Hornetbear's Hi-Res Digital Photography Handbook.
1. always use the highest res setting
2. get a huge memory card so you can take lots of pictures.
3. set the saturation to the 1st or 2ed highest level, this will give you brighter colors and not "wash out" as much
4. HOLD STILL WHEN YOU TAKE PICTURES. This sounds easier than it is. The camera is so small its easy to fumble and get kinda weird. Especially when your trying to take a picture of the biggest snook you've ever caught in a 20 knot wind. Keep your elbows in and make a conscious effort to stay as still as possible. More pictures are ruined by camera shake than any other cause. You can fix anything in Photoshop as long as the pic is sharp. You can't focus it in Photoshop.
5. Take lots of pictures. You're not wasting film and you will really get to know the camera better.
6. Pull the focus from different areas of the picture. The camera picks up its white balance from where you point. usually you'll want to aim for a 50% gray area but often it's so bright on the water this is pretty hard. Sunsets you should aim at a medium area of the sky to get the best color range then point at the sun. If you point at the sun to start it will really wash the pic out because the camera is trying to take a picture of the sun which is very bright. This is true of almost all point and shoot digital cameras.
That's all for the basic camera stuff. I edit the photos in Photoshop to make them nicer. Even a simple program like Photoshop elements has all the things you'll need to alter them and make them better. When editing:
1. crop the picture to capture what you want and omit what you don't. I almost always crop in on pictures to compose them in a cooler manner.
HERE IS A HAWAII SHOT I TOOK FROM A GREAT DISTANCE.
YOU'LL NOTICE, WHEN ITS CROPPED, THE PHOTO IMPROVES. ESPECIALLY ON THE INTERNET WHICH IS A LO RES MEDIUM... I ALSO INCREASED THE SATURATION...
2. Fix the LEVELS. Here's where it doesn't hurt to be an web designer/art director. All photos have something called a histogram which is a graph of the value in the picture. By adjusting the endpoints and the middle of the histogram you can really salvage a washed out but sharp photo.
HERE IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW LEVELS CAN MAKE A SHARP BUT WASHED OUT PICTURE ACCEPTABLE. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL...
NOW, HERE IS THE CROPPED AND ADJUSTED VERSION...NOT ALL PHOTOS NEED THIS MUCH WORK BUT IF THE FOCUS IS CRISP YOU HAVE MUCH MORE TO WORK WITH...
3. Mess with the SATURATION. I almost always push the saturation of sunsets, fish, whatever. I like really rich colors and it makes them POP. By just pushing the saturation you can make a good picture great.
SATURATION DEFINES THE COLOR OF THE PHOTO. A NICE SUNSET IS OFTEN WASHED OUT BECAUSE THE SUN IS BRIGHT. DUH. IF THE PHOTO IS SHARP YOU CAN MAKE A VERY NICE COMPOSITION BY CROPPING AND ALTERING IT...
NOW, I HAVE SIMPLY PUMPED UP THE COLOR BY TURNING UP THE SATURATION WITH PHOTOSHOP... I CROPPED IT BETTER AND STRAIGHTENED THE HORIZON TOO..
So, you can make a good photo great by working with it.
4. Resize the picture in Photoshop to 700 pixels wide. This fills the screen and is a great web ready format. Your camera will take pictures almost 6000 pixels wide (or something like that) so, crop the picture and size it and you'll get really nice stuff for the web. The problem with this is when you go to print your coffee table book you'll find all your stuff is too lo-res for print.
5. SAVE THE ORIGINALS - You can always go back to the beginning and great pics you'll want to keep as hi res as possible (for your national geographic special) Don't save over them. You'll be sorry.
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http://www.hornetbear.com
“I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are.”
- Marge Simpson
Last edited by hornetbear on Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:50 pm; edited 2 times in total