the pride of knowing that you did a good job and that a small part of you will live on and be enjoyed by generations of people looking at your photos. Just like an artist has people viewing their paintings. It just does not get better than that. Enjoy.
About the Author
Tom Jackson began his career by shooting weddings. He is a consultant to the graphic design, advertising and publishing industries, teaching digital technology. You can get more info on photography and see examples of his work here; For free tips visit Toms blog.
