http://malektips.com/digital_cameras_help_and_tips.html Hundreds of digital camera and photography tips. Whether you're buying a digital camera or want to learn how to use your digital camera, we've got the digital photography tips to help you! en-us Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:23:54 GMT Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:23:54 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Custom webmaster@envprogramming.com (Andrew Malek) webmaster@envprogramming.com (Andrew Malek) http://malektips.com/graphics/logo_88x30.gif http://malektips.com/digital_cameras_help_and_tips.html 88 30 http://malektips.com/digital_waterfall_photography_0011.html Step back from waterfalls to avoid water droplets and water vapor getting on your digital camera.

Although most photographers recommend not using a zoom lens as much, recommending you physically getting closer to a subject, when taking digital photos of waterfalls you can get too close. Step back and then use a telephoto lens to zoom-in if necessary. Set your digital camera on a sturdy tripod if you have problems with camera shake due to the telephoto zoom.

Even if you think you are at a safe distance away from a waterfall, droplets can splash onto your lens. If this happens, be sure to quickly wipe off any excess moisture on your camera, not only on your lens but also on the entire digital camera body. Although getting your lens wet can cause problems, liquid getting through to your camera's internals could prove disastrous....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:23:43 GMT http://malektips.com/digital_waterfall_photography_0011.html http://malektips.com/resave-jpg-digial-photo-tif-bmp.html If you are planning on editing a JPG photo, immediately resave it as a TIF or PNG file first.

As mentioned elsewhere on MalekTips, before editing digital photos, save the originals! This way if you overwrite the original file with your edits and decide later that you do not like the result, you can revert to the original.

Another important reason to save original photos, especially JPG files, is that JPG images use what is called "lossy" compression. To save space on disk, on a memory card, etc., JPG files are compressed, losing some detail in the process. While JPGs saved by a digital camera's "fine" or "ultra fine" mode may seem indistinguishable from RAW lossless images*, if you edit a JPG file and resave the result as a JPG, the file will be compressed again. Every successive save re-compresses the file, reducing more detail and thus the image quality. Sooner rather than later this loss of quality will seem very noticeable....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 14 May 2009 18:03:36 GMT http://malektips.com/resave-jpg-digial-photo-tif-bmp.html http://malektips.com/digital-photography-city-walking-tour.html New to a city? Consider a walking tour to inspire your photography.

Are you new to a city and not sure where to look to get the best urban and cityscape photography? Don't trust yourself navigating the streets or the mass transit system?

Consider a walking tour. An enthusiastic group leader may be able to provide not just the locations of important landmarks but the history behind these structures or different areas of town. You may learn of areas you would not normally visit. Plus to be blunt, in some parts of cities you may not want to walk alone if you are unfamiliar with the area - there is some safety in numbers....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 19:49:14 GMT http://malektips.com/digital-photography-city-walking-tour.html http://malektips.com/dslr-lens-magnification-factor.html New to DSLR cameras? When purchasing a lens, you may be surprised at the true zoom magnification.

If you are new to DSLR cameras, consider this information before purchasing a digital camera or lens.

With compact and prosumer digital cameras, when you purchase a camera that has an optical zoom (ignore the digital zoom) with 33mm to 100mm or 36mm to 216mm, for example, the zoom you expect is the zoom you get. 33mm is a good wide-angle zoom factor, though better zooms are available, and 216mm provides a decent telephoto range. However, if you purchase for a DSLR camera a zoom lens with 18-200mm magnification, for example, you may not be getting exactly what you expect....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 8 May 2009 16:31:52 GMT http://malektips.com/dslr-lens-magnification-factor.html http://malektips.com/stamps-digital-photos.html Create US stamps from your digital photos, showing your smiling face or other images.

Tired of purchasing stamps with pictures of a liberty bell, flag, or flower? Annoyed by the limited selection of stamps at the local post office? Instead of using a boring normal design, what if you could create stamps with a picture of yourself or a family member, a snapshot of a recent vacation, or a family pet?

PhotoStamps lets you do just that, creating "real U.S. postage" from your images. Upload an image, customize it (add a border, rotate the image, or zoom in or out), and order to receive your generated stamps in the mail. The site also offers pre-made collections of NFL teams and many colleges. ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:02:40 GMT http://malektips.com/stamps-digital-photos.html http://malektips.com/digital-cameras-kids.html Introduce your kids to the world of digital photography with these digital cameras designed for younger artists.

Interested in teaching your kids how to take digital photos, but afraid they might accidentally ruin your 12 megapixel digital SLR, such as by dropping it? The following companies offer digital cameras aimed at the younger set.

Fisher Price offers a "Kid-Tough(tm)" digital camera that may work for preschoolers and younger kids. It has larger buttons, a LCD preview window, and a USB connection to a Macintosh or Windows machine. The camera is waterproof and according to the marketing materials, "built to survive drop, after drop, after drop"....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:51:56 GMT http://malektips.com/digital-cameras-kids.html http://malektips.com/best-uv-filter-digital-camera.html What is the best brand of Ultraviolet Filter to buy for your digital camera?

While many photographers recommend buying and using a UV filter on your digital camera, many brands of filters exist from inexpensive models sold online to those that can cost a hundred dollars or more.

Are there any advantages to these more expensive filters? The following sites offer various opinions on the matter:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:11:44 GMT http://malektips.com/best-uv-filter-digital-camera.html http://malektips.com/lenspen-clean-camera-lens.html Help keep your camera lenses free from fingerprints and smudges with the LensPen.

To help plan travel or other special events it may prove useful to find out what day a holiday lands on for a particular year. Need to know when Thanksgiving is (USA and Canada) so you can plan a trip over the river and through the woods to grandma's house? Many people travel on the Memorial Day (USA) weekend - find out when it is so you can plan time off from work. ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:08:46 GMT http://malektips.com/lenspen-clean-camera-lens.html http://malektips.com/avoid-tripod-photography-city.html Problems that can occur if you use a tripod to stabilize your digital camera when shooting photographs in an urban environment.

Say what? Tripods allow digital cameras to take longer exposures without experiencing "camera shake", allowing you to take clearer pictures, especially useful at nighttime or other low-light situations. So why would this article suggest you not use one when in an urban environment?

Unfortunately, using a tripod in the middle of a city can cause you to receive all sorts of undesired attention. Even if you are on a public street, to all appearances out of the way of other passers-by, operating a digital camera on a tripod can potentially get you into trouble with over-aggressive (but usually well-intentioned) security or police officers. ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:53:04 GMT http://malektips.com/avoid-tripod-photography-city.html http://malektips.com/digital-photography-piers.html Info on using piers as digital photo subjects and locations for shooting photos.

Piers are popular in the world of photography as they serve many purposes:

* If you want to photograph sunrises and sunsets near the water, a wide-angle shot with a pier near the foreground can add a nice subject to a potentially ordinary photograph. ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 5 Jan 2009 19:57:45 GMT http://malektips.com/digital-photography-piers.html http://malektips.com/buying-digital-camera-obsolete.html Digital camera buying advice for those afraid that a newer, faster digital camera will always be available.

As a digital camera owner, this scenario likely applies to you. After visiting a digital camera store, talking to friends, reading reviews, or possibly shopping online, at one time you bought what you thought was the perfect digital camera for your needs.

After purchasing this digital camera and using it for a few weeks, you later visited the same store, browsed the same websites, or scanned through the latest issues of those same magazines, and guess what? A newer, 'better', faster, and cheaper digital camera is now available, making your current camera seem 'uncool', agonizingly slow, and obsolete....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:14:24 GMT http://malektips.com/buying-digital-camera-obsolete.html http://malektips.com/brand-name-digital-camera-media.html Should you always purchase brand name media for your digital camera?

Especially in today's troublesome economy, with the high prices of digital cameras, rechargeable batteries, tripods, filters, and other accessories, you might be tempted to save some money by purchasing cheaper, generic digital camera media. And why not? Photos taken with cheaper media should look just the same as those taken with more expensive media, as long as the files get written correctly. Your JPG images will not come out more pixilated, and uncompressed TIFF and RAW files will contain the same information.

However, "saving money" has a few potential downsides: ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:02:50 GMT http://malektips.com/brand-name-digital-camera-media.html http://malektips.com/photography-purchase-unlimited-use-fare-cards.html When traveling to a city, don't get stuck paying for subway and bus fares for each trip - consider purchasing unlimited use cards.

During your travels, if you want to really "get around the town", consider purchasing unlimited use fare cards. This way you can take buses, rails, subways, sometimes even ferries, all day long for one flat fee. Without having to worry about driving, you can concentrate on searching for many digital photographic opportunities around town.

Many transit authorities sell such passes, online and/or at larger stations and terminals. Here are a selected four transit authorities in the United States, listed for informational purposes only:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:26:30 GMT http://malektips.com/photography-purchase-unlimited-use-fare-cards.html http://malektips.com/secure-digital-sdhc-media.html What is Secure Digital High Capacity media, and can your camera support it?

As mentioned in a previous tip on MalekTips, older cameras may not read higher capacity memory cards.

This is especially true with digital cameras that support SD (Secure Digital) media. For the most part, these memory cards max out at 2 GB, but a newer format, SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) was created, allowing for 8 GB, 16 GB, and higher capacities....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:21:04 GMT http://malektips.com/secure-digital-sdhc-media.html http://malektips.com/digital-camera-purchase-feedback-auction-scams.html If you buy digital cameras at auction, be careful about feedback rating legitimacy.

Planning on purchasing a digital camera via an auction site? Auctions provide great ways for sellers to get rid of older equipment, as well as for buyers to come away with great bargains. "One man's trash is another man's treasure", and a digital camera owner that just purchased a dSLR camera might part with their less-powerful dSLR or prosumer camera for a heavily reduced amount.

When browsing auction sites such as eBay, it's easy to get caught up with the idea of feedback ratings. While no one recommends purchasing items from sellers with many negative feedback ratings, high feedback ratings may not all be legitimate. You may want to familiarize yourself with information from the following sites that explain how feedback ratings can be manipulated:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 9 Oct 2008 19:33:16 GMT http://malektips.com/digital-camera-purchase-feedback-auction-scams.html http://malektips.com/battery-life-long-exposure.html If you need to take photos requiring long exposures, expect your batteries to drain quicker.

Here's another common sense tip - if you plan on taking digital photos requiring long exposures of several seconds or more, expect your batteries to drain faster, so make sure to bring extra.

When might you take longer exposures? Possibilities include:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:28:48 GMT http://malektips.com/battery-life-long-exposure.html http://malektips.com/pop-art-photos.html Order Warhol-style, silhouette, and other types of pop art created from your digital photographs.

Although you may not be able to precisely describe what Pop Art means, you've probably seen examples of such work. Whether it was Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans or pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Jasper Johns' US flag, or Roy Lichtenstein's "Drowning Girl", these images make an indelible impression on many viewers.

Several companies exist that let you turn your digital photos into forms of popular art, giving you opportunities to showcase your work in a creative way, either for personal viewing or as a gift....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:03:42 GMT http://malektips.com/pop-art-photos.html http://malektips.com/fake-counterfeit-digital-camera-memory-cards.html Some unscrupulous sellers may sell fake digital camera media cards.

Unfortunately, even if you buy brand-name digital camera memory, you may not always be getting what you think. Especially if you purchase at "too good to be true" prices from unknown sellers, there is a chance that you may be receiving a fake memory card.

Some unscrupulous sellers are creating and/or selling fake, non genuine media cards. Buying one of these cards could subject you to problems including:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:45:21 GMT http://malektips.com/fake-counterfeit-digital-camera-memory-cards.html