Teaching a child how to use a digital camera and take great pictures is a tough task. You want the child to enjoy it but still learn some technique, that’s not easy without boring the child. So where do you start?

Check out The Digital Photography School’s (DPS) article: “13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Digital Photography“. These tips are good enough that even though the article is written for teaching children these tips can really be used by beginners of any age.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: dps, digital-photography, children

The Digital Photography School Blog (DPS) has a very nice article comparing and contrasting digital point and shoot cameras with Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras. So if your in the market for a new digital camera I strongly suggest you stop over and check it out, even if you weren’t originally considering a DLSR.

“Should you buy a DSLR or Point and Shoot Digital Camera?” hits on all of the most important things to consider including megapixel size, weight, portability, features, easy of use and much more. It’s also very clear and easy to understand for people who are not technical.

Be sure to check out the readers comments at the bottom of the article, a lot of the DPS readers know their stuff and provide great follow up information like NormMonkey’s post about how using the LCD screen to frame photos with DSLRs (aka “live view”) is different than on Point and Shoot digital cameras.

Check out my Digital Camera Buying Guide for some “what to look for” tips along with a first impression of my first DSLR camera purchase here: Canon EOS 40D Digital Camera Purchase.

Technorati Tags: DSLR, point-and-shoot, digital photography

Adobe has launched it’s online version of Photoshop called Photoshop Express. It’s currently a public beta and open for anyone to sign up.

The online Photoshop Express is a nice little photo editor for some of your more basic editing needs but if you’re used to the advanced features of the full blown Photoshop then it’s not for you.

Photoshop Express features 17 editing tools including red-eye removal, crop & rotate, saturation and sharpening (see left). It’s not the greatest selection of edition tools but the ones they do give you are quite nice. It looks like they took a page from Microsoft Office 2007, most of the tools display a row of thumbnail images across the top of your photo, just hover over a thumbnail and you’ll see the effect applied instantly to your image. This is great if you’re not quite sure what a specific tool can do.

The undo capabilities are also great! You have your typical undo and redo arrows but you also have a nice little ribbon like feature that displays a series of thumbnail images with all of the edits you just made. Click on a thumbnail and revert back a that particular point. Unlike most photo editing tools, it’s also easy to remove any particular edit without loosing any of the changes you made after words. All you have to do is remove the little check mark next to the tool and that particular edit is removed, leaving all others in place.

Photoshop Express isn’t just an editing tool though, you also get 2GB worth of storage for an online gallery you can share with friends and family. I have to admit, it’s nice to have 2GG for free, but I’m not all that fond of the gallery, it seems to be lacking in features a bit. You can organize your photos into albums and view the albums as a slide show but there really isn’t much more than that. The search feature is only helpful if you have commented or named each photo. The addition of tagging would make it much easier to keep organized.

Over all, Photoshop Express is a pretty nice little editing tool, especially since you can import directly from other services like flickr, photobucket and picasa. But if you’re and advanced user you’re probably better of with desktop software and if you’re looking for a place to store your images and show them off, I recommend using flickr.com, zooomr.com or picasa web albums, they have many more options when it comes to sharing.

Technorati Tags: Photoshop-Express, photography, adobe

Buying a new digital camera? Get the information you need to make your decision quick and easy. Most importantly, finding the camera that fits your needs!

The first thing you need to do is to figure out what you will be taking pictures of (i.e. landscapes, macros, portraits, flowers, sports, etc.). This will prove to be the single most important and worth while planning you can do for your purchase. Sport photos require a camera with fast shutter speed (reduces blur with motion shots), portraits of friends and family at gatherings require wider angle lenses (can’t frame the full subject close up) with higher ISO speeds (lower light conditions in houses), macros require longer zooms (you want to get in close), and children require faster start up times (you don’t want to miss the special moment because your camera was off).

It’s not all about the Megapixels!
Despite what you might think, it is NOT all about megapixels (MP) these days. Almost all digital cameras today come with sufficient megapixels to cover the printing sizes most people will use. If you have specific print size in mind take a look at this megapixel vs print size chart to figure out how many you’ll need. If you’re not planing to ever print your images then 3MP should be fine, but I recommend at least 4-5MP because you never know when you might want to print that special photo.

Optical zoom is important, digital – not so much!
Optical zoom is far more important than digital zoom. Optical zoom uses lenses to zoom in closer and further from your image so it the quality remains high. Digital zoom just simply crops the sides off the image and makes the rest larger. This is the same as zooming in on the image from your computer, the pixels get larger causing the quality to decrease. The larger the optical zoom the better, you can pretty much ignore the digital zoom.

Image Stabilization.
Image stabilization (sometimes called IS or VR depending on the brand) can be extremely helpful when you’re taking photos in low light conditions such as a house or hall, but it can make for difficult crisp action shots. Make sure you can turn the image stabilization off for the shots where you don’t want it.

SLR vs Point and Shoot.
SLR cameras (Single Lens Reflex – the cameras with detachable lenses) are no longer just for the pros! You can find excellent consumer digital SLRs for as low as $600, including a lens. SLRs are quite a bit larger and bulkier than point and shoots models but they offer more flexibility with the ability to changes lens and modify your settings manually. The down side to SLRs is they can be big and bulky and confusing. Consider point and shoots if you plan to carry it with you everywhere you go.

Product Reviews and Suggestions.
Reading product reviews from qualified sites can provide a great resource for learning the pluses and minuses of particular models. The information above will point you in the right direction so you know which features are important and which are not, but product reviews will help you focus your attention even deeper and allow you to compare models side-by-side. Here are a few websites I recommend for further research.

• Recommended Cameras – This is a great article and I will strongly consider the suggestions on the Canon compacts when I start shopping for a new point and shoot in the near future.
• DPReview.com – Digital Photograph Reviews – an outstanding source for camera reviews and the latest news in digital photography. You definitely need to check this site out once you have a camera or two in mind.
• Steve’s Digicams – Another excellent popular digital camera review site.
• PCMag.com – Technology Product Guides and Reviews.
• Consumer Reports – Consumer product product reviews and brand repair history – requires subscription but it’s a great source for all types of consumer products

What I own (prices listed are approx. prices at time of purchase).

• Kodak 3MP EasyShare CX6230 digital point and shoot – It took outstanding photos with vivid colors. The quality was great! (2001 – $120)
• HP 5.3MP Photosmart 945 10x superzoom – The high zoom and manual features of this camera are great, however I find the image quality to be lacking in low light conditions. (2004 – $250)
• Canon 10 MP 40D Digital SLR with EOS 17-85mm f4-56 IS USM Lens. This is by far my favorite camera with full manual settings and excellent picture quality. (2007 – $2000 camera and lens)

My next camera purchase will probably be a Kodak or Canon point and shoot. The Kodak is getting old, it’s slow compared to todays models and the battery compartment is wearing out. To see some of the photos I’ve taken check out my flickr page or my own photography website that’s currently under development.

It’s not the camera that makes the photographer, it’s the photographer that makes the camera!

Technorati Tags: digital-photography, guides, digital-cameras

I’ve been working on a new website lately. SG Photography will give me the opportunity to display some of my favorite photographs I’ve taken over the past couple years. There are still a few things I’d liked to change and a few things I’d like to add, but overall I’m generally pretty happy with the way the site is coming along.

Stop over and check it out, I’ve uploaded a few teaser photos below.

Technorati Tags: photographs, digital-photography, SG-Photography

Two weeks ago I purchased the Canon EOS 40D digital SLR camera with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens. I’ve been using it for a little while now and and I figured I’d take a quick minute to talk about my first impressions.

I love it! This is my first SLR purchase of any kind (digital or film). Up until now I own two digital cameras, a Kodak 2MP point-and-shoot and HP 5MP superzoom. The HP has many more manual features with a larger zoom than the Kodak, but the Kodak does a much better capturing colors. Both of these cameras were great but I’ve always found myself wanting more manual features. It was hard to get good photos in low light conditions and I couldn’t get the effects I wanted without being able to adjust the f-stop or shutter speed. I’ve wanted a digital SLR camera for a while now and I just decided this would be the year.

It didn’t take me long to decide on the Canon 40D. I knew the price range and level of camera I was looking for so I first tried the Digital Rebels and right away decided against them as the grip felt small and uncomfortable in my hand. I knew I was going to be spending a fair about of money and was hoping to keep the camera for a long time so I didn’t want it to be uncomfortable. The Canon 30D was my next choice and the grip was so much better I had made up my mind right then. Then I heard the next version of this camera was to released within the next week or two so I began my research. I spoke with a friend and read reviews, before I knew it I was holding the Canon EOS 40D.

I’ve been using the Canon EOS 40D for about 2 weeks now and have already taken over 1500 shots. It didn’t take long before I was able to locate all the buttons quickly and adjust settings on the fly. The buttons are well placed and fairly easy to use quickly and efficiently. The only thing I find myself wanting is a macro lens and lens with a larger zoom. The macro will probably by my next purchase but I’m sure that won’t be a while yet.

Now that I have a good familiarity with the camera and lens I need to start finding new places to shoot and challenge myself to find shots that really stand out.

Check out my Flickr page to see photos I’ve taken will all three camera’s over the past 5 or so years.

Technorati Tags: Canon, 40D, digital+photography