photos by richard

The people and moments we hold so close to our hearts cannot always be properly portrayed through words alone. This is where photographs come into play. Photographs are said to capture 1,000 words, so it's good to know just how many ways you can go about not only getting the most out of the photographs you take but also protecting them and leaving your personal mark in the world.

Something to Pass on to Future Generations

One of the neatest things about photographs is the ability to show off where you have been, who you are and who you wanted (or still want) to be. It's interesting to show your children, or grandkids what you looked like when you were there age, where you went to school, what your neighborhood growing up looked like and how your clothing was different 'back in the day.' It's not only a great bonding experience but it's also educational. These types of memories will stay with children into adulthood.

Relive Your Favorite Memories Time and Time Again

Not only will your legacy be passed on to your future family but there's something really neat about opening up an old photo album, or seeing photos in your office from some of your most enjoyable family vacations, trips to the zoo and award-winning moments. It really keeps you motivated, especially when you find yourself going through rough patches. Memories have a way of getting all of us through those tough times and keeping our eyes on the prize. Maybe they will motivate you to keep working hard to get that promotion you've dreamed of for years now, or maybe you want to purchase a new home, move to a place of the world you have yet to visit. No matter what your goals are, sometimes the past is able to push us forward by reminding us how far we have truly come.

Keeping Your Photos Stored and Protected

There are many easy ways to keep the photographs you have safe. If you are concerned about physical photographs that have been passed down to you, scanning them to your computer or storing them on the internet (such as the Flickr and Shutterfly) is a great place to start. Depending on the way you choose to store your photographs, there are some pretty simple organization tools available today. Tag your photos with the person or people's names, dates, event titles and any other 'easily searchable' phrases which will help you locate the exact photo you are looking for at any given time. Sharing is easier than ever. You can choose to set certain photos to private, while allowing your friends to see other ones. These settings can be adjusted at any given time.

Place some of your personal favorite photos on display in your home (never display the only copy). For those original copies, you may want to invest in a photo album that is acid free so your photos can stand the test of time. Acid has been known to literally 'eat through' physical photographs and if you have your pictures stored in a safe place, you may not realize until it's too late. There are also photo-safe boxes that can be purchased at most craft stores, if you would like to go that route instead.

Todd Benson enjoys blogging in his spare time. He writes on a wide range of topic including SEO and photography. He loves his family and always finds time to be with them when they need him. Todd just presented his wife photo mats and she was very happy with them.

I was looking at an ad for a photoshoot training session. A chance to get some hands on training on how to shoot beauty shots. Like the ones you see in magazines, said the ad.

Then, near the bottom of the ad, was this disclaimer.

DSLR Sony Owners: please advise if you shoot with a Sony DSLR. These great camera’s use a proprietary hot shoe for the trigger system, which the studio currently does not have in stock.

I think that Sony has had some awesome equipment in the last few years. But always, ALWAYS, a flaw. They always seem to have some proprietary way of doing something that EVERY OTHER MANUFACTURER has a common practice for.

It used to be a proprietary memory card. Notice that they have finally caved on that one? Most new Sony photo/video equipment allows SD as well.

Now it is a proprietary (what a horrid word to make sure I spell correctly!) hot shoe. So the studio does not bother having a Sony version of the radio controller for their studio lights. I do not blame the studio. I blame Sony. I mean, come on, doesn't every one else's hot shoe work the same? Except Sony's??

What a pain. Way to ruin great stuff Sony.

HD camcorders are the rage. But how do you play the HD videos you take, or worse yet, pass them on to friends?

Regular DVD formats are not compatible with the signal an HD video needs to use.

Most TVs that people have cannot utilize the memory cards that some modern HD camcorders use. Continue Reading »

In the past, you simply did not have to make a choice between any other photography methods than film. Everyone had a film camera and everyone either learned to develop their own film or took it to their local processor. Now, you do have a choice and many people who are used to film wonder, which is better. Today we have film cameras and digital cameras. Here are the pros and cons to using both digital and print photography.

The Pros of Digital

Digital cameras are great for most people. Perhaps the best thing about a digital camera is that you have instant access to the pictures you have taken. When you use a digital camera, you can immediately see the picture that you just took and determine whether or not you need to re-shoot that particular subject. In addition, when you take digital pictures, you can easily download the prints to your computer. You can store your pictures, enhance them and print them on your printer. In addition, digital prints make for easy storage. You can shoot thousands of digital pictures and store them on a couple of disk. Compare that to the boxes of printed pictures that you probably have in your home.

The Cons of Digital

There are many cons of using digital as well. For example, digital pictures are easily lost. If you are like most people, you probably download the pictures to your computer and never do anything else with them. If you do not back up your digital pictures to disk, all it takes is for your computer to crash one time and you have potentially lost hundreds of valuable pictures. Many people feel that digital pictures do not have the same look and feel as film prints. For this reason, most professional photographers still prefer to use film, instead of digital. Digital pictures can also become pricey if you print them out at home. A good quality printer paper, plus colored printer cartridges for your printer can add up quickly. .

The Pros of Film

As mentioned earlier, many professional photographers still prefer to use film to digital. If you take pictures for hobby, you can adjust your film camera to get the exact look that you want. This is not always the case with digital pictures. Some people prefer to use a film camera, so it forces them to have their pictures developed right away. Rather than leaving your memories on a disk, you have to have your print pictures printed. You will always have them in your hand to look at.

The Cons of Film

It seems that film cameras are losing popularity. Film is not as convenient as digital. He must wait to have pictures developed before you can look at them down is also expensive and having pictures processed, adds extra expense. In addition, when you use film, you must have everything on your roll of film printed out. You do not have the ability to scroll through and delete bad pictures on the spot as you do when you use digital.

Final Decision Time

When considering film over digital, one is really no better than the other. The choice has more to do with your personal preferences than anything else does. If you are considering buying a new camera, look at both film and digital to determine which ones are right for your use. I have three digital cameras, a 35mm camera and a standard film camera. If I had to choose, I would choose the digital because of the option to view pictures right away. This way you know if you are capturing the image the way you intended too. I have been caught to many times with fuzzy pictures, missing heads and so on. Another thing is with a digital camera, if you need glasses, you will still be in focus, where as with a 35 mm focus camera, you might have a surprise, fuzzy pictures, and you may never find another opportunity like that again.

My favourite photography store announced advanced ordering of the new Canon 50D. My 40D is less than a year old, and the main reason I bought it is still about the same in the 50D, so I see new reason to upgrade. The 50D does have 15 mega pixels, but I think I can go another year on 10.

Features

New 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor (4752 x 3168) with improved noise reduction, wide range ISO 100-3200 (H1: 6400, H2: 12800), 14-bit conversion for smooth color tones and gradations. Uses the APS-C sensor, so we still get the 1.6 factor on our lens.

Next generation DIGIC 4 Image Processor for faster processing, 6.3 fps (this is what I love about my 40D) up to 90 JPEGS using UDMA CF cards; 60 consecutive JPEGS or 16 RAW using standard CF cards.

3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) with multiple coatings for improved viewing and smudge-resistant protection.

Enhanced Live View shooting includes Face Detection Live mode.

9 cross-type high-precision sensors for accurate target subject acquisition and diagonal center cross-type AF point with f/2.8 and faster lenses.

New Lens Peripheral Illumination Correction setting to automatically even the brightness across the image.

Updated EOS Integrated Cleaning System with a fluorine coating for better resistance to dust.

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) output for displaying full high-resolution images on a High Definition TV.

Compatible with over 60 Canon EF/EF-S lenses and most EOS System accessories.

For more details, visit the Canon Press Release site.

The huge growth in the sales of digital cameras has been good for the environment on 2 fronts.

(1) less chemicals are being used to develop traditional film

(2) many of us actually print less, as we post them on the internet, and only tend to print the very best ones.

More on this topic in the article at Richard's Photo Articles. A similar article is here.

Everywhere I look in today's world, someone has a digital camera of one type or another. It could be just a camera phone, or it could be a digital SLR, or one of the many gadgets in between. Thanks to those, and to cheap memory, today's children are becoming the most documented generation ever, as parents, relatives and friends capture forever the first, second and hundredth smile.

The challenge is this - how are you storing all those digital pics? Continue Reading »